Russian experts warn of US plan to dismantle Syria

Russian experts have warned that the American plan to build an army in northern Syria which includes members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, PYD, aims to dismantle the Arab country and escalate tension in the region.

An expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sergei Palmasov, told Anadolu news agency that US plans to establish an army in northern Syria aims to send a message to Russia, Turkey and Iran.

“The United States considers certain areas in Syria follow its direct influence and through this step it is working to strengthen its presence and show its influence in the region”, he said.

Palmasov stressed that the US plan will have serious consequences for Syrian sovereignty and would escalate tension in the region.

Meanwhile, Yuri Mavashev, head of political research at the state-run, Moscow based Centre for Modern Turkish Studies said that the US plan aims to ensure Washington’s control of important strategic areas and control oil fields in Syria.

Read: ‘Turkey’s Syria operation cannot be limited to Afrin’

He pointed out that the United States also aims to thwart the Syrian dialogue conference scheduled at the end of this month in the Russian resort of Sochi, and to disrupt the process to reach a political solution.

Middle East expert Anatoly Nismian told Anadolu that the United States uses the Kurds in Syria as a tool to pressure many countries in the region, warning of the consequences of the American plan on Syria’s unity.

Anadolu quoted local sources as saying that the Pentagon, the CIA and the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, have completed the training of 400 members south of the province of Hasaka (east), and east of Aleppo (north).

The exercises included theoretical and technical information provided by the CIA, airdrops by the Pentagon, as well as weapons drills provided by PKK leaders from the Kandil mountains in northern Iraq.

On Sunday a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the US- led international coalition to fight Daesh, Colonel Ryan Dillon, said they will form a border security force in northern Syria which includes 30,000 armed men working with the Syrian Democratic Forces.