The continued illegal presence of the US troops in eastern Syria is one of the main reasons for the instability and continuation of the conflict and also amounts to a de facto partition of the country, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister warned Tuesday.
Speaking for RT Arabic, Sergei Ryabkov pointed that the US arsenal in Syria is a scenario of a de facto partition of the country, underlining that Russia is against this.
He also noted his country is acting in accordance with the existing resolutions of the UNSC, which has confirmed the territorial integrity of Syria, where US troops have been deployed since late 2015.
Although US and allied air forces had been bombing Islamic State’s positions since the year prior,then-US President Barack Obama began deploying US Special Forces units to support Kurdish militias fighting the terrorist network.
After IS was forced out of Iraq few years later, the number of US troops has increased and they began building large facilities in Syria’s Deir-ez-Zor Governorate for a more permanent presence near the country’s primary oil fields.
Former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stressed in2018 that the US intend to keep troops in eastern Syria until Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is forced from power but also in order to keep Iran’s position in Syria weak, which is a very open-ended mission goal.
In light of US preparations for its final withdrawal from Afghanistan and the decreaseds presence in Iraq, Biden administration’s senior official told Politico in late July that US mission is Syria has been quite successful, and they’ll continue it.
Meanwhile, roughly 900 US troops remain in Syria officially serving as advisors to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, but also training a large proxy force of Kurds and other ethnic minorities in the region.
Since he took office in January, US President Joe Biden has ordered two sets of airstrikes targeting Shiite militias in eastern Syria accused for being responsible for attacking US forces in Iraq. He also made a bizarre gaffe last month claiming that the US had no troops in Syria.
Be the first to comment