U.S. unwelcome to participate in Syria's rebuilding process: Foreign Ministry

DAMASCUS, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Syria's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the United States is unwelcome to take part in the rebuilding process in Syria, accusing Washington of creating suffering and destruction only.

In a statement responding to the recent remarks of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the ministry said Syria does not need funding from the U.S. administration, whose money is "smeared with Syrians' blood and it is not invited to take part in the reconstruction process."

A day earlier, Tillerson said the United States, the EU, and regional partners will not provide international reconstruction assistance to areas under the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"We ask all stakeholders in Syria's future to do the same. We will discourage economic relations between the Assad's regime and other countries. Instead, we will encourage international assistance to rebuild areas the global coalition and its local partners have liberated from Islamic State," he said.

Tillerson said his country called on all nations to exercise discipline in economically pressuring Assad and rebuilding Syria after a political transition.

"Our expectation is that the desire for a return to normal life and these tools of pressure will help rally the Syrian people and individuals within the regime to compel Assad to step aside," he said, in an obvious step by the United States to maintain the economic pressure on the Syrian people.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the internal affairs of any country is an exclusive right of its people, adding that the U.S. official's remarks violated the international law.

The ministry also slammed the U.S. military presence in Syria, saying such an existence took place to "protect the IS that was formed by the Obama administration."

The ministry further criticized the United States for never aiming at eliminating IS, adding that Raqqa, the former de facto capital of IS which was largely destroyed by the United States ahead of its liberation, had witnessed the actions of Washington.

Stressing that the U.S. presence in Syria is illegitimate, the ministry said Syria would fight against all terror groups in Syria as well as any illegitimate foreign existence in the country.

The growing tension between Damascus and Washington came amid the backdrop of the recent decision by Washington to form a 30,000-strong border forces in northeastern Syria.

The new army will be formed from the Kurdish forces which control the northern Syrian areas, a move considered by experts and governments as a U.S. plan to fragment Syria.

In a previous statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry vowed to fight the U.S. presence in Syria.

U.S. desire to maintain its military presence in Syria added to the tension, as Tillerson indicated Wednesday that his country would maintain an indefinite military presence in Syria to fight terrorist groups, stand up to Iran's growing influence and pave the way for putting an end to the regime of Assad. Enditem