3 months ago
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U.S. forces began pulling retired of their largest base successful northeastern Syria on Monday (February 23, 2026), 3 Syrian subject and information sources said, portion of a wider departure arsenic the U.S.-allied authorities successful Damascus consolidates control.
Dozens of trucks, immoderate carrying armoured vehicles, departed the basal astatine Qasrak successful Hasakah state connected Monday (February 23) morning, witnesses said. Reuters footage aboriginal showed the trucks moving on a road connected the outskirts of the metropolis of Qamishli.
The U.S. military's Central Command (Centcom) did not instantly respond to an emailed request for comment. A afloat withdrawal from Qasrak would inactive permission the U.S.-led conjugation with a basal successful Rmelan, besides known arsenic Kharab al-Jir, adjacent the Iraqi border.
Qasrak has been a main hub for the U.S.-led planetary conjugation warring Islamic State successful Syria, wherever U.S. troops deployed implicit a decennary ago, partnering with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the jihadist group. Neither the Syrian Defence Ministry nor the SDF responded to requests for comment.
Drawdown expected to instrumentality weeks
One of the Syrian sources, a subject authoritative briefed connected U.S. plans, said the pullout was expected to instrumentality astir a month, but that it remained unclear whether the withdrawal from the basal was impermanent oregon permanent.
The 2nd Syrian source, besides briefed connected U.S. plans, said it would instrumentality a fig of weeks.
Since authorities forces nether President Ahmed al-Sharaa seized power of swathes of the northeast from the SDF past month, U.S. forces person withdrawn from a basal astatine al-Shaddadi successful Hasakah province, and a garrison astatine al-Tanf, located astatine the intersection of Syria's borderline with Iraq and Jordan.
A elder U.S. authoritative told Reuters on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) that immoderate U.S. troops were leaving Syria arsenic portion of a "deliberate and conditions-based transition." The authoritative said U.S. beingness astatine standard was nary longer needed fixed the Syrian government's "willingness to instrumentality superior work for combating the violent menace wrong its borders".
The Wall Street Journal reported past week that the U.S. was withdrawing each of its astir 1,000 troops from Syria. Syria joined the U.S.-led conjugation to combat Islamic State past year. The militant group, which erstwhile controlled a 3rd of Syria and Iraq, claimed work for 2 attacks connected Saturday (February 21, 2026) that killed a worker and a civilian.
