The weapons and ammunition that the American troops are transferring to the region are used by militants against Turkish troops in northern Syria, as well as against civilians, said Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev, head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria (CPVS).

According to him, the command of the US armed forces in the region "is intensively saturating the territory of Zaevfratya with weapons and ammunition."

He noted that since the beginning of 2020, the US armed forces sent 13 military convoys from Iraq to Syria, which included more than 80 units of armored vehicles and over 300 trucks with various weapons, ammunition and materiel.

“The weapons transferred from the American forces are used both during the clashes of numerous militant groups throughout the territory of Zaevfratya, and against Turkish troops in northern Syria, as well as against civilians,” Zhuravlev said.

The CPVS said that against the backdrop of a difficult humanitarian situation and constant shelling by militants of settlements that resulted in injuries and civilians dying, the civilian population of the north-eastern regions of the Arab Republic massively leaves their places of residence and moves to territory controlled by the Syrian government.

“About 23 thousand Syrians, most of whom are families with old people and children, have passed through the Salkhiyah checkpoint near the city of Deir ez-Zor since the beginning of 2020,” Zhuravlyov’s words are quoted on the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Political analyst Alexander Asafov, in a conversation with RT, noted that in this way the United States continues to attempt to control the conflict, increasing pressure on its other participants.

“This is the usual management of major conflicts involving other international actors. The United States provides arms deliveries, training and evacuation of militants. Of course, the aggravation of the situation in Idlib could not remain without the influence of the Americans. They really need to confront the various parties that were together engaged in the fight against the “Islamic State” *, the political scientist noted.

Arms inflow

The ATS government and Russia have repeatedly stated that US authorities are supplying Syrian gunmen with weapons. So, in 2018, the first secretary of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Syrian Foreign Ministry Alaa Dean Saeed Hamdan at a conference in Moscow said that Washington was delivering weapons to the region through third countries.

  • US military in Syria
  • AFP
  • © Delil SOULEIMAN

The representative of the Syrian Foreign Ministry explained that the United States uses the Balkan and Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, as the supply channel, and the weapons are sent to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations ** (subsequently changed its name several times) through ports in Jordan.

In September 2019, the Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaitanjieva in an interview with RT said that in 2017 in Croatia, a secret U.S. operational group called Smoking Gun was deployed. According to the journalist, through this organization, Washington provided arms supplies to Yemen and Syria under the guise of other programs.

This group, working under the auspices of the US Special Operations Forces Command (US SOCOM), supplied weapons manufactured in East European factories to Syria and Yemen, purchasing them through US contracting companies.

The issue of arms supplies to the region has also been raised in the American media. So, in 2018, CNN discovered an illegal online weapons market that served jihadists fighting in Syria. Journalists were able to agree on the purchase of a U.S. Army M16 automatic rifle, which was manufactured by the US company FN Manufacturing and delivered to the CAP as part of the Division 30 program.

US authorities thus supplied arms and trained members of the so-called "moderate opposition" to fight government forces in Syria. Subsequently, it turned out that the program, on which more than $ 40 million was spent, failed - most of the militants who trained and received weapons joined the radical terrorist organizations.

The United States continues to destabilize the situation in Syria, as this corresponds to their concept of controlled chaos, according to the head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanova Andrey Koshkin.

“Maintaining an active phase of the conflict allows you to manage the situation. The American plan called for the division of Syria into five parts, with the mandatory elimination of the Bashar al-Assad regime and the replacement of its government with a pro-American one. Although Iraq has shown that such a government created after the US invasion can go against Washington, and now it is voting for the Americans to leave Iraq, ”the expert noted.

American presence

In addition, the United States consistently supplied arms to Syrian Kurds - their main allies in military operations in northern Syria. Turkey, which is the US ally for NATO, has repeatedly demanded that Washington stop supplying the Kurdish forces that Ankara considers terrorist organizations.

  • Weapons seized from militants by Syrian government forces
  • AFP
  • © LOUAI BESHARA

So, in November 2019, the Turkish military found in Syria a warehouse used by Kurdish forces, which stored US mortar shells.

Anadolu agency noted that US weapons were found in the warehouses of the Kurdistan Workers Party "contrary to US promises to pick up weapons and ammunition" delivered to the units.

#US mortars found in terrorist # YPG / # PKK arsenal in #Syria

YPG / PKK mortars fired from Syria martyred scores of Turkish civilians, soldiers; US arms given to terrorists may be to blame pic.twitter.com/OYdBFi6tsE

- ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) November 4, 2019

The US is playing a very difficult game against Turkey, which they do not consider their NATO ally, said Alexander Asafov.

“It’s not surprising for them to provide Turkey’s enemies with weapons. Sooner or later, American weapons delivered to their “allies” also shoot American soldiers - this is debited to the necessary costs. And this also slightly worries the leadership of various intelligence services, which often operate so autonomously that they are not aware of the actions of other American intelligence services operating on foreign territory, ”the expert explained.

The Americans themselves did not leave Syria, despite the loud statements of Donald trump about the imminent withdrawal of US troops from a Middle Eastern country. Recall that in December 2018, the US president announced the completion of the U.S. military mission in the SAR in connection with the defeat of the Islamic State.

In February 2019, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders explained that a limited “peacekeeping” contingent of 200 people should remain in the republic.

However, Trump's plans have changed: in the fall of 2019, he announced the need to “protect” oil fields. Then, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, General Mark Milli, said that 500-600 soldiers would be stationed in Syria.

No one invited American troops to Syria, Andrei Koshkin recalled in an interview with RT.

“They do not have a UN mandate or the Security Council, they do not have an invitation from the officially elected President Bashar Assad. That is, absolutely no supporting evidence showing that, in accordance with applicable international law, US troops may be present in Syria. The US president himself said that US troops are in the country with the aim of protecting oil production towers, which they allow Kurds to sell according to gray schemes, ”the expert noted.

According to Alexander Asafov, the United States will strengthen such operations to supply militants with weapons, since the limited military presence now does not give full control over the situation in Syria.

“It's just a replacement of one type of impact with another. The Americans will maintain a presence in the region in order to gain control over hydrocarbon deposits, ”the political scientist concluded.

* “Islamic State” (IG) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.

** “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (“Jabhat Fath al-Sham”, “Front al-Nusra”, “Jabhat al-Nusra”) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.