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Russian diplomat comments on heavy weapons arriving in Syria's al-Tanf

A US military base is located near Syria's area of Al-Tanf

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Moscow finds worrisome the activities of the US-led coalition in the area of Syria’s al-Tanf, where heavy military equipment is arriving, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

"As before, quite worrisome are the reports the United States and its allies have been consolidating their illegal military presence in the territory of sovereign Syria, in particular, those about the arrival of heavy weapons in the zone around Al-Tanf in the southeast, arbitrarily established by the Americans," Zakharova said.

A US military base is located near Al-Tanf. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the US had declared an area 55 kilometers around Al Tanf as a zone of its influence. The refugee camp Rukban is located there.

In December 2017, the chief of Russia’s General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said the Pentagon was unable to explain what it needed the base for in a situation where the territory of Syria had been cleared of terrorists.