Top US general visit American occupation forces in Syria after Israel meetings

Top US military officer General Mark Milley has visited American occupation forces in northern Syria a day after he met with the Israeli regime’s officials in the occupied territories.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff made a stop at an undisclosed occupied base in northern Syria on Saturday to talk with American troops and commanders about recommendations for the future of the Pentagon’s operations in the war-wracked Arab country.

The US military has more than 900 troops at various locations in northeastern Syria without the consent of the Syrian government for what it claims to be "counter-terrorism operations and fight against the remnants of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group". It also trains and advises the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of militants that oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Asked by reporters accompanying him about the deployment of American troops to Syria, Milley tied the mission to the security of the United States and its allies, saying, "If you think that that's important, then the answer is 'Yes.'"

"I think that an enduring defeat of ISIS (Daesh) and continuing to support our friends and allies in the region ... I think those are important tasks that can be done," Joe Biden's top military adviser added.

The US and its allies invaded Syria in 2014 under the pretext of fighting Daesh. The Takfiri terrorist group had emerged as Washington was running out of excuses to extend its regional meddling or enlarge it in scale.

The US-led coalition sustains its illegal presence on the Arab country's soil, although, Damascus and its allies defeated Daesh in late 2017.

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Damascus has repeatedly urged the United Nations Security Council to end the US-led military presence in the country, saying that illegal US deployment is tantamount to occupation and aimed at plundering Syria’s natural resources.

Former US president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.

Milley’s visit to Syria came a day after he met with the Israeli regime’s officials in the occupied territories, during which they discussed Iran and what they claimed to be ways to stem Iran’s reach to “nuclear weapons.”

In his trip, the top US general also tried to prepare the ground for the visit of Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin to the occupied territories. Austin is set to enter the occupied territories next Wednesday.

Milley’s visit came as tensions are running high in the occupied Palestinian territories amid Tel Aviv's efforts to legitimize the illegal settlements and statement of Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right minister of finance, on “wiping out” the Palestinian village of Hawara.

Israel minister walks back call for Hawara to be 'wiped out'

On Saturday, Smotrich was forced to retract his comments about the destruction of the Palestinian village of Huwara, days after illegal settlers went on a rampage in the village near Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Smotrich was quoted as saying by the Israeli media that his comments earlier this week to “wipe out” Huwara was a “slip of the tongue”.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that Smotrich had told local media that his “word choice was wrong, but the intention was very clear. It was a slip of the tongue in a storm of emotions.”

Israeli minister says Palestinian village Huwara should be ‘wiped out’

Israeli finance minister has called for the destruction of a village targeted by a recent deadly settler rampage.

Hundreds of armed Israeli settlers attacked Huwara and nearby villages on Sunday night and torched dozens of houses and cars. They had been angered at the killing of two Israeli brothers by a Palestinian gunman in Huwara.

One Palestinian was killed during the settler rampage and at least 390 others were injured, with Palestinian media reporting stabbings and attacks with metal rods and rocks.

The Israeli regime's forces and settlers have escalated their deadly acts of aggression against the Palestinians since late December 2022, when Benjamin Netanyahu staged a comeback as the regime's prime minister at the head of a cabinet of hard-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Since the start of the year, at least 68 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the violence.

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