{{Infobox military conflict , width = 440px , conflict = US intervention in the Syrian civil war , partof =

Operation Inherent Resolve {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Operation Inherent Resolve , partof = the international military intervention against the Islamic State and the War on terror , image = , caption = U.S. Navy B ...

, the

war against the Islamic State Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian civil war and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014), 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, u ...

, and the foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war , date = 22 September 2014 – present
({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=09, day1=22, year1=2014) , place =

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, coordinates = , map_type = , map_relief = , latitude = , longitude = , map_size = , map_marksize = , map_caption = , map_label = , territory = , result = Ongoing * 19,786+ US and allied airstrikes, over 16,000 hitting ISIL positions * Thousands of targets destroyed, thousands of militants killed * US-backed opposition training program 2014–2017 * US and allies supplying weapons and advisers to the Kurdish-led

Syrian Democratic Forces The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurds in Syria, Kurdish-led coalition of U.S.-backed Left-wing politics, left-wing ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration ...

* ISIL loses most of its territory in Syria by December 2017 * United States declares military victory against ISIL on 18 December 2018 * ISIL suffers military defeat and loses almost all of its remaining territory in March 2019 * ISIL resurgence in 2019 * US-led occasional strikes against Syrian opposition groups * US-led occasional strikes against the Syrian government * Further decline of

Russia–United States relations The United States and the Russian Federation have had diplomatic relations since the establishment of the latter country in 1991, a continuation of the relationship the United States has had with various Russian governments since 1803. While bo ...

Turkey–United States relations The Republic of Türkiye and the United States of America established diplomatic relations in 1927. Relations after World War II evolved from the Second Cairo Conference in December 1943 and Turkey's entrance into World War II on the side of th ...

sour on rift over Kurdish forces * US Army, Marine and Special Operation forces deployed in Syria, and the number of US troops training local armed forces has dropped from 2,000 in 2017 to 900 in 2019There are four times as many U.S. troops in Syria as previously acknowledged by the Pentagon
The Washington Post, 6 December 2017. * Death of first ISIL's

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri (28 July 1971 – 27 October 2019), commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was an Iraqi militant leader who was the founder and first leader of the Islamic State (IS), who proclaimed hims ...

in October 2019 * Death of second ISIL's caliph

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (; born Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi (); 1 or 5 October 1976 – 3 February 2022) was an Iraqi militant and the second caliph of the Islamic State. His appointment by a shura council was announce ...

in February 2022 * Death of third ISIL's caliph

Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (), probably born Nour Karim al-Mutni Al-Obaidi Al-Rifai (; died 15 October 2022), was an Iraqi militant and the third caliph of the Islamic State. He was named as caliph on 10 March 2022, in an audio message ...

in October 2022 * Attacks on US bases in Syria in 2023 and 2024{{cite web , last1=Carl , first1=Nicholas , last2=Jhaveri , first2=Ashka , last3=Braverman , first3=Alexandra , title=Iran Update, January 28, 2024 , url=https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-january-28-2024 , publisher=

Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is an American nonprofit research group and advocacy think tank founded in 2007 by military historian Kimberly Kagan and headquartered in Washington, D.C. ISW provides research and analysis of modern arm ...

, access-date=29 January 2024 , location=

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, format=

Think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

analysis Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

, date=28 January 2024 , quote=These militias have conducted over 170 attacks targeting US positions as part of this effort since October 2023. * US-backed rebels enter Damascus and topple the

Ba'athist Syria Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the One-party state, one-party rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Syrian regional branch of the Ba'ath Party (Syri ...

regime *

Fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...

in 2024 * Israel, an ally of US, launches an invasion of Syria in 2024 * Turkish-backed rebels launched an offensive against US-backed Kurdish rebels , combatants_header = , combatant1 = CJTF–OIR
{{flag, United States, size=23px
{{flag, Turkey, size=23px
{{flagicon, Syrian opposition, size=23px

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

(2011–present)
Supported by: * {{flag, United Kingdom, size=23px * {{flag, France, size=23px {{Collapsible list , title=Former participants: , bullets = yes , 1={{flag, Canada, size=23px
(2014–16) , 2={{flag, Bahrain, size=22px
(2014–16) , 3={{flag, Belgium, size=23px
(2014–17) , 4={{flag, Germany, size=23px
(2015–22) , 5={{flag, Saudi Arabia, size=23px
(2014–2018){{cite news, publisher=

Middle East Monitor The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but writes about other issues in the Middle East, as wel ...

, title=Saudi Arabia, UAE send troops to support Kurds in Syria, date=22 November 2018, url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181122-saudi-arabia-uae-send-troops-to-support-kurds-in-syria/{{cite news, work=

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, quote=Returning from a summit in the Saudi capital last week, opposition leaders say they were told directly by the foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, that Riyadh was disengaging., url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/31/victory-for-assad-looks-increasingly-likely-as-world-loses-interest-in-syria, title=Victory for Assad looks increasingly likely as world loses interest in Syria, date=31 August 2017 , 6={{flag, United Arab Emirates, size=23px
(2014–2018) , 7={{flag, Qatar, size=23px
(2014–16) , 8={{flag, Morocco, size=23px
(2014–16) , 9={{flag, Australia, size=23px (2014–17) , 10={{flag, Netherlands, size=23px (2014–19) , 11={{flag, Denmark, size=23px
(2016–23) , 12={{flag, Italy, size=23px
(2018) Local ground forces
{{flagicon image, Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svg

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of K ...

* YPJ * {{flagicon image, Gozartoflag.svg, border=no

Syriac Military Council The Syriac Military Council (, MFS; ) is an Assyrian people, Assyrian military organisation in Syria, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The establishment of the organisation was announced on 8 January 2013. According to the Syriac Military Co ...

Al-Sanadid Forces The Forces of the Brave (), generally called the al-Sanadid Forces, is a militia formed by the Arab Shammar tribe to fight against the Islamic State. Even though the tribe's Syrian strongholds are mostly in the Jazira Canton of the Autonomous Adm ...

Euphrates Volcano Euphrates Volcano () was a joint operations room/coalition established during the Syrian Civil War. It mainly consisted of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and certain factions of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The group fought to ...

(2014–15) , combatant2 = {{flagdeco, Syria, 1980, size=23px

{{surrendered
{{flag, Russia (until 8 December 2024)
{{flag, Hezbollah
{{flag, Iran (until 6 December 2024)
Supported by: *{{flagicon image, Shiite Resistance flag.svg

Islamic Resistance in Iraq The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI; ) refers to an informal network of Iranian-backed Shia Islamist armed groups in Iraq. The name is used by members of the network when carrying out attacks against American forces or its allies in the region ...

{{cite web , last1=Baldore , first1=Lolita C. , last2=Copp , first2=Tara , title=US conducts airstrikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria, retaliating for attacks on US troops , url=https://apnews.com/article/us-syria-airstrikes-iran-irgc-a84ed69e5b0ef6c9fa18656b72a9fda1 , website=AP News , publisher=

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, access-date=14 November 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231114060335/https://apnews.com/article/us-syria-airstrikes-iran-irgc-a84ed69e5b0ef6c9fa18656b72a9fda1 , archive-date=14 November 2023 , location=

, language=en , date=13 November 2023 , url-status=live *{{flagicon image, Al hashd al shaabi 379865.jpg

Popular Mobilization Forces The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF; ), also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iranian-backed paramilitary umbrella group that operates within Iraq. Although formally and legally part of the Iraqi Armed Forces and reportin ...

*{{flagicon image, Kata'ib Hezbollah sans logo.JPG

Kata'ib Hezbollah Kata'ib Hezbollah (), also known as the Hezbollah Brigades, is an Iraqi Shia paramilitary group which is a part of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), staffing the 45th, 46th, and 47th Brigades. During the Iraq War (2003–11), the g ...

(limited 2019 and 2021 strikes) , combatant4 = {{flag, Islamic State (2013-present) ---- {{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg, size=23px

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

* {{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg, size=23px

al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

(2014–2017) ** {{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg, size=23px Khorasan group (2014–2017) * {{flagicon image, WaHaridFlag.png Rouse the Believers Operations Room (2018–2020) ** {{flagicon image, Guardians Of Religion INFOBOX flag.png

Hurras al-Din Tanzim Hurras al-Din (), sometimes referred to as Al-Qaeda in Syria, was a Salafi Jihadist organization that fought in the Syrian civil war. The group's former head, Abu Humam al-Shami, was the general military commander of the defunct Al-Nusr ...

(2018–2025) * Flag of Jund al-Aqsa

Jund al-Aqsa Jund al-Aqsa ( ''Jund al-‘Aqṣā'', "Soldiers of al-Aqsa"), known as Liwa al-Aqsa after 7 February 2017, was a Salafist jihadist organization that was active during the Syrian Civil War. Formerly known as Sarayat al-Quds, the group was founde ...

(2014–17) {{flagicon image, Flag of the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria.svg

Turkistan Islamic Party The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is an Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Pakistan by Hasan Mahsum. Its stated goals are to establish an Islamic state in Xinjiang and Central Asia. The Chinese government asserts that the T ...

(2014-2025) , combatant3 = {{flagicon image, Flag of the Islamic Front (Syria).svg, size=23px Islamic Front (2013–2015)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Syrian Salvation Government.svg, size=23px

Syrian Salvation Government The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) was a '' de facto'' unrecognized quasi-state in Syria formed on 2 November 2017 by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other opposition groups during the Syrian civil war. It controlled much of northwest S ...

(2017–2024) * {{flagicon image, Flag of Ahrar ash-Sham.svg, size=23px

Ahrar al-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, was a coalition of multiple Sunni Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bas ...

(Nov. 2014–2025 airstrikes, intentionality disputed) * {{flagicon image, InfoboxHTS.svg

Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was a Sunni Islamist political organisation and paramilitary group involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham facti ...

(2017–2025) * {{Flagicon image, Logo of Jaysh al-Sunna.png

Jaysh al-Sunna Jaysh al-Sunna () was a Homs-based Islamist rebel group that was established as a merger between different rebel groups, some of which originally came from the Free Syrian Army's Farouq Brigades, and was active during the Syrian Civil War. It ...

(2015–2017) , commander1 = {{flagicon, United States, size=23px

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

(from 20 January 2017 to 20 January 2021, since 20 January 2025)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

(until 20 January 2025)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

(until 20 January 2017)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( ; born October 4, 1946)Ashton Carter Ashton Baldwin Carter (September 24, 1954 – October 24, 2022) was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Be ...

(until 2017)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px

James Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired Marine Corps four-star general, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, th ...

(until 2019)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px Patrick M. Shanahan (until 23 June 2019)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px

Mark Esper Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing/high-tech executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as ...

(until 9 November 2020)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px

Lloyd Austin Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star General (United States), general who served as the 28th United States Secretary of Defense, United States secretary of defense from 2021 to 2025. Before ...

(until 20 January 2025)
{{flagicon, United States, size=23px

Pete Hegseth Peter Brian Hegseth (born June 6, 1980) is an American author, former television presenter, and former Army National Guard officer who has served as the 29th United States secretary of defense since 2025. Hegseth studied politics at Princeton ...

(since 25 January 2025) {{flagicon, Denmark, size=23px

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Denmark, prime minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Social Democrats (Denmark)#Leaders of the Social Democrats, leader of the Social Democr ...

(since 27 June 2019)
{{flagicon, Denmark, size=23px

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was Leader of the Ve ...

(until 27 June 2019)
{{flagicon, Denmark, size=23px

Helle Thorning-Schmidt Helle Thorning-Schmidt (; born 14 December 1966) is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each p ...

{{flagicon, Netherlands, size=23px

Dick Schoof Hendrikus Wilhelmus Maria "Dick" Schoof (born 8 March 1957) is a Dutch politician and civil servant serving as the prime minister of the Netherlands of the Schoof cabinet since 2 July 2024. Schoof previously worked as secretary-general of the M ...

(from 2024)
{{flagicon, Netherlands, size=23px

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

(until 2024)
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

(since 5 July 2024)
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

(until 5 July 2024)
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...

(Until 25 October 2022)
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

(until 6 September 2022)
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

(until 24 July 2019)
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

(until 13 July 2016)
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px Stephen Hillier
{{flagicon, Australia, size=23px

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

(since 23 May 2022)
{{flagicon, Australia, size=23px

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...

(until 23 May 2022)
{{flagicon, Australia, size=23px

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

(until 24 August 2018)
{{flagicon, Australia, size=23px

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...

(until 15 September 2015)
{{flagicon, Australia, size=23px Trevor Jones
{{flagicon, Australia, size=23px

David Johnston David Johnston or Dave Johnston may refer to: Politics *David Johnston (governor general) David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served as the 28th governor general of Canada from 2010 to ...

{{flagicon, France, size=23px

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

(since 14 May 2017)
{{flagicon, France, size=23px

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

(until 14 May 2017)
{{flagicon, France, size=23px

Jean-Yves Le Drian Jean-Yves Le Drian (; born 30 June 1947) is a French politician who served as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in the governments of Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex (2017–2022) and as Minister of Defence under Preside ...

{{flagicon, France, size=23px

Pierre de Villiers Pierre François Marie Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon (born 26 July 1956) known as Pierre de Villiers is a retired Army General of the French Army, and a former Chief of the Defence Staff. Following a disagreement with President Emmanuel Ma ...

{{flagicon, Saudi Arabia, size=23px

King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; born 31 December 1935) has been King of Saudi Arabia since 2015, and was Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. He is the 25th son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. He assumed the thro ...

{{flagicon, Saudi Arabia, size=23px King Abdullah († 2015)
{{flagicon, Saudi Arabia, size=23px

Mohammad bin Salman Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (; born 31 August 1985), also known as MBS or MbS, is the '' de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formally serving as Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, ...

{{flagicon, Morocco, size=23px

King Mohammed VI Mohammed VI (; born 21 August 1963) is King of Morocco. A member of the Alawi dynasty, he acceded to the throne on 23 July 1999, upon the death of his father, King Hassan II. Upon ascending to the throne, Mohammed initially introduced several ...

{{flagicon, Morocco, size=23px

Abdelilah Benkirane Abdelilah Benkirane (, born 1954) is a Moroccan politician who was the Prime Minister of Morocco from November 2011 to March 2017. After having won a plurality of seats in the 2011 parliamentary election, his party, the moderate Islamist Justi ...

{{flagicon, Morocco, size=23px Bouchaib Arroub
{{flagicon, United Arab Emirates, size=23px

Mohamed bin Zayed Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (born 11 March 1961), also known as MbZ, is an Emirati royal and politician who is serving as the third and current president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi since 2022. Mohamed completed his edu ...

