A commentator says the United States seeks to provoke a conflict with Syrian government forces in an attempt to justify a new war.

“That is what they are banking on, that’s what they want, they want a conflict, they want to desperately provoke and trigger some sort of an engagement where the United States forces and the Bashar al-Assad Syrian forces can get into a conflict, because then the United Sates can claim like they did in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam that they were invaded, they were harmed, they were killed – American soldiers killed – and therefore a new war needs be justified,” Scott Bennett told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

The comments came after the Pentagon called on the Syrian government to reconsider its plans to launch attacks on Kurdish militants and allied US forces operating in areas in northeastern Syria.