A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria

[David Guyatt]

The neocons are just crazy, crazy, crazy.

US House Seeks Syria-War Escalation
November 22, 2016

Moving to trap President-elect Trump into a war escalation in Syria, the House rushed through a resolution promoting a U.S.-imposed "no fly zone" that could spark World War III, reports Rick Sterling.


By Rick Sterling


Late in the day, on Nov. 15, one week after the U.S. elections, the lame-duck Congress convened in special session with normal rules suspended so the House could pass House Resolution 5732, the "Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act" calling for intensifying the already harsh sanctions on Syria, assessing the imposition of a "no fly zone" inside Syria (to prevent the Syrian government from flying) and escalating efforts to press criminal charges against Syrian officials.


HR5732 claims to promote a negotiated settlement in Syria but, as analyzed by Friends Committee for National Legislation, it imposes preconditions which would actually make a peace agreement more difficult.


The West Front of the U.S. Capitol
The West Front of the U.S. Capitol
There was 40 minutes of "debate" with six representatives (Ed Royce, R-California; Eliot Engel, D-New York; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida; Dan Kildee, D-Michigan; Chris Smith, R-New Jersey; and Carlos Curbelo, R-Florida) all speaking in favor of the resolution. There were few other representatives present, but the House Foreign Affairs Committee stated that the resolution was passed "unanimously" without mentioning these special conditions.


According to Wikipedia, "Suspension of the rules is a procedure generally used to quickly pass non-controversial bills in the United States House of Representatives … such as naming Post Offices…" In this case, however, the resolution could lead to a wider war in the Middle East and potentially World War III with nuclear-armed Russia.


Most strikingly, the resolution calls for evaluating and developing plans for the United States to impose a "no fly zone" inside Syria, a sovereign nation, an act of war that also would violate international law as an act of aggression. It also could put the U.S. military in the position of shooting down Russian aircraft.


To call this proposal "non-controversial" is absurd, although it may say a great deal about the "group think" of the U.S. Congress that an act of war would be so casually considered. Clearly, this resolution should have been debated under normal rules with a reasonable amount of Congressional presence and debate.


The motivation for bypassing normal rules and rushing the bill through without meaningful debate was articulated by the bill's sponsor, Democrat Eliot Engel: "We cannot delay action on Syria any further. … If we don't get this legislation across the finish line in the next few weeks, we are back to square one."


The current urgency may be related to the election results since President-elect Donald Trump has spoken out against "regime change" foreign policy. As much as neoconservatives and their liberal-interventionist allies are critical of President Obama for not doing more in Syria, these Congressional hawks are even more concerned about the prospect of a President who might move toward peace and away from war.


The Caesar Fraud


HR5732 is titled the "Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act," which House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Royce explained was named after "the brave Syrian defector known to the world as Caesar, who testified to us the shocking scale of torture being carried out within the prisons of Syria."


U.S.-backed Syrian "moderate" rebels smile as they prepare to behead a 12-year-old boy (left), whose severed head is held aloft triumphantly in a later part of the video. [Screenshot from the YouTube video]
U.S.-backed Syrian "moderate" rebels smile as they prepare to behead a 12-year-old boy (left), whose severed head is held aloft triumphantly in a later part of the video. [Screenshot from the YouTube video]
In reality, the Caesar story was a grand deception involving the CIA with funding from Qatar to sabotage the 2014 Geneva peace negotiations. The 55,000 photos which were said to show 11,000 torture victims have never been publicly revealed. Only a tiny number of photos have been publicized. However, in 2015, Human Rights Watch was granted access to view the entire set. They revealed that almost one half the photos show the opposite of what was claimed: instead of victims tortured by the Syrian government, they actually show dead Syrian soldiers and civilian victims of car bombs and other terror attacks. The "Caesar" story, replete with a masked "defector," was one of the early propaganda hoaxes regarding Syria.
One of the other big lies regarding Syria is that the U.S. has been doing nothing. Royce said, "The administration has decided not to decide. And that itself, unfortunately, has set a course where here we sit and watch and the violence only worsens. Mr. Speaker, America has been sitting back and watching these atrocities for far too long. Vital U.S. national security interests are at stake."


