On December 1, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during the Mediterranean Dialogues summit in Rome that Russia hopes that “the US troops will withdraw from al-Tanaf area in southeast Syria,” according to the Russian state-run television network RT.
The foreign minister also said that Russia expects the US to respect the words of US Secretary of State Res Tillerson and many other US officials who have promised that the US will withdraw from Syria after defeating ISIS.
“We believe that after the victory on ISIS all the forgiven forces that’s active in the country without the request of the legal government, a member of the UN, and without a permission from the UN Security Council, that we know it don’t exists in this case, should withdraw,” Lavrov said during the Mediterranean Dialogues summit according to RT.
Lavrov also emphasized the importance of the Astana Talks and praised the positive results of the de-escalation agreements. However, he said that all sides in Syria should be careful becase “the de-escalation zones in Syria do not divide the country”.
“The de-escalation zones make a real difference on the ground and everyone recognizes this. However, we should be careful that de-escalation zones in Syria do not divide the country into various parts,” Lavrov said.
Many experts believe that the US is not planning to withdrew from Syria after defeating ISIS. Recently many US officials even hinted that the US is planing to keep its troops in the country until Syrians reach a political solution.