U.S. Delivers Aid to Rojava Amid Troops Withdrawing Plans

World 11:24 AM - 2025-04-20

U.S. troops in Syria.

The United States delivered a convoy of 70 trucks carrying military equipment and logistical supplies to its bases in Rojava (Northeastern Syria or West Kurdistan) amid plans to reduce the number of troops it currently has in Syria by around half, to less than 1,000 in the coming months.

A convoy of 70 trucks carrying military equipment and logistical supplies entered Syria on 19 April 2025 from the Kurdistan Region via the al-Waleed border crossing, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The trucks pulled into the northern province of al-Hasakah, near the Kharab al-Jeir camp in Rimelan.

According to SOHR, the convoy was equipped with advanced weapons, armoured vehicles, long-range artillery, radar systems, and other weapons. For security, two military helicopters accompanied the shipment.

As part of global efforts to combat the Islamic State (ISIS) group, which emerged from the turmoil of Syria's civil war to take control of large areas of the country and neighbouring Iraq more than ten years ago, Washington has maintained soldiers in Syria for years.

Although they have since lost badly in both nations, the violent Islamists are still a concern.

"Today the secretary of defense directed the consolidation of US forces in Syria... to select locations," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on Friday, 18 April 2025, without specifying the sites where this would take place.

"This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 U.S. forces in the coming months," he said.

"As this consolidation takes place... US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of (ISIS) in Syria," Parnell added, referring to the military command responsible for the region.

President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington's presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.

As Islamist-led rebels pressed forward with a lightning offensive last December that ultimately overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Trump said Washington should "NOT GET INVOLVED!"

"Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT," Trump, then the president-elect, wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Years of war against ISIS

A U.S.-led air campaign in support of local ground troops, including the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic troops (SDF) and Iraqi government units, was spurred by the ISIS attack in 2014.

In addition, Washington sent thousands of American personnel to support and counsel local forces, with some U.S. troops engaging in direct combat with the jihadists.

After years of bloody warfare, Iraq's prime minister announced a final victory over IS in December 2017, while the SDF proclaimed the defeat of the group's "caliphate" in March 2019 after seizing its final strong-hold in Syria.

However, there are still some jihadists in both countries' countryside, and U.S. forces have long conducted sporadic raids and bombings to assist stop the group's rise.



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