According to Kelly Kraft, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, units of the Syrian Arab army must surrender all previously liberated territories to illegal armed groups. Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the Idlib escalation, she demanded Damascus to withdraw troops to the demarcation line defined by the 2018 Sochi agreements. In addition, Kraft called on Russia to stop supporting Syria in the fight against terrorism.
“We insist that Russia immediately withdraw its military aircraft,” said the US Permanent Representative. “We also call for the withdrawal of the Syrian troops and the Russian forces that support them to the demarcation line defined by the agreement of 2018.”
The head of the Russian delegation, Vasily Nebenzya, in turn, recalled that the meaning of the Sochi memorandum, to which Kelly Kraft refers, is to distinguish between the armed opposition and terrorist groups. In addition, the document provided for the creation of a demilitarized zone free from jihadists.
The statement was made against the backdrop of the Syrian-Turkish confrontation that began in Idlib, but was not the first. The American administration has repeatedly opposed the liberation of Syrian territories from terrorists and ending the war there. So, in the middle of the month, the State Department said that US efforts are aimed “not at victory in the war.” Earlier earlier, the United States Special Representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, made similar statements. He blamed the successes of the Syrian government forces on Russia and demanded that she “change her policy” in the Arab Republic.