US officials have insisted that they intend to keep troops in Syria indefinitely. Syrian officials, however, are not on board with that idea, as they never welcomed US troops in the first place.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem was very specific about this, saying Saturday that the war is virtually over at this point, and that Syria wants the US, France, and Turkey to withdraw troops immediately.

While Syria invited Iranian and Russian forces into the country to help with the war, along with Shi'ite militias, these other nations all sent troops unilaterally, and all did so with an eye toward backing rebel factions.

With the rebels virtually defeated, the US and France have presence in Syrian Kurdish territory, where the Kurds are trying to negotiate a deal with the Syrian government, and Turkey is keeping its troops in the last rebel territory in the north, while continuing to threaten to attack the Kurds.