ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Syrian army accused “backers of international terrorism” of plotting to secure “safe routes” for ISIS militants in Mosul to flee Iraq for the war-torn neighboring country during military operations by Iraqi forces to evict the terrorist group from the northern Iraqi city.

A statement from the General Command of the Army and the Armed Force on Tuesday read that the US and its allied countries, above all Saudi Arabia, are carrying out a “malicious scheme” to provide “safe routes for the groupings of ISIS terrorists who are reeling under the Iraqi army’s strikes in Mosul – Iraq’s second largest city – to cross the border into the Syrian territory.”

The army warned that any attempt to transgress Syria by the militants would be deemed as “an attack on the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic.”

“The aim of providing such corridors, is to provide protection to the terrorists on the one hand and boost the terrorist presence inside the Syrian territory on the other hand in a bid to impose a new military reality in the eastern region in the direction of Deir Ezzor, Raqqa and Palmyra,” the statement added, as quoted by Syria’s official SANA news agency.

Tuesday marks the second day of the massive offensive to oust the radical group from Mosul and its outskirts

Many ISIS militants have reportedly fled to Syria and deserted the battlefield in the face of the furious attack launched by Kurdish and Iraqi forces early Monday.