Rep. Engel said, "Four years ago I thought we should have aided the Free Syrian Army. They came to us in Washington and begged us for help. … They were simply looking for weaponry. I really believe if we had given it to them, the situation in Syria would have been different today."


That narrative is nonsense. By late 2011, the U.S. was actively coordinating, training and supplying armed opposition groups. When Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan government was toppled in fall 2011, the CIA oversaw the diversion of Libyan weapons to the Syrian armed opposition, as documented in the Defense Intelligence Agency report of October 2012.


These weapons transfers were secret. For the public record, it was acknowledged that the U.S. was supplying communications equipment to the armed opposition while U.S. "allies" Saudi Arabia and Qatar were supplying the weaponry. This is one reason that Saudi purchases of weapons skyrocketed during this time period; they were buying weapons to replace those being shipped to the armed opposition in Syria. It was very profitable for U.S. arms manufacturers.


Huge weapons transfers to the armed opposition in Syria have continued to the present, with the U.S. government even more directly involved. This past spring, Janes Defense reported the details of a U.S. delivery of 2.2 million pounds of ammunition, rocket launchers and other weaponry to the armed opposition.


So, the political claims that the U.S. has been inactive are baseless. In reality, the U.S. has done everything short of a direct attack on Syria. And the U.S. military is starting to cross that line. On Sept. 17, the U.S. air coalition conducted a series of airstrikes on the Syrian Army in Deir Ezzor, killing 80 Syrian soldiers and enabling ISIS to launch an attack on the position. Claims that it was a "mistake" are highly dubious.


The assertions by Congressional hawks that the U.S. has been "inactive" in the Syrian conflict are part of the false narrative suggesting the U.S. must "do something" which leads to a "no fly zone" and full-scale war. Ironically, these calls for war are masked as "humanitarian" though even proponents, such as Hillary Clinton, privately have acknowledged that large numbers of Syrians, including civilians, would be killed in the U.S. attacks needed to establish the "no fly zone."


And, never do the proponents bring up the case of Libya where the U.S. and NATO "did something": destroyed the government and created chaos.


Fact-Free House of Propaganda


With only a handful of representatives present and no dissent, the six Congressional members engaged in unrestrained propaganda and misinformation.


Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addresses the Security Council meeting on Syria, Sept. 25, 2016. Power has been an advocate for escalating U.S. military involvement in Syria. (UN Photo)
Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addresses the Security Council meeting on Syria, Sept. 25, 2016. Power has been an advocate for escalating U.S. military involvement in Syria. (UN Photo)
Engel, said "We're going into the New Year 2017, Assad still clings to power, at the expense of killing millions of his citizens." Even if all the deaths, including Syrian soldiers and civilians killed by anti-government jihadists, were blamed on Assad, this number is way off anyone's charts.


Rep. Kildee said "The world has witnessed this terrible tragedy unfold before our eyes. Nearly half a million Syrians killed. Not soldiers men, women, children killed."


The official text of the resolution says, "It is the sense of Congress that (1) Bashar al-Assad's murderous actions against the people of Syria have caused the deaths of more than 400,000 civilians…"


The above accusations from "millions of citizens" to "half a million" to "400,000 civilians" are all preposterous lies. Credible estimates of casualties in the Syrian conflict range from 300,000 to 420,000. The opposition-supporting Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates the documented 2011-2016 death toll as follows: killed pro-Syrian forces 108,000; killed anti-government forces 105,000; killed civilians 89,000


In contrast with Congressional and media claims, civilians comprise a minority of the total death count and the heaviest casualties are among those fighting in defense of the Syrian state. In the U.S. political world and the mainstream media, these facts are ignored and never mentioned because they point to the reality versus the propaganda narrative which has allowed the U.S. and its allies to continue funding terrorism and a war of aggression against Syria.


