DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The United States has given its blessing to a plan by Syria’s new rulers to incorporate thousands of foreign terrorists into the national army, provided that it does so transparently, President Donald Trump’s envoy said.
Three Syrian defense officials said that under the plan, some 3,500 foreign terrorists would join a newly-formed unit, the 84th Syrian army division, which would also include Syrians.
Asked by Reuters in Damascus whether Washington approved the integration of foreigners into Syria’s new military, Thomas Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey who was named Trump’s special envoy to Syria last month, said: “I would say there is an understanding, with transparency.”
He said it was better to keep the militants, many of whom are “very loyal” to Syria’s new administration, within a state project than to exclude them.
The fate of foreigners who joined Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants during the 13-year war between terrorist groups and President Bashar al-Assad has been one of the most fraught issues hindering a rapprochement with the West since HTS, a one-time offshoot of Al-Qaeda, toppled Assad and took power last year.
At least until early May, the United States had been demanding the new leadership broadly exclude foreign militants from the security forces.
But Washington’s approach to Syria has changed sharply since Trump toured the Middle East last month. Trump agreed to lift Assad-era sanctions on Syria, met Syria’s interim HTS head Mohamed al-Jolani in Riyadh and named Barrack, a close friend, as his special envoy.
Two sources close to the Syrian defense ministry told Reuters that Jolani and his circle had been arguing to Western interlocutors that bringing foreign militants into the army would be less of a security risk than abandoning them, which could drive them into the orbit of Al-Qaeda or Daesh.
The U.S. State Department and a Syrian regime spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. 
The development comes as U.S. forces have carried out a sudden withdrawal from two major military bases in Syria’s eastern Dayr al-Zawr province, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday, in what marks one of the most significant American military shifts in northeastern Syria.
According to the Britain-based monitoring group, the withdrawal began gradually on May 18 and accelerated over the past 48 hours. U.S. military convoys, including armored vehicles and logistical equipment, were seen departing the al-Omar oil field and the Conoco gas field, both strategic outposts within the area controlled by the U.S.-backed so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The pullout took place amid intense overflights by aircraft from the U.S.-led international coalition, the report added.
Following the withdrawal, the SDF special forces commandos were deployed to the vacated locations.