In comments that seemed to have been designed to justify a continued US military presence in Syria, US Special Envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition James Jeffrey claimed ISIS in Syria are only defeated where US ground troops are, and that ISIS is still active in parts of Syria, particularly south of the Euphrates.



This narrative would make sense on a very superficial level, if true, because US forces in Deir Ezzor Province are in the Kurdish-held territory, further north, and the Syrian military and its allies took areas south, near the river itself.



The problems, however, are that there haven’t been reports of ISIS being active in this area of Syria south of the Euphrates. Even if there were, the US has one of its largest bases in Syria in al-Tanf, which is in this area, and the US has carved out much of that area as a no-go zone for the Syrian military.



ISIS presence in Syria is at this point virtually non-existent, and to the extent there are any at all, they are scattered about in the desert in Deir Ezzor Province. This spans both US-held territory and some areas where the Syrian military is, but so long as ISIS remains in the desert, no one appears to have any interest in coming after them.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz