Istanbul (TDI): The United States has started reducing its military presence in Syria with a view to eventually closing all but one of its bases there, the US Ambassador to Syria Tom Barrack has said in an interview.
The US is gradually winding down its engagement under Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the mission launched in 2014 to combat Daesh (ISIS) forces in the region.
“The reduction of our OIR engagement on a military basis is happening,” said Barrack. “We’ve gone from eight bases to five to three. We’ll eventually go to one,” AFP reported.
The comments come six months after the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime was toppled in December by an Islamist-led coalition now governing under interim leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
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Assad’s departure ended Syria’s 14-year civil war, but the country remains mired in instability, with ongoing sectarian violence challenging the fragile new leadership.
Barrack acknowledged that unifying the country’s complex ethnic and sectarian landscape remains a significant obstacle.
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“It’s very tribal still. It’s very difficult to bring it together,” he noted, though he expressed cautious optimism: “I think that will happen.”
In April, the Pentagon made an announcement regarding the plans for a reduction of US troops in Syria to less than 1,000 due to the decreasing threat by the Daesh, whose operational presence has been reduced to scattered remnants.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
