Syria

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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Fri Sep 11, 2020 12:55 pm

CRUELTY WITH A POINT: THE CONTINUING US IMMISERATION OF SYRIA
Posted by MLToday | Sep 10, 2020 | Other Featured Posts | 0

Cruelty with a Point: The Continuing US Immiseration of Syria

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By Stephen Gowans

August 19, 2020

[We] take our rewards in the goodies of the imperial marketplace and in the false coin of self-righteousness. – William Appleman Williams*

Two US scholars, writing in the unofficial journal of the US State Department, Foreign Affairs, have denounced the cruelty of US intervention in Syria, while passing over its criminal and imperialist nature, and accepting as legitimate assumptions underlying US foreign policy about the fundamental goodness of the United States and the fundamental depravity of its victims.

In The Pointless Cruelty of Trump’s New Syria Sanctions, Joshua Landis, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma, and Steven Simon, Senior Director for Middle Eastern and North African Affairs at the White House from 2011 to 2012, denounce the sanctions Washington has inflicted on Syria. However, far from being an anti-imperialist j’accuse, the piece perpetuates myths about the aims of US foreign policy and sanitizes the nature of the US intervention.

The problem with US sanctions, the authors argue, is that they’re pointlessly cruel, which is to say that they are at the same time highly punitive and incapable of achieving the goals they are putatively designed to achieve. Presumably, cruelty, if it worked, would have a point, and would be acceptable; but the current cruelty does not work and therefore is pointless and should be brought to an end, the scholars contend.

What sanctions have failed to achieve, and will continue to fail to achieve, Landis and Simon argue, is the replacement of the current Syrian government with one acceptable to the United States. If the Syrian government has yet to fall, despite the enormous efforts the US government has made to see that it does, more sanctions are not the answer. Landis and Simon write:

“Assad and his supporters won the country’s civil war against considerable odds. They did not crack when rebels massacred their entire national security team early in the war; they did not crack when they lost Palmyra, Idlib, half of Aleppo, the oil fields, the northeast, or the southeast; they brushed off Trump’s 60-second bombing campaign; and they withstood an energetic U.S. effort to equip and train the armed opposition. If nine years of brutal violence … did not defeat Assad and his military, economic embargoes are unlikely to faze him.”

The most conspicuous aspects of the US intervention in Syria are its flagrant illegality and manifest imperialism, yet at no point do the scholars point out that the US occupation of northeastern Syria, the US take-over of Syria’s oil fields, US training and funding of insurgents, US missile strikes on Syria, and the imposition of coercive economic measures, are criminal, murderous, and anti-democratic, though they openly acknowledge that Washington has pursued all of these means to achieve its goal of overthrowing the Syrian government.

It’s as if Landis and Simon set out to write an article about the history of Hiroshima and somehow overlooked the fact that it was the site of the first atomic bombing. Landis and Simon fail to mention the following additional expressions of US imperialism: US complicity in Turkey’s military occupation of northern Syria and US endorsement of the Israeli annexation of the Syrian Golan.

The goal of the US intervention, thoroughly anti-democratic in stamp, is to impose the US will on another people. Landis and Simon fail to question the legitimacy of this goal. Instead, they accept the aim as a desirable part of a larger US project of constructing “an international liberal order premised on the conviction that free trade and a vital middle class [will] produce democratic governance and societal well-being.” What free trade will produce, pace Landis and Simon, is not democratic governance and societal well-being, but continued poverty for poor countries, and continued affluence for the wealthy.

Poor countries are incapable of competing on a global level against rich countries, and can only develop economically by emulating the policies rich countries themselves pursued to become rich: tariff barriers to nurture infant industries, industrial planning, subsidies, state-owned enterprises, and restrictions on foreign investment. [1]

Free trade is central to the story of why the United States has waged a long war on Syria. The Syrian government’s failure to open its economy to US investment and exports on US terms, and insistence on independent economic development—emulating what the rich countries did to become prosperous—is as much a part of the reason Washington has tried to oust the Assad government as is the fact that Damascus has long irritated Washington by acting as a beacon of local independence and national assertiveness in the Arab world. Assad vowed in 2013 that “Syria will never become a western puppet state” and that his government would do whatever was necessary to “best serve the interests of the Syrians,” not the West. [2]



Promoting the interests of a republic’s citizens is what a president is supposed to do, remarked Robert Mugabe during an address to the United Nations General Assembly, but under a US-superintended liberal order, what presidents are really supposed to do is submit to a global order based on free trade designed to promote the interests of US investors. Syria has been non-compliant with the US-agenda, operating what US government researchers described in a 2005 report as a largely publicly-owned, state-planned economy based on “Soviet models” while supporting Hamas and Hezbollah,[3] enemies of US-attack dog, Israel, the Zionist state in colonized Palestine.

From the birth of the US empire as 13 British colonies in a stolen land to the present day, the foundation of the empire’s foreign policy—guiding its continental expansion, and then its extra-continental enlargement through formal and informal colonialism—has been to crush any force of local independence and national assertiveness that stands in the way of US economic interests. Washington must replace the Syrian government with one that accepts the international liberal order, an order which various figures in the US foreign policy establishment have described as: created by US officials with US interests in mind and US prosperity (though unmentioned, specifically that of corporate America) as its goal.

The late John McCain wrote that “We are the chief architect and defender of an international order governed by rules derived from our political and economic values. We have grown vastly wealthier and more powerful under those rules.”[4] Barack Obama described the US-superintended international order as one upon which US prosperity depends. [5]

The recently deceased Brent Scowcroft, a US national security power broker, “for decades mentored generations of national security professionals … in a realist brand of foreign policy that championed a U.S.-led international order … and looked on revolutionary change with suspicion.”[6] Revolutionary change, it should be noted, often involves transferring ownership of economies from foreign investors to local governments or local business people, an act inimical to US investor interests.

If we’re to be honest, the prosperity of investors and high-level executives of major corporations is the principal aim of the liberal (note, not liberal democratic, but liberal sans democratic) international order which Landis and Simon cite as the desired end of US policy. The prosperity of US citizens en masse—Main Street not Wall Street—is not the primum mobile of US foreign policy. Neither is building democratic governance and middle-class societies abroad an authentic goal, however much this deceit figures in the rhetorical flourishes of various US experts in casuistry, Landis and Simon included.

One need only look at Latin America, a region on which Uncle Sam has long imposed his will. The outcome of the United States’ smothering influence after hundreds of years is that Latin America remains poor, despite its being forced, often at the point of a US gun, to accept US economic prescriptions based on free trade, a regime William Appleman Williams once described as a piratical “We need, you give.” [7] Those prescriptions, while dishonestly presented as the key to a future Latin American prosperity, have left the region stagnating in poverty. Meanwhile, the United States has prospered.

Landis and Simon have constructed their argument within a framework of assumptions that accepts without question that the United States wants to “make a positive contribution to regional development” and create “freedom and advancement” in Syria (presumably just as it promised but failed to do in its Latin American backyard.) Clearly, the United States has delivered neither freedom nor advancement to either Syrians or Latin Americans. Instead, in Syria, US policies have led to the strangulation of the Syrian economy, immiseration of the Syrian people, and creation of public health and refugee crises.

To explain the contradiction of an allegedly benevolent US foreign policy producing obviously malevolent results (the foreign policy equivalent of the theodicy problem—How can an omnipotent God be benevolent if he allows misery and cruelty to flourish?), Landis and Simon point, not to the obvious answer that US foreign policy is not benevolent, but to US-produced malignancies as the unintended consequences of policy missteps by the US foreign policy establishment. US intentions are good, they contend, but US officials have blundered; they’ve drawn from the wrong policy set. Economic warfare ought never to have been pursued against Syria, they argue, because “there is little evidence that economic sanctions ever achieve their objectives. Even the best designed sanctions can be self-defeating, strengthening the regimes they were designed to hurt and punishing the societies they were supposed to protect.”

