A View of US Forces in at-Tanf Syria Border Post

A lot has been going on in the at-Tanf border crossing area. Our forces have deployed two HIMARS batteries in the area and have been conducting ops in the area since about mid May officially, but most likely much longer. Reports are that we are establishing multiple Forward Operating Posts as well. So I just thought we would keep up to date of anything happening in the area and I will keep it here.

Today Qasioun News Agency released a video from one such FOP where it appears US Advisors are giving the FSA a little bit of shooting practice. Not much to see, but it is something to see where not much is made public. Either way this area has been cut off from the rest of Syria and surrounded by Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah forces. And it seems Hezbollah is ready for a fight as there are claims they are close to open warfare with us. That would be a mistake on their part, but who am I to dictate against someones death wish.

Anyways here is todays shooting practice with the FSA, followed by their first engagement with ISIS on the ground after crossing the border from Jordan into Syria in May.



Also today, Iranian forces have established a drone field outside of Palmyra 80 miles north of American positions, and is the likely source of the Shahed-129 drones.

Here are some FSA and JSOC guys at the Jordan border. This guy is just wearing sandals, is that the best coice of footwear for war?? At least they are the good kind of sandals, I have a similar pair myself.

S. #Syria: #FSA Revolution Commandos and #SOF from US-led Coalition near Al-Walid border crossing with #Iraq. wikimapia

About a week after US forces crossed into Syria, the Iraqi government allowed the Norwegian special forces to cross as well from their side.

Norwegian special forces allegedly fighting in Syria
By Eric Sof May 24, 2017
Last weekend, Mid-Eastern sources claimed Norwegian soldiers had entered Syria from Iraq’s Anbar province. This was neither confirmed nor refuted by Norwegian defense officials, leaving a big question mark over Norway’s alleged presence in the Syrian border region, which was recently attacked by the US forces.

The Arab website AMN quoted Iraqi officer Shakir Abid, who claimed the Iraqi government had allowed the Norwegian soldiers to cross the country’s border, the idea being that the Norwegians should join the American and British forces already in Syria against the will of Syrian authorities.

Also NRT News from Iraqi Kurdistan reported that Norwegian forces were in Syria, quoting Shakir Abid who claimed that the Norwegians had been tasked with the protection of the Syrian side of al-Tanf border crossing.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I'm puzzled. Surely you realize this conflict will NEVER end...........why are you so interested in it?

a reply to: TonyS
Because it will end. As well, this is an important time in history and it is writing itself. I enjoy being part of it and documenting.

it is either this, or join the hive in the pro/anti Trump hypnosis hysteria. I prefer to focus on the truth, and not the theater intentionally being orchestrated as a divisive distraction. Also, I don't care to be a mentally enslaved drone bogged down with the fictional narrative that is this Trump drama playing out before us.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Thats a very good answer.

There are multiple rumors that FSA fighters are now be flown out of Tanf into SDF controlled South Rojava. Afterwards the allegations are to pull our forces out of the Tanf border region. I hope this is true, but I can only find rumors, no definitive sources.

Today #USA transfered islamist "rebels" within #Syria to fight vs Syrian Army

and then MoonofAlabama posted this article. This is the first time I ever used MOA as a source, but since I am writing this up as rumors, I will go ahead and use it.

About 150 or so U.S. trained Arab fighters will be flown from al-Tanf to north-east Syria where they will join the (hated) Kurdish forces. They may later try to reach the ISIS besieged Deir Ezzor from the north or get pushed into some suicide mission against another ISIS position. The Syrian army will approach and liberate Deir Ezzor most likely from the south and east. It is unlikely that it will let U,S. proxy forces take part in that. The U.S. contingent will move west out of al-Tanf and back into Jordan. The Syrian and Iraqi forces will take over the Al Waleed border crossing at al-Tanf and the regular commercial traffic on the Damascus-Baghdad road will resume.

I would prefer that our forces not be there, and be utilized for more legitimate operations. Or better yet, let them take a break and go home to their families for July 4th!

I've been following the Syrian War pretty closely, and it seems to me that the US troops in that base were mainly there to aid/train the rebels, notwithstanding claims that they were fighting ISIS. If they really are leaving, then that suggests that the US might be cutting off support for the Rebels.

FSA fighters being sent to the Kurds is indeed pretty strange. They hate the Kurds. The phrase "cannon fodder" comes to mind as the most likely way the Kurds will use those guys.

a reply to: worldstarcountry
This is where they are allegedly being or have already been sent to.

There is plenty of ISIS to fight there luckily. It sure would be unusual if they someone managed to go across that land to fight ISIS in Der Ez-zoir very suddenly.

