Syria takes control of Al-Tanf base following US withdrawal

Syria’s Defence Ministry announced on February 12 that government forces had taken control of the Al-Tanf military base following the withdrawal of US troops stationed there as part of the coalition against ISIS.

“Through coordination between the Syrian and American sides, army units have taken control of the base and have begun deploying along the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian border,” the ministry said in a statement, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Two US officials confirmed to Reuters that the US military had completed the withdrawal, handing over the strategically located base to Syrian government forces. Syrian military sources told AFP that US forces had been relocating equipment for the past 15 days and had moved to Jordan.

During the Syrian civil war and the fight against ISIS, US forces had been deployed in the Kurdish-controlled northeast and at Al-Tanf, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were key partners in the anti-ISIS coalition, playing a major role in defeating the group territorially in 2019.

However, following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad over a year ago, Washington has sought closer ties with the new government in Damascus, signalling that its alliance with the Kurds was no longer a priority. Syria formally joined the anti-ISIS coalition after President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House in November.

The Kurdish authorities, pressured by government advances in the northeast, agreed last month to integrate their forces and autonomous administration into the Syrian state. Meanwhile, the US has been transferring roughly 7,000 suspected ISIS fighters from Kurdish detention facilities in Syria to Iraq.

With the withdrawal from Al-Tanf, US forces are now primarily based at the Qasrak base in Hasakeh, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Despite losing territory, ISIS remains active and was blamed for a December attack in Palmyra that killed two US soldiers and a civilian, prompting retaliatory US strikes on the group’s positions.

By Vugar Khalilov