Pro-Assad alliance threatens to hit U.S. positions in Syria

[June 07, 2017]    BEIRUT (Reuters) - A military alliance fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday it could hit U.S. positions in Syria, warning that its "self-restraint" over U.S. air strikes on government forces would end if Washington crossed "red lines".

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Croatian newspaper Vecernji List in Damascus, Syria, in this handout picture provided by SANA on April 6, 2017. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

The threat came in a statement in the name of the "commander of the operations room of the forces allied to Syria", and was circulated by a military news unit run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, one of Assad's military allies.

Assad's allies also include Iran and Russia. The statement did not spell out whether Moscow was a signatory to it.

"America knows well that the blood of the sons of Syria, the Syrian Arab Army, and its allies is not cheap, and the capacity to strike their positions in Syria, and their surroundings, is available when circumstances will it," the statement said.

The United States launched air strikes on Tuesday against what it said were Iranian-backed fighters who it said posed a threat to U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in southern Syria, the second such attack in three weeks.

(Reporting by Beirut bureau; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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