For the first time in a decade, there are no U.S. bases in Syria. The Syrian foreign ministry and U.S. Central Command both announced on Thursday afternoon that U.S. forces had handed over their last base in Syria to the Syrian army. The U.S. military may continue to advise and support the Syrian army without permanent outposts, reports The New York Times.
U.S. troops first entered Syria in 2015 to support Kurdish rebels against the Islamic State group, which lost its last Syrian territory in 2019. President Donald Trump flip-flopped several times in his first term about whether U.S. troops would stay. He declared a U.S. withdrawal in December 2018, backtracked on it, declared another withdrawal in October 2019, and backtracked again after neighboring Turkey invaded Kurdish-held areas of Syria.
