Syria says its forces have taken over al-Tanf base after handover from US

Syrian government forces have taken control of a base in the east of the country that was run for years by US troops as part of the war against the Islamic State group, the Defence Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Syrian government forces have taken control of a base in the east of the country that was run for years by US troops as part of the war against the Islamic State group, the Defence Ministry said in a statement Thursday. The al-Tanf base sits on a strategic location, close to the borders with Jordan and Iraq. In a terse statement, the Syrian Defence Ministry said the handover of the base took place in coordination with the US military and Syrian forces are now ''securing the base and its perimeters.'' The US military did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press regarding the Syrian statement. The Syrian Defense Ministry also said that Syrian troops are now in place in the desert area around the al-Tanf garrison, with border guards to deploy in the coming days. The deployment of Syrian troops at al-Tanf and in the surrounding areas comes after last month's deal between the government and the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, to merge into the military. Al-Tanf garrison was repeatedly attacked over the past years with drones by Iran-backed groups but such attacks have dropped sharply following the fall of Bashar Assad's government in Syria in December 2024 when insurgent groups marched into his seat of power in Damascus. Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been expanding his control of the country, and last month government forces captured wide parts of northeast Syria after deadly clashes with the SDF. A ceasefire was later reached between the two sides. Al-Tanf base played a major role in the fight against the Islamic State group that declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later. Over the past weeks, the US military began transferring thousands of IS prisoners from prisons run by the SDF in northeastern Syria to Iraq, where they will be prosecuted. The number of US troops posted in Syria has changed over the years. The number of US troops increased to more than 2,000 after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas in Israel, as Iranian-backed militants targeted American troops and interests in the region in response to Israel's bombardment of Gaza. The force has since been drawn back down to around 900.

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