The United States does not believe that the actions of the Russian military in northeastern Syria pose a threat to the American coalition. This was reported in a report released on Tuesday, May 4, by Acting Inspector General of the Pentagon Sean O’Donnell.
At the same time, the document says that Russia “continued to violate the deconflicting mechanisms that were established between the Russian Federation and the coalition.”
According to a spokesman for the US military department, the violations relate to the inclusion of an additional vehicle in a pre-organized patrol convoy. In addition, the coalition is allegedly not always properly notified of the passage of military vehicles or the passage of a fighter jet from Russia to Syria.
“These violations did not pose a threat to the coalition forces,” O’Donnell TASS quoted as saying.
It is noted that the document covers the period from January 1 to March 31, 2021.
On March 11, the Syrian military detained two militants who were being trained in the Al-Rukban refugee camp, located on the territory of the military base of the international coalition.
On February 26, the deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties (CPVS) in Syria, Rear Admiral Vyacheslav Sytnik, said that the American command in the Al-Tanf zone in Syria continues to forcibly hold refugees in the Al-Rukban camp.
The US military is in Syria without the permission of the country’s authorities and without UN sanction. Damascus has repeatedly accused Washington of seizing oil fields. At the same time, former US President Donald Trump, in fact, called oil the main reason for the presence of the American military contingent in Syria.
The armed conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011. In 2017, the victory over the terrorist group ISIS in Syria and Iraq, banned in the Russian Federation, was announced. In some areas of the countries, the cleansing of the militants continues. Now the forefront is a political settlement, the restoration of Syria and the return of refugees.