FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 14, 2025
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—Yesterday, President Trump announced that the U.S. will lift sanctions on Syria. Rosemary Kelanic, Director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities, issued the following statement in response:
“Lifting sanctions on Syria is a positive step—but sanctions aren’t the only holdover policy from the Assad days that the U.S. should revisit. Over 1,000 U.S. troops remain stuck in Syria without a clear mission or timetable to return. They’re a legacy of the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but that would-be ‘caliphate’ was defeated and lost all its territory over 5 years ago. It’s time for those troops to come home.
“The U.S. does not need troops in Syria to fight the shadow of a terrorist group that never directly threatened the U.S. homeland even at its apex. The Syria branch of ISIS is defunct. In any case, the U.S. has such powerful intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities that it can monitor and disrupt terrorism from afar. More than ever before, counterterrorism is remote work for the U.S.
“The U.S. presence is also unnecessary because ISIS’s brutal tactics managed to alienate nearly the entire Middle East, triggering intervention against them by local actors of all stripes, from the Kurds to Turkey to Iraq to Iran and beyond. All have worked to contain ISIS and will continue to do so for their own interests. Syria’s current leader, Ahmed al-Shaara, has also promised to fight any remnants of ISIS—a credible pledge, since a reconstituted ISIS would threaten his rule.
“The U.S. should finally withdraw its troops from Syria, where they are vulnerable to attack from bad actors, including Iran. Staying means risking the lives of U.S. soldiers indefinitely for no compelling reason. Sanctions relief is giving Syria a fresh start. Withdrawal would give the U.S. a fresh start, too.”
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