The Syrian army has taken control of the Shaddadi military base in the north-east of the country after an agreement with US forces, state news agency Sana reported on Sunday.
The move follows the US withdrawal from Al Tanf base after a Washington-brokered deal to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into central Syrian institutions.
There was no confirmation from Washington over Shaddadi in Hasakah province. US forces departed Al Tanf and withdrew to Jordan, the US Central Command confirmed on Thursday.
While much of the American presence in Syria was in the Kurdish-held north-east, the US had also been working alongside an opposition unit at Al Tanf, which remained outside of the control of the former Assad regime.
Since that regime’s fall in December 2024, Washington has been reassessing its presence in Syria, boosting co-ordination with the central government, now under the rule of President Ahmad Al Shara. Damascus officially joined the global coalition against ISIS last year, as Washington shifted its focus from teaming up with Kurdish-led forces in north-eastern Syria and encouraged them to join the centrally controlled army.
Syrian forces took control of Shaddadi town from the SDF last month after they advanced on areas held by the Kurds in the north-east. Weeks of clashes were ended by a US-brokered agreement under which Kurdish forces will be integrated into state institutions.
ISIS and its followers continue to plan and sometimes succeed in carrying out attacks in Syria. In December, two US soldiers and an American civilian interpreter were killed in the desert city of Palmyra in an attack by a member of Syria’s internal security forces, who shared the extremist group’s ideology.
