US Defense Department: We have not received orders to withdraw from Syria.

The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) denied receiving orders to withdraw from Syria, indicating that the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Fernando Arias, will meet with officials in Damascus. The organization had requested the new authorities in Syria to hand over and secure all relevant sites, protect any documents related to the chemical weapons program previously held by the former regime. Arias is expected to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaaban, signaling a political readiness to cooperate with the agency after years of strained relations during the era of the ousted President Bashar al-Assad. Important details of the organization's mission in Syria are still being prepared, but its main objectives will focus on locating and securing chemical material stockpiles to prevent the risk of proliferation. Damascus was supposed to undergo inspections as part of its membership, but for over a decade, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has been prevented from revealing the true extent of the chemical weapons program. After the ousted regime carried out several chemical attacks and killed hundreds of people, Syria joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons under a U.S.-Russian agreement.