US Military Could Be Heading To Damascus Under Trump’s New Plan

The U.S. military is preparing to establish a presence at an airbase near Damascus to help oversee a potential security agreement between Syria and Israel, Reuters reported Thursday, citing six sources familiar with the plans.

The proposed deployment would place American personnel near Syria’s capital as President Donald Trump pushed for a security arrangement between the two longtime adversaries. However, Syrian officials disputed the reporting, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry.

The facility would sit near portions of southern Syria expected to become a demilitarized zone under a possible nonaggression agreement with Israel, Reuters reported, citing Western and Syrian officials.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Pentagon referred to CENTCOM, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump first met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 14, 2025, shortly after announcing plans to lift American sanctions on Syria, according to a White House readout.

During that meeting, Trump urged the Syrian president to join the Abraham Accords with Israel, expel foreign terrorists and help prevent an ISIS resurgence, according to the White House.

The meeting marked a dramatic reversal for al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who previously led the Nusra Front, the terrorist network’s Syrian affiliate, before breaking ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and eventually leading Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The State Department subsequently revoked the designation of HTS as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in July 2025, according to the Federal Register.

Trump later hosted al-Sharaa at the White House on Nov. 10, 2025, marking the first such visit by a Syrian president, according to official White House pool reports.