Lavrov Says Russia Will Respond If US Attacks Syrian Forces – What Next?

Rasa - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned of “grave consequences,” and the Russian military is talking retaliation, if the US occupying troops attack Syrian government forces under any alleged reason.

News ID: 436857

Date: 14 March 2018 - 23:56

RNA - In other words, US strikes would not be consequence-free in Syria anymore. Rather a US strike under any justification would risk a long feared direct war between the US and Russia. That’s a concern long-standing among US officials – and those fired. Even during the 2016 campaign, President Trump made clear he was very aware of the risk of a Syria war leading to a Russia war. Trump will have to manage constant pressure to do more against Syria to avoid steering into such a disastrous conflict. But that’s not the real problem here:

A- Various US officials have been suggesting substantial attacks on the Syrian military are imminent. This talk of attacking Syria has provoked a warning from the Russian Foreign Ministry, and a second warning from top Russian generals. Russia’s military chief of staff warns Russia would retaliate “against the missiles and launchers used” by the US in such a strike.

B- The Russian threat is a game-changer. The US can no longer drum up pretexts for strikes, much less carry out the occasional attacks against Syrian military targets with impunity. Russia will act over and that would be an escalation of a conflict that has so far cost the lives of tens of thousands of people.

C- The same could be said about US officials drumming up attacks on the pretext of non-documented chemical weapons incidents, which they all now have always been carried out by their Qaeda-allied terror proxies, so-called Syrian rebel factions, in Eastern Ghouta and elsewhere, including those near or in the de-escalation zones in Dara’a province.

D- The US is wading deeper into the second phase of its regime-change war, and the strategy is moving from fighting ISIL (if there’s any) to fighting the Syrian government forces, including the downing of Syrian fighter jets. This adds a whole new dynamic to America’s involvement and military skirmishes. It increases the risk of something that would have once been unthinkable: US and Russian planes shooting at each other. After all, Moscow says it will now “target” US-led coalition aircraft flying above Syria. It’s even cutting off contact with the US.

E- US forces on the ground need to have the authority necessary to attack Syrian targets. But at this point the lack of a clear policy on the part of the Trump White House is a major problem. That, paired with the Russian threats, is making an already dangerous situation even riskier. Lavrov’s recent warning just made things much more dangerous. The US must now account for a more antagonistic stance by Syrian and Russia forces.

Like it or not, Russia’s military action threats against US occupying forces are real. There is, however, a way out for Washington, before the warmongering hordes in the Pentagon make a very dangerous conflict much more worrisome:

According to Fars News Agancy, the allied forces of Iran, Syria, Russia and Hezbollah have defeated the terrorist group of ISIL on all fronts. This means there is no other pretext for war-party Washington to get directly involved in Syria’s war against the remnants of ISIL and other foreign-backed militant groups. Indeed, troop withdrawals would be a major step for the US to take, at a time when it’s even more unclear exactly what the Trump regime is trying to accomplish in Syria.

On the one hand, the history of US-led regime-change campaign makes the United States a particularly inappropriate advocate for freedom and democracy, much less military intervention in post-ISIL Syria. On the other, the US has backed Israel in its illegal occupation and colonization of Southwestern Syria, which Israel invaded in June of 1967.

This kind of history leads to one conclusion only: America’s military occupation is bad news for Syrian people. The best hope for Syria is for American occupiers to withdraw. Their military presence will only escalate the tragic violence and lead to a greater war with Russia. The War Party doesn’t care about democracy in Syria any more than it does about democracy in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia, but is using the “promotion of democracy” as an excuse to divide Syria and overthrow a government that happens to oppose Washington’s hegemonic designs on the region.

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