US to target crowded places in Syria via terrorist attacks: Russia SVR

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
30 May 2023 13:01
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The SVR reports that direct control of such operations is conducted from the US Al-Tanf military base where "dozens of Islamic State (banned in Russia for terrorism) militants are being trained."

US soldiers during an exercise in Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria, on December 8, 2021. (AP)

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported on Tuesday that the US is planning on targeting crowded places and government institutions in Syria through terrorist attacks.

"As a habitual tool for the implementation of their subversive plans [in Syria], the US intelligence services again intend to use Islamic extremists," the SVR said in its statement, adding that "crowded places, shops, and government agencies are among the priority targets."

Direct control of such operations is conducted from the US Al-Tanf military base where "dozens of Islamic State (banned in Russia for terrorism) militants are being trained," according to the SVR.

It also confirmed that US special services are mainly coordinating their attacks in the southern provinces of Al-Suwayda and Daraa. That said, a strategically important highway between the cities of Palmyra and Deir Ezzor is also a US military target.

Since ISIS has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, many analysts argued that the reason why the US remains stationed in Syrian territory has been left unclear. The US frequently loots oil from Syrian gas fields and transports them to other occupation bases in Iraq via illegal crossings.

The US has for long employed the alleged "ISIS threat" as a pretext to continue its illegal occupation of northeastern Syrian territories.

In early March, the US House of Representatives voted against legislation instructing Biden to end the US occupation of the Syrian Al-Tanf region and remove approximately 900 troops.

Currently, the US army and other foreign forces, participating in the so-called "International Coalition", occupy no less than 28 declared military sites in Syria, distributed over three governorates: Al-Hasakah (17 sites), Deir Ezzor (nine sites), and Homs (two sites).