The US plans to establish two new military bases in Kurdish-controlled Syria where it will relocate troops as part of a drawdown of its forces in the country, Rudaw reported on Monday.
Bassam Ishaq, a US-based member of the political wing of the US-backed SDF, said the US would establish one new base near the Tishreen Dam in northern Syria and another in the southeastern Deir Ezzor province near the Iraqi border.
The Tishreen Dam has been the site of heavy fighting between the SDF and the Turkish-backed SNA. Under an integration deal, the SDF is handing over the dam to the Syrian government, which is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of al-Qaeda.
Ishaq said that the US plans to leave 400 troops in Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria. The US also has bases in areas not controlled by the SDF, including at Al Tanf in southern Syria. From Al Tanf, the US helped a militia it backs to join in on the HTS offensive that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Pentagon announced last week that it would be pulling more than 1,000 troops out of Syria as part of a “consolidation” of its forces in the country. “This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand US forces in the coming months,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.
For years, the Pentagon claimed there were only 900 US troops occupying Syria, but the Biden administration revealed late last year that the real number was 2,000.
Parnell’s announcement came after media reports said that the US had informed Israel that it was planning to reduce its military footprint in Syria. The reports said Israel is opposed to any US withdrawal or drawdown from the country over concerns that it would lead to an expanded Turkish presence.
