Idlib will be unshackled

In an expansion of previous comments, threats and tweets, US President Donald Trump has once again threatened the Syrian government which is gearing up to liberate the province of Idlib, the last bastion of terrorist groups in Syria.

At a time when his domestic woes are mounting, the Twitter-in-Chief has issued a statement warning that he is “going to get very, very angry” if the upcoming Syrian offensive against Al-Qaeda in Idlib ends up “slaughtering civilians.” He has also threatened to respond “swiftly and appropriately” about the offensive, in which the world hopes Syria can liberate the last terror-held territory. Previously, US officials had threatened to attack if chemical weapons were used.

Trump’s threat to respond now appears to no longer be conditional on any alleged chemical use, and comes after other US officials have declared that they are opposed to any offensive against the al-Qaeda-aligned terrorists, and will view them all as an “escalation” of the war. Despite Trump’s warning, Syrian and Russian forces have shelled and launched airstrikes against terrorist positions in Idlib in recent days, but there is as yet no public timetable for the ground offensive.

The struggle to liberate Idlib is important though. It is the last major military operation to be undertaken by government forces and allies to complete expulsion of Salafi-Takfiri terrorist groups and al-Qaeda-allied terror factions from Syrian territory. Like other liberated places, once the mission has been accomplished, it will be a cause of rejoicing everywhere - everywhere, that is, except the capitals of Saudi Arabia, the usurper regime of Israel and the United States capitals, where the attempt to destroy Syria stands as an indictment of joint Saudi-Zionist-American foreign policy and its conceits.

Nonetheless, we all know why they don’t want to see Idlib liberated. They all played a decisive role in the failed regime-change campaign. It was the US State Department headed by Hillary Clinton which pushed for NATO invasion in Libya, responsible for the country being pitched into an abyss from which it is yet to emerge.

Clinton left her destructive role as Obama's secretary of state at the beginning of 2013. A few months later, in August of that year, Obama stepped back from the brink when it came to unleashing airstrikes against Syrian government targets in response to allegations that Syrian government forces mounted an attack against Qaeda-allied rebel positions outside Damascus using chemical weapons. The report was dismissed by the Syrian government and disputed by MIT professor Theodore Postol and former UN weapons inspector Richard Lloyd in a report they co-authored for the UN.

As current circumstances require, the battle for Idlib is the final push in this brutal conflict, which will eventually bring it to an end so that international reconstruction efforts could begin in Syria. That means the armed militant groups and terror partners in crime, which are currently entrenched in the province, would have only two options: to lay down their arms or to be destroyed in battle. Any other option suggested by the Trump White House like the creation of another ‘de-escalation zone’ on the Syrian territory is not possible any more.

Ultimately, the eventual defeat of the terrorist groups in Idlib is only a matter of time. By threatening the Syrian government which is at the forefront of the war on terror, by hovering belligerently on the sidelines in Syria, restricting themselves to pro-terrorists operations and vain calls for ‘de-escalation zones,’ and by failing to acknowledge their own share of the blame and atrocities against the Syrian people, the United States and its allies have effectively undermined the UN Charter, the humanitarian agencies, International Law, and International Humanitarian Law.

Their neglect has at the same time boosted autocratic and apartheid leaders from Riyadh and Manama to the UAE and Tel Aviv, while arguably encouraging the growth of terror groups everywhere in the Middle East and beyond. Their other mistake was to believe that the war on Syria could be kept at arm’s length. Due to its complexity, longevity and transnational character, it hit the Western capitals as well.

Now seven years later, and by liberating Idlib, Syria and its allies want to change all that. Trump’s claim that the offensive against Al-Qaeda in Idlib ends up “slaughtering civilians,” won’t gain common currency anymore. Evidence on the ground suggests the opposite holds true.

The UN wants an immediate end to the bloodshed. According to despairing UN statements, the scale of suffering across the country has reached unprecedented levels, with access to aid blocked in population centers and more than 13 million people displaced and in need. More than 500,000 people have died since 2011. But the killing continues unabated.

