Former Coalition base | US delegation arrives at Lafarge base near Ain Al-Arab/Kobani city, east of Aleppo

SOHR activists monitored the entry of a US military delegation in four vehicles to Lafarge base, a former coalition base, near Kharab Ashak village in Ain Al-Arab/Kobani countryside, east of Aleppo.

On June 1, Reliable sources informed SOHR that International Coalition Forces withdrew from “Lafarge” base near Kharab Ashak village in eastern Aleppo countryside, several days ago.

The withdrawal came days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a 30-kilometre-deep military operation along the border with Syria.

On May 16, SOHR activists in areas controlled by “Autonomous-Administration” in the eastern countryside of Aleppo reported that since the early morning hours of Sunday, digger machinery and bulldozers had been carrying out intensive drilling operations in Khirab Ashak area in Ain Al-Arab countryside (Kobani), four International Coalition vehicles arrived in the drilling area on May 15 as well.

SOHR could not definitively ascertain the reasons for the excavation operations, whether they were part of the coalition reinforcements or a plan to build an airport, base or otherwise.

It is worth noting that Kharab Ashak area hosts a military helicopter base for International Coalition before it withdrew from it after Turkey’s military operation “Peace Spring” in 2019.

This Coalition base was formerly a cement factory, east of Ain al-Arab (Kobani), and US helicopters set out to “kill Al-Baghdadi” in Idlib this February after landing there from Iraq and then headed to Idlib.