(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.”