Austin believes US troops should remain in Syria to combat ISIS

January 9, 2025 TruthUSA

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—The United States needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the ISIS terrorist group from reconstituting as a major threat following the ouster of Bashar Assad’s government, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press.

American forces are still needed there, particularly to ensure the security of detention camps holding tens of thousands of former ISIS fighters and family members, Austin said Wednesday in one of his final interviews before he leaves office.

Estimates suggest there are as many as 8,000–10,000 ISIS terrorists in the camps, with at least 2,000 of them considered highly dangerous.

If Syria is left unprotected, “I think ISIS fighters would enter back into the mainstream,” Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he traveled to discuss military aid for Ukraine with about 50 partner nations.

“I think that we still have some work to do in terms of keeping a foot on the throat of ISIS,” he said.

The United States currently maintains around 2,000 troops in Syria to counter ISIS, a significant increase from the previously reported 900 forces. They were deployed in 2015 after the terrorist group had seized a large portion of Syria.