Out of the mouth of babes comes truth. American Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is no babe but his knowledge of the Middle East borders on juvenile. He doesn’t know the difference between the Kurds and Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Al Quds force, for instance. But there’s one thing he does knows for sure. There will be no American boots on the ground to tackle Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in Syria on his watch—a vote-getting stance when Americans have little appetite to get seriously embroiled in yet another war in the Middle East.
“You know, Russia wants to get [Daesh], right? We want to get [Daesh]. Russia in Syria—maybe we should let them do it? Let them do it!” Trump told an adoring crowd in Oklahoma.
That argument is hard to fault when the United States and its allies have had years to make a difference in Syria. Obama caused controversy by admitting that he didn’t have a strategy before making serial flip-flops and drawing erasable red lines. In the meantime, 250,000 Syrians have been killed and almost half of the population has been displaced.
There’s no doubt that the fabled international community, which translates to the US and its European friends, have let the Syrian people down; they’ve done little but hand-wringing and calling for a political transition—the right thing to do early on but futile at this juncture when Daesh dominates a third of this war-ravaged state as opposed to the regime believed to control a mere 18 percent of Syrian territory, albeit the most populated.
Sure, the Obama administration has spent $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) supposedly training and equipping opposition fighters, but it turns out that instead of the projected 5,000, there are only 50—and most of those have since joined up with terrorist groups; only four or five remain.
Sure, the US-led coalition has been dropping bombs, a campaign that’s been ramped-up since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reluctantly acquiesced to allowing US pilots to fly sorties from his country’s air bases, but while Daesh has been driven out of one territory, they’ve expanded in another.
Yet as Obama continues dipping his toes in the water, Russian President Vladimir Putin shows decisiveness and is putting his money where his mouth is with a massive build-up of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and at least 28 combat aircraft and surveillance aircraft stationed at an airbase under regime control in the Syrian port city of Latakia.
Empower the regime
It’s uncertain whether Putin plans to deploy ground forces, but by some accounts there are between 2,000 and 3,000 Russian military advisers in theatre, while Russian marines are fighting alongside Hezbollah. Moreover, the Debka File reports that China has sent an aircraft carrier, the Liaoning C5-16, to the Syrian port of Tartus where Russia has a naval base to quietly support its ally’s fight. Other reports indicate that Russia, Syria and Iran have set up a coordination headquarters in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Naturally, this isn’t playing well with the White House, even though the US has been invited to partner Russia’s endeavours.
Washington hesitates to be seen propping up the hated regime, but the administration has softened its insistence that Bashar Al Assad’s imminent step down is an essential prerequisite to cooperation.
US officials have expressed concerns that these moves will serve to empower the regime and thus preclude Al Assad’s exit; they have also warned that Russia’s targeting of opposition groups could result in the deaths of fighters trained by the Pentagon and the CIA which, since there are only five or fewer of them, would be a tragic blow of fate.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Putin to air his concerns that Russian weapons could end up with the regime and following that meeting Israel and Russia are putting in place a joint mechanism to coordinate operations.
Should Russia and its bloc succeed in wresting territory from Daesh and diminishing its capabilities, what will that say about America’s prowess! The war in Syria long developed into a free-for-all, but now the country has been rendered a proxy battlefield between the US-led coalition and its five opposition fighters vs Russia, the Syrian regime, China and Iran.
Each side has its own interests at stake with no side’s prime motivation being the defence of the Syrian people sandwiched between Al Assad’s barrel bombs and Daesh head-choppers believed to possess the know-how to manufacture chemical weapons.
In the final analysis, the only side deserving of backing are the people themselves, whose cries for help have been ignored for too long. The other day, I had tears in my eyes watching young Syrian refugees joyfully linking arms to dance the traditional dabke at the opening of a new Syrian restaurant in Alexandria. For a short moment in time they were transported to a green and pleasant place called home, which is where they should be. They care not a jot about geopolitical power plays, whosoever can return peace to their homeland will forever be their hero.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
RSS
Putin steps in where Obama fears to tread
Posted on September 30, 2015 by Linda S. Heard
Out of the mouth of babes comes truth. American Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is no babe but his knowledge of the Middle East borders on juvenile. He doesn’t know the difference between the Kurds and Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Al Quds force, for instance. But there’s one thing he does knows for sure. There will be no American boots on the ground to tackle Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in Syria on his watch—a vote-getting stance when Americans have little appetite to get seriously embroiled in yet another war in the Middle East.
