Ohio Army National Guard soldiers fire an M777 Howitzer during an exercise at Mission Support Site Conoco, Syria, in December 2022. U.S. forces left three installations in May, including Conoco, a new Defense Department Inspector General report confirmed. (Julio Hernandez/U.S. Army)
U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq have departed three military bases that for years supported efforts to defeat Islamic State militants, a new Pentagon report has confirmed.
American personnel and their anti-ISIS coalition partners in May left Mission Support Site Green Village, H2 and Mission Support Site Euphrates, sometimes referred to as the Conoco gas field, the latest quarterly report from the Defense Department’s Inspector General said.
All three sites are located in the vast region known as the middle Euphrates River valley. Both the Conoco and Green Village bases were targets of numerous rocket attacks from Iran-backed militias over the past five years.
Conoco was attacked as recently as December and was also the site of a brief but intense 2018 skirmish between U.S. forces and fighters for the former regime, including Russian mercenaries, that left hundreds of the attackers dead and the Americans unharmed.
U.S. soldiers assigned to Operation Inherent Resolve secure an area in northeastern Syria in an M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle on Dec. 12, 2024. American troops at bases once used to help fight the Islamic State in the region departed in May, a new Defense Department Inspector General report confirmed. (Syrr Parker/U.S. Army)
Syrian partner forces practice movement techniques during squad-level tactics training with U.S. soldiers in Syria on April 15, 2025. American personnel left three bases in May and were either relocated within Syria and Iraq or returned home, according to the latest quarterly report by the Defense Department Inspector General. (Fred Brown/U.S. Army)
U.S. forces “either dismantled and removed or handed over infrastructure” to the Syrian Democratic Forces, part of the anti-ISIS coalition led by the U.S., according to the report, which was made public last week.
Fox News reported in May that 500 troops had left bases in northeastern Syria, including Mission Support Site Green Village and Mission Support Site Euphrates, citing unidentified U.S. officials.
The base closures are part of a larger consolidation of U.S. forces in Syria that the Pentagon announced earlier this year, with plans to eventually reduce the American military presence to one base and fewer than 1,000 troops.
The U.S. has maintained a presence in the country since the 2014 start of Operation Inherent Resolve, which aimed to suppress ISIS’s growing influence in Iraq and Syria.
U.S. forces at the three bases either relocated to other sites in Syria or Iraq or returned home after completing their tour of duty, the report said, without specifying the number of troops.
The departure of the American troops comes amid a tense transition for the new Syrian government, which in December ousted longtime dictator Bashar Assad and has since struggled to contain sectarian violence across the nation.
The Inspector General’s report notes that the U.S. withdrew from an area where relations remain strained between the SDF and the Arab tribal leaders, who view the SDF as occupiers who selectively dole out resources and protections based on cultural preference. Without U.S. forces to bridge the differences, tensions between the groups are expected to rise, the report said.
The White House has indicated a willingness to help the fledgling government of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, even as it reduces the U.S. military footprint in the country.
President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa in May, promising to lift decades-old sanctions to give Syria “a chance at peace.”
However, Syria is also among the many countries that will be hit with steep tariffs starting Thursday if it does not reach a deal with the U.S. by then. The tariff level planned for Syria is 41%.
Last Thursday, Trump signed an executive order mandating widespread tariffs for dozens of countries and the European Union.
