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US troops remain in key Syria garrison near Iraq after Trump pullout decision

Ersin Çelik
14:32 - 22/12/2018 السبت
Update: 14:38 - 22/12/2018 السبت
REUTERS
File photo
File photo

U.S. troops have not left the strategic Tanf garrison on the Iraq-Jordan border following President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of Syria, the leader of a Pentagon-backed group there said on Saturday.

Colonel Muhanad al Talaa, leader of Maghawir al-Thawra whose several hundred fighters work alongside U.S. troops at the Tanf camp, said although they were notified of Washington's decision, the situation on the ground remained as it was.

"American troops plan to withdraw completely form Syria but I don't have details and things are as they are up until this moment," Talaa told Reuters from the base.

The garrison is located in a strategic area near Syria's Tanf border crossing with Iraq at the crossroad of a main Baghdad-Damascus highway, Tehran's main arms supply route by land to Syria and Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militia.

Russia and the Syrian government have repeatedly called on Washington to pull its troops from the Tanf base, where it has declared a 55 km (35 mile)-radius "deconfliction zone" which has become a safe haven for at least 50,000 civilians, mostly women and children, who live in the Rukban camp within it.

A western diplomatic source and a regional intelligence source told Reuters the decision to leave Tanf will not necessarily affect the broader U.S. strategy against Iran, where regional power Israel will continue its aerial strikes.

Israel has in the last year hit several suspected Iranian-backed militia convoys and bases near Tanf where Iran's proxies are expanding their foothold, especially in the city of AlBukamal to the northeast of the base, another intelligence source involved in Syria said.

#US
#Troops
#Tanf
#Syria
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