Largest US Forces Withdrawal from Syria, 270 Vehicles Headed to Iraq

 ARABI SOURI NOVEMBER 8, 2021

Multiple reports from northeast Syria confirmed that the US troops, aka Biden oil thieves, removed 270 vehicles from their illegal bases in Syria toward the Iraqi borders shortly after midnight yesterday.

The largest movement of US troops and their proxies to move either way since the US intervened directly on the side of ISIS, Nusra Front, and a host of terrorist groups against the Syrian people and the Syrian armed forces, the convoy of 150 lorries, 120 covered trailers carrying US tanks moved from the US illegal military base in the Kharb Al Jir airport in the northeastern countryside of Hasakah moving toward Iraq through the illegal Al-Waleed border crossing.

Armored vehicles and 4×4 machine gun-mounted pickup trucks manned by the US-sponsored Kurdish SDF separatist terrorists accompanied the US convoy to guard it.

One of the reports, however, said that some of those vehicles belong to the Kurdish SDF terrorists, we couldn’t confirm from independent sources, the Kurdish SDF terrorists do not use that number of tanks, in general.

We were waiting on this report trying to understand whether this was a redeployment of troops by the Biden regime, especially that a couple of days earlier, a large convoy of US vehicles were smuggled by the Biden forces to their illegal military base in the Al Tanf area, in the southeast of Syria.

Let’s hope that some wise people in the US junta finally came to their senses and drew the lessons from their list of failures in all the wars and interventions they fought that only led to millions of deaths, sufferings, destruction among the peoples the US attacked in addition to tens of thousands of US troops killed, maimed, and unaccounted for, on top of an enormous public debt that was started from these wars and spiraled uncontrollably speeding to reach 30 trillion US dollars, that’s 30 thousand thousand million US dollars, in other words, 30 million million US dollars, or say 30 thousand thousand thousand thousand US dollars (yes, 4 times multiples of thousand).

In case you didn’t notice, this is the debt, not counting the annual spendings by the Pentagon, CIA, US Embassies that work in regime change and spying plots, basically, each US embassy around the world, which are already paid up from the budget directly ever since the US started waging wars for nobody’s benefits.

Justifications parrotted by ‘analysts’ and ‘pundits’ that the US is withdrawing from the Middle East to focus on China and the South China Sea is ludicrous, the US is an ending empire and ending rapidly; if it had any strength or even will for a standoff or war with China, it was directly on the Chinese borders in Afghanistan for 2 full decades, the US forces in Afghanistan were blocking the Chinese land connection to the Middle East and through it to Europe and the whole of Africa, if you want to wage a war against someone you try to encircle them, you don’t open for them more paths to extend their strengths.

The only matter that keeps the US forces in our region is to serve as cannon fodders and human shields and for the vast US investment in wars against Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and elsewhere in the region is to secure Israel, and even that is very shaky now; and the USA itself is on the verge of imploding from the inside and on all levels.

Voluntarily removing the troops from Syria is a wise decision, the latest confrontation between the Iranian IRGC Navy and the US’s strongest navy fleet the 5th Fleet in the Sea of Oman demonstrated the lack of willingness for further confrontations, the US itself, its Turkish ally, its Israeli protectorate, its Saudi and other Gulfies proxies cannot afford any new confrontation, forget the rosy pictures painted on their mainstream media, figures, actions, and reactions talk loudly and profoundly.

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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

هل يسقط خط السفن الإيرانية مبرّر البقاء الأميركي في سورية والعراق؟

أيلول 3 2021

 ناصر قنديل

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يجزم الخبراء الأميركيون على تنوع خلفياتهم، بأنّ سببين من ثلاثة أسباب لبقاء القوات الأميركية في سورية والعراق قد سقطا مع الانسحاب الأميركي من أفغانستان، وهما أولاً، البقاء لضمان وزن وحضور لفريق حليف، فالقوات الأميركية تشكل المصدر الرئيسي للحفاظ على قوة وحضور الجماعات الكردية المنضوية تحت عنوان قسد، كما كانت بالنسبة لحكومة أشرف غني، وثانياً، الحفاظ على توازن جيوسياسي في منطقة التواجد، فالقوات الأميركية تحقق نوعاً من التوازن بين حضور اللاعبين الإقليميين الكبار، خصوصاً تركيا وإيران، كما كانت في أفغانستان تفرض توازناً على حدود الصين وروسيا وإيران، وبالمقارنة بين الوجود العسكري الأميركي في أفغانستان والعراق وسورية، تسقط كلياً عوامل البقاء انطلاقاً من هذين السببين طالما أن النموذج الأصلي قد سقط في أفغانستان، وأن ما هو قائم في العراق وسورية نسخة ضعيفة وهشة بالمقارنة مع النموذج الأصلي.

