The United States turns the Syrian conflict into a mediated war with Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the program of assistance to the so-called moderate Syrian opposition from the United States, expressed concern: “Will all this fall again into the hands of terrorists?”
“Will all this fall into the hands of terrorists again?”
The commanders of the Syrian rebels say that for the first time since the start of the Russian air strikes, large batches of American-made anti-tank missiles were received. Such a statement is contained in an article published on the eve of The New York Times. The authors of the material conclude: with the increased firepower of the rebels and with the steady improvement in the quality of Russian air strikes against government opponents, the Syrian conflict brings us closer to a total mediated war (proxy war, can also be translated as “war by proxy” - comment), between the United States and Russia.
The same term - “mediated conflict” - is also used by the leading Chinese newspaper, Renmin Jibao. The Beijing edition notes: Russia and the United States, instead of demanding peace talks in Syria, are returning to the Cold War.
“They said that we will not work at this level”
The threat pointed to by both The New York Times and the People's Daily is, alas, quite real. The United States and its Middle Eastern allies, acting in Syria at their own discretion (unlike Russia, which launched the antiterrorist operation at the request of the country's legitimate government), actually “warms up” civil war, supporting illegal formations, including radical Islamists, with arms - let even the West and the Arabian monarchies call them "moderate opposition."
As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted when talking with Vladimir Solovyov, a reporter for the Russia 1 channel, “we work in full compliance with international law - at the request of the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic”. "All other countries that have so far taken part in such actions act illegally, because there is not a decision of the UN Security Council on this subject, nor is there an official request from the Syrian authorities," the head of state emphasized.
According to the president, “if we talk about a purely military component, then we’re talking to our partners when we hear reproaches to our address that our attacks are supposedly not on ISIL, not on other terrorist organizations like“ Dzhebhat al-Nusra ”and others like them, and the healthy part of the opposition, so let's say about it. "
"And we told them: if you know better than us, the situation in the territory, you are already there for more than a year - illegally, but still present, if you know better (which I doubt, but suppose), give us goals we will work them out, ”Putin said. West refused. “They said no, at this level we will not work. It is not clear why, if they really know better and want to fight terrorism - tell us the specific places where the terrorists are hiding, where their control points, warehouses with weapons and equipment. Give us a goal - which is easier? So far, unfortunately, they have not reached such a level of joint work, ”the president stated, noting that the first steps in establishing contacts at the military level were made.
As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, Moscow regrets that the United States has not yet begun to realistically coordinate the efforts of all those who resist the terrorist threat in Syria.
Recall, not so long ago, The New York Times wrote that the United States was taken by surprise by the creation by Russia, Iraq, Iran and Syria of an information center to fight the Islamic State group.
“Democracy” will win, even if it leads to chaos ”
It seems that the United States and its allies are not aiming to curb terrorism in the face of the “Islamic State” and Al-Qaida’s Syrian cells, but to eliminate the current Syrian government at any cost and with the help of any forces intending to fight the Al-Assad government until the bitter end . Thus, the United States and its allies, instead of jointly deterring terrorism on distant frontiers (though not so distant, given that ISIS is a direct and obvious threat for Europe) oppose their operation to Russia, and from such opposition to “war by proxy” - one step.
“On the whole, the United States considers its strategy to be correct, just like some dogma that“ democracy will still win ”and everything will turn out well, even if it leads to chaos. The Americans chose a dubious strategy, trying to defeat Bashar al-Assad with a third force and hoping that this third force would prevail over the IS, which raises many questions, ”Professor of Military Sciences, Director of the Project for Conventional Arms and ATT of the PIR Center noted in his commentary Vadim Kozyulin.
The expert noted that there are a lot of mistakes in the US strategy, and they do not hide them, so besides switching opposition fighters with American weapons to the IG side, there were cases when a part of the weapons went to the igilovtsa as payment for passing through their territory.
Along the line of the CIA
According to The New York Times, TOW antitank guided missiles produced in the United States began to be shipped to the region as early as 2013. The publication believes that the supplies were in the framework of "a secret program conducted by the United States, as well as Saudi Arabia and other allies, and designed to help the rebel groups prepared by the CIA who are fighting the Syrian government."
