Boots On The Ground: U.S. Forces In Syria
- By Amos Chapple
This is what the American military presence in Syria -- which U.S. President Donald Trump says he will begin withdrawing -- looked like during its nearly three years in the country.
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U.S. armored vehicles driving through Hajin, in eastern Syria, in December 2018.
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U.S. Marines firing a howitzer during fighting in northern Syria in March 2017. American troops have been operating inside Syria since early 2016.
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Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) chat with members of U.S. forces in the Syrian town of Al-Darbasiyah in April 2017. The stated U.S. mission in Syria includes training and advising rebel forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants.
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U.S. Marines pop a mortar towards an IS target in eastern Syria in October 2018. U.S. forces have also launched "kill or capture" missions targeting prominent IS leaders.
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U.S. soldiers in a house they converted into an outpost in northern Syria. The U.S. deployment currently stands at around 2,000 troops, up from just a few hundred in 2017.
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U.S. soldiers inside a YPG base in northeastern Syria in April 2017. Four American service members have been killed since the Syrian operation began, most recently in March 2018 when an American and a British soldier were killed by an explosive.
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U.S. and Turkish forces conduct joint patrols on the outskirts of Manbij in November 2018. Syria is today an "ever congested" battle space, with U.S.-, Turkish-, Syrian-, Russian-, and Iranian-affiliated fighters all variously cooperating and clashing in the country.
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A U.S. military commander (right) with YPG fighters as they inspect the damage done to a YPG base after it was hit by Turkish air strikes.
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U.S. Marine howitzers pummel an IS position during the four-month battle for Raqqa, the de facto "capital" of the Islamic State group until the city was liberated in October 2017.
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A U.S military demining vehicle leads a convoy near Raqqa in July 2017.
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A U.S. base near Manbij in May 2018. The most infamous clash of the U.S. deployment came when hundreds of fighters aligned with the Syrian regime -- many of them Russian -- launched an attack on a Kurdish base with U.S. special forces inside...
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An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress refueling during a bombing mission over Syria in February 2017. After the regime-aligned forces attacked the Kurdish base, American aircraft and artillery were used to pummel the attackers. At least dozens were killed in the "inferno," including many Russian mercenaries.
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A local flashes a "V for victory" sign at U.S. military vehicles near Al-Darbasiyah. According to the U.S. Defense Department, the coalition has recaptured around 90 percent of the territory once held by IS in Syria.
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A U.S. vehicle near Manbij in April 2018. On December 19, U.S. President Donald Trump declared it was time for American troops "to come back home." The statement led to a flurry of criticism that the move would embolden IS, with one Republican senator saying a withdrawal would be a mistake, claiming the Islamic State group has been "degraded" but not yet defeated.
