Trump Said Syria Deserves a “Fresh Start” — But U.S. Troops Aren’t Leaving

President Donald Trump announced that his administration intends to lift wide-ranging sanctions on Syria during a speech on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.

“In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully will succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” Trump said. “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.” Trump said that Syria deserves “a fresh start.”

That new beginning does not, however, include an end to the U.S. occupation of Syrian territory, according to the Pentagon. Around 1,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the country.

Related

Missiles and Drones Among Weapons Stolen From U.S. in Iraq and Syria

The U.S. military has been operating in Syria for many years as part of its complex and often muddled military efforts in the region. America’s bases ostensibly exist to conduct “counter-ISIS missions,” but experts say they are also as a check against Iran. The outposts have come under frequent attack in recent years and have also been targeted for thefts by militias and criminal gangs.

Late last year, the government of Bashar al-Assad was toppled after a rapid offensive by rebel forces led by Syria’s current interim president, Ahmed al-Shara. Last month, reports emerged that the U.S. was shuttering three of its eight small outposts in Syria.

Experts say that withdrawing U.S. troops from a handful of bases in Syria is now long overdue and necessary to effect a real change in strategy and policy for the region.

“Lifting sanctions on Syria is a positive step — but sanctions aren’t the only holdover policy from the Assad days that the U.S. should revisit,” said Rosemary Kelanic, the director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates for more restrained U.S. foreign policy. “Over 1,000 U.S. troops remain stuck in Syria without a clear mission or timetable to return. They’re a legacy of the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but that would-be ‘caliphate’ was defeated and lost all its territory over 5 years ago. It’s time for those troops to come home.”

When asked if the U.S. was planning a withdrawal of forces from Syria, a Pentagon spokesperson referred The Intercept to an April statement that announced “the U.S. footprint in Syria” would drop “down to less than a thousand U.S. forces in the coming months,” but would not end entirely.

“The Department of Defense continues to maintain a significant amount of capability in the region and the ability to make dynamic force posture adjustments based on evolving security situations on the ground,” the statement reads.

On Wednesday, Trump spoke for about half an hour with al-Shara, whom he called a “young, attractive guy.” Trump also referred to the Syrian president’s “strong past” and called him a “fighter.” Al-Shara is designated as a terrorist by the U.S. government for his former affiliation with Al Qaeda.

Related

Israel Exploits Assad’s Fall to Expand Into Syria

Trump also encouraged al-Shara to “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria”; help the U.S. prevent the resurgence of ISIS; and sign on to the Abraham Accords, a 2020 Trump-brokered pact that established formal ties between Israel and four Arab countries, among other recommendations, according to a statement on X by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Fear of an ISIS revival has been the long-standing argument for keeping U.S. troops in Syria. Kelanic pointed to the recent history of Afghanistan as an argument against claims that the U.S. needs to have boots on the ground to counter any ISIS resurgence.

“The big argument against the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was that we would see a resurgence of terrorism from al-Qaeda or ISIS. But the U.S hasn’t been targeted by terrorism from Afghanistan,” Kelanic told The Intercept. “The U.S. has detected plots by ISIS-Khorasan, which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Iran and Russia and warned those countries ahead of time. We’re able to still detect what’s going on with extremely sophisticated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities without having boots on the ground.”

The White House did not respond for a request for comment concerning the continued U.S. troop presence in Syria.

A recent investigation by The Intercept found that U.S. troops in the Middle East have come under attack close to 400 times, at a minimum, since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war, according to figures provided by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Central Command. This amounts to roughly one attack every 1.5 days, on average. 

The strikes, predominantly by Iranian-backed militias and — prior to a ceasefire signed last week — the Houthi government in Yemen, include a mix of one-way attack drones, rockets, mortars, and ballistic missiles fired at fixed bases and U.S. warships across the region. These groups ramped up attacks on U.S. targets in October 2023, in response to the U.S.-supported Israeli war on Gaza.

“About 200” of those attacks have been on U.S. bases, according to Pentagon spokesperson Patricia Kreuzberger. Around 50 percent occurred in Syria.

“Having these troops in Syria puts them at risk of retaliation from Iran and others,” said Kelanic. “It’s like we’re giving them hostages to take if they see fit, without there being a particularly compelling reason for these troops to be there.”