While a lot of the details of the US withdrawal from Syria and the Turkish invasion of Syria still aren’t entirely clear, Turkey sees a big opportunity. The US has 22 military bases in Syria they presumably will no longer need, and Turkey wants them.



Turkey’s National Security Adviser Ibrahim Kalin has reportedly asked the US to agree to cede all of the bases to the Turkish military, or failing that agree to destroy them outright before they leave.



The US bases are embedded across Syrian Kurdish territory, exactly where Turkey is invading. The goal here for Turkey is likely to ensure that the US doesn’t simply hand them over to Kurdish factions, though being given the bases would be ideal for their invasion.



Since US officials say they want to protect the Kurds on their way out of Syria, it’s unlikely they’ll give most of the bases to Turkey. They may, however, decide that small posts on the Turkey border, and bases inside Manbij, from which the Kurds have already fled, would be no harm to hand over.



Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz