From Syria to Somalia, US troops remain deployed this holiday season under missions that never formally ended

By Fox News · Fox News

While Washington debates future threats from China, Iran and Russia, U.S. forces remain engaged in conflicts most Americans believe ended years ago — in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen. The missions are smaller and quieter than the wars that defined the post-9/11 era. There are no troop surges or primetime speeches. But American service members continue to conduct raids, launch airstrikes and intercept enemy fire under war authorities passed more than two decades ago — long after public attention moved on. The wars did not end. They simply faded from view. DEADLY STRIKE ON US TROOPS TESTS TRUMP’S COUNTER-ISIS PLAN — AND HIS TRUST IN SYRIA’S NEW LEADER Some 40,000 U.S. troops remain stationed in the Middle East, as of June — a reminder that America’s military footprint there has shrunk, but never disappeared. Roughly 900 U.S. troops remain deployed in eastern Syria , where American forces continue counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State group and defend themselves from Iranian-backed militias. The mission is officially described as a stabilization effort following ISIS’s territorial defeat. In reality, U.S. troops still face rocket, drone and indirect fire attacks, particularly as regional tensions rise. American forces operate alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces, targeting ISIS cells that continue to carry out assassinations, ambushes and prison-break attempts. The mission was thrust back into the spotlight in December when two National Guardsmen and one American contractor were shot and killed by a lone suspected Islamic State fighter in Syria. U.S. airstrikes and special operations raids have continued even as Syria largely has vanished from the national conversation. There is no declared war and no defined end state — yet American troops remain in an active combat environment. The U.S. military entered Syria in 2014 as part of the campaign against the Islamic State, launching airstrikes and later deploying special operations forces to work with l…