The chief of the Russian General Staff on Wednesday accused the U.S. of training former Islamic State fighters in Syria to try to destabilise the country.
Gen. Valery Gerasimov’s allegations, made in a newspaper interview, centre on a U.S. military base at Tanf, a strategic Syrian highway border crossing with Iraq in the south of the country.
Russia says the U.S. base is illegal and that it and the area around it have become “a black hole” where militants operate unhindered.
Islamic State has this year lost almost all the territory it held in Syria and Iraq.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the main part of the battle with Islamic State in Syria was over, according to the state-run RIA news agency.
The U.S. says the Tanf facility is a temporary base used to train partner forces to fight Islamic State.
It has rejected similar Russian allegations in the past, saying Washington remains committed to killing off Islamic State and denying it safe havens.
Russia accuses U.S. of training ex IS fighters to destabilise Syria
