US defense officials have informed their Israeli counterparts that the United States plans to begin a phased withdrawal of its troops from Syria within two months, Report informs via Ynet.
Despite previous Israeli efforts to prevent such a move, Washington has made it clear those efforts were unsuccessful.
The planned withdrawal comes as no surprise. Former President Donald Trump, now back in office, had long promised to pull U.S. troops out of the region under his administration’s isolationist doctrine, influenced in part by Vice President J.D. Vance.
"This is not our war,” Trump has stated repeatedly, and the Pentagon has been preparing for the move for some time. Washington is now transitioning into the operational phase, with regular updates being shared with Israeli defense officials. In discussions between the parties, Israeli representatives have expressed serious concerns about the potential consequences.
A senior Israeli official estimated that the withdrawal may be only partial—and Israel is trying to prevent this too, out of fear it would embolden Türkiye, which has been openly seeking to expand its influence in the region since the fall of the Assad regime.
Currently, US troops are stationed at several key points in eastern and northern Syria, playing a stabilizing role. Israeli defense sources fear their removal could spur Turkish efforts to seize more strategic military assets in Syria.