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السبب الثالث الباقي للحفاظ على القوات الأميركية في سورية والعراق بخلاف أفغانستان، هو الدور الذي تؤديه في توفير ضمانات لأمن كيان الاحتلال، الذي يحتل أولوية في مفهوم الأمن الاستراتيجي الأميركي في آسيا وأفريقيا، وفي هذا المجال نصف الاعتبار قد سقط أيضاً، وبقي نصف آخر، النصف الذي سقط هو الرهان التفاوضي على مقايضة الانسحاب الأميركي بانسحاب قوى المقاومة وإيران من سورية، وقد حاول الأميركيون خلال سنوات تقديم عروض مختلفة على هذا الصعيد وصولاً لربط الاستعداد لرفع عقوبات قانون قيصر عن سورية، مقابل ما وصفوه بالعودة إلى ما قبل 2011، أي خروج اللاعبين الإقليميين والدوليين الذين وفدوا إلى سورية بعد 2011، بمن فيهم الأميركيون والإيرانيون والأتراك، والتوافق على بقاء الروس وحدهم، وفشلت العروض بالوصول إلى نتيجة، أما النصف الذي بقي يبرّر البقاء في سورية والعراق، فهو الإمساك بالحدود السورية- العراقية من الجانبين السوري والعراقي، عبر مثلث قواعد التنف وعين الأسد والقامشلي، وذلك لقطع طريق التواصل بين إيران وسورية، باعتبار هذا التواصل أحد أبرز مصادر الدعم للمقاومة، خصوصاً في لبنان وفلسطين.

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تدخل المفاجأة الاستراتيجية التي يمثلها خط السفن الإيرانية إلى المتوسط، والتي بدأ التمهيد لها بإرسال سفن دعم لسورية في مجال المحروقات، وحاول الأميركيون اعتراضها بالحؤول دون عبورها قناة السويس والبحر الأحمر، فاستدارت عبر البحار ودخلت من مضيق جبل طارق حيث تعرّضت للاحتجاز على أيدي البريطانيين، ما تسبّب بردّ إيراني كاد أن يتحوّل إلى حرب سفن مع احتجاز سفن بريطانية تجارية، حتى انتهى الأمر بالإفراج المتبادل ومواصلة السفينة الإيرانية طريقها نحو سورية، وتأتي السفن التي أعلن عنها حزب الله لتقول علناً إنّ مسار هذه السفن في جزء منه سيعود للمقاومة، سواء عبر الموانئ اللبنانية أو السورية، ولا يمكن تجاهل حقيقة أنّ هذا المسار استهلك سنوات من التحضير والمواجهات، وعبر العديد من المحطات، حتى صار عبور سفن يستحضرها حزب الله من إيران قادرة على عبور الطريق البحري من إيران إلى المتوسط في مضيق باب المندب والبحر الأحمر وقناة السويس، ويلجأ الأميركي و»الإسرائيلي» إلى مناورة تذكيرية بالوجود بين مواعيد مرور السفن الإيرانية، والاختباء في خليج العقبة لتفادي التصادم مع هذه السفن.

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السؤال الذي لم يقدّم الخبراء بعد أجوبة وافية عليه، لكنه موضوع على الطاولة، هو مبرّر الاحتفاظ الأميركي بقواعد عسكرية ستكون عرضة للاستهداف، بعد سقوط مبرر الرهان على قطع شرايين التواصل بين إيران سورية وقوى المقاومة.

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US Illegal Military Base Bombed with Mortars in an Oil Field in Deir Ezzor

DECEMBER 18, 2020 ARABI SOURI

A US illegal military base in the Al Omar oil field was targeted with mortar shelling by an unknown group in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, east of Syria.

The US and their Kurdish separatist SDF armed groups combed the area with their medium and heavy weapons looking for the attackers, they did not report casualties among them at the time of this report.

Trump forces have increased their illegal military presence in Syria, especially in the northeastern provinces of Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, and Hasakah, since Trump ordered, said he is withdrawing his troops from the country, which later he added that he’s keeping ‘some’ of his troops there to ‘protect the oil’ because ‘he likes oil’, which meant depriving millions of ordinary Syrian families of their heat, transportation fuel, and fuel to bake their bread.

https://goo.gl/maps/HKfyimLecV7VBHRT8

The ‘Oil Thieves Regiment’ of the US Army last February expanded its military base in the Omar Oil field making it the largest in the country in the largest oil field in the country.

Last October, the US Army’s ‘Oil Thieves Regiment’ operating in Syria started building a new illegal military base in the Baguz town in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside, this would be their 4th illegal military base in the province and the 9th in Syria.

US proxies of the Kurdish separatist SDF armed groups protect the Oil Thieves Regiment while the other US proxy of ISIS engages the Syrian Arab constantly in order to keep them busy from reaching the oil thieves in the northeast of their country.

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Will Joe Biden “Revise” U.S Agenda in Syria? Use Terrorism Pretext to “Keep Boots on the Ground”?

By Ahmad Salah

Global Research, December 10, 2020

The mayhem of the presidential elections left the American policy-makers locked in heated arguments about the future of the US domestic and foreign policy alike. One of the most pressing issues on the agenda is the Middle East developments, especially the U.S. role in Syria.

