April 18th, 2025
Recognizing the success the United States has had against ISIS, including its 2019 territorial defeat under President Trump, today the Secretary of Defense directed the consolidation of U.S. forces in Syria under Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve to select locations in Syria.
This consolidation reflects the significant steps we have made toward degrading ISIS' appeal and operational capability regionally and globally. This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the U.S. footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand U.S. forces in the coming months.
During the last ten years, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS has made major gains, including those which led to the territorial defeat of ISIS in 2019. Additionally, U.S. Central Command has launched dozens of air strikes over the last year to further degrade ISIS capabilities and deny them the ability to regain strength.
As this consolidation takes place, consistent with President Trump's commitment to peace through strength, U.S. Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of ISIS in Syria. We will also work closely with capable and willing Coalition partners to maintain pressure on ISIS and respond to any other terrorist threats that arise.
The threat of terrorism is not confined to the Middle East, and we will be vigilant across every continent to ensure that ISIS has nowhere to hide. We are committed to ensuring our partners' ability to further degrade ISIS and other terrorists within the region. An essential line of effort in degrading ISIS strength is reducing the populations of displaced and detained ISIS-linked individuals in camps and detention facilities in northeast Syria; we call on the international community to repatriate their nationals.
The Department of Defense continues to maintain a significant amount of capability in the region and the ability to make dynamic force posture adjustments based on evolving security situations on the ground. We will provide more updates as they are available. back...
This consolidation reflects the significant steps we have made toward degrading ISIS' appeal and operational capability regionally and globally. This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the U.S. footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand U.S. forces in the coming months.
During the last ten years, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS has made major gains, including those which led to the territorial defeat of ISIS in 2019. Additionally, U.S. Central Command has launched dozens of air strikes over the last year to further degrade ISIS capabilities and deny them the ability to regain strength.
As this consolidation takes place, consistent with President Trump's commitment to peace through strength, U.S. Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of ISIS in Syria. We will also work closely with capable and willing Coalition partners to maintain pressure on ISIS and respond to any other terrorist threats that arise.
The threat of terrorism is not confined to the Middle East, and we will be vigilant across every continent to ensure that ISIS has nowhere to hide. We are committed to ensuring our partners' ability to further degrade ISIS and other terrorists within the region. An essential line of effort in degrading ISIS strength is reducing the populations of displaced and detained ISIS-linked individuals in camps and detention facilities in northeast Syria; we call on the international community to repatriate their nationals.
The Department of Defense continues to maintain a significant amount of capability in the region and the ability to make dynamic force posture adjustments based on evolving security situations on the ground. We will provide more updates as they are available. back...