The publication claims that this plan of the CIA is not related to the “failed Pentagon program” - I mean the program for training and arming the fighters of the Syrian opposition, for which it was planned to allocate 500 million dollars. Earlier it was reported that the administration of US President Barack Obama has decided to stop this project, the Ministry of Defense. “He was not successful in many respects because few of the recruited oppositionists agreed that their goal was to fight the IS, and not Assad,” notes The New York Times. The program overseen by the CIA, according to the newspaper, is much larger than the plans of the Pentagon.
Moreover, according to a number of commanders of the Syrian opposition, who agreed to comment on the American newspaper, they first received anti-tank missiles from the United States after the start of the operation of the Russian videoconferencing system.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the program of assistance to the so-called moderate Syrian opposition from the United States, expressed concern: “Will all this fall again into the hands of terrorists?”
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed fears that the new US program to help the “moderate opposition” in Syria would once again lead to the release of ammunition and supplies into the hands of militants.
Add that on the eve of the CNN television channel, citing its own source said: in the province of Al-Hasek, US military transport aircraft dropped 50 tons of ammunition for the needs of the Syrian opposition. It is reported that US aircraft successfully delivered opposition rifle ammunition and hand grenades.
Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said last Friday that the United States could decide to revise programs to train opposition fighters opposed to President Assad. The White House clarified that as a result of the revision of the strategy, the US will work with those groups that are already fighting with the IG: this is about providing the Syrian opposition with equipment that will allow them to operate more effectively with the support of American air strikes.
An article in The New York Times states that anti-tank weapons are delivered “in the field” by American allies, but the United States says where exactly the deliveries are made. “This suggests that the current stable arms supply is at least with the approval of Washington,” the authors emphasize. At the same time, “Russian aviation provides powerful support to Syrian government forces.
In the past five days alone, 34 videos from the battlefields in the provinces of Hama and Idlib were posted on the Web, where the US TOW ATGM "helped to delay the first ground attack by the Syrian government army, supported by Russian aviation."
The publication quotes the commander of a certain opposition group, Unit 13, Ahmad al-Saud, who said: "We get everything we ask in the shortest possible time." The militant commander claims that in just two days, his people destroyed seven tanks and government armored vehicles with the help of seven American ATGMs. “Seven out of seven,” Ahmad boasts. Earlier, it was reported that Unit 13 is part of the Islamist Sunni coalition “The Conquest Army” (“Jaish al-Fatah”), which is fighting in Idlib province with both the IS and the government army and with the Shiite Hezbollah movement.
Another "official source" in one of the opposition groups fighting in the province of Hama, said: the opposition received a blank check with regard to the supply of weapons. This militant word for word repeats the words "colleagues" from Idlib: "We get as much as we need and when we need it." At the same time, the “moderate oppositionist” asked not to identify himself with the radical Islamists.
In turn, a source in the Syrian government structures told The New York Times that the combat capability and morale of the army "is at a new level" - and this is due to both the antiterrorist operation of the Russian videoconferencing system and the assistance that Assad has from Iran and the Lebanese militias from Hezbollah.
Dangerous Liaisons
If Russia, fighting against terrorism in Syrian territory, interacts with the legitimate internationally recognized government of the Syrian Arab Republic, then the counterparties of the Americans and their Middle Eastern allies are highly questionable.
Recently, a high-ranking source in the government of Saudi Arabia, on condition of anonymity, told BBC BBC: “The response to the Russian bombardments will be an increase in the supply of modern weapons to the Syrian opposition. This will restore the balance of power and prevent the offensive of the security forces of Bashar al-Assad. ” The Saudi source indicated that three groups would be supported, "considered moderate": "Free Syrian Army", "Southern Front" and the already mentioned "Jaish al-Fath" - "Army of Conquest".
According to the Russia 24 channel, the Army of Conquest (which, as one of its commanders confessed, "gets everything he asks" from Western well-wishers) is under operational control from the Al Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Nusrah. Qaida.
