Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sept. 12, 2025, in Damascus, Syria. Reports that the U.S. is establishing a military presence on an air base in Damascus is false, according to Syrian officials. Al-Sharaa is to meet with President Donald Trump on Nov. 10. (Facebook/U.S. Central Command)
Syria is pushing back on a recent news report that the U.S. will establish a military presence on a Damascus air base, according to the country’s state-owned news service.
An official at the Syrian foreign ministry said Thursday the assertion is untrue, news agency SANA reported.
That was in response to a Reuters report this week saying U.S. forces were planning to post up at an unspecified base near the Syrian capital to help enable a security pact Washington is mediating between Israel and Syria.
Reuters cited six unidentified sources familiar with the matter.
The U.S. is directly engaging with Syria and supporting the country’s unity, the foreign ministry official told SANA.
The American military has maintained a presence in Syria for more than a decade as part of efforts to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced it would consolidate the number of troops involved in that mission to about 1,000. Most remain in the northeast, where they assist Kurdish partners in the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Adm. Brad Cooper, leader of U.S. Central Command, also said earlier this year that the military would take an active role in repatriating the occupants of the vast detention centers in northeast Syria, which house tens of thousands of ISIS-affiliated men, women and children.
CENTCOM, whose area of responsibility is the Middle East, did not immediately respond to questions Thursday about the Reuters report.
Talk of a U.S. military presence in Syria comes as President Ahmed al-Sharaa prepares to travel to Washington on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump.
The two first met in May during Trump’s tour of the Middle East. Trump praised al-Sharaa’s efforts to rebuild the nation after a rebel offensive ousted longtime dictator Bashar Assad late last year.
Since Assad’s overthrow, the U.S. has shown a willingness to support the new government in Damascus and has encouraged other nations to do the same.
This week, the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution drafted by the U.S. to lift sanctions on al-Sharaa, who was the head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was formerly linked to al-Qaida.
