Syria blasts US-backed border force Turkey says Washington ‘playing with fire’; Russia warns of partition

DAMASCUS — The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Monday slammed the United States’ bid to form an armed militia in northern Syria, stressing resolve to end the US presence in the country, according to state news agency SANA.

The US declaration constitutes a flagrant aggression on the unity and sovereignty of Syria and a violation of international law, the ministry said.

A day earlier, reports cited the US-led anti-terror coalition as saying that the US is working to form an armed group of 30,000 fighters, which will be under the command of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians supported by the US in northern Syria.

The US-led coalition in Syria said on Monday it has recruited 230 new cadets for the border security force.

“The US action comes in the framework of its destructive policy in the region to fragment the countries and spur tensions to hinder any solution to the crisis,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the ministry warned that it will regard any Syrian citizen taking part in the militia as a “traitor” and will be dealt with accordingly.

The ministry called the new US move a “renewed conspiracy” that will be brought down by the Syrian army to end any form of presence of the US and its tools in Syria.

The US has been carrying out military operations in Syria since 2014, claiming to be fighting against the Islamic State group.

The SDF captured Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS group, late last year, and the Syrian army captured the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, another IS bastion, almost in the same time frame.

However, Damascus said Raqqa city was still occupied by the US and its fighters on the ground, refusing to acknowledge its liberation from IS.

Also, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in a recent interview that the Kurdish-led groups were the new IS, in another escalation between both parties.

The US move to create a new army in northern Syria has also been criticized by Turkey and Russia.

Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday said the US move to establish a border control force in northern Syria is a “unilateral decision”.

The ministry condemned this “wrongful approach” and said Turkey was determined and capable to eliminate all sorts of threats.

Washington is “playing with fire” by setting up the Syrian border security force, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday the formation of a zone controlled by US-backed rebels could lead to the partition of Syria.