Russia asks US to explain 'unusual actions' in Syria

The Russian Defense Ministry has asked Washington to explain why US forces “ignored” at least 300 terrorist militants who are believed to be roaming freely in US-controlled areas in Syria, Sputnik reported.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. Photo: Sputnik

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on October 11 asked the US to explain why they “turned a blind eye” to terrorists who were said to be freely moving in the US-controlled Al-Tanf area in Syria.

According to Mr. Konashenkov, the Russian side has discovered about 300 rebels trying to block the road connecting Damascus and Deir ez-Zor province, which is used to provide humanitarian aid to civilians and military equipment to the Syrian army.

Konashenkov said the ceasefire in the demilitarized zone in Syria could be undermined after 600 more rebels and two vehicles carrying medical aid were sent to the terrorists there.

“With significant reinforcements of resources, medicine and food, plus tacit US acceptance, one does not need to be an expert to guess that the ceasefire will be affected,” Konashenkov said.

According to Mr. Konashenkov, on October 2-3, a group of 600 rebels from Rukban, located in the US-controlled al-Tanf area, went west, flooding into the southern demilitarized zone through an old border crossing on the Syria-Jordan border.

He said it was possible that the 600 militants from al-Tanf had seized the medicines from the al-Nusra Front or were colluding with them. If this were true, Mr. Konashenkov said, the US would be fully responsible for “sabotaging the peace process in Syria.”

In another development, Director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry Georgiy Borisenko shared withSputnikthat the “unusual” US actions near the al-Tanf base appear to be aimed at dividing Syria.

Borisenko also reiterated Russia’s accusation that the US and its allies appear to be “pretending” to fight IS in Syria. “We are surprised by this, but we will continue to monitor the situation and we want to stress that any terrorist-related actions are dangerous and can backfire.”

Mr. Borisenko emphasized that Russia's participation in the war in Syria for the past two years was due to the government of President Bashar al-Assad requesting Moscow's assistance, while Washington's participation in the war to destroy terrorism in Syria has never been authorized by the Syrian government or the United Nations Security Council.

According to Dan Tri