Small Wars Journal

A Small U.S. Base Gets in Iran’s Way—But Maybe Not For Long

Thu, 12/27/2018 - 9:33am

A Small U.S. Base Gets in Iran’s Way—But Maybe Not For Long by Sune Engel Rasmussen and Michael R. Gordon – Wall Street Journal

When U.S. forces leave Syria, the plan is for troops from neighboring Turkey to take their place.

 

One exception: a small, remote U.S. base in southern Syria that has made it more difficult for Iran to project power across the Middle East.

 

More than 200 U.S. troops have been advising local Syrian fighters at the al-Tanf garrison, which they have used to combat Islamic State and which sits in strategically important terrain astride a potential Iranian supply route that runs through Iraq to Syria.

 

Those U.S. forces will likely be the last to leave Syria, U.S. officials say. But when they do, the Trump administration says that Ankara won’t take over the base, which is near Syria’s southern borders with Iraq and Jordan and far from the Turkish border to the north…

Read on.