Iranian FM: US Never Fought ISIL
TEHRAN (Basirat)-: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed the ineffective presence of the US forces in Syria, saying the American military troops never entered real and meaningful battle against the ISIL terrorist group.
"The US has not fought against the ISIL at all and its presence in Syria is not in line with the interests of the Syrian nation or agreed by the (country's) government," Zarif said in an interview with the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel on Monday.
Asked to comment on Washington's decision to withdraw its forces from Syria, he said, "We do not have sufficient information on the US plans in Syria to adopt a clear-cut stance."
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said the US forces would be pulled out from Syria since the ISIL terror group had been defeated there.
In Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the presence of the US forces in Syria does not help the political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis in the Middle Eastern country.
"The presence of the US forces on the Syrian soil does not help reach the political and diplomatic settlement. Of course, the involvement of Washington in the relevant talks under the UN bumbershoot, the harmonious work of the US officials with (UN Envoy for Syria Staffan) de Mistura in the interests of this settlement would contribute to reaching this final goal," Peskov told Russia’s Channel One.
The Kremlin spokesman recalled that the US presence in Syria was in violation of international law, adding that in some areas under the US control, there was a humanitarian catastrophe and terrorists were being equipped with weapons.
In relevant remarks earlier today, Iran's Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani underlined that the US had been forced to pull its forces out of Syria, adding that annihilation of the ISIL was the result of the Syrian people and government's resistance and their allies' support.
"The US withdrawal is actually escaping forward and today, they are leaving Syria with this claim that they have defeated the ISIL, while the entire world knows that the Syrian people's victory and defeat of the ISIL was the result of the Syrian people and its legal government's resistance and the Islamic Republic's support for the resistance front," Amoli Larijani said, addressing the judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday.
He added that irrespective of the US claims for its pullout from Syria, the world people knew the reality very well.
Source: FNA
