The US military has pulled out from its main base in north-eastern Syria, official and other sources said on Sunday, further reducing the American presence in the country as tension between Washington and Tehran rises.
The Syrian military said its forces had moved into the Shaddadi base in Hasakah governorate "after co-ordination with the American side". There was no immediate confirmation from Washington.
The withdrawal comes as the Syrian government regains control of the north-east from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has controlled the region for nearly a decade after being formed with US support to fight against ISIS.
The Kurdish-led force has been losing US support since the middle of last year, after Washington began normalising ties with the new Syrian government formed by rebels who toppled president Bashar Al Assad in December 2024.
Syria became a member of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition after a meeting between new President Ahmad Al Shara, a former Al Qaeda operative, and President Donald Trump at the White House in November.
The US military last week pulled out of Al Tanf base in southern Syria, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq. The US employed former Syrian rebels in the area, and used aerial surveillance and other technology to track ISIS members still operating in the desert after the group's defeat in 2019.
A security source in Jordan said the US military's withdrawals have left it with just one major position in Syria, at Rmelan near the Tigris River border with Iraq. It is unclear how many US military personnel remain in Syria, but the source said their number had fallen sharply from 2,000 in 2024.
"It had become clear that the American mission in Syria would be reduced to a training and logistics support operation for the new government," the source said.
Leaving the bases would also help reduce the threat of any Iranian retaliation, especially amid the latest escalation between Washington and Tehran, the source said.
"They do not need so many bases, which makes it harder to defend," the source said, pointing out that Iran shows no signs of losing its sway over its proxies in neighbouring Iraq.
