US military begins withdrawing from main base in northeast Syria, Syrian sources say
Feras Dalatey and Orhan Qereman
DAMASCUS, Feb 23 (Reuters) – U.S. forces began withdrawing from their largest base in northeastern Syria on Monday, three Syrian military and security sources said; this was part of a broader disengagement as the US-allied government in Damascus consolidated control.
Eyewitnesses said dozens of trucks, some carrying armored vehicles, left the base in Qasrak in Hasakah province on Monday morning. Reuters footage later showed the trucks moving on a highway on the outskirts of Qamishli city.
The U.S. military’s Central Command (Centcom) did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
A complete withdrawal from Kasrak would leave the US-led coalition with a base in Rmelan, also known as Kharab al-Jir, near the Iraqi border.
Qasrak has become the headquarters of the US-led global coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria; US troops were stationed there more than a decade ago and partnered with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the jihadist group.
Neither the Syrian Ministry of Defense nor the SDF responded to requests for comment.
THE DRAW IS EXPECTED TO TAKE WEEKS
The military officer, one of the Syrian sources providing information about the US plans, said that the withdrawal is expected to last about a month, but it remains unclear whether the withdrawal from the base is temporary or permanent.
The second Syrian source, who also gave information about the US plans, said that it would take a few weeks.
Since government forces under President Ahmed al-Shara seized control of areas in the northeast from the SDF last month, US forces have withdrawn from the al-Shaddadi base in Hasakah province and a garrison at al-Tanf, at the intersection of Syria’s border with Iraq and Jordan.
A senior US official told Reuters on Wednesday that some US troops had left Syria as part of a “deliberate and circumstantial transition”.
The official said a large-scale U.S. presence is no longer needed, given the Syrian government’s “willingness to assume primary responsibility for combating the terrorist threat within its borders.”
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the United States would withdraw all of its approximately 1,000 troops from Syria.
Syria joined the US-led coalition to fight the Islamic State 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.
(Additional reporting by Khalil Ashawi in Damascus; Editing by Tom Perry, Aidan Lewis)