Some before and after satellite images of the activity around the Tanf border area. Looks like they built an airstrip. Also note the multiple points on interest in third image, perhaps these are artillery emplacements or some of them could be the HIMARS systems that were rolled in last month??


Also Qasioun News did a quick news report on activity in the area, and has some views of the HIMARS systems being trucked in and deployed.

Thank you so much for keeping an eye on developments in both Tanf and the South Rojava area. I've been convinced since the beginning that a semi-permanent presence in Eastern Syria has been the long game all along for Mattis and company, well beyond training and advising. Yes, we're doing that short term to finish off what's left of ISIS, but strategically we want to control the overland route that supplies Hezbollah and other bad actors that threaten Israel's Eastern flank. With the green light on and 10 - 15 ODA teams on the ground, that's more than enough firepower to exert positive control over the the key strategic crossing at Tanf as well as a conduit to Southern Rojava. None of the western press is covering any of this and it's difficult to get up to speed. I am a former 18 Delta with a lot of experience in Afghanistan, but I'm out now and not in the loop as much as I'd like. It's going to be interesting watching the pushback from Assad as he obviously wants that route open at all costs. Establishing air strips is a logical extension if the plan is to stay for the long term. Again, AWESOME work digging through this, a lot of us with similar experience appreciate your efforts. Keep it up!

a reply to: stirrednotshaken
Well first of all, thank you for your service to us all. I hope the time you put in was not too difficult on you as we all know how stressful it is to operate in such atmospheres. Afghanistan has always been on my mind as a priority we need to focus more on. I personally wish that the Taliban have zero say in the country's future, but I also feel that is an unrealistic demand. It almost seems like they can never ultimately be defeated and erased as an organization the way the LRA was finally eradicated in the Congo/Uganda regions of central Africa back in March. I tried to throw props to the success, but it seemed like very few people actually cared.

And yet, when Joseph Kony was most known for his terror in the nineties early 2000's all everybody wanted was to end this brutal militant organization. Well you know, these goals always seem to end quietly and thankless with little credit given to those who succeeded. Such is the nature of the job I suppose.

Any chance you ever came across some nice specimens of Afghan Lapis?? I am a big fan of Minerals and the best specimens on Ebay come out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. I have always been hesitant to buy though because I have no idea if the people selling it are cousins of Taliban operating mines to fund their friends and family. I wish there was a way to know for sure with proper vetting of ebay sellers from the area. I guess that would violate their rights or something though.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Have to agree it's unlikely to ever completely eradicate the Taliban for a variety of reasons - most notably that the ideology is deeply entrenched in the culture and not just superimposed as many believe. More than an entire generation has been indoctrinated and for many it's the only possible way to stay insulated from suspicion and avoid terror to their families. The Taliban are brutal to those who don't comply and while our team was there, to those who assisted or provided information to us. That was a never ending battle. Awful memories of that.

We were in Helmund, at Guresk, and moved about the entire province prior to the first presidential election there and subsequent elections for parliament. Most folks have no idea how effective a couple of ODA teams are - we generally operated with 2 teams North and South and were able to lock down the entire province. This is why I am confident that 10 - 15 teams operating in the relatively tiny area of Eastern and Northeast Syria can pretty much have their way on the ground. Like those teams, we had air support at the ready, usually within 10 minutes after the first call and could easily hold off just about any threat long enough for A-10's, Harriers or Apaches to be right on top of whatever was there. Occasionally the high flyers would get involved but rarely - most of our air support was out of Khandahar and already in the air flying lazy circles in 24/7 shifts. The teams in Syria have different support and it's more complicated, a tighter zone, but they can call it in when they need it. That number of teams is a deadly presence and they'll do as they please.

What I'm most interested in is the final layout after the final pockets of ISIS are eradicated. Again, establishing robust supply routes with plenty of C-130's going in and out smacks of a much longer commitment than train and advise. We're fortifying our presence and digging in, not getting ready to cut and run in my opinion. If it's actually true that F-35's can land in one or more areas, that's an entirely different scenario and rather ominous as the support needed for those kind of assets is way, way beyond anything being reported. I am not convinced that's really happening yet. Wait and see. But I think there's no need to put those high value assets in harm's way on the ground when there's too many other safer ways to keep them in the fight.

As for the Afghan Lapis, saw plenty of that in country and it was snapped up by most of the guys and sent home as trinkets. I have never looked for it on Ebay or online - really no way to know what you're getting that way until you get it. It is beautiful. Some of the things we picked up were local, but most had made its way to Pakistan where it was worked with Silver mostly and they had access to better tooling. Some very beautiful necklaces, occasionally a ring or two. That's all I can advise you on that. And you can be almost certain that unless you are on the ground trading with locals, anything available outside the zone is probably benefiting Taliban and similar types.

