March 17, 2019
WASHINGTON--Statement from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr.:
A claim reported this evening by a major U.S. newspaper that the U.S. military is developing plans to keep nearly 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria is factually incorrect. There has been no change to the plan announced in February and we continue to implement the President's direction to draw down U.S. forces to a residual presence.
Further, we continue to conduct detailed military planning with the Turkish General Staff to address Turkish security concerns along the Turkey-Syria border. Planning to date has been productive and we have an initial concept that will be refined in the coming days.
We are also conducting planning with other members of the Coalition who have indicated an intent to support the transition phase of operations into Syria.
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