“You know, Russia wants to get [Daesh], right? We want to get [Daesh]. Russia in Syria—maybe we should let them do it? Let them do it!” Trump told an adoring crowd in Oklahoma.
That argument is hard to fault when the United States and its allies have had years to make a difference in Syria. Obama caused controversy by admitting that he didn’t have a strategy before making serial flip-flops and drawing erasable red lines. In the meantime, 250,000 Syrians have been killed and almost half of the population has been displaced.
There’s no doubt that the fabled international community, which translates to the US and its European friends, have let the Syrian people down; they’ve done little but hand-wringing and calling for a political transition—the right thing to do early on but futile at this juncture when Daesh dominates a third of this war-ravaged state as opposed to the regime believed to control a mere 18 percent of Syrian territory, albeit the most populated.
Sure, the Obama administration has spent $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) supposedly training and equipping opposition fighters, but it turns out that instead of the projected 5,000, there are only 50—and most of those have since joined up with terrorist groups; only four or five remain.
Sure, the US-led coalition has been dropping bombs, a campaign that’s been ramped-up since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reluctantly acquiesced to allowing US pilots to fly sorties from his country’s air bases, but while Daesh has been driven out of one territory, they’ve expanded in another.
Yet as Obama continues dipping his toes in the water, Russian President Vladimir Putin shows decisiveness and is putting his money where his mouth is with a massive build-up of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and at least 28 combat aircraft and surveillance aircraft stationed at an airbase under regime control in the Syrian port city of Latakia.
Empower the regime
It’s uncertain whether Putin plans to deploy ground forces, but by some accounts there are between 2,000 and 3,000 Russian military advisers in theatre, while Russian marines are fighting alongside Hezbollah. Moreover, the Debka File reports that China has sent an aircraft carrier, the Liaoning C5-16, to the Syrian port of Tartus where Russia has a naval base to quietly support its ally’s fight. Other reports indicate that Russia, Syria and Iran have set up a coordination headquarters in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Naturally, this isn’t playing well with the White House, even though the US has been invited to partner Russia’s endeavours.
Washington hesitates to be seen propping up the hated regime, but the administration has softened its insistence that Bashar Al Assad’s imminent step down is an essential prerequisite to cooperation.
US officials have expressed concerns that these moves will serve to empower the regime and thus preclude Al Assad’s exit; they have also warned that Russia’s targeting of opposition groups could result in the deaths of fighters trained by the Pentagon and the CIA which, since there are only five or fewer of them, would be a tragic blow of fate.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Putin to air his concerns that Russian weapons could end up with the regime and following that meeting Israel and Russia are putting in place a joint mechanism to coordinate operations.
Should Russia and its bloc succeed in wresting territory from Daesh and diminishing its capabilities, what will that say about America’s prowess! The war in Syria long developed into a free-for-all, but now the country has been rendered a proxy battlefield between the US-led coalition and its five opposition fighters vs Russia, the Syrian regime, China and Iran.
Each side has its own interests at stake with no side’s prime motivation being the defence of the Syrian people sandwiched between Al Assad’s barrel bombs and Daesh head-choppers believed to possess the know-how to manufacture chemical weapons.
In the final analysis, the only side deserving of backing are the people themselves, whose cries for help have been ignored for too long. The other day, I had tears in my eyes watching young Syrian refugees joyfully linking arms to dance the traditional dabke at the opening of a new Syrian restaurant in Alexandria. For a short moment in time they were transported to a green and pleasant place called home, which is where they should be. They care not a jot about geopolitical power plays, whosoever can return peace to their homeland will forever be their hero.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.