DAMASCUS (Sputnik): The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) noted earlier this week they are now clearing the village of Baghuz, which is from their point of view the last settlement in Syria controlled by the Daesh group, of the terrorists.
Addressing the local Syrian authorities on Sunday, President Bashar al-Assad dwelled on the US-backed Kurds fighting against the terrorists in the area:
“We say to those groups who are betting on the Americans, the Americans will not protect you,” Bashar al-Assad told heads of Syrian local municipal councils, as aired on Syrian television. He continued saying that all Syrian regions will be liberated by the republic’s military forces, “which are absolutely capable of defending the residents of north-eastern areas bordering Turkey,” Assad commented on the country’s north-eastern regions controlled by the Kurds, who are backed by the US-led coalition.
“Americans will sell you to Turkey. Noone will defend you, but the Syrian army,” Assad added.
He further noted that a number of countries hinder refugees’ return to their home country.
“The countries that take interest in the refugee issue, handicap their return to Syria… A considerable number of refugees have for the past few years been one of the sources of corruption, which are profitable for officials from countries that support terrorists, officials from organizations that were supposed to provide humanitarian aid, which ended up, as you know, in terrorists’ hands,” Assad pointed out.
“We won’t let these hostile to Syria forces use the refugees’ sufferings as a political map in their interests,” Assad stressed adding that everybody, who left Syria having been threatened by terrorists, will be welcomed back and “will be able to make a contribution into the country’s post-war reconstruction.”
The president then recalled the year of 2018, when dozens of thousands of Syrian citizens successfully made it back to the country from neighbouring lands.
Meanwhile, US special representative to Syria James Jeffrey has addressed the Munich Security Conference, outlining Washington’s plans on troops’ withdrawal and ultimate goals in the region. He udnerscored that the US is “not [calling for president Assad to go],” but rather insist there should be “a major change in the behaviour of the [Syrian] regime to bringing in line with a dozen UN and other international agreements on how to treat your own citizens and how to do with the neighbourhood.”
As the fight against Daesh in Syria is nearing its end, the question of the final showdown over Idlib in the country’s north-west, occupied by terrorist forces loosely supported by Turkey, remains, as do Israeli attacks in the south.
Separately, back on 9 February, the SDF announced the start of the operation aimed at liberating Baghuz, the last remaining Daesh enclave located not far from the border with Iraq in Deir ez-Zor province, from Daesh terrorists.
