The US has begun withdrawing from a key base in northeastern Syria as part of a drawdown that could lead to a full withdrawal of US troops from the country.
Iraqi and Syrian officials told The Associated Press that the US has been removing forces and equipment from the Qasrak base in Syria’s northeastern Hasaka Governorate, and is transferring them to a US base in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Photos from northeast Syria show convoys of dozens of trucks carrying heavy military equipment, and AP journalists said helicopters were flying overhead. A Syrian security official said about 200 US troops remained at the base, and work was being done to dismantle air defenses and other equipment.
US officials told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that the US was in the process of a full withdrawal of the roughly 1,000 US troops in Syria, which is expected to take about two months. US Central Command has confirmed that the US pulled out of the Al Tanf Garrison, a strategic base in southern Syria near the borders of Iraq and Jordan.
The withdrawal comes amid a major US military buildup in the region as it prepares for a potential attack on Iran. US officials told the Journal that the Syria withdrawal wasn’t related to the Iran buildup, but the bases in Syria are known to be vulnerable to potential Iranian missile attacks, and the US has reportedly been moving troops around in other parts of the Middle East in anticipation of a potential war with Iran.
The Journal report said that one reason the Trump administration has decided to withdraw from Syria was to “reduce friction” with the Syrian military, which US officials have previously acknowledged is “riddled with jihadist sympathizers, including soldiers with ties to al-Qaeda and ISIS and others who have been involved in alleged war crimes against the Kurds and Druze.”
The presence of jihadists in the security forces of the new Syrian government, which the US helped put in power, was demonstrated by the December 13 attack in Palmyra, Syria, which killed two members of the Iowa National Guard and an American civilian interpreter. While President Trump blamed the attack on ISIS, the gunman was a member of the Syrian military.
