Al-Waleed border crossing ( ar, نقطة الوليد الحدودية العراقية, also spelled al-Walid), known in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
as al-Tanf, is one of three official border crossings between
Iraq and Syria. It is located in the
Ar-Rutba District of the
Al-Anbar Governorate in western Iraq, close to the northeasternmost point of
Jordan in the
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of sou ...
. It serves as the main border checkpoint on the highway between
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
and
Baghdad. The al-Tanf checkpoint is on the Syrian side of the border in the
Homs Governorate. The
Al-Waleed Palestinian refugee camp is nearby.
Syrian Civil War
In May 2015, the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants captured the checkpoint, thus obtaining control over the full length of the Iraq–Syria border. In early August 2016, the Iraqi checkpoint was recaptured by pro-government Iraqi tribal militias backed by the
U.S.-led forces. In August 2016, the
BBC published photographs taken in June that year,
which it said showed British special forces soldiers apparently guarding the perimeter of the
New Syrian Army
, native_name2_lang = ar
, war = Syrian Civil War
, image =
, caption = Syrian Independence Flag, flown by the Syrian Free Army and it’s predecessor factions
, ideology =
, active = M ...
's base, at al-Tanf in Syria's
Homs province.
In March 2017, U.S.-backed
Maghawir a-Thawra rebels re-opened the border point, resuming cross-border civilian traffic; a group referred to as Jaish al-Ashair al-Iraqi was said to control the Iraqi side of the crossing. In April 2017, the U.S. "special forces" outpost at Al-Tanf was reported to be engaged in combat. On 18 May 2017,
U.S.-led coalition fighter jets struck a convoy of pro-Syrian government forces advancing towards the Tanf base, where the U.S. military operated and trained anti-government rebels. The Syrian forces appeared to use advanced Russia-made arms and were supported by Russian helicopters, a report acknowledged on May 26 by the
Russian Defence ministry's
media outlet.
On 17 June 2017, the
Iraqi military announced that the Iraqi army and Sunni tribal fighters, supported by U.S.-led coalition aircraft, had dislodged ISIL from the al-Waleed border crossing.
At the end of December 2017, the
Chief
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
of the Russian
General Staff
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
Valery Gerasimov said that the
U.S. garrison at Al-Tanf was fully blocked by the Syrian government forces; he also claimed the U.S. was using the base as a training facility for ex-ISIL militants.
Начальник Генштаба Вооруженных сил России генерал армии Валерий Герасимов: «Мы переломили хребет ударным силам терроризма»
Komsomolskaya Pravda
''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925.
History and profile
During the Soviet era, ...
, 26 December 2017.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waleed
Populated places in Al Anbar Governorate
Iraq–Syria border crossings