Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the US military presence in Syria and its support of Kurdish factions are in line to create “quasi-local authorities based on the Kurds”
“It is clear that the United States has some strategy which I believe entails staying in Syria forever with its armed forces… They are gearing up for separating a huge part of Syria from the rest of the country, violating Syria’s sovereignty of territorial integrity. There they will create quasi-local authorities, will try to create autonomy based on the Kurds,” Lavrov told Euronews in an interview, Sputnik reported.
The Russian Foreign Minister stressed that Washington has deployed its forces in the war-torn country without a sanction from the United Nations of a request from the legitimate Syrian government in Damascus.
Lavrov’s interview follows a statement from Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said on Thursday that the US had, in fact, created an “occupation” zone in the al-Tanf area. She added the US-controlled area was used by the remains of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist militants.
She also stressed that the US military “entered into a virtually open confrontation with the Syrian army” by openly supporting allied Kurdish militant groups.
The US has been conducting airstrikes in Syria as part of the international coalition’s campaign to eradicate IS in the country. The US military coalition that consists of over 70 members has neither been authorized by the Syrian government nor the UN Security Council.
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