After his ultimate defeat in the national vote Donald Trump handed down his successor a controversial legacy of multiple unresolved issues coupled with the badly damaged image of the White House. This is true especially for Syria, where despite repeated claims of total victory over ISIS, the terrorists continue to carry out sporadic attacks throughout the eastern part of the country Syria. The activity of sleeper cells became a pretext for rejecting the idea of a complete U.S. military withdrawal from Syria.

It is widely believed that the Biden administration intends to make use of the terror threat to keep boots on the ground in Syria in order to ensure the security of oil and gas fields. Indeed, the fight against international terrorism constitutes the basis of Washington’s foreign policy in the Middle East. However, the U.S history in the region has shown that the White House primarily regards terror groups as an opportunity to benefit from seizing previously inaccessible resources.

In pursuit of economic and political goal human rights are sidelined, as is the case in Al-Hawl camp, where refugees suffer from miserable conditions living side by side with captured ISIS terrorists. The camp that was initially established in 1991 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for Iraqi citizens fleeing from the Persian Gulf War, started to host ISIS terrorists and their families in late 2018. The camp originally designed for 11,000 people currently counts about 70,000 – more than six time over of its capacity – the majority of whom are women and children of various nationalities. Camp dwellers blame the overcrowding and poor management for a shortage of water, lack of food and inadequate medical care.U.S. Expands Military Budget – How Will This Affect Syria

The American leadership persistently ignores this humanitarian catastrophe, a byproduct of the neglectful approach to the civilian population applied by the U.S.-backed Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). By doing this Washington possibly violates the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949, under which the U.S. is obliged to ensure the safety of civilians in northeast Syria.

Another worrying tendency is the increase in cases of riots and escapes from the SDF-controlled prisons that hold around 10,000 detainees. The most serious incidents of this kind took place in October 2019, when several hundred prisoners broke out of the Ain Issa jail. The Americans did not pay sufficient attention to these developments and chose not to investigate human trafficking networks used to smuggle militants out of jail and ultimately out of Syria despite the risk of reappearance of armed groups and rise in subversive activities. This deliberate ignorance will persist until the armed groups pose a threat for U.S. military bases located in the energy-rich areas of Hasakah and Deir Ezzor provinces.

This is yet another reminder that the U.S. is not a reliable ally for the Kurdish autonomous administration. As Ankara continues to strengthen its positions in the region there has been growing speculation about Turkey planning another military operation in northern Syria. Earlier, the Turkish leadership had abused the buffer zone agreement with the SDF that was brokered by the U.S. to evict the Kurds from these areas. Back then the Turks faced no obstacles in implementing their plan as the American troops withdrew from the buffer zone on the very eve of the Turkish Peace Spring operation. During the Turkish offensive a number of massive escapes that let dozens of terrorists out of SDF jails took place. Keeping in mind the U.S. practical approach to its geopolitical interests, the new American administration will likely prefer not to obstruct its NATO ally and the Kurds will be again hit by the Turkish artillery and UAVs.

The U.S. foreign policy under the Donald Trump’s presidency has been dominated by the pursuit of economic benefits under the pretext of promoting democracy and protecting civilians, a perfect representation of the “world leader’s” disregard for the interests of any state, be it ally or enemy, whose resources fall in the White House’s sphere of interests. Double standards have become a defining trait of the international relations with civilians whose interests are supposedly protected by the U.S. military reduced to a bargaining chip.

The upcoming transition of the U.S. leadership and the inauguration of President Joe Biden have to determine whether the United States is capable of being a guarantor of security and stability, or Washington’s economic ambitions come first.

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Ahmad Salah is a freelance Syrian journalist focused on the Middle East, especially the Levant.The original source of this article is Global ResearchCopyright © Ahmad Salah, Global Research, 2020

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Iran will help secure Syria’s skies against Israeli attacks: report

Source

By News Desk -2020-07-11

Iran will help Syria strengthen its air defence as part of an agreement between the two states signed on Wednesday. The agreement was signed by Iran’s Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and Syrian Minister of Defence Ali Abdullah Ayyub.

The agreement provides for the strengthening of military ties, as well as enhancing constant coordination between the parties. Moreover, Bagheri said that Iran’s strengthening of Syria’s air defence was aimed at increasing the pace of defence cooperation between the two countries.

Does this mean an increase in Iran’s military presence in the country? How will this affect relations with other countries and regions, as well as the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria?

What should be expected from Israel? Could this affect Russian-Syrian defence contracts and military-technical cooperation? Sputnik talked to Boris Dolgov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to find out.

According to Dolgov, the agreement provides an opportunity to better resist Israel’s illegal aggressive attacks:

“Iran has supported Syria in the fight against terrorist groups since the beginning of the internal conflict in 2011 by sending military advisers, IRGC members and volunteers to strengthen the Syrian armed forces. But there has never been a large Iranian military presence. Iran helped create a number of armed formations, including the people’s army with 50,000 participants, and provided financial and organizational support to create it.

The agreement expands the current forms of military-technical cooperation; it is aimed at enhancing the fight against terrorist groups operating in Syria. Air defence strengthening is an important aspect of that. Israeli Air Forces still attack Syrian military facilities, which are partially used by Iranian forces. The agreement is precisely aimed at strengthening air defence systems to counter these illegal aggressive attacks,” he said.