The Congressional speakers were in full self-righteous mode as they accused the Syrian government of "committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians including murder, torture and rape. No one has been spared from this targeting, even children." A naive listener would never know that the Syrian government is primarily fighting the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda including thousands of foreign fighters supplied and paid by foreign governments.


The speakers went on to accuse the Syrian military of "targeting" hospitals, schools and markets. A critical listener might ask why they would do that instead of targeting Al Qaeda terrorists and their allies who launch dozens and sometimes hundreds of hell-cannon missiles into the government-held sections of Aleppo every day.


The Congressional propaganda fest would not be complete without mention of the "White Helmets." Royce said "We (previously) heard the testimony of Raed Saleh of the Syrian White Helmets. These are the doctors, nurses and volunteers who actually, when the bombs come, run towards the areas that have been hit in order to try to get the injured civilians medical treatment. … They have lost over 600 doctors and nurses."


This is more Congressional nonsense. There are no nurses or doctors associated with the White Helmets. The organization was created by the U.S. and U.K. and heavily promoted by a "shady PR firm." The White Helmets operate solely in areas controlled by Al Qaeda's Nusra Front (recently renamed Syria Conquest Front) and associated terrorist groups. The White Helmets do some rescue work in the conflict zone but their main role is in the information war manipulating public opinion.


The White Helmets actively promote U.S./NATO intervention through a "no fly zone." Recently, the White Helmets became a major source of claims about innocent civilian victims in east Aleppo.


Given the clear propagandistic history of the White Helmets, these claims should be treated with skepticism. We need to ask exactly what is the evidence?


The same skepticism needs to be applied to video and other reports from the Aleppo Media Center. AMC is a creation of the Syrian Expatriates Organization whose address on K Street in Washington, D.C., indicates it is a U.S. marketing operation.


What's Going On?


The campaign to overthrow the Syrian government is failing and there is possibility of a victory for the Syrian government and its allies.


A heart-rending propaganda image designed to justify a major U.S. military operation inside Syria against the Syrian military.
A heart-rending propaganda image designed to justify a major U.S. military operation inside Syria against the Syrian military.
The earlier flood of international jihadi recruits is drying up. The Syrian Army and allies are gaining ground militarily and negotiating settlements or re-locations with "rebels" who previously terrorized Homs, Darraya (outer Damascus) and elsewhere. In Aleppo, the Syrian army and allies are tightening the noose around the armed opposition in east Aleppo.


This has caused alarm among neoconservative lawmakers devoted to Israel, Saudi Arabia and U.S. empire. They are desperate to prevent the Syrian government from finally eliminating the terrorist groups which the West and its allies have promoted for the past five-plus years.


"Pro Israel" groups have been major campaigners for passage of HR5732. The name of Simon Wiesenthal is even invoked in the resolution. Rabbi Lee Bycel wrote, "Where is the Conscience of the World?" as he questioned why the "humanitarian" HR5732 was not passed earlier.


Israeli interests are one of the primary forces sustaining and promoting the conflict. Syria is officially at war with Israel which continues to occupy the Syrian Golan Heights; Syria has been a key ally of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance; and Syria has maintained its alliance with Iran. In 2010, Secretary of State Clinton urged Syria to break relations with Hezbollah, reduce relations with Iran and come to settlement with Israel. The Syrian refusal to comply with these Washington demands was instrumental in solidifying Washington's hostility.


Congressional proponents of HR5732 make clear the international dimension of the conflict. Royce explains, "It is Russia, it is Hezbollah, that are the primary movers of death and destruction. … It is the IRGC [Revolutionary Guard] fighters from Iran."


Engel echoes the same message: "Yes, we want to go after Assad's partners in violence … Iranian and Hezbollah forces."


In words and deeds Israel has made its position on Syria crystal clear. Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren explained in an interview: "we always wanted [President] Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren't backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran … the greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc."


These statements have been fully backed up by Israeli actions bombing Syrian positions in southern Syria and providing medical treatment for Nusra/Al Qaeda and other armed opposition fighters.


What Will Happen Now?