What Landis and Simon don’t accept, despite the evidence staring them in the face, is that sanctions were never intended to protect foreign populations. Instead, they were deployed to do precisely what they almost invariably do—immiserate. If the stated aim of policy x is to produce y but almost always produces z, at what point do you accept that z is the real aim and that y is a misdirection?

The point of immiserating a people—what makes the cruelty rational, rather than pointless—is to weaken local forces of independence and national assertiveness to the point that they’re no longer capable of challenging US power. A further objective is to make an example of such forces so that other countries never emulate them, seeing subordination to the US will as preferable to being sanctioned (and in some cases bombed) back into the stone age. For the United States, the fewer independently-minded rich countries to compete against, the better. Washington doesn’t want Syria or Iran following a development model that will monopolize profit-making opportunities, exclude US investors and exports, and set the two countries on a path to becoming future Chinas (though on a much smaller scale.)

The US grievance against China is that it used its opening to US economic penetration to acquire the capital and know-how necessary to build, under a regime of dirigisme and industrial planning, home-grown enterprises which now compete against—and sometimes out-compete—US enterprises for the same profit-making opportunities. Washington is dead-set against allowing Syria and Iran do the same.

In her study of the Vietnam wars, Marilyn B. Young wrote that by the early 1950s, the US foreign policy establishment “had accepted a set of axioms … as unquestionable as Euclid’s.” The first axiom, she wrote, could be summarized as follows:

“The intentions of the United States are always good. It is possible that in pursuit of good ends, mistakes will be made. But the basic goodness of US intentions cannot ever be questioned. The intentions of the enemies of the United States are bad. It is possible that in the pursuit of bad ends, good things will seem to happen. But the basic badness of enemy intentions cannot ever by questioned.”[8]

The axiom reverberates throughout the Landis and Simon piece; indeed, it is the glue that holds it together. Not only are US intentions in Syria good, but the basic badness of the Syrian government (demonized accordingly as a regime) cannot be questioned. This leads Landis and Simon to argue that sanctions should be abandoned because “Assad doesn’t care if more of his people starve.”

We have no evidence of whether Assad cares or doesn’t care about whether Syrians starve, except this: By failing to bow to US aggression, he allows US sanctions policy to continue, and therefore condemns Syrians to starvation as victims of US policy. This is tantamount to saying that FDR didn’t care about whether US conscripts died in a terrible war, citing his failure to bow to Japanese aggression as evidence. According to the axioms of US foreign policy, standing up to foreign aggression is heroic when it’s done by US leaders, but sinister when done by foreign leaders in response to US aggression.

While we don’t have evidence of indifference to the suffering of Syrians on the part of Assad, we do have evidence of US indifference to the fate of Syrians. It is after all, Washington, not Assad, that pulled the trigger on the starvation policy. Blaming sanctions-related Syrian deaths on Assad is equal in principle to attributing WWII US military casualties in the Pacific to Roosevelt.

We have further evidence of Washington’s indifference to the misery of foreign populations. Washington cared not one whit that it killed over half a million Iraqi children under the age of five through sanctions-related disease and malnutrition. When this figure was cited by a UN agency in 1995, and accepted by the US government as valid—and moreover, defended as ‘worth it’—sanctions continued for another eight years, and the US-produced Golgotha grew ever larger. No tears were shed by US leaders.

What’s more, the US government doesn’t care if Iranians starve. The “Iranian leadership,” warned US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, “has to make a decision that they want their people to eat.” [9] Unless Tehran accepts US demands—a long list that amounts to Iran surrendering the right to make consequential decisions independent of US oversight—Pompeo is prepared to see this grim outcome brought to fruition.

But in the morally astigmatic view of Landis and Simon, it is Assad, Saddam, and the Ayatollah who starve their people by refusing to submit to a US-superintended international liberal order of free trade, and not the United States, which punishes states that are refractory to this demand by strangling their economies and starving their populations. Domenico Losurdo cited Frantz Fanon. “When a colonial and imperialist power is forced to give independence to a people, this imperialist power says: you want independence? Then take it and die of hunger.” Losurdo continued: “Because the imperialists continue to have economic power, they can condemn a people to hunger, by means of blockades, embargoes, or underdevelopment.”[10]

For all its failings, the Landis and Simon article reveals the depravity of the US intervention in all its repugnant detail. The scholars acknowledge that:

a) Washington is pursuing a “scorched-earth policy” whose aim is “to gain enough leverage to reconstitute the Syrian government along the lines that the United States imposed on Japan after World War II.”

b) To that end, the US is “systematically bankrupting the Syrian government.”

c) “To increase pressure” on Syria, Washington has “endorsed Israeli strikes against Syrian territory and Turkish expropriation of Syrian energy resources. It has also closed the main highway to Baghdad to choke off trade.”

(d) Washington has hired “a U.S. firm to manage the oil fields” (that are now under an illegal US military occupation. Not only is Turkey freebooting in Syria; so too is the United States.)

e) Washington has designed its sanctions “to make reconstruction impossible. The sanctions target the construction, electricity, and oil sectors, which are essential to getting Syria back on its feet.”

f) The United States has added humanitarian exemptions to its sanctions, but the exemptions are “deliberately vague” to produce “over-compliance”—a phenomenon in which nongovernmental organizations decline to provide humanitarian aid out of fear that they will become inadvertently entangled in complex legal issues and will themselves to be subjected to US sanctions.

g) “Blocked from reconstructing their country and seeking external assistance, Syrians face mass starvation or another mass exodus.”

It is important to emphasize that the opposition of Landis and Simon to US intervention in Syria is predicated, not on the intervention’s imperialist and criminal character, but on its cruelty. This suggests a parallel with the opposition that arose in the West to the rape of the Congo by Belgium’s King Leopold. There were two classes of critics: those who opposed Leopold’s imperialism (mainly ignored) and those who viewed the intervention as legitimate but objected to the cruelty of Leopold’s methods (frequently lionized.) The latter believed that Africans were inferior to Europeans and should submit to European rule, but felt that European rule ought to be more humane. Their attitude to Africans paralleled that of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; dogs and cats were clearly inferior creatures, which must be kept in servile relations to their masters, but they were to be treated humanely. So too Africans.

Another parallel exists between those who criticize US military interventions on the grounds that they are unjust and imperialist, and those whose concern is limited to whether the interventions conform to conventions related to the just conduct of war. The following oppositions are equivalent in principle: to Leopold’s intervention in the Congo because it was cruel (not imperialist); to the wars on Iraq, because they violated the principle of jus in bello (not because they transgressed the principle of jus ad bellum); to the US intervention in Syria, because its methods are cruel (not owing to the repugnance of Washington seeking to replace the Syrian government with another acceptable to the United States and US investor interests.)

Landis and Simon believe that Syrians ought to submit to US rule, but that US rulers ought to avoid pointless cruelty in bringing Syrians under their boot. In their Foreign Affairs article they have set out to portray the US war on Syria as a masterpiece of incompetence and pointless cruelty which dishonors the basic goodness of US goals. In reality, US intervention in Syria has been a masterpiece of cruelty with a point—an enterprise redolent with the stench of criminality and imperialism, aimed at imposing the US will on a foreign population for the benefit of corporate America.

That Landis and Simon should have a favorable attitude to a US-led liberal international order based on free trade is no mystery. They are a fellow and research analyst respectively at The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank funded by some of corporate America’s largest foundations: among others, The Charles Koch Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and billionaire investor George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. Foreign Affairs, the journal in which the scholars’ article appears, is owned by The Council on Foreign Relations, an organization Laurence H. Shoup has described in books by the same names as Wall Street’s Think Tank and an Imperial Brain Trust.

* William Appleman Williams, America Confronts a Revolutionary World, 1776-1976, William Morrow & Company, 1976, p. 183.

Endnotes

1) Erik S. Reinert, How Rich Countries Got Rich, Why Poor Countries Stay Poor, Public Affairs, 2007.

2) Syrian Arab National News Agency, August 27, 2013.

3) Alfred B. Prados and Jeremy M. Sharp, “Syria: Political Conditions and Relations with the United States After the Iraq War,” Congressional Research Service, February 28, 2005.

