Syria

Syria Support Movement statement on the disastrous 6 February earthquake on the Syrian/Turkish border

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We demand that equal aid be provided to Syria and Turkey (Based on need), and that aid to Syria be distributed by the legitimate government of Syria in Damascus and by the Syrian Red Crescent Society which was formed by the Syrian state some 70 years ago.

Statement from the Syria Support Movement

In the early morning hours of February 6, 2023, a 7.8 Earthquake struck in the vicinity of the Syrian Border with Turkey.   At the end of the day, February 5,  there were at least 1,700 dead, more than 20,000 injured, thousands more missing and hundreds of thousands displaced in Syria.  Victims and rescue crews are struggling with continuing aftershocks and sub zero temperatures.

Syria Support Movement wholeheartedly stands with the victims of this massive earthquake, and through our charitable engagement, we will participate in delivering aid.  At the same time, we condemn the hypocritical stance of the U.S. government and their European allies.   Due to  devastating U.S. Sanctions enacted under the Caesar Civilian Protection Act in December, 2019, there are few avenues of relief for majority of Syrians affected, who are living in the government held areas.   The United States has taken every opportunity to impede rebuilding Syria following their devastating decade long proxy war against the people of Syria, during which they spent billions of dollars supporting murderous terrorist groups who raped and pillaged throughout the land.

During the war, much of the country’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, many people were displaced and since then the U.S. Unilateral Sanctions combined with the U.S. occupation have made it difficult to rebuild.   This earthquake has brought a new round of death and devastation to northern Syria and the people who live there.

Following the devastating earthquake that occurred on February 6, Antiwar.com asked U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price if the government is considering lifting sanctions in light of the humanitarian disaster caused by the earthquake.  He replied that the U.S. engages with the government in Turkey, but only with NGOs in Syria.  The problem is that U.S. NGOs in Syria do not operate in government-controlled areas where the majority of the population reside, but only in Idlib, a small terrorist-controlled province in the north of Syria.  No aid will go through U.S. approved NGOs to Aleppo, a huge city where buildings are once again crashing on the people who live and work in them,  or Hama or  Latakia, a large province to the west of Idlib.  There cannot be an equitable disbursement of aid under these discriminatory circumstances.

With stone-faced hypocrisy, Price went on to say that

[it] would be quite ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalized its people over the course of a dozen years now.

Throughout those dozen years, the United States has continuously waged war on the Syrian people, while the Syrian government and the Syrian Arab Army fought valiantly to protect them.  Unlike many other governments in countries similarly attacked by the U.S., the Syrian government stayed the course.  Whether the U.S. likes it or not, that is why the Syrian people continue to support their government in a large majority.

Price went on to claim that the U.S. has given more aid to Syria over the last decade than any other country.  These remarks would be laughable if U.S.  policy towards Syria over the last decade were not so devastating for the Syrian people.

Beyond the sanctions, the United States has been occupying approximately a third of the country, in the east where Syria’s oil wells and Syria’s grain fields are located, using Kurdish militias to manage the region.   They have been pumping the oil and shipping it into Iraqi Kurdistan for sale, and using at least some of the proceeds to support their proxies in the region.   On more than one occasion, the wheat fields have been burned, though some of it is sold back to the Syrian government at high cost.

After Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Negative Effects of Unilateral Coercive Measures, spent two weeks in Syria in late 2022, she wrote [1]

“I am struck by the pervasiveness of the human rights and humanitarian impact of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria and the total economic and financial isolation of a country whose people are struggling to rebuild a life with dignity, following the decade-long war.”

Before this current tragedy struck, Ms. Douhan [2] said that 12 million people in Syria live with food insecurity.   She urged “the immediate lifting of all unilateral sanctions that severely harm human rights and prevent any efforts for early recovery, rebuilding and reconstruction.”

To this day, however, the United States continues its rapacious policy

Meanwhile, the the United States has a new round of sanctions in the works through the Captagon Act, which has passed the house and is scheduled to be included in the 2023 Defense Authorization Act, just as the Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act was embedded in the 2021 Defense Authorization Act so as to avoid debate on the details.   Like the Caesar Act, the Captagon Act enables the United States to place further Unilateral Coercive Measures, on the Syrian government, Syrian businesses and Syrian financial affairs, thereby undermining the economy of the country and the human right of dignity and free exchange, as well as the fundamental rights of food, medicine and building materials necessary to maintain a reasonable standard of living.

