/ world today news/ The USA is consistently acting to separate a part of Syria and take it under its control. This was announced on February 16 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
/ world today news/ The USA is consistently acting to separate a part of Syria and take it under its control. This was announced on February 16 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
According to him, the US strategy boils down to “establishing itself in Syria forever with its armed forces.” The minister added that Washington is trying to achieve the same in Iraq and Afghanistan “despite all the promises made earlier”.
“Having established themselves forever in Syria, they will work to tear off a huge piece of Syrian territory from the rest of the country, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, to create some quasi-local authorities there, by all means trying to create some autonomous entity leaning on the Kurds,” the Russian foreign minister said.
Let us note that Turkey is also not against taking control of a piece of Syrian territory. By the end of January, it became clear that Operation Olive Branch, which the Turkish army is conducting against Kurdish groups in northern Syria, will develop into a long-term campaign.
In place of Ankara’s promises to end the crackdown “as soon as possible”, came new statements that Turkey has no intention of limiting itself to time frames and will continue the offensive until a 30-kilometer zone appears in Syria’s border areas for security.
State Department Press Secretary Heather Neuert’s call to Ankara to limit the scale and duration of the military operation provoked a sharp reaction from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “The United States is urging us to limit the time of the operation, but they have to ask themselves the question of the time frames of their operation in Afghanistan,” he said.
And the Syrian opposition dreams of getting a piece of Syrian territory. The Turks are seeking to limit losses by pushing forward as “cannon fodder” the Ankara-loyal “Free Syrian Army” units opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But the SSA’s support is not selfless. In return, the Syrian opposition, considered “moderate” in Turkey and the West, hopes to gain control of the predominantly Arab town of Tel Riafa and surrounding areas seized from Kurdish forces in February 2016.
After all, the chances of Turkey gaining a foothold in Syria are smaller than those of the US, not to mention the chances of the Syrian opposition. Thus, “Al Mayadin” TV reported that Damascus and the Syrian Kurds fighting in the “People’s Self-Defense Forces” have agreed on joint actions against the Turkish troops in Afrin in northwestern Syria.
According to a number of experts, the position of the Syrian authorities is of fundamental importance for the further course of the Turkish operation. The Kurdish-controlled territories in Syria are separated from each other. As a result, the defenders of the Afrin canton, the smallest in terms of area, have significantly limited resources for the organization of an effective defense. Now, with the consent of Damascus, they will be able to receive reinforcements from the “big land” – the main Kurdish territories to the east.
What is behind Lavrov’s words, will the US succeed with its plans in Syria?
“Analysts talked about the plans of the USA as early as two years ago, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia preferred not to pay attention to it,” notes Stanislav Tarasov, director of the Middle East-Caucasus Research Center of the International Institute for Emerging States – Russian diplomats were busy conducting closed-door talks with the Americans on Syria – first with John Kerry and then with his successor, Tillerson.
In October 2016, I remind you, we even delayed the assault on Aleppo, announcing the so-called humanitarian pause. President Vladimir Putin stated at the time that “we trust that our partners, above all the American ones, will do everything they have promised until now, regarding the withdrawal of the terrorists from “Jebhat an Tursa” and with them such terrorist organizations, from the so-called a healthy part of the opposition. To find out how we will be able to continue the joint work together”.
At the same time, it should be understood that we have declared a pause in the situation when we could only push a little and the Syrian army would have taken Aleppo. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote these days, the US no longer has the resources to allow it to succeed in Aleppo. The US-backed fighters were not well-armed enough to stand up to the Syrian military and the Russian air force, and Washington did not decide on another intervention. If the Assad regime had regained control of Aleppo, it would have strengthened Damascus’s position immensely.
But we chose to pause because we were trying to play with the West. And now, it seems the Americans are confirming their initial plans – to create a US-controlled Kurdish state on Syrian territory.
What “huge piece of Syrian territory” that the Americans want to “separate” is Lavrov talking about?
It is about the area of Deir ez Zor. This region is traditionally considered the heart of the Syrian oil industry. Part of the oil fields are located west of the city, and part to the east, along the left bank of the Euphrates.
It was the 2014 capture of Deir ez-Zor, along with oil fields in northern Iraq and Syria, that helped the Islamic State begin to secure itself from the illegal sale of oil. According to experts, only two of the fields in the province – Al Tanak and Al Omar brought the terrorists 60% of all income from the sale of oil – in 2015, for example, the Islamists earned from the sale of “black gold” about 1.5 billion dollars annually. In my opinion, the US is trying to “carve off” a piece of Syria from Deir ez-Zor north to the border with Turkey. According to US plans, this piece should join Iraqi Kurdistan, thanks to which a wide Kurdish belt will emerge along the Turkish border, reaching Iran in the east.
Can Turkey, after the Americans, try to take control of a part of the Syrian territory?
I think not. Characteristically, US Defense Secretary James Mattis recently called the PKK “insurgents” for the first time. Thus, the US equates the Turkish and Syrian Kurds and in fact indicates that from now on clear borders between Syria and Turkey do not exist. This means that Turkey now does not care about pieces of Syria – Ankara itself is threatened with losing part of its territory.
What actions can we expect from the Americans now?
The USA will probably delay in every way the process of political resolution of the conflict in Syria and will continue to play the Kurdish card. In addition, they will try to scold Turkey and Iran. In fact, such actions by Washington devalue the agreements reached at the National Dialogue Congress in Sochi. Russia in such a situation must adjust its strategy in Syria or it will not win against the US.
“The US bets on the Kurds are tactical, because it is the Kurds who can support the US plans to break up Syria,” he believes. the dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Political Science of the Financial University praised the Government of Russia Alexander Shatilov. “The Kurds are also one of the most divided nations in the world and have a dream of creating an independent Kurdistan. That is why they can perceive the territory of Syria, which will be under their joint management with the USA, as a prototype of their future statehood,” he added.
“I note that practically all players in the region have spoken against their plans. Against it is Turkey, which has long opposed the Kurds. Against it is Damascus, which will not accept a loss of territory, and even less one rich in energy resources. The Shiite leadership of Iraq is also against it because it fears that the Kurds in the northern part of the country will also demand independence. In fact, only the USA is “in favor” of the project, which relies on its military power and the fear of the main characters in the region to start tough actions against the Kurds,” Shatilov believes.
Russia finds itself in an ambiguous situation. It was clear that the US would want to participate in the division of the Syrian cake. And that it is the Americans who will declare themselves victorious over the Islamic State, despite the fact that the terrorists were defeated by Assad’s troops with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
However, I do not see any desire in Moscow to escalate relations with Washington, especially before the presidential elections in Russia. This means that at this stage the USA will rather succeed in occupying part of the Syrian territory and creating a Kurdish quasi-state there, an American protectorate.
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