US said considering plan to keep troops at Syrian base to counter Iran

Officials tell Foreign Policy there is talk of forces staying at al-Tanf, seen as key to monitoring, thwarting Tehran’s efforts in Syria

The US military outpost al-Tanf in southern Syria, October 22, 2018. (AP/Lolita Baldor)

By TOI STAFF-26 January 2019

Amid reported lobbying by Israel, the United States is considering maintaining troops at a Syrian base seen as essential to countering Iran’s presence in the war-torn country, Foreign Policy reported Friday.

Officials told the outlet that under the withdrawal plan, troops stationed at the al-Tanf garrison will be the last to leave the country, but added that there were discussions on keeping some soldiers at the base.

Al-Tanf is seen as key to monitoring and thwarting Iranian efforts to move personnel and weapons overland into Syria, where it has been fighting alongside the Assad regime and, according to Israeli accusations, seeks to entrench itself militarily.

Officials in Jerusalem have warned that America’s absence would open the door to Tehran to create a so-called land bridge from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, into Lebanon and to the Mediterranean. The continued presence of US troops at the garrison would help prevent this from happening, they believe.


The exclusion zone around the garrison allows US troops to claim self-defense when striking forces belonging to a state actor such as Iran, a source close to the withdrawal discussions told Foreign Policy.

“When they come through, we’ve claimed, I think reasonably, that they’ve been threatening either US forces or partner forces,” the source told the journal.

However, one official said that it would be legally complicated for the US to keep troops in Syria to counter the Iranian presence rather than to fight the Islamic State terrorist group, as the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force only gives dispensation for fighting non-state actors.

Furthermore, US President Donald Trump has said that the only reason for the presence of troops in Syria was to fight Islamic State, and keeping soldiers there would not only go against his order to withdraw, but also against his stated mission.

Jerusalem has lobbied for the Trump administration to reconsider pulling troops out of the base, Bloomberg reported Saturday. According to the outlet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking the administration to maintain a presence at al-Tanf as a deterrent to Iran.


Israel sees Iranian entrenchment in Syria as a major threat and has carried out hundreds of airstrikes to thwart Tehran and proxy terror group Hezbollah.

Jerusalem has gone increasingly public with its actions in Syria and earlier this week, Israel’s air force launched a series of strikes on Iranian targets in Syria. This came after Iran fired a surface-to-surface missile at the Golan Heights in response to a rare daylight attack attributed to Israel.
Netanyahu has said the planned US pullout will not deter Israel from continuing to carry out airstrikes against Iranian military interests in Syria.

Immigration Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday said Israel has a plan in place to expel Iranian forces from Syria. The former top general did not provide further details but credited Israeli actions with preventing the emergence of an Iranian military presence in the Golan Heights.

In announcing the move last month, Trump said the 2,000 American soldiers leading the coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group while helping thwart an Iranian military foothold in Syria would be pulled out soon. He did not give details, such as a timetable, leaving bewildered US partners in the region jockeying for influence over terms of a withdrawal.

Since the announcement, there have been a series of seemingly contradictory statements from the Trump administration regarding the pullout, leading to confusion from allies on what the US policy is.
Agencies contributed to this report.