The U.S. Defense Department is preparing plans for the complete withdrawal of American forces from Syria, two U.S. defense officials told NBC News on Tuesday.
According to the officials, President Donald Trump and his close advisors have recently expressed interest in pulling U.S. troops out of Syria. This has prompted the Pentagon to develop withdrawal scenarios that could be executed within 30, 60, or 90 days.
When asked about reports that he had informed the Israeli government of his intent to withdraw troops, Trump responded at an Oval Office media event last Thursday:
“I don’t know who said that. I mean, I don’t know who said that, but we’ll make a determination on that. We’re not getting, we’re not involved in Syria. Syria is its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don’t need us involved in every one.”
Trump previously ordered the withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Syria in late 2019 but later redeployed forces, maintaining an ongoing military presence. The Pentagon states that the U.S. mission in Syria is focused on weakening the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and supporting local partners, including the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to prevent ISIL from regaining a foothold.
However, Ankara views the SDF’s primary faction, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union classify as a terrorist organization.
