Moscow: Daesh Terrorists’ Number Increasing in al-Tanaf Area Where US Troops Are Deployed

MOSCOW-Russian Defense Ministry affirmed on Thursday that the areas of the US military presence in Tanaf near the Syrian-Iraqi border have witnessed a significant increase in the number of Daesh (ISIS) terrorists, according to SANA.

The Syrian news agency said that Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Gen Sergei Rudskoy said in a briefing published by the Russian Defense Ministry that al-Tanaf area, where the US forces are deployed, is witnessing an increase in the number of Daesh terrorists who are attempting to launch attacks on towns in Sweida, Damascus Countryside, Tadmur (Palmyra) east of Homs and Deir Ezzor.

 He added, according to SANA, that terrorists are using al-Rukban Camp for displaced people near the Syrian-Jordanian border close to the US troops’ deployment as a shelter, warning of the dangerous situation in the Camp where about 60 thousand displaced people suffer difficult living conditions.

Rudskoy called on the US, whose troops are deployed in the al-Tanaf area, to secure humanitarian access to the Camp as soon as possible and facilitate the return of the displaced to their villages and towns and work to close their base in the area.

The operations of the Syrian Arab Army in southern Syria led to the elimination of Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra in Sweida, Daraa and Quneitra. The Syrian army carried out its operations upon a demand by the residents to protect them from the terrorist activities of the two organizations listed on the international terrorism list, according to the Russian military official.

He added that in light of the failure of the US and Jordan to take any steps to stabilize the situation as guarantors of the de-escalation zone in southern Syria, the Syrian army was able to liberate the area, which created suitable conditions for the return of the displaced to their homes in villages and towns currently undergoing demining, reconstruction and rehabilitation of social and economic facilities.

The statement also expressed concern about the escalating situation in the de-escalation zone in Idleb as a result of the terrorists targeting of the sites of the Syrian army and residential areas in Aleppo, Hama and Lattakia.