The United States is reportedly planning to station troops at an airbase in Damascus as part of a security arrangement it is mediating between Syria and Israel, according to six sources cited in a Thursday Reuters report.
“The base sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarised zone as part of a non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria,” the report states.
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa is set to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday, the first such visit by a Syrian head of state. The plan would mark Syria’s shift towards Washington after the fall of the Iran-aligned Bashar al-Assad in December of 2024.
According to the report, the U.S. administration official who spoke about the plans said the U.S. was, “constantly evaluating our necessary posture in Syria to effectively combat ISIS (Islamic State) and (we) do not comment on locations or possible locations of (where) forces operate.”
The name and location of the base were not included in the article.
The U.S. lifted sanctions on Syria in June, and the Pentagon announced earlier this year it would reduce the American military presence in the country to about 1,000 troops.
Syria’s state news agency SANA denied the report, quoting an official at the Foreign Ministry who called the Reuters story “untrue.”
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