Syrian Regime's Army Vows to Drive Out US from Country

The Syrian army is determined to drive out the U.S. from any involvement in the country, state television reported on Monday.

Bashar al-Assad's army objects to any form of U.S. presence in the country and will seek to put an end to it, Reuters reported, citing state media.

The U.S.-led coalition is currently training Syrian militias and plans to establish a new border force together with the Kurdish-led opposition fighters, consisting of 30,000 personnel over the next several years, according to the coalition.

The move has been criticized by the Syrian foreign ministry, branding it as a "blatant assault" on the country's sovereignty, according to the state media.

The coalition officials said that it had recently recruited 230 cadets for the new force that it will be tasked with securing areas recently liberated from Islamic State militants, Syria's northern border with Turkey and the eastern border with Iraq.

Half of the force will be made up of soldiers from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which currently controls a quarter of Syria's territory along the borders with Turkey and Iraq.

Turkey objects to the creation of the border force, seeing the Kurdish militia in Syria as an extension of an active Kurdish insurgent group operating in the country.

A senior Turkish official said the training of the new border force was the reason the U.S. top diplomat stationed in the country was summoned in Ankara last week, Reuters reported. A spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan said the new force is unacceptable.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.