If the Syrian government and its allies continue to advance in Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, outer Damascus and the south, the situation will come to a head. The enemies of Syria predominately the U.S., Gulf Countries, NATO and Israel will come to a decision point. Do they intervene directly or do they allow their "regime change" project to collapse? HR5732 is an effort to prepare for direct intervention and aggression.


One thing is clear from the experience of Libya: Neoconservatives do not care if they leave a country in chaos. The main objective is to destabilize and overthrow a government which is too independent. If the U.S. and its allies cannot dominate the country, then at least they can destroy the contrary authority and leave chaos.


What is at stake in Syria is whether the U.S. and allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, are able to destroy the last secular and independent Arab country in the region and whether the U.S. goal of being the sole superpower in the world prevails. The rushed passage of HR5732 without any meaningful debate is indicative of that.


Despite Trump's election and his stated priority of taking on Islamic terrorism not overthrowing Assad the "regime change" proponents have not given up their war on Syria. They still seek to escalate U.S. aggression there and hope to box President Trump in.


It's also clear that the U.S. Congress has become a venue where blatant lies can be stated with impunity and where violent actions are advanced behind a cynical and amoral veneer of "humanitarianism."


Rick Sterling is an investigative journalist and member of Syria Solidarity Movement.

Source

[David Guyatt]

A very interesting analysis of recent events in Syria.

On the same day, one year apart, Russia gets its revenge and stops Turkey at the gates of al-Bab.
2 Replies



1553811-1





The partition of Syria is no longer possible without confronting Russia


Published here: ‪alrai.li/dxlrnhd ‪ @AlraiMediaGroup


Key words: Syria, Turkey, Russia, USA, U.S., Kurds, al-Bab.


By Elijah J. Magnier: @EjmAlrai


On the 24th of November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian Sokhoi Su-24 over the Turkish-Syrian border causing the death of one of the two parachuted pilots while trying to hit the ground. On the same day, a year later, a Syrian Air Force jet hits a Turkish military convoy two kilometres from the northern Syrian city of al-Bab, killing three Turkish soldiers. The Turkish aggressive move toward Russia had come after the destruction of hundreds of oil tankers used by the "Islamic State" (ISIS) to transport oil from Syria and Iraq to Turkey.


The Syrian Air Force (SyAF) activity is directly linked, coordinated and ordered by a common military operations room, headed by a Russian General, so as to avoid friendly fire or incidents. Russia coordinates most of the air traffic with the US-led coalition activities over Syria for the same purposes. The Russian command needs to assure the safeguard of its military naval and ground force with artillery and air protection since it is operating in various locations and cities over the Syrian geography. Therefore, every air strike, reconnaissance or drone sorties must be agreed and approved before anything takes off. Faisal al-Miqdad, the Syrian deputy Foreign Minister clearly said: "This event took place on Syrian land. Turkey should only blame itself".


But why the Syrian city of al-Bab?


When Turkey shot down the Russian jet, the aim was to humiliate Russia and push it out of its comfort zone, knowing that Moscow would think carefully before stepping up a full military escalation against Ankara. On the same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan ran to NATO for protection and refuge. The Russian President Vladimir Putin limited his reaction to hitting Turkey proxies in Syria hard, followed by economic sanctions and much more aggressive support to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He agreed to help the Syrian Army retake Aleppo and decided to stand and face the United States of America at all costs in Bilad al-Sham. Putin considered the Turkish action not an Erdogan miscalculated adventure but rather a coordinated act of war with the US. Two main strong elements stand out:


Russia coordinates air traffic control with the US, informing the military command of its schedule and presence over specific areas.
It took 17 seconds for the Turkish Air Force to see the Russian Su-24 on its border, ask for orders from the military chain of command and from then via the highest political leadership for the anti-air missile to be launched. This is not a record by military means but impossible to achieve unless previous orders were in place given way ahead.
Nevertheless, the night of the coup-d'Etat against Erdogan allowed Russia to return the hit to the US by informing Erdogan via Iran of the plan to kill him. The premises he was spending some holidays in were supposed to be bombed. But the thirty minutes warning were enough to save Erdogan's life, and, in consequences, caused the failure of the coup that should have been ignited from the Incirlic military Air base, where US officers are established. The Turkish President accused the US administration indirectly, who in turn strongly contested the Turkish reaction in jailing most officers "friendly of the US".


