2017: The Year to Jump Start Peace in Syria

Rasa - It's a good news story. The first good news is that the United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to endorse the new ceasefire deal in Syria’s nearly six-year war.

News ID: 426214

Date: 01 January 2017 - 22:01

RNA - In addition to the truce, the resolution calls for rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian aid deliveries throughout the country. It calls for a meeting between Syrian government representatives and opposition forces in Kazakhstan in late January to jump start peace talks.

Western members of the Security Council had gathered prior to the vote on Saturday to make certain changes to the draft resolution. The final text of the resolution drops an endorsement of the Turkish-Russian ceasefire deal and instead “welcomes and supports” it.

As predicted, however, there is more good news. The ceasefire deal, announced earlier this week by Iran, Russia and Turkey, is still holding. It is an indicator of a joint effort in which the Syrian government and the opposition – as well as their backers - aren't fighting anymore.

There is some additional bad news for those trying to regime change Syria and dismember it onto sectarian lines. The US-led war on Syria has failed and will stay that way. What’s more, the Syria process either sidelines them – in the case of the United States and its regional allies – or excludes them – in the case of ISIL, Al-Nusra Front and other Al-Qaeda affiliates. Meaning, the battle against terror by the allied forces of Iran, Syria, Russia and Hezbollah will go on, cessation of hostilities and peace talks with the opposition notwithstanding.

It’s still good news for the long-suffering people of Syria and the world community. It means Fortress Europe will have fewer Syrian refugees this year. It also means the protectors of Syria will step up efforts to aid the Syrian people during their time of need, while paving the way for peace talks this month in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Ironically, the peace talks are the fruit of a joint Russian-Iranian-Turkish effort to get the militants who claim to be against or intend to get seperated from the terrorist groups to talk with the Syrian government, something the War Party in Washington and its allies had long resisted.

After all, War-Party Washington and its regional client states have been bombing Syria for years to affect regime change and the nation is shedding millions of refugees as a result. Despite efforts to couch their unlawful involvement as a “humanitarian contribution,” it consists pretty much exclusively of regime-change efforts as well as arming terrorists and allowing US bombers to be at the service of ISIL, Al-Qaeda and other proxies – the same goons that attacked European capitals several times last year. If you have any doubt, just take a look at the US-led coalition airstrikes in the Eastern Province of Deir Ezzur in the last quarter of 2016.

True, the regime changers, the United States in particular, also endorsed the ceasefire deal at the Security Council. But that's just for show. They are desperate to spread fake news as sometimes glass glitters more than diamonds because it has more to prove. They had no choice but to present themselves as “friends of Syria” in such a critical juncture – pretending to be what they are not. They have lost the war and last thing they want to see is the international civil society pointing the finger of blame at them for the collapse of the fragile ceasefire agreement.

It is said hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier'. This is the new year, the new Syria. It rings to announce positive endings (liberation of Aleppo and all-Syria ceasefire agreement) and positive beginnings (UN Security Council’s endorsement of the ceasefire deal and the jump start of peace talks). And it rings because there is fresh promise and hope in the skies.

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