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Liberation of Aleppo is the most serious setback for the US in 15 years

by Tim Anderson, via Khamenei

In late 2016, at the cost of many young lives, Syrian forces took back the eastern part of the city of Aleppo, occupied by NATO and Saudi backed terrorists for more than four years.

The liberation of Aleppo, Syria’s second city and an ancient marvel, represents the most serious setback for the 15-year long Washington-led aggression on the entire region. An effective re-colonization of the region has stretched from Afghanistan to Libya, under a range of false pretexts. Invasions and proxy wars have been backed by economic sanctions and wild propaganda.
But this great war of aggression – called the creation of ‘New Middle East’ by former US President George W. Bush – has hit a rock in Syria.  The massive proxy armies bought and equipped by Washington and its regional allies the Saudis, Turkey, Qatar and Israel, have been beaten back by a powerful regional alliance which supports the Syrian nation.
The endgame in Aleppo involves a handful of foreign agents – US, Saudi, Israeli and others – said to remain with the last al-Qaeda groups in a tiny part of what was once their stronghold. The US in particular is keen to secure their release, because their presence is further evidence of the foreign command of what was claimed to be a ‘civil war’.
After a storm of western government and media misinformation (claims of massacres, mass executions and ‘civilians targeted’) over the evacuation of around 100,000 civilians and many thousands of terrorists, the UN Security Council authorized some ‘independent observers’ to monitor the process. However most of that evacuation is now over. Resettlement and reconstruction is already underway, and army reserves have been called up to defend the city.
Syrian, Iranian, Russian and independent reporters (including Maytham al Ashkar, Shadi Halwi, Asser Khatab, Khaled Alkhateb, Ali Musawi, Lizzie Phelan, Murad Gazdiev, Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett and the late Mohsen Khazaei) have already told us quite a lot.  What they said bore little resemblance to the western apocalyptic stories.  For example, outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, a close ally of Washington, claimed in his last press conference that ‘Aleppo is now a synonym for hell’.  Those claims were based on stories from NATO’s desperate fighters.
Reporters on the ground told a different story. As Syrian forces smashed the al Qaeda lines, the trapped civilians streamed out. They published video of long lines of people leaving east Aleppo and finding relief, food and shelter with the Syrian Arab Army. Tired and relieved, they told their stories to anyone who cared to listen. Russia and Iran gave many tons of food, clothing, blanket and shelter aid. By contrast, western countries generally gave nothing and the terror groups rejected all aid from the Syrian alliance.
Civilians were prohibited from leaving the al-Qaeda enclave, many were shot dead when they tried to do so. The armed gangs had food reserves but kept it for their fighters. Arms factories including toxic chemicals were found and were being made safe. Some of the armed men were taken into custody, but most were shipped out to Idlib, where Damascus has been concentrating the foreign-backed fighters.
When the hell canons fell silent, and no more home-made gas cylinder mortars landed in the heart of the city, there was elation and dancing in the streets, shown widely on social media. The US State Department spokesman claimed he had not seen this.
Al Qaeda in Aleppo was crushed. All the anti-Syrian government armed groups in Aleppo were either the ‘official’ al Qaeda in Syria (Jabhat al Nusra aka Jaysh Fateh al Sham) or deeply embedded associates. When the US pretended to suppress Jabhat al Nusra in 2012 and 2016, all the ‘Free Syrian Army’ groups protested, saying ‘we are all Jabhat al Nusra’. One might have thought that the US Government – which once claimed to be engaged in a global war against terrorism, in the name of 3,000 people murdered in New York back in September 2001 – would be as elated as those on the streets of Aleppo.  They were not.
Much of the western media, reflecting their governments, solemnly reported on ‘the fall of Aleppo’. The Syrian victory over the al Qaeda groups was a great tragedy, they said. On the other hand, the near simultaneous recapture of Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, by the eastern al Qaeda group ISIS, was reported differently. That city was said to have been ‘retaken’.
All this underlines what should have been an obvious point, admitted by many US officials, that every single armed group in Syria (whether ‘moderate’ or ‘extremist’) has been armed and financed by the US and its allies, in an attempt to overthrow the Syrian Government. All the talk about ‘moderate rebels’, a ‘brutal regime’ and a ‘civil war’ just tries to hide this.
The final evacuations of Aleppo – which included an exchange of civilians besieged for 20 months in the Idlib towns of Faoua and Kafraya for remaining NATO-jihadists in eastern Aleppo – were organized between Russia and Turkey. There was some serious sabotage of these agreements, but the understandings have so far stayed on track. Now Iran is engaged with Russia and Turkey, in three way talks. Practical matters are being discussed.
It is notable that the Obama administration is playing no direct constructive role in the endgame over Aleppo. Its ‘regime change’ proxy war on Syria is failing and, in its place, the incoming Washington regime promises a new approach. More importantly, a new regional alliance has formed to reject any new aggression from the colonial powers.
Many things have changed during the war on Syria. The Syrian alliance has beaten back powerful NATO-GCC forces. The Muslim Brotherhood and its patrons in Egypt, Qatar and Turkey have received another beating. Egypt and Iraq now support Syria. The Saudis have joined with Israel again Iran and Syria. Russia has built stronger bonds with Syria and Iran. The Arab league, having backed the destruction of two Arab states, seems all but dead. Will the new, enhanced ‘Axis of Resistance’ take its place?

