US to establish military presence at Damascus airbase - Reuters
Kyiv • UNN
The United States plans to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to monitor a potential security agreement between Syria and Israel. This move is part of US efforts to mediate negotiations between the two countries.
The United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to facilitate a security pact between Syria and Israel, which Washington is mediating, Reuters reports, citing six sources familiar with the matter, writes UNN.
Details
The US plans for a presence in the Syrian capital, previously unreported, would signal a strategic reorientation of Syria towards the US after the fall last year of the regime of long-time leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran, the publication indicates.
The base is located at the entrance to areas of southern Syria that are expected to become a demilitarized zone within a non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria. The US President Donald Trump's administration is mediating this agreement.
On Monday, Trump will meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House. This will be the first visit by a Syrian head of state.
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Reuters spoke with six sources familiar with the preparations for the base's opening, including two Western officials and a Syrian defense ministry official, who confirmed that the US plans to use the base to monitor a potential Israeli-Syrian agreement.
A US administration official said the US "constantly assesses our necessary posture in Syria to effectively combat ISIS, and we do not comment on locations or possible locations of force operations." The official requested that the base's name and location not be disclosed for operational security reasons. Reuters agreed not to disclose the exact location.
One Western military official said the Pentagon had accelerated its plans over the past two months, conducting several reconnaissance missions to the base. These missions concluded that the base's long runway was ready for immediate use.
Two Syrian military sources said technical talks focused on using the base for logistics, surveillance, refueling, and humanitarian operations, with Syria retaining full sovereignty over the facility.
One Syrian military official said the US flew a C-130 military transport aircraft to the base to verify the runway's suitability. A guard at one of the base's entrances told Reuters that American planes were landing there as part of "tests."
It is not yet clear when exactly American troops will be deployed to the base.
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The new US plans appear to mirror two other new US military presences in the region observing ceasefire agreements: one in Lebanon, closely monitoring last year's ceasefire between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel, and one in Israel, monitoring the Trump-era ceasefire between the Palestinian armed group Hamas and Israel.
US troops are already deployed in northeastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to assist Kurdish forces in fighting ISIS. In April, the Pentagon said it would halve its troop numbers to 1,000.
Al-Sharaa stated that any American military presence must be agreed upon with the new Syrian state. Syria, according to American and Syrian officials, will soon join the US-led global coalition to fight ISIS.
A source familiar with the base negotiations said the move was discussed during Admiral Brad Cooper's, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), trip to Damascus on September 12.
A CENTCOM statement at the time said Cooper and US Special Representative to Syria Thomas Barrack met with al-Sharaa and thanked him for his contributions to the fight against ISIS in Syria, which the command said could help realize "Trump's vision of a prosperous Middle East and a stable Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors." The statement did not mention Israel.
The US has been working for months to achieve a security agreement between Israel and Syria, two long-time adversaries. The US had hoped to announce the agreement at the UN General Assembly in September, but negotiations stalled at the last minute.
A Syrian source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that Washington is pressuring Syria to reach an agreement by the end of the year, possibly before al-Sharaa's visit to Washington.