DUBAI/AMMAN: Syrian state television reported on Sunday that multiple explosions had been heard inside a US base in the Al-Tanf region near the Iraqi border.
The report was denied, however, by a commander in the US-backed rebel group Maghawir Al-Thawra, whose several hundred fighters work with US troops at the Tanf base, who said the blasts were part of joint ground and air exercises that began earlier this week and did not come from inside 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.
Several drones attacked the outskirts of the base last October but there were no American casualties, according to US officials.
While it is not common for attacks on the US troops at the outpost, Iranian-backed forces have frequently attacked American troops with drones and rockets in eastern Syria and Iraq. .
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.”
The garrison was first set up when Daesh fighters controlled eastern Syria bordering Iraq, but since the militants were driven out Tanf has assumed a role as part of a US strategy to contain Iran’s military build-up in eastern Syria.
![]()
Explosions heard near Syria-Iraq border, rebels deny blasts inside US base
Short Url
https://arab.news/zf5h9
Explosions heard near Syria-Iraq border, rebels deny blasts inside US base
- US-backed rebel group Maghawir Al-Thawra say the blasts were part of joint ground and air exercises that began earlier this week
- The garrison was first set up when Daesh fighters controlled eastern Syria bordering Iraq
Iraq’s parliament delays presidential vote
- Iraq’s two main Kurdish parties, who ususally put forward a candidate for president, asked to postpone the vote
- Once elected, the president will then have 15 days to appoint a prime minister
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament postponed the election of the country’s president on Tuesday to allow Kurdish rivals time to agree on a candidate.
The parliament delayed the session, the official INA press agency reported, without saying whether a new date had been agreed.
The agency reported earlier that speaker Haibat Al-Halbussi received requests from Iraq’s two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to postpone the vote to “allow both parties more time” to reach a deal.
By convention, a Shiite Muslim holds the powerful post of prime minister, the parliament speaker is a Sunni and the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd.
Under a tacit agreement between the two main Kurdish parties, a PUK member holds the Iraqi presidency, while the president and regional premier of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region is selected from the KDP.
But this time the KDP named its own candidate for Iraq’s presidency: Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
Once elected, the president will then have 15 days to appoint a prime minister, expected to be former premier Nouri Al-Maliki.
On Saturday, the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite parties with varying ties to Iran that holds a parliamentary majority, endorsed Maliki.
But his nomination appeared to stoke concern in Washington.
The 75-year-old shrewd politician is Iraq’s only two-term premier (2006-2014) since the 2003 US invasion.
Seen as close to Iran, Al-Maliki left power in 2014 following heated pressure from Washington.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Sunday against a pro-Iranian government in Iraq.
An Iraqi source close to the Coordination Framework told AFP that Washington had conveyed that it “holds a negative view of previous governments led by former prime minister Maliki.”
In a letter, US representatives said that while the selection of the prime minister is an Iraqi decision, “the United States will make its own sovereign decisions regarding the next government in line with American interests.”
Another Iraqi source confirmed the letter, adding that the Shiite alliance had still moved forward with its choice, confident that Al-Maliki could allay Washington’s concerns.
Iraq has long been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, with successive governments negotiating a delicate balance between the two foes.
Iraq’s new premier will be expected to address Washington’s longstanding demand that Baghdad disarm Tehran-backed factions, many of which are designated terrorist groups by the US.
The parliament delayed the session, the official INA press agency reported, without saying whether a new date had been agreed.
The agency reported earlier that speaker Haibat Al-Halbussi received requests from Iraq’s two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to postpone the vote to “allow both parties more time” to reach a deal.
By convention, a Shiite Muslim holds the powerful post of prime minister, the parliament speaker is a Sunni and the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd.
Under a tacit agreement between the two main Kurdish parties, a PUK member holds the Iraqi presidency, while the president and regional premier of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region is selected from the KDP.
But this time the KDP named its own candidate for Iraq’s presidency: Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
Once elected, the president will then have 15 days to appoint a prime minister, expected to be former premier Nouri Al-Maliki.
On Saturday, the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite parties with varying ties to Iran that holds a parliamentary majority, endorsed Maliki.
But his nomination appeared to stoke concern in Washington.
The 75-year-old shrewd politician is Iraq’s only two-term premier (2006-2014) since the 2003 US invasion.
Seen as close to Iran, Al-Maliki left power in 2014 following heated pressure from Washington.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Sunday against a pro-Iranian government in Iraq.
An Iraqi source close to the Coordination Framework told AFP that Washington had conveyed that it “holds a negative view of previous governments led by former prime minister Maliki.”
In a letter, US representatives said that while the selection of the prime minister is an Iraqi decision, “the United States will make its own sovereign decisions regarding the next government in line with American interests.”
Another Iraqi source confirmed the letter, adding that the Shiite alliance had still moved forward with its choice, confident that Al-Maliki could allay Washington’s concerns.
Iraq has long been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, with successive governments negotiating a delicate balance between the two foes.
Iraq’s new premier will be expected to address Washington’s longstanding demand that Baghdad disarm Tehran-backed factions, many of which are designated terrorist groups by the US.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.