US Completes Syria Withdrawal Within Month as Damascus Expands Northeast Control

Three sources told AFP on February 23, 2026, that US forces leading the anti-ISIS coalition will withdraw from Syria within one month, with troops already leaving a major base. The withdrawal follows Syria's government expansion into the northeast—previously held by US-allied Kurdish forces—and Syria's formal accession to the anti-ISIS coalition.

US withdrawal removes the primary air-support mechanism that enabled Kurdish ground operations against ISIS; without US ISR and strike assets, the SDF's ability to conduct sustained counterterrorism operations collapses, forcing reliance on a Syrian government with limited air capacity and competing priorities.

This creates an operational vacuum that ISIS can exploit for reconstitution in eastern Syria and western Iraq, increasing pressure on Iraqi security forces and potentially triggering renewed US military involvement from Iraq—a more constrained basing posture.

The consolidation also removes a key friction point between US and Russian/Iranian interests in Syria, allowing Moscow and Tehran to deepen military coordination along the Iraq border without US interdiction.

WHY IT MATTERS

This ends a 13-year US military footprint in Syria and eliminates the primary mechanism for sustained counterterrorism operations against ISIS remnants and Iranian militia activity in the region.

The timing coincides with Syrian government consolidation of territory formerly controlled by the Kurdish-led SDF, which depended on US air support and logistics. The vacuum created by withdrawal will likely accelerate Iranian consolidation of the Syria-Iraq corridor and test whether the newly unified Syrian government can contain ISIS resurgence without US air assets—a capability the SDF previously relied on.

For defense contractors, this signals reduced demand for forward-deployed sustainment, ISR platforms, and counter-ISIS operations support; it also removes a key constraint on Russian and Iranian military activity in the Levant.

WHAT THIS DOESN’T TELL US

The article does not specify which bases are being evacuated, the timeline for equipment removal versus personnel drawdown, or what arrangements (if any) the US is negotiating with the Syrian government or Turkey regarding ongoing counterterrorism operations or intelligence sharing.

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