White House Denies US Will Leave Syria, but Plan Has Supporters

Despite growing calls for the U.S. to withdraw its troops from Syria, where a recent surge in Iran-backed terror attacks have targeted American service members, the Biden administration appears committed to keeping a contingent of soldiers stationed there.

The White House position was in some doubt after a January article in Foreign Policy magazine by a noted Middle East scholar predicted a pullout. The White House and Defense Department swiftly denied the report – though that type of rapid response was telling for the article’s author, Charles Lister. Lister is a senior fellow and the director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute.