DAMASCUS: Syria’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had taken over the Al-Shadadi base in the northeast from US forces, days after assuming control of a facility near the Jordan-Iraq borders.

“The forces of the Syrian Arab Army have taken over the Al-Shadadi military base in the Hasakeh countryside following coordination with the American side,” a ministry statement said.

US forces operating as part of the international coalition against the militant Islamic State group had been stationed at the base outside the town of the same name.

The town housed a prison where Kurdish forces detained members of the extremist jihadist organisation, before government forces advanced into the area last month.

Sunday’s announcement follows US confirmation on Thursday that its forces had vacated Al-Tanf base near Syria’s borders with Jordan and Iraq.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were a major partner of the US-led international coalition against IS, and were instrumental in the group’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.

But following the fall in December 2024 of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, the United States has drawn closer to the new government in Damascus, recently declaring that the need for its alliance with the Kurds had largely passed. Despite IS’s territorial defeat, the group remains active, however.

On Saturday, the US Central Command said its forces had struck more than 30 IS targets in Syria this month.

A CENTCOM statement said the air strikes between Feb 3 and 12 hit IS “infrastructure and weapons storage targets”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Washington is pleased with the “trajectory” in Syria, which has launched talks with Kurdish minority groups, despite troubles.

“There’s been some days that have been very concerning, but we like the trajectory,” Rubio said on a brief visit to Bratislava. “We have to keep it on that trajectory. We’ve got good agreements in place.” Rubio added, however, that a deal between Syrian authorities and the Kurdish minority must now be implemented.

“That’s not going to be easy and there other such agreements that they need to reach with the Druze, with the Bedouins, with the Alawis — with all the elements of a very diverse society in Syria,” Rubio said.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2026