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SYRIA-CONFLICT-US-IRAN-DIPLOMACY-RECONSTRUCTION
Pompeo says no more US reconstruction aid to Syria if Iran stays
WASHINGTON, Oct 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United States will refuse any
additional reconstruction assistance to war-torn Syria so long as Iranian
troops are present in the country, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said
Wednesday.
Speaking to a pro-Israel group, Pompeo vowed to press forward with
President Donald Trump’s push to isolate Iran, boasting of imposing “some of
the harshest sanctions in history.”
“The onus for expelling Iran from the country falls on the Syrian
government, which bears responsibility for its presence there,” Pompeo told
the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
“If Syria doesn’t ensure the total withdrawal of Iranian-backed troops, it
will not receive one single dollar from the United States for
reconstruction,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo’s remarks come as the Trump administration shifts its reasoning for
US involvement in Syria’s brutal civil war, which a war monitor says has
killed close to 365,000 people since 2011.
The United States has some 2,000 troops in Syria, mainly training and
advising rebels, after former president Barack Obama authorized the mission
to defeat the Islamic State extremist group, or IS.
Pompeo said that fighting IS “continues to be a top priority” but listed
rolling back Iran as another.
National security adviser, John Bolton, said last month that US troops
would stay “as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders.”
Iran, ruled by Shiite Muslim clerics, and Russia are the primary
supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his bloody campaign against
largely Sunni Muslim rebels and IS.
Pompeo did not make similar demands for a withdrawal by Russia, which has
long considered Syria a major ally.
Trump in August already pulled out of Syria’s immediate reconstruction,
suspending $230 million after pledges by Gulf Arab allies.
BSS/AFP/RY/08:42 hrs