Syria threatens to deal with US and Turkish troops, calls them 'invaders'

Syria has threatened to deal with US and Turkish troops which it said are "illegal invader" forces on the Syrian territory.

According to a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, Bouthaina Shaaban said in a television interview that Damascus would not give up on the northern city of Raqqa, which was liberated from Islamic State last month by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Turkey today is a coloniser country, its forces on our soil are illegal, just as the American forces are on our soil illegally, she told Lebanese channel al-Mayadeen.

We will deal with this issue as we deal with any illegal invader force on our lands, she said, without elaborating.

According to the report by Reuters, Assad's forces, helped by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, have managed to re-establish control over most of Syria over the past two years.

The United States and Turkey are backing various rebel groups opposed to both Assad and to Islamic State. Turkey has started setting up observation points in Idlib province in northwest Syria under a deal with Assad's allies, Russia and Iran.

The US-led coalition battling Islamic State in Syria has repeatedly said it does not seek to fight Assad's forces, though Washington and Ankara both want the president to step down.

Earlier on Tuesday, Assad said the army and its allies would keep fighting in Syria after it has driven Islamic State militants from their last significant stronghold in the country, in Deir al-Zor province.