Today (Monday), American troops began a large-scale withdrawal from Qasraq base, located in the northwestern countryside of Hasakah in northeastern Syria and considered the largest US military base within Syrian territory.
Dozens of trucks and military vehicles departed the base carrying logistics equipment and soldiers and headed across the Syria-Iraq border into Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where Apache attack helicopters accompanied some of the convoys to provide air protection during the trip.
Security officials estimate that the evacuation process could take weeks, from 15 days to about a month, given the base’s size and the amount of equipment inside it, including a runway about 1.7 kilometers long.
The withdrawal comes as part of the first phase of a broader plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria, estimated at around 900 to 1,000 troops, after Washington has already completed withdrawals from other key bases in the past two months, including al-Tanf base in the south and al-Shadadi base in Hasakah region.
US forces entered Syria in 2014, primarily as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), and concentrated their presence in the northeast, under command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024 and the signing of an integration agreement between the SDF and the new Syrian government, Washington, believing that its basic mission against ISIS was largely over, began a “repositioning” phase, followed by a gradual withdrawal.
U.S. officials said in a statement last Wednesday that the withdrawal of some troops was done within the framework of a considered conditional transition, while stressing that the U.S. military stands ready to confront any potential threat from ISIS in the region as part of a local partner-led support effort to prevent the group’s resurgence.
The development came after Syria joined the US-led international coalition fighting ISIS last November, increasing security and military cooperation between the two countries.
A few days ago, US President Donald Trump announced that the presence of US troops in Syria is no longer necessary as the Syrian army has assumed responsibility for the fight against terrorist organizations.
