The United States confirmed Thursday it has withdrawn from the Al-Tanf Deconfliction Zone, a patch of southeastern Syrian territory the U.S. used to fight the Islamic State during the Syrian civil war. The U.S. has allowed the Syrian military, now led by former al Qaeda operative President Ahmed al-Sharaa, to take over the perimeter.

This follows the U.S. abandoning its Kurdish allies to the north and means that it no longer has any significant military presence in Syria.

• Al-Tanf Garrison is located near Syria’s borders with Jordan and Iraq.
• Under the Assad regime, Syria aligned with Iran and facilitated its interests in Iraq and Lebanon.
• Under the Sharaa regime, Syria has been treated as a trustworthy partner by the Trump administration, despite its ties to jihadism, attacks on Kurds, and a tenuous grasp on governance.
• Israel, Syria’s neighbor to the south, has vocally stated that it does not trust the Sharaa government: It actually had a more functioning relationship with Assad.

Withdrawing from Al-Tanf basically means U.S. President Donald Trump is confident Sharaa’s government is the best option to govern Syria and no longer needs any American checks. Aside from signaling to Sharaa that he can continue his consolidation of Syria with impunity, this also leaves jihadist groups like Iranian proxies and even the Islamic State an opportunity to reestablish a foothold in Syria.

In 2019, when President Trump was originally considering a similar move, the Trumpet wrote:

President Trump’s withdrawal from Syria has damaged America’s credibility in the region. In the tumultuous Middle East, reliability and predictability are essential attributes in an ally.

Arab nations and Israel will gladly accept all the weapons and financial support America is willing to give. But given that the region is a powder keg, they simply cannot risk depending on the U.S. to come to their defense in the face of Iranian aggression, regardless of speeches by a U.S. secretary of state. The search for new allies is underway.

While some may rejoice over America’s withdrawal from the Middle East, the Bible reveals that its absence portends the most destructive period this war-weary region has ever seen.

Prophecies in Daniel 11 and Psalm 83 state America’s time as the Middle East’s strongest power is numbered. To learn more, read “America Is Back … ing Out.”