US occupation of north eastern Syria is unsustainable

Syria, after decisively defeating the Daesh terrorists and liberating almost all occupied territories from the US-Saudi-backed cannibalistic Takfiri outfit, is now facing another threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and this time from the US, whose forces have illegally entered Syria and are backing a variety of Kurdish and Arab rebels who have occupied large swathes of Syrian territory.

Now we have an analysis in this regard by Moon of Alabama for Global Research.

The US is now occupying north-east Syria. It wants to blackmail the Syrian government into “regime change”. The occupation is unsustainable, its aim is unattainable. The generals who devised these plans lack strategic insight. They listen to the wrong people.

Daesh no longer holds any significant ground in Syria and Iraq. What is left of it in a few towns of the Euphrates valley will soon be gone. Its remnants will be some of several terror gangs in the region. Local forces can and will hold those under adequate control. Daesh is finished. This is why the Lebanese Hezbollah announced to pull back all its advisors and units from Iraq. It is the reason why Russia began to repatriate some of its units from Syria. Foreign forces are no longer needed to eliminate the remains of Daesh.

The UN Security Council resolution 2249 issued in 2015 for the fight against Daesh “reaffirming its respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and unity of all States in accordance with purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter”, had called upon member states “that have the capacity to do so to take all necessary measures, in compliance with international law, in particular with the United Nations Charter, … on the territory under the control of ISIL also known as Daesh, in Syria and Iraq, to redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by ISIL … and entities associated with Al-Qaida … and to eradicate the safe haven they have established over significant parts of Iraq and Syria;

Today, there is no longer any territory under the control of Daesh. Its “safe havens” have been eradicated. The task laid out and legitimized in the UNSC resolution is finished. It is over. There is no longer any justification, under UNSC Res 2249, for US troops in Syria or Iraq.

Other legal justifications, like an invitation from the legitimate governments of Syria and Iraq, could apply. But while Syria has invited Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s – legendry anti-terrorist movement – Hezbollah, to stay on its soil and help in the fight against terrorism, it has not invited US forces.

The US forces are now illegally occupying Syrian land in the north-east of the country. The Syrian government explicitly called it such.

One wonder how long it will take the sanctimonious European Union to sanction the US for its egregious breach of international law and for violating the sovereignty of Syria.

According to official documents more than 1,700 US troops are currently in Syria. The publicly announced number is only 500. The supposedly ‘temporary’ forces make the up the difference. Overall US troop numbers in West Asia have increased by 33% over the last four months. The numbers doubled in Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. No explanation has been given for these increases.

The US troops in Syria are allied with the Kurdish YPG. The YPG is the Syrian branch of the internationally designated Kurdish terrorist organization PKK. Only about 2-5% of the Syrian population are of Kurdish-Syrian descent. Under US command they now control more than 20% of Syrian state territory and some 40% of its hydrocarbon reserves. This is thievery on a grand scale.

To disguise its cooperation with the Kurdish terrorists, the US renamed the group into the “Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF). Some Arab fighters from east Syrian tribes were added to it. These are mostly former foot-soldiers of DAESH who changed sides when the US offered better pay. Other fighters were pressed into service. The people of the Syrian-Arab city Manbij, which is occupied by the YPG and US forces, protested when the YPG started to violently conscript its youth.

New troops were added to the SDF during the last days when DAESH terrorists escaped from the onslaught of Syrian and Iraq forces in Abu Kamal. They fled northwards towards YPG/U.S. held areas. Like other DAESH terrorists the US helped to escape their deserved punishment these forces will be relabeled and reused.

The Russian Ministry of Defense charged the US with blocking the lower airspace over Abu Kamal while its Syrian allies were trying to liberate it. For eight days Russian high flying long range bombers had to come all the way from Russia to provide support for its troops on the ground.

In a recent TV speech the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, charged the US troops in Syria with providing drone intelligence to DAESH in Abu Kamal. DAESH used it to shell Syrian and allied forces. Several Resistance Officers were killed in such attacks. Nasrallah also said that the US used electronic warfare measures to disable the radios of the attacking force. He said that it rescued fleeing DAESH terrorists. Nasrallah’s charges are consistent with reports from the ground – the US and its allies also continue to supply other terrorist groups in north-west and the south-west of Syria.

Neither Nasrallah nor the rest of the Resistance including Iran will forget those US misdeeds. The operation commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), General Qassim Soleimani, recently reported to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

All these crimes have been designed and implemented by US leaders and organizations, according to the acknowledgement of the highest-ranking US official who is currently president of the United States; moreover, this scheme is still being modified and implemented by current American leaders.

The US has changed its rule of engagements and unofficially declared a no-fly zone for Russian and Syrian planes on the east side of the Euphrates. It says that it will attack any force that crosses the river to pursue DAESH. It is openly protecting its terrorists.

Recently, the US Secretary of Defense “Mad Dog” retired general Jim Mattis announced US intentions to illegally occupy Syria, saying: The US military will fight Daesh in Syria “as long as they want to fight.” He meant to say that even after the terrorists have been flushed out, the US troops will continue their illegal presence in Syria. This is clear by his words: “We’re not just going to walk away right now before the Geneva process has traction.”

