Damascus said that the United must withdraw its forces from Syria, stressing its military presence in the Arab state no longer makes any sense amid the successes of the Syrian government’s forces on the ground.
In remarks published by Sputnik, Syrian parliament secretary Khaled Aboud said: “The United States can no longer keep its forces in Syria since it gains no benefits from it.”
According to the official, the US forces were deployed to Syria amid the expectations of the possible partition of the country.
“Now, however, we have left this page far behind, and there is no longer any need [for the United States] to keep these forces in the region,” Aboud told Sputnik.
The lawmaker also commented on the upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, which is supposed to focus on the Syrian conflict settlement among other topical issues.
Aboud suggested that the Russian leader would go to the summit with a solid record of achievements, those of his own and of his allies, while Trump would have nothing to put on the table.
On Friday, US media reported that President Donald Trump hopes to clinch a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin that will stipulate the US military withdrawal from Syria.
Mahmoud Afandi, a representative of the Astana opposition platform, later told Sputnik that Moscow and Washington were preparing a deal to hand over Syria’s southern de-escalation zone and the US base in Al Tanf to Russian control, and the matter might be decided during the presidents’ summit in Helsinki on July 16.
Source: Sputnik
