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Syria conflict: US 'planning to withdraw troops' Syria conflict: US 'planning to withdraw troops'
(35 minutes later)
The US is preparing to withdraw all its troops from Syria, US media quoting defence officials report. The US is preparing to withdraw all its troops from Syria, US media are quoting defence officials as saying.
One defence official told CNN the planning was for a "full" and "rapid" withdrawal. One official told CNN the planning was for a "full" and "rapid" withdrawal.
There are around 2,000 US troops on the ground in Syria, primarily training local forces to combat the Islamic State (IS) group. President Donald Trump tweeted that the Islamic State (IS) group - also known as ISIS - had been defeated in Syria and that was his "only reason for being there".
President Trump had promised earlier this year to pull US troops out of Syria "very soon". Some 2,000 troops have helped rid much of north-eastern Syria of IS, but pockets of fighters remain.
Most US troops are based in the north-east of the country where they had been helping to rid the area of IS. It had been thought US defence officials wanted to stay to ensure the militant group could not rebuild.
But pockets of IS fighters remain, and it had been thought US defence officials wanted to stay to ensure the militant group could not rebuild. Just a few days ago, Brett McGurk, Mr Trump's special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat IS, said:"Nobody is saying that [IS fighters] are going to disappear. Nobody is that naive. So we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas".
But President Trump promised in March this year that US troops would leave Syria "very soon".
The timing of a withdrawal is unclear. The Pentagon has refused to comment.
US forces are currently supporting an alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters (the Syrian Democratic Forces) that is closing in on the last pocket of territory in south-eastern Syria controlled by IS, around the town of Hajin in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US-led multinational coalition against IS said in a statement that the operation, which began on 1 May, was continuing "to gain ground and remove terrorists from the battlefield".