All this in the midst of a horrific natural disaster.

According to a report by SANA

“Syrians, while dealing with the earthquake catastrophe, are digging among rubble by their own hands or using simplest tools as the equipment of removing the rubble are banned because they are punished by the US.”

Syrian banks are disengaged from international channels of trade; Syrian businesses are unable to obtain basic materials necessary for the manufacturing goods, and the maintenance of manufacturing facilities, basic medicines and tools.  Meanwhile, the United States is occupying Syria’s primary region for producing grain and oil, forcing the government to buy food and power for survival of the people rather than invest in trade and the development of a self-sustaining economy.   Secondary sanctions hold those who violate these sanctions accountable to severe penalties, thereby enforcing the siege internationally, not so much on the Syrian government as on the Syrian people.

Now that the welfare of Syria’s population is further devastated by natural disaster, food, medicine, and building materials are more necessary than ever.  These Unilateral Coercive Measures are designed to impede reconstruction, after constraining immediate humanitarian assistance.  How is this protecting Syrian Civilians?

According to Syrian Journalist Steven Sahiounie, “Countries who have offered help to Syria [as of Feb 6] are: China, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Iraq, Algeria, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Bahrain.”  At the moment, it is nearly impossible to get aid into Syria from western countries.

End the Sanctions Now  **  End the Siege  **  Immediate Aid for the Syria People 

We demand that equal aid be provided to Syria and Turkey (Based on need), and that aid to Syria be distributed by the legitimate government of Syria in Damascus and by the Syrian Red Crescent Society which was formed by the Syrian state some 70 years ago.

https://syriasupportmovement.org/2023/02/09/ssm-statement-on-the-occasion-of-the-disastrous-february-6-earthquake-on-the-syrian-turkish-border-2/

For information on the Syria Solidarity Movement and its mission:

https://syriasupportmovement.org/about/origins-of-the-syria-solidarity-movement/
https://syriasupportmovement.org/about/steering-committee/
https://syriasupportmovement.org/about/mission-statement/

[1] ohchr(dot)org/en/node/104160

[2] apnews(dot)com/article/middle-east-business-syria-civil-wars-bashar-assad-00832f11322da5be4947df261fd4dd8e

Earthquake disaster: National Union of Syrian Students urgent appeal to end sanctions and provide aid

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From Syria Support Movement

Published by the U.S. Peace Council, February 8, 2023

The National Union of Syrian Students in an appeal to international student and youth organizations:

A humanitarian catastrophe befell our homeland, Syria, at dawn on Monday, February 6, 2023, after it was exposed to a devastating 7.7 degree earthquake, resulting in an initial outcome of hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries, the collapse of tens of residential buildings, the cracking of others, and severe damage to the infrastructure, which was followed by several tremors.

Despite the blockade and unjust sanctions against Syria and its people, the Syrian government and all unions, syndicates and civil society organizations responded from the first moments by putting all available financial, human and logistic capabilities in order to help and rescue citizens, treat the wounded and injured, and secure the afflicted families in adequate housing, in addition to all other assistance such as food, clothing, and others.

In the face of this devastating catastrophe and human tragedy, the National Union of Syrian Students and the masses of students and the youth inside and outside Syria, appeal to all sister Arab unions, organizations, associations, bodies and institutions and foreign friendly ones to move quickly and urgently to put pressure on governments to:

— Immediately end the siege and unilateral coercive economic sanctions imposed on Syria and its people for (12) years.

— Provide immediate and urgent aid to Syria and its people to mitigate the suffering and the impact of the earthquake and the siege.

—   Support and aid humanitarian situations in the world, and separate between humanitarian and official political stances.

— Meet the appeals of Syrian students and communities, in terms of facilitating the arrival of cash transfers for the benefit of those affected.

