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Vol. 82/No. 10 March 12, 2018
(lead article)
Syrian rulers escalate war against toilers in E. Ghouta
BY TERRY EVANS
The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, backed by Moscow and Tehran,
has intensified its murderous assault on the 400,000 people in the
besieged Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta.
Mass mobilizations against Assad’s dictatorship shook Syria in 2011. The
regime struck back with military violence, filling its prisons with
working people. In the subsequent civil war, Assad’s forces lost ground,
until Moscow intervened with airstrikes in 2015. Tehran-backed militias
and Hezbollah also bolstered Assad. Today working people in Syria
continue to confront obstacles to advancing their interests — the
intervening capitalist powers, the hated Assad dictatorship and a number
of reactionary Islamist forces.
As of Feb. 27, the regime’s recent round of sustained bombardment of
eastern Ghouta has killed more than 500 people. The bombs and artillery
have destroyed hospitals, the main remaining bakery and dairy factory.
Pro-Assad troops, including Tehran-backed militias, are mobilized along
the area’s border. Some Islamist forces within Ghouta have responded by
shelling civilian neighborhoods in Damascus.
Washington and others on the U.N. Security Council secured Moscow’s
backing for a cease-fire resolution over Ghouta by leaving the door open
for continued assaults against “terrorists.” Bombing continued after the
motion was adopted Feb. 24. Syria and its allied militias have massed
troops for an assault.
This conflict is unfolding as opposing imperialist and capitalist powers
position themselves to defend their interests in the region. The U.S.
rulers and the Syrian Democratic Forces — the Kurdish-led force that is
Washington’s “ally of convenience” — hold sway over 25 percent of Syria,
including a large chunk of its oil resources.
Tehran’s counterrevolution
To maintain their counterrevolutionary course against working people
at home, Iran’s capitalist rulers are driven to extend their influence
across the region. In combination with its ally Hezbollah based in
Lebanon, they have established military bases and weapons factories in
Syria. The effects on working people in Iran from Tehran’s military
intervention in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Mideast provoked
widespread working-class unrest in December and January.
Tel Aviv seeks to prevent Tehran from establishing a permanent Syrian
presence, which it sees as an existential threat. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has met several times with Russian President Vladimir
Putin to press Moscow to limit the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah
forces near Israel’s borders. The Russian rulers want to preserve their
growing influence in Syria, and maintain relations with Tel Aviv.
Moscow and Damascus both say the areas under control of the Syrian
Democratic Forces should be returned to Assad’s control. This includes
areas where Washington has bases and at least 2,000 troops.
The U.S. rulers are the dominant military power in the region, with tens
of thousands of troops and massive air and naval power. They have no
intention of relinquishing any part of Syria they control. Washington
responded with massive firepower against an armed challenge by pro-Assad
forces at Deir el-Zour Feb. 7. U.S. air and artillery strikes killed
over 200 attackers and prevented them from retaking oil fields in the area.
Among the dead were Russian mercenaries. Moscow refuses to say how many
were killed and sought to deny any government links, though they were
trained on Moscow’s bases in Syria and survivors were airlifted to
Moscow for medical care.
Deutsche Welle said the mercenaries were part of the Wagner group that
fought alongside Russian-backed separatists who seized parts of eastern
Ukraine after the popular Maidan uprising overthrew the Russian-backed
regime of Viktor Yanukovych there.
Putin is wary that his government’s wars could become increasingly
unpopular at home. Protests against Moscow’s assault on Ukrainian
sovereignty took place in several Russian cities in 2014.
Ankara invades Afrin
The Turkish rulers have vowed to remove the Kurdish People’s
Protection Units (YPG) from Afrin, a majority Kurdish canton separated
from the larger Kurdish provinces to the east. They’ve threatened to
extend their invasion to sweep Kurdish forces from the entire border
with Turkey. Both Washington and Moscow acquiesced to Ankara’s assault
on Afrin. Turkish army units and its allied Free Syrian Army forces,
backed by Turkish warplanes, have made relatively slow progress since
the invasion Jan. 20.
The YPG asked the Assad government to send its forces to Afrin. Assad
sent militia forces, trained by Tehran to the province.
Ankara seeks to weaken the YPG in Syria as it also drives to deal blows
to the Kurdish national struggle in Turkey. Backed by Washington, the
rulers of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey have denied the Kurdish people a
homeland for decades. Kurds resist these assaults on their national rights.
But without a rise in broader struggles by working people Kurds have
limited allies as they face the region’s rulers, who remain determined
to push back the autonomous area that Kurds have carved out.
The YPG has begun transferring SDF combatants from Aleppo, Deir el-Zour
and elsewhere to buttress its forces in Afrin. It has ceded control of
Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo to the Assad regime.
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