Complaining about Russian intervention in Syria, 61-year-old U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter can’t articulate the U.S. mission, closely aligned with various Saudi-backed terror group designed to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Asad heads the sovereign state of Syria, a recognized U.N. member-state with all its rights, privileges and obligations. U.S. and Saudi officials have decided without international backing that al-Assad’s Alawite Shiite government must be replaced with a Sunni-state approved by Saudi Arabia. Nowhere in the U.N. Security Council or General Assembly has the U.S. and Saudi-backed “regime change” plan been debated or approved. Yet President Barack Obama and his national security team, including Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and National Security Advior Susan Rice, all demand “regime change.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to start bombing and provide boots-on-the-ground Sept. 30 to defend al-Assad’s sovereign state has been met with fierce propaganda by U.S. and European Union officials. Caught flat footed by Moscow the U.S. and EU have no response to Putin’s targeting to CIA-trained Sunni rebels seeking, together with al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [aka ISIS, ISIL and Daesh], to topple al-Assad. No one at the U.N. has authorized the removal of al-Assad, something currently backed by the U.S., EU, U.K. and host of Sunni Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia. U.S., EU, U.K. and Saudi officials haven’t reconciled the hypocrisy of joining al-Qaeda and ISIS’s fight to topple al-Assad. Speaking to the General Assembly Sept. 28, Putin made clear that toppling al-Assad would further destabilize the region.
Until the U.S., EU, U.K and Gulf States have a clear mandate from the U.N. to topple al-Assad, they’re illegally engaged in sabotaging a sovereign U.N.-member state. Pentagon officials announced yesterday that they’d no longer provide cash, training and military hardware to so-called moderate rebels, formerly trained by the CIA with the intent of toppling al-Assad. Whether that’s a change in White House policy is anyone’s guess. Pentagon officials expressed concern that Russia’s bombing campaign against ISIS and U.S.-backed Syrian rebels could lead to a military mishap, whether a mid-air collision or accidental targeting of U.S. assets. Working on a 90-minute video-conference, Russia and the U.S. hope to avoid such a problem. Flying 64 sorties and targeting 54 sites, the Russian air force stepped up its attacks on ISIS and anti-al-Assad forces in the Hama and Idlib provinces.
Coordinating with the Russians, the Pentagon appears to have switched gears to “promote safe flight operations over Syria,” where the U.S. continues to go after ISIS. ”The discussions were professional and focused narrowly on the implementation of specific safety procedures,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook. Targeting U.S.-backed, CIA-trained Sunni rebels, Putin bombed the headquarters of ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham, Saudi-backed rebel group in Saraqeb, in Idlib province. Syria’s Human Rights Watch estimates that over 250,000 Syrians have been killed since the insurgency began March 11, 2011 during the Arab Spring. U.S., EU, U.K and Saudi officials blame al-Assad for defending his Alawite regime, despite the illegality of a heavily Saudi-funded insurgency designed to topple Damascus. Instead of rolling over, al-Assad has defended his sovereignty.
Hinting at some changes since Putin started defending al-Assad, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, including rebel backers Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, offered encouragement to Russia in their efforts to defeat ISIS. “I am not downplaying the difficulties. The war against Daesh and defeating its dangers is possible if the opposing parties against Daesh, among them Russians, work together properly,” said GCC Secretary-General Abdulatif al-Zayani in Abu Dhabi. GCC includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. Only Saudi Arabia and Qatar have firmly backed Sunni rebel groups seeking to topple Damascus. Speaking also in Abu Dhabi, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson called on all GCC members to back a “credible political transition in Syria,” expressing the U.S., EU, U.K, and Saudi view that al-Assad must go.
Backing Sunni rebel groups against al-Assad has fueled the Syrian civil war, now a sectarian conflict of Sunni v. Shiite, driving 10,000 refugees a day to flee to Europe. Over two million have been displaced from Syria, causing the biggest mass refugee crisis since WWII. U.S., EU, U.K. and Saudi efforts to topple al-Assad have met stiff resistance with Putin rescuing his No. 1 Gulf ally, home to Russia’s Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. Putin’s defense of al-Assad should put the U.S., EU, U.K, and Saudi Arabia on notice that the topple al-Assad strategy doesn’t work, only causes more death, destruction and mass immigration from the region. “An end to this war is in everybody’s enlightened self-interest. Enough is enough,” said Eliasson, not admitting that “credible political transition” or “regime change” in Damacus isn’t the way to end the war or restore stability to the region.