The Russian expert pointed out that the agreement is unlikely to allow Iran to bring army garrisons into Syria; it will strengthen the military-technical cooperation between the two countries:

“This agreement is more about the military-technical cooperation between Iran and Syria. This is a positive factor for the Syrian army in their fight against armed terrorist groups.”
Boris Dolgov believes that the Iran-Syria agreement won’t force the illegitimate foreign forces in Syria, represented by the US and its allies, to leave this country, but perhaps will further infuriate them:

“Officially, only Russia and Iran take part in resolving the Syrian conflict and supporting the Syrian army at the request of Syria’s legitimate government. Any other armed groups are present and act in Syria illegally. I’m talking of Turkey, the United States, and in some ways even Israel. These countries don’t have relevant agreements with Syria, nor have they a UN mandate to be in Syria. Therefore, one can expect the condemnation of the agreement or some kind of anti-Iranian and anti-Syrian campaign propaganda, as well as exaggerating the scale of Iran’s military presence in Syria on the part of these forces (the United States and Israel). It’s likely that these forces will respond to the Iranian presence in Syria, including with military actions. Therefore, the Iran-Syria agreement isn’t going to force these armed forces to withdraw.”

Boris Dolgov also thinks that the agreement won’t affect Moscow-Damascus military-technical cooperation in any way, but will only further strengthen the Russian-Iranian-Syrian forces in the fight against a common enemy, terrorist groups:

“There is a propaganda campaign in the West regarding some alleged competition between Russia and Iran in terms of military influence in Syria. But this is unlikely to happen. The military-technical cooperation agreements between Russia and Syria have been in effect for many years; they are implemented gradually and quite successfully. The current agreement between Iran and Syria is not going to affect the Russian-Syrian partnership. On the contrary, it will be an addition to this military-technical cooperation, since Iran has its own military-technical capabilities, which it will use in Syria. There can be no competition since these are not commercial contracts, but interstate agreements on military supplies and military personnel training. All this is aimed at specific political state goals: protecting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Both Iran and Russia have one goal in Syria: to support the country in the fight against a common enemy, armed terrorist groups.”

Hossein Royvaran, Iranian political scientist, a lecturer at Tehran University, an expert on Middle Eastern and Arab countries, former head of National Iranian Radio and Television’s regional office in Beirut, also believes that the agreement won’t affect Iran-Russia relations since the Russian government supports the Syrian government:

“Russia will appreciate enhanced Iranian support to strengthen Syria, and will most likely support this cooperation.”

Royvaran pointed out that the Iranian forces’ position in Syria wouldn’t change either, because Iran didn’t want to create its own military base in the country:

“The Iranian military presence in Syria is based on the Syrian government’s decision on the need for such a presence. As soon as Damascus says that there is no such need, the Iranian military will leave Syria. Iran doesn’t want to stay in Syria and create its own military base there,” he said.

The Iranian expert believes that the Iran-Syria agreement is not going to affect Iran’s relations with other countries because this cooperation is formalized:

“Since the agreement doesn’t introduce any changes in relations between the two countries, it will not significantly affect Iran’s relations with other states. Military cooperation between Iran and Syria has been around for several years. The two countries signed military and economic cooperation agreements even before the Syrian crisis; the new agreement adds specific content to the cooperation between the two states. Therefore, we should consider this agreement a continuation and development of many years of cooperation; and it seems that cooperation will only expand with this new agreement. In this context, Israel’s possible reaction is of little significance to Iran. Israel cannot determine the policies of two independent states.”

Source: Sputnik

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واشنطن وإشكالية الانسحاب من العراق وسورية

د. حسن مرهج

من جديد يعود المشهدان العراقي والسوري إلى واجهة التطورات الشرق أوسطية، على الرغم من استحواذ فايروس كورونا على جُلّ العناوين الإقليمية والدولية، إذ لا شك بأنّ جوهر الاستراتيجية الأميركية وجُزئياتها في الشرق الأوسط، تنطلق حُكماً من العراق وسورية وجغرافيتهما ذات الأبعاد الجيواستراتيجية؛ ففي غمرة انشغال العالم بكورونا وانتشاره «الغير منطقي»، تعود إشكالية التواجد الأميركي في المنطقة من بوابة العبث بالخرائط السياسية، والذهاب بعيداً نحو تعزيز حالة اللا استقرار في المنطقة، إذ لم تعد القضية تتمحور حول انسحاب أو طرد القوات الأميركية، فهذا الأمر سيكون واقعاً لا محال، لكن لقضية الأساسية تكمن في حيثيات ومبرّرات الإدارة الأميركية حيال تواجدها في المنطقة، خاصة أنّ واشنطن تُدرك بأنّ هذا التواجد في العراق وسورية لن يطول، لكن لا ضير من العبث مُجدّداً بما حققه محور المقاومة خلال سنوات خلت؛ مع فروقات تتعلق بالمسار السياسي في سورية والعراق، وطبيعة التعاطي مع تواجد القوات الأميركية.

