Secret US contacts with the Assad regime (The Wall Street Journal, USA)

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Secret US contacts with the Assad regime (The Wall Street Journal, USA)


The Obama administration has secretly liaised with some representatives of the Syrian regime for several years in an unsuccessful attempt to curb violence and force President Bashar al-Assad to give up power. This was told by American and Arab officials.

At first, the USA looked for cracks in the regime in order to provoke a military coup with their help. But they found very few such cracks. These efforts show how difficult it is for the presidential administration of Barack Obama to understand and find common ground with this Middle Eastern dictatorship, which has been led by the Assad family for 45 years.

But unlike the secret channels of communication between the White House and Iran, actions in Syria did not gain momentum, and contacts were limited. This material was based on interviews with two dozen people, including former and current US officials, with leaders and diplomats from Arab countries. Previously, these contacts are almost not reported.

US officials said that contacts with the regime were disordered and sporadic, and that the focus was on several very specific issues. From time to time, high-ranking leaders communicated directly among themselves and with other people, and sometimes sent their messages through intermediaries, choosing Russia and Iran for this purpose as the main allies of Assad.

Assad himself several times contacted the administration in order to convince her to unite with him to fight terrorism.

In the 2011 year, when the regime began to suppress protests, and soldiers began to desert from the army, American intelligence officers identified officers from the Assad minority of Alawites who could carry out a regime change. This was told by former US officials and European officials.

“In 2011, the White House’s policy was aimed at implementing transformations in Syria, for which he searched for cracks in the regime’s structure and offered people various incentives and rewards to leave Assad,” said a former senior administration official.

But the regime held steadfastly, continuing to tighten the screws.

In August, 2011, Obama openly demanded that Assad relinquish power.

The administration has never shied away from its key political principle, which was that Assad should ultimately resign. However, instead of convincing Assad to withdraw, secret contacts reinforced the Syrian president’s thoughts about his legitimacy and impunity.

Because of this, the world powers began to argue about the future of the Syrian leader in the settlement process. It also hampered efforts to consolidate the international struggle against the "Islamic State".

“There were moments when we said:“ You can create more favorable conditions for a cease-fire if you stop dropping barrel bombs, ”said a senior American official. - There was communication on certain issues. This is not Cuba or Iran, and as for Syria, we thought that through secret bilateral negotiations we would be able to solve the problem. ” Questions about contacts with the Obama administration, directed by Assad’s adviser Butayne Shaaban (Bouthaina Shaaban), remained unanswered.

Throughout the conflict, two key elements of the American strategy regarding Syria, which are political and military pressure on the Assad regime, often rested against the wall, because of which the administration had to change tactics several times.

“This regime is politically very flexible. These people are very smart, - said former American Ambassador to Damascus Robert Ford (Robert Ford). “They always look for flaws and weaknesses in others and go beyond standard actions.”

But by the summer of 2012, the White House’s strategy for organizing a regime change had failed. The United States began to support the rebels, but acted too slowly. “Russia doubled its stakes, Iran doubled its stakes, but all this did not have a real effect,” said a former administration official.

In the summer of 2012, the administration, through the Russian and Iranian representatives, conveyed a warning to Assad that he should not use chemical weapon.

In addition, US officials spoke directly to their Syrian counterparts. Retired Undersecretary of State William Burns (William Burns) called Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem two times and passed on these warnings to him.

Fearing further escalation on the part of Assad, in August Obama 2012 openly held the red line on the issue of chemical weapons. Despite these warnings, in August 2013 was attacked using sarin, in which approximately 1 400 people died. And although Obama threatened to respond with military actions, in fact he made a deal with the regime to destroy the Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles.

Over the next two years, Washington changed the content of its signals to Damascus, trying to focus on containing the conflict.

But there was another reason for maintaining contact with the regime. In Syria, there are missing or five American citizens are in prison. Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson discussed their fate at least twice with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.

Then the Obama administration returned to diplomacy, trying to bring the Syrian government to the negotiating table.

At the center of these efforts was a businessman from Homs province and Assad's confidant Khaled Ahmad (Khaled Ahmad), who in recent years has become the main representative of the Syrian leader in contacts with Western officials, including American diplomats. Ahmad did not answer the questions of The Wall Street Journal sent by mail.

"Assad was looking for ways to start talks with the White House," said Syria specialist Joshua Landis, who teaches at the University of Oklahoma. Ahmad in this case was his chief plenipotentiary.

At the end of 2013, the former ambassador to Damascus Ford, who had become special representative of the administration for Syria by that time, met with Ahmad in Geneva on the eve of the talks scheduled there. Ford told Ahmad that the United States is still striving for political transformation, which calls for the withdrawal of Assad’s rule.

Ahmad said in response that the United States and the West should help the Syrian government in the fight against terrorism.

The strengthening of the Islamic State in 2013 took the American administration by surprise. Asad saw this as a good opportunity to gain a foothold in the role of partner in the fight against terror that engulfed the Middle East region, which began to spread in the West.

By the year 2014, when the United States expanded the area of ​​air strikes against militants, and apart from Iraq, began to destroy them in Syria, State Department officials began to call their colleagues from the Syrian Foreign Ministry, warning them that Damascus should stay away from American aircraft operating in the Syrian sky. . This was told by US officials and other people familiar with the content of contacts.

Today, when Washington intends to notify Damascus about where it will deploy Syrian fighters trained by the United States and fighting with the Islamic State so that they will not be mistaken for insurgents, the American representative to the UN Samantha Power sends his deputy to negotiate with Syrian representative Bashar Jaafari (Bashar Jaafari).

The White House states that such notices are not cooperation with the regime. However, Assad uses them to his own advantage.

