The United States wants to maintain a permanent military presence in Syria “to block what they see as an Iranian advance on through Iraq, Syria and over to Lebanon,” says James Jatras, a former American Senate foreign policy adviser.
Jatras made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday while commenting on reports which claim that the United States is considering carrying out a military strike in Syria.
Senior US officials have claimed President Donald Trump is prepared to launch a military action if necessary against the Syrian government which they say is possibly developing new types of chemical weapons.
The officials on Thursday said the government of Syrian Bashar al-Assad saved a part of chemical weapons stockpile despite a US-Russian deal under which Damascus had agreed to hand over all such weapons for destruction.
The government surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons in 2014 to a joint mission led by the UN…