US delegation to visit Syria for new official military base

A US delegation is reportedly going to pay a visit to Syria within the next few days in order to hold talks with officials from the ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) administration, and possibly sign a deal for construction of a permanent military base in the Arab country.

According to local sources, the military installation would be established in the strategic al-Tanf region near the borders with Iraq and Jordan.

The sources added that the visit would be the first of its kind for the official establishment of a base on the Syrian soil following the downfall of Bashar al-Assad last December.

They went on to note that the US delegates would also push for the construction of a naval base on Syria's western coast, and seek to obtain the HTS-led administration’s approval for the purpose.

The sources noted that the bases would perpetuate the presence of US military forces on Syrian territories, and lower the number of the troops from 2,000 to 500. 

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on April 18 that the US military intends to reduce its military presence in Syria to less than 1,000 troops in the coming months.

“This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand US forces in the coming months,” he stated.

The US military has about 2,000 US troops in Syria across several bases, mostly in the northeast.

The Pentagon did not specify in the release how many troops will be pulled out, but The New York Times reported earlier that the number is 600.

The release also did not provide a specific timeline for the withdrawal.

The US military has since 2014 deployed its forces and equipment in northeastern Syria with no authorization from the Arab country’s government, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh remnants.

Damascus, however, maintained the deployment was meant to plunder the country’s natural resources.

Over the past years, multiple footage has emerged revealing that the US occupation forces have used tankers to smuggle Syrian crude oil from the country’s northern provinces to their bases in northern Iraq, as part of Washington’s systematic plundering of Syria’s basic commodities.

US President Donald Trump has also admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.

Moreover, there have been several reports showing Washington’s direct or indirect support through its regional allies for the Daesh terrorist group over the past years./mehr