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Vol. 82/No. 11 March 19, 2018
(front page)
As Syrian rulers devastate Ghouta, US rulers aim to hold on in Syria
BY TERRY EVANS
The Bashar al-Assad regime is stepping up its murderous air and ground
assault on the heavily populated eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus. The
dictatorial regime has laid siege to the 400,000 people there for five
years, creating shortages of food and medical supplies. This newest
offensive, backed by Moscow’s air power and in concert with
Iranian-backed militias, has pounded urban areas with bombs and
artillery, killing 800 people, mainly civilians. The ground offensive is
moving through lightly populated farmlands seeking to cut Ghouta in two.
Washington, Moscow, Tehran, Ankara and other capitalist governments in
the region are seeking to assert their economic and military interests
since the defeat of Islamic State.
For four years the Assad regime lost ground in the Syrian civil war. It
owes its strengthened position today to Moscow’s entry into the fighting
in 2015 and the central role of the ground forces of Hezbollah and other
Tehran-backed militias.
At the same time, the U.S. rulers and allied Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces control 25 percent of the country, including both the
Kurdish cantons and many of the regime’s oil fields near the Euphrates
River.
Across the region the impact of the Syrian war falls hardest on working
people. The war began after a popular rebellion against Assad broke out
in 2011 and the regime responded with bloody repression. Over half the
country’s population has been forced to abandon their homes during the
war. More than 5 million Syrians have fled to Turkey, Jordan and
Lebanon. Along with other working people there they confront rising
competition for jobs, housing, education for their children and health
care.
Two years after Jordan started issuing work permits to Syrian refugees,
some 90,000 have received them out of an estimated 1.3 million. The rest
seek work without “permits” or are dependent on niggardly government aid.
Of Lebanon’s population of 6 million, some 1.5 million are Syrians
refugees. In the rural Bekaa Valley, where many Syrians have settled,
bosses have used the increased competition among workers to drive down
wages by up to 60 percent.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says one key aim of his
government’s invasion of the Kurdish province of Afrin in Syria is to
resettle Syrians that fled to Turkey, even though most of them are not
from that part of Syria. The central goal of Turkey’s rulers is to deal
a blow to the Kurdish people’s fight for national rights in Syria, and
to intimidate Kurds in Turkey from rising up.
Ankara intensified its airstrikes after the Assad regime organized
pro-government militias to enter the province and aid the Kurds. Assad
hopes to reassert Syrian government control over Afrin.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington and met
with President Donald Trump March 5 to discuss further steps to counter
Tehran’s growing influence. At the center of their discussions were
Washington’s efforts to toughen the 2015 deal struck with the Iranian
rulers to slow down their nuclear weapons program. They also discussed
how to prevent Tehran from making its foothold in Syria permanent, from
where weapons are transported to its Hezbollah ally in Lebanon.
The rulers in Tel Aviv intend to use whatever force is necessary to keep
Tehran and Hezbollah from threatening Israel.
Saudi rulers seek backing for Yemen war
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began a trip to consult
with the capitalist governments in Egypt, the U.K. and U.S. March 4. One
of his objectives is to win more support for the war the Saudi rulers
are waging in Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes
and enforcing a blockade against Tehran-backed Houthis, who seized
control of Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, in 2015. Some 10,000 people, mainly
civilians, have been killed, 2 million displaced and millions face
cholera and starvation.
The Saud monarchy, with Washington’s backing, wants to deal blows to
Iran’s capitalist rulers, its main rival, who have extended their
counterrevolutionary sway across the Mideast in the course of the wars
in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Riyadh’s desire to challenge Tehran is a key
reason behind the campaign for capitalist “modernization.” Advanced by
Prince Mohammed, it seeks to overcome the kingdom’s social backwardness,
weaken the grip of stifling Wahabi Sunni religious strictures and expand
the economy to reduce dependence on oil revenues.
One unintended consequence of the Saudi rulers’ steps to draw more women
into modern life and the workforce will be to strengthen the working
class. When the regime advertised 140 jobs for women at airports and
border crossings, 107,000 applied. The government is taking steps to
weaken the system of male guardianship, where husbands or male relatives
control women’s ability to work, travel or start their own business.
Prior to his trip, Prince Mohammed, who is also the country’s defense
minister, sacked the military’s joint chiefs of staff, replacing the
central officer corps with forces loyal to him.
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