[2] It is located in the Ar-Rutba District of the Al-Anbar Governorate in western Iraq, close to the northeasternmost point of Jordan in the Syrian Desert.

In May 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants captured the checkpoint, thus obtaining control over the full length of the Iraq–Syria border.

[4][5] In August 2016, the BBC published photographs taken in June that year,[6] which it said showed British special forces soldiers apparently guarding the perimeter of the New Syrian Army's base, at al-Waleed in Syria's Homs province.

In March 2017, U.S.-backed Maghawir al-Thawra rebels re-opened the border point, resuming cross-border civilian traffic; a group referred to as Jaish al-Ashair al-Iraqi was said to control the Iraqi side of the crossing.

[8][9] On 18 May 2017, U.S.-led coalition fighter jets struck a convoy of pro-Syrian government forces advancing towards the Tanf base, where the U.S. military operated and trained anti-government rebels.