4) John McCain, “John McCain: Why We Must Support Human Rights,” The New York Times, May 8, 2017.

5) Letter of outgoing US President Barack Obama to incoming President Donald Trump.

6) Warren P. Strobel, “Brent Scowcroft, a U.S. National Security Power Broker, Dies at 95,” The Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2020.

7) William Appleman Williams, “Confessions of an Intransigent Revisionist,” in ed. Henry W. Berger, The William Appleman Williams Reader, Ivan R. Dee, 1992, p. 343.

8) Marilyn B. Young, The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990. Harper Perennial.1991. p.27.

9) Mike Pompeo, November 7, 2018, quoted in ”Iran letter to the UNSG and UNSC on Pompeo provocative statement,” Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran, November 30, 2018.

10) Domenico Losurdo, “The New Colonial Counter-Revolution,” Revista Opera, October 20, 2017.

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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Sat Dec 05, 2020 2:43 pm

Syrian CP, Communiqué of the meeting of the Central Committee of the Syrian Communist Party
12/3/20 9:20 AM
Syria, Syrian Communist Party Ar En Asia Communist and workers' parties
The Central Committee of the Syrian Communist Party held a meeting chaired by its General Secretary comrade Ammar Bagdash on 14 November 2020.

Upon discussing the political situation, the Central Committee considered that what determines the international situation in the current period is the continuation of the cyclical capitalist crisis, which has begun to erupt since the end of 2019 and was clearly marked in the spring of 2020.

The characteristic of the cyclical capitalist crisis is the decline in gross product, which has been experienced by the global imperialist centers this year, as well as the majority of other countries experienced it in varying degrees. Many enterprises, especially medium and small of them, have gone bankrupt and closed. The cyclical crisis has led and leads to a significant decline in the standard of living of the middle classes. However, the most affected by this crisis are the paid workers who lose their jobs, and therefore the number of unemployed is growing dramatically.

The cyclical capitalist crisis has led to a significant increase in social tension, and this was clear in the main capitalist countries. The global ruling oligarchy and the political circles that represent it seek to obliterate and weaken social class confrontation by inciting and supporting extreme right movements, including fascist and racist movements.

At the main center of global imperialism - the United States of America, confrontations based on racism have intensified and which in many cases took a severe violent character. Several European countries are also witnessing national and religious incitement which is directed primarily against minorities (migrants). Moreover, what makes this incitement active is a series of mysterious terrorist operations, from the perspective of its real supporter. As a result, tensions and conflicts on a racial, nationalist and religious basis often overshadow the clear class confrontations between labor and capital. Reformist and social democratic forces play a significant devastating role in weakening class struggle. In times of crisis, the role of social democratic parties, no matter the labels they carry, appears prominently as a loyal servant of local and global monopolist oligarchies.

The emergence and spread of Covid-19 has coincided with the emergence and intensification of the current cyclical capitalist crisis, which makes it difficult to view objectively the dimensions of this economic and social crisis and also obstructs the social and political struggle of those who work for their rights and defend their interests. The ruling bourgeois circles and their media do their best to show that the epidemic is the only cause of all the difficulties experienced by the toiling people all over the world.

One of the main consequences of the current cyclical capitalist crisis is the intensification of the already existing inter-imperialist contradictions, and one of the most important manifestations of this process is the increasing tension between the United States of America and China, which has practically taken the form of a multifaceted economic war between the two greatest economic giants of the present time. The escalation also continues in the economic and political confrontation between the United States and Russia, i.e. between the world's two largest nuclear powers. This confrontation, whose economic content lies primarily in the conflict over the oil and gas markets and the ways of transporting these two vital substances, which often takes the form of regional confrontations, is not limited to this, but there is also the issue of armaments and the status of agreements on the reduction and control of nuclear weapons.

The cyclical crisis has also clearly demonstrated the persistence and deepening of rivalry and competition between "traditional" imperialist centers, particularly between the United States of America and Western European countries, including in the field of basic industries, as well as the intensification of conflict among them over international markets and raw material reservoirs.

The socio-economic confrontation between global centers often takes the form of a regional military confrontation that often takes place in the hands of others, but at the present stage, there is also an increased presence and direct military intervention of these centers. The role of the regional centers of imperialism, such as Zionist Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood Turanist Turkey, is also being activated. The aggressive and expansionist role of Turkey, this effective member of NATO, is becoming increasingly vicious and widespread. This is reflected in its blatant aggression against Syria and its occupation of parts of Syrian territory and its full support for the obscurantist terrorist forces, whether in Syria or elsewhere in the region. Turkey has been heavily involved in the Libyan conflict, supporting its Muslim Brotherhood followers. These actions are a component of the strategy of the reactionary ruling oligarchy in Turkey, in its fight over oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean region. In this context, the Turkish, Greek and Cypriot conflict, of course, is focused on oil reservoirs, in which many Arab countries are involved in some way or another.

In the past period, Turkey has played a key role in the resumption of the military conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and its vicinity between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Turkish-Israeli military support for Azerbaijan was instrumental in the advance of the Azerbaijani army and its defeat of Armenian forces. As a result of this conflict, Turkey has strengthened its positions in the South Caucasus region, thus it is becoming the poisonous talon of NATO not only in the Eastern Mediterranean but also in the Caucasus, with its expansionist aspirations towards Central Asia, the North Caucasus and beyond. The course of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has clearly shown that, despite all the hypocritical and misleading statements of Turkey's ruling oligarchy, it often works hand in hand with Zionist Israel.

In addition to the aforementioned conflicts, the contradictions between the international imperialist centers are constantly generating and intensifying other conflicts in various parts of the world, it is possible to mention the outbreak of civil war in Ethiopia, increased tension in the Arabic Western leading up to armed confrontations, as well as the long-lasting conflicts in Africa.

According to the statistics of observers in this field, the world is now witnessing 36 regional armed conflicts in various forms and expecting more. It is a clash between imperialist powers, but the main affected are the peoples of the conflicted areas.

The Central Committee considers that peoples under the tyranny of global imperialism must unite their efforts and escalate their national liberation struggle against global imperialism and their agents. The key to the liberation of peoples will remain the strengthening of the international anti-imperialist front.

In addition to regional conflicts and direct military intervention, imperialist centers are still using, in their inter-conflict and in their conspiracies against the peoples of the world and the sovereignty of their homelands, the method of fueling internal disturbances, especially what they called "colored revolutions". In the past, many countries of the world have witnessed such movements, such as in Bolivia and the overthrow of president Evo Morales; And in Hong Kong, which witnessed disturbances supported by the West and directed against the People's Republic of China; In Belarus, against the rule of President Lukashenko, who preserved many features of state capitalism of a social character; And in Kyrgyzstan after the presidential elections and within the context of the redistribution of influence between the concerned external groups ... and others.

It should be noted that so-called "Civil society organizations" play a key role in most of these movements, specifically in attempts to overthrow unsatisfactory regimes by imperialist centers. These organizations are generously funded by the relevant imperialist circles, and their leaders are trained and directed by the West. These organizations have distinct relations with international Zionism. Therefore, raising vigilance towards these organizations and combating them is a patriotic duty.

The Central Committee praised the achievements of the real mass movements and the forces which represent it in Bolivia and Chile. It expressed its solidarity the Venezuelan people in the face of imperialist conspiracies and acts of sabotage of its agents, as well as it expressed its full solidarity with the steadfast Communist Party of Venezuela in its patriotic and class positions.

Upon discussing the elections in the United States of America, the Central Committee considered that the results of these elections do not affect in any way the aggressive and expansionist approach of American imperialism and the deepening of inter-imperialist contradictions which is becoming more intense.

In general, the international situation threatens of further confrontation and intensification, and the international revolutionary movement and its factions have the task of mobilizing forces in preparation for major class struggle.

In examining the situation in the Arab region, the Central Committee considered that one of the most important features of it, which aims to strengthen the international anti-imperialist front, is the continued honorable steadfastness of Syria in the face of imperialist aggression and the patriotic struggle of its people against imperialism and its agents.

