Syria has the right to combat the US military presence and other international coalition nations on its territory in every possible way, said Brigadier General Hasan Ahmad Hasan.

Commenting on the creation of a new French military base near the Syrian city of Raqqa, Hasan recalled that France is part of the international coalition against ISIS.

“France is part of a coalition that has declared its intention to divide the country and the whole region. This is the main logic of its actions,” he said.

The Brigadier General also recalled that a State only has the right to be present militarily in another State at the request of the State or if it has the mandate from the United Nations Security Council.

“Therefore, the only [foreign] presence is the Russian military presence, the Iranian forces and the Lebanese national resistance forces [the Hezbollah movement], who have arrived in Syria and are on Syrian territory at the request of Syria. Other military presence, such as Turkish, American, British, French, German or Persian Gulf countries, any other forms of military presence and the deployment of armed forces are illegal,” Hasan explained.

“Given that the state does not control some geographic regions of the country, the state and its supporters have the right to combat this illegal presence, this occupation in every possible way,” he said.

The general stressed that the aim of the coalition is to maintain the status quo as long as possible, against its inability to achieve its main objective – the division of Syria.

In addition, Hasan stressed that instead of fighting ISIS, the US and its coalition allies support terrorists.

“It is precisely this coalition that heads ISIS and controls its activities, it is they who that distributes tasks among various groups. The only proven fact to the whole world is that the US and its allies do not fight terrorism, they only pretend to fight,” he said.

As evidence of this, the general recalled reports that US planes and helicopters evacuated ISIS leaders from combat zones.

“When the Syrian Army advanced in any region, US aviation was assaulting it directly. In addition to American aviation, there were Israeli or aviation from other countries, which proves that the coalition fights against everything except terrorism,” he revealed.

Hasan underlines that the Syrian authorities intend to recover all territories that are under Turkish occupation, North American and by other forces.

“Those who think that Syria will leave any piece of land under the control of the Turkish, American or any other forces should think again,” he said.

Hasan also commented that the supply of Russia’s S-300 air defense systems as part of Moscow’s response to the Israeli air strikes in Syria that led to the accidental downing of a Russian airliner, according to the official story, minimized the possibility of Israel’s Syria ambitions to be successful.

Syria has been in a state of war since 2011. Government forces face opposition groups and terrorist organizations. Russia, alongside Turkey and Iran, is one of the guarantors of the ceasefire regime in Syria.