Iran Blasts US Decision to Form Border Security Force as Blatant Interference in Syria’s Affairs

“The US declaration of a new Border Security Force in Syria is an objective instance of blatant interference in the countries’ internal affairs that will further complicate the crisis in Syria, destabilize the country and add fuel to the flames of fire in Syria,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Tuesday.

He said that the decision has been announced at a time when the Syrian army and its allied forces have gained astonishing victories against the ISIL and al-Nusra Front (Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at or the Levant Liberation Board), adding that Iran along with Russia and Turkey have also always made efforts to decrease tensions in the region.

Qassemi underlined that the US should change its interfering and destructive policies in the region and withdraw its forces from Syria so that the Syrian people can decide their own fate and future.

The US-led coalition announced on Sunday it is helping to create a new Border Security Force to fight terrorists in Syria. The unit, stationed along the Syrian border with Iraq and Turkey, as well as along the Euphrates River Valley, is expected to be comprised of up to 30,000 people. SDF veterans will make half of the unit, while the other half are yet to be recruited.

Damascus, Moscow and Ankara have strongly blasted the US new decision to form a Border Security Force.

The United States’ military support for the militia first began under the administration of US President Donald Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, which provided Kurds with weapons and training.

Washington also continues providing Kurdish fighters with more military hardware in Syria despite US President’s promise to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to halt arms shipment to the Kurdish fighters.

Ankara had said late November 2017 that Trump told Erdogan that he had issued instructions that weapons should not be provided to Kurdish fighters in Syria.

According to reports, the US plans to keep its troops in Syria long after the defeat of ISIL. Washington has been justifying its deployment of ground troops in Syria, which violates the embattled nation’s sovereignty, by citing the need to fight ISIL.