Idlib Will Be Unshackled

Rasa - In an expansion of previous comments, threats and tweets, US President Donald Trump has once again threatened the Syrian government which is gearing up to liberate the province of Idlib, the last bastion of terrorist groups in Syria.

News ID: 439510

Date: 12 September 2018 - 14:35

RNA - At a time when his domestic woes are mounting, the Twitter-in-Chief has issued a statement warning that he is “going to get very, very angry” if the upcoming Syrian offensive against Al-Qaeda in Idlib ends up “slaughtering civilians.” He has also threatened to respond “swiftly and appropriately” about the offensive, in which the world hopes Syria can liberate the last terror-held territory. Previously, US officials had threatened to attack if chemical weapons were used.

Trump’s threat to respond now appears to no longer be conditional on any alleged chemical use, and comes after other US officials have declared that they are opposed to any offensive against the Qaeda-aligned rebels, and will view them all as an “escalation” of the war. Despite Trump’s warning, Syrian and Russian forces have shelled and launched airstrikes against terrorist positions in Idlib in recent days, but there is as yet no public timetable for the ground offensive.

The struggle to liberate Aleppo is important though. It is the last major military operation to be undertaken by government forces and allies to complete expulsion of Salafi-Takfiri terrorist groups and Qaeda-allied rebel factions from Syrian territory. Like other liberated places, once the mission has been accomplished, it will be a cause of rejoicing everywhere - everywhere, that is, except the capitals of Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States capitals, where the attempt to  destroy Syria stands as an indictment of joint Saudi-Zionist-American foreign policy and its conceits.

Nonetheless, we all know why they don’t want to see Idlib liberated. They all played a decisive role in the failed regime-change campaign. It was the State Department headed by Clinton which pushed for NATO invasion in Libya, responsible for the country being pitched into an abyss from which it is yet to emerge.

According to Fars News Agency, Clinton left her destructive role as Obama's secretary of state at the beginning of 2013. A few months later, in August of that year, Obama stepped back from the brink when it came to unleashing airstrikes against Syrian government targets in response to allegations - denied by the Syrian government and disputed by MIT professor Theodore Postol and former UN weapons inspector Richard Lloyd in a report they co-authored for the UN - that Syrian government forces mounted an attack against Qaeda-allied rebel positions outside Damascus using chemical weapons.

As current circumstances require, the battle for Idlib is the final push in this brutal conflict, which will eventually bring it to an end so that international reconstruction efforts could begin. That means the armed militant groups and terror partners in crime, which are currently entrenched in the province, would have only two options: to lay down their arms or to be destroyed in battle. Any other option suggested by the Trump White House like the creation of another ‘de-escalation zone’ on the Syrian territory is not possible any more.

Ultimately, the eventual defeat of the terrorist groups in Idlib is only a matter of time. By threatening the Syrian government which is at the forefront of the war on terror, by hovering belligerently on the sidelines in Syria, restricting themselves to pro-rebel operations and vain calls for ‘de-escalation zones,’ and by failing to acknowledge their own share of the blame and atrocities against the Syrian people, the United States and its allies have effectively undermined the UN Charter, the humanitarian agencies, International Law, and International Humanitarian Law.

Their neglect has at the same time boosted autocratic and apartheid leaders from Riyadh and Manama to the UAE and Tel Aviv, while arguably encouraging the growth of terror groups everywhere in the Middle East and beyond. Their other mistake was to believe that the war on Syria could be kept at arm’s length. Due to its complexity, longevity and transnational character, it hit the Western capitals as well.

Now seven years later, and by liberating Idlib, Syria and its allies Iran and Russia want to change all that. Trump’s claim that the offensive against Al-Qaeda in Idlib ends up “slaughtering civilians,” won’t gain common currency anymore. Evidence on the ground suggests the opposite holds true.

The UN wants an immediate end to the bloodshed. According to despairing UN statements, the scale of suffering across the country has reached unprecedented levels, with access to aid blocked in population centers and more than 13 million people displaced and in need. More than 500,000 people have died since 2011. But the killing continues unabated.

Ending this unnecessary humanitarian nightmare would require the United States and its allies to end their unlawful and criminal support for Qaeda-allied terrorist groups in Idlib. The world is demanding an immediate end to their lunacy. The world is also expecting the Syrian government and allies to complete their anti-terror operations as quickly as possible so that international aid could reach the worst-hit areas. Of course, that could only happen if the allied forces build on their advances over the past year and unshackle Idlib.

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