National Union of Syrian Students
Damascus 07/02/2023

https://syriasupportmovement.org/2023/02/13/national-union-of-syrian-students-urgent-appeal/

U.S. stole 82% of Syria’s daily oil production in 2022; humanitarian crisis

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From CCTV

From Xinhua

August 17, 2022

DAMASCUS, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) — The U.S. forces have stolen 398 tankers of Syrian oil since Thursday and sent them to its bases in Iraq, Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

SANA reported that the U.S. sent 65 oil tankers from Syria to Iraq on Tuesday through the al-Mahmoudiyeh crossing, an illegal route established to send oil tankers from Syria into Iraq.

Recently, the U.S. is sending oil tankers into Iraq on daily basis from Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah, it added.

The U.S. forces, which have taken control of key oil and gas fields in Hasakah with the help of local Kurdish rebels, regularly smuggle the fuels out of Syria.

On Saturday and Thursday, a convoy of 89 and 144 tankers respectively loaded with stolen oil was sent to the U.S. bases in Iraq through the same crossing, it added.

The incident is part of America’s ongoing violations of international principles and their involvement in plundering the natural resources of other nations and starving their peoples, noted SANA.

The Syrian government has accused the U.S. of stealing the natural resources in Syria, such as oil, gas, and wheat.

On Aug. 8, the Syrian Oil Ministry said in a statement that the U.S. and its mercenaries are stealing an average of 66,000 barrels of oil per day in Syria, about 80 percent of Syria’s oil production.

The prolonged crisis has cost Syria’s oil industry direct and indirect losses of 105 billion U.S. dollars, according to the statement.

https://english.news.cn/20220817/437cb1bd33ea40999cda96c521f31d21/c.html

From the CCTV video

https://thecradle.co/Article/News/14108?fbclid=IwAR05wUuxKExDK7tcJIGlHRHgu1ZkFP1BFDEs1unnWX8EllLK65GRahXDvIg

Video of oil convoys with article

Victoria Nuland’s role in 30 years of U.S. invasions and interference

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“Progressives in Congress and their partners in the media, think tank world, and among grassroots activists should join forces with the growing caucus of anti-interventionist Republicans on the Hill and vigorously oppose her nomination.” — James W. Carden
theamericanconservative.com/articles/stop-bidens-neocon-nominee-to-the-state-department/

“Victoria Nuland is highly dangerous and should not be confirmed.”

From MintPressNews
February 11, 2012
Rick Sterling

As the Senate prepares to confirm Nuland for Under Secretary for Political Affairs, a reflection of her last 30 years in government shows how she was connected to nearly every foreign policy disaster undertaken by the United States.

President Joe Biden’s nomination of Victoria Nuland for Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the third-highest position at the State Department, is a dangerous sign. Nuland exemplifies the neoconservatives who have led American foreign policy from one disaster to another for the past 30 years, all while evading any shred of accountability.

As a top-level appointee, Nuland must still be confirmed by the Senate. And while pro-peace groups have waged a campaign to stop her confirmation, reflecting on her career in public service makes clear why she is incompetent, highly dangerous, and should not be confirmed.

Afghanistan and Iraq

From 2000 to 2003, when the Bush administration attacked and then invaded Afghanistan, Nuland was serving as Bush’s permanent representative to NATO. The Afghan government offered to work with the Americans to remove al-Qaeda, but the offer was rejected. After al-Qaeda was defeated, the U.S. could have left Afghanistan but instead stayed, established semi-permanent bases, splintered the country, and is still fighting there two decades later.

From 2003 to 2005, Nuland was principal foreign policy advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney who “helped plan and manage the war that toppled [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein, including making [the] Bush administration’s case for preemptive military action based on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.” The foreign policy establishment, including Nuland, insisted that removing Saddam Hussein and installing a U.S. “ally” would be simple.

The invasion and continuing occupation have resulted in over a million dead Iraqis, many thousands of dead Americans, hundreds of thousands with PTSD, and a bill for American taxpayers of 2 to 6 trillion dollars.

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New U.S. military base in northeast Syria is latest in Biden’s warlike moves

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From MintPress News
February 10, 2021
Alan MacLeod
[references linked in original]

Many of Biden’s first moves in the Middle East, including the building of a new base in Syria, suggest his term will be more of the same rather than a break with the old. 

