Following the December 8 overthrow of Bashar al-Assad amid the rapid takeover of Syria by al-Qaeda splinter group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the big question for the incoming Trump administration in the US will be whether to finally pull American forces from Syria, after they've been there for a half-decade.
For now it seems US troops are not only maintaining their bases in the northeast, where Syria's oil and gas fields are located, but are actually expanding the Pentagon presence, and very close to the border with Turkey.
On Thursday the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has long been known as an anti-Assad opposition outlet in exile, said that US forces are making preparations to establish a new military base in the northern city of Ain Al-Arab, or Kobani.
The outlet cited its observers on the ground who say US forces brought in a convoy of 50 trucks carrying cement blocks to areas of northeast Syria controlled by the US proxy Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, a group largely dominated by Syrian Kurds).
Ain Al-Arab is a district of Aleppo province in northern Syria. The area around Aleppo saw sporadic fighting between Syrian Kurds and HTS jihadists throughout December.
"SOHR activists have reported seeing the convoy on Al-Hasakah-Al-Raqqah highway, while it was heading to Ain Al-Arab area (Kobani) in the eastern countryside of Aleppo," the report described, and noted that a SDF military vehicle was providing escort.
"According to SOHR sources, this comes as a part of US forces’ efforts to boost their bases and establish a new military base in Ain Al-Arab in light of the growing security and military tension in that region." Russia's Sputnik is also reporting the development.
The #US Army begins transporting cement and logistical equipment from #Hasakah Governorate towards #Kobani to build a large military base there near the #Turkish border. pic.twitter.com/VXFhzVimxe
— MOHAMMAD HASAN (@MHJournalist) January 1, 2025
The SOHR report provided additional details strongly suggesting a new US military base on this border region near Turkey:
Yesterday, SOHR sources reported that "International Coalition" forces brought a convoy of logistic reinforcements including premade chambers, surveillance cameras, cement blocks, fuel tanks and digging machineries towards Ain Al-Arab (Kobani).
According to reliable SOHR sources, the digging and drilling will start tomorrow and more military reinforcements such as soldiers, weapons, armored vehicles, radars and anti-aircraft weapons will be brought.
The border region has for years seen clashes between Turkish-backed militant groups and the US armed and trained SDF. Turkish warplanes have also at times bombed Syrian Kurdish positions.
The United States is in a precarious position in Syria given that almost no group - with the exception of the Kurds - wants US troops occupying Syrian territory. Turkey has long accused Washington of supporting 'terrorists' given it sees the SDF as an extension of the outlawed PKK.
Damascus' new HTS rulers are certainly going to want access to the country's oil and gas fields, in order to deliver on promises of getting electricity and fuel back up and running for the population. The US has long held on to these energy resources for leverage, and to starve the prior Assad government of its resources, also amid sanctions. What will Trump do this time around?