Ending this unnecessary humanitarian nightmare would require the United States and its allies to end their unlawful and criminal support for Qaeda-allied terrorist groups in Idlib. The world is demanding an immediate end to their lunacy. The world is also expecting the Syrian government and allies to complete their anti-terror operations as quickly as possible so that international aid could reach the worst-hit areas. Of course, that could only happen if the allied forces build on their advances over the past year and unshackle Idlib.

On the other side of the spectrum, indefinite occupation could empower terrorists in Syria and create more problematic issues. The US-led war on Syria was never about freedom and democracy. Any doubters should ask President Donald Trump who has no desire to “get out” of Syria or “bring US troops home.”

According to the US State Department, he has just signed a new strategy, which includes new military goals, and eliminates all timelines for removing US occupying troops from Syria.

Without any UN mandate or invitation from Syrian government, US troops are in several parts of Syria, mostly in the Kurdish-held Northeast. An estimated 2,200 US troops are in the country, though official numbers are being withheld from the public. The US Special Envoy for Syria affairs, James Jeffrey, claims they are committed to an “indefinitely extended” stay.

The new goals are substantial too, with the US now focusing on what they like to name “containing Iran.” This is while there are no Iranian troops or military bases in that war-torn country, only a handful of military advisors who are there at the official request of the Syrian government. Besides, the Pentagon regime officials have long presented the operation in Syria as more or less permanent, and have resisted all talk of pullout, including from President Trump. This mirrors their policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen as well, where US occupying troops are similarly positioned in unknown numbers on a more or less permanent basis, all in breach of international law and UN Charter.

Make no mistake. This has never been about fighting terror either. The whole idea is to destabilize and divide up these unfortunate countries, keep them occupied indefinitely, and, if possible, install puppet regimes that would take direct orders from Washington.

Little wonder the first major step of the new Pentagon push is to prevent the imminent Syrian army operation against Al-Qaeda aligned terrorist groups in Idlib province. Under international law, Syria and its allies Russia and Iran have every right to proceed with their plans to cleanse Idlib of terrorists. The US has no right to stop that from happening. It has no legal justification to prevent the operation. Any US attack on Syrian and Russian forces involved in it goes against UN Charter and international norms.

The United Nations should take this into account that the US and its terror proxies have every intention to stage chemical attacks as false-flag to blame it on the Syrian government. They have done it before in Eastern Ghouta and elsewhere and they are now more than ever determined to stage it in Idlib. If a chemical incident occurs the UN should know who did it because Syria has no chemical weapons and Russia has already provided the world body with the evidence of an imminent false-flag operation.

At any rate, the US presence in Syria has only made the situation worse. The US occupying forces have no chance to ever turn the situation in Idlib into a profit. It is a mistake by Trump to fall for the siren songs of the Saudis and Zionists who press for this plan. It is he who will have to pay the political price.

The Trump White House won’t succeed in using terrorist militias as proxy forces in Idlib to achieve broad foreign policy aims. These are the same goons that attacked the US and European targets in the region and beyond. They bombed and killed people in the European capitals and destabilized the entire planet. They should never be given another chance.

To reverse the growth of these terrorists and to end the protracted war will require liberation of Idlib first, the last terror-held bastion, and also a political settlement that is inclusive and addresses demands for Syrian sovereignty and security.
The international community should fear for Idlib, because terrorist groups are likely to grow still stronger, the more they are allowed to stay there. The world should also fear for the West, since Western governments’ foreign policy priorities remain far removed from promoting the public interest in their choice of wars and allies. In Syria, they made terrible choices and they paid for it. However, Syria and its allies have what it takes to finish off the job in Idlib. Allowing that to happen is the least the international community could do.

Trump and the War Party want to blow up the region through indefinite occupation of Syria. The world now has good reason to be appalled. They should never be allowed to win against international law, undermining it and paving the ground for appalling developments not just in Syria but across the region. The onus falls on the United Nations and the world community to put on the agenda an international resistance front – and to win diplomatic efforts campaigning on it for Syria, for its people, and for our shared future.

(Courtesy of FNA)

EA/ME