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Thread: Syria in 2017 (April-December)

  1. #561
    Council Member CrowBat's Avatar
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    Let's start with a 'reminder', that the war in Syria is - contrary to what some of the media in the West is reporting - anything else than 'over'.

    Right now, there's a big offensive against Idlib (run by Assadists, the IRGC/Hezbollah and Russians; see the map below); Russian bombs are still massacring civilians in Idlib (GRAFFIC!!!!!); there's a big offensive against the Bayt Jinn Pocket (run by Assadists and Hezbollah); and Eastern Ghouta and Ra'astan-Talbiseh Pockets remain besieged and no aid is left in since November.

    Thus, it's unsurprising if 40 different Syrian insurgent groups announced they are not going to negotiate in Astana, and not going to accept any kind of decisions taken there.

    ************

    BTW, either Jaysh al-Idlib (FSyA), or Ahrar ash-Sham (AAS), or HTS (ex-JAN), has shot down an Assadist L-39ZA yesterday.

    The aircraft with serial number 2139, flown by Captain Bassam Hussein, was hit by what looks like an SA-7 wire-linked to some external source of power-supply.

    HTS and Assadists claim the pilot actually ejected safely, but was then 'killed while trying to flee' (some say even 'beheaded').

    Hussein was a Sunni Arab from Talkalakh. That's a town in the Homs province, dominated by Assadists and providing plenty of troops for the Quwwat Nimr and 103rd Republican Guards Brigade. Kind of 'Qamahana of Homs'.

    Video showing the MANPAD in question, and the downing of Hussein's L-39:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzjaY753v4s
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  2. #562
    Council Member CrowBat's Avatar
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    ...sorry: it's the Russian sponsored negotiations in Sochi, not Astana, they're refusing.

    Of course, the Russians are going to stage a big conference there - including 'even' numerous 'members of the opposition to Assad'.

    However, characters in question are going to be representatives of that part of the Syrian opposition, the Assadists are ready to tolerate already since 2011 - i.e. not a single representative of any of insurgent groups.

  3. #563
    Council Member CrowBat's Avatar
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    ...and the backgrounds of what's going on in Syria are getting 'better and better': there are massive accusations against Oblabla lately (this article is in German), blaming him for preventing the prosecution against Hezbollah over drug-smuggling of cocaine (into the USA, too).

    What a nice illustration on how far he went to get 'his historic nuclear deal' with Iran: compared to that, handing Syria on a silver plate to the IRGC was 'peanuts'...

    Makes me wonder where are now all those from this forum, that back in 2013-2014 were hot at explaining me about 'higher national interests' of the USA.

  4. #564
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    What Went Wrong in Syria?

    ...The Syrian uprising didn’t start because of the United States in any way, and its course has followed a path largely — not entirely — by Syrians. The Syrian opposition, both political and armed, could never articulate a vision for the country that rallied a great majority of Syrians to their cause. The political opposition never laid out a transition plan —it eventually became nearly as sectarian and ethnically chauvinistic as the Syrian government, and it never demonstrated a deep commitment to human rights. It did not, for example, condemn excesses by the armed opposition and its rhetoric sometimes was anti-Kurdish. The armed opposition, desperate in its fight against Assad, agreed to coordinate on the ground with extremists, particularly the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front.

    This frightened many Syrian communities. The US specifically put the al-Nusra Front on our terrorism list in December 2012 to warn the armed opposition to stay away from the al-Nusra Front. Unfortunately, they ignored us. Moreover, as early as 2011, some Syrians hoped the American military would intervene, just as we had in Iraq in 2003, to overthrow Assad. I repeatedly warned them the US Air Force would not come, but many political opposition leaders disagreed with me and said Washington would eventually intervene. This belief forestalled their thinking about greater outreach to communities in Syria still supporting the Syrian government.
    Three other mistakes we did make. In retrospect, it was not helpful to say that Assad should step aside. Observers did not appreciate the nuance in the American position that said that Assad’s future was for Syrians to decide, not Americans. Our expressing our opinion became understood to mean that the Americans would compel Assad to depart, and there was never any intention to do that. Instead, the Americans wanted a negotiation between the opposition, including moderate armed groups and the Assad government, to determine a transition government by mutual consent, as per Geneva I. My personal mistake was not resisting that August 2011 declaration by the president.

    Our second mistake was in not enforcing the red line after the Assad government chemical weapons attacks in 2013. This might have deterred Assad from further use and given impetus to reach the Geneva negotiating table in 2013. The State Department was on record supporting a strike but the president made his decision.

    Our third mistake was in supporting Syrian Kurds linked to the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] against ISIS instead of building an Arab force over time. We now are in the situation where our troops are stationed indefinitely in eastern Syria with enemies on all sides. Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria will all try to foster our rapid departure and the subjugation of these Syrian Kurdish allies. We will have seriously harmed our bilateral relations with Turkey, and [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan already is a difficult, very problematic leader with which to engage.
    ...

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