James Jeffrey, top US official on Syria and Islamic State, retiring

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Nov 9, 2020

James Jeffrey, State Department special representative for Syria engagement and special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, testifies before the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Oct. 23, 2019. — NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

James Jeffrey, the career diplomat overseeing the Trump administration’s policies on Syria and the Islamic State (IS), is stepping down, the US State Department announced on Monday.

Jeffrey came out of retirement in 2018 to serve as the State Department’s special representative for Syria. And following the resignation of Brett McGurk, he took on the added job of lead US envoy for the international anti-IS coalition.