Battle of Idlib: No mass flight, expulsion or humanitarian crisis

Syrian President Bashar Assad says “Idlib Province is home to tens of thousands of terrorists and that region is among the priority areas for the Syrian military's operations.”

So it makes perfect sense to liberate the terror-held area. After all, the Syrian Army is sending military equipment and ammunition to the borders of Idlib, preparing for a large-scale operation to clear the area of terrorists.

Sadly, most of Idlib Province is occupied by a disparate collection of foreign-backed terrorist groups. The region has been home to infighting between terrorists of Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham as well, a coalition of Salafist, Takfiri and Wahhabi militants. And with the liberation of broad areas of Southern Syria this month, Idlib has become one of the last terrorist strongholds in Syria – all armed with US-made weapons, including anti-tank missiles.

The good news is that Turkey has officially designated the Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at group as a "terrorist" organization, ahead of the operation by the Syrian Army. Turkey, which has already listed Al-Nusra and Al-Qaeda as terror groups, has updated its list of terror groups. It has been keeping a wary eye on the Idlib offensive, as the long-awaited operation is seen as a prelude to efforts to bring peace to Syria. To that end, the presidents of these three countries are scheduled to meet in Iran this week. The talks will include prospects of peace with the opposition groups.

The military operations in Idlib are not designed to cause catastrophe or trigger an influx of refugees across its borders. That’s not the intention. Reconstruction in Syria cannot begin as long as there are still remnants of Daesh and Al-Qaeda in the war-torn country. No international company or bank is willing to build or finance any infrastructure project if parts of Syria are still under the control of terrorist groups.

For that reason, recapturing the province of Idlib makes sense. It will pave the way for full resumption of reconstruction efforts nationwide. Private companies from Iran have already agreed to build 30,000 homes for the Syrian people. They also say they could only begin work when they feel safe. That safety could be guaranteed with the liberation of Idlib.

In between, Western media outlets are free to claim sectarian and ethnic cleansing will be inevitable once Idlib is fully liberated. And even if the war ends, many refugees will find it too dangerous to return to their homes. They can even claim communities which once lived together in peace will be too frightened of each other to return to Idlib. But guess what? They made the same claims when other regions were liberated by the Syrian forces, backed by Russia coupled with Iran’s military advisory help, and nothing terrible happened afterwards. This means there are no reasons for the civilians to be afraid; there is no sectarian or ethnic and political agenda; and certainly no “displacement, elimination, mass flight and expulsion” plans. Much to the chagrin of “fake stream” media in the West, civilians will be able to return home in safety and with full protection from the central government in Syria.

There is no denying that the decision to liberate Idlib has enraged the United States and its rogue partners. They are using their “humanitarian crisis” concerns to prolong the unnecessary conflict, to justify their presence and occupation, and to keep their terror proxies at an arm’s length. Backed by corporate media propaganda, they allege liberation will look like occupation and ethnic cleansing. Other allegations include government forces will be carrying out summary execution of al Qaeda sympathizers, looting, and burning homes for the run of it. The frantic propagandists are in the know that these barbaric acts are what their terror proxies have done in Syria for so many years - and continue to do in Idlib under the horrible campaign of regime-change bloodletting. To be sure, the government-led campaign to liberate Idlib will have the minimum number of civilian casualties. It has nothing to do with sectarian tensions or people and everything to do with the plan to kick start nationwide reconstruction efforts.

In brief, it is the terrorist groups and their enablers that have committed and continue to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Syria. The War Party in Washington and its rogue partners in crime are not fit to judge the sensible conducts of the Syrian government forces in Idlib. One instance is the tens of thousands of former rebels who have all been pardoned by the government in the last several years and are living in peace in their cities. Still better, some of the same are fighting alongside the Syrian Army against their former comrades to end the war. The peace agreements signed with numerous militant groups constituted one of the main reasons why the operation in Sweida was wrapped up in a matter of weeks than months.

Predictably, the United States and its allies will still issue statements blaming Syria and its supporters for the carnage wrought by Daesh and Al-Qaeda in Idlib, and that includes their sectarian massacres, summary executions, and destruction of public property among others. The reason is obvious. They are unhappy at the reversal of fortunes because the Syrian Army has liberated the rest of the country from the bloodthirsty demons created by Washington and its partners. The government forces are now heading towards Idlib where the fate of foreign-backed terrorists is sealed.

The US keeps its threats to intervene militarily if the Idlib offensive involves chemical weapons. Most importantly, it is this desire that has Russia complaining to the UN with damning evidence that the terrorists could stage a fake chemical attack just to suck the US into the war. At the same time, the US is desperately talking about an imminent chemical attack despite there being no reason or evidence to think Syria is poised to launch one.

Washington’s “chemical weapons attack” concerns are unfounded. Syria has no chemical weapons and the whole world is in the know that only the US-backed, UN-designated terrorists have the means to “stage” chlorine gas releases to simulate an attack. The international civil society is also in the know that Syrian troops and volunteer forces are fulfilling their pledge to liberate Idlib.

After all, Trump administration officials keep telling us that “right now, our job is to help create quagmires until we get what we want.” They want to have a dominant position in post-war negotiations, so they can dictate the form that post-war Syria takes. This means ensuring that the Syrian government doesn’t win the war outright.

(Courtesy of FNA)

EA/SS