US intervention in the Syrian civil war

US intervention in the Syrian civil war
	Part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the war against the Islamic State, and the foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war
	; Top: Territorial map of the Syrian Civil War in September 2014; Bottom: Current territorial map of the Syrian Civil War; Syrian Government Army Syrian National Army & others Syrian Democratic Forces Tahrir al-Sham ISIL; (For a more detailed, up-to-date, interactive map, see here.)
Date	22 September 2014 – present ; (9 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Location	Syria
Result	19,786+ U.S. and allied airstrikes, over 16,000 hitting ISIL positions; Thousands of targets destroyed, thousands of militants killed; U.S.-backed opposition training program 2014–2017; U.S. and allies supplying weapons and advisers to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces; ISIL loses most of its territory in Syria by December 2017; ISIL suffers military defeat and loses almost all of its remaining territory in March 2019; U.S.-led occasional strikes against the Syrian government; Further decline of Russia–United States relations; Turkey–United States relations sour on rift over Kurdish forces; U.S. Army, Marine and Special Operation forces deployed in Syria, and the number of U.S. troops training local armed forces has dropped from 2,000 in 2017 to 900 in 2019; Death of ISIL's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019; Death of ISIL's leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi in February 2022; Death of ISIL's leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi during clashes in April 2023.; Attacks on U.S. bases in Syria since October 2023;
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Casualties and losses
	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.

On 22 September 2014, the United States officially intervened in the Syrian civil war with the stated aim of fighting the Islamic State as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in the international war against the Islamic State. The U.S. also supports the Syrian rebels and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces opposed to both the Islamic State and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Shortly after the start of the civil war in 2011, the Obama administration placed sanctions against Syria and supported the Free Syrian Army rebel faction by covertly authorizing Timber Sycamore under which the Central Intelligence Agency (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, France, Jordan, Turkey, Canada, Australia, and others—launched an air campaign against the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front inside Syria.

The U.S. missile strike on Shayrat Airbase on 7 April 2017 was the first time the U.S. deliberately attacked Syrian government forces during the war, and marked the start of a series of direct military actions by U.S. 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 Syrian Free Army opposition group based in al-Tanf. In mid-January 2018, the Trump administration indicated its intention to maintain an open-ended military presence in Syria to accomplish U.S. 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 U.S. ground troops in Syria at the time, which was to be completed in 2019. With proliferating concerns over a potential power vacuum, the U.S. announced on 22 February 2019 that instead of a total withdrawal, a contingency force of around 400 U.S. troops would remain garrisoned 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 and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a U.S. special forces raid in Idlib in October 2019. The Trump administration ordered all U.S. forces to withdraw from Rojava in early October ahead of a Turkish incursion into the region, a controversial move widely seen as a reneging of the U.S.'s alliance with the SDF in favor of NATO ally Turkey. However, by November 2019, U.S. troops instead repositioned to eastern Syria, reinforcing their presence in the al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor 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 U.S. Central Command stated there was no "end date" on the U.S.'s intervention in Syria.

As of February 2021, there are around 900 U.S. soldiers operating in Syria, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

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