This event warmed up the Turkish-Russian relationship which had dramatically cooled. In Putin's eyes, the US, not Erdogan, paid the price (even if not fully) of its involvement in the Su-24 incident.


Turkey responded to the Russian favour by recalling thousands of fighters from Aleppo to the borders to start a military campaign aiming to dismantle the US plan to divide Syria and create a Kurdish state from the Syrian north east, Al-Hasaka, to the Syrian north west, Afrin.


Dismantling the US plan was convenient for:


Turkey by preventing a Kurdish state along its borders. This state, apart form the long-lasting Turkish struggle with the Kurds, would also foil the Turkish dream to annexe part of Syria or impose its agenda on Damascus at the end of the war.
Russia wanted to hit back at the US for the Su-24. The Russian plan is to establish a long-lasting presence in Syria without having to share the territory with its old US enemy. Therefore, the unity of Syria has become valuable for Putin.
Damascus was happy to teach the Kurds a lesson following al-Hasaka events. The government of Syria and the Kurds were always on good terms, supporting Syrian cities under siege, i.e. Aleppo, Nubl and Zahra'. Nevertheless, the US pressure on the Kurds was greater than the long-standing relationship with Damascus. Nevertheless, the Kurds, as a minority, have dream "since forever" about having a Federation for themselves.
All of the above created a convenient environment for many players in favour of the Turkish advance toward Jarablus and disturbing the US plans in the north of Syria. Nevertheless, the Turkish President was not content with contering the Kurdish plan but wanted to expand further, even without Russia closing its eyes to what he was doing.


Turkey allowed regional countries to generously finance and supply Qaidat al-Jihad and Syrian rebels with weapons to initiate major attacks against the Syrian Army and keep it busy within a limited geographical sector, mainly around Aleppo. As soon as Russia and its allies pushed forces toward ISIS occupied territories at al-Tabqa, the jihadists and rebels attacked rural Homs and south Aleppo, forcing Damascus to recall all forces engaged on that front to defend positions under attack.


Recently, jihadists and rebels carried out two major attacks on Aleppo under the banner of "breaking the siege" of the eastern surrounded part of the city. The "Aleppo Epic Battle" and the "Abu Omar Saraqeb" second battle caused months of full engagement for over 25.000 members of the Syrian Army, and around 8500 of all of their allies ground forces (Iraqi militia, Iranian advisors and their Afghan and Pakistani militia). Additionally, the Lebanese Hezbollah decided to inject 2500 of its elite Ridwan force in Aleppo and leave these in the city. The two attacks failed to achieve their objective in that part of Syria but succeeded in giving enough time for Turkey to advance toward al-Bab city and make the Syrian Army less keen to distribute forces around multiple fronts.


Damascus didn't officially agree with the Russian-Turkish understanding over Jarablus because Syria mistrusted the Turkish leader and wanted to maintain a good relationship with the Kurds. Moscow never agreed with Ankara to expand its military presence for controlling the triangle Jarablus-Manbij-al-Bab or even to go to Raqqah.


The presence of Turkish forces at the door of al-Bab represented a strategic menace to the Syrian Army based in Aleppo from its eastern gate. The presence of Turkish forces and their proxies at 2 km from al-Bab triggered an understanding where ISIS would pull forces from the city without a fight, as was the case in Jarablus. Ankara is trying to insinuate that the intention of its forces to enter al-Bab aim is to stop the Kurdish federation.


But neither Damascus not Russia will tolerate the Turkish control of al-Bab. The Russians delivered a squad of Su-24M2, deployed the anti-air missiles S-300 and S-400 and encouraged the Syrian President to impose new rules of engagement (ROE) and red lines on Turkey for the first time since the creation of the two states.


