In a strategic change unveiled by its new special envoy, the United States will close the majority of its military installations in Syria and move operations to a single site.
President Donald Trump named Thomas Barrack as the United States’ ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria last month.
Barrack said the move is a rejection of Washington’s failed strategies in Syria over the previous century.
Barrack said that the troop reduction and base closures are the result of a strategic realignment in an interview with the Turkish channel NTV on Monday.
Since none of these have been successful, he said, “I can assure you that our current Syria policy will not be close to the Syria policy of the last 100 years.”
With the remaining operations centered in Hasakah in the northeast, US forces are anticipated to leave seven of eight bases, including those in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Az Zor.
The Reuters news agency was informed by two security sources that US military personnel and equipment have already begun to relocate.
In April, a source informed Reuters, “All troops are being pulled from Deir Az Zor.”
There are still about 2,000 American soldiers in Syria, most of whom are part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a crucial ally in the US-led fight against ISIL (ISIS).
The SDF has long been a source of conflict with NATO partner Turkiye, which sees it as associated with the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The SDF is led by the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units.
The PKK waged an armed uprising against the Turkish government for decades before announcing its dissolution.
Barrack emphasized that incorporating the SDF into Syria’s national army is now a top goal and referred to the group as “a very important factor” for the US Congress.
“Everyone must have reasonable expectations,” he stated. Under new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, international relations with Damascus have resumed since the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.
For the first time since 2012, Barrack recently hoisted the American flag over the ambassador’s home in Damascus.
Despite the SDF’s willingness to join the Syrian military, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized it last week, calling it out for “stalling tactics.”
Source: Aljazeera and other media outlets
