YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Outgoing United States Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has signed orders to pull all American troops out of Syria in the coming weeks, a senior defense official told Fox News on Sunday.

According to Fox News, Pentagon officials declined to comment on specifics including exact dates citing operational security for the roughly 2000 troops.

Trump said in a tweet Sunday the U.S. withdrawal from Syria would be “slow & highly coordinated,”

U.S. airstrikes began in Syria against ISIS in 2014 a year before any U.S. troops were on the ground.

Last week, Mattis announced he will be resigning soon.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan