The largest terrorist alliance in Syrian Idlib was not enough terrorist for the United States.
This statement was made by the US Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey in an interview with CBS.
The official talked about how the United States is fighting militants in Syria. At the same time, he admitted that Washington deliberately refuses to strike at the forces of the Khayyat Tahrir al-Sham armed group, the largest in the Idlib de-escalation zone*. Jeffrey explained this by saying that the activities of the militants of this particular group are in line with American interests in Syria, since they are aimed against the government of Bashar al-Assad.
“We do not cooperate with them. As you noticed, this is an al-Qaeda* offshoot, says the American official. – At the same time, if you look at our anti-terrorist attacks in Idlib, we don’t touch them. We believe that their activities are not international terrorism. Their activities are mostly directed against the Assad regime”.
Jeffrey once again assured that the militants from Khayyat Tahrir al-Sham are “not friends” for the American administration, and the United States “are not doing any business with them”.
“Nevertheless, from the point of view of the fight against terrorism, they are beyond our priorities”, – the diplomat said.
As News Front reported, earlier in the US it was officially announced that the end of the armed conflict in Syria is also beyond American interests. Thus, the State Department claimed that Washington’s activities were “not aimed at winning the war”. In addition, at the end of February, the US Permanent Representative to the UN Kelly Kraft demanded that all previously liberated territories in Syrian Idlib be surrendered to illegal armed groups.
* – prohibited in the Russian Federation