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US-led aircraft evacuate Daesh commanders from eastern Syria: Report

A helicopter with the US-led coalition flies over the site of Turkish airstrikes near the northeastern Syrian Kurdish town of Derik, known as al-Malikiyah in Arabic, on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has airlifted to a safe sanctuary several commanders of the foreign-sponsored terror outfit from a region in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, where government forces and fighters from popular defense groups are tightening the noose around the extremists.

Local sources, requesting anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that two US-led military aircraft conducted the operation on the outskirts of al-Marashida village, and transported the Takfiris to an unknown location.

SANA, citing information received from local residents, reported on December 29 last year that American helicopters had evacuated Daesh commanders from several districts of Dayr al-Zawr province two days earlier.

Earlier that month, the Syrian government had sent a message to the United Nations, accusing the US-led coalition of reaching deals with Daesh and coordinating its actions with the terror group’s commanders.

On September 10, 2017, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said the US-led coalition was trying to destroy the Arab country and prolong the armed conflict there.

Muallem said that Damascus would demand the dissolution of the military contingent, stressing that thousands of Syrian women and children had been killed by coalition airstrikes in Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr provinces.

The top Syrian diplomat further noted that the Pentagon was using the coalition to cover up its destruction campaign in Syria.

He added that the US-backed militiamen from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were fighting Syrian army forces to gain control over the oil-rich areas of the country.

Damascus would not allow any external force to violate its sovereignty, Muallem pointed out.

Last August, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that US-led choppers had transported four Daesh members and a civilian from a house used as an arms depot in Beqres, a suburban area east of Dayr al-Zawr, to a safe area.

According to the report, the five people included a European bomb expert, three Egyptian Daesh members and a local resident of Beqres.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. 

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.


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