[4][5] In August 2016, the BBC published photographs taken in June that year which it said showed United Kingdom Special Forces soldiers apparently guarding the perimeter of the Al-Tanf base.

[11] In September 2017, Russian government-owned media outlet RIA Novosti reported, with a reference to unnamed military and diplomatic sources, that the U.S. had voiced readiness to leave Al-Tanf but did not say when.

According to the U.S., these fighters are permitted only to launch offensives against IS and not against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian Arab Armed Forces, though clashes with pro-Syrian government elements have occurred.

[15][16] In a February 2018 letter, the U.S. military justified its occupation by citing the doctrine of collective self-defense as necessary to defend Iraq, the U.S. itself, and other states from IS and other active terrorist groups.

[24] On 4 June 2019, representatives of more than 30 countries participated in a meeting with the command of Operation Inherent Resolve in Kuwait where the issue of stepping up efforts to fight terrorism in Iraq and Syria was discussed.

[25] Amid a period of heightened regional tensions with Iran, the Pentagon announced on 18 June that another 1,000 troops will be deployed to the Middle East, presumably including the Al-Tanf base.

[26] In October 2019, in the context of the pullout of American troops from northern Syria, The New York Times reported that the Pentagon was planning to "leave 150 Special Operations forces at a base called al-Tanf".

[28][29][30] On 23 October 2019, the Maghawir al-Thawra reportedly seized $3.5 million worth of Captagon pills heading to the Rukban refugee camp in a major bust on weapons and drug smuggling of IS underground networks.

[34] In October 2024, U.S. officers in Al-Tanf placed the Abu Khatab Brigade and other rebel units under the joint command of the RCA as the Syrian Free Army (SFA).

[36] Within two days, the SFA quickly captured Palmyra and then proceeded to enter the Syrian capital city Damascus from the east during the ensuing fall of the Assad regime.

[41] At the end of December 2017, the Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov said that the U.S. garrison at Al-Tanf was fully isolated by Syrian government forces following the desert offensive in the area.

[47][48] In June 2022, Russia carried out airstrikes at the Al-Tanf military base, after first notifying the United States of their intentions, allowing local forces to relocate before the strike.

[34] Shortly thereafter, the Syrian Foreign Ministry released a statement demanding that "the American side must immediately and unconditionally withdraw its military forces that are present on the territory of Syria illegally".

[51][52] A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry denied that Iran had any link to targets hit and condemned the strike as "a violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

China's foreign minister has called on the United States to "respect other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, immediately end the troops' illegal occupation and plundering in Syria.

A 55-kilometer zone unilaterally created by Americans around their military base near al-Tanf is being used by the scattered units of ISIS militants" for evading pursuit by government forces and re-grouping.