LONDON, June 18. /TASS/. US troops have pulled out of another two military bases in northeastern Syria, causing concern among Kurdish forces about the increasing activities of the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia), Reuters reported.
According to the news agency, the Al-Wazir and Tel Baydar bases are now guarded by small contingents of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Reuters sources said that "troops had left recently."
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi told the media outlet that the presence of a few hundred troops on one base would be "not enough" to contain the threat of the Islamic State, which "has significantly increased recently."
On June 3, a Pentagon official told the Saudi-based Al Arabiya TV channel that the US had shut down two military bases in Syria and handed another one over to the SDF.
A total of nine US military bases and three outposts were created in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled areas in 2015-2018. As many as 2,200 US troops were stationed at the bases, located in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Hasakah, as well as in the Al-Tanf area on the border with Iran and Jordan. In April 2025, the Pentagon announced plans to reduce the number of US troops in Syria to below 1,000.
On March 10, Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement for the Kurdish alliance to be incorporated into the government’s armed forces. The parties also agreed that all civilian and military facilities in northeastern Syria would be integrated into the public administration system headed by the new Damascus administration.