Syria: Who is Responsible for the Massacre?

The extremely unfortunate and violent events in Syria permanently occupy headlines of the world’s media. They are described in the smallest detail in so many analytical reports, that it has become obvious who exactly was responsible for the chaos happening in Syria and in other Arab and European countries.

There is no doubt that the roots of the current crises go back to the barbaric and absolutely unprovoked armed incursion of the USA to Iraq that exasperated the situation in Middle East and brought the region to its sorrowful state. “That is why roots of this crises go back to that war which divided Iraq into confessional grounds and partly affected the situation in Syria, that made it easier to stir up interconfessional strife in Syria,” – declared the legally elected Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The second and less important turning point was support officially provided by the Western countries to terrorists in Afghanistan, in the beginning of 1980s, who called them “freedom fighters”. Washington and reactionary Arabic regimes of the Gulf did everything to help Afghan guerillas, trained them to be the terrorists who are now ravaging Syria, Iraq and other Arab countries. To remind you, it was then that the Soviet troops were actively trying to halt terrorism from taking root.

Further, in 2006, the Islamic State of Iraq appeared in Iraq, which was supported by the U.S. Government and, after uniting with the Islamic State of Syria, created a terrorist organisation that is now known as the Islamic State. “All these factors as a whole, – said Bashar al-Assad, – generated conditions for strife supported by the Western countries, financed by the states of the Gulf, especially by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, logistically assisted by Turkey, regarding the fact that Erodagan supports the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and, consequently, believes that changing the situation in Syria, Egypt and Iraq would mean the creation of a new sultanate – not related to the Ottoman but to the Muslim Brotherhood, which would spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea under the control of Erodagan.”

It is possible that some Western people will be sceptical about these words of the Syrian President as he is a person concerned to some degree. But the fact remains that this view of the Syrian President is more and more actively supported in the West. An example of this is the statement of a former U.S. consular official in the Saudi Arabia, author of “Visas for Al-Qaeda”, Michel Springmann, who thinks that Washington trained radicals and terrorists to topple and destabilize situation in the countries which cannot be called favourites of the White House, the result of this policy was the occurrence of the Islamic State.

“Some time ago, the USA together with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were recruiting the most violent, uncontrolled Muslims and Arabs from all over the world, who were then sent to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union. Then they realised how successful the situation happened to be: they had a whole legion of trained and well-armed fanatics who could be used to topple governments and destabilize the countries which cannot be called favourites of the USA,” – declared M. Springmann.

According to him, the United States authorities are now suddenly dazed and confused when they are told about the terrorist threat of ISIS. “Unfortunately, this organisation has just changed its name. In the beginning, it was Mujahideen, then – Al-Qaeda, now – ISIS. It is the same troop of fanatics who are trained, armed and consulted by the USA, as well as by authorities of several the most repressive countries of the region – Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other countries of the Gulf,” – declares the former U.S. consular official in Saudi Arabia.

It is without doubt, that Washington, having tried its new policy of destabilizing the Arabic regimes and creating a cauldron of instability in the Middle East, considers ISIS and Al-Nusra Dzhebhat as its own kids. In this regard, there are highly interesting and curious details provoking far-reaching conclusions. Thus, among ISIS warlords and agitators there are Islamists who had been earlier arrested by the U.S. army. Allegedly, there are those who should be in Guantanamo. The main flow of external financing went and goes through Qatar offended by B. al-Assad (who refused to construct the Qatar gas pipeline in Syria) and being a faithful ally of the USA. Among ISIS militants, there are many citizens of the European Union, primarily of the U.K. – an even more faithful ally of the USA.

Delivery of modern US weapons which always happen to appear in terrorists hands speaks in favour of this fact. Certainly, the USA struggle against terrorists only has a demonstrative character, as was noted by the Iranian magazine Kayhan. Washington carries out air strikes, but usually they are not very precise and far away from the terrorists location. Experts say that the United States army knows well about positions of terrorists, at least according to the data of their satellites. Air strikes upon positions of the Islamic State in Syria are inefficient, emphasized the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic Faisal Mikdad in his interview to Kyodo. “Air strikes were not efficient, nothing could be achieved by them,” – he said. According to his evaluation, ISIS “became even stronger in Iraq and Syria in terms of the US struggle against terrorism.”

However, despite all attempts of Washington and its Arabic satellites, the situation in the Middle East is getting out of the control of the US authorities. Moreover, as current events show, the administration of B. Obama is frustrated not knowing what to do in the region.

Barack Obama’s policy in Syria was a fiasco, considers Aleksey Pushkov, Head of the International Committee under the State Duma of Russia. He underlined that the whole pattern of the Western countries behaviour regarding the Middle East regions is in crises. “Currently, the USA cannot afford to act without Russia while solving the Syrian problem. For a long time, Moscow has not been interfering situation in the Middle East. The Western policy has resulted in the collapse of Syria, Libya, Iraq, as well as in absolute lack of progress in the Palestine question,” – emphasized A. Pushkov.

Statements of the presidential candidates from the Republican Party of the USA show that they are of this opinion, and to some extent they start to realize that “limits of the US power to change the world according to its view”, states New York Post. Thus, according to the newspaper, Marko Rubio, candidate with the most “hawkish” world outlook, called for the USA to use its power in strengthening allies and constraining adversaries and not in toppling unwanted governments. Although Jeb Bush stands for a more active role of the USA in Iraq, he emphasizes that this process shall be mainly political and diplomatic. As for Syria, he even warns against a hasty power shift stating: “We must ensure that the regime of Bashar al-Assad would not be shifted by something worse.” Statements of Donald Trump imply something important in the position of the Republican Party – he promised to forge friendship with many world leaders, including the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.

Earlier the administration of Barack Obama had only been condemning of Russia, now it may become more flexible in several questions concerning the stabilization of Syria. “It confirms that Moscow has become an even more important player despite attempts of the USA to isolate it,” – noted Los Angeles Times. During his visit to London, the Secretary of State of the USA John Carry announced the near start of negotiations aimed at “determination of different possible variants, when we consider next steps in Syria.”

According to analysts, the start of negotiations demonstrates the White House recognition of necessity to review its main idea on the crisis. Conflict transformed the region in such way that the representatives of the US administration “had no choice than to try to get ahead. And this requires communication with Moscow,” – thinks Julianne Smith, advisor of Joe Biden. Washington may become more flexible in some questions concerning the stabilization of Syria.

Carry has already alluded to a new level of flexibility of the administration position, noted Los Angeles Times. At the same time, his peaceful statements contrasts sharply with the statement made two weeks ago, in a telephone conversation with the Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov. According to the statements of different officials of the USA, the main goal of negotiations between Moscow and Washington is preventing conflicts between the Russian and United States forces in Syria.

It is obvious that all these statements and facts are enough to confirm the collapse of past policies of Washington in the Middle East in an unbiased manner.

Victor Mikhin, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”