RNA - Reports from the embattled territory suggest that some duped foreign fighters are still in Mosul. The same reports also suggest that they are “fighting to the death.” No one knows how many overall foreign fighters have been captured and no one has any clue to specify from which countries. But one thing is certain: Those still stuck in besieged neighborhoods are “fighting to the death” because they have nowhere else to go, including Syria.
They know there is no place for them in Syria because every single ISIL fighter that's left in places like Raqqa and elsewhere is either going to be killed or going to surrender. So unlike what “fakestream” media suggests, if these desperate souls, who have murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians when they had the chance, are not surrendering and are fighting to the death, it’s not because they are “very hardcore and they came to Iraq and Syria from Europe to die” for their medieval caliphate, but because they know they have a lost cause and that there is no place for terrorists in Syria.
Just like in Iraq, we are seeing a tremendous number of foreign fighters not surrendering in Syria; they're also fighting to the death because ISIL figures are admitting they’re crumbling and large numbers of fighters are abandoning the battlefield and trying to escape, including surrendering via Turkey. Even ISIL’s leadership prefers to leave embattled territory and leave foreign fighters behind to carry out chemical attacks against civilians instead. These are the types of things that are very easy to do when the going gets tough and the “hardcore” terrorists cannot get going.
One harbinger: Dozens of former US intelligence professionals are urging the American people to demand clear evidence that the Syrian government was behind the April 4 chemical incident before President Trump dives deeper into another war. They say the intelligence data that has been used to back up the allegations of Syrian chemical weapons use has been far from conclusive. Allusions to intercepted Syrian communications have been offered as “proof”, but the Iraq experience show how easily such intelligence can be misused to justify war.
They also say inconsistencies in the publicly available imagery which the White House and CIA have so heavily relied upon have raised legitimate questions about the veracity of any conclusions drawn from these sources. The blood samples used to back up claims of the presence of nerve agent among the victims was collected void of any verifiable chain of custody, making their sourcing impossible to verify, and as such invalidates any conclusions based upon their analysis.
While the jury is still out about whether or not the White House and the CIA are telling the truth, or whether the reports of their White Helmet inspectors are well founded, one thing is certain: Iraqi and Syrian forces will continue to either kill or capture ISIL and Al-Qaeda militants – including foreign fighters - in the embattled territories.
The immediate goal is the same as that enunciated by the nations of the world at the United Nations: To prevent further terrorism, death and destruction. The defeat of foreign-backed terrorism in Iraq and Syria is unlikely to stop terrorism in other parts of the region and beyond, but it can be part of building the momentum for a movement that can defeat Washington’s wars of choice and set the Middle East on the course for a transition to a terrorism-free region.
On balance, the need to fight terrorism and protect regional peace and security is in direct contradiction to Trump’s new military escalation doctrine. There is no way that War Party and the Military-Industrial Complex can survive, let alone thrive, unless terrorists prevail, and there is no way that can happen without outside help. Without American weaponry and Saudi cash, Iraq and Syria would remain terrorism-free.
All over the world, anti-war campaigns are saying just that. They are focusing on halting all Western support for terrorist groups in Syria - so-called “moderates”. Of course, the Trump White House is trying to stop that by coming up with allegations of Syria chemical weapons attack and escalation of America’s war of choice not just in Syria but in Yemen and even the Korean Peninsula. But the Trump era sees massive resistance to his war plans. Another harbinger:
The world is not buying Trump’s Syria chemical weapons attack ruse. Iraqi forces are not calling for indiscriminate US airstrikes in Mosul either. They are using siege and stealth tactics to drive ISIL militants out of the remaining neighborhoods. They want to minimize casualties among thousands of people still trapped in the cramped, historic neighborhoods.
The battle to fully recapture Mosul from ISIL is in its final stages – and it is rapidly intensifying. “Fakestream” media reports in the West notwithstanding, Iraqi Army and volunteer forces have not put thousands of civilians in the crossfire. When it comes, the liberation of Mosul will be met with great acclaim – but only then will the most difficult challenges begin. As Iraq has learned before, winning the war is the easy part – ending America’s illegal military occupation is far harder.
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