The United States is poised to all but eliminate its military presence in Syria, reducing the number of its military bases from eight to one.

Special Envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack announced the drawdown in an interview with Turkish broadcaster NTV late on Monday. In the interview, the recently appointed envoy stated the U.S. would be undergoing a “reconsolidation” of its presence in Syria, saying, “From eight bases, we will end up with just one.”

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He said the U.S.’s policies toward Syria for the past century haven’t worked.

“Our current policies toward Syria will not resemble the policies of the past 100 years, because those policies did not work,” he said.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the Defense Department for comment.

The withdrawal from Syria is a long-pursued goal of President Donald Trump, who is warming relations with the new, unstable government under Islamic State lieutenant-turned-Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa.

In April, two senior U.S. officials told the New York Times the military would be shutting down three of its eight small operating bases in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled northeast, with troop levels reportedly being reduced from 2,000 to 1,400.

Barrack didn’t specify which of the bases would be kept.

The U.S. occupies a significant portion of eastern and northeastern Syria. Troops were first deployed to assist Kurdish troops in fighting ISIS. Their purpose soon changed to blocking supply routes that allow Iran to send weapons to its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon and to securing the country’s vital oil and gas fields. The lack of income from these resources played a key role in crashing Syria’s economy, leading to December’s rebel blitz that caused Bashar Assad’s regime to collapse.

Following the collapse of the Assad regime, the U.S. position in Syria was further muddled. In March, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces signed a surprise deal with Sharaa’s new Syrian government. He has ordered all armed groups in the country to disarm, including the SDF.

Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and a key patron of the new government, has been at the forefront of Trump’s efforts to warm relations with the new regime. Last week, Barrack raised the American flag above the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Damascus in a ceremony attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani. It was the first time the Stars and Stripes flew above the Syrian capital since Washington shut down its embassy in 2012 in response to violence.

US MILITARY BEGINS LARGE-SCALE WITHDRAWAL FROM SYRIA

Last month, Trump announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria, a surprise move greeted with enthusiasm in Damascus.

On Sunday, Barrack announced that Washington had given Damascus its blessing to incorporate about 3,500 foreign jihadist fighters into the regular Syrian army as the 84th Syrian army division, Reuters reported. Barrack assented to the government’s argument that the fighters, mainly Uyghurs from China and surrounding countries, could be better monitored as part of a state project, rather than excluded and sent into the arms of ISIS or other jihadist groups.