![]() officials warn that a withdrawal of American troops would probably cripple the SDF, forcing Kurdish fighters to retreat into an even smaller area of northeast Syria and reach an accommodation with Assad. What message Tehran took away is unclear. airstrike targeting Iranian-backed militants in Syria was meant as a message from President Biden. airstrike against Iranian-backed militants in Syria was a message from Biden. “Because we’re there, there’s an element of stability.” “What would happen if we withdrew is a question that we would need to take a look at,” McKenzie said. But they warn that a pullout, along with cutbacks in air support, intelligence and other assistance to the SDF, would create a security vacuum that Islamic State could exploit. military commanders are careful not to rule out further withdrawals. ![]() With the Biden administration only beginning to consider options in Syria, U.S. “But it’s hard for them to gather, because when they do, we get them.” “We believe they still aspire to hold ground” in Syria and Iraq, said McKenzie. officials say the group has fewer than 10,000 followers, many of them forced into remote mountain or desert areas, leaving it unable to hold large swaths of territory or mount mass attacks, especially in areas controlled by the SDF. There’s little trace of the Islamic State fighters who held a large swath of eastern Syria and Iraq, including the wells, until they were driven out by Kurdish and Arab militias, aided by U.S. partnership with the SDF has helped cement its control over eastern Syria, creating an alternative to Assad’s rule and maybe a bargaining chip if efforts to reach a political settlement of the civil war move forward.īut keeping troops in eastern Syria also helps the Pentagon control the Iraq-Syria border, containing Iran’s growing influence in the region. airstrikes and artillery when they crossed the Euphrates only miles away from Conoco. In 2018, hundreds of Russian mercenaries and pro-government militia members were killed by U.S. “They can’t come over here, and we can’t go over there.” “There’s a very hard line,” said Favalora. Russian and Syrian troops are just across the Euphrates River from Conoco, but both sides avoid straying into the other’s territory. The Syrian forces are backed by Russian warplanes and Iranian drones. ![]() The Syrian army is conducting its own fight against Islamic State, bolstered by Russian mercenaries, Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisors and Iranian-backed irregulars from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. And millions more - half the population - have been displaced or fled the country, according to the United Nations. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed since the civil war broke out in 2011 in 2016, the United Nations estimated the number at 400,000. That has brought relative stability to a portion of a country fighting a decade-old civil war that has taken a horrifying human toll. troops and the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, to carve out an enclave outside of Assad’s control. Conoco is one of several small outposts used by U.S.
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