The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) has put plans in place for a complete withdrawal from Syria within a range of 30 to 90 days.
NBC News reported today, Wednesday, February 5, that US President Donald Trump and close officials expressed their interest in withdrawing US forces from Syria, which prompted the Pentagon to develop plans for withdrawal in 30, 60, or 90 days.
According to two officials at the Pentagon, the department is working on plans to withdraw all US forces from Syria.
New National Security Advisor to Trump, Mike Waltz, spent Friday (January 31) at the US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, where he met with senior military leaders and received briefings on the Middle East, according to US defense officials.
According to officials in the White House, the potential reduction of US forces in Syria was not a topic during the briefing or the purpose of Waltz’s visit.
Sinam Mohamad, representative of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) in Washington, stated today, Wednesday, that Trump will decide the fate of his country in Syria in the coming days, noting that they expressed to the American side their desire for the forces to continue operating until a comprehensive solution is reached in Syria.
Mohamad clarified that negotiations between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian government are ongoing and the process has not yet concluded, according to information reported by the Rudaw network.
On January 30, Trump stated that he would make a decision regarding the presence of US forces in Syria.
In a conversation with journalists at the White House, in response to a question about his intention to withdraw his forces from Syria, he said, “I don’t know who said that, but we will make a decision about it.”
The US president continued, “We are not involved in Syria; Syria is in chaos, they have enough chaos there, they do not need our involvement.”
The president’s statements were preceded, on January 29, by a report published by Israeli broadcasting agency (Makan) which stated that US officials informed their Israeli counterparts that Trump wishes to withdraw US forces from Syria, raising concerns in Israel, along with potential impacts on the Syrian Democratic Forces in the region.
Makan reported that sources within the White House indicated that Donald Trump wishes to withdraw thousands of US soldiers currently in Syria.
There are 900 US soldiers in Syria, to which the Department of Defense added 1,100 soldiers in December 2024, at which time the Pentagon spokesperson described the additional US forces in Syria as “core forces” that had been deployed there for about a year.