MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. The United States and Israel are seeking to maintain a hotbed of tension in southern Syria by sending militants there from illegal armed groups from the al-Rukban refugee camp, Russian presidential envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev said in an interview with TASS.

"The United States is training these militants and sending them to Syria’s central areas to stage various acts of sabotage. They have been demonstrating increased activity in recent times and are really destabilizing the situation in the southern provinces of al-Suwayda and Daraa," he said.

Apart from that, in his words, Israel also has "a lot of "influence" as it is interested in maintaining tension in this region, although it is not interested in directly exacerbating the situation on the Syrian-Israeli border."

According to the Russian diplomat, there are between five and eight thousand people in the camp. "They are militants from illegal armed groups and their family members. There are no other people there. They left al-Rukban some 18-24 months ago, before the coronavirus pandemic," he noted. "So, who is staying there now? Only those who are really committed to continuing to oppose the Syrian regime using armed methods."