US troops handover al-Tanf military base to Syria
The US and Syria confirmed on Thursday that American troops have withdrawn from a key base on Syria’s border with Jordan and Iraq, turning it over to Syrian soldiers.
US Central Command said on Thursday that it had completed an “orderly departure” of troops from the base “as part of a deliberate and conditions-based transition” to consolidate its positions across the country.
Syria's defence ministry said on Thursday that government forces had taken control of the base.
The move is part of a broader US drawdown in Syria and reorientation away from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The Trump administration wants Sharaa’s government to fill the vacuum as it departs and is relying on Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to support Damascus.
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At the same time, the US has transferred thousands of Islamic State group (IS) prisoners from northeast Syria, where they were guarded by the SDF, to Iraq.
The al-Tanf military base was part of a wider network of US military installations across Syria that sprang up following its 2014 intervention to defeat IS.
At the time, the US forged a security partnership with Kurdish fighters and supported the SDF’s creation out of the YPG, the Syrian wing of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
US pivot
The Trump administration backed an offensive by Sharaa’s forces against the SDF earlier this year, which saw the Kurdish-led group lose control of vast territories to Damascus.
The US then brokered an agreement that will see SDF fighters integrate into the Syrian army, while Kurdish forces continue to oversee security in Kurdish-majority cities and towns.
Al-Tanf was garrisoned by US troops and a small contingent of Arab rebel fighters that the US trained for war against IS. Its strategic position in the tri-border desert area allowed it to serve as a hub for military operations.
The base was especially important for US cooperation with Jordan, which also trained and backed rebel groups in southern Syria against Bashar al-Assad and IS.
Following the defeat of IS in 2019, al-Tanf’s role as a strategic node disrupting Iranian supply lines to the Assad government and Hezbollah became more prominent. The base came under attack from Iran-aligned militias in 2024 when tensions spiked between Israel and the Islamic Republic.
On one hand, Trump has carried out military intervention in Iran. However, Syria, where about 1,000 US troops were stationed before the al-Tanf pullout, has been the focal point of his efforts to reduce some US entanglements in the Middle East.
Trump tried to end the US intervention in Syria during his first administration. He approved a Turkish offensive in the northeast and drew down some troops. His efforts were hamstrung by senior national security officials at the White House.
With Assad gone and Sharaa now in the US camp supported by Turkey and the Gulf, Trump has a better chance of executing his plans, experts say. Israel has opposed a US drawdown, as have members of Congress.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that the US troops in al-Tanf would redeploy to Jordan, where the US has a network of desert bases on the border.
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