Another major news story today. This one overseas. Today, a senior administration official

told PBS News Hour the U.S. will reduce the number of U.S. troops who've been fighting

ISIS in Syria. The statement comes after a major shift in U.S. policy in the country, removing

support from Kurdish forces who fight ISIS alongside American troops to support Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Shada. Meanwhile, next door in Iran, the country appears to be bracing for a U.S. strike. Nick Schifrin is following all of this, and he joins us now. So, Nick, let's start with Syria. What's the U.S. seeing about Syria? I don't know that official, that senior administration official, telling me tonight that, quote,

the U.S. presence at scale is no longer required in Syria, given the Syrian government's

willingness to take primary responsibility for combating the terrorist threat within its borders.

But a military official tells me this is not a withdrawal of the 1,000 or so troops that have been stationed

in Syria. Instead, it's what this official calls a consolidation. The U.S. has already announced

it would close two bases in Syria, and the official tells me the final number and location

of U.S. troops is dependent on how capable the U.S. the Syrian government is to fight ISIS.

For the last decade, though, those U.S.

troops fought ISIS alongside the mostly Kurdish Syrian defense forces who controlled most of the

northeast, and together they liberated the area from ISIS. But as you said, the U.S. is now

all in with Ahmed al-Shara, and recently central government forces overran Kurdish positions,

and the U.S. withdrew support for the Kurds.

And this past weekend at the Munich Security Conference, I cut up with Mazdoum Abdi.

He is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces,

and he warns that any U.S. withdrawal would threaten the political agreement that he made with the central government and the fight against ISIS.

I believe withdrawing American troops at this critical moment is not a good idea,

as it will inevitably present inherent challenges, especially in the ongoing fight against terrorism.

There will be severe negative consequences.

I believe that the presence of the United States is very crucial

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