Defense Minister Discusses Strengthening Military Cooperation with US Army Delegation

 Defense Minister Major General Marhaf Abu Qusra receives in Damascus with  a delegation from the US Army headed by Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Lambert, commander of the Joint Task Force for Operation Inherent Resolve, ways to strengthen relations and cooperation between the two countries in various military fields.

The two sides also discussed the latest developments in the region in the presence of the head of the General Intelligence Service, Hussein al-Salameh.

Cooper: Washington and Damascus have common interests

  The commander of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, stressed  in a previous statement that the United States and Syria have common interests in maintaining security and stability in the Middle East.

He said: "We are working to strengthen military cooperation with the Syrian army, pointing out that the successful integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian army will lead to the strengthening of the security environment."

U.S. Troop Withdrawal from Syria

The  Syrian Ministry of Defense announced on the 16th of this month, that the Syrian Arab Army forces took over the Qasrak air base in the countryside of Al-Hasakah, after the withdrawal of the international coalition forces from it, as the forces of the 60th Division of the Syrian Army entered the Qasrak base in the countryside of Al-Hasakah after the withdrawal of the American forces working within the forces of the international coalition to fight the Islamic State "ISIS".

Last February, US forces began a gradual withdrawal from the Qasrak base, which is the largest US military base on Syrian soil.

Over the past months, batches of military vehicles loaded with American equipment and soldiers left for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, before they were completely evacuated and received by the Syrian army today, after the last American military convoy left for Jordanian territory.

In addition, on the 16th of this month, the Syrian Foreign Ministry welcomed the ongoing and final handover of the military positions occupied by the US forces in Syria to the Syrian government.