QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — American military personnel have begun evacuating a strategic base in northeastern Syria, according to security officials who spoke Monday about what appears to be a broader reduction of U.S. military presence in the region.
Security sources from Iraq and Syria confirmed that American forces started relocating personnel and military hardware from the Qasrak base to Iraq’s Kurdish-controlled northern territory.
Reporters from the Associated Press witnessed a large military convoy on Monday in Qamishli, a northeastern Syrian city, where dozens of trucks transported military vehicles and gear toward Iraq’s border while military helicopters provided aerial support.
Neither the U.S. military’s Central Command nor the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which maintains control over the area surrounding the Qasrak installation, provided responses to requests for comment.
According to a high-ranking Iraqi security source, the base evacuation commenced Sunday, with American personnel and military assets crossing into Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region on Monday.
A Syrian security source reported that approximately 200 troops remained at the facility Monday, working to disassemble military communication jamming equipment, air defense installations, and the base’s engineering operations.
Both security sources requested anonymity since they lacked authorization to speak publicly about the matter.
This evacuation follows an announcement earlier this month from CENTCOM and Syria’s defense ministry confirming that American troops had departed from the al-Tanf installation in eastern Syria, located near Jordan’s border.
The military withdrawal occurs after U.S. forces completed relocating approximately 5,700 suspected Islamic State fighters from Syrian detention facilities to Iraqi prisons, where the detainees will face trial.
American troops stationed in Syria primarily focus on preventing Islamic State from regaining strength. While the extremist organization lost its final Syrian territory in 2019, dormant cells continue launching sporadic attacks throughout Syria, Iraq, and internationally.
The prisoner transfer decision followed clashes between Syrian government troops and the SDF last month, during which dozens of IS suspects escaped from a detention facility, while an undetermined number of families reportedly fled from al Hol camp, which housed relatives of Islamic State members.
The camp’s remaining occupants have since been relocated to alternative facilities or returned to their home countries.
