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Syrian and Russian troops have held a joint chemical defense exercise near the southeastern Syrian area of al-Tanf, where the United States maintains a garrison.
During the exercise, Syrian and Russian troops were trained on identifying chemical threats and conducting combat operations in areas contaminated with toxic substances. Video footage from the exercise showing the troops wearing NBC [nuclear, biological, chemical] suits and using different detection devices surfaced online on July 17.
Around 200 U.S. troops are usually deployed at al-Tanf. The coalition maintains a 55-kilometer no-fly zone around al-Tanf. Despite this, Russian fighter jets conduct armed patrols over the garrison on a regular basis.
The U.S. claims that it is present in al-Tanf to counter ISIS. However, the real purpose of the garrison is to block a strategic highway that links Damascus with the Iraqi capital, Baghdada. In addition, the garrison is reportedly being used as an outpost to collect intelligence and facilitate Israeli attacks against Syria.
In recent weeks there were several reports of Russian and Syrian airstrikes against militants based at the garrison and in nearby areas.
The joint chemical defense exercise came just two weeks after Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, warned that the U.S. had transferred munitions armed with toxic materials to militants near al-Tanf.
“Deputy Commander of the U.S. Army Central Command, James Malloy, is leading the activities of the Daesh [ISIS] terrorist organization in Syria, as he is delivering missiles with warheads filled with toxic materials in an area near the illegal U.S. military base at al-Tanf,” Naryshkin said, according to a statement released on July 3.
Naryshkin noted that the area surrounding al-Tanf base has become a staging ground for “terrorist gangs,” where a joint U.S.-British intelligence committee directs the activities of ISIS near Damascus and in other parts of southern Syria.
“The Anglo-Saxons, as they usually do, are preparing to support their machinations with a powerful media campaign, aimed at showing the countries of the Arab world that their choice of resuming dialogue and relations with Syria was a strategic mistake, and that those who do not agree with this approach are directly threatened with Western sanctions,” the intelligence chief said.
Washington appears to be worried about recent movements by Syria and is allies around al-Tanf. On July 14, a Pentagon official told reporters that the Russian military group in Syria had been quietly coordinating with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on long-term plans to pressure the U.S. to withdraw its forces from the garrison and other parts of Syria.
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