A senior Russian defence official maintained that the U.S. was "holding with incomprehensible stubbornness the occupied 55-km area around al-Tanf where 6,000 armed militants are on the loose and are preventing the disbanding of the Rukban refugee camp". In related comments, a Russian diplomatic spokesperson suggested that "there is growing concern related to the dubious activity of the U.S. and its allies in Syria. The illegal occupation of the 55-km zone around the base in al-Tanf continues to be the basic source of destabilisation in that part of Syria".