February 12, 2026 1:44PM # Removing US Troops from Al-Tanf, Syria, Is the Right Call By [Jon Hoffman](https://www.cato.org/people/jon-hoffman) --- SHARE Listen to this article Generated with [ ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) AI technology. Loading the [Elevenlabs Text to Speech](https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech) AudioNative Player... ![military](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2024-11/military%20.jpg?itok=3koetAH9) The [announcement](https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-vacates-a-key-military-base-in-syria-1d0b5bf2?mod=middle-east_news_article_pos3) today by CENTCOM that it is vacating its presence at the Al-Tanf military base in southeast Syria is welcome news. US troops at Al-Tanf served no strategic purpose for the United States and needlessly endangered the lives of American servicemembers. The United States has [limited interests](https://www.cato.org/blog/washington-should-get-out-syria) at stake in Syria, which are best served by eliminating the remaining US military presence in the country. The US military presence in Syria is a remnant of the counter-Islamic State (ISIS) mission initiated by Barack Obama. Despite the destruction of ISIS’s so-called “caliphate” in 2019, US troops have remained in Syria indefinitely, namely because, as former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford [noted](https://x.com/fordrs58/status/1725225652675039620?s=20), the “real (but unstated) reason the US is there is to block Iran from using a road coming from Iraq into Syria.” Despite [plans](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/20/donald-trump-decision-withdraw-troops-syria-lowers-risks-costs-column/2374266002/) by President Donald Trump to withdraw troops from Syria during his first administration following the collapse of ISIS, America’s military presence remained, thanks in part to efforts by the Pentagon to [sabotage](https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/11/outgoing-syria-envoy-admits-hiding-us-troop-numbers-praises-trumps-mideast-record/170012/) a withdrawal. The Biden administration maintained this presence, despite these troops coming under [increased attack](https://theintercept.com/2024/08/06/secret-military-bases-middle-east-attacks/) as a result of America’s support for Israel following Hamas’s terror attack on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent wars in Gaza and Lebanon. In January 2024, Iranian-backed groups [killed three](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68122706) US servicemembers at the Tower 22 US military outpost in Jordan, not far from the Al-Tanf base in Syria. More recently, ISIS [killed three](https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/15/politics/us-soldiers-killed-syria-identified#:~:text=The%20two%20US%20Army%20soldiers,of%20the%20Iowa%20National%20Guard.) Americans in Palmyra, Syria—two US soldiers and one civilian contractor—marking the first US casualties in the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Trump’s decision to pull US troops from Al-Tanf is the right call. Syria remains rife with [internal divisions](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/world/middleeast/syria-massacre-druse.html) and plagued by an array of [competing external actors](https://www.belfercenter.org/research-analysis/external-states-and-syrias-challenge-reunification-under-transitional-president) trying to advance their own agendas after Assad’s removal. The US military presence in Syria has no legal authorization or a clear and achievable mission. Maintaining a US military presence in Syria is not only strategic malpractice but also a direct affront to the lives of American troops. Removing the US troops from Al-Tanf is a step in the right direction. Trump should go further, bringing the remaining troops in Syria home. ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).