LONDON: Iran said the United States would be “joining the terrorists’ camp” if it chose to designate its Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization.
“The world should be thankful to the Revolutionary Guards for its fight against terrorists, especially against Daesh (Islamic State),” Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said in a weekly news conference broadcast live on state television.
“So by taking a stance against the Revolutionary Guards and designating it a terrorist group, the Americans would be joining the terrorists’ camp,” he added.
President Donald Trump is expected to designate Iran’s most powerful security force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. (IRGC), as a terrorist organization, as he rolls out a broader, more hawkish US strategy on Iran next week.
Iran says US would aid terrorism if it declared Revolutionary Guards terrorists
Iran says US would aid terrorism if it declared Revolutionary Guards terrorists
Armed clashes erupt in Aleppo between Syrian army and Kurdish-led SDF
- Two civilians were killed and eight others, including two children, were injured
- Defense Ministry accused SDF of targeting homes after they suddenly withdrew from jointly operated checkpoints, fired at government forces
LONDON: The Syrian Ministry of Defense accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of launching a surprise attack on the Internal Security Forces and the Syrian Arab Army in Aleppo on Monday.
The clashes erupted in the densely populated neighborhoods of Ashrafiya and Sheikh Maqsoud, which have a Kurdish majority.
The Ministry of Health announced that two civilians were killed and eight others, including two children, were injured. It condemned the attack on a residential area near Al-Razi Hospital by SDF forces.
Syrian authorities also reported that one member of the Internal Security Forces and another from the army were injured, along with several civil defense personnel.
The Ministry of Defense denied the claims that the army initiated the conflict. It accused the SDF of targeting homes after they suddenly withdrew from jointly operated checkpoints and fired at government forces with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade shells, and mortars.
Injured civilians were admitted to Al-Razi Hospital in the city, and two Syrian Civil Defense personnel were injured while on duty at the Shihan roundabout, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
Fighting has spread to the Syriac Quarter, Sheikh Taha and Al-Jamiliya neighborhoods and to areas between the Shihan and Al-Larmon roundabouts, north of Aleppo, prompting dozens of families to flee their homes toward safer locations in Khalidiya and Nile Street, and closing the main Gaziantep-Aleppo highway. The civil defense accused SDF forces of shooting at one of their vehicles, which carried four members.
Azzam Al-Gharib, the governor of Aleppo, urged citizens to avoid approaching the clash sites or roads leading to the city center until further notice.
