The United States has begun pulling troops and equipment from one of its most significant military bases in northeastern Syria, a move that signals the start of a broader withdrawal expected to unfold over the coming weeks.
Convoys of heavy machinery, armoured vehicles and personnel were seen departing the Qasrak base in the northwestern city of Hasakah on Monday, heading towards the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Qasrak has been the largest US base in Syria.
The redeployment marks the first phase of what sources describe as a multi-stage exit.
Withdrawal Under Way
According to local sources who spoke to Al Jazeera, the withdrawal involves multiple categories of equipment, including sensitive high-tech systems that may take weeks to transport safely into Iraq.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has reportedly been weighing a full withdrawal from Syria since at least January.
Al Jazeera Arabic reported that the first phase includes the removal of troops and equipment from the al-Shaddadi base south of Hasakah and from the al-Omar oilfield in Deir Az Zor province. Reinforcements from those sites had recently been moved to Qasrak ahead of the operation.
The Syrian army took full control of the al-Shaddadi base on 15 February.
In the past two weeks alone, US forces have already withdrawn from two additional bases, al-Tanf in the southeast and Shaddadi in the northeast.
Timeline: One Month to Full Exit
The US military presence in Syria has been steadily shrinking for months, declining from approximately 1,500 personnel in July to around 900 currently.
Three sources told the AFP news agency that American forces are expected to complete their withdrawal from Syria within a month.
“Within a month, they will have withdrawn from Syria, and there will no longer be any military presence in the bases,” a Syrian government official said, with a Kurdish source confirming the same timeline. All officials requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.
“This is the third US base [in the region] that has started to be evacuated [in the last] week,” said Al Jazeera correspondent Ayman Oghanna, reporting from Damascus.
Even if Qasrak is fully vacated, US forces would still retain a base in Rmelan near the Iraqi border.
Wider Regional Pullback
The repositioning in Syria comes amid broader military adjustments across the region.
On Friday, the US evacuated hundreds of troops from Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, the largest American airbase in the Middle East, as well as facilities linked to the US Navy’s United States Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
According to Al Jazeera’s reporting, some analysts believe recent confrontation and tensions with Iran have increased concerns that US bases could be exposed to retaliatory attacks.
ISIL Attacks in Raqa
Meanwhile, instability continues inside Syria.
Four Syrian security personnel were killed in an attack by ISIL (ISIS) in the northern city of Raqa, recently taken over by Damascus from Kurdish-led forces, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
The Interior Ministry described the incident as a “terrorist attack” targeting a checkpoint, adding that one assailant was killed. It was the second attack on security forces in as many days, following a similar incident on Sunday in which one attacker was also killed.
The violence comes after ISIL called on its fighters to confront Syrian authorities.
Shifting Alliances on the Ground
Until January, fighters from the US-trained, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces controlled large areas of northern and eastern Syria.
However, after losing territory in clashes with government forces, Kurdish-led authorities reached an agreement to integrate with the Syrian army. Under that deal, Syrian government forces also assumed control of the US base at al-Tanf near the borders with Iraq and Jordan.
The SDF had long been Washington’s principal ally in Syria, playing a crucial role in the campaign against ISIL. But its position weakened as President Trump strengthened ties with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa following the fall of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
As the withdrawal gathers pace, the future shape of US involvement in Syria, and the balance of power across the region, appears poised for significant change.