The Central Committee also expressed its solidarity with the steadfast struggle of the Yemeni people against the aggression of the obscurant, pro-colonial Gulf States.



The Central Committee expresses its solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people in the face of the escalation of imperialist and Zionist conspiracies against them. And it affirms that the rights of the Palestinian people are embodied primarily in the right to return to their land and self-determination with the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian State.

The Central Committee considers that the announcement of normalization between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with the Zionist entity is a full disclosure of these existing relations, which were clearly visible.

As for Sudan’s normalization with Zionist Israel, the justification for the fact that hunger is infidel is a cover-up of the acquiescence of the current ruling class in Sudan to American dictates. In this context, the Central Committee expresses its deep appreciation for the high patriotic spirit shown by thousands of Sudanese who have come to the streets condemning this defeatist step that contradicts the patriotic heritage of the Sudanese people.

In its examination of the Syrian situation, the Central Committee confirmed that the main patriotic political task is the continuous and persistent struggle for the full and complete evacuation of the NATO occupying forces from the homeland and the elimination of the remaining hotspots of the terrorist and obscurant gangs that are loyal to the occupier. These are essential steps in strengthening national independence and sovereignty to preserve the unity of homelands.

The Central Committee considered that the socio-economic situation, and the governmental policies and procedures in this field do not serve to enhance the honorable patriotic steadfastness, but on contrary, they weaken it. The continued liberal approach of successive governments to the economic issues has created new difficulties for national production and leads to a continuing decline in the standard of living of the toiling people.

With the escalation of unjust sanctions imposed on Syria by U.S. imperialism and other Western imperialist centers since mid-June 2020 (the so-called "Caesar Act"), it has become more clear that the government's economic approach is not compatible with the requirements of the national struggle.

Since the beginning of 2019, the country has witnessed a series of government measures that have led to the devaluation of the national currency, first through the financial and monetary field, and then by raising fuel prices, which has increased the country's monetary inflation. The state budget for 2020, with its huge deficit, which our party warned at the time, led to a major inflationary jump and a significant rise in the price of all commodities in the country. This process, together with its painful impact on people's standard of living, has seriously obstructed production.

This government policy continued in 2020, where the prices of essential items, including agricultural production requirements such as fertilizers and fodder continued to raise, and then it raised the price of gasoline and industrial diesel, leading to an increase in the price of popular bread. The state budget project for 2021, with a large deficit ratio -as never before-, was recently announced. All these factors have led to a resumption of the increase in the rate of monetary inflation in the country, which is reflected above all in the continued depreciation of the local currency and consequently the decline in the purchasing power of the majority of citizens.

The continuation of this process carries with it a great risk to productive branches, particularly industry. In conditions of continued price increases, it is difficult to properly evaluate the inputs and outputs of production. On the other hand, in the circumstances of the unjust embargo imposed on the country and the limited access to foreign markets, the main outlet for national production remains the internal market. However, in circumstances of a sharp decline in purchasing power for the most of the population, the possibility of product disposal in the domestic market is narrowed and thus the depression increases.

The Central Committee also warns of the government's continued tendency to raise energy prices, especially, what is currently circulating among some circles regarding raising the price of electricity. Such actions would exacerbate economic and social difficulties, which leads to dangerous and multifaceted consequences.

Those affected by the colonial embargo and the liberal economic government approach are the producers of all forms, i.e. workers, peasants, artisans, and the national bourgeoisie. The beneficiary of this situation is a very small segment of the bourgeoisie, i.e. all kinds of parasites from brokers, intermediaries, monopolists, speculators and their bureaucratic bourgeois partners.

The Central Committee considers that the constant deteriorating socio-economic situation requires radical treatment that reflects in the benefit of national production, producers and the people in general. Economic liberalism must be completely abandoned and we need a serious shift to a socially oriented approach of state capitalism, i.e. paying attention to the interests of national production and producers. This requires, in the first place, striking at the sites of the parasitic bourgeoisie and the bureaucratic bourgeoisie that plunder the state and the people together. The first important step in this field is to impose state control over the supply and selling of essential materials that are necessary for the lives of citizens and for national production too, and the complete removal of various forms of speculators, brokers and intermediaries from this vital field.

The Central Committee emphasizes our party’s proposition of the need to put an end to the contradiction between the national liberation anti-imperialist anti-Zionist political path which opposes the imperialist projects and war against our homeland on the one hand, and the effects of liberal economic and social policies and measures that harm patriotic steadfastness and weakens it.

The Central Committee also emphasizes the proposal of our party that the great national struggle waged by our Syrian people, which is long-standing in its revolutionary and liberal heritage, requires consolidation of the internal situation in Syria by strengthening the pillar of this honorable struggle, which is embodied by the masses of workers, peasants, small earners, employees and national intellectuals, and all efforts must be done to meet the interests and demands of these masses not only nationally, but also economically and socially. Meeting the economic and social demands of the masses is essential in our national struggle for:

1- Defending national independence.

2- Defending full national sovereignty.

3- The relentless struggle for the unity of the national territory and the liberation of the last inch of it.

In the organizational field, the Central Committee considered and approved the electoral regulation that governs the conferences of party committees, towards the permanent strengthening of the democratic centralism which the party life is based upon. The Central Committee has also directed party bodies at all levels to increase attention to the demands of the popular masses and to improve the demanding struggle for them.

The Central Committee examined the situation of party publishing in the current circumstances, which requires focusing on electronic publishing. And it noted that this task is being carried out at the required level in general, as the number of participants in the electronic version of "The People's Voice" is constantly expanding. The Central Committee stressed on the need to support party publishing, and stressed the importance of activating correspondence for the newspaper relating to people's concerns and demands.

The Central Committee discussed and approved the report of the work of the Department of Professional Organizations of the Central Committee and approved it, with its emphasis on giving due attention to this field. And the need to work to activate professional organizations and increase the democratic character in their internal life

The Central Committee thus concluded its meeting.

Damascus 14/11/2020

The Central Committee of the Syrian Communist Party

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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Sun Dec 13, 2020 4:42 pm

Missed this, better late than never. Good links.

New Documents Reveal Secret British Efforts To Arm, Assist And Propagandize 'Moderate Rebels' In Syria
In November 2018 some anonymous people published a number of documents that had been liberated from a clandestine British propaganda organization, the Integrity Initiative.

The same group or person who revealed the Integrity Initiative papers has now released several dozens of documents about another 'Strategic Communication' campaign run by the British Foreign Office. The current release reveals a number of train and assist missions for 'Syrian rebels' as well as propaganda operations run in Syria and globally on behalf of the British government.

Moon of Alabama, as well as other sites, had published a series of pieces about the Integrity Initiative. There were also connections between the Integrity Initiative and the Skripal 'novichok poisoning' affair.

They newly released documents about British operations in Syria are accessible under:

Op. HMG Trojan Horse: From Integrity Initiative To Covert Ops Around The Globe. Part 1: Taming Syria I
Op. HMG Trojan Horse: From Integrity Initiative To Covert Ops Around The Globe. Part 1: Taming Syria II
All the now published documents archived in one file are available for download under:

https://anonfiles.com/z9B2AeRbob/Complete_FCO_rar.
Most of the documents are detailed company responses to several solicitations from the Foreign Office for global and local campaigns in support of the 'moderate rebels' who are fighting against the Syrian government and people.

The documents lay out large scale campaigns which have on-the-ground elements in Syria, training and arming efforts in neighboring countries, command and control elements in Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, as well as global propaganda efforts. These operations were wide spread.

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Most of the documents are from 2016 to 2019. They detail the organization of such operations and also portray persons involved in these projects. They often refer back to previous campaigns that have been run from 2011/2012 onward. This is where the documents are probably the most interesting. They reveal what an immense effort was and is waged to fill the information space with pro-rebel/pro-Islamist propaganda.

The documents are not about the 'White Helmets' which were a separate British run Strategic Communication campaign financed by various governments. While the operations described in the new documents were coordinated with U.S. efforts they do not reference the CIA run campaigns in Syria which included similar efforts at a cost of $1 billion per year.

