Phil Stewart, Idris Ali and Tala Ramadan
In a milestone, the US withdrew from a strategic Syrian base and handed it over to DamascusWASHINGTON, – The US military said it had completed its withdrawal from a strategic base in Syria on Thursday, handing it over to Syrian forces, in the latest sign of strengthening US-Syrian ties that could lead to a larger American withdrawal.
Al-Tanf Garrison is located at the tri-border junction of Syria, Jordan and Iraq.
Established in 2014 during the Syrian civil war, the United States initially relied on it as a hub for the US-led coalition’s campaign against Islamic State militants, who controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria before being defeated in 2019.
But its strategic location on the road linking Tehran to Damascus made the base a key location in the fight against Iranian influence. Although Washington had long viewed the base as worthwhile, the Trump administration recalculated when relations underwent a fundamental shift after longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024.
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Syria joined the coalition fighting Islamic State remnants last November when President Ahmed al-Shara, a former al Qaeda commander, visited the White House for talks with President Donald Trump.
David Adesnick of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think-tank in Washington questioned the ability of Syrian forces to achieve détente after the US withdrawal.
“And the Syrian army includes thousands of former jihadists,” Adesnik said.
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“The Tanaf mission also served as a deterrent to the operations of Iran and its proxies, which send arms to Lebanon’s Hezbollah across Syria. That’s a goal all its own.”
The US is determined to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State
The Syrian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that government forces had taken control of al-Tanf after coordination between Syrian and US authorities.
The US military’s Central Command confirmed the transfer of Al-Tanf in a statement and noted that the Pentagon had announced plans to consolidate the bases’ locations in Syria last year.
“U.S. forces are ready to respond to the emerging ISIS threat in the region as we support partner-led efforts to prevent the resurgence of the terrorist network,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, which uses the Islamic State’s acronym.
Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two sources, that US troops from al-Tanf were moving to Jordan.
The US withdrawal from Al-Tanf follows a Washington-brokered deal to integrate the Syrian Democratic Forces – a Kurdish-led autonomy-minded group that has been backed by the US for a decade in the fight against IS – into institutions in central Syria.
Trump has long expressed his desire to withdraw US troops from Syria, going back to 2019 during his first term. Before the US withdrawal from al-Tanf, US officials estimated that there were about 1,000 troops in Syria.
A person familiar with the matter said the withdrawal from Tanaf could be a milestone towards a larger withdrawal. The U.S. is also withdrawing one of its biggest commitments on the ground in Syria — helping U.S.-backed forces secure prisons holding Islamic State prisoners held during the war.
Roughly a dozen prisons were guarded by the SDF, but US forces have been transferring high-level Islamic State prisoners from Syria to Iraq since last month as control of the facilities passed to government forces.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without text modification
