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Al-Tanf
Al-Tanf (Arabic: التَّنْف) is a military base in a part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria, which is controlled by U.S. troops and the Syrian Armed Forces. It is located 24 km (15 mi) west of the al-Walid border crossing in the Syrian Desert. The surrounding deconfliction zone is located along the Iraq–Syria border and the Jordan–Syria border. The garrison is located along a critical road known as the M2 Baghdad–Damascus Highway. The Rukban refugee camp for internally displaced Syrians was located within the deconfliction zone.
A significant United States Armed Forces and allied European presence at the outpost began in early 2016 during the American-led intervention in the Syrian civil war in order to train anti-Islamic State fighters of the New Syrian Army armed opposition group, which was dissolved and reemerged as the Revolutionary Commando Army (Maghawir al-Thawra) in December 2016. It was the headquarters of the former Syrian Free Army (currently part of the 70th Division of the Syrian Army) until June 2025. As of 2025, the Al-Tanf base continues to serve as a contingent of at least 200 U.S. soldiers operating on behalf of the CJTF-OIR Coalition and the only U.S. military base outside Northeastern Syria.
In May 2015, Islamic State (IS) militants captured the border checkpoint at Al-Tanf, thus obtaining control over the full length of the Iraq–Syria border. The U.S.-backed New Syrian Army rebel faction recaptured the Al-Tanf post on the Syrian side of the border in early March 2016, and the Al-Waleed border crossing on the Iraqi side of the border was recaptured by pro-government Iraqi tribal militias backed by U.S.-led forces in early August. In August 2016, the BBC published photographs taken in June that year which it said showed United Kingdom Special Forces soldiers apparently guarding the perimeter of the Al-Tanf base.
In March 2017, the Revolutionary Commando Army, successor of the New Syrian Army, re-opened the border crossing, resuming cross-border civilian traffic. A group referred to as the Army of Iraqi Tribes was said to control the Iraqi side of the crossing. In April-May 2017, it was reported that U.S. 5th Special Forces Group were training Syrian rebels at Al-Tanf. On 17 June 2017, the Iraqi Armed Forces announced that the Iraqi Army and Sunni tribal fighters, supported by U.S.-led Coalition aircraft, had dislodged IS from the Iraqi side of Al-Waleed border crossing.
By late 2017, Arab media began calling the "deconfliction area" around the Tanf base "the 55 km area", as it was composed of a half-circle area with a radius of 55 km (35 miles) with the base at its center. By 2019, the CJTF-OIR anti-IS coalition referred to the area simply as the Deconfliction Zone (DCZ) with the Al-Tanf Garrison (ATG) at the center.
In September 2017, Russian government-owned media outlet RIA Novosti reported, with a reference to unnamed military and diplomatic sources, that the U.S. had voiced readiness to leave Al-Tanf but did not say when. In August 2018, U.S. State Department representative William V. Roebuck traveled to Syria. "We are prepared to stay here, as the president Donald Trump has made clear," he said after meeting with Kurdish rebel officials.
By 2018, the Al-Tanf area hosted five Free Syrian Army factions including the Lions of the East Army, the Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo, the Army of Free Tribes, the Revolutionary Commando Army (also known as Maghawir al-Thawra), and Al-Qaryatayn Martyrs Brigade. The U.S. referred to them as part of the "Vetted Syrian Opposition". According to the U.S., these fighters were permitted only to launch offensives against IS and not against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian Arab Armed Forces, though clashes with pro-Syrian government elements have occurred.
In a February 2018 letter, the U.S. military justified its occupation by citing the doctrine of collective self-defense as necessary to defend Iraq, the U.S. itself, and other states from IS and other active terrorist groups.[non-primary source needed] In October 2018, General Joseph Votel, commander of United States Central Command, stated that U.S. forces in Al-Tanf did not "have a counter Iranian mission here. We have a defeat ISIS mission," but nevertheless acknowledged that American presence in the area had "an indirect effect on some malign activities that Iran and their various proxies and surrogates would like to pursue down here."
