A radical Syrian professor has called for the killing of U.S. soldiers in Syria in an effort to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election and President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
The video clip flagged by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) showed Jamal Al-Mahmoud, a political science professor at Damascus University, making the comments several days ago during an interview on Al-Ikhbaria TV.
“I call for [the conflict] with the Americans to be decided militarily. I do not call for talking politics with the Americans,” Al-Mahmoud said, according to a translation provided by MEMRI. “Absolutely not. So I call upon the PMU factions and the national forces in Iraq to unite their ranks and create an alliance in order to expel the American forces from Syria [sic].”
“A year from now, in November 2020, there will be presidential elections in America,” Al-Mahmoud continued. “We should take advantage of this opportunity and wage military operations against the American forces, because the death of an American soldier – or two or three American soldiers – will play a role in the elections game – in the coming presidential elections. This may rein Trump in to some extent. This is why we should take advantage of these circumstances.”
WATCH:
Syrian Academic Jamal Al-Mahmoud: We Should Kill American Soldiers to Influence Upcoming U.S. Elections, Rein Trump in pic.twitter.com/9eixnsTnIH
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 9, 2020
In April 2018, Al-Mahmoud called for “the forces of Syria and its allies” to “confront the United States in Syria, and to train their weapons upon the U.S. and Western bases in Syria.”
Al-Mahmoud, who is an apparent sympathizer of Iran, continued, “When the April 9 aggression on the T-4 Airbase took place, and seven IRGC mujahideen were martyred, we all said that Iran must respond.”
“We demand an Iranian response. We demand an Iranian response,” Al-Mahmoud continued. “The response could take various forms. The first form of response, which is very important, is to strengthen the military relations with Syria and Hizbullah in Syria, especially in some of the future campaigns toward Al-Rastan or the south, or in the elimination of ISIS pockets. [Iran] should strengthen the military relations by increasing its military presence in Syria, which would not make Israel and the United States happy. If this aggression is repeated, we ask Iran to fire missiles on the Israeli settlements in the Golan, for example. The Israeli and American attacks cannot go unanswered.”
Al-Mahmoud’s recent comments come as tensions between the U.S. and its allies have reached a boiling point with Iran in recent days after President Donald Trump authorized a drone strike that killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, a designated terrorist who is responsible for murdering hundreds of American soldiers and wounding thousands more.
Following the attack, Iran made numerous threats toward the U.S. and its allies and then launched a missile attack on U.S. forces stationed in Iraq on Tuesday, which fortunately resulted in only minor damage to one of the bases with no casualties reported.
However, tensions increased after the attack when Iran allegedly shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner by mistake following their failed missile attack, killing all 176 passengers on board, which included over 60 Canadians.