A squadron of the Syrian Air Force, followed by a protection escort, raided a Turkish military convoy at the door of al-Bab on the morning of the 24th of November, killing 3 Turkish soldiers. Russia was on alert, ready to launch its missiles in case of any Turkish reaction. That was the second Syrian-Turkish confrontation since the last month. The first took place over the Syrian-Turkish borders when two F-16s violated Syrian air space. These were confronted by four MIGs who locked their missiles on the Turkish jets. The F-16 scan radar informed the F-16 pilots who received instructions to return to base. Syria imposed it sovereignty over its air space for the first time. Russia won't tolerate any further violation and Ankara's F-16 are no longer permitted in the sky over Syria.


This is exactly what the newly elected US President Donald Trump meant when he declared he has no intention to fight Assad, because this means confronting Putin who is determine to keep Syria united and defend the Syrian regime.


When hitting Turkish soldiers on Syrian territory, Damascus is not provoking Ankara because it had never given the permission to send that army onto Syrian soil. In consequences, the idea of Turkey pushing forces even toward Raqqah is no longer a pushover, because Damascus and Moscow have not said their last word to Turkey and the US.


Since Trump said he has no intention to of triggering a nuclear war or a third World War, the partition of the north of Syria is no longer as easily imposed compared with during Obama administration. Therefore, the future of Syria depends on how Trump-Putin understanding is imposed on all parties. Either that, or the war will proceed even more violently.


Erdogan is weaker than ever in relation to Iraq and Syria: he failed to impose his will regarding participation in the attack against the capital of the caliphate, Mosul, or even the smaller city of Talafar. And today he can't materialise his dream to annex Aleppo, and his forces are stopped at the gates of al-Bab. If he continues toward Raqqah there is a huge risk: he will have to face a superpower: Russia.

Source

[Paul Rigby]

Syria Roundup: Jihadi Fronts Fall Apart - Egypt Enters The Fight

Moon of Alabama

27 November 2016

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/11/syr...l#comments

After breaking the Jihadi front in the north-eastern part of the east-Aleppo cauldron yesterday, the defenses there fell completely apart. The Jihadis had to pull back and the whole norther third of the Jihadi held east-Aleppo is now rapidly falling to the Syrian government forces. The main reason for the defeat of the Jihadis is - tadaaah - the "lack of hospitals":

"The revolutionaries are fighting fiercely but the volume of bombardments and the intensity of the battles, the dead and the wounded, and the lack of hospitals, are all playing a role in the collapse of these frontlines," said an official from Jabha Shamiya, one of the biggest groups fighting against Assad in northern Syria.

The destruction of the last hospital for transsexual cats in Aleppo by a thermobaric barrel nuke must have been the tipping point of the fight. This is, I believe, the first time such a ludicrous propaganda excuse has been given for a total defeat.

[Paul Rigby]

Leaving him as deceased as a Norwegian parrot:

https://youtu.be/ebE3GJfGhfA?t=26m59s

Published on 9 Dec 2016

Full Press Conference at the United Nations. Against propaganda and regime change, for peace and national sovereignty. 9 December 2016, the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations. Speakers: Dr. Bahman Azad, Member of the Coordinating Committee for the Hands Off Syria and Organization Secretary of US Peace Council, and Eva Bartlett, Independent Canadian Journalist.

[Lauren Johnson]

Ouch. She just seriously abused him.

[Paul Rigby]

Ouch. She just seriously abused him.

They normally have to pay good money for that sort of mistreatment.

But that's presstitutes for you.

[Lauren Johnson]

Ouch. She just seriously abused him.

They normally have to pay good money for that sort of mistreatment.

But that's presstitutes for you.

And I was starting to feel sorry for the poor sod. ::

[David Guyatt]

A big round of applause for her. The Norwegian media guy clearly and obviously is completely lost to his professions propaganda and group think - and, even worse, doesn't even know it.

There's no hope for these types of journalists who forego critical thinking and independence and simply fall in line with the professional pressure of conformity that capture them.

[Lauren Johnson]

Leaving him as deceased as a Norwegian parrot:

Come to think of it, I've seen that parrot some place before. Ah, yes.

[David Guyatt]

Sellers was magnificent in those Panther films.