The U.S.-government funded outlet Voice of America has confirmed rumors that a new military base is being built in northeastern Syria. A convoy of 40 troop carriers and other vehicles arrived and began setting up shop in the city of Hasakah near the Turkish and Iraqi borders over the weekend. “The U.S. flag is now raised over a building,” said journalist Jindar Berekat, a native of the city, “it is not clear how many American soldiers will be stationed at this location, but their armored military vehicles are here and it looks like they are still constructing parts of it.”

“Many here believe that the building of a U.S. base inside Hasakah could be a response to the growing Russian presence in the city,” a local reporter told Voice of America, “this new center [is being built] with the aim of observing Russian forces in Hasakah.” Russian military units have been present in Syria since 2015, intervening on behalf of the government of Bashar al-Assad.

The two foreign superpowers have come close to armed confrontation in Syria many times, including in 2017, when President Trump ordered the bombing of a Russian airbase near the Lebanese border. Already, the American presence has prevented the Russian military from carrying out patrols in northeastern Syria.

While the United States has presented its role in Syria as a counter terrorism operation, Assad’s government has accused it of plundering its resources, “condemn[ing] in the strongest terms the agreement signed between al-Qasd militia (SDF) and an American oil company to steal Syria’s oil under the sponsorship and support of the American administration.” Around 500 American troops have been guarding the country’s oilfields for months, and last summer, Senator Lindsay Graham confirmed that the U.S. had indeed signed a deal with the SDF to “modernize” the country’s oil industry. Damascus considers the agreement “null and void.”

The new base at Hasakah is the latest in a string of actions that suggest the United States wishes to bolster or expand its presence in the war-torn country. Last month, American forces reinforced another base along the M4 highway, which runs from the city of Aleppo through the north of the country and towards the Iraqi border in the east. At the same time, its ally Israel was conducting a series of major airstrikes across the east of the country, reportedly targeting Iranian or pro-Iranian forces.

Increasing hostilities against Iran appears to be a chief concern of the U.S. in the Middle East. 12 months ago, the government announced the construction of three further military bases along the Iran-Iraq border. This was despite a recent unanimous vote (with some abstentions) in the Iraqi parliament demanding the United States military leave the country. This was followed by huge demonstrations in Baghdad demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops Some estimates put the number of those attending as high as 2.5 million people. President Biden has also ruled out lifting deadly sanctions on the country until it complies with the 2015 nuclear deal — an agreement that the U.S. left unilaterally.

The Biden administration has distanced itself from Trump somewhat on the question of Yemen. The new president received a great deal of praise for his announcement that he was suspending military support to Saudi Arabia. However, as Yemen-born academic Shireen Al-Adeimi noted, he included a number of qualifiers to his statement, including that the U.S. would only stop supporting “offensive operations” and block “relevant” arms sales. “We are going to continue to help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity and its people,” Biden said in a speech at the State Department. Almost immediately, the State Department began condemning Yemen’s Houthi rebels for supposedly attacking civilian targets inside Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps the Saudis’ defense of their own territory will start to look like Israel’s self-defense against Lebanon and Palestine. On Israel, Biden has countersigned Donald Trump’s decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, effectively endorsing the Israeli occupation of Palestine’s largest city. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, reports suggest he might go back on the decision to remove U.S. troops from the country.

With the arrival of every new president, hope springs eternal that they will conduct a less aggressive strategy in the Middle East. However, many of Biden’s first moves, including the building of a new base in Syria, suggest his term will be more of the same rather than a break with the old.

Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/new-us-military-base-northeast-syria-latest-biden-warlike-moves/275260/

U.S. State Department ‘deeply troubled’ over Syrian operations in…Syria! Against ISIS and Al Qaeda!