(since 14 May 2022)
{{flagicon, United Arab Emirates, size=23px Khalifa Al Nahyan (until 13 May 2022)
{{flagicon, Bahrain, size=23px

Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (born 28 January 1950) is King of Bahrain since 1999. He is a member of the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty. Early life and education Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa was born on 28 January 1950 in Riffa, Bahrain. ...

{{flagicon, Qatar, size=23px Tamim Al Thani
{{flagicon, Qatar, size=23px Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah
{{flagicon, Syrian Kurdistan, size=23px

Salih Muslim Muhammad Salih Muslim Muhammad (, ) is the co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main party of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. As the deputy coordinator of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, ...

{{flagicon, Iraqi Kurdistan, size=23px

Masoud Barzani Masoud Barzani (; born 16 August 1946) is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017. Early life and career Barzani was bo ...

{{flagicon, Germany, size=23px

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

(until January 2022)
{{flagicon, Germany, size=23px

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

(until 8 December 2021)
{{flagicon, Germany, size=23px

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK, is a retired German politician who served as Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany), Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of th ...

{{flagicon, Germany, size=23px Volker Wieker
{{flagicon, Canada, size=23px

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

(until November 2015)
{{flagicon, Canada, size=23px

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

(until February 2016)
{{flagicon, Canada, size=23px Thomas J. Lawson (until February 2016)
{{flagicon, Canada, size=23px

Yvan Blondin Lieutenant-General Joseph Aimé Jean Yvan Blondin CMM, CD, usually given as J Y Blondin or Yvan Blondin, is a retired senior Royal Canadian Air Force officer who was Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force from 2012 until 2015. Early and fami ...

(until February 2016) , commander2 = {{flagdeco, Syria, 1980, size=23px

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

{{surrendered
{{Flagicon, Syria, 1980

Dawoud Rajiha Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha (‎; 1947 – 18 July 2012) was a Syrian military officer who served as the Minister of Defense of Syria from August 2011 to July 2012 when he was assassinated along with other senior government officials and military of ...

(until 2012)
{{Flagicon, Syria, 1980 Fahd Jassem al-Freij (until 2018)
{{Flagicon, Syria, 1980

Ali Abdullah Ayyoub Lieutenant General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub (; born 28 April 1952) is a Syrian former military officer and politician. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Syria from 2020 to 2022, and was the Minister of Defense and was personally appointed by ...

(until 2020)
{{Flagicon, Syria, 1980

Ali Mahmoud Abbas Lieutenant General Ali Mahmoud Abbas (; born 2 November 1964) is a Syrian senior military officer and politician who served as the 18th Minister of Defense of Syria, succeeding Ali Abdullah Ayyoub. He is a Sunni Muslim. Early life and educatio ...

{{surrendered
{{Flagicon, Russia

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

{{Flagicon, Russia

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

(until 2020)
{{Flagicon, Russia

Mikhail Mishustin Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin (born 3 March 1966) is a Russian politician and economist serving as the current prime minister of Russia since 16 January 2020. He previously served as the director of the Federal Taxation Service from 2010 to ...

(from 2020)
{{Flagicon, Russia Sergei Shoygu
{{flagicon, Russia

Valery Gerasimov Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov (born 8 September 1955) is a Russian Army general (Russia), army general serving as the Chief of the General Staff (Russia), Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Ministry of Defen ...

{{flagicon, Russia

Viktor Bondarev Viktor Nikolayevich Bondarev (; born 7 December 1959) is a retired Russian colonel general and former Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces (1 August 2015 – 26 September 2017), and the former Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force ...

{{flagicon, Russia Sergey Rudskoy
(Chief of Gen Staff. Ops. Dept.)
{{flagicon, Russia

Aleksandr Dvornikov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Dvornikov (; born 22 August 1961) is a former Russian army general (Russia), army general who commanded the Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war, Russian military intervention in Syria and the Russian in ...

(September 2015 – June 2016)
{{flagicon, Russia

Alexander Zhuravlyov Colonel General Alexander Alexandrovich Zhuravlyov (; born 5 December 1965) is a Russian Ground Forces officer who has commanded the military force in Syria during the Russian military intervention in Syria, Russian military intervention in the ...

(July–December 2016)
{{flagicon, Russia

Andrey Kartapolov Andrey Valeryevich Kartapolov (; born 9 November 1963) is a Russian politician and former army officer of the Russian Army. From 30 July 2018 to October 2021 he served as Deputy Minister of Defence (Russia), Defence Minister, and headed the Main ...

(December 2016 – March 2017)
{{flagicon, Russia Sergey Surovikin
(March–December 2017)
{{flagicon, Russia

(December 2017 – September 2018)
{{flagicon, Russia Sergey Kuralenko
September–October 2018
{{flagicon, Russia Aleksandr Lapin
(October 2018 – January 2019)
{{flagicon, Russia Sergey Surovikin
(January–April 2019)
{{flagicon, Russia

Andrey Serdyukov Andrey Nikolaevich Serdyukov (; born 4 March 1962) is a Russian Airborne Forces colonel general who was commander of the Russian Airborne Forces from 2016 to 2022. He also commanded the Operational Group of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria f ...

Командующего ВДВ десантировали в Сирию. Российские силы в республике возглавил Андрей Сердюков
Kommersant, 12 April 2019.(April–September 2019)
{{flagicon, Russia Aleksandr ChaikoМинобороны РФ сменило командующего российской группировкой в Сирии
Interfax, 13 November 2019.
(September 2019 – November 2020)
{{flagicon, Russia Sergey Kuzovlev
(November 2020 – February 2021)
{{flagicon, Russia Aleksandr Chaiko
February–June 2021
{{flagicon, Russia

Yevgeny Nikiforov Yevgeny Valeryevich Nikiforov (; born 1 January 1970), is a Russian military officer who was the commander of the Western Military District between 23 January 2023 and 26 February 2024. He had previously been the Chief of Staff - First Deputy Co ...

(June–October 2021)
{{flagicon, Russia Roman Berdnikov
(since October 2021)
{{flagicon, Russia Valery Asapov{{KIA
{{flagicon, Russia Vyacheslav Gladich{{KIA
{{flagicon, Iran

Ali Khamenei Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third President of Iran, president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure ...

{{flagicon, Iran

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...

(until 2021)
{{flagicon, Iran

Ebrahim Raisi Ebrahim Raisolsadati (14 December 1960 – 19 May 2024), better known as Ebrahim Raisi, was an Iranian politician who served as the eighth president of Iran from 2021 until 2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash, his death in a helicopter crash in 202 ...

(until dying in a Helicopter Crash in 2024)
{{flagicon, Iran

Amir Hatami Amir Hatami (born 1966) is an Iranian military officer who is currently serving as the commander-in-chief of the Iranian Army. Having the rank of major general, Hatami was made commander-in-chief following the permuting of Abdolrahim Mousavi to ...

(but stopped being in office in 2021)
{{flagicon, Iran

Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani () is an Iranian Officer (armed forces), military officer who has served as the deputy General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, chief of staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, ...

(from 2021 but stopped being in office in 2024)
{{flagicon image, Flag of Iran.svg Maj. Gen.

Qasem Soleimani Qasem Soleimani (; 11 March 1957 – 3 January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until Assassination of Qasem Soleimani, his assassination by the United States in 2020, h ...

{{KIA{{cite news, url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iranian-syrian-commanders-meet-discuss-upcoming-aleppo-offensive/, title=Iranian, Syrian commanders meet to discuss upcoming Aleppo offensive, first=Leith, last=Fadel, date=7 September 2016, newspaper=

Al-Masdar News ''Al-Masdar News'' (sometimes abbreviated ''AMN'') () was an online newspaper founded by Leith Abou Fadel. Al-Masdar is Arabic for "the source". ''Al-Masdar''s coverage focuses largely on conflict zones in the Middle East: Syria, Yemen, and Ir ...

, access-date=7 September 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908162911/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iranian-syrian-commanders-meet-discuss-upcoming-aleppo-offensive/, archive-date=8 September 2016, url-status=dead
(Quds Force chief commander)
{{flagicon image, Flag of Iran.svg Brig. Gen. Dariush Dorosti{{KIA
(IRGC commander)
{{flagicon image, Flag of Iran.svg Maj. Abolghassem Zahiri{{WIA{{cite web, url=https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/08/iranian-military-involvement-in-the-battle-for-aleppo.php, title=Iranian military involvement in the battle for Aleppo, first=Amir, last=Toumaj, website=The Long War Journal, date=3 August 2016, access-date=14 March 2021, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805034303/http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/08/iranian-military-involvement-in-the-battle-for-aleppo.php, archive-date=5 August 2016, url-status=live
(102nd Imam Hossein Battalion commander)
{{flagicon image, Flag of Iran.svg Ahmad Gholami{{KIA
(Iranian paramilitary commander)
{{flagicon image, Flag of Iran.svg Brig.Gen.

Mohammad Reza Zahedi Mohammad Reza Zahedi (; 2 November 1960 – 1 April 2024) was an Iranian military officer. A senior figure within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he had previously commanded the IRGC Aerospace Force and the IRGC Ground Forces, a ...

{{KIA
(Quds Force commander) , commander4 = {{flagicon, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, size=23px

{{KIA (Leader)

{{KIA (Leader)
{{flagicon, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, size=23px Abu Alaa Afri{{KIA
(Deputy Leader of ISIL)
{{flagdeco, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, size=23px Abu Ayman al-Iraqi{{KIA (Head of Military Shura)
{{flagdeco, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, size=23px

Abu Omar al-Shishani Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili ( ka, თარხან ბათირაშვილი; 11 January 1986 – 10 July 2016), known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Omar al-Shishani () or Omar al-Shishani, was a Chechen- Georgian jihadist who ...

{{KIA (Chief commander in Syria)
---- {{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg, size=23px

Abu Khayr al-Masri Abdullah Abd al-Rahman Muhammad Rajab Abd al-Rahman (), known as Ahmad Hasan Abu al-Khayr al-Masri (), (3 November 1957 – 26 February 2017) was an Egyptian al-Qaeda leader who has been described as the general deputy to al-Qaeda leader Ayman ...

{{KIA (al-Qaeda deputy leader)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg, size=23px

Abu Humam al-Shami Samir Abdel Latif Hijazi (), known as Abu Humam al-Shami () or Faruq al-Suri () (born 1977), is a Syrian militant and soldier who was the military chief of al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate al-Nusra Front. He became the head of the Hurras al-Din in Fe ...

(al-Nusra Military Chief and subsequent leader of Hurras al-Din)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg, size=23px

Abu Mohammad al-Julani Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (born 29 October 1982) also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Mohammad al-Julani, is a Syrian politician and former rebel commander serving as the president of Syria since January 2025. He previously served as the coun ...

(Emir of Al-Nusra front (2012–2016))
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front.svg Abu Hajer al-Homsi{{KIA (top al-Nusra military commander)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg, size=23px Abu Firas al-Suri{{KIA (al-Nusra Spokesman)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg, size=23px Abu Muhammed al Ansari{{KIA
(al-Nusra Emir of the

Idlib Province Idlib Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama Governorate to the south, ...

)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg, size=23px

Ahmad Salama Mabruk Ahmad Salama Mabruk (; 1956 – 3 October 2016), known as Abu Faraj al-Masri (), was a senior leader in the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and was previously a leader in Jabhat al-Nusra and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant gro ...

{{KIA (al-Nusra senior commander)
{{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg, size=23px Muhsin al-Fadhli{{KIA (Leader of Khorasan)
{{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg, size=23px Sanafi al-Nasr{{KIA
{{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg, size=23px

David Drugeon The Khorasan group, sometimes known simply as Khorasan, was an alleged group of senior al-Qaeda members operating in Syria. The group was reported to consist of a small number of fighters who are all on terrorist watchlists, and coordinated wit ...

{{KIA

Said Arif{{KIA (Jund al-Aqsa Military Chief)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria.svg Abu Omar al-Turkistani{{KIA (TIP and al-Nusra military commander) ---- , commander3 = {{flagicon image, Flag of Ahrar ash-Sham.svg, size=23px Abu Yahia al-Hamawi (Emir of Ahrar al-Sham (2015–2017))
{{flagicon image, Flag of Ahrar ash-Sham.svg, size=23px {{flagicon image, , size=23px

Abu Jaber Sheikh Hashim al-Sheikh (), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Jaber Sheikh () is a Syrian rebel commander and senior leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham. Previously a senior commander in Ahrar al-Sham, he directed its merger with other Islamist groups ...

(Emir of Ahrar al-Sham (2014-2015); Emir of Tahrir al-Sham (2017))
{{flagicon image, , size=23px Abu Mohammad al-Julani (Ahmed al-Sharaa) (Emir of Tahrir al-Sham (2017–2025); '' de facto'' Leader of Syria (2024-2025)) , units1 = , units2 = , units3 = , units4 = , strength1 = Coalition forces: Coalition forces-air {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=United States: , {{USS , George H.W. Bush, CVN-77, 6

carrier strike group A carrier strike group (CSG) is a type of carrier battle group of the United States Navy. It is an operational formation composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, usually an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer Squadron (naval), squad ...

, {{USS , Carl Vinson, CVN-70, 6

(16 Oct. – present) , {{USS , Arleigh Burke, DDG-51, 6 , {{USS , Philippine Sea, CG-58, 6 , Tomahawk missiles , Fighter aircraft ,

F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is an American twin-engine, jet-powered, all-weather, supersonic stealth fighter aircraft. As a product of the United States Air Force's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, the aircraft was de ...

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superio ...

F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's des ...

F/A-18 Super Hornet The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are a series of American supersonic twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The Super Hornet is in service with the armed forces ...

, Bomber aircraft ,

B-1 Lancer The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One"). , it is one of the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with th ...

, Ground-attack aircraft ,

A-10 Thunderbolt The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 19 ...

, Electronic warfare aircraft ,

EA-18G Growler The Boeing EA-18G Growler is an American aircraft carrier, carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft, a specialized version of the two-seat Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet. The EA-18G replaced the Northrop Grumman EA- ...

{{citation needed, date=December 2020 ,

EA-6B Prowler The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft. Operated by both the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy between 1971 and 2019, it was derived from the A- ...

, Drones ,

MQ-1 Predator The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator (often referred to as the Predator drone) is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency ...

{{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Bahrain: , 2

F-16s The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superio ...

