Overview

• Special Envoy Thomas Barrack said Washington will shrink its Syria deployment from eight bases to one as part of a break from what he called a century of failed U.S. policies.
• The shift follows President Trump’s March decision to lift sanctions and a $7 billion energy deal signed in May under Syria’s new President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
• Approximately 2,000 U.S. troops remain in Syria, mostly concentrated in Hasakah province after withdrawing from Deir el-Zor, to partner with local forces against Islamic State remnants.
• Washington has endorsed Damascus’s incorporation of about 3,500 foreign jihadist fighters into the Syrian army’s 84th Division and facilitated the Kurdish-led SDF’s integration into national armed forces.
• Barrack raised the American flag over the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Damascus last week, marking Washington’s first symbolic diplomatic presence in the city since 2012.