The US mainstream media has been going into Russophobic overdrive ever since it was announced that Donald Trump has ordered the CIA to stop funding Salafist terrorists in Syria, a program that was a flagship policy of Barack Obama.
As the Duran pointed out, the development is a small win for Syria and close to inconsequential for Russia.
READ MORE: Trump’s cessation of arms to Salafists had nothing to do with Russia
This didn’t stop Trump’s CIA director Mike Pompeo from parroting the Russophobic statements of the US media, in spite of the fact that Pompeo along with Trump and US National Security Director General H.R. McMaster were apparently parties to the penultimate decision.
Pompeo stated that the Russian presence in Syria is an attempt to “stick it” to the US. In reality, the Russian presence is because the Syrian government asked Russia for a partnership in the fight against jihadist terrorism and Russia agreed to provide this assistance.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to Pompeo’s statement by reminding the world that the US presence in Syria is illegal according to international law. While Russia was invited by the government of Syria, the United States has no such permission, neither from Damascus nor the United Nations.
Lavrov stated,
“The United States does not advertise its bases very much, and the fact that these bases do not have a legal basis is also obvious to all.
It turns out that, by and large, Mr. Pompeo wants the same thing as us in Syria, only several times more. One more big difference: we do not hide our two bases, they are created and operate on the basis of intergovernmental agreements, and their task is to assist in the fight against terrorists”.
The Russian Foreign Minister was referring to recent revelations from Turkish state-owned media regarding the number of and whereabouts of multiple secret illegal US bases in Syria.
Turkish media is widely suspected of publishing the report as a way of extracting informational revenge on the US for its close relationship to Kurdish forces in Syria which Turkey views as terrorists who threaten Turkish security and territorial integrity.
READ MORE: TURKEY-LEAKS–Ankara’s state-owned media leaks location of secret US bases on Twitter
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