Syria condemns US general’s visit to Kurdish-held northeast

International ministry condemns shock go to by Mark Milley, dubbing it ‘unlawful,’ in line with state media reviews.

Syria’s international ministry has condemned a shock go to by the US’ prime navy officer to a military base within the Kurdish-held northeast, dubbing it “unlawful”, state media reported.

In his snap go to on Saturday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Common Mark Milley met US troops stationed in areas of war-torn Syria underneath the management of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

About 900 US troopers are deployed in a number of bases and posts throughout northeastern Syria as a part of the struggle in opposition to ISIL (ISIS) group remnants.

Official information company SANA on Sunday quoted a international ministry official as saying: “Syria strongly condemns the unlawful go to of the American chairman of the chiefs of employees to an unlawful American navy base in northeast Syria.”

Milley’s go to was “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity” of Syrian territory, the official added, in line with SANA, calling on “the US administration to instantly stop its systematic and continued violation of worldwide regulation and help for separatist armed teams”.

President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities views the deployment of US forces in SDF-held territory as “occupation” and accuses US-aligned Kurdish forces of “separatist tendencies”.

Kurdish officers deny any separatist aspirations and say they search to protect their self-rule, which Damascus doesn’t recognise.

Milley’s spokesman, Dave Butler, advised the AFP information company the US basic “visited northeast Syria on Saturday … to fulfill with commanders and troops”.

It was Milley’s first journey to Syria since assuming the chairmanship in 2019. He visited the nation earlier than as a military chief, the spokesman stated.

Through the go to, Milley “acquired updates on the counter-ISIS mission”, Butler added.

The final additionally “inspected power safety measures and asserted repatriation efforts for the al-Hol refugee camp”, residence to greater than 50,000 folks, together with relations of suspected international ISIL fighters whose residence nations haven’t taken them again.

The US-led coalition battling ISIL offers help for SDF, spearheaded by the Syrian Kurdish Folks’s Safety Models (YPG).

After the ISIL fighters misplaced their final territory to SDF-led forces in 2019, the SDF has cracked down on remnants of ISIL, whose members nonetheless launch lethal assaults in Syria.

US forces have killed or arrested ISIL figures in quite a few operations, together with the group’s chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019.

On February 19, the US navy stated troops working with SDF captured an ISIL provincial official.

The raid got here a day after 4 US troopers have been wounded as they performed one other raid to kill a senior ISIL group chief in northeastern Syria, the US navy’s Central Command stated.