Syria Urges US, Turkish Troops To Leave, Considers Them 'Occupying Forces' - UN Envoy

Damascus considers the presence in Syria by troops from the United States, France, Turkey, Israel and the United Kingdom to be illegal and urges them to leave, Syria's Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari said during a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2018) Damascus considers the presence in Syria by troops from the United States, France, Turkey, Israel and the United Kingdom to be illegal and urges them to leave, Syria's Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari said during a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

"In order to achieve sustainable and durable peace in Syria, all illegal foreign forces must leave Syria, including Turkish, American, British, French, and Israeli forces," Jaafari said. "We consider all of these forces to be occupying forces. Their presence in Syria runs counter to the UN charter, international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Syria.

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Syria has been in a state of conflict since 2011, with numerous opposition groups and terrorist organizations fighting the Syrian Army in order to topple the government of Bashar Assad.

A US-led coalition of more than 70 members has been conducting military operations against the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) in Syria and Iraq since September 2014.

The coalition's operations in Iraq have been conducted in cooperation with Iraqi officials, but those in Syria have not been authorized by the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.