U.S. Hands Over Strategic Al Tanf Base to Syrian Military

The United States has vacated the Al Tanf base in southeast Syria and turned the outpost over to Syrian government forces, ending a roughly decade‑long American presence at a key junction on the highway between Baghdad and Damascus, a U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal. Syria’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its troops have taken control of the base and, in coordination with the U.S., will begin deploying along Syria’s borders with Jordan and Iraq. Al Tanf has been a small but strategically important hub for U.S. operations to monitor ISIS remnants and Iranian‑linked movements across the Syria–Iraq–Jordan triangle; its closure is part of a broader U.S. troop drawdown in Syria. The Syrian statement portrays the move as restoring sovereignty and tightening border control, while for Washington it underscores a continuing shift away from on‑the‑ground entanglements in Syria even as regional tensions with Iran remain high.