Syrian Desert campaign (May–July 2017)
The Syrian Desert campaign was a large-scale military operation of the Syrian Army that initially started along the highway from Damascus to the border with Iraq against rebel forces during the Syrian civil war. Its first intended goal was to capture both the highway and the al-Tanf border crossing, thus securing the Damascus countryside from a potential rebel attack. Later, multiple other fronts were opened as part of the operation throughout the desert, as well as operation "Grand Dawn" against ISIL with the aim of reopening the Damascus-Palmyra highway and preparing for an offensive towards Deir ez-Zor.
Major general Qasem Soleimani gives a prayer of thanks for the success of the offensive near the Iraqi border, together with Liwa Fatemiyoun fighters.
A Syrian rebel BM-21 Grad launcher launching rockets at Syrian Army forces in the Syrian Desert.
Al-Tanf is a U.S. military base in an American occupied part of the Homs Governorate, Syria. It is located 24km west of the al-Walid border crossing in the Syrian Desert. The surrounding deconfliction zone is located along the Iraq–Syria border and the Jordan–Syria border. The garrison is located along a critical road known as the M2 Baghdad–Damascus Highway. The Rukban refugee camp for internally displaced Syrians is located within the deconfliction zone.
5th SFG (A) operators in a landing zone at Al-Tanf, November 2017
3rd Battalion, 7th Marines attached to SP-MAGTF-CR-CC during Operation Apex Teufelhunden, a live fire exercise near al-Tanf, 7 September 2018
U.S. Green Berets conduct a medevac exercise during a patrol within the Deconfliction Zone, 27 May 2020
U.S. Green Berets and Maghawir al-Thawra (MaT) on a joint patrol near Al-Tanf, 29 April 2020