Damascus, SAEDNEWS: The SNSC spokesman issued the warning on Saturday after Washington claimed that Tehran has been involved in air raids on the US bases in Syria. In response, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that, at President Joe Biden's direction, he had ordered the "precision airstrikes in Eastern Syria" against "facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran".
Khosravi said the United States is trying to level accusations against Iran by pursuing a blame game policy and evading the consequences of its illegal occupation of a part of Syria's territory, adding that such claims are not true.
"Washington cannot attribute the natural and legal confrontation of the occupied countries with the US military forces to other countries by creating artificial crises and lying," the security official emphasized.
He stated Iran has incurred huge costs in the fight against terrorism and in establishing lasting security in Syria, adding that Tehran "opposes and counters any action that jeopardizes stability of this country."
The SNSC spokesperson said the US has played a role in creating and supporting Daesh terrorist group as a proxy means to pursue its own political objectives in Syria and Iraq.
"Over the past two days, American helicopters have carried out several sorties with the aim of increasing instability in Syria and transferred Daesh terrorists in the territory of this country," Khosravi added, emphasizing that the US must be held accountable for such moves.
Since 2011, Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy, as a result of which Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) and other terror groups emerged in the country.
US forces were first sent to Syria in 2014, beginning with a contingent of special operators followed by more conventional ground troops the next year, most embedded with Kurdish fighters in the country’s oil-rich Northeast. Though then-President Barack Obama maintained the deployment was focused only on combating the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorists, Washington had long intervened in Syria’s war against terror groups, sending and overseeing countless arms shipments to militants seeking to overthrow the government in Damascus.
Though American involvement in the conflict slowed under the next administration, in 2019 President Donald Trump noted some US troops would remain in Syria “for the oil”, openly suggesting Washington would simply “keep” the energy resources.
Subsequent reporting in 2020 would later reveal that the Trump administration had approved a deal between a US energy firm and Kurdish authorities controlling Northeast Syria to “develop and export the region’s crude oil” – a contract immediately condemned as “illegal” by Damascus. However, while that particular deal would later fall through after President Joe Biden took office, Syrian authorities have continued to accuse Washington of plundering its resources and some 900 US troops remain in the country illegally.
Syria, Iran, Russia and China have repeatedly called on Washington to stop plundering Syria’s national resources and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab country, calling on foreign occupation forces and their mercenaries to leave the war-ravaged country.
Iran maintains an advisory mission in Syria at the request of Damascus with the aim of helping the war-ravaged country get rid of the foreign-backed militants who have been fighting against the democratically-elected Syrian government since 2011. Several members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have so far martyred in battle against terrorists in the war-torn Syria (Source: FARSNEWS).
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