Professor Tim Anderson is a distinguished author and senior lecturer of political economy at the University of Sydney, Australia. Author of the ‘The Dirty War on Syria’, he has been largely published on various issues particularly the Syrian crisis.

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Flipper
Flipper
Dec 28, 2016 3:29 PM

Worth reading this before accepting everything every word Tim Anderson utters.
https://mabisir.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/dr-tim-asad-anderson-the-abuse-of-academia-to-spread-out-propaganda/
Also bearing in mind that Mr Anderson appears to be a personal friend of Assad’s. Propaganda goes both ways ey.

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 28, 2016 5:57 PM
Reply to  Flipper

Assad is the president of Syria. He is supported by a majority of his people and that’s where any attempt to oust him must end. The only way to relieve him of his job, is for the Syrian people to do it at election time. That’s it! The US is responsible for untold deaths in Syria, not Assad. Now it seems that Washington has agreed to provide terrorists with shoulder held military armaments that could shoot down a jet. What makes me wonder is just how stupid the great majority of Americans are. They cry and cringe about potential terrorist attacks on the Homeland, while they support terrorist attacks on other countries. Ever heard of revenge?

Lou
Lou
Dec 27, 2016 7:40 AM

Should the Syrian people win their war against the NATO and US backed mercenaries who have invaded their country it is no setback for free peoples anywhere, especially in the USA. It is a setback for the Obama/CIA created ISIS Terrorists and the Obama armed Al Quada factions imported into Syria.
http://nsnbc.me/2015/08/13/former-us-intelligence-chief-admits-obama-took-willful-decision-to-support-isis/#comment-463589

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 27, 2016 7:21 PM
Reply to  Lou

Thank you for telling us the truth!

mikael
mikael
Dec 26, 2016 8:23 PM

Hehe
oh, they are pissed, not only do we have to live with Hasbaratnjiks and their bonkers drivel, camouflaged as history, but the flooding of NatoCraut heads on top of it, to me, it shows we are circling in the scums, their babbling about whom doing what is what we have been feed for decades, most debunked do oblivion, but still recylied by their drooling pack of commentary morons, witch is as close I can come to describe this creeps.
And for gods sake, slacken your dippers children, your tiny brain is suffocating.
What concerns me, is that I know this will be the beginning, there will be an rapid rise in “terror acts” of course, and the final confrontation with Russia.
Somehow, all down the line, this is what Aleppo is, the cross road to what, the wankees are increasingly more bonkers, their rhetoric so lame it hurts and our MSM is lying about everything as before, so they continue right now, in my land, everybody hates Russians, in the commentary fields most gloats over the plain crash, and is fully, right now as we speak in it all for the “moderate” head choppers whom is labeled as “opposition fighters” and “rebels” nice twist.
They dont hide it anymore, since they control everything on and in the MSM.
There is NO opposition allowed what so ever.
Everybody wants to go to war against and kill Russians.
Our MSM is packed with it, 24/7 and in our commentary field run by our Ministry of Truth, of course.
I wounder what comes next, I still await the big one, the one they need to demonize Russia, it will come, they are insane, we have f….. yelled at you for years, and still you look at them and hope for change.
WHAT is it with you, they and the Brits are going total war.
And we cant do shit about that, believe me, the war is coming.
wake up
peace