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By Daniel McAdams
Global Research, June 22, 2018
Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity 21 June 2018

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert released a statement today warning the Syrian government to cease and desist from its final military push against ISIS and al-Qaeda groups in southwest Syria. The United States is “deeply troubled by reports of increasing Syrian regime operations in southwest Syria” because such operations are within the “de-escalation zone negotiated between the United States, Jordan, and the Russian Federation last year and reaffirmed between Presidents Trump and Putin in Da Nang, Vietnam in November,” the statement says.What a strange warning. The United States, which illegally occupies territory of a country nearly 6,000 miles away, is warning Syria, the country it partly occupies, not to conduct military operations against terrorist organizations within its own borders! Continue reading →

At UN, Syrian official points out US assistance and support for ISIS, illegal Turkish and American occupation and attacks in Syria, “but no one cares.”

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From Fort Russ

February 15, 2018 – Fort Russ News – Paul Antonopoulos
NEW YORK CITY, The United States of America – Syrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari voiced severe criticism of the US and its coalition partners, addressing the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York City on Wednesday.
“The attack on 8th of February in northern-eastern Deir Ezzor, that the alliance illegally undertook against the Syrian national forces that were standing against ISIS terrorists, I emphasize this, the region where the Syrian national forces attacked ISIS was under the US protection, north-east of Deir Elzor. It’s a strip with 30 km in width and 65 km in length. IS, which we fought and destroyed, left this Deir Ez-Zor and Abu Kamal, with the US protection and positioned itself at Iraq-Syrian borders. When IS [ISIS] was attacked by Syrian popular forces, the Syrian forces were attacked by the American Air Force, which proves again and without doubt, the real mission of this coalition and the role that Washington plays in supporting ISIS,” Jaafari said.
“Like it did earlier by targeting Syrian national forces in air force attacks at northern Jabal Al-tharda near Deir Elzor, on the 17/09/2016, allowing IS to occupy these regions. Not to mention the deliberate destruction of 90 percent of the city of Raqqa. This coalition has not felt to uphold its commitment to neutralize tens of thousands of mines left behind by Daesh  [ISIS] after they left the region to continue their terroristic services under two banners: American in east of Euphrates and Turkish in northern Afrin,” he explained.
“These [coalition] countries have abused the principles of the [UN] charter and they have defied its rules when they assisted terrorist groups and facilitated their acquiring of poisonous chemical weapons, to be used against innocent civilians, after which, manipulating the places and dates of the incidents, and setting up false and misleading testimonies to an investigative mechanism whose integrity and objectivity are a subject of doubt, with the aim of framing the Syrian government. Here, this is a large collection, Mr. President, containing 136 messages that had been sent by the Syrian government to you. 136 messages with very important information about the importing and use of chemical weapons by the terrorists, from outside of Syria into Syria. And they [chemical weapons] were used. 136 messages addressing nothing but the chemical [weapons] issue were distributed as official documents. And they are all in your procession. But no one cares,” he stressed.
“I was very sad to hear the statement by the Special Envoy, which I have listened to carefully, has not remotely touched upon the fact that there exists a US occupation in parts of my country, or the fact that there is a Turkish occupation in parts of my country. The Special Envoy said that there is a cross-border conflict in Afrin, not an unlawful Turkish occupation in my country, and the attack on a Syrian city called Afrin,” he concluded.

U.S. forces attack and kill up to 100 Syrians investigating ISIS cell

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From RT

True US goal in Syria is control over resources, not fighting ISIS – Russian MoD

February 8, 2018

The US-led coalition’s attack on pro-government forces in Syria has again proven that Washington’s true goal is to capture “economic assets” instead of fighting terrorism, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The MoD was referring to an incident which took place on Tuesday in Deir Ez-Zor province, as a Syrian militia unit was moving against a “sleeper cell” of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). The operation was prompted by a surge in shelling of the positions of Syrian government forces in the area over the past few days, attributed to the covert activities of IS terrorists, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

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FILE PHOTO A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet © Ina FassbenderUS-led coalition conducts ‘defensive’ airstrikes against Syrian forces

A unit of the pro-government militia was conducting a reconnaissance search mission on February 7 near the former oil processing plant of Al-Isba. While there, “the militiamen came under a surprise mortar and MRLS shelling, and were attacked by helicopters of the US-led ‘international coalition.’”

