Russia wants more details about US deployment in Syria

Russia says it wants detailed information about a new US plan to send 250 special forces to Syria, including the precise purpose of their deployment.

“We would like to comprehend what this is all about; whether this is a one-time action, who these people are and where they will be stationed,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Moscow.

"What they are dispatched there for and whether this is part of a program or a plan," she added.

Zakharova also said the UK is indirectly supporting Daesh by failing to close down funding channels for the terrorists.

The remarks came two days after US President Barack Obama announced that an additional 250 special troops will be sent to Syria in the coming weeks.

The deployment will be the biggest expansion of US ground forces in Syria since the beginning of the foreign-backed militancy in the Arab country in 2011.

Washington has already deployed dozens of special forces to eastern Syria in what it claims is an effort to shore up local militant groups against Daesh terrorists.

Russia has been carrying out an aerial campaign against terrorist groups in Syria since September 2015 at the request of the Syrian government. US activities, however, have not been authorized by or coordinated with Damascus.

SS