US military begins withdrawing from key base in northeastern Syria 

The United States has started withdrawing from a key military base in northeastern Syria and redeploying its forces to northern Iraq, marking the first phase of a pullout expected to last several weeks.

Heavy machinery, personnel and trucks carrying armoured vehicles could be seen moving on Monday in the northwestern city of Hasakah from the Qasrak base, the largest US base in Syria. They were headed towards the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Local sources told Al Jazeera there are different sets of equipment to be transferred, including sensitive high-tech tools that may take weeks to transport into Iraq. US President Donald Trump’s administration has been weighing a full withdrawal since at least January.

The Al Jazeera Arabic reported that the first phase of the withdrawal included the transfer of soldiers and equipment from the al-Shaddadi base, south of Hasakah, and the al-Omar oilfield in Deir Az Zor province, whose reinforcements were recently moved to Qasrak in preparation for the start of the operation. The Syrian army gained full control of the al-Shaddadi base on February 15.

The US has been reducing its military footprint in Syria for months, going from 1,500 personnel in July to about 900 currently. A full withdrawal ⁠from Qasrak would still leave US forces with a base in Rmelan near the Iraqi border.

Fighters from the US-trained, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had been in control of large parts of northern and eastern Syria until January.

Kurdish-led forces reached an agreement with the Syrian government to integrate with the Syrian army after losing territory during fighting with government forces. Under the deal, the Syrian army also took control of the US base of al-Tanf near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

The SDF was ⁠once Washington’s main Syrian ally, playing a vital role in the fight against ISIL (ISIS). But its status weakened as Trump built ties with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa after the fall of former leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.