Syria, US hold high-level talks as Al-Tanf base changes hands

Throughout the Syrian civil war and the campaign against ISIS, US troops were stationed in Syria’s Kurdish-held northeast as well as at the Al-Tanf base, located near the borders with Jordan and Iraq. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) served as Washington’s principal local ally in the anti-ISIS coalition and were instrumental in dismantling the group’s territorial control in 2019.

The geopolitical landscape shifted, however, after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s long-standing rule more than a year ago. Since then, Washington has moved to build relations with the new authorities in Damascus, indicating that its previous strategic reliance on the Kurdish alliance was no longer central. Syria officially joined the anti-ISIS coalition after President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House in November.

Amid mounting pressure from advancing government forces in the northeast, Kurdish leadership agreed last month to fold their armed units and autonomous administrative structures into the Syrian state framework. At the same time, the United States has been relocating approximately 7,000 suspected ISIS detainees from Kurdish-run prisons in Syria to Iraq.

Following the withdrawal from Al-Tanf, US military personnel are now concentrated mainly at the Qasrak base in Hasakeh province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Although ISIS has lost its territorial strongholds, the group continues to operate. It was blamed for a December attack in Palmyra that killed two American soldiers and a civilian, an assault that triggered retaliatory US airstrikes against ISIS targets.

By Tamilla Hasanova