Washington’s Raqqa Escalation Is Not About Liberation

Rasa - Official Washington has reportedly confirmed their intention to escalate the ongoing air war against ISIL in Raqqa as additional escalation in Syria - something they were “forced into.”

News ID: 431851

Date: 21 August 2017 - 23:26

RNA - To this end, the Trump administration’s talk of the need for a complete strategy in the ISIL war could include additional ground troops being sent to Syria, where all the fighting is going on.

Official Washington insists they are not involved in any ground operations, but the announcement of additional ground troops being sent into Syria means just that. It underscores how much the US strategy centers around putting troops where ISIL might attack them and justify further escalation.

Though presented as trainers and advisers, the ground troops will set up a brand new military base in Raqqa after ISIL.

The site of the new base will be presented as necessary for the Pentagon’s determination to get closer ties between the US military and Kurdish fighters, who are centered around Raqqa. Raqqa is also right near where all the allied forces of Iran, Russia and Hezbollah are being rallied by the Syrian military, and perhaps more importantly right on the front line border with Turkey.

Washington claims its strategy is to get the Kurds and other proxies more involved in the fighting, but with several proxy groups publicly joining sides with ISIL and Al-Qaeda in recent years, it’s clear that the ultimate goal in Raqqa is not to shift the balance on the Syrian government’s side.

History shows us that airstrikes and “humanitarian” bombs will not be enough to curb terrorism. Spain and Finland just found that out! The talk of additional escalation - further US military presence - will simply drive terrorism against Syria, the region, and beyond.

The flurry of escalations is an open-ended war and we all know what that means: Ensuring the death cult thrives. It’s an ominous warning. Raqqa is just the next stop in America’s “humanitarian” reinvasion of Syria, which is set to be much longer and much larger than anyone bargained for - with greater civilian deaths.

And there is a reason why the US wants to stay the course and double down with more troops, money and bombs. They want the breakup of post-ISIL Syria and an indefinite continuation of the war on the resistance front that’s already out of control. They want to prepare the region for the big war too, a long, drawn-out conflict that has not yet happened: The all-out sectarian war.

The ongoing escalation is not about denying “safe haven” to ISIL militants, disrupting the flow of foreign fighters, curbing access to foreign finances, providing humanitarian relief or responding to the death cult’s propaganda. It’s not about saving Syria, nor is it about liberating Raqqa. This is about America only - and it’s self-serving interests.

That's why the US-led coalition airstrikes kill tens of civilians in Raqqa everyday. Washington seems to be afraid of suicide attacks by ISIL militants that would hide among the public once the city is taken by its allied SDF militants, similar to the conditions that its troops experienced in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Hence, it is devastating the city to leave nothing from Raqqa but a pile of rubble. Also, the blind airstrikes that are killing ISIL and civilians alike will convince the militants to withdraw to Deir Ezzur to have their main and final battle against the Syrian army and its allies and gift the US and its allied SDF an easy score.

Meanwhile, scores of civilians are also killed in SDF rocket and missile attacks despite US-Kurdish claims that they have slowed down their pace to avoid civilians casualties. Raqqa has never been a Kurdish city, but the US heavy bombardments and the Kurdish-majority SDF artillery and missile attacks are taking such a heavy civilian toll now that most of those still alive are escaping the city - if they find a way out - to give the Kurds the chance to alter the structure of the population to make it a Kurdish city. This comes in conjunction with alleged US plans to deliver the city's control to its allied Kurdish militants and keep an allegedly small military build-up to continue its supportive role.

It's no secret any more that the US has a detailed scheme to encourage the Kurdish population in Iraq and Syria to establish a new world state, and the unprecedentedly large collateral damage in Raqqa is yet another symptom of the United States' larger plans for the region. The alarming moves in Iraq's Kurdistan region and Syria's Raqqa have brought Tehran and Ankara closer to work out military plans to confront the US plot. The post-ISIL world has just started to take shape.

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