{{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=France: , 1 aircraft carrier ''Charles de Gaulle'' , 24

Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range ...

fighters , 8 Super-Étendard fighters , 3

Mirage 2000D The Dassault Mirage 2000N is a variant of the Mirage 2000 designed for nuclear strike. It formed the core of the French air-based strategic nuclear deterrent. The Mirage 2000D is its conventional attack counterpart. Development The Mirage ...

fighters , 3

Mirage 2000N The Dassault Mirage 2000N is a variant of the Mirage 2000 designed for nuclear strike. It formed the core of the French air-based strategic nuclear deterrent. The Mirage 2000D is its conventional attack counterpart. Development The Mirage ...

fighters , 1 Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Germany: , 1200 troops , 6

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are three primary #Variants, Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS ...

RECCE jets , 1

Airbus A310 MRTT The Airbus A310 MRTT Multi-Role Tanker Transport is a military air-to-air refuelling, or in-flight refuelling tanker transport aircraft, capable of operating multi-role missions. The A310 MRTT tanker aircraft is a subsequent development from ...

for in-flight refueling {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Jordan: , 20

{{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Qatar: , 2 Mirage 2000s {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Saudi Arabia: , 4 F-15s {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=United Arab Emirates: , 4

{{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=United Kingdom: , 3 Surface Warships , 2 Submarines , 15 Eurofighter Typhoons , 9 Panavia Tornado Aircraft , 10 MQ-9 Reaper Drones , 1 ISR Aircraft , 3

RC-135 The Boeing RC-135 is a family of large reconnaissance aircraft built by Boeing and modified by a number of companies, including General Dynamics, Lockheed, LTV, E-Systems, L3Harris Technologies, and used by the United States Air Force and R ...

, MQ-9 Reaper {{collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Denmark , 7 F-16s in Iraq and Syria (pulled out) , 1 frigate {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Netherlands: , 4

Coalition forces-ground {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Iraqi Kurdistan: , 152

Peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...

soldiers , Unknown amount of artillery {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=United States: , 4,000

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

and

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

(in Sept. 2017) , 450 Marines with 18 artillery pieces {{Collapsible list , title=France: , ~200 special forces ---- Local forces {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=YPG: , 65,000 {{Collapsible list , bullets=yes , title=Free Syrian Army: , 60,000 (May 2015 estimate) , strength2 = Ba'athist Syria: * 180,000 soldiers , strength4 = Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: * Around 100,000 fighters (according to

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

Chief of Staff) * 3

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircra ...

aircraft * At least a few hundred tanks * 2 drones ---- al-Qaeda: * Khorasan: 50 * Jund al-Aqsa: 2,100 ---- , strength3 = Islamic Front: * Ahrar al-Sham: * 26,000–30,000+ Syrian Salvation Government: * Tahrir al-Sham: 31,000+ (2017) 20,000–30,000 (2018){{cite web, url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-dunford/top-u-s-general-warns-against-major-assault-on-syrias-idlib-idUKKCN1LK1JY, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905155718/https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-dunford/top-u-s-general-warns-against-major-assault-on-syrias-idlib-idUKKCN1LK1JY, url-status=dead, archive-date=5 September 2018, title=Top U.S. general warns against major assault on Syria's Idlib, first=Phil, last=Stewart, date=4 September 2018, publisher=Reuters , casualties1 = {{flagicon, United States, size=23px United States:
11 servicemen killed8 US Military, 1 DOD civilian{{Cite web, url=https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2019/Direct%20War%20Deaths%20COW%20Estimate%20November%2013%202019%20FINAL.pdf, title=Watson Institute International and Public Affairs- Brown University Human Cost of Post-9/11 Wars. November 2019
18 Government contractors killed (1 non-combat)
1

V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-use, tiltrotor military transport aircraft, military transport and cargo aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed ...

crashed
5 combat drones lost
{{flagicon, Jordan, size=23px Jordan:
1

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

executed
1 F-16 crashed
2 drones lost{{Cite web, url=https://warisboring.com/drones-are-dropping-like-flies-from-the-sky-over-syria/, title=Drones Are Dropping Like Flies From the Sky Over Syria, date=22 June 2017
{{flagicon, United Kingdom, size=23px United Kingdom:
1 serviceman killed
2 SAS operators wounded
{{flagicon, France, size=23px France:
1 serviceman killed , casualties2 = {{flagdeco, Syria, 1980, size=23px Ba'athist Syria:
169 soldiers and militiamen killed (per SOHR)
Up to 23 Russian paramilitary forces killed (per SOHR)Christoph Reuter
American Fury: The Truth About the Russian Deaths in Syria: Hundreds of Russian soldiers are alleged to have died in U.S. airstrikes at the beginning of February. Reporting by DER SPIEGEL shows that events were likely very different.
''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'', 2 March 2018.
3 tanks destroyed
10+ aircraft destroyed
1 SAM battery destroyed {{flagicon, Iran 2 drones lost , casualties4 = {{flagicon, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, size=23px Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant:
At least 9,158 killed
(per

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...

(SOHR)) ---- {{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg, size=23px al-Qaeda: * {{flagicon image, Flag of the Al-Nusra Front.svg

Al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

:
349 killed
(per SOHR) * {{flagicon image}

:
≈50 killed (per SOHR) ---- , casualties3 = {{flagicon image, Flag of the Islamic Front (Syria).svg, size=23px Islamic Front: * {{flagicon image, Flag of Ahrar ash-Sham.svg, size=23px Ahrar al-Sham: 3 killed (per SOHR) * {{Flagicon image, Logo of Jaysh al-Sunna.png Jaysh al-Sunna: 10 killed (per SOHR)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Syrian Salvation Government.svg, size=23px Syrian Salvation Government: * {{flagicon image, , size=23px Tahrir al-Sham:
6 killed , notes = 3,847 civilians killed by Coalition airstrikes in Syria (per SOHR)
6,100+ civilians killed by ISIL in Syria (and up to 3200 missing prisoners of ISIL) per SOHR
Over 420,000 civilians displaced or fled to other countries
Number of militants killed possibly higher, due to them covering up their losses. , campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Syrian Civil War {{Donald Trump series On 22 September 2014, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

officially intervened in the Syrian civil war with the stated aim of fighting the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

(ISIL/ISIS) militant organization in support of the international war against it, code named

. The US currently continues to support the

Syrian Free Army The Syrian Free Army (SFA, ), previously known as the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA, ), and the New Syrian Army (NSA, ), was a United States Army-trained opposition faction in southeast Syria. It has been hosted at the US military al-Tanf ...

opposition faction and the

-led

. Shortly after the start of the civil war in 2011, the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

placed

sanctions against Syria International sanctions against Syria are a series of economic sanctions and restrictions imposed on Syria which was under the Bashar al-Assad's Assad regime, dictatorship at that time by the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom ...

and supported the

rebel faction by covertly authorizing

Timber Sycamore Timber Sycamore was a classified weapons supply and training program run by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and supported by the United Kingdom and some Arabs, Arab intelligence services, including General Intelligence Presi ...

under which the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) armed and trained rebels. Following the Islamic State's occupation of Eastern Syria in August 2014, the United States conducted surveillance flights in Syria to gather intelligence regarding the Islamic State. In September 2014, the United States-led coalition—which involves the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and others—launched an air campaign against the Islamic State and

inside Syria. The US missile strike on Shayrat Airbase on 7 April 2017 was the first time the US deliberately attacked

Syrian government The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succ ...

forces during the war, and marked the start of a series of direct military actions by US forces against the Syrian government and its allies via airstrikes and aircraft shoot-downs, mainly in defense of either the Syrian Democratic Forces or the

opposition group based in

al-Tanf Al-Tanf () is a U.S. military base in a part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria, which is controlled by the Syrian Free Army. It is located 24 km (15 mi) west of the al-Walid border crossing in the Syrian Desert. The surrounding decon ...

. In mid-January 2018, the

Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...

indicated its intention to maintain an open-ended military presence in Syria to accomplish US political objectives, including countering Iranian influence and ousting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. However, on 19 December, President Trump unilaterally ordered the withdrawal of the 2,000–2,500 US ground troops in Syria at the time, which was to be completed in 2019. With proliferating concerns over a potential power vacuum, the US announced on 22 February 2019 that instead of a total withdrawal, a contingency force of around 400 US troops would remain

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

ed in Syria indefinitely, and that their withdrawal would be gradual and conditions-based, returning to a policy of open-ended American military presence in the country. In 2019, the coalition saw decisive results in its intervention against the Islamic State; the terror group lost its last remaining territory in Syria during the

battle of Baghuz Fawqani The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel, that began on 9 ...

and its leader

died during a

US special forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, is a branch of the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). The core missionset of Special Forces ...

raid RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical Computer data storage, data storage components into one or more logical units for th ...

Idlib Idlib (, ; also spelt Idleb or Edlib) is a city in northwestern Syria, and is the capital of the Idlib Governorate. It has an elevation of nearly above sea level, and is southwest of Aleppo. It is located near the border with Turkey. History ...

in October 2019. The Trump administration ordered all US forces to withdraw from

Rojava Rojava may refer to: * Syrian Kurdistan, also known as Rojava, the geographical region where Kurds historically settled within present-day Syria * Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Democratic Autonomous Administ ...

in early October ahead of a Turkish incursion into the region, a controversial move widely seen as a reneging of the US's alliance with the SDF in favor of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

ally

. However, by November 2019, US troops instead repositioned to eastern Syria, reinforcing their presence in the

al-Hasakah Al-Hasakah (; / ; ) is a city in northeastern Syria and the capital of the Al-Hasakah Governorate. With a 2023 estimated population of 422,445, Al-Hasakah is populated by Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians and Chechens. A ...

and

Deir ez-Zor Deir ez-Zor () is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 ...

governorates, with the subordinate mission of securing SDF-controlled oil and gas infrastructure from the IS insurgency and the Syrian government. On 23 November 2019, the head of US Central Command stated there was no "end date" on the US's intervention in Syria. The

US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

stated that there were around 900 US soldiers operating in Syria as of February 2021.{{cite news, work=Kurdistan24, url=https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/23919-US-has-900-troops-in-Syria,-likely-to-remain, title=US has 900 troops in Syria, likely to remain, date=10 February 2021, access-date=9 December 2021 On 19 December 2024, after the

fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

revealed that there were around 2,000 US troops in Syria, adding that the increase was temporary and occurred in recent months. However, the U.S. military continues to withdraw in 2025, leaving less than 1,000 troops to work with allies to fight the Islamic State militants.

Background

{{Further, Middle Eastern foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration#Syria, Foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war, Arab Spring, Arab Winter Leaked United States diplomatic cables have been seen as showing that regime change in Syria may have been a covert foreign policy goal of the US government in the years leading up to the civil war, even during the period when President

was publicly engaging with Syrian president

. A 2006 memorandum by US diplomat William Roebuck of the embassy in Damascus stated:

We believe Bashar's weaknesses are in how he chooses to react to looming issues, both perceived and real, such as...the potential threat to the regime from the increasing presence of transiting Islamist extremists. This cable summarizes our assessment of these vulnerabilities and suggests that there may be actions, statements and signals that the USG can send that will improve the likelihood of such opportunities arising. These proposals will need to be fleshed out and converted into real actions and we need to be ready to move quickly to take advantage of such opportunities. Many of our suggestions underline using Public Diplomacy and more indirect means to send messages that influence the inner circle.

According to

Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and political writer. He gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer ...

and activist Robert Naiman, Roebuck, who went on to be charge d'affairs of the Libyan embassy under Obama, also considered the advantages of promoting religious sectarianism in Syria. Following the start of the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

in 2011,

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

in Syria against the Assad regime were violently suppressed and a civil war began. By 2012 there were several armed opposition groups operating in the country, including the

, formed in July 2011 by officers who defected from the

Syrian Armed Forces The Syrian Armed Forces () are the military forces of Syria. Up until the fall of Bashar al-Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Ba'ath Party Ba'athist Syria, regime in December 2024, the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were the sta ...

. In 2012, the

, led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani, was established by the

Islamic State of Iraq The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI; ') was a Salafi jihadist militant organization that fought the forces of the U.S.-led coalition during the Iraqi insurgency. The organization aimed to overthrow the Iraqi federal government and establish an ...

(ISI) as the official branch of ''al-Qaeda in Syria''. The al-Nusra Front was eclipsed by its own creator, and

severed its ties to the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

in February 2014, after an eight-month power struggle. Despite clear connections between ISI and the al-Nusra Front, the two organisations never merged during the Syrian Civil War, as al-Julani refused to cede control to ISI and insisted on maintaining al-Nusra Front as a separate entity. Shortly after the civil war broke out in 2011, the US initially supplied the rebels of the

with non-lethal aid (e.g., food rations and pickup trucks), but quickly began providing training, money, and intelligence to selected Syrian rebel commanders. At least two US programs attempted to assist the Syrian rebels, including a 2014

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

program that planned to train and equip 15,000 rebels to fight the IS, which was canceled in 2015 after spending $500 million and producing only a few dozen fighters. A simultaneous $1 billion covert program called

conducted by the

(CIA) aimed at fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was more successful, but was decimated by Russian bombing, and canceled in mid-2017 by the

. The

began surveillance missions on Islamic State positions in Syria in September 2014. On 22 September 2014, the US,

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

(UAE) began to attack ISIL forces inside Syria, as well as the Khorasan group in the

Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama Governorate to the sou ...

west of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, and the

around

Raqqa Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...

, as part of the

international military intervention against ISIL Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian civil war and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, universally condemned executions, hu ...

Timber Sycamore and Syrian Train and Equip Program

{{Further, Timber Sycamore, CIA activities in Syria, Foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war#United States At the direction of US President

, the

(CIA) was put in charge of operations worth about $1 billion annually to arm anti-government forces in Syria, an operation which formally began in 2013, more than two years after the start of the civil war in 2011. Prior to 2013, the CIA only supplied certain rebel groups of the

with non-lethal aid, but later began providing training, funding, and intelligence to selected rebel commanders. Although a former intelligence adviser who spoke to journalist

claimed the CIA had been facilitating the flow of arms from

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

to Syria in collaboration with "the UK [

and

" since 2012 or 2011, the first confirmed CIA weapons arrived in Spring 2014: "There were just a handful, delivered to only one rebel group carefully vetted by the CIA". The group, Harakat Hazm, or the Steadfast Movement, showed off the new weapons system by posting the first successful strike on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in April. Another of the groups being vetted was the Islamist

Army of Mujahedeen The Mujahideen Army (, Jaysh al-Mujahideen) was a Sunni Islamism, Islamist rebel group formed in order to fight the Syrian government and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War. Originally a coalition of sev ...

