by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 1, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

                When President Barack Obama announced he’d back arming moderate Syiran rebels Sept. 18, 2014, U.S. Syrian policy aligned itself with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] and al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front.  Arming Abdullah al-Bashir’s the Free Syrian Army for a second time, Obama orients U.S. foreign policy with terror groups seeking to topple 49-year-old former opthamologist Bashar al-Assad.  When Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), now chairman of the Armed Services Committee, visited 58-year-old former Free Syrian Army Chief Brig. Gen. Salim Idris May 27, 2013, U.S. military hardware, tanks, armed personnel carriers, anti-tank weapons, etc. fell to ISIS.  Outraged by al-Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons May 13, 2013, the White House and Congress lost sight to the big picture:  Saudi-backed Sunni terror groups seek to topple the Shiite government of al-Assad.

             While Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi celebrated the victory of ISIS in Tikrit today, ISIS infiltrated the Yamuk Palestinians refuge camp in southern Damascus, dangerously close to al-Assad’s power base.  With Iran’s Basij militia and Hezbollah fighters, with strong Russian backing, battling Sunni militias like ISIS, al-Nusra front, and, yes, the Free Syrian Army, Obama’s foreign policy directly pits the U.S. against Iran, Syria and Russia.  “Fighters from IS launched an assault this morning on Yamuk and they took over a majority of the camp,” said Anwar Abdel Had, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s political affairs director in Damscus.  “They’ve reached the Palestinian hospital and 15th Street, which are in the center of the camp,” said Hadi.  Palestinian groups welcomed ISIS, fighting together to topple al-Assad’s regime with various Sunni militant groups.

             Confirming that ISIS took control of Yamuk refuge camp, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said jihadists entered the camp through the rebel-held town of Hajar al-Aswa.  What makes the politics in Syria so complicated are the various Sunni militant groups vying to topple al-Assad’s Alawite Shiite regime.  For nearly 15 years, al-Assad hosted Hamas’s 58-year old leader in exile Khalid Meshaal before the Arab Spring opened the door in 2011 to ousting al-Assad.  Now the U.N.’s Palestinian relief organization [UNRWA] expressed concerns about ISIS’s takeover of Yamuk, fearing casualties with the camp’s high child population.  Located only 3.7 miles from downtown Damascus, UNRWA fears that al-Assad’s forces would have to join the fight against ISIS before it’s the group descends on the Syrian capital.  UNRWA was “extremely concerned about the safety and protection of civilians.”

             ISIS withdrew from Yamuk in 2014, leaving only radical Palestinians seeking to topple al-Assad’s Shiite regime.  Arming the Free Syrian Army, the White House and Congress join the same terror groups responsible for Sept. 11.  Whether or not the U.S. likes al-Assad, the compelling message—and mistake—of the Iraq war was toppling Saddam Hussein’s Baathist dictatorship.  Once U.S. forces toppled Saddam April 10, 2003, it started the dreaded “power vacuum,” unleashing various terror groups to flood Iraq.  While headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS claims to be a new extremist group, when in fact its roots go back to Syrian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Syrian-born, Sunni radical that gave the U.S. fits in the battles of Fallujah, before a U.S. smart-bomb took him out June 7, 2006.  ISIS’s military wing is run by Saddam’s former Gen Ibrahim Izzat al-Douri and former Saddam Baathist personnel.

             U.S. officials have to stop backing so-called moderate Sunni groups like the Free Syrian Army.  If there were one lesson learned in Iraq, authoritarian regimes, like Saddam’s or al-Assad’s, are the only way to keep terror groups from taking over.  Obama and McCain must pick their poison when it comes to the current objective of toppling al-Assad.  Interviewed by PBS’s Charlie Rose for CBS’s “60 Minutes,” al-Assad insisted his goal was restoring order in Syria.  While al-Assad is a clever propagandist, he told Rose he wants to end the bloody civil war that’s cost over 215,000 lives.  He agrees with Russia and Iran that an option to his rule would be far worse for the region.  Joining forces with ISIS and al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front is a losing foreign policy for the U.S. or any Western powers.  Backed by Russia and Iran, Syria’s 250,000 fighters won’t give in to Saudi-backed Sunni militias.

             White House and Congressional leaders need to get the Syrian policy right before dealing with another potential Iraq.  While there’s plenty of anarchy in Syria, with ISIS seizing some 30% of Syrian land, the U.S. needs to stop playing politics with Iran and Russia and start using some common sense.  Ending al-Assad’s rule would open up a sectarian war much like the one going on in Yemen.  Iranian-baked Shiite Houthi’s toppled Yemen’s Sunni government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi March 25.  While Saudi Arabia committed to air strikes and possible ground troops to restore Hadi’s regime, Yemen exposes the same sectarian warfare plaguing the Middle East and North Africa.  Joining the Sunni insurgency against al-Assad does nothing to restore any stability to the region.  While it’s not easy to admit fault, the U.S. is currently on the wrong side of the Syrian civil war.

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