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Al-Tanf
Al-Tanf (Arabic: التَّنْف) is a military base in a part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria, which is controlled by U.S. troops and the Syrian Armed Forces. It is located 24 km (15 mi) west of the al-Walid border crossing in the Syrian Desert. The surrounding deconfliction zone is located along the Iraq–Syria border and the Jordan–Syria border. The garrison is located along a critical road known as the M2 Baghdad–Damascus Highway. The Rukban refugee camp for internally displaced Syrians was located within the deconfliction zone.
A significant United States Armed Forces and allied European presence at the outpost began in early 2016 during the American-led intervention in the Syrian civil war in order to train anti-Islamic State fighters of the New Syrian Army armed opposition group, which was dissolved and reemerged as the Revolutionary Commando Army (Maghawir al-Thawra) in December 2016. It was the headquarters of the former Syrian Free Army (currently part of the 70th Division of the Syrian Army) until June 2025. As of 2025, the Al-Tanf base continues to serve as a contingent of at least 200 U.S. soldiers operating on behalf of the CJTF-OIR Coalition and the only U.S. military base outside Northeastern Syria.
In May 2015, Islamic State (IS) militants captured the border checkpoint at Al-Tanf, thus obtaining control over the full length of the Iraq–Syria border. The U.S.-backed New Syrian Army rebel faction recaptured the Al-Tanf post on the Syrian side of the border in early March 2016, and the Al-Waleed border crossing on the Iraqi side of the border was recaptured by pro-government Iraqi tribal militias backed by U.S.-led forces in early August. In August 2016, the BBC published photographs taken in June that year which it said showed United Kingdom Special Forces soldiers apparently guarding the perimeter of the Al-Tanf base.
In March 2017, the Revolutionary Commando Army, successor of the New Syrian Army, re-opened the border crossing, resuming cross-border civilian traffic. A group referred to as the Army of Iraqi Tribes was said to control the Iraqi side of the crossing. In April-May 2017, it was reported that U.S. 5th Special Forces Group were training Syrian rebels at Al-Tanf. On 17 June 2017, the Iraqi Armed Forces announced that the Iraqi Army and Sunni tribal fighters, supported by U.S.-led Coalition aircraft, had dislodged IS from the Iraqi side of Al-Waleed border crossing.
By late 2017, Arab media began calling the "deconfliction area" around the Tanf base "the 55 km area", as it was composed of a half-circle area with a radius of 55 km (35 miles) with the base at its center. By 2019, the CJTF-OIR anti-IS coalition referred to the area simply as the Deconfliction Zone (DCZ) with the Al-Tanf Garrison (ATG) at the center.
In September 2017, Russian government-owned media outlet RIA Novosti reported, with a reference to unnamed military and diplomatic sources, that the U.S. had voiced readiness to leave Al-Tanf but did not say when. In August 2018, U.S. State Department representative William V. Roebuck traveled to Syria. "We are prepared to stay here, as the president Donald Trump has made clear," he said after meeting with Kurdish rebel officials.
By 2018, the Al-Tanf area hosted five Free Syrian Army factions including the Lions of the East Army, the Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo, the Army of Free Tribes, the Revolutionary Commando Army (also known as Maghawir al-Thawra), and Al-Qaryatayn Martyrs Brigade. The U.S. referred to them as part of the "Vetted Syrian Opposition". According to the U.S., these fighters were permitted only to launch offensives against IS and not against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian Arab Armed Forces, though clashes with pro-Syrian government elements have occurred.
In a February 2018 letter, the U.S. military justified its occupation by citing the doctrine of collective self-defense as necessary to defend Iraq, the U.S. itself, and other states from IS and other active terrorist groups.[non-primary source needed] In October 2018, General Joseph Votel, commander of United States Central Command, stated that U.S. forces in Al-Tanf did not "have a counter Iranian mission here. We have a defeat ISIS mission," but nevertheless acknowledged that American presence in the area had "an indirect effect on some malign activities that Iran and their various proxies and surrogates would like to pursue down here."