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'Want It or Not, US Should Leave Syria' – Top Iranian Official

© AFP 2023 / Delil SOULEIMAN In this file photo taken on December 30, 2018, shows a line of US military vehicles in Syria's northern city of Manbij
In this file photo taken on December 30, 2018, shows a line of US military vehicles in Syria's northern city of Manbij - Sputnik International
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In December 2018 the US announced it would be withdrawing its troops from Syria in the coming months, but recent reports by the Turkish media suggest that the number of American soldiers in the Arab Republic has only increased.

Senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Akbar Velayati, quoted by the Tasnim News Agency, said following talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem on 6 February that whether the US wills that or not, it "should leave Syria". Velayati further stated that Damascus currently controls 90% of the land and will soon liberate the rest.

Members of 5th Special Forces Group (A) conducting 50. Cal Weapons training during counter Daesh operations at al-Tanf Garrison in southern Syria. File photo - Sputnik International
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who also participated in the talks, added that the "stability and complete security of Syria" and the return of its people to normalcy is one of Iran's key foreign policy goals.

Muallem thanked Iran for its help and said that as long as the two states stay together, they will achieve "victory against terrorism [and] colonialism".

Washington announced the pull-out of its troops from Syria in December 2018 promising to send around 3,000 soldiers back home in the coming months. However, some of the country's allies, as well as American politicians, fear that the military withdrawal might lead to a resurgence of Daesh* and attacks against Washington's Kurdish allies by Turkey.

READ MORE: US Sanctions Against Syria, Iran is 'Economic Terrorism' — Moscow

In addition, Turkish newspapers reported that the US military contingent has actually increased since the announcement of the pull-out.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia

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