News / Interviews

US troop deployment to Syria, attempt to back Daesh: Analyst

Saturday, 10 December 2016 4:08 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 10 December 2016 4:39 PM ]

This file photo shows US Special Forces in Syria's northeastern city of Raqqah.

The United States has announced plans to send 200 more troops to Syria to purportedly join operations aimed at retaking the Syrian city of Raqqah from Daesh terrorist group. This comes at a time of rapidly changing realities on the ground where Syrian troops are tightening the noose around foreign-backed militants. Damascus has already strongly criticized the United States for deploying troops to the Syrian soil, saying it amounts to an act of aggression.

Catherine Shakdam, director of the London-based Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, believes sending further US troops to Syria is not about counter-terrorism, but rather an attempt to back the Daesh Takfiri terror group.

“I think it is just one word, it is Aleppo. It is the simple fact that the Syrian army is actually gaining against the Daesh militants and the US is now looking at its partner - Daesh - to be on the losing side, and it does not want to do this. So it is trying to spin a new narrative, trying to find a new angle to sell its war in Syria and try to find a way to topple President Bashar al-Assad,” the analyst told Press TV.

She also noted under international law the deployment of US troops to Syria amounts to an “act of war” because Damascus has not given Washington permission to enter its territory.

The analyst further argued President al-Assad has exercised “extreme restraint” with regard to the US perpetual aggression and its consistency in rejecting Syria’s national sovereignty.

She also mentioned the US is trying to make sure that military intervention in the Middle East remains very much alive, adding that its presence in the region has nothing to do with counter-terrorism or building democracy.

Shakdam further stated the fact that Daesh militants are losing in Syria despite being trained, armed and financed by the West and its allies, indicates that people’s resistance is an “extremely powerful wave” no one can stop.

She went on to say the Syrian people do not need the West to tell them what they need because they know what they want and that is an end to the tyranny of Daesh.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk