This past weekend, ISIS killed three Americans in Syria, two soldiers and one civilian contractor. These are the first U.S. casualties since Bashar al-Assad’s fall in December 2024.

President Donald Trump has vowed retaliation. But Cato’s Jon Hoffman argues in a new blog post that the best response is withdrawing the roughly 1,000 US troops still stationed there.

Syria remains plagued by internal divisions and competing external agendas. The United States has very limited interests there. Maintaining troops represents not only strategic malpractice but a direct affront to American service members’ lives.

Trump should pursue real reform: bring all U.S. troops home from Syria immediately.

If you’d like to speak with Hoffman, please reach out to Madison: mmiller@​cato.​org.