🇺🇸 American troops and equipment exited via Jordan as Damascus moves to take over the last US-held base. The last remaining US troops in Syria left their base in Hasakah on Thursday, ending a 10-year presence in the country aimed at fighting the Islamic State group, Syrian officials told Middle East Eye.
Following the withdrawal of US forces, the Syrian military entered the last base previously under American control, known as Qasrak, which included an airstrip. A Syrian official told MEE that the withdrawal had been completed.
Charles Lister, a prominent Syria expert, said in a social media post that the force that took over the base was the Syrian army’s 60th Division, composed primarily of Kurdish fighters affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a longtime US partner force.
Lister also said that US troops and equipment left Syria via Jordan in order to avoid possible attacks by Iranian-backed paramilitaries in Iraq.
In a statement later on Thursday, the Syrian foreign ministry said that it welcomed “the completed handover of military sites where United States forces were previously present in Syria to the Syrian government”.
The ministry added that the completion of the handover of these sites also reflects the successful integration of the SDF into national structures, and “the Syrian state’s assumption of full responsibility for combating terrorism and addressing regional threats on its territory”.
The US decision to withdraw followed President Ahmed al-Sharaa's defeat of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 after more than a decade of civil war.
Washington, which backs Sharaa's new government, previously had around 1,000 US troops in Syria.
Earlier this year, the US helped facilitate an agreement between the SDF and Damascus, under which the Syrian government agreed to take the lead in combating militant groups like IS.
Earlier this year, US forces also withdrew from two major American bases in Syria: southern al-Tanf and al-Shaddadi in the northeast.
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