, formed in January 2014 specifically to combat ISIL. However, there were indications that the Army of Mujahedeen was still being vetted in September 2014. In addition to the covert CIA program, on 17 September 2014, the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

voted to authorize the executive branch to overtly train and equip Syrian rebels against ISIL forces, at a cost of $500 million.

July 2014 rescue mission

{{Main, 2014 American rescue mission in Syria Following the abduction of a number of foreigners in Syria, on 4 July 2014, the US carried out an operation to rescue foreign hostages being held by ISIL. US airstrikes were conducted against an ISIL military base known as the "Osama bin Laden Camp" while at the same time, two dozen US special forces soldiers dropped from helicopters near an ISIL-held building, thought to be for high-value prisoners. No prisoners were found in the building and the soldiers were quickly engaged by ISIL forces dispatched from

, which started a three-hour firefight. US forces concluded that the hostages were no longer at the site and abandoned the rescue attempt. At least five ISIL fighters were killed and one US soldier was wounded. Jordanian forces were also reportedly involved in the operation, with one Jordanian soldier reportedly wounded, but Jordanian involvement was not confirmed. Later on, it was reported that the hostages had been moved 24 hours before the attempted rescue. Following the mission, it remained unclear whether the operation failed due to bad intelligence or whether ISIL forces were alerted in advance of the mission. In the aftermath of the rescue mission, and purportedly as a response to airstrikes in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, ISIL beheaded three hostages over a one-month period: Americans James Foley and

Steven Sotloff Steven Joel Sotloff (; May 11, 1983 – September 2, 2014) was an American-Israeli journalist. In August 2013, he was kidnapped in Aleppo, Syria, and held captive by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). On September 2, 20 ...

on 19 August and 2 September, respectively,{{citation needed, date=November 2019 and Briton David Haines on 13 September.

Surveillance flights over Syria

On 26 August 2014, the US began conducting overt surveillance flights, including drones, over Syria to gather intelligence on ISIL targets. The flights began gathering intelligence that would aid future airstrikes even though airstrikes were not yet authorized at that point. No approval was sought from the Assad government for flights entering Syrian airspace.

US-led coalition against ISIL

{{See also, War against the Islamic State#US-led intervention in Syria In June 2014, the Iraqi government formally requested the United States to assist in its struggle against ISIL, following the group's offensive in northern Iraq that same month. Since then, the US led efforts to establish a global coalition to counter ISIL. In response to this request, various sets of countries convened on 5 September, 15 September and 3 December 2014, to discuss concerted action against ISIL. Present at all three meetings were the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada,

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The coalition of 5 September (10 countries) decided to support anti-ISIL forces in Iraq and Syria. On 10 September 2014, US president Barack Obama announced a "comprehensive" strategy to counter ISIL that "in concert with coalition partners ..will defeat ISIL and deny them safe haven". The coalition of 3 December 2014 (sixty countries) that styled itself as the ''Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)'' agreed on a many-sided strategy against ISIL, including cutting off ISIL's financing and funding and exposing ISIL's true nature. As of March 2015, the US-led coalition comprised over sixty countries, that contributed in various ways to the effort.

Support for Kurdish-led ground forces

As the

Siege of Kobanî The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State (IS) on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî (also known as Kobanê or Ayn al-Arab) in northern Syria, in the ''de facto'' autonomous regi ...

continued there were growing calls to also arm the

, also known as the People's Protection Units, a Kurdish fighting force in Syria heavily involved in the defense of Kobanî. On 20 October 2014, the Turkish

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who is currently a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Grand National Assembly. He also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), Minister o ...

announced that the Turkish government would be allowing

from the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government to cross their border into Kobanî to support Kurdish fighters. The change in policy came after the Turkish government had refused to allow Kurdish fighters and supplies to pass through the border to

units in Kobanî, as it viewed the YPG as an offshoot of the PKK. On 28 October,

from the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government departed

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

to travel to

and eventually to Kobanî. A total of 152 soldiers were deployed starting with forty vehicles carrying weapons, artillery, and machine guns, along with 80 Peshmerga forces, who crossed the border into Turkey by land with the heavy weapons and then drove to the border near Kobanî. The other 72 soldiers in the contingent flew to Turkey and rejoined the rest of the contingent on 29 October. By the start of November, 152 Kurdish Peshmerga from Iraq and 50

fighters had crossed the border into Kobanî with heavy weapons, small arms, and ammunition. On 20 October 2014, the United States began airdropping supplies to

Syrian Kurdish The Kurdish population of Syria is the country's largest ethnic minority, usually estimated at around 10% of the Syrian population Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, constituting around 10 per cent of the population – around 2 m ...

forces, including the

, that were besieging ISIL-controlled Kobanî. Prior to 20 October, the United States and its anti-ISIL coalition partners in Syria had not provided any supplies to Kurdish forces in their fight against the jihadist group. Much of the reason for the US airdropping supplies was due to the Turkish government's refusal to allow supplies to pass through their border into Kobanî. The US specifically airdropped weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies supplied by

intended to supply the Kurdish forces in Syria. On 21 October, a video was released by ISIL showing what it claimed was a bundle of airdropped small arms, ammunition, and other supplies from the United States. The Pentagon said it was analyzing the video and could not at the time confirm whether the video was authentic but that the materials were similar; the video would subsequently be analyzed by the Department of Defense to verify its authenticity. On 22 October, the Pentagon confirmed that one of its airdrops had been intercepted by ISIL elements but downplayed the incident, saying that it most likely would not give ISIL any real advantage in their overall operations. On 8 December 2024, following the end of the Assad regime and takeover by the SDF and Syrian opposition, the United States Central Command announced renewed operations and air strikes against ISIL cells and targets within Syria. US President Joe Biden called the regime change as a "moment of risk", and clarified that the operations were to ensure that ISIL did not take advantage of the circumstances.{{fact, date=March 2025

Coalition arming and training of the Syrian opposition

{{Main, Syrian Train and Equip Program In October 2014, the Turkish government agreed to help train and equip some moderate Syrian rebels in

. By January 2015, the United States was set to send 400 troops and hundreds of support staff to countries neighboring Syria in order to train 5,000 opposition soldiers a year for the next three years. The countries taking part in the train-and-equip program were to include Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey. The groups that were expected to be armed and trained by the US government included fighters from the

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

confirmed that it had selected 1,200 Syrian opposition members to begin training in March 2015, with 3,000 to complete training by the end of 2015. The successful experience in

Kobanî Kobani, also Kobane, officially Ayn al-Arab, is a Kurdish-majority city in the Ayn al-Arab District in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the Syria–Turkey border. As a consequence of the Syrian civil war, the city came under the co ...

had informed US policy in regard to arming Syrian opposition groups other than the Kurdish

, with plans to give other groups

technicals Technicals may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle often used in civil conflict * TECHNICALS, a clothing brand owned by Blacks Leisure Group See also * Technical (disambiguation) Technical may refer to: * Technical ...

equipped with radio and

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

equipment to call in airstrikes. John R. Allen, President Obama's envoy to the international coalition against ISIL, stated "It is clearly part of our plan, that not only we will train them, and we will equip them with the latest weapons systems, but we will also protect them when the time comes". In March 2015, the United Kingdom announced that it was sending around 75 military instructors to train Syrian opposition forces. The train-and-equip program started on 9 May 2015. On 25 May, Turkey and the US agreed "in principle" on the necessity to support these forces with air support. However, only about 200 rebel fighters actually began training, the majority of whom left after being required to agree to fight only against ISIL and not the Assad government. By mid-2015, only a group of 54 such fighters ( Division 30) had been deployed—which was quickly routed in an ambush by

al-Nusra Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

—and a further 100 had been thus far finished training in Jordan. In September 2015, it was reported that a further 100-120 were being trained in a second wave, with 75 more Division 30 fighters reported to have re-entered Syria at the end of the month; they were immediately attacked by al-Nusra. ''

Jane's Defence Weekly ''Jane's Defence Weekly'' (abbreviated as ''JDW'') is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who ...

'' reported that in December 2015 the US shipped 994 tonnes of weapons and ammunition (including packaging and container weight), generally of Soviet-type equipment from Eastern Europe, to Syrian rebel groups under the ongoing CIA

operation. A detailed list of weapon types and shipment weights had been obtained from the US government's Federal Business Opportunities website. As of July 2016, extensive arms shipments were continuing. It was reported in July 2017 that the Donald Trump administration decided to "phase-out" the CIA program to equip and train anti-government rebel groups.

Multinational air war

{{further, Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against the Government of Syria to Respond to Use of Chemical Weapons

Contributing countries

* {{flagu, Australia (

Operation Okra Operation Okra was the Australian Defence Force (ADF) contribution to the military intervention against the Islamic State. The deployed forces formed part of Joint Task Force 633 in the Middle East. The operation commenced on 31 August 2014, ...

) – Airstrikes ended December 2017. Concluded December 2024. * {{flagu, Bahrain – Ended in 2016 * {{flagu, Belgium – Ended in 2017 * {{flagu, Canada ( Operation Impact § In Syria) – Airstrikes ended February 2016 * {{flagu, France ( Opération Chammal) * {{flagu, Germany ( Operation Counter Daesh) – Operations in Syria ended January 2022 * {{flagu, Netherlands ( Dutch military intervention against ISIL and Dutch involvement in the Syrian civil war) – Airstrikes in Syria began January 2016; anti-ISIL operations ended January 2019 * {{flagu, Jordan ( Jordanian intervention in the Syrian civil war) – Airstrikes partially ended in July 2018{{Cite web, url=https://apnews.com/article/a3f6fc164ecb4f5c8845cc05d59da6c6, title=The Latest: Syrian forces drive IS from Golan frontier, date=30 July 2018, website=AP NEWS * {{flagu, Qatar ( Qatari involvement in the Syrian civil war) * {{flagu, Saudi Arabia ( Saudi Arabian involvement in the Syrian civil war) – Involvement ended in 2018 * {{flagu, Turkey (

Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war , width = 400px , partof = foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war , image = {{Multiple image, border=info ...

and

Turkey–Islamic State conflict The Turkey–Islamic State conflict are a series of attacks and clashes between the state of Turkey and the Islamic State. Turkey joined the War against the Islamic State in 2016, after the Islamic State attacks in Turkey. The Turkish Armed Force ...

) * {{flagu, United Arab Emirates – Involvement ended in 2018 * {{flagu, United Kingdom, size=22px ( Operation Shader § Intervention in Syria) * {{flagu, United States (Leader) (

)

US airstrikes

Tomahawk Missile fired from US Destroyers

In his address to the nation on 10 September 2014, US President Obama announced his intention to bomb ISIL targets in Syria and called on Congress to authorize a program to train and arm rebels who were fighting ISIL and the Syrian forces of

. For the first time, he authorized direct attacks against the militant group in Syria. In his address, he said the United States were going on offensive, launching "a steady, relentless effort to take out" the group "wherever they exist." Obama also announced creating of a broader coalition against ISIL. Commenting on Obama's address, Russian

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

spokesman {{Interlanguage link, Alexander Lukashevich, 2=ru, 3=Лукашевич, Александр Казимирович, preserve=1 opposed the US intervention against ISIL in Syria "without the consent of the legitimate government" and said that "this step, in the absence of a UN Security Council decision, would be an act of aggression, a gross violation of international law". Ali Haidar, Syrian minister of national reconciliation, said that "any action of any kind without the consent of the Syrian government would be an attack on Syria". On 17 September, the

approved Obama's plan to train and arm the Syrian rebels in their fight against ISIL. In a statement following the House vote, Obama said that the United States would not send military troops to Syria. The

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

gave final congressional approval to Obama's proposal the next day. The US did not request permission from the Syrian government, nor did it coordinate its actions with the Syrian government, provide direct notification to the Syrian military or give indication of timing on specific targets, but it did notify the Syrian U.N. representative, which the Syrian government confirmed. Before the airstrikes began, the United States also informed

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, the Assad government's largest regional ally, of their intention to launch airstrikes. It did not share specific timing or targets of strikes with the Iranian government but reportedly assured it that the US would not strike any Syrian government targets. {{See also, Battle of Khasham On 8 April 2018, US President Donald Trump called Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad "Animal Assad", following suspected chemical attack carried out in the Syrian city of Douma. On 14 April, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom carried out missile strikes against Syria. On 30 May, President Al-Assad responded to the insult, by saying: "What you say is what you are." It was reported in June 2018 that the 441st Air Expeditionary Squadron reportedly maintained an unpaved

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

Sarrin Sarrin (, also spelled Serrin or Sareen, Kurdish: ''Sirrîn'') is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Aleppo Governorate, located northeast of Aleppo. It is situated 3 kilometers east of the Euphrates River, south of Kobanî ...

Raqqa Governorate Raqqa Governorate (, Kurdish: ''Parêzgeha Reqa'') is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is situated in the north of the country and covers an area of 19,618 km2. The capital is Raqqa. The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant claim ...

. {{See also, 2019 U.S. airstrike in Baghuz On 14 June 2020, a US coalition drone strike killed

Guardians of Religion Organization Tanzim Hurras al-Din (), sometimes referred to as Al-Qaeda in Syria, was a Salafi Movement, Salafi Jihadism, Jihadist organization that fought in the Syrian civil war. The group's former head, Abu Humam al-Shami, was the general military command ...

leaders

Khalid al-Aruri Khalid Mustafa Khalifa al-Aruri (; 25 July 1967 – 14 June 2020), known as Abu Al-Qassam and Abu Ashraf, was a Palestinian-Jordanian Islamic militant and a member of al-Qaeda who was the leader of the Hurras al-Din. History Khalid al-Aruri wa ...

and Bilal al-Sanaani who were driving a vehicle in Idlib. There was reportedly no explosion and the target vehicle was relatively intact, with the roof and windshield impacted from above and one side shredded, leading observers to suggest the munition used was probably the kinetic Hellfire R9X missile that uses blades to eviscerate its target rather than an explosive warhead. On 24 June, Abu Adnan al-Homsi, logistics and equipment commander at the Guardians of Religion Organization, was also killed by a US drone strike. On 25 February 2021, US military

airstrikes An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

commanded by US president

destroyed multiple facilities related to pro-Iranian militias including

and

Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada The Kataeb Party (), officially the Kataeb Party – Lebanese Social Democratic Party ( '), also known as the Phalangist Party, is a right-wing Christian political party in Lebanon founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936. The party and its parami ...

