{"id":1043784,"date":"2023-03-29T16:10:51","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T16:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/?p=296458"},"modified":"2023-03-29T16:10:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T16:10:51","slug":"us-is-stirring-up-syrian-cauldron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/03\/29\/us-is-stirring-up-syrian-cauldron\/","title":{"rendered":"US is stirring up Syrian cauldron"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This story originally appeared in Peoples Dispatch<\/a> on March 27, 2023. It is shared here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The circumstances surrounding the flare-up in Syria between the US occupation forces and pro-Iranian militia groups remain murky. President Biden\u00a0claims that the US is reacting<\/a>, but there are signs that it is likely being proactive to create new facts on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0US Central Command claims<\/a>\u00a0that following a drone attack on March 23 afternoon on an American base near Hasakah, at the direction of President Biden, retaliatory air strikes were undertaken later that night against \u201cfacilities used by groups affiliated with Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this version has been disputed by the spokesman of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council who accused Washington of \u201ccreating artificial crises and lying.\u201d The\u00a0Iranian official has alleged<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cOver the past two days, American helicopters have carried out several sorties with the aim of increasing instability in Syria and transferred Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists in the territory of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Washington must be held accountable for such activities. The official warned that Tehran will give a prompt response to any US attack on whatever false pretext against Iranian bases that exist on Syrian soil at the request of Damascus for fighting terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the US deliberately ratcheting up tensions in Syria even as the China-brokered Saudi-Iranian rapprochement is radically changing the security scenario in the West Asian region in a positive direction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is optimism that Syria stands to gain out of Saudi-Iranian rapprochement. Already, the\u00a0Saudi Foreign Ministry revealed<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday that talks are going on with Syria for resuming consular services between the two countries, which will pave the way for the resumption of diplomatic relations and in turn make it possible to reinstate Syria\u2019s membership of the Arab League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi Arabia has established an air bridge with Syria to send relief supplies for those affected by the devastating earthquake in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The backdrop is that the normalization of relations between Syria and its estranged Arab neighbors has accelerated. It must be particularly galling for Washington that these regional states used to be active participants in the US-led regime change project to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The Saudi-Iranian rapprochement badly isolates the US and Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From such a perspective, it stands to reason that the US is once again stirring up the Syrian cauldron. Lately, Russian aircraft have been reported as\u00a0frequently flying over the US\u2019s military base At Tanf<\/a>\u00a0on the Syrian-Iraqi border where training camps for militant groups are known to exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel too is a stakeholder in keeping Syria unstable and weak. In the Israeli narrative, Iran-backed militia groups are increasing their capability in Syria in the last two years and the continued US occupation of Syria is vital for balancing these groups. Israel is paranoid that a strong government in Damascus will inevitably start challenging its illegal occupation of Golan Heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key factor in this matrix is the nascent process of Russian mediation between Turkey and Syria. With an eye on the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary election in Turkey in May, President Recep Erdo\u011fan is keen to achieve some visible progress in improving the ties with Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erdo\u011fan senses that the Turkish public opinion strongly favours normalization with Syria. Polls in December showed that 59% of Turks would like an early repatriation of Syrian refugees who are a burden on the Turkish economy, which has an inflation rate of 90%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidently, Turkey is ending up as a straggler when the West Asian countries on the whole are coasting ahead to normalize their relations with Damascus. But the catch is, Assad is demanding the vacation of Turkish occupation of Syrian territory first for resuming ties with Ankara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, there are growing signs that Erdo\u011fan may be willing to bite the bullet. The consummate pragmatist in him estimates that he must act in sync with the public mood. Besides, the main opposition party CHP always maintained that an end to the Syrian conflict needs to be anchored firmly on the principles of Syria\u2019s unity and territorial integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The influential Beirut newspaper Al-Akhbar<\/em> has reported citing sources close to Damascus that Erdo\u011fan is weighing options that would meet Assad\u2019s demand with a view to restore relations. The daily reported that one possibility is that Turkey may propose a timetable for the withdrawal of its troops in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significantly, Erdo\u011fan telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday and the\u00a0Kremlin readout<\/a>\u00a0mentioned that amongst \u201ctopics concerning Russian-Turkish partnership in\u00a0various fields,\u201d during the conversation, \u201cthe\u00a0Syrian issue was touched upon, and\u00a0the\u00a0importance of\u00a0continuing the normalization of\u00a0Turkish-Syrian relations was underlined. In\u00a0this regard the\u00a0President of\u00a0T\u00fcrkiye highlighted the\u00a0constructive mediatory role Russia has played in\u00a0this process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, on Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar held telephone talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu to discuss developments in Syria\u00a0where he underscored<\/a>\u00a0that the \u201csole purpose\u201d of its deployment in northern Syria is to secure its borders and fight terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is entirely conceivable that Erdo\u011fan has sought Putin\u2019s help and intervention to reach a modus vivendi<\/em> with Assad quickly. Of course, this is a spectacular success story for Russian diplomacy\u2014and for Putin personally\u2014that the Kremlin is called upon to broker the Turkish-Syrian normalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The China-brokered Saudi-Iranian normalization hit Washington where it hurts. But if Putin now brokers peace between two other rival West Asian states, Biden will be exposed as hopelessly incompetent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if Turkey ends its military presence in Syria, the limelight will fall on the US\u2019 illegal occupation of one-third of Syrian territory and the\u00a0massive smuggling of oil<\/a>\u00a0and other resources from Syria in American military convoys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the Syrian government forces are sure to return to the territories vacated by Turkish forces in the northern border regions, which would have consequences for the Kurdish groups operating in the border region who are aligned with the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sum, continued US occupation of Syria may become untenable. To be sure, Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria are on the same page in seeking the vacation of US occupation of Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, an alibi is needed for the US to justify that although dialogue and reconciliation is in ascendance in West Asian politics, Syria is an exception as a battleground against \u201cterrorism.\u201d The US is vastly experienced in using extremist groups as geopolitical tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US\u2019 real intention could be to confront Iran on Syrian soil\u2014something that Israel has been espousing\u2014taking advantage of Russia\u2019s preoccupations in Ukraine. The Russian-Iranian axis annoys Washington profoundly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specter that is haunting Washington is that the stabilization of Syria following Assad\u2019s normalization with the Arab countries and with Turkey will inexorably coalesce into a Syrian settlement that completely marginalizes the \u201ccollective West.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In retrospect, the unannounced visit by General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff to northern Syria, in early March falls into perspective. Milley told reporters traveling with him that the nearly eight-year-old US deployment to Syria is still worth the risk!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time may have come for the militants, including ex-Islamic State fighters, who were trained in the US\u2019s remote At Tanf military base to return to the killing fields for \u201cactive duty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tass<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that on Friday, the terrorist group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham tried to break into the Aleppo region which has been under Syrian government control and relatively stable in recent years.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on The Real News Network<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is the US deliberately ratcheting up tensions in Syria even as the China-brokered Saudi-Iranian rapprochement is radically changing the security scenario in the West Asian region in a positive direction?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1775,5582,55805,196,12604],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1043785,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043784\/revisions\/1043785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}