US military fully withdraws from Syria after 10 years

US military fully withdraws from Syria after 10 years Submitted by Ragip Soylu on Thu, 04/16/2026 - 15:28 American troops and equipment reportedly exited via Jordan as Damascus moves to take over the last US-held base A US soldier rests on a tank as troops patrol oil fields near Syria's northeastern border with Turkey on 3 September 2024 (Delil Souleiman/AFP) Off 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. American troops had been in Syria since 2015. The US-SDF partnership had long strained Turkey’s relationship with Washington, as Ankara viewed the group as an extension of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, and Turkey and waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades. However, Ankara’s peace talks with the PKK over the past two years made it easier for Damascus to strike its own deal with the SDF, which had been seeking autonomy in Syria's northeast. A short-lived offensive by Syrian government forces, along with the intervention of US envoy Tom Barrack, ultimately resulted in an agreement that helped calm the country. The SDF agreed to hand over control of large swathes of territory, including Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, to Damascus. Syria after Assad Ankara News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0