, at a border control point near al-Hurri village,

Abu Kamal District Abu Kamal District () is a district of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate in northeastern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Abu Kamal. At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 265,142. The Euphrates divides the district, with H ...

, in retaliation to Erbil missile attacks. At least 17 militants were reported killed in the strikes, although the militias only confirmed one. The strikes were conducted by two F15s dropping

Joint Direct Attack Munitions The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs", into all-weather precision-guided munitions (PGMs). JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Glo ...

(JDAM) and was the first overt military operation ordered by the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

. On 28 June 2021, the US military conducted

on facilities purportedly used by Iranian-supported militias near the Iraq–Syria border. However, the SOHR stated that at least nine Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters died, and many others were injured.

Airstrikes on the Khorasan Group

One of the groups targeted by US airstrikes was the Khorasan Group, an

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

group of suspected al-Qaeda "core" members who were alleged to have been plotting an attack against the US and other Western nations. The strikes targeted Khorasan training camps, explosives and munitions production facilities, communications facilities, as well as command and control facilities. The group has been claimed to possess advanced bomb making skills and their plot is claimed to involve a bomb made of a nonmetallic device such as a toothpaste container or clothes dipped in explosive material. The group is reportedly led by Muhsin al-Fadhli, a leader of

and a close confidant of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

. Intelligence officials expressed concern that the group may include militants who were taught by

Ibrahim al-Asiri Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri (; April 18 or 19, 1982 – 2017) was a citizen of Saudi Arabia suspected of being chief bomb-maker of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He was reported to have been responsible for making the bombs used by his broth ...

, the chief bomb maker for

al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( or : Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, . Organization of Jihad's Base in the Arabian Peninsula), or AQAP is a Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamic extremism, Islamist militant organization which s ...

, who is known for his sophisticated bomb making techniques that nearly downed two Western airliners. Later statements by government officials indicated that the threat of a plot may have been less severe than initially reported. One official indicated that "there did not yet seem to be a concrete plan in the works", while another told ''

'' that "there was no indication of an imminent domestic threat from the group" at the time the United States began bombing. On 6 November, a second round of airstrikes was launched against Khorasan and al-Nusra in northwestern Syria, along with

Ahrar ash-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, was a coalition of multiple Sunni Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bas ...

at its headquarters in

, whose leadership had been infiltrated by al-Qaeda. On 13 November 2014, the US launched a third set of airstrikes against Khorasan. On 19 November, the US carried out another airstrike on Khorasan near Hazm, which struck and destroyed a storage facility associated with the group. On 1 December, the US carried out another airstrike on Khorasan near Aleppo. On 24 March 2015, it was revealed that the US airstrikes on Khorasan had killed 17 militants from the group. On 8 July 2015, a US airstrike near the town of

Sarmada Sarmada () is a town in the Harem District, Idlib Governorate of Syria.Sarmada

, Syria, killed Muhsin al-Fadhli, the leader of Khorasan.

Ground operations

{{See also, Al-Tanf (U.S. military base), List of United States special forces raids during the Syrian civil war Initially, coalition leaders, including US President Obama, said their ground forces would not be used in the fight against ISIL either in Iraq or Syria unless they were local coalition forces. In Iraq, thousands of coalition troops from the US and other nations had been deployed in an advisory capacity; in Syria no ground troops from the coalition were deployed in the beginning of the intervention.

2015–16

{{Further, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War#2015, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War#2016 BatailledeManbij2

In November 2015, the Obama administration began the deployment of US special forces to Syria, with the mission of assisting rebel forces in their fight against ISIL, President Obama then ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into

in northern Syria to assist local fighters battling ISIL, authorizing the first open-ended mission by American ground forces into the country. ISIL's deputy leader in Syria,

Abu Ali al-Anbari Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli (; 1957 or 1959 March 2016), better known as Abu Ali al-Anbari (), was the governor for territories held by the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. Considered the IS second-in-command (along with Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, h ...

, was killed by JSOC special forces operatives in March 2016, in eastern Syria near the Syrian–Iraqi border, while he and three other ISIL members were traveling in a vehicle coming from

. The US Special Forces ordered him to exit the vehicle, intending to arrest him. When he refused and pulled out an assault rifle instead, US forces fired at the vehicle, killing him and the other passengers on board. US commandos also seized electronics and other documents during the operation for intelligence purposes. In March 2016, King Abdullah of Jordan said that British forces had helped in the building up of a mechanized battalion in southern Syria, consisting of tribal fighters to combat the

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

. On 17 March 2016, the day after the declaration of the Federation of Northern Syria, US Defense Secretary

Ashton Carter Ashton Baldwin Carter (September 24, 1954 – October 24, 2022) was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Be ...

praised the

as having "proven to be excellent partners of ours on the ground in fighting ISIL. We are grateful for that, and we intend to continue to do that, recognizing the complexities of their regional role." During the SDF's May 2016 offensive against ISIL in Northern Raqqa,

US Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, is a branch of the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). The core missionset of Special Forces ...

were widely reported and photographed to be present, with some of them wearing badges of the Kurdish YPG and YPJ on their uniforms. On 21 May,

Joseph Votel Joseph Leonard Votel (born 14 February 1958) is a retired four-star general in the United States Army who was commander of United States Central Command from March 2016 to March 2019. Before that, he served as commander of the United States Specia ...

, commanding general of US Central Command, completed a secret hours-long trip to northern Syria to visit several locations where there were US special operations forces and meet with local forces the US was helping train to fight ISIL. The visit came as the first of 250 additional US special operations forces were beginning to arrive in Syria to work with local forces. The commander overseeing the war in

, at the end of a long Saturday spent touring SDF bases, said "We do, absolutely, have to go with what we've got". In September 2016, the US spokesman for the

Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) is a multinational military formation established by the U.S.-led international coalition against the Islamic State with the stated aim to "degrade and destroy" the organi ...

(CJTF–OIR) confirmed that the SDF, including the YPG, is also part of the "vetted forces" in the train and equip program and would be supplied with weapons. The

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, condemned this and claimed that the SDF are "endangering our future". In October 2016, US Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commander of the international coalition against ISIL, said that the SDF would lead the impending assault on

, ISIL's then-stronghold and capital, and that SDF commanders would plan the operation with advice from American and coalition troops. From November 2016, more than 300 US Special Operations Forces were embedded to train and advise SDF fighters in the Raqqa offensive.

2017–18

{{Further, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War#2017, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War#2018 YPG and US army Hassaka 1-5-2017

In March 2017, the

deployed an additional 400

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

to Syria to expand the fight against ISIL in the Raqqa offensive where they could provide artillery support for US-backed local forces that were preparing an assault on Raqqa to liberate the city from IS militants. The deployment marked a new escalation in the US's war in Syria, and put more conventional US troops in the battle that, until then, had primarily used Special Operations units. The 400 Marines were part of the 11th MEU from the Battalion Landing Team

1st Battalion, 4th Marines 12th Littoral Combat Team (12LCT) is a littoral combat team based at Camp Hansen, in Okinawa, Japan. Previously designated 1st Battalion, 4th Marines - an infantry battalion - of the United States Marine Corps and based at Marine Corps Base Cam ...

. They manned an artillery battery of M-777 Howitzers whilst additional infantrymen from the unit provided security; resupplies were handled by part of the expeditionary force's combat logistics element. During the Raqqa campaign alone, this small artillery battalion fired over 40,000 shells (including 34,033 155 mm), more than were used in the entire 2003 invasion of Iraq and only 20,000 fewer than all those fired by the US military in

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. In March 2018, SDF press secretary in Deir ez-Zor Mehdi Kobani reportedly told Sputnik Turkiye that US forces were building a "large military base" in the oil-rich al-Omar region of Deir ez-Zor as new equipment had been reportedly arriving to US bases in Syria. The al-Omar oilfield is the largest oil deposit in Syria, and was captured by the SDF during their campaign against ISIL in October 2017.

2019 drawdown of US ground forces

{{Further, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War#2019 On 19 December 2018, President

announced that he ordered the pullout of all 2,000–2,500 US troops operating in Syria, though no clear timetable was given. A day later, after failing to convince Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw all American troops from Syria,

Jim Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps four-star General (United States), gene ...

announced his resignation as Secretary of Defense. On 3 January 2019, Trump described Syria as "sand and death" in defense of troop withdrawal. US operations in

would continue indefinitely. On 16 January 2019, a

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

claimed by ISIL in the SDF-controlled town of

Manbij Manbij (; ; ) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, west of the Euphrates. The 2004 census gives its population as nearly 100,000.

killed four US personnel and injured three servicemen, making it the deadliest attack on Coalition forces in the country since the intervention. The ISIL attack drew a second round of criticism of the US president's withdrawal order, with critics linking the attack with an emboldening of ISIL terror and insurgent tactics due to the announcement of a US pullout, despite the group's continued loss of territory in Syria. President Trump offered condolences to the families of the slain American citizens on 17 January while he reaffirmed his policy of withdrawing troops. Trump paid tribute to the fallen Americans during a trip to

Dover Air Force Base Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force (USAF) base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. The 436th Airlift Wing is the host wing, and runs the bu ...

in the US state of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

on 19 January, where their remains were received. On 21 January, an ISIL SVBIED targeted a US convoy accompanied by SDF troops on the Shadadi-

Al-Hasakah Al-Hasakah (; / ; ) is a city in northeastern Syria and the capital of the Al-Hasakah Governorate. With a 2023 estimated population of 422,445, Al-Hasakah is populated by Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians and Chechens. A ...

road in Al-Hasakah province, killing five SDF personnel. Witnesses said the SVBIED rammed into an SDF vehicle by a checkpoint held by Kurdish forces a dozen kilometers outside Shadadi as the US convoy drove past. No Americans were harmed.

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

reported on 24 January that additional US troops were moved to Syria to help provide security for the pullout of equipment and personnel as they are moved out via air and land routes. US

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

officials said the additional security forces would move around Syria to different locations as needed and may move in and out of the country at times. Troop numbers would also fluctuate as American presence gradually declines. Defense officials declined to give specifics on numbers, locations, or timetables, citing security concerns. Local sources reported to

Anadolu Agency Anadolu Agency (, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. History The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. As the Empire's capital � ...

on 28 January that around 600 US troops had allegedly entered eastern Syria from western Iraq to help with the withdrawal process, arriving at discreet bases in Harab Isk and

villages set to be used as main evacuation centers during the withdrawal. The news agency added that the American-controlled airfields in Rmeilan and

Tell Beydar Tell Beydar is a village and ancient site along the Khabur river in the modern Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria about 30 kilometers north of the modern city of Hasake. It was the Ancient Near Eastern city of Nabada. It is connected by road to Al-Darb ...

would be used to airlift heavy weapons and equipment from the country; the Coalition itself did not confirm these reports. By the end of January 2019, according to two US officials, more than 10 percent of American equipment and supplies had been removed from Syria, with 3,000 additional personnel brought into the country to facilitate the draw-down of forces. By 9 February, hundreds of US airstrikes and ground support for the SDF continued as the Kurdish-led force began its final assault on the last ISIL holdouts trapped in a small cluster of hamlets in eastern Syria (including Al-Baghuz Fawqani and southern Al-Marashidah) no larger than a few square miles. US officials, including President

, believed the SDF would be able to defeat the remaining diehard ISIL fighters "in days", bringing an end to ISIL's claim of a territorial caliphate. On 18 February, Commander-in-Chief of the SDF Mazlum Kobane expressed hopes the US would halt its total pullout. Kobane said there were discussions about perhaps French and British troops supporting them, but demanded 1,000–1,500 US troops stay in Syria to provide "air cover, air support and a force on the ground" to help the SDF in its ongoing fight against ISIL. CENTCOM commander Gen.

reiterated the US withdrawal was continuing.{{cite web , url=https://www.memri.org/jttm/iran-backed-group-claims-drone-attack-us-base-northeast-syria#_edn1 , title=Iran-Backed Group Claims Drone Attack On U.S. Base In Northeast Syria , publisher=Middle East Media Research Institute , date=26 March 2023 , access-date=2 July 2023 , archive-date=18 July 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718055056/https://www.memri.org/jttm/iran-backed-group-claims-drone-attack-us-base-northeast-syria#_edn1 , url-status=live With the general withdrawal continuing, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

announced late on 21 February that 200 residual US troops would remain in Syria as a "peacekeeping force". The peacekeeping deployment would be indefinite. The next day it was revealed the actual number was 400 troops, not 200, as half would be based in

and half at al-Tanf. Officials stated it was a part of an initiative to get NATO allies to commit to a multinational observer force that would establish a "safe zone" in Rojava to keep the Kurds and Turks from clashing, to prevent pro-Syrian government forces from attacking the Kurds, and to keep up pressure to prevent an ISIL resurgence. The US was not seeking a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

mandate for the deployment and did not envision asking NATO to sponsor the mission, an administration official said at the time, adding that the troops would not technically be " peacekeepers," a term that carries restricted rules of engagement. On 7 March, Gen. Joseph Votel confirmed that US forces were in no rush to pullout by a specific date, instead saying the completion of the withdrawal was conditional on ISIL no longer posing a security threat to US forces and their allies. By late March, the US continued to stretch the timetable for the pullout. On 29 March, US officials reportedly said the Pentagon's latest plans called for cutting its combat force in northeastern Syria roughly in half by early May 2019, or to about 1,000 troops, and would then pause pullout operations. The military would then reduce the number of forces every six months, depending on conditions on the ground, until it reaches the 400 troops previously approved by the president. Under this plan, the lowest troop numbers would not be reached until autumn 2020. The longer timetable would provide the US more time to negotiate and work out details over the planned multinational safe zone along Turkey's border. Officials cautioned that the timetable was open-ended and still subject to change, with factors ranging from allied troop contributions to new orders from the president himself. In early May, video emerged online of US forces firing upon an alleged Syrian government barge ferrying oil supplies in the Middle Euphrates River Valley. The video was posted on Facebook by the pro-SDF "Deir Ezzor Media Center".