The various projects and the detailed commercial offers to implement them from various notorious companies are roughly described in the above two links. I will therefore refrain from repeating that here. Some of the documents' content will surely be used in future Moon of Alabama posts. But for now I will let you rummage through the stash.

Please let us know in the comments of the surprising bits that you might find.

Posted by b on September 18, 2020 at 15:51 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/09/n ... syria.html
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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Fri Dec 25, 2020 4:16 pm

Israel Bombs Syria on Christmas Eve

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Israeli missiles in the sky over Syrian territory. Dec. 25, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @ava_today

Published 25 December 2020

The Israeli action caused at least six deaths and an unknown number of injuries.


Syrian air defenses responded to an Israeli missile attack that targeted the western Masyaf area in Hama Governorate after midnight Thursday.

Syrian state TV broadcast images of the air defenses intercepting Israeli missiles in the sky over Masyaf.

The Syrian army said that the Israeli missile attack was launched from the Libyan capital city of Tripoli, adding that the Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles.

While the military statement did not name the exact target, Sham FM radio said the attack targeted the vicinity of a scientific research center in Masyaf. Explosions were heard in Syria's central region, state TV reported earlier.


The Israeli action caused at least six deaths and an unknown number of injuries, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Israel often bombs targets of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, Lebanese or Iranian Shiite militias. However, the authorship of these attacks has rarely been officially confirmed.

Lebanon has staged border clashes, many times by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which fought with Israel in a war about 14 years ago.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Isr ... -0003.html

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US occupation loots Syrian oil from Hasaka countryside

24 December، 2020

Hasaka , SANA-US occupation forces on Thursday went ahead in looting the Syrian oil from Hasaka countryside
and brought out a convey consisting of tens of tanks loaded with the stolen oil from its illegal base in Kharab al-Jir military airport in Qamishli countryside to its bases in Iraq.

Civil sources in Rmeilan area told SANA reporter that a convey of 35 vehicles loaded with stolen Syrian oil, left the occupation base in Kharab al-Jir military airport in the countryside of Hasaka, via the illegal al-Walid crossing to the Iraqi territories.

MHD Ibrahim/ Mazen Eyon

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=215003

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On Occasion of Christmas …Holy mass held in Syriac Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George

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25 December، 2020

Damascus, SANA- A divine mass was held on Friday morning on the occasion of birth of Jesus Christ, the Messenger of Love and Peace, in the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All East “Cathedral of Saint Goerge” in Damascus.

The mass was presided over by Patriarch Mar Ignatius Aphrem II, Syriac Patriarch of Antioch and All East, Supreme President of Syriac Orthodox Church in the world.

the Armenian Orthodox Archbishop of Damascus Armash Nalbandian participated in the Mass which was served by the Choir of Saint Ephrem in Damascus.

The Patriarch Aphrem II delivered the Christmas Sermon in which he talked about the meaning of the Merry Christmas, saying that the message of it can be summed up in one word “Emmanuel”, meaning that God is with us and strengthens us with challenges we face. God created this world to be with us in all difficulties;God who created this world is with us in every tribulation to get out of it victorious.

He added “From Damascus, the cradle of civilisation, we send our prayers and greetings to all the peoples of the world, asking God for health and blessings, and we send our love and warm congratulations to the sons of our church in all parts of the world. We pray to God to protect the children of Syria, Muslims and Christians, on top of whom President Bashar al-Assad and our brave army and the supporting forces that sacrifice in order to protect us from terrorism, to have mercy on the souls of the heroic martyrs, to heal the wounded, and to return every person who was forced to migrate to return to his country, Syria”.

Baraa Ali / Mazen Eyon

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=215038

So then, which side are you on?
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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Fri Jan 29, 2021 11:54 am

Syria - The U.S. Controlled Al-Tanf Serves As ‘ISIS’ Base - Truth Or Propaganda?
by Hedwig Kuijpers

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Photo of US soldiers training Maghweer al-Thora forces in the al-Tanf pocket (source: Hammurabi news)

Many questions remain unanswered about the al-Tanf United States base in the Syrian desert, that is called illegal by the Syrian government and Russia. Why is al-Tanf so important to the US? What are the US soldiers still doing there? Who else are hosted in the al-Tanf pocket? Why is ISIS growing again? Is al-Tanf really a launching pad for ISIS attacks in the region?

Why is the al-Tanf base so important to the US?

The al-Tanf base is located in the al-Tanf pocket, at about 20km of the al-Tanf border crossing. It’s 55 km-deconfliction zone is located along the border with Iraq and Jordan, and cuts off the Baghdad-Damascus highway. By controlling this highway, the United States ensures that Iranian deliveries to the Syrian capital Damascus cannot take place by land. This is of high strategic importance to the US, because Iranian shipments and air deliveries are much easier intercepted, and form an easy target to Israeli airstrikes.

The US-led coalition forces use al-Tanf as an entrance point to launch operations into Syria. The base can be easily reached from both Baghdad and Jordan. Both the Syrian government and Russian officials have repeatedly stated that the al-Tanf zone are being used by terrorist groups active in the region, as a safe haven and a foothold to carry out attacks on government-held areas and Iranian proxy-groups in the Bukamal area. This ‘ISIS rear base’ has been actively protected by the forces stationed at al-Tanf, which threaten any deployment of the Syrian Arab Army, Iranian proxy-groups and Russian forces close to the al-Tanf zone. The formal justification given by the US surrounding these actions is that Syrian government troops as well as Iranian-backed forces in Syria pose a threat to US-backed ‘less-radical’ rebel groups and US troops deployed at the garrison.

Oil, Rebels, Iran, Chaos and Leverage

Many allegations exist surrounding the activities of the US soldiers present at al-Tanf, even though the Trump-administration claimed it wanted to pull back troops from Syria and victory had been announced over ISIS.

One of the reasons is the presence of US-backed ‘rebel’ groups such as Maghweer al-Thora. According to an OIR inspector general report released Aug. 4. 2020, OIR officials want to want to double the size of US-proxy forces in Syria and finish training a 2,200-man “oilfield guard” unit there.

The same report also mentions the oil revenues of the area. US-backed forces likely produced at least 30,000 barrels of oil per day, garnering nearly $3 million a day in revenue, until the recent price collapse. “Although US-backed Kurdish forces have “bolstered” their “security presence near major oil and gas fields in northeastern Syria,” they have “remained co-located with Coalition forces whose protection SDF leaders still depend on,” the IG report also reads, reminding us of the cooperation of a shady US oil company partnering up with the Kurdish-led SDF to refine and sell Syria’s oil. The Kurdish-led SDF occupies a great part of the country’s wheat fields and the majority of Syria’s oilfields, and thus actively threaten Syria’s economy. Another reason the US government might utter are ‘humanitarian reasons’ As there are 10.000 refugees and Bedouins living inside the deconfliction zone, which is heavily infiltrated by ISIS militants and said to be a launching pad for ‘ISIS’ attacks by Syrian officials. US officials might utter these ‘refugees’ have been under US protection for years now, and leaving them behind might put them in danger, so they must stay.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, acknowledged the base's strategic importance in countering the sway of Iran. He was quoted as following: “Al Tanf's location is also central to its role in preventing the Iranians from gaining a firmer foothold in the region. The base sits in the heart of what Iran hopes will be part of a "Shia Crescent," a continuous land bridge linking Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon.” US officials have also uttered that their presence at al-Tanf could form leverage in the negotiations on the outcome of the conflict. As Syria, Russia, Turkey and Iran all want the United States to leave Syria, it might give them some leverage when Syria’s future will be formed.

Maghaweer al-Thowra, liberated ISIS prisoners, and the British SAS

As mentioned earlier, the rebel group “Revolutionary Commando Army” or ‘Maghaweer al-Thowra’ is hosted in the al-Tanf pocket, they are called ‘less-radical’ are trained by US soldiers to fight in anti-ISIS operations. Yet, defects of the group have claimed that 'U.S. troops at Al-Tanf base sold weapons to ISIS in Syria' and use the group to hinder operations of the Syrian Arab Army and Iranian proxies in the area instead.

