Foreign Policy: US is ‘planning to withdraw from Syria’

The US is considering ending its military presence in Syria, according to a report by Foreign Policy yesterday.

Although no definite decision has been made to withdraw, the report cited four sources within the Defence and State departments who claimed that the Biden administration “is no longer invested in sustaining a mission that it perceives as unnecessary.”

Talks are now ongoing to determine how and when a withdrawal could take place, “notwithstanding the catastrophic effect that a withdrawal would have on US and allied influence over the unresolved and volatile crisis in Syria.”

However, since its publication, a Pentagon spokesperson has called the report “erroneous,” according to the Russian RIA Novosty, which had submitted a query to the US Department of Defence.

A report last week by Sputnik Arabic also claimed that the US is reinforcing air defences at its military bases in the Conoco and Al-Omar oilfields in response to continued attacks by the Iraqi resistance.

Thanks @azelin. I'm actually encouraged to see WH & DOD come out so quickly to deny — it shows the kind of sensitivity that normally exists only when there's the claim is true.

Nobody announces they're *considering* withdrawal anyway, so they're certainly not going to confirm!

— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) January 24, 2024

The US began deploying troops in Syria in 2015, a year after intervening in the conflict in Syria, ostensibly to fight Daesh as part of an international coalition. However, they were not invited by the Syrian government nor sanctioned by the UN and as such are deemed to be an illegal occupying force. Despite the territorial defeat of the group in 2019, the US maintains a military presence justified by the persistent, though dwindling, Daesh presence in the Syrian Desert.

READ: US to send 1,500 troops to Syria and Iraq

Today the US has around 900 troops stationed in Syria, namely the strategically-located Al-Tanf base, close to the Syrian-Jordanian border, they also occupy the country’s largest oil field, the Al-Omar oil field in Deir Ez-Zor and they, along with their Kurdish-led allies the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), have been accused by Damascus of oil theft amounting to around 83 per cent of Syria’s daily oil production.

The Foreign Policy report notes that a full withdrawal will likely lead to “unfavourable Turkish influence” triggered by intra-Kurdish tensions and that Tehran and its allied forces would also become emboldened in their attacks against US troops in Syria.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza, following Al-Aqsa Flood Operation in October, Iraqi resistance factions have been stepping up attacks against US military sites in both Iraq and Syria in a bid to force an eventual withdrawal, amid Washington’s ongoing support for the occupation state’s genocidal war.

READ: US sends reinforcements to troops in Syria