Tabnak – While officially announcing the start of its troop’s pullout from Syria, the United States is stablishing new military bases in neighboring Iraq. The move has sparked doubts about Washington’s seriousness in downgrading its military activities. Meanwhile, the Syrian army is marching toward the eastern parts of the country.
According to the media reports, the US Army has set up two new military bases in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, an Iraqi official says, days after Washington announced the pullout of American forces from Syria.
“The US Army has established two new military facilities in uninhabited parts of the province,” Turkey's official Anadolu news agency quoted Farhan al-Duleimi, a member of Anbar’s provisional council, as saying on Tuesday.
According to al-Duleimi, the first base had been established in the northern Rumana sub-district in al-Qaim district, in the vicinity of the Syrian border, some 360 kilometers west of the provincial capital Ramadi.
The second base, he added, had been set up east of the city of al-Rutbah, about 310 kilometers west of Ramadi and less than 100 kilometers from the Syrian border. “Scores of US soldiers are currently stationed at the two bases, along with drones and other equipment,” added al-Duleimi, without providing further details.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Syrian army soldiers, supported by Russian troops, have marched into a village in the country’s northern province of Aleppo, after US-sponsored and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) decided to hand it over to government forces.
A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Syria's pro-government and Arabic-language al-Masdar news agency that Syrian soldiers entered Arima village, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of the city of al-Bab and 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Aleppo, on Tuesday after Kurdish militants withdrew from the area.
The source added that 40 pickup trucks carrying Syrian army soldiers, two tanks, trucks carrying military equipment and armored vehicles were seen crossing into the village, which lies northeast of Manbij.
The development came on the heels of Turkey’s preparations for an anticipated military campaign against People's Protection Units (YPG), which is the backbone of the SDF, in northern Syria.
These developments come less than a week after US President Donald Trump announced his unexpected decision to pull all the 2,000 American ground troops out of the war-ravaged Syria. He said on Wednesday that the withdrawal would be slow and gradual, without providing a timetable.
On the other hand, nearly 5,000 American troops have remained in Iraq since Washington, leading a military coalition, began its so-called anti-terror operations in the Arab country in 2014 with the declared aim of defeating the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, which managed to overrun roughly two-thirds of Iraq, mainly in the country’s north and west, in June that year.
