The U.S. military has begun to draw small numbers of troops out of the Middle East after concluding that the threat of reprisal attacks from Iran or its proxies has subsided, military officials said.

About 1,000 combat troops who had deployed to Kuwait days after the Jan. 3 strike that killed a top Iranian commander, Maj. Gen.Qassem Soleimani, have left the region over the past two weeks, the officials said. An additional 2,000 members of the same brigade are expected to leave the region in the weeks ahead, the officials said.

They are the first departures of ground forces since the increase in hostilities in January, signaling a tenuous confidence by U.S. officials that the immediate tension in the region has begun to decline.

With these withdrawals, the majority of American troops added to the region in the weeks after the Soleimani strike—which included combat troops, jet fighter squadrons, missile-defense systems, an American aircraft carrier and other warships—will have left the region.

The Kuwait deployment involved combat troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. They were sent to provide additional security for U.S. bases and embassies in the region in case the death of Gen. Soleimani, considered by the U.S. officials to be the architect of deadly Iranian shadow wars throughout the Middle East, led to widespread retaliatory attacks by Iran and the proxy forces he supported.