On Tuesday, the leader of the Al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, posted a video appeal to the Syrian opposition: he called for an increase in the number of attacks in retaliation for the alleged "indiscriminate killing of Muslim Sunnis by the Russian military." According to the British The Telegraph, the head of the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda said: Russia's actions aimed at preserving the Assad regime are doomed to failure.
Judging by the words of al-Golani, the Islamists are clearly trying to present the Syrian conflict as a religious war. The head of the "An-Nusra Front" called the Russian airstrikes "a new crusade of Christians from the east." “The war in Syria will make the Russians forget the horrors they faced in Afghanistan. The new intervention of Russia is the last spurt in the arsenal of the enemies of Muslims and the enemies of Syria, ”said al-Golani.
"The United States just changed the strategy"
Professor Kozyulin reminded the newspaper VIEW that the USA had been constantly supplying anti-tank installations of the Syrian opposition for several years.
“This is one of the serious factors that the Syrian army has to face,” the expert stressed, recalling how the Americans put the Stinger Mujahideen MANPADS in Afghanistan at one time, and our pilots had to fly much higher, the accuracy of the strikes decreased and so on, which changed the nature of the war, leveled the situation to some extent. "The same thing happened when the Americans put the anti-tank weapons on the opposition, and she had the means to fight the armored vehicles of the government forces," the source said.
Kozyulin stressed that "the Americans declared their refusal to train the so-called Syrian free army, as it showed itself absolutely disastrous and a thousand soldiers switched to the IG, but the United States did not refuse to supply weapons, that is, they simply changed the strategy," expert.
In his opinion, the latest deliveries of anti-tank installations should be considered as a response to the reinforcement of the army of Bashar al-Assad, which today launched an offensive. "This is due to the emergence of Russian aircraft in Syria, but not directed against the Russian armed forces, it is directed primarily to the Syrian army," the source added. “However, since Russia supports the Syrian army, indirectly, these are strikes against our efforts there.” At the same time, Kozyulin reminded that the Americans are acting in violation of the UN Charter on the sovereignty of the nation, "today they put it in question."
The expert believes that, contrary to the wishes of the opposition, the Americans will not go to supply anti-aircraft missiles, "stingers" and so on, because this is "a very serious bid for the conflict with Russia. In addition, the Americans themselves are flying planes there, and if you get involved in such an anti-war, you can get an answer, ”said the source.
Kozyulin added that there is strict legislation in the world regarding specific types of MANPADS, there are international agreements: to whom it can be transferred, to whom it is impossible. "There are still anti-aircraft guns that were used in World War II, with them easier, but the Americans will not do it, knowing that this will provoke a serious diplomatic conflict and a big debate in the international community," the expert concluded.
"Saudi Arabia and Turkey do not ask Americans"
Reserve colonel, military expert Viktor Murakhovsky noted in his comment to the VIEW newspaper that there are other countries besides the USA that are ready to supply the Syrian opposition with weapons. For example, the TOW anti-tank installations were supplied by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And although they are all in a single coalition against the IG, “this coalition is quite loose,” the expert pointed out. Yes, the main thing in it are the Americans, and the rest are their younger partners, but “each there pursues its own interests. Turkey has its creators, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have theirs, and the United Arab Emirates have theirs. Everyone acts independently. And Saudi Arabia often neither asks nor anyone else asks, as does Turkey, ”Murakhovsky stressed.
The interlocutor believes that the current request of the Syrian opposition to provide them with the US anti-aircraft missiles will not respond, because these anti-aircraft missiles “will certainly be used on American aircraft. There is no doubt about it. Such an experience has already taken place, ”the expert stressed, pointing out the fact recognized even by the United States when the weapons supplied by the states of the opposition ended up in the hands of the IG. Thus, the IG received armament for about two divisions equipped with Americans: there are not only Humvee missiles and all-terrain vehicles, but also armored vehicles, heavy tank vehicles, 165 mm artillery, and so on, Murakhovsky said.
Another reason why the Syrian opposition can hardly expect support from the Pentagon is that the opposition itself as such “exists only on paper.” “There is practically none on earth,” the expert concluded.
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