So a branch of the FSA has cut-off ties with our armed forces, probably over a disagreement over the fact that we are no longer providing them with weapons to combat Assad as he is officially, again, no longer a mission objective .

S. #Syria: #FSA Shuhada Qaryatayn attacked pro-Assad forces N. of Al-Tanf & reportedly seized several positions.

S. #Syria: #FSA Sh. Qaryatayn cut off ties w/ US-led Coalition as US disagreed w/ takeover of pro-Assad positions.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
So a branch of the FSA has cut-off ties with our armed forces, probably over a disagreement over the fact that we are no longer providing them with weapons to combat Assad as he is officially, again, no longer a mission objective .

S. #Syria: #FSA Shuhada Qaryatayn attacked pro-Assad forces N. of Al-Tanf & reportedly seized several positions.

S. #Syria: #FSA Sh. Qaryatayn cut off ties w/ US-led Coalition as US disagreed w/ takeover of pro-Assad positions.

Heard about this. I'm guessing the plan to ship those guys off to Kurdistan didn't go over well either.
Honestly I don't blame them. Every scenario I imagine with the Kurds using FSA troops end up resembling the South Park movie's infamous "Operation Get-behind-the-darkies," and I'm sure the FSA guys would share my suspicions.

At this point, I'm expecting to read that the US is pulling its base in Southern Syria any time now.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Different members of a different faction within the FSA have already been shipped to southeastern Rojava. The Free Syrian Army, as I came to read is more like an umbrella company for a diverse set of actions all aligned against Assad.

Kind of like how dozens of different street gangs in multiple cities with names like Black Gangster Disciples, Spanish Gangster Disciples, La Raza and more are all under the alliance of Folk Nation or Latin Kings, Vice Lords and Black P. Stone are under the Peoples nation. The FSA is therefore nothing more than the Umbrella Corporation for many of the anti-Assad factions. Most have splintered off though and have signed on to peace with the government in these de-escalation zones.

Whats left is funded and armed loosely by Turkey and speculatively members of the GCC such as Saudi Arabia or UAE now that we have committed to abandoning our support.

Now, while I would love nothing more than for the USA to pull out of South Syria, that would be a conflict of interest to Israeli foreign policy which takes pre-emption over USA. Those US forces are currently the only roadblock for a direct land route from Iran to Hezbollah now that Iraq is essentially aligning themselves to the Persians, especially with a recent Memorandum of Understanding on military cooperation together in the region.

What with Iran being authorized for a permanent naval presence on the Syrian coast, it will be likely that Hezbollah will be used as the new next excuse for maintaining our presence there in the eternal war on terror . Especially considering they are officially designated a terrorist group.

I would assume the groups that were attacked in that video were themselves Hezbollah or IRGC volunteers, and therefore the Pentagon, State Department, and the UN will obviously not shed any tears. In fact, although we have officially cut of our support, I am betting they watched it all go down with a smile on the face. Whatever, Turkey leaked to their press last week on the presence of ten US and possibly joint NATO bases in Rojava with troop numbers and partner forces presence as well as summaries of their functions. It was swiftly removed after a word from CENTCOM.

Eventually we will have to yield this Southern Enclave as their is no longer any legal justification for our presence there.

I used google translator to get the following from a source in the region. It has English, but only for archives. New stuff is released in Arabic. Hit the image for the original article in Arabic. The translated page by google is framed bad, and cuts off some of the text.

A photo of the Revolutionary Commanders, weeks before the training of its members with US forces (AFP)
Eli Hanna

The details of the US-Russian agreement in Syria are woven away from the media and official statements. Multiple rounds of diplomatic rams and political interrelations have not prevented the discovery of an independent course in the two capitals away from the discussion table in Astana or the corridors of the United Nations.
On July 8, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, in the first meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the "zone of easing the escalation" in the south of Syria was announced.

