Syria urges illegal foreign forces to leave Arab country

Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja'afari has called on all foreign forces, who are operating on Syrian soil without Damascus' consent, to leave the Arab country.

Ja'afari made the request during a press conference at the end of the 11th round of talks on the Syria crisis in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Thursday.

He charged the US, Britain, France and Turkey with dispatching troops to Syria illegally and occupying some areas in the war-torn state.

"There is a clear discrepancy in the stances taken by the US, France and Britain who have already agreed on the UN Security Council resolutions on commitment to Syria’s sovereignty; meanwhile these countries have been deploying their troops illegally in Syria,” he said.

He also expressed concerns about the illegal Turkish military presence in Syria in violation of Ankara's commitments in the Astana and Sochi agreements.

So far, 11 rounds of Syria peace talks, mediated by Iran, Russia and Turkey, have been held in Astana. The 10th round of the discussions took place in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi back in July 30-31.

The talks have brought representatives from Syria’s warring parties to the negotiating table and resulted in the establishment of safe zones across the country.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ja'afari raised alarm at the complicity of certain countries in delivering chemical weapons to terrorists in Syria's Idlib Province.

“The use of shells containing chemical substances by terrorist organizations indicate an escalation by the sponsors of terrorism,” he said.

Separately on Thursday, the 11 round of the Astana talks published a closing statement, condemning any use of chemical arms in Syria and demanding a transparent probe into reports concerning the issue.

SS