وردتني معلومات من مصادر خاصة، تحدثت عن وصول عناصر من المخابرات الأميركية إلى العراق وسورية، ويتحدثون اللغة العربية بطلاقة، وتابع المصدر حديثه أنّ أحد هؤلاء العناصر يُلقب بـ «كلاي الصغير»، وأنّ كلاي قال له حرفياً، إنّ هناك خطة أميركية تقتضي التوجه إلى وجهاء العشائر في سورية والعراق، لتشكيل نواة مسلحة وبهدف مواجهة داعش إنْ عاد مُجدّداً. المصدر قال لـ كلاي إنّ داعش بحسب تصريحات إدارتكم قد انتهى، ليردّ كلاي بقوله نعم انتهى لكن ليس كلّ ما نعرفه سنقوله، وأضاف أنّ واشنطن لم تعد ترى في الكرد حليفاً جراء خططهم التي تمّ كشفها لجهة التقرّب من دمشق وموسكو وهذا لا يناسب استراتيجيتنا. ويتابع المصدر قوله هل داعش أيضاً جزء من خططكم في سورية والعراق، يقول المصدر هنا «كلاي» دُهش وقال لي داعش سيعود إلى سورية والعراق.

شخصياً، قد يكون ما نقله لي المصدر غير دقيق ويُراد به إيصال فكرة تتمحور حول تواصل أميركي مع عشائر سورية والعراق، الذين تربطهم صلات قُربى ووحدة الدم، وبغضّ النظر عن خطط الإدارة الأميركية وتحركات داعش الأخيرة في البادية السورية، إلا أنّ الوقائع تقتضي التأني والتعمّق في استراتيجية واشنطن حيال سورية والعراق، مع الربط بين التحركات الأميركية في سورية وإرسال آلاف القوافل العسكرية وتمركزها في شمال شرق سورية، فضلاً عن جزئية لها ما لها من وقائع ورسائل حيال نشر صواريخ باتريوت في العراق. كلّ هذه الوقائع تصبّ مباشرة في بوتقة هدف أميركي واضح المعالم، حيث أنّ واشنطن تسعى مُجدّداً لخلط أوراق الجغرافية السورية، وابقاء الساحة العراقية حُبلى بالمفاجآت التي لا يمكن التنبّؤ بمسارها.

لا شك بأنّ تحركات داعش الأخيرة في سورية، يمكن ربطها في سياق تمرير الذرائع لإبقاء القوات الأميركية في سورية والعراق، خاصة أنّ التحركات الشعبية الأخيرة في العراق ركزت على جزئية إخراج الأميركي من الجغرافية العراقية، وبغضّ النظر عن التجاذبات السياسية في العراق، إلا أنّ التوجه الحالي تتمّ هندسته وفق قاعدة إخراج الأميركي، وكذا في سورية، هناك العديد من العمليات النوعية التي نُفذت ضدّ القوات الأميركية في شمال شرق سورية. وعليه من الطبيعي أنّ أيّ شخص لديه الحدّ الأدنى من الانتماء لوطنه سيرفض أيّ وجود لقوات أجنبية على أراضي بلده، لكن قضية الوجود العسكري الأميركي مختلفة ومعقدة وتنطوي على تساؤلات عديدة حول طبيعته، ومن هذه التساؤلات: هل القوات الأميركية في العراق بعد عام 2011 قوات احتلال أم قوات حليفة؟ ولماذا تصاعدت المطالبات بانسحابها في هذا الوقت بالذات؟ ولماذا هذه المطالبة تصدر فقط من الجهات السياسية –المسلحة العراقية المرتبطة بإيران؟ وهل رأي الجهات المرتبطة بإيران يمثل رأي جميع مكونات الشعب العراقي بخصوص هذه القضية؟ كما أنّ التواجد الأميركي في سورية أيضاً يحتوي العديد من التساؤلات، والتي ستظلّ مبهمة حتى ذهاب غبار فايروس كورونا، الذي أسفر عن هدوء الأوضاع أو بالأدقّ تجميدها.

حقيقة الأمر انّ إشكالية التواجد الأميركي في سورية والعراق، ستأخذ أبعاداً غاية في الحساسية، وقد نشهد خلال الفترة القادمة تحركات أكثر حساسية بالمعنى العسكري، عبر تحريك الأدوات الأميركية في سورية والعراق، خاصة أنّ واشنطن تُدرك أنه لا بدّ من تهيئة الأرضية الخصبة لتأمين وجود مستدام، فهي تُدرك أيضاً أنّ محور المقاومة بكلّ جزئياته عاقد العزم على فتح المعركة ضدّ التواجد الأميركي في سورية والعراق. هذا التوجه أيضاً تهندسه رغبات روسية صينية للحدّ من تفشي الخطط الأميركية في المنطقة، للحدّ من تداعياتها الكارثية على الجميع، وبالتالي ستكون الفترة المقبلة أيّ ما بعد كورونا عسكرية بإمتياز، ومن الضروري في هذا الإطار، تشبيك الجغرافية الممتدّة من إيران إلى العراق مروراً بسورية، لتشكيل جبهة مضادة للتوجهات الأميركية. ولننتظر…

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SYRIA AND TURKEY RAMP UP PREPARATIONS FOR NEW MILITARY CONFRONTATION

SOUTH FRONT

The Syrian Army and Iranian-backed militias deployed a new batch of reinforcements to the frontline in southern Idlib and western Aleppo. According to local sources, fresh troops reinforced by armoured vehicles and battle tanks were placed near Saraqib, Kafranbel, and Urma as-Sughra. These areas were the hottest points of the conflict between Syrian troops and Turkish-led forces during the previous round of escalations in Greater Idlib. Turkey and its proxies are also preparing for a new round of confrontations.

