ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Syrian army has taken over the al-Tanf base in the desert of southeastern Syria, a former US garrison, state media confirmed on Thursday. 

The American withdrawal from the al-Tanf military base, located in Syria’s tri-border area with Iraq and Jordan, comes amid a gradual reduction of US military presence in Syria and nearly ten years after the US army came to the area. 

“Through coordination between the Syrian and American sides, units of the Syrian Arab Army have taken control of the al-Tanf base and secured the base and its surroundings,” Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said, citing the defense ministry.

The ministry said that Syrian forces have also deployed in the surrounding desert and secured the borders with Iraq and Jordan. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported a removal of heavy equipment and vehicles from the base as the Syrian army moved to deploy in the area.

“Border guard forces will begin assuming their duties and deploying in the region in the coming days,” SANA added.

Al-Tanf was primarily used by the US in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which in 2014 took over large swathes of Syria and the immediate area in the vicinity of the base. In the area, the US trained a local Syrian force, the Syrian Free Army, which is now part of Syria’s interior and defense ministries after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.  

On Wednesday, the Observatory said that since the beginning of February, it had detected “significant movements” in northern and eastern Syria, including successive gradual withdrawals of US-led coalition forces.

The movements began with a gradual reduction of the US military presence, involving the removal of heavy equipment and vehicles from key bases, most notably al-Tanf,  the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

The US military contingent at al-Tanf had also served as a key buffer against supply routes used by Iran-backed militias during the Assad regime, in addition to supporting the fight against ISIS.

Last month, the US also withdrew from the key Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s western Anbar province, handing over operations to the Iraqi army.