US troops patrol near an oil field in al-Qahtaniyah in Syria`s northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on June 14, 2023. – AFP Photo

The United States will roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, the Pentagon said Friday.

Washington has had troops in Syria for years as part of international efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group, which rose out of the chaos of the country`s civil war to seize swaths of territory there and in neighboring Iraq over a decade ago.

The group has since suffered major defeats in both countries, but still remain a threat.

"Today the secretary of defense directed the consolidation of US forces in Syria... to select locations," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, without specifying the sites where this would take place.

"This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 US forces in the coming months," he said.

"As this consolidation takes place... US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of (IS) in Syria," Parnell added, referring to the military command responsible for the region.

President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington`s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.

As Islamist-led rebels pressed forward with a lightning offensive last December that ultimately overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Trump said Washington should "NOT GET INVOLVED!"

"Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT," Trump, then the president-elect, wrote on his Truth Social platform.

- Years of war against IS -

The 2014 onslaught by IS prompted a US-led air campaign in support of local ground forces -- the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Iraqi government units.

Washington also deployed thousands of American personnel to advise and assist local forces, with US troops in some cases directly fighting the group.

After years of bloody warfare, Iraq`s prime minister announced a final victory over IS in December 2017, while the SDF proclaimed the defeat of the group`s "caliphate" in March 2019 after seizing its final bastion in Syria.

But IS still has some fighters in the countryside of both countries, and US forces have long carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent the group`s resurgence.

Washington stepped up military action against IS in Syria in the wake of Assad`s overthrow, though it has more recently shifted its focus to strikes targeting Yemen`s Huthi rebels, who have been attacking international shipping since late 2023.

Source: AFP