Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that terrorist groups are still present in the areas where the US forces are deployed in al-Tanf and al-Rukban Camp in the Syrian Badia (desert).

“We have gathered much evidence some strange things are happening in al-Tanf. In our point of view, this area is of no considerable significance for the anti-terrorist operation. In practice, we can see that in this area, including al-Rukban refugee camp, armed groups appear ever more often and, according to our sources, they have connections with Daesh,” Lavrov said in a press conference on Monday with Jose Condungua Pacheco, his counterpart from Mozambique.

He recalled that the issue had been repeatedly brought up in the course of various contacts with US partners.

“We drew attention to the fact that this is in conflict with our agreements as to how to arrange for de-escalation work in Syria within the framework of regular contacts between the military,” Lavrov said.

The Russian top diplomat said that Moscow expects Washington to withdraw troops from Syria’s al-Tanf as their presence there is pointless from the military standpoint, stressing that only the Syrian Arab Army must remain on the country’s southern border.