In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, Russia and Syria urged the US to withdraw its troops from Syria, saying that the “military units are on Syrian territory illegally.” Just last week, the Trump administration announced that it will leave 400 troops in the country, 200 near the border with Iraq to support US troops across that border, while 200 more will stay near the border with Turkey as part of a multinational observer force consisting mostly of NATO troops.
Russia and Syria also called on the US to “release illegally detained residents of the Rukban camp to ensure their right to free (without payment) access to places of permanent residence.” Rukban is a refugee camp inside a “deconfliction zone” established by US troops near the border with Jordan. The statement claimed that the presence of the US troops in the zone “interferes the exit, moreover, misleads the refugees about the inability to leave the camp.”
Read more: Russia and Syria call for US troops to leave Syria
