Russia Calls upon the US to Withdraw Troops from al-Tanf Area

MOSCOW – Russia called on the US to immediately withdraw its troops from the Syrian area of al-Tanf, expressing concern over the situation in al-Rukban Camp.

According to SANA, Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry at the Joint Commission of Coordination among Russian Ministries and Institutions called at the Commission’s session on Wednesday on Washington to immediately withdraw its forces from al-Tanf and transfer the supervision over this area to the Syrian government.

For his part, Director of the National Defence Management Center Mikhail Mezentsev said that Moscow is still seriously concerned over the living conditions of the displaced Syrians in al-Rukban Camp, whose situation has got worse.

Mezentsev indicated that the World Health Organization(WHO) has said in a report that people are dying in al-Rukban Camp due to bad weather , deterioration of health situation, skin diseases, cold, tuberculosis, asthma and lack of medicines, fuel and electricity.

He said that the US announced its intention to withdraw its forces from Syria ,yet it is still illegally occupying a distance of 55 km around al-Tanf.

He stressed that the US has been fully responsible for the ongoing suffering in the camp for years, indicating that a long-term resolution of the humanitarian situation in al-Rukban can be achieved only after the US withdrawal from it and transferring it to the Syrian sovereignty.