Zakharova: ISIS & Al-Nusra terrorists given protection in US-controlled Syrian 'refugee camp'

RT
Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:50 UTC

© Rodi Said / Reuters

US military in Syria

Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists use civilians as human shields as they hide in a refugee camp in Syrian territory controlled by the US - and the Americans are well aware of it, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and the Al-Qaeda proxy group Jabhat al-Nusra found quiet shelter in one of the biggest camps, Rukban, near the Syria-Jordan border, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters at her weekly news conference on Thursday. Neither Syrian authorities nor the UN have access to the site.

"ISIS militants, hundreds of them, and also al-Nusra militants in possession of heavy arms are hiding among the civilians, who are in fact being held hostage and used as human shields," Zakharova said.

"We have actual information that confirms that this happens with the privity of the US military, who control the 55-kilometer zone around its illegal Al-Tanf base on the Syrian territory."

The same refugee camp was listed in a recent UN Security Council's Sanctions Monitoring Team report as one of the sources of IS reemergence. The same document reported that ISIS had been defeated in most of the Syrian Arab Republic during 2017, but "rallied in early 2018" due to "loss of momentum" by forces fighting in the east of Syria, where the US base is located.

Moscow and Damascus have repeatedly urged the US to cooperate over the Rukban camp, with Russia offering to help with safe transportation of the refugees back to their homes. Earlier in August, Colonel General Sergey Rudskoy, the head of operations of the Russian General Staff, described Rukban as a place where "people are living in harsh conditions and where terrorists find shelter."

Comment: Zakharova also stated the US is still trying to Balkanize Syria, while stealing its national wealth. TASS reports:

The diplomat said Syria's northeast remains in practice under the control of US military, who "continue pandering to local military units, in particular, buying their loyalty with weapons supplies".

"Thus, the process of setting up pseudo-state structures that are not envisaged by the Syrian legislation is in full swing in the Trans-Euphrates region," she stated.

According to Zakharova, Washington has practically started plundering Syria's' national wealth. "The US, last week said that it would stop financing some programs on stabilizing Syria. It was within this framework that the activity of anti-government structures was financed in practice, but that responsibility has shifted to its allies," she said.

"Now they engage in restoring and modernizing the oil producing infrastructure in the northeast of Syria, but in practice (they) have started plundering Syrian national wealth, this time not by their own means, but with the money received from other participants in the so-called US-led coalition, namely the Europeans and Arabs.