US Tells Israel It Will Begin Drawdown Of Troops In Syria

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Pentagon officials have told their Israeli counterparts that the US will begin a phased withdrawal of its troops from Syria within two months, the Israeli news site Ynet reported on Tuesday.

A senior Israeli official said that the US withdrawal could be partial, meaning only some of the estimated 2,000 US troops in eastern Syria could leave. Reuters later reported that the US is planning to “consolidate” its presence in Syria and will likely reduce the number of troops in the country to about 1,000.

Israel is opposed to any drawdown or a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria, and the Ynet report said Israeli officials are working to prevent it over concerns related to Turkey.

Since the regime change that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which Israel supported, the Israeli military has invaded southern Syria and has been bombing military targets across the country.

Israel now appears focused on keeping Turkish forces out of central Syria, warning it would impede the Israeli military’s “operational freedom” in the country.

Israel recently bombed the T-4 air base in Tadmur, central Syria, amid reports that Turkey is planning to establish a military presence there, and Israeli officials said the airstrikes were meant as a “message” to Ankara.

One Israeli security source told Ynet that the attacks on the T-4 base were part of “a race against time” before “the Americans pack up and leave.”

During the first Trump administration, Israel played a role in convincing President Trump to keep troops in Syria after he announced plans for a withdrawal. At the time, Israel didn’t want Iran or its allies, which included the Assad government, gaining a foothold in the areas currently occupied by the US, which include oil and gas fields.

The US backs the Kurdish-led SDF in eastern and northern Syria, which recently began handing over control of some areas in the northern Aleppo Governorate to government forces under an integration agreement with the Syrian government that’s led by the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

It remains there have been many ‘false starts’ and premature headlines announcing withdrawal, such as this 2018 NBC story…

The deal has eased tensions in northern Syria, ending fighting between the SDF and the Turkish-backed SNA, and was seen as a potential path to a US withdrawal.