As a result, 25 members of the pro-government unit were injured. Initial media reports, citing unnamed US officials, suggested that some 100 Syrian soldiers had died in the assault by the coalition forces.

The US Central Command earlier called the attack on Syrian militiamen “self-defense,” claiming that the troops allegedly launched an “unprovoked attack against well-established Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] headquarters.”

The US version of events, however, raises “lots of questions,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

Following the incident, the Russian military talked to the coalition through the established communication channels, with the latter stating that Al-Isba was under the control of SDF and US troops. The immediate cause of the incident, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, was the fact that the militia unit acted on its own, without consulting Russian advisers first.

The case exposes a greater problem, however, as according to the MoD the attack by the coalition “once again proved that the true goal of the continuous illegal presence of US forces in Syria is already not the fight against ISIS international terrorist group, but the capture and control of the economic assets belonging solely to the Syrian Arab Republic.”

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FILE PHOTO. © Bassam KhabiehUS eyes partitioning of Syria, gave up on promise that fighting ISIS ‘only goal’ – Lavrov

Damascus has decried the attack as a “war crime”and a “crime against humanity,” SANA reports, citing a letter to the UN issued by the Foreign Ministry. The US-led coalition is illegal and should be disbanded altogether, the ministry stressed.

“We demand [the international community] condemn this massacre and hold the coalition responsible for it,” the ministry said, adding that this is not the first time the US-led coalition has targeted Syrian government forces.

The Syrian government has repeatedly condemned the US-led coalition’s presence on its soil, calling it an act of blatant aggression and violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Damascus has also urged the UN to press the US to leave, especially following the successful defeat of the main IS forces. The US, however, has stated that it may remain in Syria indefinitely to counter what it describes as Iranian influence and to secure “post-Assad leadership” for the country.

Recent developments indicate that the US might be effectively shifting towards partitioning Syria altogether, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned earlier on Wednesday.

“It’s very likely that the Americans have taken a course of dividing the country. They just gave up their assurances, given to us, that the only goal of their presence in Syria – without an invitation of the legitimate government – was to defeat Islamic State and the terrorists,” Lavrov stated.

“Now, they are saying that they will keep their presence until they make sure a steady process of a political settlement in Syria starts, which will result in regime change.”

https://www.rt.com/news/418227-syria-us-resources-grab/

U.S. claims aerial attack on Syrian ‘pro-regime’ forces

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From Fort Russ

February 8th, 2018 – Fort Russ News –
– By Joaquin Flores for FRN –

WASHINGTON DC, USA – In a major development, the US’s Central Command (Centcom) has just released an official statement, claiming that it has conducted an aerial attack on what it terms ‘Syrian pro-regime’ forces, about eight miles east of the Euphrates river.

The attack was strategically important for the US as control by the legal and duly elected Syrian government would allow it to link Syria and Lebanon via Iraq to Iran.

The Centcom statement included: “”Syrian pro-regime forces initiated an unprovoked attack against well-established Syrian Democratic Forces headquarters Feb. 7.”

The statement continued: ” In defense of Coalition and partner forces, the Coalition conducted strikes against attacking forces to repel the act of aggression against partners engaged in the Global Coalition’s defeat-Daesh mission.”

It should be noted that the language used by Centcom greatly obfuscates the legal framework of this conflict. The US is operating illegally, with an overt invasion force, and also continues to fund and direct a side in what it frames as a civil war .

 While many international legal experts, as well as the Syrian government have concluded that the war in Syria is a US and ‘Coalition’ backed invasion, it is nevertheless also illegal to fund or control a side in a civil war, which is what the US claims it is doing. The US also claims this alongside its phantom war against its own ISIS creation.
Thus, any attack by the SAA and it’s allied fighting groups upon an illegal, internationally backed, terrorist or otherwise ‘militia’ group existing on the territory of Syria, can not rationally be described in any existing framework as either ‘aggression’ or ‘unprovoked’.

Centcom claims that US bombers struck ‘pro-regime forces’. This is the area where there have been successful Syrian military advances because the US created ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) moved out. The SDF is a rebranding of some of the US backed Kurdish forces which are operating in areas which include sizable Arab populations.