During the past week, at least four Turkish military convoys, with battle tanks and even MIM-23 Hawk medium-range air-defense systems, entered Idlib, allegedly to secure the ceasefire regime and contain the terrorist threat. How Turkish troops are planning to use air defense systems against al-Qaeda terrorists that do not have aircraft remains a mystery.

At the same time, sources close to Idlib militants announced that Ankara is forming five new units consisting of its own troops, members of the National Front for Liberation and the Syrian National Army. Both these militant groups are funded and trained by Turkey. The newly formed units will be led by Turkish officers and allegedly include 9,000 Syrian militants and a similar number of Turkish troops. Pro-Turkish sources speculate that this force will be tasked with securing the M4 highway in southern Idlib and clearing the area of radical groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. After this, a security zone will be established and joint Turkish-Russian patrols will be launched in the area as it was agreed to by Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The problem with this theory is that the Turkish-backed groups, which should supposedly be involved in this operation are allied with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other al-Qaeda-linked organizations. So, they will have little motivation to confront them shifting the burden of fighting to Turkish troops.

According to pro-government sources, the Turkish motivation is different. They note that Ankara is very unsatisfied with the performance of their proxies during the recent battle against the Syrian Army. So, it opted to make a new attempt to create elite units that should deliver a devastating blow to the brutal Assad regime that is cowardly resisting the occupation of Syrian territory by Turkey.

Turkish-backed forces also increased their activity in Syria’s northeast. On March 29, the 20th Division of the so-called Syrian National Army attacked positions of Kurdish militias near the village of Sayda. Pro-Turkish sources claimed that a truck equipped with a 23mm machine gun belonging to Kurdish forces was destroyed and that many fighters were killed. Turkish proxies still cherish radiant hopes to capture the nearby town of Ayn Issa thus seizing control of the crossroad of the M4 highway and the Tall Abyad-Raqqah road.

The US-led coalition continues evacuation of smaller bases and regrouping of its forces in Iraq. After the withdrawal of coalition troops from al-Qaim and al-Qayyarah, they left from the Kirkuk K1 base. Means and forces from these facilities will be redeployed to other US bases in the country, mainly Camp Taji. There are no signs of any kind of US troop withdrawal from the country despite the demands from the Baghdad government. To the contrary, the Pentagon recently announced that it was working to deploy Patriot air defense systems to protect US troops in Iraq from missile attacks.

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U.S. FORCES WITHDRAW FROM KEY BASE NEAR SYRIAN BORDER. MORE ROCKET ATTACKS ON US TARGETS IN IRAQ

South Front

Late on March 17, at least three rockets struck the area near the US embassy in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. This was the fourth such attack in the span of a week. A day earlier, a pair of rockets struck the Besmaya base south of Baghdad. This military facility is the second largest military base operated by the US-led coalition in Iraq after Camp Taji.

The threat of rocket attacks already forced the US military to announce that it is evacuating some of its bases in the country. The al-Qaim base, near the Syrian-Iraqi border, is among them. The al-Qaim facility has been an important logistical and operational hub employed by US forces for operations in western Iraq and eastern Syria. Its presence there, as well as in Syria’s al-Tanf, has allowed the US to project its power along the Syrian-Iraqi border more effectively and to support Israeli military actions against Iranian-backed forces in the area.

Al-Qaim is located on the highway between the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor. The town of al-Bukamal, which Israeli and US media often label as a stronghold of Iranian-backed forces, is located on the Syrian side of the border.

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The withdrawal from al-Qaim is a signal that the US has been forced to admit that its attempts to cut off the land link between Syria, Iraq and Iran have failed. Washington was seeking to prevent a free movement of troops, weapons and other supplies from one country to another.

Meanwhile in Syria, the Idlib zone remains the main focus of tensions. Idlib armed groups and their supporters continue blocking efforts to create a security zone along the M4 highway in southern Idlib, as had been agreed by Turkey and Russia. These actions are accompanied by a fierce war propaganda campaign against the Damascus government, Iran and Russia. If the situation develops in this direction and further, the only remaining option to implement the new de-escalation deal and neutralize the terrorist threat will be a new military operation.

