U.S. Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment provide security support during mission on Sept. 9, 2018, at an undisclosed location in Syria. (Cpl. Gabino Perez/Marine Corps)
The United States military has deployed reinforcements in several bases in northeastern Syria, contradicting recent reports alleging that Washington was withdrawing troops from the region.
In a report released on April 23, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) revealed seven cargo aircraft and 279 trucks brought in reinforcements, including radars and other advanced military equipment, to U.S. bases in the governorates of al-Haskaha and Aleppo since the start of the month.
Most of the reinforcements were deployed at the bases of Qasrak and Khrab al-Jair in the al-Hasakah, some were, however, sent to posts as far as the town of Kobani in Aleppo.
The London-based monitoring group said that the deployment of reinforcements in northeastern Syria “reflects a clear contradiction between words and actions,” raising questions about the nature and goals of the next phase of U.S. military deployment in the country.
U.S. forces in Syria grew in the last few years from just around 900 troops to over 2,000, with several bases located at key gas and oil fields in the northeastern region in addition to a garrison in al-Tanf blocking a strategic highway linking Damascus with Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.
Recent Syrian media reports also said that U.S. forces were operating at al-Dumayr Air Base, to the northwest of Damascus.
While the U.S. was among the first to welcome the fall of the Assad regime last December, the administration of President Donald Trump adopted a more cautious approach towards the country’s new Islamist-led interim government.
Early last March, the U.S. worked with Russia to pass a statement in the United Nations Security Council condemning a government crackdown on the Syrian coast that claimed the lives of more than 1,600 civilians, mostly members of the Alawite religious minority.
The U.S., however, helped broker an agreement between its allies in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, and the government to integrate the group into state institutions around the same time.
It was reported later in March that the U.S. gave the interim government a list of conditions to fulfill in exchange for partial sanctions relief.
Last week, The New York Times reported that the U.S. military was closing three of its eight small operating bases in the region, reducing troop levels to about 1,400 from 2,000.
A report released by Ynet earlier in April confirmed that U.S. officials have informed their counterparts in the Israeli security establishment of the planned troop reduction in Syria, adding that it is expected to begin within two months. An Israeli official told the news site at the time that the country was working to convince the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to limit the withdrawal, fearing that the move would increase Turkey’s “appetite” to control Syria.
SOHR’s latest report indicates that the U.S. is taking Israel’s concerns into consideration. In fact, Washington could end up increasing the number of its troops in Syria, just as it did in 2019 when Trump, in his first term at the time, ordered complete withdrawal from the country.
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