The United States quietly withdrew Army National Guard M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles from Eastern Syria less than two months after making a very public show of sending the armored vehicles to that country late last year. This revelation comes amid continuing questions about the future of the U.S. military presence in Syria, in general. U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel David Olson, a spokesperson for U.S. Army Central and Third Army, the service's top headquarters for operations across the Middle East, confirmed to The War Zone that the Bradleys and other elements of the South Carolina Army National Guard's 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment, had withdrawn from Syria by the end of November 2019. The armored infantry fighting vehicles and accompanying infantry and other support elements had first deployed to sites in the Eastern Syrian province of Deir Ez Zor on Oct. 31, 2019. That came in the wake of a hasty withdrawal of other U.S. forces in the region in the aftermath of a major Turkish military incursion into Northern Syria, aimed primarily at ejecting the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the area.

"A few M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles did deploy to Syria in late October 2019, but returned to Kuwait in November," Olson explained. "They were part of a security force that protected the oil fields in Syria from ISIS until we withdrew our troops in November." Olson also confirmed that there were no other elements of the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team still in Syria. 4-118th Infantry is part of the 30th, which first deployed to Kuwait at the beginning of October 2019 as part of a nine-month rotation in support of Operation Spartan Shield, a standing regional contingency operation.

US Army Bradleys and other vehicles assigned to 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment, conduct a patrol in Syria in November 2019.

It is not entirely clear how long it took the Army to redeploy the Bradleys and other personnel from 4-118th Infantry from Syria to Kuwait. Publicly released pictures show at least some of the armored vehicles at the U.S. military-operated portion of Erbil International Airport in the city of the same name in Northern Iraq, about to be airlifted, likely to Kuwait, in December 2019. U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III cargo aircraft had flown the vehicles and associated personnel and equipment into Syria at the beginning of the deployment.

US Army Bradleys from 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry parked at Erbil International Airport on Dec. 18, 2019. An Iraqi Air Force C-130 Hercules airlifter is seen taxiing at right.

US Army A US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III cargo aircraft offloads a Bradley in Syria on Nov. 1, 2019.

We also don't know if any additional U.S. forces deployed to Eastern Syria to take over for the departing elements of the 4-118th Infantry. However, there are no Bradley-equipped units publicly forward-deployed to the region at present that do not belong to the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team and Lieutenant Colonel Olson says that the brigade as a whole does not have any personnel presently in Syria. There are still American troops in Deir Ez Zor, including at a site known as Green Village and another one within the Conoco gas field. On Jan. 24, 2020, U.S. Army Specialist Antonio Moore, assigned to the Army Reserve's 363rd Engineer Battalion, part of the 411th Engineer Brigade, died when his vehicle rolled over at an unspecified location in the province. The Pentagon said that Moore was taking part in a "route clearance" operation, which involves patrolling roads to sweep for mines, improvised explosive devices, and other hazards to ensure they remain safe to travel on. The War Zone was among the first to report on the presence of dedicated Army route clearance units in Syria in 2017.

CRS A map showing the general zones of influence in Syria as of March 2019, boundaries that have changes dramatically since then. However it does still show a number of important locations, including the general location of both the Green Village and Conoco gas field forward operating locations, seen marked to the east of the city of Deir Ez Zor, the capital of the Syrian province of the same name.