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• Syrian Army reinforcements pour into southern and eastern Idlib
• Senior Ahrar Al-Sham Military Commander Assassinated In Northwest Idlib
• Syrian Army launches attack against ISIS in eastern Syria
• US believes Russia was behind killing of dozens of Turkish soldiers in Syria
• Military Situation In Afghanistan On March 18, 2020 (Map Update)
• Military Situation In Iraq On March 18, 2020 (Map Update)
• Military Situation In Northwestern Syria On March 18, 2020 (Map Update)

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Trump Assassinated the Leading General Who Fought Against ISIS.

January 08, 2020

Eric Zuesse for the Saker Blog 

Even some mainstream U.S. ‘news’-media (but none that are Republican) acknowledge the fact that Qasem Soleimani was among the most effective of all nations’ generals who fought against ISIS. Other mainstream U.S. ‘news’-media seem very reluctant to do so, because the entirety of America’s mainstream ‘journalism’ has spewed hatred against Iran’s Government after Iranians in 1979 succeeded at overthrowing the dictator Shah whom America’s CIA had installed in 1953 to end Iran’s democracy and to control the country, and he privatized the National Iranian Oil company and cut America’s aristocrats in on the profits from sales of Iranian oil. (Under George W. Bush, the U.S. Government did basically the same thing to Iraq’s oil industry.) So, America’s mainstream ‘news’-media, which are owned by the same aristocracy that imposed Iran’s dictatorship in 1953, have portrayed Iran’s #2 leader, General Qasem Soleimani, as a ‘terrorist’, instead of as the leading fighter against ISIS, which he actually was.

On 3 January 2020, Ilan Goldenberg, of the Democratic Party neoconservative Center for a New American Security, headlined in the Council on Foreign Relations’s Foreign Affairs, “Will Iran’s Response to the Soleimani Strike Lead to War?” and only two references to ISIS were there, both buried in his article: “He led Iran’s campaign to arm and train Shiite militias in Iraq — militias responsible for the deaths of an estimated 600 American troops from 2003 to 2011— and became the chief purveyor of Iranian political influence in Iraq thereafter, most notably through his efforts to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).” And: “ISIS retains an underground presence and could take advantage of the chaos of an American withdrawal or a U.S.-Iranian conflict to improve its position in Iraq.” So, it’s hard for a reader there to figure out that Trump actually assassinated ISIS’s main enemy.

On January 4th, Marketwatch headlined “Who was Qassem Soleimani, and why is his death a major development in U.S.-Middle East relations?” and there was only a single reference to ISIS, the source being Iran, which that article was criticizing: “In a tweet, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the strike that killed the general as an act of international terrorism: ‘The US act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani — THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al — is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism,’ he said.”

Some of America’s mainstream ‘news’-media portrayed the killing of Soleimani as being damaging to America’s ability to continue occupying Iraq and therefore harmful to the fight against ISIS because the U.S. — not Iran and Russia — lead the fight against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria. In other words: they presume that lie. Politico headlined on January 3rd, “How the Soleimani strike could kneecap the fight against ISIS” and opened:

The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military leader could put America’s fight against the Islamic State in jeopardy, opening the door to the reemergence of the terrorist group.

The Thursday night attack on Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani could also prompt the government in Iraq to kick U.S. troops out of the country, ending America’s mission to train the Iraqi military to fight terrorist groups.

U.S. troops have deployed to Iraq since 2014 to fight ISIS and train Iraqi forces with permission from the Iraqi government. As part of this agreement, Iraq asked the U.S. specifically not to target Iran within the country, a request America has now violated “in flagrant fashion” with the strike on Soleimani near the Baghdad airport, said Scott Anderson, a former legal adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

“This is going to put a lot of pressure on those aspects of our relationship they have control over,” Anderson, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Friday. … “If we can’t be in Iraq, we can’t be in Syria,” Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said Friday.

They don’t mention that both Brookings and the Atlantic Council are neoconservative, pro-imperialist, and controlled by (overwhelmingly funded by) large U.S.-based international corporations and U.S.-allied governments, which benefit from U.S.-and-allied arms-sales and oil-extraction. So, that’s just a standard propaganda-piece from Politico, pumping the U.S. empire.

For once, CNN broke with U.S. imperialism, and headlined on January 3rd, “Analysis: It’s important to remember the role Soleimani played in the fight against ISIS”. Perhaps because CNN is controlled by Democratic Party billionaires instead of by Republican-Party ones, they reported that:

It is important to remember the role both he and Iran played in the fight against ISIS.

While US aircraft, special forces and local allies fought ISIS in Syria, as well as in Iraq, Iranian-backed militia also pushed the terror group back in Iraq. Soleimani was reported to have often led that fight from the front line …

The 62-year-old led Iran’s elite Quds Force, which had a hand in both fighting the Islamic State militant group and U.S. forces.

There was no contradiction between those two positions shared both by Soleimani and Iran, because ISIS was created as a fundamentalist-Sunni U.S. proxy fighting force against Iraq’s Shiites. There was also this:

Long known as the ‘shadow commander’ in Western media, his profile was raised in 2015 as Iranian outlets began releasing photos of him in the battlefield guiding the war against ISIS. …

Soleimani is also credited with fighting the Islamic State militant group in Iraq. In a 2017 public letter, he denounced the “evil movement” that managed “to deceive tens of thousands of Muslim youth” in Iraq and Syria, while also blaming the U.S. for the rise and spread of ISIS.

