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Vow to Counter US Influence in Kurdish Regions

Vow to Counter US Influence in Kurdish Regions
Vow to Counter US Influence in Kurdish Regions

A senior official said constant cooperation among Iran, Iraq, and Syria will not allow the US to wield influence in Kurdish regions.

According to the Iraqi local TV network al-Beladi, Ali Akbar Velayati, a foreign policy advisor to Leader of Islamic Revolution, made the remarks in a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in Baghdad on Friday, Press TV reported.

Velayati described the US as the major problem in the Middle East, noting that Tehran keeps a close watch on all the political, military, and security measures of the US in the region.

The Iranian official pointed to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's ongoing visit to the Middle East, saying the regional tour takes place in the wake of Washington's failures in different military and political spheres against Islamic countries.

Tillerson started his tour of Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Kuwait on Sunday, but a key US ally, Israel, is conspicuously absent from his itinerary.

  Anti-US Sentiment 

The most contentious part of Tillerson's trip was in Turkey, where anti-American sentiment is rising, with some officials in Ankara calling the United States an enemy of Turkey. Turkey has long criticized Washington's support for militants from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria near the Turkish border, as it views the group as a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.

The US is leading a coalition which has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be targets of the self-styled Islamic State terror group inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

US officials claim that the YPG is the most effective fighting force against IS in northern Syria, and have substantially increased their weaponry and technology support for the Kurdish militants.

The Syrian government has given a degree of authority to the Kurdish regions to run their own affairs in the face of foreign-backed militancy. The US, however, has used the vacuum to establish a foothold in those regions with the help of militants.

Damascus has on several occasions called for US troops to leave Syria now that the fight against IS is over. 

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