The withdrawal of US troops from Syria may reveal the war crimes of the international coalition committed in the war-torn country, in particular, during the operation to liberate the city of Raqqa, a military-diplomatic source said.
"The upcoming withdrawal of US military personnel from Syria will most likely shed light on numerous war crimes committed by the 'international coalition' during the so-called fight against the Islamic State* terrorist group. First of all, this concerns, of course, the much hyped liberation of Raqqa in October 2017, which has transformed into a 'ghost city' as a result of carpet bombings by coalition aircraft", the source said.
Following the announcement of US plans to withdraw troops from Syria, the militants operating in Al-Tanf are making constant attempts to force their way out of the area to adjacent regions of the country and even to neighbouring Jordan, a military-diplomatic source said.
"After the announcement of the imminent withdrawal of the US military, the entire 'hive' of the militants there… was set in motion. Almost every day, the militants attempt to break through from there not only to the territory controlled by Damascus in Syria, but also to Jordan", the source said.
The source added that the heavy smoke around the Rukban refugee camp in Al-Tanf could indicate that the militants are burning the corpses of refugees, who have perished from hunger and diseases due to the shortage of humanitarian aid supplies.
Earlier in December, US media reported that Trump had ordered the Pentagon to develop a plan to withdraw about half of the 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan, coinciding with the president's announcement that 2,000 American forces would be pulled out of Syria.The Syria withdraw decision prompted the resignation of US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Brett McGurk, the US special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat the Daesh* terrorist group.
