(December 15, 2025)
“Currently, we have no force posture changes to announce,” a War Department official told Antiwar.com when asked if the Trump administration was planning to withdraw from Syria.
The US withdrew a few hundred soldiers from Syria earlier this year, but the comment signals a full withdrawal isn’t on the table. There are currently around 1,000 US troops in the country, a Pentagon official told The New York Times.
Ein bewaffneter Angriff auf ein Mitglied der NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization gilt als Angriff auf alle NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization-Mitglieder. Das besagt Artikel 5 des Nordatlantikvertrages, der die gegenseitige Beistandspflicht der Bündnispartner im Verteidigungsfall festhält. Dass der gegenseitige Beistand kein Lippenbekenntnis ist, zeigen die multinationalen NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization-Verbände an der Ostflanke der Allianz.
In a statement, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and eight other European countries said troops from a “coalition of the willing” with US support could “assist in the regeneration of Ukraine’s forces, in securing Ukraine’s skies, and in supporting safer seas, including through operating inside Ukraine”.
Likewise, we pray for the three injured soldiers who, it has just been confirmed, are doing well. This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them. The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be very serious retaliation. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The attack occurred outside a building in Palmyra where officials from Syria’s Interior Ministry had travelled from Damascus to meet their local counterparts. According to a US official, American soldiers and their interpreter were outside the building when a lone gunman opened fire from a nearby structure with what appeared to be a machine gun. Three additional American service members were wounded, as were two members of the Syrian security forces.
The American soldiers who were killed were part of an Iowa National Guard contingent assigned to the Syria mission, according to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. US Central Command said the wounded Americans were evacuated by helicopter to the al Tanf garrison near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders, where they received medical treatment.
Glenn Ignazio warns of complex threats from ISIS and insider attacks, urging Syria to verify forces and boost defense posture.
A Syrian security forces member launched an attack on Syrian and U.S. military personnel in Palmyra over the weekend, according to three local officials speaking to Reuters.
A spokesperson from the Syrian interior ministry confirmed on Al-Ikhbariya TV that while the attacker belonged to their ranks, he did not hold a leadership position, though they did not clarify his exact rank.
(December 9, 2025)
A year after Israeli forces entered southern Syria, crossing into a UN buffer zone and in some cases beyond, its occupation remains and the frequency of the Israeli military raids on towns is increasing. An Israeli incursion in the town of Beit Jinn at the end of November left at least 13 Syrians dead, including two children.
Residents say they have traded the tyranny of Assad for a military occupation. Checkpoints are now operated by Israelis, not Assad officers. Night-time raids and phone searches continue.
(June 24, 2025)
The U.S. and the SDF stayed clear of Syria’s civil war, which led to the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.
The country’s new president is Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the Islamist rebel group Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that swept to power last December and has vowed to establish a tolerant, multi-ethnic state.
After months of deliberation, the U.S. has thrown its support behind the new Syrian leader. President Trump announced last month that he would lift sanctions on the country, a decision he made with encouragement from Saudi Arabia while Trump was in the Middle East.
(April 23, 2025)
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East chief at the National Security Council, Eric Trager, rebuffed Israeli and northeast Syrian officials in the last several weeks, saying that the US is transitioning from a “military to political role” in northeast Syria and that the drawdown of US troops would continue, the sources told MEE, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions.
“Israel is opposed to the US withdrawing from northeast Syria,” one former US official told MEE. “They want to see the US extract concessions from Turkey on demilitarisation before any American boots leave Syrian soil.”
(April 16, 2025)
Israel has been kept in the loop about plan that could see US troop presence shrunk from 2,000 to 1,000; Jerusalem fears it will increase Turkey’s ‘appetite’ to control Syria.
(…)
Trump announced a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria during his first term but never followed through completely. Then too, Israel opposed the move, expressing concern that an American withdrawal would create a power vacuum in the region, allowing Tehran to expand its military entrenchment near the Israeli border.
(April 16, 2025)
The U.S. military has about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria across a number of bases, mostly in the northeast. The troops are working with local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.
One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that consolidation could reduce the number of troops in Syria to about 1,000.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warns that the Gaza ceasefire remains fragile due to “daily violations” by Israeli forces and stresses the need for US intervention, specifically by President Donald Trump, to ensure the plan’s success.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told an international conference in the Qatari capital that international mediators, led by the U.S., are working „to force the way forward“ to the second phase to cement the deal.
„What we have just done is a pause,“ he told the Doha Forum. „We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire.“
Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the international stabilization force needed to function as a peacekeeping force.
(November 29, 2025)
“Sometimes we wonder whether the Americans stationed at the headquarters are the Americans who make the decisions,” the diplomats said. “Everyone tells us we need to speak with whoever decides and whoever speaks with the Oval Office at the White House, not with Gen. Patrick Frank, who heads the American headquarters.”