Turkey said on Monday the United States has 13 bases in Syria while Russia has five. The US-backed Syrian YPG Kurdish militia has said Washington has established seven military bases in areas of northern Syria.

A report in Washington Post was more specific, when it ran the headline: U.S. moves toward open-ended presence in Syria after Daesh is routed. It means the Trump administration is expanding its goals in Syria beyond routing Daesh.

With forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies now bearing down on the last terrorist-controlled towns, the defeat of the Daesh in Syria could be imminent — along with an end to the US justification for being there.

US officials say they are hoping to use the ongoing presence of American troops in northern Syria, in support of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to pressure Assad to make concessions at United Nations-brokered peace talks in Geneva.

A US withdrawal could complete Assad’s sweep of Syrian territory and help guarantee his political survival — an outcome that would constitute a win for Iran, his close ally.

To avoid that outcome, US officials say they plan to maintain the illegal US troop presence in northern Syria — where the Americans have trained and assisted the SDF — and establish new local governance, apart from the Assad government, in those areas.

Even the propaganda writers at the Washington Post admit that there is no longer any justification for a US presence in Syria. The US intent is to commit blackmail: “to pressure Assad to make concessions”. The method to do so is military “presence”.

There is no way that Syrian government and its people will give in to such blackmail. They did not fight for over six years to give up their sovereignty to US intrigue. They will call the US bluff.

No military handbook includes “presence” as a military mission. There are no rules for such an undefined task. The last time the US used the term was in the early 1980s during the civil war in Lebanon. The task of US troops stationed in Beirut was defined as showing military “presence”. After such units and naval forces of the US interfered on one side of the civil war, an aggrieved party took revenge against the US and French military stationed in Beirut. Their barracks were blown up, 241 US and 58 French soldiers died. US military “presence” in Beirut ended.

The US military “presence” in Syria is likewise doomed.

The US alliance with the YPG/PKK pushes Turkey into an alliance with Russia, Iran and Syria. Several thousand Turkish soldiers and civilians have died due to PKK attacks. Recently, Russian transports planes crossed through Turkish air space on their flights from Russia to Syria. This was a first.

The US had urged its NATO allies, including Turkey, to prevent such flights and Russian planes had to take the longer route through Iranian and Iraqi air space. Due to the US alliance with the YPG and for many other reasons Turkey feels alienated from the US and NATO. It is moving into the Resistance camp.

The northern border between Turkey and Syria is thus closed for US supplies to its American occupation forces in north-east Syria. Towards the west and south Syrian forces and their allies prohibit any US supplies. Iraqi Kurdish territory to the east is for now the only way for a land supply route. But the government in Baghdad is allied with Iran and Syria and it is pushing to regain control over all the border posts of Iraq, including those still held by the Kurds and used by the US forces. Several Iraqi militia who fought DAESH under Iraqi government command have announced their opposition to US forces. The US land supply route through Iraqi-Kurdish areas can thus be closed at any time. The same goes for any air space around Syria’s north-east.

The north-east of Syria is surrounded by forces hostile to the US. On top of that many Syrian people in the now American occupied north-eastern Syria continue to be loyal to the Syrian state. Syrian, Turkish, Iranian and Hezbollah intelligence are working on the ground. There are lots of local Arabs hostile to over-bearing attitude of the Kurds.

This means, the US bases, outposts and all its transports in the area may soon come under sustained fire. While Russia said that it will not intervene against the US allied SDF forces, many other entities have motives and means to do so.

The mission of the 1,700+ US occupation troops in north-east Syria is undefined. Their supply routes are unsecured and can be blocked by enemies at any time. The local population is largely hostile to the Americans. All of the surrounding countries and entities have reasons to attain the end of any US presence in the area as soon as possible. It would require a ground force that is at least ten-to-twenty times larger to secure the US presence – or more properly US occupation – and its communication and supply routes.

The presence is as useless and unsustainable as the southern US presence at at-Tanaf.

Before becoming president, Trump had spoken out against such occupation and interference in the Middle East. He had campaigned on a pledge to avoid getting sucked into intractable conflicts.

It is now clear that the military junta that controls Trump and the White House, (former) generals McMaster, Kelly and Mattis, are not acting in the interest of the United States, its citizens and troops.

They are following the call of the Zionist Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) which is pushing for a war on all Iran-related entities and interests in West Asia. JINSA advertises its huge influence on the higher US officer corps. It is not by chance that a recent speech at the Jewish Policy Center in Washington described The US Military as a Zionist Organization. But like other such wish-wash, it fails to explain why unquestioned support for a colony of east-European racist in West Asia is of “American interest”.

The military mission of the US occupation force in north-east Syria is undefined. It positions are not sustainable. The aim this “presence” is said to have is unattainable. There is no larger concept into which it fits.

The generals ruling the White House may be tactical geniuses in their fields. They are neophytes when it comes to strategy. They blindly follow the siren call of the Jewish Lobby only to again wreak the US ship of state on the cliffs of West Asian realities.

AS/ME