Konflikten i Syrien

Expert: US Must End Support for Terrorists to Cooperate with Russia in Syria

TEHRAN (FNA)- Director for the Institute for (Persian) Gulf Affairs Ali al-Ahmad said that Russia should only accept US proposals to cooperate in Syria if Washington ends its support for terrorist groups in the region.
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"It is very clear that the US offer comes because the United States recognizes it is in a position of weakness in Syria. Russia is in a superior position: The Russians have the upper hand," he said.

Russia should insist on a UN inspection team to be sent to Syria, al-Ahmed advised.
"The Russians should also request international inspection and insist on a United Nations Security Council resolution to set up an international inspection team to go after ISIL and the sources of its support," he said.

Military to Military – Seymour M. Hersh on US intelligence sharing in the Syrian war

Barack Obama’s repeated insistence that Bashar al-Assad must leave office – and that there are ‘moderate’ rebel groups in Syria capable of defeating him – has in recent years provoked quiet dissent, and even overt opposition, among some of the most senior officers on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. Their criticism has focused on what they see as the administration’s fixation on Assad’s primary ally, Vladimir Putin. In their view, Obama is captive to Cold War thinking about Russia and China, and hasn’t adjusted his stance on Syria to the fact both countries share Washington’s anxiety about the spread of terrorism in and beyond Syria; like Washington, they believe that Islamic State must be stopped.

The military’s resistance dates back to the summer of 2013, when a highly classified assessment, put together by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then led by General Martin Dempsey, forecast that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to chaos and, potentially, to Syria’s takeover by jihadi extremists, much as was then happening in Libya. A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. By then, the CIA had been conspiring for more than a year with allies in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to ship guns and goods – to be used for the overthrow of Assad – from Libya, via Turkey, into Syria.

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It was this history of co-operation that made it seem possible in 2013 that Damascus would agree to the new indirect intelligence-sharing arrangement with the US. The Joint Chiefs let it be known that in return the US would require four things: Assad must restrain Hizbullah from attacking Israel; he must renew the stalled negotiations with Israel to reach a settlement on the Golan Heights; he must agree to accept Russian and other outside military advisers; and he must commit to holding open elections after the war with a wide range of factions included. ‘We had positive feedback from the Israelis, who were willing to entertain the idea, but they needed to know what the reaction would be from Iran and Syria,’ the JCS adviser told me. ‘The Syrians told us that Assad would not make a decision unilaterally – he needed to have support from his military and Alawite allies. Assad’s worry was that Israel would say yes and then not uphold its end of the bargain.’ A senior adviser to the Kremlin on Middle East affairs told me that in late 2012, after suffering a series of battlefield setbacks and military defections, Assad had approached Israel via a contact in Moscow and offered to reopen the talks on the Golan Heights. The Israelis had rejected the offer. ‘They said, “Assad is finished,”’ the Russian official told me. ‘“He’s close to the end.”’ He said the Turks had told Moscow the same thing. By mid-2013, however, the Syrians believed the worst was behind them, and wanted assurances that the Americans and others were serious about their offers of help.

/.../Few in the US Congress share this view. One exception is Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii and member of the House Armed Services Committee who, as a major in the Army National Guard, served two tours in the Middle East. In an interview on CNN in October she said: ‘The US and the CIA should stop this illegal and counterproductive war to overthrow the Syrian government of Assad and should stay focused on fighting against … the Islamic extremist groups.’

‘Does it not concern you,’ the interviewer asked, ‘that Assad’s regime has been brutal, killing at least 200,000 and maybe 300,000 of his own people?’

‘The things that are being said about Assad right now,’ Gabbard responded, ‘are the same that were said about Gaddafi, they are the same things that were said about Saddam Hussein by those who were advocating for the US to … overthrow those regimes … If it happens here in Syria … we will end up in a situation with far greater suffering, with far greater persecution of religious minorities and Christians in Syria, and our enemy will be far stronger.’

‘So what you are saying,’ the interviewer asked, ‘is that the Russian military involvement in the air and on-the-ground Iranian involvement – they are actually doing the US a favour?’

‘They are working toward defeating our common enemy,’ Gabbard replied.

Gabbard later told me that many of her colleagues in Congress, Democrats and Republicans, have thanked her privately for speaking out. ‘There are a lot of people in the general public, and even in the Congress, who need to have things clearly explained to them,’ Gabbard said. ‘But it’s hard when there’s so much deception about what is going on. The truth is not out.’ It’s unusual for a politician to challenge her party’s foreign policy directly and on the record. For someone on the inside, with access to the most secret intelligence, speaking openly and critically can be a career-ender. Informed dissent can be transmitted by means of a trust relationship between a reporter and those on the inside, but it almost invariably includes no signature. The dissent exists, however. The longtime consultant to the Joint Special Operations Command could not hide his contempt when I asked him for his view of the US’s Syria policy. ‘The solution in Syria is right before our nose,’ he said. ‘Our primary threat is Isis and all of us – the United States, Russia and China – need to work together. Bashar will remain in office and, after the country is stabilised there will be an election. There is no other option.

/.../Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff. The British report heightened doubts inside the Pentagon; the joint chiefs were already preparing to warn Obama that his plans for a far-reaching bomb and missile attack on Syria’s infrastructure could lead to a wider war in the Middle East. As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack.

Putin and Trump agree on ceasefire in Syria
HAMBURG, July 7. /TASS/. Russia and the United States have agreed on a ceasefire in the south of Syria from 12.00 Damascus time on July 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after the talks of Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

"A ceasefire will come into force in that zone (Syria’s south - Daraa and Quneitra) at 12.00 Damascus time on July 9," he said. "The United States has made a commitment that all the groups present there will observe the ceasefire."

The security in the de-escalation zone in the south of Syria will be ensured by the Russian military police in coordination with the US and Jordan, he went on.

"At first, the security around this zone will be ensured with the use of the personnel and resources of the Russian military police," Lavrov said.

US-Russia Deal on Syrian Truce May Be Step Towards Settlement- Syrian Ambassador

The new Syrian ceasefire agreed by Russia and the United States may become a "giant step" to the political settlement in the war-torn country, Syria’s Ambassador to China and former Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha told Sputnik, adding that joint effort of Moscow and Washington is crucial to maintain the truce.
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"This [ceasefire in southwest Syria] could be a giant step forward towards a political settlement of the crisis in Syria. However, the real challenge is not in reaching such an agreement; it is in upholding and maintaining it… A joint US-Russia effort to maintain the ceasefire will be crucial for its success," Moustapha said.

The diplomat raised doubts though if the United States could really stop its policy of supporting terrorism in Syria.

"Despite all the spurious claims by President Trump about fighting ISIL [Islamic State terrorist group, outlawed in Russia], he has actually helped ISIL when attacking Syrian army units engaged in battle against that terrorist group, or equally, against al-Nusra Front [Jabhat Fatah al Sham, banned in Russia]. However, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and see if he can turn the page and disengage his administration from the policy of supporting any terrorist group as long as it is fighting Syrian government troops," Moustapha added.