It is now clear that most of the Arab countries, as well as Turkey, want to see the international stabilization force deployed to Gaza. They want to see this happen as part of the new phase. They appear to believe that Israel is stalling and dragging out the ceasefire without enabling new initiatives to take shape. However, although all countries want to see the new phase begin, they don’t seem ready to send their own personnel to the international force.
“We do not want it here.”
That was the message from PNM Tobago political leader Ancil Dennis in a video posted to social media as he rejected the US military radar now spinning at the ANR Robinson International Airport.
Dennis told Tobagonians the device was brought in without proper explanation and said the Government must “carry it back to Trinidad.”
He accused the Prime Minister, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and Tobago East MP David Thomas of misleading the public by giving different descriptions of the radar.
Yet another US Marine aircraft was detected overnight heading into Tobago, the fourth of its kind over the course of the past week, as imagery on the island appeared to depict a powerful air defence US radar system at the ANR Robinson international Airport.
The sightings come after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday confirmed the US military presence on the sister isle, backtracking on previous claims that previous military aircraft sighted on the island were only there to help the country with a “roadway.”
On Wednesday, when a C-17 Globemaster with the words Air Force emblazoned on its side was spotted at Tobago’s airport, a picture of the aeroplane was circulated widely on social media, with several citizens questioning its purpose.
Later that day, outside the Red House, the Prime Minister explained that the aircraft had brought in US marines to assist in constructing a roadway. At the time, she said that, to her knowledge, there were no longer any marines in the country. However, US marines were later seen at a popular hotel in Tobago. The day after, the Prime Minister clarified that following further inquiries, she had been informed that marines were still in Tobago and were assisting with work on the runway, roadway, and radar system at Tobago’s airport.
There is no U.S. law that explicitly authorizes the U.S. Navy to attack or sink ships at sea outside of a congressionally authorized war or valid self-defense situation, legal experts and Democratic lawmakers say.
The strikes began in September, but Trump administration discussions about them began soon after Trump moved back into the White House in January
Amid a buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela and strikes on alleged drug boats, President Donald Trump told U.S. troops on Thanksgiving that the military operation will soon include strikes on land.
“In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers,“ Trump said during a call with military service members that alluded to the boat strikes, adding: „We’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon.“
(November 23, 2025)
Israeli assessments increasingly show the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, designed to disarm Hamas, won‘t materialize. Establishing the force represents a central element of Donald Trump‘s 20-point plan for ending the war and was incorporated into Security Council Resolution 2803 approved last week. Yet no nation globally has expressed readiness to have its forces directly engage Hamas fighters.
The Security Council has just voted in favour of the resolution.
The vote tally was as follows: 13 votes in favour, zero against and two abstentions, including Russia.
A reminder that this resolution contains language that outlines a potential future path to Palestinian statehood.
The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question – Security Council, 10046th meeting
The Council is composed of 15 Members:
Five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly (with end of term year):
– Algeria (2025)
– Denmark (2026)
– Greece (2026)
– Guyana (2025)
– Pakistan (2026)
– Panama (2026)
– Republic of Korea (2025)
– Sierra Leone (2025)
– Slovenia (2025)
– Somalia (2026)
If adopted, the resolution would provide international legal authority for a multinational security mission, seen by potential troop-contributing countries and donors as necessary for deployment. No UN peacekeeping presence is envisaged.
It could represent a decisive transition from active conflict to stabilisation and reconstruction, combining security guarantees with reforms to governance and services.
7. Authorizes Member States working with the BoP and the BoP to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP, with forces contributed by participating States, in close consultation and cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel, and to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law. The ISF shall work with Israel and Egypt, without prejudice to their existing agreements, along with the newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to help secure border areas; stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups; protect civilians, including humanitarian operations; train and provide support to the vetted Palestinian police forces; coordinate with relevant States to secure humanitarian corridors; and undertake such additional tasks as may be necessary in support of the Comprehensive Plan. The ISF shall, (A) assist the BoP in monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza, and enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan; and (B) operate under the strategic guidance of the BoP and will be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;
8. Decides the BoP and international civil and security presences authorized by this resolution shall remain authorized until Dec. 31, 2027, subject to further action by the Council, and any further reauthorization of the ISF be in full cooperation and coordination with Egypt and Israel and other Member States continuing to work with the ISF;
(September 30, 2025)
The colonial reality is that Israel and the US have come up with a cunning plan to outsource Israel’s continued dominance or occupation of the Gaza Strip under a governor, Tony Blair (a man much reviled in the Middle East), and a king, Donald Trump, who would run Gaza.
They would rule indefinitely or until the Palestinian Authority, which governs the bits of the West Bank where Israel doesn’t want to be bothered with directly occupying, can show that it can be trusted to also run Gaza the way that the US and Israel want.
While many countries continue to be concerned about the details (or lack thereof) in the resolution, support from a broad coalition of regional states will probably push it over the line.
Neither the Israelis nor Palestinians have been formally included in the negotiations, but Israel has presumably worked closely to shape the text. It has pushed back strongly on language supporting Palestinian statehood and will continue to do so.
The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has given his broad support to the plan.