“American instructors trained them to carry out sabotage at oil and transport infrastructure, as well as for terrorist acts in the Syrian government-controlled territories,” state another group of defectors of Maghaweer al-Thowra. In addition to US-backed rebel groups, it is also stated that former ISIS militants are being hosted in the al-Tanf pocket. Though the US forces have not denied that ISIS militants may have infiltrated the refugees there, multiple reports state that ISIS prisoners released by Kurdish officials have been massively transported to the US military base. Western forces are being host in the al-Tanf base as well. The British special forces SAS have been operating alongside US forces and Syrian ‘rebels’ since 2016 in operations hidden from the public. The British covert operation started as early as 2011, when the British were assisting the earliest Syrian ‘rebels’ and assessing their needs to overthrow Syrian president Assad. The SAS began actively training the ‘rebels’ fighting Assad from bases in Jordan in 2012. At the same time, the SAS also began “slipping into Syria on missions”. That the rebels they supported had strong affiliations with ISIS did not matter to them. The Free Syrian Army that was supported in the British operation, was in effect allied to IS until the end of 2013 and was collaborating with it on the battlefield until 2014, despite tensions between the groups. "We have good relations with our brothers in the FSA," ISIS leader Abu Atheer said in 2013, having bought arms from the FSA.

In 2015, reports started to emerge of SAS fighters dressed as ISIS militants and waving the black flag, while at the same time continuing operations against the Syrian Arab Army.

Other reports show that the SAS has been actively training and fighting alongside the Kurdish-led SDF. British special forces continue to operate on the ground in Syria in 2019 and are reported to number at least 120 soldiers, as a new cyber unit was announced that ‘was created to take on Russian and Chinese battle tech’ and ‘also track down remaining ISIS commanders’. In 2020, the SAS has continued ‘secret manoeuvres’ in Syria. They have also fought alongside the Kurdish-led SDF and were clad in Burkas during operations in the area. Reports by British media also state that the forces will also be deployed to hinder Russia’s and Iran’s covert activities. SAS forces are stationed in Jordan and al-Tanf.

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SAS fighters (source: Pinterest.com)

Why is ISIS growing again?

Attacks claimed by ISIS in both Iraq and Syria have increased significantly in 2020, demonstrating both a capacity and a willingness on ISIS’s part to continue attacks and retake territory, support in the area, and resources. ISIS has led a steady beat of assassinations, ambushes, and bombings in eastern Syria in 2020, and is responsible for the deaths of a number of regime and SDF forces. By August, 126 attacks by ISIS across Syria were reported for 2020 — compared to 144 in all of 2019. Reasons mentioned for the ISIS resurgence in Syria are to be found in several complex situations. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have released more than 600 ISIS fighters and 15.000 ISIS-supporters from al-Hol camp. In addition, 785 ISIS fighters escaped from Ayn Issa during Turkish shelling, and about 100 hardcore ISIS-militants have reportedly escaped from ISIS-prisons.

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ISIS prisoners in Hasakah (source: Rudaw)

Another reason for ISIS’ opportunity to grow are the flaring tensions between the SDF and tribal forces in Deir ez-Zor, after the assassinations of several powerful Arab tribal leaders. The SDF blamed the Syrian government, Turkey, Iran and their respective local allies of using certain elements in Deir ez-Zor to cause instability. Though in 2019, victory over ISIS was declared after the last ISIS stronghold was retaken in the battle for Baghouz, the amount of ISIS attacks has seemed to have risen. Maps made by Gregory Waters show the exact location of the ISIS attacks, and how the location of the attacks suddenly spread from the al-Tanf/al-Bukamal axis to the Deir ez-Zor-Uqayribat axis (ISIS stronghold that was liberated by the Syrian Arab Army in 2017) in 2020, as well as multiplying and intensifying by orders of magnitude.

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By analyzing these maps, an interesting trend can be seen. ISIS attacks seem to focus on areas that have been recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army, stretching deeply in SAA territory. Other ISIS attacks focus on Iranian proxies from al-Bukamal to Deir ez-Zor. An amount of ISIS attacks also occurred in SDF-held territories, focussing on the Deir ez-Zor region. These attacks conveniently seem to target tribal leaders that oppose the SDF-US oil deal.

Is al-Tanf really a launching pad for ISIS attacks in the region?

The controversial al-Tanf base is mentioned as a launching pad for ISIS attacks in the region by many sides. All sides seem to agree that dubious attacks – claimed to be committed by ISIS - seem to be launched from the al-Tanf pocket.

The al-Tanf pocket hosts ISIS-affiliated refugees and militias like Maghaweer al-Thowra, that have cooperated with ISIS and use quite the same modus operandi. These groups still receive training by US soldiers today.

It is undeniable that escaped or released ISIS fighters may have rejoined the group. Released jihadists often return to ISIS or similar groups.

British SAS forces remain operative in the reason, and are stationed in Jordan and al-Tanf, from where they launch operations. Little is known about their activities in Syria, as the SAS is exempt from freedom of information laws and operates under a strict “no comment” policy. Secrecy around the corps is pervasive.

Statements of defectors, Russian government officials and Syrian government officials, and other signs explained in this article all point in the same direction; that al-Tanf has become the launching pad of dubious activities in the region. They allege US-sponsored ISIS factions, US-backed rebel groups, or secretive SAS operations are behind the attacks.

Proving these allegations or distinguishing the real perpetrator is very hard, yet all evidence points at al-Tanf. And even if proven, accusations will remain unheard by the larger public. Yet, when arguing about this growing threat, one must take the US military’s earlier actions in the Middle East in mind. The US has a long history of state-sponsored terrorism, and cooperation with terrorist- and radical jihadist groups. Proof of these operations often only shows up years after. And I myself will not be surprised if - one day - news about a clandestine ISIS-US cooperation appears in the media through leaks or whistle blowers, books will be written, and documentaries will be made.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/01/s ... .html#more
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:57 pm

DOES RUSSIA LOOK AWAY FROM ISRAELI BOMBINGS IN SYRIA?
Elijah J. Magnier

4 Feb 2021 , 11:01 am .

Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi recently stated that "Israel carried out 500 air strikes against Syria in 2020." His predecessor, Major General Ghadi Eisenkot, declared in 2019 that "Israel has carried out thousands of incursions against Iranian targets in Syria in recent years." If these figures are taken seriously, these thousands of incursions would have wiped out the Syrian and Iranian armies operating in Syria.

However, the most crucial question remains: How a small organization like Lebanese Hezbollah was able to impose a deterrent framework on Israel following the assassination of Ali Kamal Mohsin, a Hezbollah fighter, in Damascus, while the Syrian army, with its forces and missile capabilities, failed to impose any deterrence equation on Israel to prevent its planes from bombing targets inside Syria?

There is no doubt that Israel is taking advantage of the Russian presence in Syria, and that it is exploiting its close relationship with Moscow to prevent Damascus from imposing any deterrence that would prevent Israel from violating the sovereignty of Lebanese and Syrian airspace. The question that arises then is: is Russia colluding in favor of Israel?

In the summer of 2015, President Vladimir Putin agreed to send his troops to Syria, following a two-hour private meeting with Major General Qassem Soleimani ( assassinated by Donald Trump in Baghdad in 2020). Following the start of the Russian intervention in the Syrian war, there was a significant change in Israel's behavior towards Syria. Before 2015, Israeli attacks were very timid. They have intensified considerably in recent years, especially after it became clear that the Syrian army had won, and that most of the territories had been liberated and returned to the control of the Damascus government and its allies, with the exception of the north of the country. .

From the day that Russia decided to support the Damascus government, it made it clear to both allies, Iran and Israel, that it would not take part in their mutual conflict and that it would not support one side to the detriment of the other. However, in September 2018 , Israeli aviation attacked Syrian army positions and hid its F-16s behind a Russian IL-20 while firing a Syrian anti-aircraft barrage. Fifteen members of the Russian service were killed instantly. This angered the Kremlin, which reacted by handing over the S-300 anti-aircraft batteries to the Syrian army. Although Russia trained several Syrian units in the use of Russian anti-aircraft missiles, it has prevented Syrian leaders from using them against Israeli aircraft that violate Syrian sovereignty.

