In the past week, the Pentagon has acknowledged that its footprint in Iraq and Syria is bigger than it has claimed for years

The number of US troops in Syria has regularly surged higher than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed since at least 2020, and in recent months increased to more than double the roughly 900 troops the US has long said are in Syria,

Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi deploys troops and equipment to the Syrian border after Assad’s fall. The move aims to secure Iraq’s sovereignty and prevent militant threats amid rising regional tensions.#Ira

The camps are run by the SDF. The United States backs the SDF, providing it with weapons and training, in an effort to combat the Islamic State. The Pentagon disclosed this month that there are about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, as part of an effort to contain regrouping Islamic State remnants.

Assad, old alliances have crumbled, and global powers are figuring out their relationships with Syria’s new de facto leaders.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq Friday to meet with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the international community grapples with the implications of the Syrian government’s collapse.

By bnm Gulf bureau Iraq has suspended crude oil exports to Syria, citing regional instability, in a move that threatens to deepen Syria's fuel crisis, Iraqi officials said on December 22. The decision to halt shipments of approximately 120,

President Trump’s dilemma in Syria is to let a terrorist state emerge at the heart of the Middle East on his watch or to violate his campaign promise of “no more foreign wars."

With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and an uncertain future, U.S. troops in the region must navigate a geopolitical minefield.

There’s not a whole lot of moral clarity available in the treacherous political and historical landscape of Syria, except that almost no one laments the downfall of the 54-year Assad dynasty. Like most nations of the modern Middle East,

Assad’s ouster has raised urgent questions about the 2,000 troops who serve as a bulwark against ISIS and Iran.

Blinken said he spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani about the situation in Syria after the Assad regime's fall.