“We have gathered much evidence some strange things are happening in al-Tanf. In our point of view, this area is of no considerable significance for the anti-terrorist operation. In practice, we can see that in this area, including al-Rukban refugee camp, armed groups appear ever more often and, according to our sources, they have connections with Daesh,” Lavrov said in a press conference on Monday with Jose Condungua Pacheco, his counterpart from Mozambique.
He recalled that the issue had been repeatedly brought up in the course of various contacts with US partners.
“We drew attention to the fact that this is in conflict with our agreements as to how to arrange for de-escalation work in Syria within the framework of regular contacts between the military,” Lavrov said.
The Russian top diplomat said that Moscow expects Washington to withdraw troops from Syria’s al-Tanf as their presence there is pointless from the military standpoint, stressing that only the Syrian Arab Army must remain on the country’s southern border.
SANA
28/5/18
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Militants linked with the terrorist group Islamic State are feeling increasingly comfortable in a refugee camp located near a US military base in southern Syria, the Russian foreign minister said.
ReplyDelete“We have plenty of reports about strange things happening in the Al-Tanf area,” Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. “This area has no particular military value in terms of fighting terrorism. And in practical terms, we see a rise of presence in the region of militant groups, including those we believe to be connected with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in this or that way, including in the Rukban refugee camp.”
Located on Syria’s border with Jordan, Al-Tanf was captured last year by the US, which declared it under its protection and attacked pro-government forces showing up there. Russia has repeatedly expressed concern about the presence of US troops in the area and their refusal to allow access to it, including for humanitarian convoys to the Rukban camp.
RT