A series of Russian airstrikes have reportedly targeted militants operating near the United States-led coalition garrison in the southeastern Syrian area of al-Tanf.
Video footage of the Russian airstrikes surfaced online on July 7. Nevertheless, it is still unclear when exactly the airstrikes took place. The coalition and Syrian opposition media didn’t report any attack on the garrison or nearby areas in recent days.
Around 200 U.S. troops are usually deployed at al-Tanf, along with hundreds of militants from a proxy group known as the Syrian Free Army.
The coalition maintains a 55-kilometer no-fly zone around al-Tanf. Despite this, Russian fighter jets conduct armed patrols over the garrison on a regular basis, likely to monitor suspicious activities there.
The reports of Russian airstrikes on al-Tanf came less than a week after the U.S.-led coalition announced a series of military exercises with its proxies in the garrison as well as in a number of bases in the northeastern Syrian governorates of al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor.
In May, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, accused the U.S. of training ISIS terrorists in al-Tanf on sabotage. Later in June, Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy for Syria, said that the coalition was strengthening its military contingent in the garrison and other parts of Syria.
The U.S.-led coalition claims that it is present in al-Tanf to counter ISIS. However, the real purpose of the garrison is to block a strategic highway that links Damascus with the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. In addition, the garrison is reportedly being used as an outpost to collect intelligence, stage sabotage acts and facilitate Israeli strikes against Syria.
U.S. Moved 650 Fighters From Syrian Democratic Forces To Ukraine – Report
The United States has moved hundreds of fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to Ukraine, Sputnik reported on July 7.
The fighters were transported to Ukraine via the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan over the six past months, according to the Russian news agency, which added that the fighters are now being deployed at the front with Kiev forces against the Russian military.
“The American army transported the 650 militants via private planes, in batches, from inside the Kurdistan region of Iraq, towards Ukraine,” the agency reported, citing informed sources.
According to Sputnik, the U.S. opened a number of training centers in the countryside of the northeastern Syrian governorates of al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor, where SDF recruits are trained on light and medium weapons before being sent to Ukraine.
Last week, Sputnik revealed that the intelligence services of the U.S. and Ukraine were plotting attacks against Russian forces in Syria and recruiting fighters from the war-torn country for Kiev forces. The CIA, the U.S. main intelligence agency, was promising recruits a monthly salary of up to $2,000, the news agency said.
The U.S. maintains some 900 troops between several bases in Syria’s northeastern region and a garrison in the southeastern area of al-Tanf under the pretext of fighting ISIS. This presence is not sanctioned by Damascus, who consider it to be an occupation.
Attempts to recruit Syrians for Kiev were first reported just a few days after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
Last April, The Washington Post reported, citing leaked U.S. intelligence documents, that the Ukrainian intelligence and the SDF were plotting attacks against Russian bases and key oil fields in Syria. The Kurdish-led group has since denied any involvement in such a plot.
Tensions between U.S. and Russian forces in Syria have been on the rise since the start of the operation in Ukraine. The U.S. attempts to recruit fighters from the country for Kiev forces, who are now struggling to keep their counteroffensive going, will likely lead to more escalation.