As we reported previously, Kurdish-led and US backed forces have deployed elsewhere to fight Turkish backed forces.

It is unclear at the time of publishing whether these ‘pro-regime forces’ were auxiliary militias, or the Syrian Arab Army itself. FRN still awaits confirmation on more reliable details from the officials of the SAA. Centcom official statements are historically inaccurate and rife with factual ambiguities and legal untruths.

Diplomatically, and legally, this difference – whether the SAA or allied militias were attacked – may result in a different response from the Syrian government, and its allies in the conflict: Iran and Russia.

In either event, this represents another major escalation in the US’s growing and direct role in the conflict which it has supported through various proxies since the start of this decade.

This story at the time of publishing, is still developing.

Billions of dollars’ worth of weapons brought into Syria, “arms traffic organized by CIA and Pentagon”

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By Thierry Meyssan
Global Research, July 20, 2017
Voltairenet.org 18 July 2017

Over the last seven years, several billion dollars’ worth of armament has been illegally introduced into Syria – a fact which in itself is enough to disprove the myth according to which this war is a democratic revolution. Numerous documents attest to the fact that the traffic was organised by General David Petraeus, first of all in public, via the CIA, of which he was the director, then privately, via the financial company KKR with the aid of certain senior civil servants. Thus the conflict, which was initially an imperialist operation by the United States and the United Kingdom, became a private capitalist operation, while in Washington, the authority of the White House was challenged by the deep state. New elements now show the secret rôle of Azerbaïdjan in the evolution of the war.

During the liberation of Aleppo and the capture of the Saudi military staff who were on site, Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva noted the presence of weapons from her country in nine warehouses abandoned by the jihadists. She carefully noted the information on the boxes, and once she returned home, she investigated the way in which the weapons had been delivered to Syria.

Since 2009 – with the short exception of the period between March 2013 to November 2014 – Bulgaria has been governed by Boïko Borissov, a highly colourful character allegedly with links to one of Europe’s main criminal organisations, the SIC. Let’s remember that Bulgaria is a member of both NATO and the European Union, and that neither of these two organisations offered the slightest criticism concerning the accession to power of a Mafia lord who had been identified as such a long time previously by the international police services.

It is therefore clearly at the risk of their lives that Dilyana Gaytandzhieva uncovered the organisation, and the editors of the Sofia daily, Trud, published her article [1]. While Bulgaria was one of the main arms exporters to Syria, it received help from Azerbaïdjan.

The gigantic CIA arms traffic against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and India

Since the beginning of the Arab Springs, a gigantic arms traffic was organised by the CIA and the Pentagon in violation of a number of resolutions by the UNO Security Council. All the operations that we will be mentioning here are illegal under international law, including those organised publicly by the Pentagon.

As far as arms traffic is concerned, even when individuals or private companies are used as shields, it is impossible to export sensitive equipment without the authorisation of the governments concerned.

All the weapons we will be mentioning, apart from the electronic intelligence systems, are ’Soviet-type’. By definition, even if we pretend that the armies supplied with NATO-type weapons are indeed the final recipients, this is an impossibility. These armies serve only to cover the traffic.

We already knew that the CIA had contacted the SIC, and that Boïko Borissov had been called upon to manufacture an emergency quantity of Captagon destined for the jihadists, first in Libya, then in Syria. Since Maria Petkova’s investigation, which was published in the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), we knew that between 2011 and 2014, the CIA and the SOCOM (Pentagon Special Operations Command) had bought 500 million dollars’ worth of weapons from Bulgaria on behalf of the jihadists. Then, later, we learned that other weapons were paid for by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and transported by Saudi Arabian Cargo and Etihad Cargo [2].

According to Krešimir Žabec, of the Zagreb daily Jutarnji list, at the end of 2012, Croatia delivered 230 tonnes of weapons to the Syrian jihadists for a value of 6.5 million dollars. The transfer to Turkey was handled by three Ilyushins from Jordan International Air Cargo, and the weapons were then parachuted by the Qatai Army [3]. According to Eric Schmitt of the New York Times, the whole system had been created by General David Petraeus, director of the CIA [4].

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