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US forces withdrew from its garrison at Az-Zaqf villge on the border with Iraq on early Monday, a Syrian pro-Turkish media outlet “Qasioun” reported.
Qasioun’s report says that the move is a part of the wider US-Russian agreement over the deconfliction in the Syrian desert. If confirmed, US forces are now deployed only in At Tanf on the Damascus-Baghdad highway.
The garrison at Az-Zaqf was established by the US-led coalition in an attempt to build a US-controlled buffer zone between Syria and Iraq. However, this strategy failed and the Az-Zaqf garrison became needless.
It’s interesting to note that the report appeared following a major push against ISIS made by the Iraqi Army and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in the border area inside Iraq. On Sunday, Syrian and Iraqi forces publicly met near the recently liberated town of Akashat confirming the Syrian-Iraqi cooperation against ISIS in this area.
