We all know that we abandoned the Kurds and pulled out of Northern Syria, but if you read the 2019 article you will see that we did not abandon Al-Tanf base.
From the NYTs article in your post.
“”The United States also maintains a small contingent of troops at the Al-Tanf base in south-central Syria, as a deterrent to Iranian movements in that region. The withdrawal order will not affect that post, an American official said.
The garrison at Al-Tanf, for now, is viewed as critical to protect Jordan and to counter Iranian influence, and Mr. Trump has not pushed for any withdrawal from there.””
So when do we ever pull out of Syria? We’ve been there since 2015.