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Vol. 81/No. 46 December 11, 2017
(front page)
Seeds of more conflict built into new stage of Syria, Iraq wars
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
The six-year civil war in Syria that grew out of the Bashar al-Assad
regime’s brutal crackdown on mass mobilizations calling for his downfall
in 2011 is winding down. At the same time, the reactionary Islamic State
outfit is being pushed out of their remaining territory in Syria and
Iraq, reduced to a terrorist band.
Washington — with military bases and tens of thousands of troops and
substantial air power in the region — is seeking to continue to defend
its imperialist interests in these changing circumstances. Millions of
Syrian toilers have borne the brunt of the conflict, with over half the
population driven from their homes, some 400,000 killed and some still
under siege by Assad’s forces.
Moscow’s intervention and relentless air war against rebel forces, along
with substantial forces on the ground from Tehran and its allied
Hezbollah militias, has consolidated Assad’s rule over a half of Syria.
One-third of the country was wrested from Islamic State and is now in
the hands of Kurdish forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mix of
Arab and Kurdish fighters led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units
(YPG), with the backing of Washington. Anti-Assad rebels still control
areas in Idlib and Aleppo provinces and in neighborhoods under siege
around Damascus.
Moscow, with the collaboration of Ankara and Tehran, and tacit backing
from Washington, has taken steps to stabilize this “soft partition” of
Syria for now. Several “de-escalation zones” have been set up by Ankara,
Moscow and Tehran.
Tehran — the biggest victor in the Syria, Iraq wars so far — has moved
to consolidate a land route across Syria and Iraq that connects Iran and
Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon. They face growing challenges from
Saudi Arabia’s rulers and their backers in Washington and Tel Aviv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to stabilize this reality,
for now. Assad flew to Moscow to meet with Putin Nov. 21, telling Putin
that Russian military intervention was “saving Syria.”
The following day Putin hosted a meeting with the Iranian and Turkish
presidents, Hassan Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who announced their
backing for the Russian president’s proposed “Syrian People’s Congress,”
to be held in Sochi. No firm date has been set for the gathering.
However, conflicting interests between Washington, Moscow, Tehran, Saudi
Arabia’s rulers and other capitalist regimes in the region continue to
threaten more conflict. Damascus has said its next target is the Kurds,
who have carved out an autonomous region in northeastern Syria, and with
their allies in the SDF, control a swath of territory from Raqqa east
toward Iraq that contains some of Syria’s largest oil fields.
Tehran and Ankara both back Assad’s threats. Turkish media report that
President Donald Trump told Erdogan that he plans to stop sending
weapons to the Syrian Kurds, and may ask them to return heavy artillery
“loaned” to them earlier.
Assad regime bombs Damascus suburb
The crisis that led to the civil war in Syria remains unsolved. Assad’s
regime has been bombarding towns and villages in the rebel-held Damascus
suburb of Eastern Ghouta — one of the de-escalation zones. Some 400,000
people live there. Syrian forces have held these towns under siege since
2013, resulting in famine and devastation. Children’s malnutrition
levels there, the U.N. reported Nov. 29, are “the highest ever recorded
in Syria” and one-third are “stunted.”
Weeklong airstrikes and mortar attacks against Eastern Ghouta killed
more than 118 civilians as of Nov. 21, Dr. Faiz Orabi, a spokesman for
the area’s health directorate, told the Wall Street Journal. Three
hospitals were also struck.
Most residents see no alternative to staying put, regardless how bad
things are. “Where are all the people going to go? To homes that aren’t
theirs? To tent camps?” Anas Al-Khole, a journalist and government
opponent in Eastern Ghouta, told the Journal. “Most of the people say
that death is more merciful than leaving my home.”
Since 2011, some 75,000 people arrested by the government have been
“disappeared” and at least 26,446 children are recorded as killed, a
vast majority by government forces, reported the Syrian Network for
Human Rights.
Assad regime targets Syrian Kurds
The Assad regime is taking aim at the Syrian Kurds, who are seeking to
establish an autonomous region in northern Syria. Assad regime officials
say they plan to oust the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
“occupiers” from territory in Raqqa and parts of Deir el-Zour province.
“I believe what happened in Iraq must become a lesson to the SDF,”
Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said Nov. 7, referring to
the attacks by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militia
on Kurdistan Regional Government territory following the referendum
there for independence.
Turkish President Erdogan, who once railed against Assad’s rule, now
says he’s for cooperating with Assad in rolling back gains won by the
Kurdish YPG in Syria. The Turkish rulers fear the impact that an
autonomous Kurdish region along Syria’s northern border with Turkey will
have on inspiring the fight by some 15 million Kurds in Turkey against
national oppression and for their own homeland.
“There is a concept of a new war against the Kurds in all four parts of
Kurdistan that aims to annihilate all the gains Kurdish people have made
in recent years,” said Feleknas Uca of the Kurdish-based People’s
Democratic Party (HDP) at a rally in Van, Turkey, Nov. 25.
More than 30 million Kurdish people — the world’s largest nationality
without their own state — live in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. The
rulers in all these countries oppose any moves toward Kurdish
independence or autonomy.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon “is likely to announce” that Washington has
about 2,000 troops in Syria, two U.S. officials told Reuters Nov. 24.
Before this, Washington had only admitted to having 503 U.S. troops
there, as well as 5,262 in Iraq. And they aren’t going anywhere soon.
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