WASHINGTON (DPA) - The United States military is preparing to pull all American forces out of Syria by the end of April, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday (Feb 7).

Unless the Trump administration alters course, the military plans to pull a significant portion of its 2,000 troops out by mid-March, with a full withdrawal coming by the end of April, the newspaper said.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the plans. "We are not discussing the timeline of the US withdrawal from Syria," Navy Commander Sean Robertson told the paper.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said he believes that by next week he will be able to declare the defeat of the "physical caliphate" of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

"I want to wait for the official word, I don't want to say it too early," Mr Trump said at a conference on the extremist group in Washington.

Mr Trump has ordered the military to end its presence in Syria, though there is no exact timetable and there are growing concerns about what a US absence would mean.

Officials from several European countries have expressed concern about a potential "vacuum" once the US withdraws.

Fighting against ISIS in Syria continues to this day, with US-backed local forces, comprised largely of Kurdish and Arab fighters, pushing into the last stronghold still held by the extremists in the far east of the country.

Kurdish forces, and their backers in the US Congress, have increasingly expressed concern that without the US military as a buffer Turkey would follow through on threats to attack them. Mr Trump has been in regular contact with Turkey.