Iran had launched airstrikes against ISIS fighters outside Baghdad in late 2014 just as the United States and its coalition partners were taking on the extremist group.

ISIS, made up of Sunni extremists, was ideologically at odds with Soleimani and the Iranian Shiite regime he defended.

Soleimani and his commanders were on the front lines in Iraq and his name became synonymous with victories attributed to Iraqi ground forces [fighting against ISIS]. He had presented himself as the face of the offensive in Tikrit, a city which fell under ISIS control in 2014 [HE WAS FIGHTING AGAINST ISIS THERE].

Iran sought to highlight his efforts against ISIS while protesting his death Friday.

Another pro-Democratic-Party ‘news’-site, MSNBC, likewise included, on January 3rd, some of ‘the enemy’s side’ in this: “The 62-year-old led Iran’s elite Quds Force, which had a hand in both fighting the Islamic State militant group and U.S. forces.”

Indicating how confused and hostile Americans are to encounter — in the few media where they can — the truth about Soleimani and about the reality in the Middle East, there was a January 3rd news-report from Washington Times headlined “Geraldo Rivera laments strike on U.S. ‘friend’ Qassem Soleimani, says Quds leader ‘saved people’” which opened:

Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera says the Baghdad airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was a strategic error against a U.S. “friend” who “saved people.”

A “Fox & Friends” panel was injected with heated rhetoric on Friday when Mr. Rivera defended the Quds force leader’s résumé in a discussion with Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy.

“Six months ago, Ainsley, this guy was our friend,” Mr. Rivera said.

Rivera was opposed not only by the other Fox “Friends” there, but by the reader-comments, such as the most-liked ones:

Sort byBest

• RedBowtie

What planet does Rivera live on? Soleimani has engineered the killing of many Americans.

7 Likes

• RedGuitar

stalin was our friend and helped us defeat hitler. no really a friend. ha

6 Likes

They want to remain suckers of America’s billionaires, who want to have Iran back.

Of course, Russia’s news-media were honest about this matter; they have no reason to lie about it; and, besides, they don’t lie nearly as frequently as America’s billionaire-controlled ‘news’-media do — they know they are distrusted from the get-go throughout the U.S. empire, because Russia’s lying Soviet predecessors (before 1991) are constantly pumped to America’s ‘news’-media behind the scenes by America’s CIA (representing America’s billionaires) as being like today’s Russian news-media, which they very much are not. Russia really did end the Cold War; the U.S. regime never did.

On January 4th, India’s Economic Times headlined “Soleimani, face of fight against ISIS, Taliban”, and reported that:

Soleimani was the face of armed resistance against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and contributed in a big way in defeating ISIS, said an expert familiar with West Asian dynamics who requested not to be identified.

Last year Soleimani had also slammed Pakistan for its failure to control terror groups on its soil that targeted Iranian Revolutionary Guards group.

Iran and India were among regional powers that backed anti-Taliban forces along with Russia before Taliban was ousted in Afghanistan. …

Last February, a car laden with explosives hit a bus of Revolutionary Guard soldiers on Zahedan-Khash road in Iran’s border province of Sistan-Balouchestan, killing 27 and injuring 13. Pakistan-based Jaish ul-Adl Takfiri terrorist group, which has ties to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Days after the attack, Soleimani said Iran does not want mere condolences, but concrete action from Pakistan. “Can’t you, as a nuclear-armed state, deal with a hundreds-strong terrorist group in the region?” he had said.

That’s a major daily newspaper in Hindu India, which isn’t a place about which readers in America and allied countries haven’t been taught by their news-media to expect to see such a commentary being published. According to Wikipedia, “As of 2012, it is the world’s second-most widely read English-language business newspaper, after The Wall Street Journal,[4] with a readership of over 800,000.”

Also on January 4th former UK Ambassador Craig Murray headlined from Britain “Lies, the Bethlehem Doctrine, and the Illegal Murder of Soleimani” and he exposed lies against Soleimani by Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, and a key neoconservative legal advisor to UK’s Government. He was exposing there a bipartisan and international sliming operation, the type of thing that traditionally persuades masses of suckers to vote for politicians who continue the grand imperial enterprise, for the benefit of U.S.-and-allied billionaires.  However, that scam might not be so successful this time around.

On January 6th, the U.S. Government informed Iraq’s Government that the U.S. military occupation of Iraq is now at an end and all U.S. forces are withdrawing from Iraq. Then Trump changed his mind. Shortly afterward. Iran did its first retaliation, firing missiles against U.S. military facilities in Iraq. Trump’s constant aggressions against Iran (starting with cancellation ot the Iran nuclear agreement and restoration of anti-Iran sanctions) will sink the Middle East and maybe the entire world in blood. The EU seems nonetheless to be sticking by the U.S. regime. All leaders who do so will be damned along with him. But none of them seem even to care. They all share in his guilt.

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.

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