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 26, 2016 8:40 PM
Reply to  mikael

Unfortunately when hate rules supreme, your last word is just a vain wish!

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Dec 26, 2016 9:59 PM
Reply to  mikael

Mikael, is it possible you could translate that into English?

BigB
BigB
Dec 27, 2016 10:20 AM
Reply to  mikael

Don’t fall for the hype. What the MSM say is a charade, Kabuki for the masses. The endgame is not MAD, but a perpetual state of fear and panic. So wake up – it’s your buttons that are being pushed – not the nuclear ones.
Particularly, with four planes and a rusty old rowing boat, whatever the rhetoric may be, Britain is going to war with nobody. Maybe the Maldives – but certainly not Russia.
I recommend mindfulness – stay calm and practice peace.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Dec 27, 2016 7:25 PM
Reply to  BigB

Well said. The problem is, if Russia feels threatened enough(and they have good reason to be with NATO massing troops on their doorstep, and Sabre ratting from the USA) and they decide to fire an A-Bomb on London, and/or Washington, we can ALL kiss our arses goodbye

Ignatz (@_Ignatz_)
Ignatz (@_Ignatz_)
Dec 27, 2016 3:37 PM
Reply to  mikael

Ministry of Truth is just the beginning, we need ministry of Feelings first of all.

Janna
Janna
Dec 25, 2016 6:44 AM

So happy the Christians in Aleppo can celebrate Christmas this year freely. Thank you for the list of independent journalists I’ve been looking. Thank you, Off-Guardian, you are a life-saver for Americans needing facts.

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 24, 2016 1:47 AM

The US government is so evil that it is difficult to fathom how Satan has gained the souls of American leaders. I can only hope that the future will see good men and women take back control of Washington levers!

Sorry, Not Buying It
Sorry, Not Buying It
Dec 25, 2016 5:23 AM
Reply to  archie1954

That’s a joke, right?

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 25, 2016 6:33 AM

How can you even joke about it.? The US supports terrorism for political purposes. That is a given, so deal with it. Evil emanated from the White House, Pentagon and the Capitol Building and has for decades. To what else do you ascribe the death of millions to in the Middle East and elsewhere? Please open up your blinkered eyes and see how destructive your nation has become!

Sorry, Not Buying It
Sorry, Not Buying It
Dec 25, 2016 7:57 PM
Reply to  archie1954

“The US supports terrorism for political purposes. That is a given, so deal with it. Evil emanated from the White House, Pentagon and the Capitol Building and has for decades. To what else do you ascribe the death of millions to in the Middle East and elsewhere? Please open up your blinkered eyes and see how destructive your nation has become!”
You COMPLETELY missed my point, which is: when has Washington NOT supported terrorism? You write as though “good people” were “once” in the White House, and you express your hope that they’ll “take back control”. The blinkered one here is you, not me.

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 25, 2016 9:30 PM

Jimmy Carter=Good

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Dec 25, 2016 9:58 PM
Reply to  archie1954

“We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. We never went to war”….Jimmy Carter, summing up his term as President. He only lasted 1 term(four years) before the MSM convinced the American voters to replace him with Ronald Reagan, who, along with Margaret Thatcher, turned their economies over to the ‘Moneymen’, and exported millions of jobs to Asian ‘Sweatshops’……….
The ‘Moneymen’ now regard Reagan as “America’s greatest ever, President. Is it any wonder?

