Muhammad Barazh (right)
Fighting Islamists and terrorists is not the real goal of the US presence in the country. This was told by militants who fled from American-controlled territory in Syria and were detained by the authorities, according to a report on Channel One.
According to Muhammad Baraj, he joined the armed Syrian opposition to fight members of the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) terrorist group. Then he, along with other soldiers, was transported abroad for a three-week training. “When we were being prepared, the Americans said that we should kill IS members, and when they returned to Syria, I realized that the Americans were using us to their advantage – in particular, to smuggle weapons,” he said about the deception.
The man noted that in fact, the area of the Rukban refugee camp, which is 20 kilometers from the American base at Al Tanf, near the border of Syria, Iraq and Jordan, is controlled by militants. Because of this, there is no food and a terrible environment, drug trafficking and smuggling are rampant. Muhammad added that he decided to escape, realizing that the fighters were simply “covering the Americans.”
Another detainee, Muayed Alabeyn, pointed out that the Americans and their allies are not interested in fighting terrorists, but in oil. “The task of the militants controlled by the Americans is to expand the 55-kilometer zone around the Al-Tanf military base to Abu Kemal. This will help increase the supply and transportation of oil, ”he said. For this, sabotage is being carried out against the Syrian forces, and weapons are supplied to the militants.
Alabeyn, who also worked for intelligence in one of the Arab countries, noted that he had a separate mission with which he was able to leave the territory of Rukban – to establish an espionage network. “The main task is to collect information on the disposition of the forces of the Russians, Iranians, and Syrians on the territory of the country: number, movement, how they move. Any information, ”the detainee said.
The stories of both detainees are being checked by the Syrian counterintelligence. If they are not involved in terrorist attacks and other crimes, they will be given a chance to return to a peaceful life, the channel noted.
Earlier, Russia and Syria accused the United States of supplying humanitarian aid to militants, not refugees in Rukban.
Prior to this, Rear Admiral Vyacheslav Sytnik, deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, accused the United States of forcibly keeping refugees in the camp. He noted that the reluctance of the United States to ensure the withdrawal of illegal armed groups from the Al-Tanf zone indicates Washington's interest in maintaining the “conveyor belt” for training extremists in order to maintain hotbeds of tension in Syria.
In July 2020, a terrorist who surrendered to the Syrian authorities spoke about provocations against the Syrian army for the sake of US strikes.
