Last Update: March 06, 2023, 06:36 AM IST
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks at a US military base in northeastern Syria during an unannounced visit with US forces in Syria (Image: Reuters)
The snap trip was labeled “illegal” by the Syrian Foreign Ministry. Syria said it was a violation of their sovereignty
Syria’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned a surprise visit by a top United States military official to a military base in the Kurdish-held northeast, labeling it “illegal”, state media said.
In his snap tour on Saturday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, met with US troops stationed in areas of war-torn Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
About 900 US troops have been deployed to several bases and outposts in northeastern Syria as part of the fight against the remnants of the Islamic State group.
“Syria strongly condemns the illegal visit by the US president to the chief of staff of an illegal US military base in northeastern Syria,” a foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by the official SANA news agency.
The official said Miley’s visit was an “open violation of the sovereignty and integrity” of Syrian territory, calling on the US administration to “immediately cease its systematic and continued violations of international law and support of separatist armed groups”, according to SANA. Did.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad views the deployment of US forces in SDF-held territory as an “occupation” and accuses US-aligned Kurdish forces of “separatist tendencies”.
Kurdish officials deny any separatist aspirations and say they want to maintain their self-rule, which Damascus does not recognize.
Miley’s spokesman, Dave Butler, told AFP that the US general “visited northeastern Syria on Saturday to meet with commanders and troops.”
The spokesman said this was Milli’s first visit to Syria after assuming the presidency in 2019. He visited the country as the Chief of the Army Staff.
During the visit, Miley “received updates on the anti-ISIS mission”, Butler added, using an alternate acronym for IS jihadists.
The general “oversaw force security measures and emphasized repatriation efforts for the al-Hol refugee camp”, home to more than 50,000 people, including family members of suspected foreign IS militants whose home countries have not repatriated them. have taken.
The US-led coalition fighting IS provides support to the SDF led by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
After the jihadists lost their last territory to SDF-led forces in 2019, the SDF has cracked down on the remnants of IS, whose members still carry out deadly attacks in Syria.
US forces killed or arrested IS figures in several operations in 2019, including the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
On 19 February, the US military said that troops working with the SDF captured an IS provincial official.
The US military’s Central Command said the attack came a day after four American soldiers were wounded in another strike to kill a senior leader of the IS group in northeastern Syria.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)