Sorry, Not Buying It
Sorry, Not Buying It
Jan 4, 2017 8:30 PM
Reply to  archie1954

“Jimmy Carter=Good”
No, not really. You appear to be judging him by what he did after he was president. The more relevant yardstick is what he did during his presidency, and on that score, he was as imperialistic as the rest of them. From the Carter Doctrine, to the Shah, to Angola, to Afghanistan, he was a servant of empire. If you protest that he was working within the framework of imperialism and was obliged to do these things, that just undermines your allusion to the usefulness of getting “the right people” into office, because obviously getting the right people into office isn’t enough and the bigger problem is the framework in which they operate.

archie1954
archie1954
Jan 4, 2017 8:52 PM

Some good points there!

John
John
Jan 8, 2017 5:50 PM

The only solution is the violent eradication of government starting with the worst one first, which is a 100% corrupt, totalitarian, police-state government, and presently the most heinous-cancerous-blight on humanity in yhe history of the planet, and is the enforcement arm of a global cabal, controlled by a handful of wealthy miscreants that has been around since the crusades or before. GOVERNMENT, especially this government, is the oppressors primary tool. It must be made to be gone by any and all means possible by it’s citizens and citizens of the world or humanity is doomed.

shrink
shrink
Dec 26, 2016 9:47 PM
Reply to  archie1954

the evil emanated from the rothschild khazarian cabal/bankers…. let them reap the wrath of the whirlwind…. They all need to die…. And if you don’t like me being so forthright… then, tough shit. You deserve it. And I hope you are caught up in it. And cannot escape from it. capice?

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 26, 2016 9:50 PM
Reply to  shrink

I have no problem with your beliefs. I always make excuses for the mentally disturbed!

Ross Kapernick
Ross Kapernick
Dec 26, 2016 4:19 PM

You and the USA are the joke! If it were not so serious.

NobodysaysBOO
NobodysaysBOO
Dec 26, 2016 6:51 PM

are YOU one of the 240 US ARMY paid terrorist the Russians captured ?
Show the faces,names,US addresses of this scum.
These US ARMY people prove the previous comment. KEEP THEM do not send this trash home!
We HAVE seen the ENEMY and HE IS US!
POGO got it right !

shrink
shrink
Dec 26, 2016 9:49 PM
Reply to  NobodysaysBOO

Pogo indeed got it right.

louisproyect
louisproyect
Dec 23, 2016 5:31 PM

Egypt and Iraq now support Syria.
Well, of course. They join UKIP, the French National Front, Golden Dawn, Jobbik, the Freedom Party in Austria, David Duke, Pamela Geller, Alex Jones and David Icke in doing so.

BigB
BigB
Dec 23, 2016 9:58 PM
Reply to  louisproyect

I wonder, would your socialist ideals be less offended If al Qaeda / Daesh established their caliphate instead?

Sorry, Not Buying It
Sorry, Not Buying It
Dec 25, 2016 5:22 AM
Reply to  louisproyect

Louis’ at it again, folks, trying to cobble together whatever left-overs, tangents and odds-and-ends he can find from wherever he can find to throw at the “neo-liberal dictator” in order that Assad finally be overthrown by neo-liberal imperialists. Proyect’s clownish antics conjure up an image in my mind of a man trying to impress a lady with his ostensibly suave manner and refined tastes but who somehow ends up hopping around on one foot, crashing wildly into fine china and setting off an expensive and obnoxious chain reaction of embarrassment, only to be ejected from the art gallery for his troubles but yet still managing to delude himself into thinking that the lady wants his phone number. Am I wrong to think this?
Your foreign-infiltrated NATO-backed jihadis have lost, Louis. If only for the sake of your own self-respect, just accept that hiding behind the skirt of your imperial privilege doesn’t afford you the dual luxury of being taken seriously as a leftist while also being allowed to pontificate about which governments “should” be overthrown at the pleasure of the US government’s strategic interests in the region. Being a leftist means relinquishing your predilection for imperialist regime-change operations that bring death, misery and ruin to millions of workers in the Middle East and North Africa. I would have thought that AFTER the disasters in Iraq and Libya that even you would have ample opportunity to swerve from the course of contributing to the drum-beat of imperialist armed aggression and proxy war. So what gives?

archie1954
archie1954
Dec 25, 2016 6:35 AM

Thank you for belling the ignorant cat! Of course this particular cat may be a fool also.

