While refusing to recognize the decisive role that the coalition of Russia, Turkey and Iran played in saving Syria from the terrorist onslaught that was brought upon it, Washington carries on its destructive policies in this country.
It would seem that there’s little left to reveal regarding Washington’s close ties with the so-called Islamic State terrorist group since the media has been discussing these facts for some time. The role that America’s special services played in the training, arming and supporting of radical militants with so-called “advisers” and intelligence reports is undeniable. Each new article published reinforces one’s conviction that ISIS, just like Al-Qaeda created by the CIA during the days of the Cold War, was created by Washington to achieve its ultimate goal of plunging the entire Middle Eastern region into chaos, hoping to impose “US-style democracy” upon Syria, Libya and Iran by destroying their respective governments.
However, a string of successful military operations conducted by Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria’s armed forces themselves that resulted in the destruction of ISIS have confounded Washington’s plans. This prevented Washington from invading Syria under the pretext of fighting the forces of international terror without the permission of the Syrian government or any sort of international mandate.
Against this backdrop, one cannot help but note that the fate of the militants of the defeated terrorist groups resembles that of Nazi criminals at the end of World War II, assisted by Washington in their attempts to escape prosecution. The only difference is that the majority of those fascist criminals found refuge in various structures supervised by US special services, for example, in Latin America. As for the majority of most experienced and battle-capable militants within ISIS, they’ve been seemingly disappearing into thin air, as if the ancient sands of Iraq and Syria were consuming them together with their equipment. However, with one wave of Washington’s “magic wand” they may appear again in Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Russia’s and China’s “soft underbelly” – Central Asia.
Those who remain skeptical should recall that back in 2006 the US Department of Justice prepared a detailed six hundred pages long report on the “post employment” of German Nazis in the United States. Back in the 1940s the idea to provide seasoned war criminals with a hideout was put forward by the US Chiefs of Staff Committee headed by Omar Bradley which was then transformed into Operation Paperclip with an extensive amount of assistance provided by US intelligence agencies. The above mentioned report has never been officially released, but by 2010 it fell into the hands of journalists at The New York Times, which would publish it on its website. After reviewing the report, NYT concluded that after the Second World War, US intelligence agencies provided safehavens to a great many Nazi criminals and their collaborators.
Curiously enough, one cannot fight off the impression that we’re witnessing the revival of Operation Paperclip, since there’s no other logical explanation for US military helicopters evacuating a total of twenty ISIS commanders and their staff who were trapped by government forces in Deir ez-Zor last August.
Further still, a couple of months ago Syrian media sources reported that in the vicinity of the Rubkan refugee camp which lies along the border with Jordan, American “advisors” began training yet another “moderate opposition” force which was formed from radical militants delivered from Eastern Qalamoun, Umm El-Karjatein and other deserted areas of Syria. The new armed force is going to be called the National Syrian Army and it’s clear that Washington is planning to use it as a proxy force against Damascus.
The recent statement of the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, David Satterfield about America’s plans to oppose the reconciliation talks in Sochi shows that Washington is still not convinced that it’s time to put an end to the Syrian conflict. Satterfield went as far as to announce that the US will not allow the “legitimization” of the peace process that Russia is advancing in Syria. Mind you that Russia, Turkey and Iran have been busy preparing the National Dialog Congress in Sochi that will be held by the end of the month to promote a peaceful end to the Syrian crisis.
In the coming days, the US administration will be ready to make public its own ideas about the territorial division of Syria that it’s been seeking for so long, notes the respected Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. According to its sources, Washington is preparing to hand over 38,000 square miles of Syrian land east of the Euphrates River to the recently re-branded militant forces that it has been training, putting them under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The operation implies the territorial division of Syria, carried out under the patronage of US Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who announced that Washington would send its diplomats along with military instructors to areas controlled by the SDF.
Washington’s new initiative of creating so-called “Syrian Border Security Force” in Syria is going to fall into the same pattern. According to the Pentagon, those forces will be deployed within the territories occupied by the US in Syria. At present, some 230 men have already started their training, but Washington is planning to enlist over 30,000 more into this armed group. The the US Coalition’s public affairs officer, Thomas F. Veale has told the media these forces will be deployed along the Euphrates River valley – along the western edge of the territory occupied by the SDF, as well as along the Iraqi and Turkish borders.
Washington’s decision to create the so-called Syrian Border Security Force without consulting Damscus is a direct violation of the UN Charter and the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic, leading to the further aggravation of the Syria crisis. Official representatives of Turkey, Iran, and Russia, along with various political experts have already condemned this step. In particular, Ankara has voiced a resounding “NO” to US plans, noting that Washington is playing with fire as Ankara is prepared to launch a large-scale military operation in Syria, striking a total of 149 targets in the territory controlled by pro-US Kurdish armed groups.
That is precisely why such provocations by the US should be brought to a complete halt.
Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
