U.S. Starts Pulling Out Troops from Syrian Base

(MENAFN) American forces have commenced their departure from the Qasrak military base in Syria's Hasakah governorate, redirecting toward neighboring Iraq in what represents the latest and most consequential phase of a sweeping U.S. military drawdown from Syrian soil, Syrian media reported Monday, without elaborating further.

The pullout from Qasrak follows a series of coordinated handovers already underway across the country. Earlier this month, Syria's interim authority confirmed its army had assumed control of both the Shaddadi military base — also located in Hasakah governorate — and the strategically significant Tanf base, positioned near the tri-border junction of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan, following direct coordination with Washington.

The scale of the exit is now coming into sharper focus. U.S. media reports indicate that Washington is moving to withdraw all of its approximately 1,000 remaining troops from Syrian territory, with the final contingent expected to depart within the next two months — effectively drawing the curtain on a decade-long American military footprint in the war-torn country.

U.S. forces first entered Syria in 2014 under the mandate of dismantling the Islamic State, a mission that gradually evolved into one of the most complex and prolonged foreign military presences in the region's modern history. Their imminent full departure signals a fundamental shift in Washington's strategic posture across the Middle East at a time of sweeping regional realignment.

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