Withdrawal from north Syria

{{Further, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War#October 2019: U.S. withdrawal from north Syria, return, & al-Baghdadi's death Following the collapse of the August–October 2019 Northern Syria Buffer Zone agreement and subsequent Turkish offensive against the SDF, US ground forces began deliberately withdrawing from many of their bases, outposts, and camps in north Syria around 6 October, including

Manbij Manbij (; ; ) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, west of the Euphrates. The 2004 census gives its population as nearly 100,000.

and the Lafarge cement factory, upon "precipitous" orders from the Donald Trump administration. Senior US military officials said that troops abandoned bases as far south as Tabqah and

and consolidated all personnel and essential equipment near Kobanî to await airlifts and convoys out of the country throughout coming weeks. A US official at the time said the ≈1,000 US troops being withdrawn will mostly reposition in western

but also possibly

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

and

. From Iraq, US forces could conduct cross-border operations against ISIL in Syria, as they had done so in the past. During the withdrawal, which was described in news media as a "scramble", reports emerged showing that US and SDF troops had hastily stripped their camps and bases of sensitive materials but left fortifications in place, many of which became immediately occupied by Syrian government and Russian forces as they quickly moved into the region as part of a protection deal, established on 13 October, between the Assad government and

. Video emerged online of Russian troops reportedly exploring an abandoned US outpost near Manbij. On 16 October, two

F-15 jets bombed their section of the Lafarge cement factory base, located between

and

Ayn Issa Ayn Issa (also Ain Issa; , "Eye of Jesus"; ) is a town in the Tell Abyad District of Raqqa Governorate in Syria and a capital for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. It is located halfway between the Syria–Turkey border town o ...

, "to destroy an ammunition cache and reduce the facility's military usefulness" as Turkish-backed militias advanced towards the area. "The location had been the headquarters of the de facto Defeat-ISIS coalition in Syria," Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Myles Caggins III said, adding that "No US forces or equipment were ever in jeopardy and remain within separate, secure facilities." SDF personnel burned their part of the base before departing. On the same day, President Trump commented on the developments by describing the Kurds as "no angels", and about Syria, he said: "Syria may have some help with Russia, and that's fine. It's a lot of sand. They've got a lot of sand over there. So there's a lot of sand there that they can play with". On 18 October, after a "

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

" between Turkish and Kurdish forces was declared a day prior, US Defense Secretary

stated that the withdrawal was continuing and that the US would continue to communicate with both Turkey and the SDF. A senior defense official stated that US aircraft would continue to conduct intelligence missions over northeast Syria to monitor the situation there. In late October, Esper said the US forces leaving Syria would head into western Iraq. But after Iraqi leaders said those troops can't stay there, Esper said they will be deployed in Iraq only temporarily before returning to the US According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', citing

US Defense Department The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...

officials, by 30 October at least half of the original ≈1,000 US troops in Syria had withdrawn and was expected to be reduced to roughly 250 personnel, largely concentrated in the Deir ez-Zor region. On 31 October, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called President Trump the "best American president", saying he was the most transparent foe, due to his audacity to openly discuss seizing Syrian oil. On 3 November 2019 US and coalition forces departed their strategic military base near the town of

. US forces removed all their equipment and were seen leaving the base in a convoy of tens of trucks. The base was one of the largest US bases in Syria, a logistics hub that assisted in the anti-ISIL intervention. On 10 November, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Mark Milley Mark Alexander Milley (born 20 June 1958) is a retired United States Army general who served as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2023. He had previously served as the 39th chief of staff of ...

stated that at least 500 to 600 US troops would remain in Syria and will not exceed 1,000 personnel. It was not clear if that estimate included the ≈200 troops at al-Tanf. By mid-November, Russian and Syrian government forces had quickly filled the power vacuum left behind by the US in much of northern Syria. The US had withdrawn from its logistics base in Kobanî by 14 November, with Russia announcing it would set up a new helicopter base in

Qamishli Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of Nusaybin in Turkey. The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of 184,231, it is the List of cities in Syria, ninth most-po ...

the same day. On 17 November, Russia's state-owned Zvezda channel aired footage of armed Russian

sapper A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...

s and Military Police seizing control of the Kobanî airbase days prior, with choppers landing on the US-made airstrip there and the Russian flag seen hoisted over the fortification, of which had been hastily stripped of essentials by coalition personnel, only leaving behind

toiletries Personal care products are consumer products which are applied on various external parts of the body such as skin, hair, nails, lips, external genital and anal areas, as well as teeth and mucous membrane of the oral cavity, in order to make th ...

, sleeping facilities, some

exercise equipment Exercise equipment is any apparatus or device used during physical activity to enhance the strength or conditioning effects of that exercise by providing either fixed or adjustable amounts of resistance, or to otherwise enhance the experience or ...

, and other small items. While Syrian government troops gradually re-established its presence in the region, Russia and Turkey continued to occupy and conduct patrols throughout north east Syria as well, in accordance with the

Sochi Agreement The Sochi agreement (official title in ), also known as the Dagomys Agreements (), was a ceasefire agreement ostensibly marking the end of both the South Ossetia war (1991–1992), South Ossetia War and War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), Abkhazian Wa ...

. By 4 December, the US had completed its military pullback from northeastern Syria and had consolidated its troop presence in the country to a "relatively static" 600 personnel, according to Mark Esper.{{cite news, url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-usa-syria-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-military-completes-pullback-from-northeast-syria-esper-says-idUSKBN1Y90CU, work=Reuters, date=4 December 2019, access-date=6 December 2019, title=U.S. military completes pullback from northeast Syria, Esper says The withdrawal from north Syria was partially carried out by the US Army 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command's Syria Logistics Cell (SLC), a key component of the Army's 1st Theater Sustainment Command, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, and Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

2019–20: Eastern Syria redeployment

{{Further, Eastern Syria insurgency, Oil production and smuggling in ISIL By 20 October 2019, after backlash from the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, the Trump administration had conducted a partial reversal of its 6 October order to pullout 1,000 troops from Syria, instead confirming a newly dedicated mission to guard oil and gas fields and related infrastructure in SDF-controlled eastern Syria from ISIL insurgent attacks. While US forces continued to reduce its presence in northern Syria by the hundreds to avoid Syrian-SDF and Turkish fighting, the US simultaneously shifted more resources south and east into the oil-rich

Deir ez-Zor Governorate Deir ez-Zor Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Dayr az-Zawr,'' Kurdish'':'' ''Parêzgeha Dêrezor'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in eastern Syria, bordering Iraq. It has an area of 33,060 k ...

. Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed on 25 October that the US would "maintain a reduced presence in Syria and deny ISIS access to oil revenue" and, in support of the mission, mechanized and armored units would be deployed to eastern Syria to reinforce the American presence there. Throughout late October-early November 2019, this contingent was reinforced with hundreds of new infantry troops joined by mechanized infantry

Armored Brigade Combat Teams The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the U.S. Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its assigned support and fire units. A brigade is normally commanded by ...

(ABCTs) in Bradley IFVs and—according to unnamed sources—potentially tanks, redeployed from Iraq and

, which was estimated to raise the number of US troops in eastern Syria to around 500 at the time. When coupled with the US garrison at

, the contingency force's numbers rise to a flexible 800–900 personnel. In Syria's

, which lies far to the North-East of al-Tanf, the United States has stated that it will increase its presence in SDF controlled territory along the Eastern bank of the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

river and also establish military bases at Al-Baghuz Fawqani,

Al-Busayrah Al-Busayrah () is a town in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The town is located, at the confluence of the Euphrates and Khabur Rivers, southeast of Deir ez-Zor. Nearby localities include Muhassan to the nort ...

, al-Ezba, and the Al-Omar Field.{{cite web, last=Hassan, first=Mohammed, url=https://syria.chathamhouse.org/research/arab-tribes-in-al-hasakah-and-deir-ez-zor-choose-their-allies, title=Arab Tribes in al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor Choose Their Allies, website=Chatham House, date=January 2020, accessdate=3 August 2021 Bradley Patrol in Syria

On 30 October, the 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment, a US

combined arms battalion The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the U.S. Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its assigned support and fire units. A brigade is normally commanded by a ...

equipped with M2A2 Bradley IFVs deployed to the Deir ez-Zor region to help guard SDF-US controlled oil and gas fields. The battalion is part of the US

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG) is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Army. It is simultaneously part of two differen ...

's 30th ABCT which had begun arriving in Kuwait the week prior to relieve the regular Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division in support of

Operation Spartan Shield Operation Spartan Shield (OSS) is a USCENTCOM (United States Central Command) operation in the Middle East. OSS is commanded by United States Army Central and includes units from all service branches. Task Force Spartan is the U.S. Army component ...

, the US's theater-level contingency force for the Middle East. By 31 October, US forces in M-ATV convoys were seen conducting dedicated patrols of oil and gas-related facilities throughout Syria's

and

s, usually accompanied by SDF personnel. The US's deployment of heavy armored vehicles to Syria for the first time in the intervention—as opposed to the lighter armored

RG-33 The RG-33 is a mine-resistant light armored vehicle initially designed by BAE Systems Land Systems South Africa (formerly Land Systems OMC), a South African subsidiary of BAE Systems. BAE Systems in the US extensively modified it with additio ...

s, M-ATVs,

Stryker The Stryker is a family of Eight-wheel drive, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in L ...

s, Armored Ground Mobility Systems,{{citation needed, date=December 2020 and NSTVs (Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles) US special operations units and regular ground forces have used prior—introduced additional firepower and force protection capabilities for ground forces. Nevertheless, the Bradley IFVs were pulled out of Syria after less than two months of deployment due to unspecified reasons. On 3 November, OIR officials confirmed that multiple artillery rounds landed about one kilometer from a road with a US convoy; OIR, without offering additional details, stated no personnel were injured and the patrol was not hit. The

Russian Defense Ministry The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (; MOD) is the governing body of the Russian Armed Forces. The President of Russia is the Commander-in-Chief of the forces and directs the activity of the ministry. The Minister of Defence exerci ...

were the first to report the incident, adding that the incident was near

Tell Tamer Tell Tamer (, or Til Temir, ) also known as Tal Tamr or Tal Tamir, is a town in western al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. It is the administrative center of the Tell Tamer Subdistrict consisting of 13 municipalities. Originally buil ...

and that it was elements of Turkish-backed rebels that fired the artillery. On 4 November, ''

Rudaw Rudaw Media Network () is a media broadcaster in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The network is headquartered in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region. It delivers content in multiple languages, including English, Kurdish, Arabic, and Turki ...

'' briefly interviewed a US special operations soldier during a patrol at an oilfield near Rmelan, who stated that US forces are "working with the SDF and they're letting us know the situation up here as they see it." According to North Press Agency, the US patrol had begun in Rmelan and spanned the towns of

al-Jawadiyah Al-Jawadiyah (, Kurdish: ''Çilaxa'') is a town in al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Al-Jawadiyah had a population of 6,630 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of a nahiyah ...

al-Malikiyah Al-Malikiyah (; ; ) also known as Derik, is a city in northeastern Syria and the center of an administrative district belonging to Al-Hasakah Governorate. The district constitutes the northeastern corner of the country, and is where the Syrian ...

, and Ain-Diwar. On 15 December, a large US logistical convoy en route to Deir ez-Zor was reportedly seen crossing Semalka into al-Hasakah province from Iraq. {{Further, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian civil war#2020 By mid-January 2020, tensions between Russian and US forces in northeast Syria had reportedly grown as US troops had increasingly begun blocking Russian convoys from accessing certain major roads between towns. Both Russia and the US operate military outposts throughout the region as a part of their respective missions. On 25 August, a Russian military vehicle rammed a US armored car near

, northeastern Syria, in which four US soldiers had suffered mild concussions. Russian defense minister

Sergey Shoygu Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu; , . (born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Security Council since 2024. He served ...

said that "the US armed forces soldiers tried to block the Russian patrol"; meanwhile, a US defense official said that Russian forces went to a "security zone" that they should not enter. On 30 July 2020, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria signed an agreement with an American oil company, Delta Crescent Energy LLC, to develop

oil fields A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presen ...

in the region. The Syrian authorities condemned the agreement, and mentioned that: "This agreement is null and void and has no legal basis." Seizing oil without local government permission would be a

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

pillage Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

. On 17 August, US forces killed at least one Syrian soldier and wounded two others, after a fire exchange near a checkpoint in the village of Tal Dahab, near

, northeastern Syria. On 19 September, the US deployed additional troops, equipment and armored vehicles to north-eastern Syria after tensions with Russia escalated in the region. According to officials, the moves were meant "to help ensure the safety and security of coalition forces." US Central Command mentioned that the United States had deployed

Sentinel Sentinel may refer to: Places Mountains * Mount Sentinel, a mountain next to the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana * Sentinel Buttress, a volcanic crag on James Ross Island, Antarctica * Sentinel Dome, a naturally occurring granit ...

radars and Bradley vehicles to augment forces in the "Eastern Syria Security Area" (ESSA). The reinforcements were considered a response to a 26 August incident where a Russian armored vehicle collided with a coalition M-ATV, injuring four US soldiers. It was reported on 30 November 2020 that an airstrike near the

Iraq–Syria border The Iraqi–Syrian border is the border between Syria and Iraq and runs for a total length of across Upper Mesopotamia and the Syrian desert, from the tripoint with Jordan in the south-west to the tripoint with Turkey in the north-east. Descrip ...

killed an unidentified

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khom ...

commander and three other men traveling with him from Iraq and into Syria. The vehicle was struck after it entered Syrian territory. Iraqi security and local militia officials said the commander's vehicle had weapons in it and that pro-Iran paramilitary groups helped retrieve the bodies. Sources did not identify the commander nor elaborate on the exact time of the incident. It was not immediately known who conducted the strike, and

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

could not independently verify the reports.

2021–present: Continued Iranian—US proxy conflict

{{Update section, date=May 2024 {{Further, Timeline of the American-led intervention in the Syrian civil war#2021, Attacks on US bases in Iraq, Jordan, and Syria during the Israel–Hamas war On 10 February 2021, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters that US troops were not committed to protecting Syrian oil fields except "for where appropriate under certain existing authorizations to protect civilians." He added that "DOD epartment of Defensepersonnel or contractors are not authorized to provide assistance to any other private company, including its employees or agents, seeking to develop oil resources in northeastern Syria." However, there were reports from local sources in northeastern Syria that US forces had transported oil and wheat smuggled from Syria to Iraq. On 28 June 2021,

President Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 and re ...

directed airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups close to the Syria-Iraq border.