The accord, which was held in Hamburg after long talks hosted by the Jordanian capital Amman, was also followed by unprecedented tension between the two countries following new sanctions approved by the US House of Representatives on Russia, while the latter responded by the decision to deport hundreds of American diplomats. These sanctions, which do not have the White House's approval, have not prevented the completion of the bilateral track with Moscow in Syria. Trump and his foreign secretary, Rex Tilerson, remain opposed to the sanctions legislation approved by Congress, a senior diplomat told the Washington examiner yesterday. "He and President Trump are unhappy that Congress has applied these sanctions and the way in which they have done it," Tillerson said at a press conference at the State Department. "We were clear that we did not believe that ) Will be useful for our efforts, but that is the decision they have taken. "

Offers from the Syrian army to the elements of the "Revolutionary Commanders" to surrender themselves

This new track, according to information «news», signs of a 'huge' agreement between the two parties, which requires the withdrawal of US troops from the base Altnf on the Iraqi border and handed over to Russian forces. This "agreement" is illustrated by the leakage yesterday of elements of the Revolutionary Commandos who are working with the Americans. Al-Akhbar learned that these people were aware of what was being waged in their "influence" areas and felt that they were being taken aback by the information that a major Syrian army operation was nearing the liberation of the border area north of the province of Suwayda.
The "Washington gunmen" in the enclave suffer from a huge deficit because of the success of the Syrian army and its allies to close the road north of the tunnel and reach the border with Iraq. This shift led to the "capture" of groups collaborating with Washington in the "no military horizon" pocket to get out of it, as well as Washington's failure to maintain a large "safety zone" under the Syrian army's control of the corridors and the movement at a small distance in the military sense About their area of ​​concentration. The hoped-for leadership of these forces was to continue the "crawling" along the border, to the city of Albuqmal in Deir al-Zour, which was thwarted by the Syrian leadership. The "Washington gunmen," too, showed a major failure to achieve any achievement without air support or special forces accompanying them. They collapsed, for example, on the day of the landing of Albuqamal months ago, as they held only hours in front of the militants «Daash», where it was planned Then stabilizing the American presence along the border from Tanf to the border town of Deir al-Zour.
Al-Akhbar learned that Syrian Army "offers" came to these people to surrender in the past few days. The American side asked the "disengagement students" who "felt cheated" to hand over their weapons and equipment before leaving. But two groups, On Tuesday.
This comes in conjunction with the revelation of the "International Alliance" about differences with the faction of the "Martyrs Brigade of the two villages" working in the desert, on the nature of the tasks carried out by the latter and his refusal to commit to fighting «just». Opposition sites reported that a number of the Revolutionary Commanders refused to "request a transfer" to the town of al-Shadadi in the southern Hasaka countryside, to participate in operations towards the Euphrates valley.
The Alliance's spokesman, Ryan Dillon, said last Thursday that the coalition would not support the operations of the "martyrs of the two villages" again, adding that he would try to recover the military equipment delivered to the group.
Returning to the agreement, Al-Akhbar sources pointed out that the date of the American withdrawal is not yet clear, and is under constant coordination in the "private channel" between Washington and Moscow. This channel "strengthens its stature" in closed rooms, especially after Trump's decision to end the secret program to arm and train opposition elements run by the CIA. The Washington Post reported, quoting current and former officials, that "this step is a major concession." "Senior officials said the decision was supported by Jordan and is part of Trump's strategy to focus on negotiating a limited cease-fire with the Russian side," she said.

You can follow the author via Twitter Elieh_ @

Some shifting of the pieces???

a reply to: worldstarcountry
It's being reported elsewhere that the US is negotiating with Russia to turn over the Tanf base to them. It's not hard to see why. Now that we're not arming the rebels, that base is pointless. And the Syrians/Russians are making good progress against ISIS in central Syria: there are two separate prongs which look likely to reach Deir-al-Zour soon.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan
Well the previous post I did was allegedly the original source for that report. It looks more like a speculated assessment than an official announcement.

There was this recently not too far fro there.

Published on Aug 3, 2017

Syria War 2017 - SAA relaunches offensive against militants along Al-Tanf border

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan
Well the previous post I did was allegedly the original source for that report. It looks more like a speculated assessment than an official announcement.

There was this recently not too far fro there.

Published on Aug 3, 2017

Syria War 2017 - SAA relaunches offensive against militants along Al-Tanf border

BREAKING: US-backed militants to surrender all of south Syria except for Tanf base

BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:15 A.M.) – Russia, the United States and Jordan have reached an agreement which will allow the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to take over control of virtually all of militant-held southern Syria with the exception of a Coalition-occupied base near the Iraqi border. The agreement will see pro-government forces assume control over nine hundred (900) key points – which until now were held by US-backed mercenaries – throughout Syria’s great southern desert region. The agreement excludes surrendering a key Coalition base at the town of al-Tanf near the Syrian-Iraqi border where US troops are still reportedly present. One US-backed Free Syrian Army faction in the region, the Ahmad Abdo Martyrs Brigade, has reportedly abandoned its positions already and is withdrawing towards Jordanian territory. When exactly the agreement goes into full effect is still not entirely clear yet.

HA! Looks like we are giving back the land, but keeping the base that cuts off the highway. How very Israeli of the Pentagon.