SYRIAN Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem blasted neighbouring Jordan today for its decision to step up air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) targets in Syria.

He insisted that his country did not need outside help in battling Isis forces.

“We will not allow anyone to violate our national sovereignty and we do not need any ground troops to fight Isis,” he said at a joint press conference with Belorussian counterpart Vladimir Makei.

“The Syrian Arab government is fully capable of fighting Isis valiantly and we don’t need any other troops.”

Jordan is a member of a US-led coalition fighting Isis in Syria, but Damascus insists that its aerial campaign is illegitimate because it has not been co-ordinated with the Syrian government.

Government forces are fighting the jihadists on the ground but have lost about a third of the country.

They are also battling opposition fighters from an array of rebel groups fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Moallem said that Syria had offered to co-ordinate with the Jordanian government in fighting terrorism but had received no response.

He accused Amman of allowing terrorists to cross into Syria after training them in camps overseen by the CIA.

Jordan, he noted, “which fights Isis along with the international coalition, doesn’t fight” against Syria’s main al-Qaida affiliate, the Nusra Front.

The Nusra Front is allied with Western-backed anti-Assad groups near the border with Jordan.