By launching its recent airstrikes in Syria, the United States has proved itself to be an occupying power, Mahmoud Afandi, the secretary of the Syrian opposition movement Popular Diplomacy, told Sputnik on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2021) By launching its recent airstrikes in Syria, the United States has proved itself to be an occupying power, Mahmoud Afandi, the secretary of the Syrian opposition movement Popular Diplomacy, told Sputnik on Monday.
Last week, the United States carried out airstrikes against facilities used by Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria in response to the February 15 rocket attack on US troops in Iraq.
"The United States was pursuing its own geopolitical aims by these strikes. But why should the Syrian territory be used for it? What does Syria have to do with it? The Syrian territory should not be used as a staging ground for the US political agenda. Such steps obviously prove that the US forces in Syria have the status of the occupying power," Afandi said.
According to the opposition figure, the attack undermines Washington's claim that it is fighting terrorism in the country as the militias in question are not designated as terrorist organizations in the US.
"Moreover, Iranian forces are present in Syria legally under the request from the Syrian government, unlike the US forces," Afandi continued.
Iranian state media reported that 17 people were killed in the strikes. However, Iraqi lawmaker Kataa Rikabi told Sputnik the strikes had hit a warehouse and no one been injured.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Russian military was warned about the attack five minutes before it began.