F-15E The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Intended for the Dual-Role Fighter (DRF) program (initially called Enhanced Tactical Fi ...

and

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

aircraft were used to launch the attack in what the U.S. described as a retaliatory attack against U.S. facilities and personnel in Iraq by militia groups. Two operational and weapons storage facilities were targeted in Syria, the U.S. military revealed in a statement. Despite the U.S. not disclosing the information regarding the casualties in the attack, the

SOHR The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...

stated that at least nine Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters died, leaving many others injured. Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border. Hours later, U.S. forces in Syria came under fire, following the U.S. strikes on the Syria-Iraqi border. Pro-Iranian militias fired rockets at the American base at Al-Omar Oilfield in Syria in response to U.S. airstrikes. The U.S. coalition responded by firing heavy artillery on Iranian-backed Militias Positions around Al-Mayadin. There were no injuries sustained during the attack, the spokesman for

, Col. Wayne Marotto disclosed. On 10 July 2021, a mortar shell landed near MSS Conoco, with no injuries reported. It was reportedly the fourth attack on or near U.S. troops or diplomats within a week, reportedly including one in which two service members were injured. No group claimed responsibility, but U.S. forces suspected Iran-backed proxy militias of carrying out such attacks. On 20 October 2021, troops at the al-Tanf garrison were attacked by bomb-laden drones in what Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called a "complex, coordinated and deliberate attack". U.S. officials reportedly blamed Iran and its proxy forces for the attack, but publicly declined to specify details of the attack and whether the U.S. was considering retaliation. There were no reports of deaths or injuries. Attacks by small drones carrying munitions have posed a consistent threat to U.S. forces in eastern Syria since at least March 2020, with U.S. forces suspecting ISIL or Iran-backed elements of conducting the attacks, as U.S.-Iranian tensions in the region have persisted. On 24 August 2022, Joe Biden ordered airstrikes on claimed

IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 i ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n-backed proxy groups in

near

. The airstrikes were in retaliation on an attack on the

Al-Tanf Al-Tanf () is a U.S. military base in a part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria, which is controlled by the Syrian Free Army. It is located 24 km (15 mi) west of the al-Walid border crossing in the Syrian Desert. The surrounding decon ...

garrison. The airstrikes were also considered a massive setback in negotiations in order to revive the JCPOA. Airstrikes were also reported on 25 August. Iran strongly condemned the strikes and denied any links with the targets. The

claimed that

Liwa Fatemiyoun Liwa Fatemiyoun (; Persian language, Persian/Dari Persian, Dari: ), literally "Fatimid Liwa (Arabic), Banner" or Fatemiyoun Brigade, also known as Lashkar-e-Fatemiyoun (; Persian language, Persian/Dari Persian, Dari: ) or Fatemiyoun Division is an ...

and the

were targeted in the airstrikes. On 23 March 2023, at 1:38 p.m. local time ( UTC+03:00), a

kamikaze drone A loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone, kamikaze drone, or exploding drone, is a weapon with a warhead that is typically designed to loiter until a target is designated, then crash into it.

allegedly of Iranian origin struck a coalition base at Abu Hajar Airport near Rmelan,

al-Hasakah Governorate Al-Hasakah Governorate (; ; , also known as , ''Gozarto'') is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is located in the far north-east corner of Syria and distinguished by its fertile lands, plentiful water ...

in northeastern Syria, killing one United States contractor and injuring five servicemen and second contractor.{{Cite news , title=Another attack on an American base In Syria Friday after US retaliatory airstrikes , language=en , url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-military-airstrikes-syria-drone-attack-kills-contractor/story?id=98091728 , access-date=2023-03-24 , archive-date=2023-03-24 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324034607/https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-military-airstrikes-syria-drone-attack-kills-contractor/story?id=98091728 , url-status=live {{Cite news , last=Schmitt , first=Eric , date=2023-03-24 , title=Conflict in Syria Escalates Following Attack That Killed a U.S. Contractor , language=en-US , work=The New York Times , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/us/politics/syria-us-contractor-killed-iran-drone.html , access-date=2023-03-27 , issn=0362-4331 , archive-date=2023-03-26 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326233122/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/us/politics/syria-us-contractor-killed-iran-drone.html , url-status=live

reported, US officials said the main air defense system at the base was "not fully operational" at the time of Thursday's Drone Strike.{{cite web , last1=Schmitt , first1=Eric , title=Conflict in Syria Escalates Following Attack That Killed a U.S. Contractor , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/us/politics/syria-us-contractor-killed-iran-drone.html#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20The%20conflict%20in%20northeast,and%20injured%20six%20other%20Americans. , website=

, access-date=2023-07-02 , archive-date=2023-03-26 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326233122/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/us/politics/syria-us-contractor-killed-iran-drone.html#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20The%20conflict%20in%20northeast,and%20injured%20six%20other%20Americans. , url-status=live In retaliation, U.S. President

authorized a response with an airstrike on

-linked targets, including a weapons warehouse in the Harabish neighborhood in

, and military posts in the al-Mayadin and

Abu Kamal Abu Kamal (), also known as Al-Bukamal (), is a city in eastern Syria located on the Euphrates river in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate and near the border with Iraq. It is the administrative centre of the Abu Kamal District and the local subdistr ...

countryside, killing 14 people including nine Syrians, according to

. On 24 March 2023, 10 rockets were launched at the Green Village near al-Omar oil field which injured another American serviceman. By afternoon, another rocket attack targeted US forces near the oil and gas fields of

Conoco Conoco ( ), formerly known as Continental Oil, is an American Petroleum industry, petroleum brand that is operating under the current ownership of the Phillips 66 Company since 2012 and is headquartered in the Westchase, Houston, Westchase neigh ...

, east of Deir ez-Zor. On 30 March, the

revealed that twelve American were wounded in total with six U.S. troops in Syria suffering traumatic brain injuries due to the two attacks by Iran-backed militias.{{Cite news , last1=Stewart , first1=Phil , last2=Ali , first2=Idrees , last3=Stewart , first3=Phil , last4=Ali , first4=Idrees , date=2023-03-30 , title=Six U.S. troops suffer traumatic brain injuries in Syria -Pentagon , language=en , work=Reuters , url=https://www.reuters.com/world/six-us-troops-suffer-traumatic-brain-injuries-syria-pentagon-2023-03-30/ , access-date=2023-03-31 , archive-date=2023-03-30 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330192536/https://www.reuters.com/world/six-us-troops-suffer-traumatic-brain-injuries-syria-pentagon-2023-03-30/ , url-status=live A little-known militant group known as Liwa Al-Ghaliboun (The Brigade of Those who Prevail) claimed responsibility for the initial drone attack, although some observers believe the group to simply be a

front group A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...

for a larger Iranian-backed group or the IRGC. On 18 October 2023,

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

military bases in

and eastern

were attacked by three drones.

officials insisted that there are few casualties. On 26 October, United States DoD said it conducted airstrikes on two facilities in eastern

linked to IRGC-backed militias in retaliation for the attacks.

Turkish involvement

{{Main, Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war, Turkey–Islamic State conflict

, a

member, has been involved in the Syrian civil war since the beginning of hostilities. Turkey has trained and armed some members of the Free Syrian Army and al-Qaeda in Syria, and has been involved in certain spillover incidents. On 2 October 2014, the Turkish Parliament authorized direct military action in both

and

including using military force in Syria and Iraq as well as allowing coalition members to use bases in Turkey. Turkey has also stationed troops and tanks on its southern border near the Syrian border city of Kobanî. The Turkish government demanded several things to go along with them intervening against ISIL, including a buffer zone in Northern Syria, a

no-fly zone A no-fly zone, also known as a no-flight zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ), is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power's terri ...

over certain parts of northern Syria, ground troops from other countries, and the training of moderate opposition forces to fight both ISIL and al-Assad. In October 2014, the Turkish Parliament authorized direct military action in both

and

, including using military force, as well as allowing

members to use bases in Turkey. The same month, US Vice President

accused Turkey of funding al-Nusra and al Qaeda, after which Turkish President

Recep Erdoğan Recep is a Turkish name deriving from the Arabic name Rajab. It may refer to: People Surname * Aziz Recep (born 1992), German-Greek footballer * Sibel Recep (born 1987), Swedish pop singer Given name * Recep Adanır (1929–2017), Turkish fo ...

demanded an apology, adding that if no apology was made, Biden would become "history to me." Biden subsequently apologized. On 22 February 2015, the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces () is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for Army, land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the ...

mounted an operation across the border to evacuate its soldiers from the Tomb of Suleyman Shah and relocate the tomb. The Turkish convoy of 572 troops in 39 tanks and 57 armoured vehicles transited through Kurdish-held city of Kobanî ''en route'' to the tomb. One Turkish soldier was killed in what

government of Turkey The Government of Turkey () is the Central government, national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential system, presidential representative democracy and a Constitution of Turkey, constitutional republic wit ...

described as an accident. The success of the operation was announced 22 February by Turkish Prime Minister

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice ...

. Rising

anti-American sentiment Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...

in Turkey has occurred since the start of the

Turkish invasion of northern Syria Operation Olive Branch () was an invasion by the Turkish Armed Forces and Syrian National Army (SNA) in the Kurds, Kurdish-majority Afrin District of northwest Syria, against the People's Protection Units (YPG) of the Syrian Democratic Forces (S ...

in January 2018 aimed at ousting Syrian Kurdish forces from the enclave of Afrin. A poll conducted in Turkey during the operation revealed that 90 percent of respondents believed that the United States is "behind" the Kurdish PKK and

. After the start of the Turkish invasion, US Secretary of Defense

stated that "Turkey is a NATO ally. It's the only NATO country with an active insurgency inside its borders. And Turkey has legitimate security concerns." Turkish Deputy Prime Minister

Bekir Bozdag Bekir is a Turkish given name for males which comes from Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Islam. Given name * Bekir Fikri (1882–1914), Ottoman officer and revolutionary * Bekir Sıtkı Bircan (1886–1967), Turkish footballer * Bekir Bozdağ (bo ...

urged the United States to halt its support for Kurdish

fighters, saying: "Those who support the terrorist organization will become a target in this battle." On 30 April 2023, Turkish President

announced that the Turkish National Intelligence Organization had allegedly tracked down and killed ISIS leader

Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi (; died 29 April 2023) was the fourth caliph of the Islamic State and allegedly the first Syrian to serve as caliph. He took office on 30 November 2022. Life Rise to power According to Turkish claims, Ab ...

on 29 April. Turkish media reported that the operation occurred at

Jindires Jindires (; or ) is a town in northern Syria in the Afrin District of the Aleppo Governorate. It is located on the Afrin River, northwest by road from Aleppo and southwest of Afrin, Syria, Afrin. Nearby localities include Deir Ballut and Bayadah ...

, in which Abu al-Hussein detonated his suicide vest to avoid being captured. However, the United States could not verify claims by Turkey that its forces killed Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi. {{citation needed span, text=In August ISIS said Quraishi was killed during clashes with the

(HTS), whom it accused to be agents of Turkish intelligence., date=September 2023 The United States believes the HTS is behind the killing despite the latter's denials.

Northern Syria Buffer Zone

{{Main, Northern Syria Buffer Zone Turkish patrol

On 15 January 2019, the Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep is a Turkish name deriving from the Arabic name Rajab. It may refer to: People Surname * Aziz Recep (born 1992), German-Greek footballer * Sibel Recep (born 1987), Swedish pop singer Given name * Recep Adanır (1929–2017), Turkish fo ...

said he agreed with setting up a {{convert, 35, km, mi, abbr=on "safe zone" in northern Syria, after engaging with US President

a few days prior. On 7 August 2019, after months of negotiations, Turkey and the US reached a deal to create a {{convert, 115, km, abbr=on

buffer zone A buffer zone, also historically known as a march, is a neutral area that lies between two or more bodies of land; usually, between countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them. Common types o ...

in northern Syria along the

Syria–Turkey border The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey (; ) is long, and runs from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the tripoint with Iraq in the east. It runs across Upper Mesopotamia for some , crossing the Euphrates and ...

between the

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

and

rivers. Separate from Turkey's own occupation zone in northern Syria, the deal was reached partly to prevent a potential future Turkish ground incursion into

against US-backed Kurdish forces. Under the framework of the deal, the US and Turkey conducted joint troop patrols, and Turkish reconnaissance aircraft would be allowed to monitor the zone. Kurdish

and YPJ forces along the Turkish border dismantled their border fortifications, withdrew to a "security belt" alongside regular SDF forces, and removed all heavy weapons from the area. In turn, Turkey was not to conduct airstrikes or establish military observation posts in northern Syria, and was not to "occupy" the region, as administrative and civil rule was to be relegated to SDF military councils and the Kurdish

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), also known as Rojava, is a ''de facto'' Autonomous administrative division, autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and E ...

. According to the SDF, the majority of the zone was not to include any cities or towns. The buffer zone agreement was proven to be short-lived and collapsed on 7 October, after US President Donald Trump gave his approval for a Turkish ground offensive into Rojava, and ordered the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria. The agreement was rendered fully obsolete on 9 October, when Turkey launched a ground incursion into Rojava. In response to the offensive, US Senator

Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (; born July 9, 1955) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A membe ...

warned that he would "introduce bipartisan sanctions against Turkey if they invade Syria." He said he would also "call for their suspension from

if they attack Kurdish forces who assisted the US in the destruction of the ISIS Caliphate."

