US' bid to hold oil fields in northern Syria violates international law: Russia

Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin on Tuesday has termed US President Donald Trump's decision to control oil fields in northern Syria as illegitimate and violation of international law.

Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin on Tuesday has termed US President Donald Trump's decision to control oil fields in northern Syria as illegitimate and violation of international law. "Any actions that aim to bolster the illegal military presence of the United States [in Syria] go against the international law and are unacceptable from our point of view," Vershinin said.

Last month, during the IS chief Baghdadi's press brief, US President Donald Trump remarked that despite the withdrawal of some troops from the Syrian border, the American military will retain control over Syrian oil fields. Tension has been brewing in northern Syria since Turkey launched its military operation on October 9 after the US announced the withdrawal of its troops.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to jointly push back Kurdish fighters from a 'safe zone' along the Turkey-Syria border, after marathon talks in Sochi. Up till now, Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have withdrawn fully from the besieged Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain in the first pullback under a ceasefire deal with Turkey brokered by Washington on October 17. (ANI)

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