US military to establish presence at Damascus airbase in Syria, sources say

AMMAN/DAMASCUS – The United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The US plans for the presence in the Syrian capital would be a sign of Syria’s strategic realignment with the US following

the 2024 fall

of long-time leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran. The plans have not previously been reported.

The base sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarised zone as part of a non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria. That deal is being mediated by US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Mr Trump will meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House on Nov 10, the first such visit by a Syrian head of state.

Reuters spoke to six sources familiar with preparations at the base, including two Western officials and a Syrian defence official, who confirmed the US was planning to use the base to help monitor a potential Israel-Syria agreement.

After the Reuters report was published, a Syrian Foreign Ministry source denied it, saying the report was “false”, state news agency Sana reported late on Nov 6.

The source did not elaborate on what was false.

“Work is under way to transfer the partnerships and understandings that were necessarily made with provisional entities to Damascus, within the framework of joint political, military and economic coordination,” Sana added, citing the source.

The Pentagon and Syrian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the plan.

The Syrian presidency and Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to questions about the plan sent via the Syrian Information Ministry.

A US administration official said the US was “constantly evaluating our necessary posture in Syria to effectively combat ISIS and (we) do not comment on locations or possible locations of (where) forces operate”.

The official requested that the name and location of the base be removed for operational security reasons. Reuters has agreed not to reveal the exact location.

A Western military official said the Pentagon had accelerated its plans over the last two months, with several reconnaissance missions to the base. Those missions concluded that the base’s long runway was ready for immediate use.

Two Syrian military sources said the technical talks had been focused on the use of the base for logistics, surveillance, refuelling and humanitarian operations, while Syria would retain full sovereignty over the facility.

A Syrian defence official said the US had flown to the base in military C-130 transport aircraft to make sure the runway was usable. A security guard at one of the base’s entrances told Reuters that American aircraft were landing there as part of “tests”.

It was not immediately clear when US military personnel would be dispatched to the base.

Joint Syrian-American presence

The new US plans appear to mirror two other instances of new US military presence in the region monitoring cessation of hostilities agreements: one in Lebanon that watches closely the 2024 ceasefire between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel, and one in Israel that monitors the Trump-era truce between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel.

The US already has troops stationed in north-eastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to help a Kurdish-led force there combat the ISIS terror group. In April, the Pentagon said it would halve the number of troops there to 1,000.

Mr Sharaa has said any US troop presence should be agreed with the new Syrian government. Syria is set to imminently join the US-led global anti-ISIS coalition, US and Syrian officials say.

A person familiar with the talks over the base said the move was discussed during a trip by Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US Central Command (Centcom), to Damascus on Sept 12.

A Centcom statement at the time said Adm Cooper and US envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack had met Mr Sharaa and thanked him for contributing to the fight against ISIS in Syria, which it said could help accomplish Mr Trump’s “vision of a prosperous Middle East and a stable Syria at peace with itself and its neighbours”. The statement did not mention Israel.

The US has been working for months to reach a security pact between Israel and Syria, two long-time foes. It had hoped to announce a deal at the UN General Assembly in September, but talks hit a last-minute snag.

A Syrian source familiar with the talks told Reuters that Washington was exerting pressure on Syria to reach a deal before the end of the year, and possibly before Mr Sharaa’s trip to Washington. REUTERS