Withdrawal of US forces from Syria may unveil coalition's military crimes — source

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The withdrawal of the US army from Syria may shed light on the military crimes committed by the coalition under the "fight" against the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia), a military-diplomatic source told journalists on Saturday.

"The upcoming withdrawal of the American military from Syria may unveil multiple military crimes committed by the international coalition during the so-called fight against the ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a former name of the IS - TASS)," the source said. It chiefly concerns Raqqa, "which was turned into a ghost city after the carpet bombing carried out by the coalition’s aviation," he said.

The source pointed out that now the US, the UK and France state the inadmissibility of holding surgical operations against militants from the extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia) in Idlib to avoid the sufferings of the civil population of this governorate. "That said, during the operation to liberate Raqqa, where the ISIL openly used civil residents as a shield, Washington, London and Paris sent their aviation there that just dropped bombs on the city’s residential quarters," he said.

The source noted that Raqqa has not been cleared from mines yet and thousands of bodies remain under the city debris. Outbreaks of infectious diseases are being registered in the city, which are killing civilians, including children.

Militants became active in the Al-Tanf area, which is controlled by the US: they are trying to penetrate to Damascus and Jordan, the source said. He also informed that the terrorists are burning the bodies of refugees from the Rukban camp who died because they did not receive humanitarian help.

"Both the Syrian government and international humanitarian and human rights organizations will have to long and thoroughly deal with all this and other ‘heritage’ left after the illegal American presence in Syria," the source said.

The withdrawal of the US forces

On December 19, US President Donald Trump declared the decision to start the pullout of the American forces from Syria. He explained it by the defeat of the IS in Syria, which was the only reason why the US forces were there. The withdrawal of the army of more than 2,000 may take 60 to 100 days, according to American officials.