Satellite Imagery of the Dumayr Air Base captured on July 7, 2022. (Google Earth)
On November 6, Reuters reported that “The United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an air base in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel.”
Reuters, citing “six sources familiar with preparations at the base, including two Western officials and a Syrian defense official,” added that the “base sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarized zone as part of a non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria.”
Two Syrian military sources also told Reuters that “technical talks have been focused on the use of the base for logistics, surveillance, refueling and humanitarian operations, while Syria would retain full sovereignty over the facility.”
Reuters did not specify the exact location of the base. However, Syrian social media accounts have claimed the report refers to the Mezzeh Air Base, which is situated in a densely populated neighborhood of Damascus. According to Reuters, American C-130 military transport planes have landed at the proposed facility to test its readiness, and videos showing these aircraft landing at Mezzeh surfaced shortly after the report’s publication. However, other sources suggest that the base in question is the Dumayr Air Base, located approximately 40 kilometers northeast of Damascus.
Both air bases were strategic hubs for Syria’s former Bashar al Assad regime and Iranian-backed militias during the Syrian Civil War. Following Assad’s fall, reports indicated that the US-backed Syrian Free Army operating out of the Tanf base in southern Syria seized control of the Dumayr Air Base. The group used the facility as its headquarters before later integrating into the Syrian Arab Army as the 70th Division.
A source in the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “denied the Reuters report,” telling the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that “it was ‘false.’”
The report and social media speculation come shortly before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa on November 10 in Washington. Reports have circulated that Syria intends to join the anti-Islamic State coalition. Additionally, the two leaders will discuss the Syrian-Israeli relationship. Back in September, US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack claimed that Syria and Israel “are close to striking a ‘de-escalation’ agreement in which Israel will stop its attacks while Syria will agree not to move any machinery or heavy equipment near the Israeli border.”
According to Barrack, the Syrians are demanding the withdrawal of Israeli troops that pushed into southern Syria in December 2024. Israel’s demands revolve around creating a demilitarized zone in south Syria, protecting the Druze minority in the Suwayda Governorate, and extending the buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights by two kilometers.
The negotiations have been ongoing since June, and Syrian leaders have viewed Israel’s proposal as problematic because it effectively turns southern Syria into an area outside of the state’s control. However, if the reports of an American presence are accurate, the situation could alleviate Israel’s concerns about maintaining a presence within Syria.