There is no doubt that the Russian intervention in Syria quickly turned the tables in favor of President Al-Assad and his allies, who had been fighting on the ground for years. They had been able to stop the advance of Al Qaeda and ISIS into Damascus, and take back the main cities, but they had not succeeded in many rural areas. Russian air intervention was vital because it allowed ground forces - which Russia did not engage in Syria - to advance and regain geography.

In the early stages of the intervention, Russia wanted to reach agreements with the United States on Syria, to stop the war and create lines of demarcation between all the belligerents. President Putin feared a stalemate in Syria. Memories of the 1979 Russian experience in Afghanistan still weigh on the Kremlin.

In any case, the United States rejected any agreement with Russia, whose role in the United Nations Security Council was crucial to curb any intention of US military intervention against President Assad. Iran warned that it was willing to wage a regional war if the United States tried to change the Syrian regime through Russia. This war would involve Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. Russia understood that it was not the only actor in Syria.

Without a doubt, Russia would have preferred to be the only major player in Syria. Iran had a different approach towards President Assad, and supported his decisions regardless of whether or not they were in harmony with Iranian interests.

From my personal experience in Syria during the war years, I recall a time when Russia was willing to accept a deal in Syria whereby Syrian President Assad would have been deposed. Instead, Iran has refused to interfere in the Syrian presidency or its internal affairs. President Al-Assad was for Iran a key person in the "Axis of Resistance", to which Russia does not belong.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explicitly stated that "Russia will not allow an Israeli-Iranian conflict on Syrian soil." However, the Russian foreign minister did not explain how he would prevent Israel from carrying out thousands of incursions into Syria.

ISRAEL FAILED TO DRIVE IRAN OUT OF SYRIA DESPITE ALL ITS SCREAMING AND BOMBARDMENT

Before the Russian intervention, Israel did not dare to strike Syria, except when it bombed an enclave in Deir Ezzor in 2007 , where they suspected that it was intended to build a nuclear reactor. To date, Israel has destroyed more than half of the 32 Syrian missile brigades, the equivalent of 170 Syrian air defense missile battalions during the war years.

Israel was able to cause this destruction with the help of jihadist groups and the opposition that it supported against the Assad government. Before 2011, the Syrian army had 450 air defense sites, making Israeli infiltration of Syrian airspace anything but child's play. However, the same Syrian jihadists and opponents who after 2011 claimed they wanted to liberate Syria destroyed and dismantled most of those sites, especially those on the front lines in southern Damascus and Quneitra. These jihadists and opposition groups never realized that their actions exposed Syrian airspace to attacks from Israel. Thanks to the jihadists and the "rebels",

Russia claims to be trying to strike a balance between Israel and Iran in Syria. However, it has failed to stop the Israeli attacks. Russia has delivered a large number of anti-interceptor missiles that have shot down most of the Israeli missiles launched against Syria. In addition, it has regularly informed the Syrian and Iranian military command several hours before the Israeli attacks took place, which has allowed these forces to evacuate as much as possible from the places and withdraw human elements, reducing the damage caused by the Israeli attacks. .

Russia believes it is creating a balance by warning allied Syrian-Iranian forces before attacks, because it prevents human casualties and the destruction of sensitive military capabilities. Iran, however, goes further, insisting on replacing all the missiles and military equipment that Israel destroys.

In Syria, an army source tells us that "Israel was able to attack a lot of military equipment and destroyed many hangars. However, there are about half a million hangars in Syria, which do not necessarily contain Iranian weapons and missiles. Is Israel planning to destroy them all? Is Israel capable of eradicating Iranian forces and their allies? Is this a propaganda bombing in the service of (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu? Is Israel trying to attract the sympathy of Western countries for financial aid?

There is no doubt that Israel is trying to demonize Iran, although the presence of this country in Syria is at the official request of the government. Israel failed to drive Iran out of Syria despite all its screaming and shelling. Today Iran has established a massive presence in Syria - in Al-Mayadeen, Albu Kamal, Deir Ezzor, T3, Al-Sukhnah, Kajab, Palmyra and even as far as Homs - that before the war had been denied, both to Iran and to other allies. Centers have also been established in Handarat, north of Aleppo. "

He continues:

"Israel began to carry out defensive maneuvers for fear that its enemy would advance and take positions in the territories it occupies, mainly in northern Israel that borders southern Lebanon. Israel's strategic efforts have not succeeded in preventing Hezbollah from supplying itself. Iranian precision missiles. It has also failed to drive Iran out of Syria, even as it has enjoyed four years of unlimited support from the Trump administration and a friendly Russian presence. Netanyahu hid under Putin's mantle to bomb Syria. Still "Iran is in Syria to stay. Israel has lost both the battle and the war. It can continue to carry out its air show, as long as Russia does not prevent it," the source concluded.

This article was originally published on February 2, 2021 on Elijah J. Magnier's blog, the translation was done by Eli C Casas.

https://misionverdad.com/traducciones/r ... s-en-siria

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Re: Syria

Post by solidgold » Fri Feb 26, 2021 6:12 am

They couldn’t go two months in office without a drone strike. These are actual junkies.

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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:26 pm

solidgold wrote:
Fri Feb 26, 2021 6:12 am
They couldn’t go two months in office without a drone strike. These are actual junkies.
Given the Obama regime refurbs that Biden has surrounded himself with ya wonder what took them so long. "America is back" doncha know?

US liberals were utterly horrified by Trump but didn't seem to notice that he was less interested pursuing imperialist murder 24/7, if only because he couldn't profit thereby, but that didn't go unnoticed by the targets of US 'hot war'. It is undeniable that the majority of Amerikans don't give a fuck how many the US kills overseas until the bodybags start arriving. And if the killing is done by sanctions and embargoes all the better, 'nothing to see here'.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:26 pm

Syria: Losses in Oil Stolen by US and Its Allies Revealed


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Syria’s oil minister says the uninvited US and its allied Takfiri militants are plundering crude oil reserves in the war-torn Arab country just like pirates. | Photo: Twitter @360CNN

Published 19 March 2021 (16 hours 6 minutes ago)

90 percent of Syria’s oil resources are under the control of Washington and its allies, Oil Minister Bassam Touma has revealed.

Syria’s oil resources are not as significant as those of other countries in the region but were sufficient to guarantee the country’s energy self-sufficiency and allowed Damascus to earn a modest income from exports. Since 2011, much of these resources have been damaged or looted, first by jihadists and then by the U.S. military and their Kurdish allies.

Ninety percent of Syria’s oil resources are under the control of Washington and its allies, Oil Minister Bassam Touma has revealed.

“Americans and their allies are targeting the Syrian oil wealth and its tankers just like pirates,” Touma said, speaking to Syrian News Channel on Thursday.

“What has happened all through the war in Syria has not happened in any country, in terms of preventing us from tapping our wealth and at the same time stopping basic commodities from reaching our country,” Touma added.

The minister estimated direct and indirect damage to Syria’s oil sector of over $92 billion and stressed that the industry had been targeted deliberately by its enemies because it is a crucial income source for the country’s economy.

Syria produced about 400,000 barrels of oil per day before the war. With this income, worth about $730 million a month, the country met its energy needs, accounting for over 20 percent of state revenues.

Between 2014 and 2017, the Daesh group occupied much of the country’s oil fields, looting and destroying infrastructure and illegally shipping hundreds of thousands of tons of black gold out of the country.

In 2019, Washington redeployed troops from the Syrian-Turkish border into the oil-rich interior of northeastern Syria, with President Donald Trump admitting freely that the US’s main aim was to “take” and “keep the oil.”

