US forces began pulling out of their largest base in northeastern Syria on Monday, part of a wider departure as the US-allied government in Damascus consolidates control.
– Dozens of trucks, some carrying armored vehicles, departed the base at Qasrak in Hasakah province on Monday morning, witnesses said. Reuters footage later showed the trucks moving along a highway on the outskirts of the city of Qamishli.
– A full withdrawal from Qasrak would still leave the US-led coalition with a base in Rmelan, also known as Kharab al-Jir, near the Iraqi border.
– Qasrak has been a main hub for the US-led global coalition fighting ISIS in Syria, where US troops deployed over a decade ago, partnering with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the extremist group.
– One of the Syrian sources, a military official briefed on US plans, said the pullout was expected to take about a month, but that it remained unclear whether the withdrawal from the base was temporary or permanent.
– Since government forces under President Ahmed al-Sharaa seized control of swathes of the northeast from the SDF last month, US forces have withdrawn from a base at al-Shaddadi in Hasakah province, and a garrison at al-Tanf, located at the intersection of Syria’s border with Iraq and Jordan.
– A senior US official told Reuters on Wednesday that some US troops were leaving Syria as part of a “deliberate and conditions-based transition.”
– The official said US presence at scale was no longer needed given the Syrian government’s “willingness to take primary responsibility for combating the terrorist threat within its borders.”
– The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the US was withdrawing all of its roughly 1,000 troops from Syria.
– Syria joined the US-led coalition to combat ISIS last year. The militant group, which once controlled a third of Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for two attacks on Saturday that killed a soldier and a civilian.