Sav
Sav
Dec 25, 2016 1:04 PM
Reply to  louisproyect

I think you’ll find the majority of the world’s nations have always recognised the Syrian government. They include the vast, vast majority of the population of this world too.
You’re the big time Marxist, Louis. Who amazingly spends his time vilifying anyone who doesn’t accept the mainstream media’s reporting on yet another regime change plan. Funny that.

shrink
shrink
Dec 26, 2016 10:34 PM
Reply to  louisproyect

And So???…. your point?

Ignatz (@_Ignatz_)
Ignatz (@_Ignatz_)
Dec 27, 2016 3:39 PM
Reply to  louisproyect

grow a foreskin schmuck

Alessandro
Alessandro
Jan 1, 2017 7:45 AM
Reply to  louisproyect

Great Marxist analysis, Louis – because some bad people like a thing, it is bad. Gotta wonder how academics like yourself can sleep at night, teaching the works of the “Nazi philosophers” Nietzsche and Heidegger to impressionable youth at universities. If only there was a tool called logic you could use to avoid those guilt feelings.

mohandeer
mohandeer
Dec 23, 2016 5:10 PM

Reblogged this on Worldtruth.

andromedahelp
andromedahelp
Dec 23, 2016 9:27 AM

What are You all talking about here? The whole massacre began after some 10000s of families have been demonstrating peacefully for more food, education & less elite enhancement by assad.
& you only call them terrorists?
be ashamed about your massive fake of what really happened & get rid of the extreme communist censorship, you seem to implicate on yourself

BigB
BigB
Dec 23, 2016 10:57 AM
Reply to  andromedahelp

A merry Christmas to you too. If you are looking for a stocking filler, may I recommend Prof Andersons book, which breaks down the real reasons for the conflict in Syria concisely.
https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-War-Syria-Tim-Anderson/dp/0973714786

vittorio
vittorio
Dec 23, 2016 5:09 PM
Reply to  andromedahelp

communist censorship allows YOU to write your (brainwashed) ideas.
try the same onthe guardian itself.

susannapanevin
susannapanevin
Dec 22, 2016 10:30 PM

Reblogged this on Susanna Panevin.

Norman Pilon
Norman Pilon
Dec 22, 2016 10:24 PM

Reblogged this on Taking Sides.

BigB
BigB
Dec 22, 2016 9:01 PM

Not the “Axis of Resistance;” but there appears to be some form of Axis developing – and already I don’t like it.
Within hours of each other, new besties Donnie and Vlad announced that they need more nukes – until as Trump put it “such time as the world comes to its senses.”
Come to its senses by increasing the capacity for Armageddon? Surely the sensible option would be Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, (SALT 15 or whatever number we got up to when the process was abandoned) not tearing up the Non Proliferation Treaty?
Maths is not my strong point, but in terms of a multipolar global hegemony – three into one does not go. I wonder how China will react?
So, not so much a “serious setback” as a serious change of course perhaps?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-22/trump-calls-expansion-us-nuclear-capability-hours-after-putin-urges-russia-do-same

secret agent
secret agent
Dec 23, 2016 4:39 PM
Reply to  BigB

Don’t sweat it. They both want to reduce the likelihood of extinction and are just making their opening bids on the negotiations.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Dec 22, 2016 8:16 PM

It seems America’s ‘dodgy’ plan to remove the elected leader of Syria is in ruins. Too bad. Just like in Vietnam, they lost. “History has shown, there are no invincible armies”(Joseph Stalin), When will they ever learn……