Syria says has taken over all bases previously hosting US forces

DAMASCUS: Syria said Thursday it had taken control of all military bases hosting US troops who were deployed in the country for years leading an international coalition against Daesh.
In recent months, Syria’s new government has expanded its control to parts of the country’s northeast that were previously held by US-allied Kurdish forces, while the government has also formally joined the international anti-Daesh coalition.
The US intervened in Syria in 2014 to fight Daesh, which had taken over swathes of Syria and Iraq in a lightning offensive.
Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “welcomes the completed handover of military sites where United States forces were previously present in Syria to the Syrian government,” adding that the move was carried out “in full coordination between the Syrian and American governments.”
Damascus said it viewed the US move as reflecting “a shared assessment that the circumstances which originally necessitated the American military presence in Syria... have fundamentally changed.”
“The Syrian state is today fully capable of leading counterterrorism efforts from within, in cooperation with the international community,” it added.
US Central Command, which is responsible for American troops in the Middle East, told AFP that US forces “have completed turning over all of our major bases in Syria, as part of a deliberate and conditions-based transition.”
“US forces continue to support partner-led counterterrorism efforts, which are essential to ensuring the enduring defeat” of Daesh, the military command added.
Earlier Thursday, Syria’s defense ministry said the army “took over the Qasrak air base... after the withdrawal of international coalition forces.”
A defense ministry official told AFP that the base is now “empty of American forces after they fully withdrew,” while an AFP correspondent near the northeastern city of Qamishli saw a convoy of US military vehicles heading toward the Iraqi border.