Syrian opposition casts doubt on Trump threat to pull out troops

Al-Aridi said: “(Barack) Obama said he needed 15 years to get rid of Daesh. Four months ago, from Hmeimim, (Vladimir) Putin declared that he defeated Daesh. We don't know whether the terror group has been defeated. There are some spots where Daesh is being mobilized and we consider it a company everybody contributes to and uses as a pretext.”

Daesh is “a gun for hire,” he said. “It was mainly used by the (Bashar) Assad regime in order to justify the military action against Syrian people.”

The radical terror group is being used by these powers and “the losers in all of this are the Syrian people,” Al-Aridi said.

He highlighted the “cunning of Iran and its coordination” and cited the example of buses that carried Daesh terrorists from western Syria to eastern Syria “under the protection of the Assad regime and Tehran.”

The Daesh factor is being manipulated to serve their interests, Al-Aridi said.

Two members of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition, an American and a Briton, were killed by an improvised explosive device in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, US and British officials said on Friday.

Five other coalition service personnel were wounded, the Pentagon said.