The Biden administration has resorted to a milder language but has likewise kept the oil-siphoning activities in place. The Russian military has estimated that the US and its allies earn at least $30 million a month on their oil-plundering business.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Syr ... -0021.html

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The US Reinforces Military Presence in Syria

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The Biden administration has reinforced the presence of U.S. troops in the illegal bases in Syrian territory, and continues to add terrorist forces to the conflict. | Photo: Twitter @ThielsChristian

Published 18 March 2021

Without the consent of Damascus, Washington's military bases have served to introduce and support terrorist groups operating in the region.

The U.S. forces present in Syria, without the authorization of the country's legitimate government, intensified their destabilizing actions and sent more reinforcements to their illegal enclaves, in addition to transferring thirty Daesh terrorists to the east of this Arab nation, according to local news agencies.

According to state television, the Kherab Jir area base in the northeastern province of Hasakeh received in the last hours a caravan of 40 trucks loaded with weapons, ammunition, and war and logistic equipment and Sanaa agency.

The caravan is said to have entered Syrian territory through the illegal Al-Walid crossing with northern Iraq, which is often used by U.S. troops for their movements. Similarly, another column of several armored vehicles and trucks moved towards the Ionian gas field's newly established base in the northeastern Deir Ezzor province.
Meanwhile, Syrian news agencies reported the transfer in two helicopters of about 30 members of the Islamic State (Daesh, in Arabic) to the illegal U.S. base in Tanef, on the border with Iraq and Jordan.

According to the data revealed, the terrorists were being held in one of the prisons of the separatist militia Syrian Democratic Forces, a force close to Washington's interests, which arms these terrorists and uses them in the service of its destabilizing plans in Syria, the agencies said.

The government of Bashar Al Asad denounced that the recent attacks of Daesh against military and civilians in the desert are planned and facilitated by the U.S. occupation forces, who offer them support with weapons and intelligence information to prolong the war in this Middle East nation.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US- ... -0021.html
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Re: Syria

Post by blindpig » Tue Mar 23, 2021 2:30 pm

Syria - The War Is Resuming On Several Fronts
Ten years after it began, and after a short lull in fighting, the war on Syria seems now to resume on several fronts.

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Last week Bloomberg published an op-ed by the Turkish President Erdogan in which he begged for 'western' help:

Now, as talk of democracy, freedom and human rights are in vogue anew, humanity’s actions in Syria will be the ultimate measure of our sincerity. I believe that restoring peace and stability in the region depends on genuine and strong Western support for Turkey.
...
Unfortunately, the moderate rebels, our local partners, have become the target of a coordinated smear campaign despite their hard work and sacrifice to defeat ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, another designated terrorist organization.
The safe zones, which Turkey created in cooperation with its local partners, are proof of our commitment to Syria’s future. These areas have become islands of peace and stability, as well as self-sustaining ecosystems.

Those 'islands of peace' in the Turkish occupied Idleb and along the Turkish border have seen lots infighting between the Al-Qaeda aligned Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) and 'moderate rebels' of various Islamists hue. HTS has mostly won out and is ruling the area in cooperation with Turkish occupation troops. But to control the area costs lots of money and Turkey is currently short of it. Erdogan's recent firing of its central bank head led to another fall of the Turkish economy:

The dollar rose by as much as 15% vs the Turkish lira, and the BIST-100 stock-market index traded 10% lower after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to replace Governor Naci Agbal with Sahap Kavcioglu — the third change at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) in two years.
Thus Erdogan is asking for more money while threatening to push more refugees towards Europe:

The third and most sensible option [form the west] is to throw their weight behind Turkey and become part of the solution in Syria, at minimum cost and with maximum impact.
Our specific expectations are obvious. Primarily, we expect the West to adopt a clear position against YPG, the PKK’s Syrian branch, which attacks safe zones and plays into the hands of the regime. Instead, adequate support must go to the legitimate Syrian opposition as an investment in peace and stability.

Moreover, we call on the Western nations to live up to their responsibilities to end the humanitarian crisis, as failure to share Turkey’s burden may result in fresh waves of migration towards Europe.

Last but not least, we demand that the West invest in safe zones within Syria and unequivocally endorse this peace project. We must show the world that there is a democratic and prosperous alternative for Syria’s future.

On Friday Turkey opened a new military outpost in Syria near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey. This is contrary to the Moscow agreement with Russia.

There have been several skirmishes between Turkish troops, the rebels they support and Kurdish SDF units which are ruling northeast Syria with support from the U.S. occupation.

Despite hostilities between them the U.S. supported Kurds do business with the Turkish supported Jihadis. The oil the Kurds pump from the Syrian wells is being sold to the 'rebels' in Idleb who export it to Turkey.

That oil export has recently become a target of the Russian forces. On March 7 a missile hit near al-Bab and destroyed 180 oil trucks. On March 14 another attack destroyed HTS controlled oil infrastructure in Idleb. In response the 'rebels' fired missiles into the government held Aleppo city after which another strike hit gas facilities near the Turkish border:

A gas facility was hit near Sarmada city in Idlib province and dozens of trailers carrying goods in a parking lot near the border crossing of Bab al Hawa were set aflame in the latest attack on fuel facilities that serve an economic lifeline for a region that is home to more than four million people.
Western intelligence sources say Russia was behind a ballistic missile strike earlier this month that set ablaze dozens of local oil refineries near the towns of al-Bab and Jarablus further east in a rebel-held area where Turkey holds sway and has a significant military presence.

In the north east the U.S. allied Kurdish SDF is still holding several thousand former ISIS fighters. Every few weeks some dozens get released. They are moved into the south eastern desert where the U.S. forces in al-Tanf at the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian border triangle [green] are presumably train and equip them. They then go on to attack Syrian government forces. As the rough desert makes it difficult to fight on the ground Russia renewed an air campaign against those ISIS remnands:

There are several goals behind the Russian airstrikes. Chief among them is securing the roads in the Badia region (the Syrian desert), limiting IS operations and military capabilities and curbing the spread of the organization in the Badia, which extends over Raqqa, Hama, Homs, Deir Ez-Zor and Aleppo provinces.
The conflict between the Kurds and Turkey in the north east is also resuming:

n the Raqqah countryside, SDF reported that its fighters had repelled two attacks by Turkish proxies. The first was on the village of Saida west of Ain Issa. The second attack targeted the town of Mu’alk to the east.
No specific casualty numbers were released.

The area around Ain Issa has been volatile for a while now, with Turkey and its proxies frequently attacking the town’s outskirts. An Ankara plan to push and capture the town has been expected for months.

Likely in response to this, two rockets were launched from Syria towards the southern Turkish city of Kilis. According to Syrian sources, the two rockets were launched from the vicinity of the town of Tell Rifaat in the northern Aleppo countryside. The positions belong to the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers terrorist. The YPG is also the core of the SDF.

The Turkish army shelled a dozen of towns and villages in response to the attack. Heavy clashes were also reported between Kurdish fighters and militants of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army west of the Turkish-occupied town of al-Bab.

Meanwhile Syria's economy, hindered by sanctions, lack of oil revenues and the crash of the Lebanese banks, has further deteriorated. A war of hunger has replaced the war of guns.

With the tenth anniversary of the war many seem to have forgotten that it was the U.S. which started and fueled this catastrophe while it still has no plan how to end it:

The sad part of the joint statement by the US and its European allies is not only that it is rewriting history and spreading falsehood but conveys a sense of despair that there is no hope for light at the end of the tunnel in the Syrian conflict in a conceivable future.
The US policy in Syria is opaque. It has oscillated between aiming to prevent a resurgence of IS, confronting Iran, pushing back against Russia, providing humanitarian aid, and even protecting Israel, while the crux of the matter is that successive US administrations have failed to articulate a clear strategy and rationale for the US military presence in Syria.

This week U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will hold talks with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

A statement by the Biden administration today was quite friendly:

Jen Psaki, also added, "Turkey is a long-standing and valued NATO ally. We've shared interest in countering terrorism and ending the conflict in Syria, deterring malign influence in the region."
It is quite possible that the Biden administration has plans to reset the current stalemate in Syria by allying with Turkey for new push against Damascus.

Posted by b on March 22, 2021 at 18:30 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/03/s ... .html#more
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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