Syrian troops take control of key military base as U.S. troops withdraw

The Syrian military assumed control of the al-Tanf military base situated near the Jordan and Iraq border, the Syrian Defense Ministry confirmed Thursday, amid a historic withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.

The Syrian Arab Army forces took control of the base with the coordination of U.S. officials on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement, and had secured the surrounding area.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the region, confirmed the pullout and said it was only completed after a “deliberate and conditions-based transition,” assisted by the Syrian armed forces.

“U.S. forces remain poised to respond to any ISIS threats that arise in the region as we support partner-led efforts to prevent the terrorist network’s resurgence,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement. “Maintaining pressure on ISIS is essential to protecting the U.S. homeland and strengthening regional security.”

The base was established by CENTCOM in 2014 to act as a key staging area for operations targeting Islamic State forces in Syria and Iraq during the Syrian Civil War. The war ended in December 2024 after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad.

Since then, the new Syrian government, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, has sought a more active role in combating terror groups in the country and officially joined the anti-ISIS coalition with the U.S. in November.

Damascus’ new role in combating ISIS comes amid a massive drawdown in U.S. troops in Syria.

Reports from inside the country detail how U.S. forces have begun handing over key positions in the northeast and southern provinces to Syrian military personnel.

The U.S. currently has an estimated 900 troops in Syria, according to the Associated Press, though exact numbers are difficult to verify.

President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth began publicly discussing the U.S. troop drawdown in April, with the secretary declaring that the Pentagon would begin consolidating its forces around key military bases.

Security experts have questioned how productive a wide-scale U.S. drawdown will be at combating ISIS, with some suggesting that the makeup of Syria’s armed forces is grounds for Washington to reconsider.

“This was a low-cost, high-value mission that the U.S. is ending even though the threat persists. Even if the new Syrian leadership wants to fight ISIS, its capacity is questionable at best. And the Syrian army has incorporated thousands of ex-jihadists,” said Syria scholar David Adesnik, a vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The mission at Tanf also served as an obstacle to the operations of Iran and its proxies, who ship weapons across Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

The withdrawal comes at a sensitive time for Mr. al-Sharaa’s Syria as he looks to consolidate his control over the provinces and dismantle factions who enjoyed independence during the war. Most notably, Damascus recently signed an agreement to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic forces, who served for years as Washington’s main partner in fighting ISIS in the region.

Syria faces intense challenges in defeating ISIS and the group remains one of Damascus’ primary obstacles to stability. The group has grown its membership after the fall of the Assad government, according to a new United Nations report this week, with at least 3,000 members across Iraq and Syria.

The group has carried out several operations in Syria over the past year, including a deadly church bombing in the west and an attack on U.S. personnel in Palmyra that killed three people.

ISIS was also behind at least five attempts on Mr. al-Sharaa’s life last year, according to that same U.N. report. All the plots were foiled through intelligence sharing operations between Iraq and Syria.