RNA - Idlib and the surrounding area is the last major terrorist-held territory in Syria, and Muallem has indicated that the presence of a large Al-Qaeda affiliate in the region is a particular problem. Tens of thousands of foreign-backed terrorists from different factions are still operating in Idlib and neighboring Aleppo. Russia is expected to provide air support. Exactly when the offensive will begin is unclear, however, and there are calls by the United States to delay out of what Washington claims to be “humanitarian concerns”!!!
This has of course nothing to do with so-called “humanitarian concerns” and everything to do with the US official policy: continuing the protracted war on Syria. The US also wants a big seat at the table for a political settlement, which means ensuring that the war keeps going so that there is never a clear victor.
After all, Trump administration officials keep telling us that “right now, our job is to help create quagmires [for Russia and Syria] until we get what we want.” They want to have a dominant position in post-war negotiations, so they can dictate the form that post-war Syria takes. This means ensuring that the Syrian government doesn’t win the war outright.
But the Syrian government has already won the war with a helping hand from the allied forces of Iran, Russia and Hezbollah. All it wants to do now is dislodge the last remnants of foreign-backed terrorist groups from the country so that reconstruction could begin. Mind you, the three leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey are scheduled to meet in the Iranian city of Tabriz next week to discuss the same issue, among others.
In other words, Syria has won the real war on terror. The government has retaken virtually all of the terror-held territory except for a far North bastion in Idlib, dominated by Al-Qaeda. And if the US wants to stop that from happening, that’s because it wants to save Al-Qaeda to keep the war going, which has been a recurring undercurrent in US policy in Syria from day one.
That also says why the US keeps its threats to intervene militarily if the Idlib offensive involves chemical weapons. Most importantly, it is this desire that has Russia complaining to the UN with damning evidence that the terrorists could stage a fake chemical attack just to suck the US into the war. At the same time, the US is desperately talking about an imminent chemical attack despite there being no reason or evidence to think Syria is poised to launch one.
According to Fars News Agancy, Washington’s “chemical weapons attack” concerns are unfounded. Syria has no chemical weapons and the whole world is in the know that only the US-backed, UN-designated terrorists have the means to “stage” chlorine gas releases to simulate an attack. The international civil society is also in the know that Syrian troops and volunteer forces are fulfilling their pledge to liberate Idlib.
At any rate, the war is nearing its endgame, Idlib will be liberated, and the United States will be the first to know – seeing that it supports various terrorist groups there. After Idlib’s liberation, the US won’t be able to drag its regime-change war under any pretext either, because that’s not what the long-suffering people of Syria and the international civil society want.
So despite the grim assessments by Washington – humanitarian crisis - the Syrian forces will launch the offensive undeterred by the US threats and they will dislodge the Salafi-Takfiri militants the same way they cleaned up Lattakia, Aleppo, Deir Ezzur, Ghouta, Homs, Hama, Dara'a and Quneitra. However, liberation is just the beginning. No effective strategy to counter terrorism will emerge unless the intricate issue of good governance and reconstruction in the region is also fully addressed.
The powerful reality is that all terrorist groups are now vulnerable to the re-empowered central government in Damascus. The Syrian government is doing everything it can to also give substance to the ongoing intra-Syrian peace negotiations. This is a policy favored by Iran, Russia and Turkey, as a united front against all manners of terrorism and extremism is what the negotiations envisage in their upcoming meeting in Tabriz.
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