Academic:

US against peace in Syria for geopolitical reasons

Rasa - Foreign-backed militant groups have threatened to withdraw from talks over their presence in the upcoming Syria peace negotiations in Kazakhstan scheduled to be held later in January.

News ID: 426255

Date: 03 January 2017 - 18:40

RNA - The militants also warned that further advances by Syrian government forces would halt a ceasefire currently in force in the war-torn Arab country. The nationwide ceasefire deal between the Syrian government and the militants, brokered by Russia and Turkey, came into effect on Friday. Press TV asked an expert about why the militants resist to participate in the peace talks.

Jamal Wakim, a professor at the Lebanese international University from Beirut, says the United States does not want the Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan to be successful, because the Americans and their allies are excluded from the negotiations.

“The US would not allow any political agreement in Syria [to succeed] if it doesn’t take into consideration their geopolitical objectives,” Wakim told Press TV on Tuesday.

He expressed doubt about the success of the Syria peace talks, because, according to the academic, “It excludes the United States and it excludes the West in general in addition to excluding Saudi Arabia.”

“There would be no peace agreement accepted by any group mainly by the West, if the United States does not take part and [play] a decisive role in this meeting,” he added.

The militant groups, who are representing Saudi and US interests in the Syrian conflict “declared their opposition to participate in the summit” because their main supporters would be absent in the Syria peace talks, he argued.

The peace talks in Kazakhstan have been protested by the West, because Syria, Russia and Iran are the main players while the United States and its allies have no role to play, he noted.

Elsewhere, the expert pointed to America’s intention to play a key role in geopolitics of eastern Syria, saying that the US tries to control the Euphrates, because Washington knows whoever controls the region could have a say in the affairs of Syria, Iraq and Turkey.

Syria, as one of the pillars of the resistance movement against the axis of the Israeli regime and the United States, has been gripped by foreign-hatched militancy since March 2011. America, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have played a key role in supporting militant groups in the Syria conflict.

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