“The regime has regained legitimacy,” said Syrian journalist Ibrahim Hamidi (Ibrahim Hamidi), who headed the bureau of the leading pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat in Damascus. “Any contacts with the United States, and even the appearance of such contacts, give him advantages.”

This spring, former White House senior official Steve Simon (Steve Simon) met with Assad in Damascus during a visit initiated and organized by Ahmad.

Simon, who left the White House in 2014, met at least twice with Ahmad before going to Damascus. He told his former colleagues that this was his personal initiative, and that he was going to Syria not on behalf of the government, not in an official capacity as a representative of the administration, but at the invitation of Damascus.

Simon notified former White House colleagues and State Department officials about his intention to meet with the Syrian leader. Before and after talks with Assad, he met with former colleagues from the National Security Council, including his senior director Robert Malley.

Simon spoke about the steps that the regime can take immediately to obtain credit from the international community: refusal from barrel bombing, intensification of the fight against ISIS, and not with anti-government rebels, as well as cooperation with the UN in cease-fire efforts in places.

Assad responded with familiar phrases, focusing on the struggle he is waging against terrorism. He showed a certain degree of readiness for a cease-fire on the ground on the terms of the authorities.

In the following months, a debate began in the White House on what to do next: to strengthen American opposition to the Assad regime or to highlight the fight against the Islamic State to the detriment of the task of eliminating the regime.
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18 comments
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  1. +4
    28 December 2015 12: 13
    When will they calm down ..? Well, apparently, he will correct the hunchback grave ...
    1. +4
      28 December 2015 12: 16
      Assad himself several times contacted the administration in order to convince her to unite with him to fight terrorism.


      He did the right thing, now let the United States not be offended by offering them, and their "brainchild" will be destroyed.
    2. +4
      28 December 2015 12: 18
      I already wrote once ... OBAMA - FSB agent. He was recruited right on the palm tree laughing
      1. +3
        28 December 2015 13: 00
        Quote: Black
        He was recruited right on the palm tree

        A palm tree was recruited along the way, and this one was bundled. laughing
    3. +9
      28 December 2015 12: 24
      And although Obama threatened to respond with military action, in fact, he concluded a deal with the regime on the destruction of Syrian stockpiles of chemical weapons

      He concluded when the GDP and Assad agreed on the destruction of Syrian weapons. Babuinych said that Assad crossed the red line and joined the GDP-Assad agreement.
      Despite these warnings, an attack using sarin was carried out in August 2013, during which approximately 1 people were killed.

      The article has already been posted on the VO and the chemical attack was carried out by the militants with the support of Turkey, they have already discussed it, so I’ll scare, here are the results of that attack.
      1. jjj
        0
        28 December 2015 12: 45
        Logically, if the United States was unable to agree with Assad’s entourage, one should try to negotiate with Assad himself, promising him immunity and assistance. The latest events and the rhetoric that Assad is no longer the main enemy of the United States say that, apparently, the process is going on. In this case, Assad will be tasked with throwing Putin. And then the Syrian chapter can be looped
    4. 0
      28 December 2015 12: 58
      The political vector of the Americans is changing in the direction that is currently beneficial to them. They have no allies, there are vassals.
  2. +3
    28 December 2015 12: 14
    an unsuccessful attempt to limit violence? this is nonsense so nonsense! Obama turns out to be a "peacemaker". and we filth it ...
  3. +1
    28 December 2015 12: 15
    The events in Syria, in my opinion, show that there are no adequate people in the Obama administration.
  4. 0
    28 December 2015 12: 16
    pendosov have one principle ... whoever is not with us is against us ... if we can bring down our Afro-pendos directly, what can we say about strangers.
  5. +4
    28 December 2015 12: 23
    If it were not for the work of V.V. Putin and our Foreign Ministry, headed by S.V. Lavrov, when they tried to hang all the dogs on Assad, accusing them of using chemical weapons, there would be nothing left from Syria. The north, where the Kurds live, would be captured by Turkey, and on the rest of the territory, Daesh would be unlimited. The situation would not differ much from the Libyan. A war with the barmalies would stretch for decades.
    1. 0
      28 December 2015 13: 04
      Quote: sever.56
      The north, where the Kurds live, would be captured by Turkey, and on the rest of the territory, Daesh would be unlimited.

      They would be unlimited everywhere. And now they feel at home in Turkey.
      In Turkey, a journalist who shot a film about IS crimes is shot dead
      The journalist who shot the documentary about the crimes of the IG was shot dead with a pistol with a silencer in the city of Gaziantep, TASS reports citing Turkish media. The previously murdered journalist has already released several films about the war in Syria and the actions of the Islamic State.

      Read more on NTV.Ru: http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/1588398/?fb#ixzz3vbmrxo3N
  6. 0
    28 December 2015 12: 44
    washing the black male continues ...
    1. 0
      28 December 2015 14: 38
      Washed, washed the chimney sweep,
      purely pure
      specifically.
      So far, the effect is not very noticeable, but it is understandable. The sum of sanctions and pressure should be a certain critical mass. Then we’ll see how this dog whines. In the meantime, stock up on patience.
  7. 0
    28 December 2015 14: 18
    the fictitious world of American propagandists - it’s necessary to pervert everything like that. Here you have thousands of tortured in prisons and massacres of civilians, and chemical attacks and total desertion. How then did Assad hold on to power if he is so bloody ???? probably with the help of foreign troops and the NKVD in Syriac))))
  8. 0
    28 December 2015 19: 48
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC9_OsaRhEw
  9. 0
    28 December 2015 20: 36
    Yes, such violent organizers need each to be packed in a wooden shirt and a good pebble on top, and Assad will certainly not be handed over to Putin, nor in his interests.
  10. 0
    29 December 2015 02: 52
    According to the "exceptional", the legitimacy of power is given only by communication with them "great"

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