ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States plans to relocate its troops in Syria to two new military bases, one near Turkey-held areas and another on the Syria-Iraq border and maintain at least 400 soldiers in Kurdish-held areas, an official from the northeast Syria (Rojava) administration in Washington DC said on Monday.
Bassam Ishaq, a US-based member of the Syrian Democratic Council’s Presidential Council, told Rudaw’s Nalin Hassan that the US is carrying out a “relocation of positions,” opening a new base “in northern Syria near the Tishreen Dam,” with another to be established “near the Syrian-Iraqi border in the southeast, close to Deir ez-Zor.”
The SDC is the political wing of the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Tishreen Dam, located on the Euphrates River, has been a key target in a military campaign launched by Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian militias since November. The aim has been to seize control of the strategic site, facilitating access to other SDF-held territories. At least 20 civilians have been killed in Turkish drone strikes on the area.
The SDF and the new government in Damascus are in talks to hand over the control of the dam to forces affiliated with the Syrian government in a bid to end attacks by militants, which have ceased for weeks.
Regarding the drawdown of US troops, Ishaq emphasized that the reduction is “tactical” and “gradual,” but will stop at a floor of 400 soldiers. He noted that decision-makers in Washington DC are constrained by a congressional provision prohibiting any reduction below that threshold.
A provision in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bars the Secretary of Defense from reducing US troop levels in northeast Syria below 400 unless the Pentagon certifies that local partner forces are independently capable of degrading and defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) threats and can detain ISIS members effectively and humanely.
A statement from Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell on Friday said that they were consolidating “to select locations in Syria,” but that US forces “will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of ISIS in Syria.”
“The issue is not only related to the SDF and the new administration in Damascus,” Ishaq said. “It extends to regional security in the area. At present, there will be no complete withdrawal of US military forces from Syria.”
A senior US official, speaking to The New York Times on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that commanders will assess whether additional downsizing will be made on top of the announced ones, noting that the commanders have already recommended keeping 500 troops in Syria.
“The United States aims at downsizing its forces to below one thousand in the next two or three months,” a US defense official told Rudaw on Friday.
The US increased its troop numbers in Syria from 900 to around 2,000 after a coalition of Islamist rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8. The White House described the deployment as a temporary measure to prevent ISIS from regaining a foothold in the country.
Despite the uptick, US President Donald Trump said in February, “We're not involved in Syria. Syria's its own mess… They don't need us involved,” adding that a “determination” on troop levels would be made later, without providing further details.
US forces in Syria remain the main backers of the SDF, which territorially defeated ISIS in 2019, ending the group’s so-called caliphate. SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi has repeatedly warned that a premature US withdrawal could enable an ISIS resurgence.
Kurdish forces in northeast Syria fear that ISIS may be regrouping, exploiting instability following the decline of Assad’s regime and the shifting dynamics in the country.
On March 10, the SDF reached an agreement with new authorities in Damascus to integrate into the Syrian national armed forces.
According to Ishaq, negotiations are ongoing over logistical matters related to how the institutions of the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES) will be integrated into those of the new Syrian state.
“The same applies to the military issue,” he added, referring to discussions about integrating the SDF into the Syrian Ministry of Defense.