Reports of civilian casualties and war crimes

Coalition Airstrike on ISIL position in Kobane

On 29 September 2014, several groups including the

(SOHR), the Aleppo Media Center, and the Local Coordination Committees reported that US strikes hit a grain silo in the ISIL-controlled town of

Manbij Manbij (; ; ) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, west of the Euphrates. The 2004 census gives its population as nearly 100,000.

in northern Syria, killing two civilians. The SOHR reported ten airstrikes, also targeting various parts of the province of Idlib, killed at least one child and six other civilians. The group said at least 19 civilians had been killed in coalition airstrikes at that time. The Pentagon reported it had no evidence of any civilian casualties from airstrikes targeting militants in Syria. The United States has also acknowledged that its rules to avoid civilian casualties are looser in Syria than those for drone strikes elsewhere. The SOHR and other activist groups reported that seven civilians were killed when an air strike hit a gas distribution facility near the town of al-Khasham is the eastern Deir al-Zor province on 17 October 2014 and three civilians were killed in an air strike on 16 October 2014 in the north east province of al-Hassakah. According to their reports, most of the civilians killed were fuel tanker drivers. According to

, 50 civilians were killed in Syria by US-led airstrikes, from the start of the campaign in late September 2014 to mid-November. On 28 December 2014, a US airstrike in the northern Syrian town of

Al-Bab Al-Bab ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Bāb'') is a Syrian city, administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. Al-Bab is located northeast of Aleppo, south of the Turkish border, and has an area of . Al-Bab has an altitude of . According to the Cen ...

killed more than 50 civilians. On 21 May 2015, the United States admitted it "probably" killed two children in bombings near

Harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

on 4 and 5 November 2014. These are the first such admissions of the campaign, and followed a military investigation. A similar investigation regarding an event in Syria is underway, and two regarding events in Iraq. Two adult civilians were also minorly injured in the Harem strikes. The deaths and injuries are attributed by the military investigation to unintentional secondary explosions, after the bombers hit their intended targets, linked to the

Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

. On 19 July 2016 a coalition led airstrike on the ISIL controlled villages of Tokhar and Hoshariyeh reportedly killed at least 56 civilians, including 11 children. On 3 August 2016, dozens of civilians were killed after an airstrike in al-Qa'im, some sources claiming that 30 were killed. Airwars, which "maintains an extensive database of all known allegations in which civilians and friendly forces have been reported killed by the Coalition since August 2014", reports between 503 and 700 civilians were killed by Coalition airstrikes in Syria as of April 2016. At least 33 people were killed in a US-led coalition airstrike on a school near Raqqa in March 2017. On 16 March 2017, a US airstrike in rebel-held Aleppo killed at least 46 people and wounded more than 100 after warplanes hit a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

According to a report by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, the US-led Coalition has provided falsified data to conceal the actual number of civilian deaths resulting from their bombing campaigns and is "deeply in denial" about civilian casualties in Raqqa. After an investigation by Amnesty International in June 2018, the US-led Coalition confirmed that "coalition air strikes killed 70 civilians, mostly women and children—including 39 members of a single family." According to Airwars, the strikes of US-led coalition killed as many as 6,000 civilians in Syria and Iraq in 2017. On 2 May 2018, Britain's

Ministry of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

admitted for the first time that a civilian was "unintentionally" killed in an anti-ISIL

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

strike on 26 March 2018. According to the MoD, the civilian was on a motorbike and entered the target area at the last minute.

Defense Secretary The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high-ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosu ...

Gavin Williamson Sir Gavin Alexander Williamson (born 25 June 1976) is a British politician who served in various Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak between 2016 and 2022, lastly as Minister of State without ...

said the incident was "deeply regrettable". On 18 March 2019, during the

Battle of Baghuz Fawqani The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel, that began on 9 ...

, a US special operations-led

airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

killed up to 80 people, including 64 civilians, almost exclusively women and children, and 18 ISIL militants, according to ''The New York Times''. The site of the strike was bulldozed and the incident was covered up by the US military until a ''New York Times'' report exposed the cover-up in November 2021. A US military investigation in May 2022 concluded that the airstrike killed 52 ISIL fighters and 4 civilians and did not violate the laws of war.{{cite news , last1=Gritten , first1=David , title=US military probe finds no wrongdoing in deadly Syria air strike , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61492436.amp , access-date=14 November 2021 , work=BBC , date=18 May 2022 , language=en On 25 April 2019 a joint investigation by

and '' Airwars'' of over 200 strike sites reported that anti-ISIL Coalition bombing during the 2017 Battle of Raqqa had killed 1,600 civilians alone. CJTF-OIR reported the month prior that its 4-year operations over both Iraq and Syria amounted to 1,257 civilian casualties overall. "Coalition forces razed

...Amnesty International and Airwars call upon the Coalition forces to end their denial about the shocking scale of civilian deaths and destruction caused by their offensive in Raqqa," the investigators said in a joint statement. The Coalition responded that they "continue to employ thorough and deliberate targeting and strike processes to minimize the impact of our operations on civilian populations and infrastructure." By August 2023, ''Airwars'' estimated 8,198–13,258 civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria due to Coalition airstrikes, including 1,725–2,367 children, 1,120-1,460 women, and 3,722 named victims. The Coalition's own estimate of civilian deaths was 1,417. Coalition airstrikes also wounded between 5,883 and 9,111 civilians.

Results

The US-led air campaign inflicted heavy losses on the Islamic State and, alongside special forces operations, artillery strikes, and material and intelligence support to the SDF, catalyzed the loss of the bulk of

ISIL The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signif ...

's Syrian territory. By late 2015, coalition planes were dropping or launching an average of 67 bombs or missiles a day. According to CJTF-OIR, by May 2016, ISIL had lost 25 percent of the territory it possessed in Syria since the campaign began, mostly due to advances by YPG/SDF forces with heavy Coalition air support. By the end of 2016 the US-led air campaign against ISIL in both Iraq and Syria was estimated by the Pentagon to have struck 32,000 targets (including 164 tanks, 400 Humvees, and 2,638 pieces of oil infrastructure) and killed 50,000 militants, with approximately 1/3 of the losses taking place in Syria. By August 2017, CJTF-OIR had flown 168,000 sorties in both Syria and Iraq (mostly against ISIL). By December 2017, the Pentagon increased the estimate to 80,000 ISIL fighters killed by coalition airstrikes between Iraq and Syria. By the end of 2018, the SDF, assisted by the coalition, had liberated over 20,000 square kilometers of territory, and three million Syrian civilians from the Islamic State. By 23 March 2019, the day of ISIL's territorial collapse in Syria, CJTF-OIR and partner forces had liberated nearly {{Convert, 110000, km2 from the Islamic State; as a result, 7.7 million people no longer lived under ISIL's "caliphate". The

estimated in August 2020 that over 10,000 ISIL insurgents remained in Syria and

Reactions

Domestic US approval

The intervention was initially conducted with strong domestic US support; according to

Gallup Gallup may refer to: * Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll * Gallup (surname), a surname *Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States ** Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New ...

polling in 2014, 61% of Americans supported intervention against ISIL in both Iraq and Syria, while 30% were opposed, and 9% undecided. A larger CCGA poll taken in 2016 showed that 72% of Americans supported "conducting airstrikes against violent Islamic extremist groups in Syria", while 58% also supported "sending special operations forces into Syria to fight violent Islamic extremist groups." Additionally, a slim majority (52%) supported "enforcing a no-fly zone over parts of Syria, including bombing Syrian air defenses." However, only 26% supported "sending arms and other supplies to anti-government rebel groups in Syria." A

poll conducted between 17 and 20 October 2019 (during a withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria amid a Turkish offensive there) showed that 75% of Americans were generally concerned about the situation in Syria, with 43% saying they were "very concerned". 51% thought the US had a responsibility to remain involved in the Syrian conflict (seven months after ISIL's final Syrian settlement had fallen), while 43% did not.

Syrian reactions

* {{flag, Syria, 1980 – In 2014, a week before the first airstrikes, Ali Haidar, the Syrian Minister of National Reconciliation, said that "any action of any kind without the consent of the Syrian government would be an attack on Syria". However, despite Haidar's original statement, after the coalition campaign began, the Syrian government struck a more conciliatory tone with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem suggesting the airstrikes were an indication that Syria and the anti-ISIL coalition were on the same side. Among the general Syrian population, a July 2015 poll by ORB International surveying 1,365 adults in all of Syria's 14 governorates found that 47% supported US-led airstrikes on ISIL while 50% opposed them. Opposition to American airstrikes was strongest in ISIL-held territory, where 92% were opposed; support was strongest in YPG-held territory and government-held territory, where 87% and 55% respectively supported American strikes on ISIL. * {{flagicon, Syrian National Coalition

Syrian opposition Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

– Hadi Bahra, the leader of the

National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, commonly named the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), or the Syrian National Revolutionary Coalition (SNRC) was a political organization founded in Doha, Qatar, in November 2012 ...

called for airstrikes against ISIL before the intervention began. The coalition is recognized by 20 countries, the European Union, and the Arab league as the legitimate representative of Syria in opposition to the

Assad Asad (), sometimes written as Assad, is an Arabic male given name literally meaning "lion". It is used in nicknames such as ''Asad Allāh'', one of the by-names for Ali ibn Abi Talib. People Among prominent people named "Asad" or "Assad" a ...

government. Bahra said strikes were needed to weaken ISIL, a faction in the inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian civil war, so that the

and other moderate opposition forces could oppose Assad more effectively. Despite Bahra's support, many Syrian rebel groups have criticized US airstrikes for targeting only ISIL who are enemies of the Assad government, while not also targeting Assad government forces, the results of which could help government forces gain more ground. Meanwhile, jihadist groups within the opposition have portrayed the coalition as an anti-Sunni stooge of the Syrian regime, while many Sunnis in Syria are angered that only extremist Sunnis are being targeted while mostly Shiite Assad forces are not targeted. Some rebels defected to extremist groups as a result of the US decision to strike jihadist groups other than ISIL, such as the

International reactions

In a Pew poll taken in 2015, a median of 62% of people across the nations polled said they support American military efforts against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, while a median of 24% were opposed. Among those in support were 78% of Lebanese, 77% of Jordanians, 48% of Turks, 53% of Palestinians, and 84% of Israelis, as well as 81% of French, 66% of British, and 62% of Germans. * {{flagu, Australia –

, the

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

, praised the intervention, saying that an international effort was needed in order to combat the ISIL threat. Despite Abbott's support for the intervention, the Australian Government said it is not likely to contribute forces to operations in Syria. * {{flagu, Canada –

, the

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...

, said in October 2014 Canada would strike ISIL targets in Syria if the Assad government gave approval. New Prime Minister

called President Obama almost immediately after coming into office to inform him that Canada will be ceasing air operations in coordination with Americans. Trudeau did not give a time frame. * {{flagu, Czech Republic –

Lubomír Zaorálek Lubomír Zaorálek (born 6 September 1956) is a Czech politician, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka from 2014 to 2017, and Minister of Culture under Prime Minister Andrej Babiš from 2019 to 2021. ...

, the

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic The minister of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic () is a senior official of the Government of the Czech Republic, and as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Czech Republic), Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned with Foreign relat ...

supported the intervention against the Islamic State and said that it is important to keep supporting the ground forces in the battle against ISIS and the Czech Republic will keep providing military support to the

Iraqi army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...

and to the Kurdish Peshmerga. He also noted that air strikes would not defeat Islamic State. The

Czech government Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surna ...

said that ISIS is enemy not only for safety in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, but also for security and stability in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. * {{flagu, Ecuador – The Ecuadorian government opposed the airstrikes in Syria without the consent of the Syrian government. * {{flagu, Egypt – Egyptian

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

expressed his government's support for the international campaign against ISIL, and a spokesperson for the Egyptian foreign ministry echoed his statements by reiterating the Egyptian government's willingness to back the war against ISIL. * {{flagu, Germany – German foreign minister

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician who has served as President of Germany since 2017. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), federal minister for foreign affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again f ...

questioned whether President Obama's plan was adequate in order to combat ISIL and said Germany had not been asked to participate in airstrikes nor would it participate if asked. * {{flagu, Iran – Iranian

condemned ISIL's actions but also called the airstrikes in Syria "illegal" because they were conducted without the consent of the Syrian government. Iran's deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was reported in Iranian media as saying that Iran had warned the United States that

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

would be at risk should the US and its allies seek to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad while fighting ISIL in Syria. * {{flagu, Israel – Israeli

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

said Israel fully supported the US government's calls for united action against ISIL. * {{flagu, Japan – A spokesperson for the

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organiz ...

said the Japanese government would continue to closely coordinate with the United States and other countries, along with offering support and cooperation in their strikes against ISIL. * {{flagu, Netherlands –

, the

Prime Minister of the Netherlands The prime minister of the Netherlands () or, before 1945, the chairman of the Council of Ministers () is the ''de facto'' head of government of the Netherlands.''Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden'' onstitution of the Kingdom of the N ...

, showed understanding for the intervention against ISIL in Syria and said that his government was exploring options to contribute in the fight against ISIL. * {{flagu, Russia – Alexander Lukashevich, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, opposed the military intervention "without the consent of the legitimate government" and said that "this step, in the absence of a UN Security Council decision, would be an act of aggression, a gross violation of international law". On 14 October, Russian Foreign Minister

Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2004. He is the longest-serving Russian foreign minister since Andrei Gromyko d ...

questioned the motives of the intervention, saying "Maybe their stated goal is not entirely sincere? Maybe it is

regime change Regime change is the partly forcible or coercive replacement of one government regime with another. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy. Regime change may ...

?" He also questioned the effectiveness of the year long campaign "With, as far as I know, 25,000 sorties they S-led air campaigncould have smashed the entire ountry ofSyria into smithereens," continuing to remark that "positive results 'on the ground' are not visible". He also criticized the continued supply of arms to rebels, saying "I want to be honest, we barely have any doubt that at least a considerable part of these weapons will fall into the terrorists' hands." He continued to call for the countries involved to join a coalition made up of Russian, Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Jordanian and Hezbollah forces against what Russia claims is solely ISIL and al Qaeda, but the US has asserted is primarily non-jihadist opposition forces. :

Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov (, ; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat serving as the Kremlin Press Secretary, spokesman for President of Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2012. : Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov referred to the Sharyat attack as "an act of aggression under a completely invented pretext". He compared events in April 2017 to "the situation of 2003, when the USA, the UK and several of their allies invaded Iraq without the UN Security Council's approval—a grave violation of international law—but at that point they at least tried to show some material evidence." * {{flagu, Turkey – The Davutoglu Government called on the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

to approve measures that would grant extensive authority to the President to launch military operations in both Syria and Iraq, including the authority to send troops across the border, although it is unclear whether the Turkish leadership intends to act on that authority. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has urged the establishment of a

by coalition forces in northern Syria. * {{flagu, United Kingdom – A spokesperson for

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...

said the UK would not rule out airstrikes in Syria against ISIL. On 26 September 2014 Parliament voted 524 to 43 to approve action inside Iraq. While visiting

in mid October, British

said he saw no immediate demand from US and Arab militaries for Britain to extend its airstrikes to Syria.

Background

Timber Sycamore and Syrian Train and Equip Program

July 2014 rescue mission

Surveillance flights over Syria

US-led coalition against ISIL

Support for Kurdish-led ground forces

Coalition arming and training of the Syrian opposition

Multinational air war

Contributing countries

US airstrikes

Airstrikes on the Khorasan Group

Ground operations

2015–16

2017–18

2019 drawdown of US ground forces

Withdrawal from north Syria

2019–20: Eastern Syria redeployment

2021–present: Continued Iranian—US proxy conflict

Turkish involvement

Northern Syria Buffer Zone

Reports of civilian casualties and war crimes

Results

Reactions

Domestic US approval

Syrian reactions

International reactions

See also

References

External links