Green Berets and their partner force, the Maghaweir al-Thowra (MaT), during a joint patrol mission near At-Tanf Garrison, Syria, April 29, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. William Howard)
The United States is training ISIS terrorists in the southeastern Syrian area of al-Tanf on sabotage, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, revealed on May 24.
“According to our information, the U.S. al-Tanf military base located on the border of Syria, Jordan and Iraq is used to train ISIS militants for carrying out subversive acts; moreover, not only on Syrian territory but also in Russian regions,” the intelligence chief said at an international meeting of high-level security representatives, according to TASS.
Naryshkin went on to note that the U.S. als continues to maintain a military presence in Syria’s oil-rich northeastern region without authorization of the legitimate government in Damascus.
“They keep exerting sanctions pressure on Damascus, preventing the country’s recovery,” he added.
Around 200 U.S. troops are usually deployed at al-Tanf garrison, along with hundreds of militants from a proxy group known as the Syrian Free Army.
The garrison was established in 2016 under the pretext of fighting ISIS. However, its real purpose is to block a strategic highway that links Damascus with the Iraqi capital, Bahgadad, thus preventing the establishment of a direct land route from Iran to Syria.
The U.S.-led coalition maintains a 55-kilometer no-fly zone around al-Tanf. Still, Russian fighter jets conducted dozens of armed patrols over the garrison in the last few months, likely to monitor suspicious activities there.
Coalition proxies and ISIS terrorists were accused of launching several attacks from al-Tanf against government forces, civilians and vital infrastructure facilities in southern, central and eastern Syria over the last few years. The most recent attack, which took place on May 18, was reportedly repelled by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
This was not the first time Naryshkin has warned that the U.S. is using al-Tanf as a forward sabotage base. Last year, the foreign intelligence chief said that NATO is preparing to send “terrorists” trained in the garrison to fight Russian forces in Ukraine.
Russia’s concerns about U.S. activities in al-Tanf reflect those of Syria. During a recent visit to Moscow, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned that the coalition has turned the garrison into what he called “a bastion for terrorists.”
Despite facing pressure from Damascus and its allies, the U.S. will not likely withdraw from al-Tanf or its other bases in northeastern Syria in the near future.
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