No Change in US Aim to Topple Syria's Assad

by Stephen Lendman

Trump escalated Obama's war in Syria. NATO, Israel, the Saudis, and other regional states are involved in the plot to replace Bashar al-Assad with pro-Western puppet rule.

After eight years of war since March 2011, US tactics alone changed. Its diabolical plot to gain another imperial trophy remains official policy - wanting Iran isolated ahead of a similar plot against its government.

US-supported ISIS remains a force to be reckoned with - in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Stopping over in Alaska en route back to Washington after failed summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, Trump lied saying ISIS is entirely eliminated in Syria. 

"Now it's 100% we just took over, 100%. The area, the land, we just have 100%. We did that in a much shorter period of time than it was supposed to be."

Trump is a geopolitical know-nothing, aware only about what his handlers tell him, along with rubbish from Fox News, his favorite TV channel - featuring all propaganda, all the time, on major world and national issues. 

The same goes for all establishment media, operating as mouthpieces for wealth, power and privilege, suppressing what's vital to know.

Acting US war secretary Patrick Shanahan repeated Trump's Big Lie about ISIS. At NATO headquarters in Brussels, he said "(w)hen we talk about what's occurred in Syria recently, it's been the decimation of the caliphate."

"And we talk about that in a military context. So, ISIS, Daesh, they no longer hold geography. They no longer govern in the spaces they once held. Their finances have been annihilated. Their ability to communicate on social media has been destroyed. You know, in that regards, they've been defeated."

Fact: The US created and supports ISIS, al-Qaeda, its al-Nusra offshoot in Syria, and other terrorist groups - in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Major media suppress what's vital to report. ISIS and other jihadists continue to be used by the US as proxy foot soldiers in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere.

According to what Fars News called "pro-militant media," ISIS jihadists in Syria were transferred to the Pentagon's Deir Ezzor base.

Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other senior commanders were evacuated by US forces from eastern parts of the province to the US base.

The Arabic-language Baghdad al-Youm news service cited a local source, saying families of ISIS jihadists, including al-Baghdadi's family, were moved from the Baqouz region to an unknown eastern Deir Ezzor location by so-called (anti-government, US-controlled) Syrian Democratic Forces.

According to the Arabic-language al-Ma'aloumeh news service, an unnamed Iraqi MP accused the Trump regime of training thousands of ISIS terrorists to continue serving as US proxy forces in Syria and Iraq.

A separate unnamed source said Turkey intends occupying new parts of northern Syria to prevent Assad's military from liberating US-supported al-Nusra-controlled Idlib province territory - notably its militarized/co-called demilitarized zone.

Ankara pretends to be allied with Russia and Iran in combatting US-supported terrorists. Putin pretends that Erdogan backs efforts by Moscow and Tehran to liberate Syria entirely from US-supported terrorists and Pentagon forces in northern and southern parts of the country.

An unnamed source said Turkey's military is blocking military operations against al-Nusra terrorists in Idlib's demilitarized zone, used along with surrounding areas as platforms for attacks on Syrian soldiers and civilians with Ankara's help.

Separately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said al-Nusra jihadists in Idlib mobilized for a large-scale offensive, explaining:

"A threat to security and stability in Syria is coming from terrorists of the Nusra-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, which controls almost the entire Idlib de-escalation zone," adding: 

"Field commanders are carrying out events on reshaping allied groups with the goals of increasing their offensive capabilities in the directions of Aleppo, Hama and mountainous Latakia."

"The militants plan to expand the sphere of their influence and establish full control of Idlib" - aided by Turkey, Zakharova failed to explain.

This week, Idlib ceasefire violations increased markedly, likely ahead of the planned jihadist offensive. Separately, Southfront reported that Syrian and Russian warplanes struck terrorist targets in southern Idlib.

AMN News said only Syrian warplanes were involved in the airstrikes, targeting (US-supported) terrorists moving between Saraqib and Khan Sheikhoun.

The mission responded to increased Idlib demilitarized zone violations by al-Nusra terrorists and affiliated Jaysh al-Izza forces.

Putin continues working cooperatively with Erdogan in Syria despite the latter's breaches of the Astana peace process.

A Final Comment

The Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute (GPPI) emerged from the Washington-based Global Public Policy Project under the leadership of Wolfgang  Reinicke - former World Bank Corporate Strategy Unit economist, Brookings nonresident senior fellow on foreign policy, international order and strategy.

GPPI is a corporate-funded right-wing group, including by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Aventis Foundation, according to SourceWatch.

Supporting US regime change aims in Syrian, GPPI falsely claimed "(t)he Syrian government and affiliated forces have launched more than 300 attacks using chemical weapons during the country's nearly eight-year conflict," the neocon/CIA house organ Washington Post reported, citing GPPI, adding:

The group claims it "credibly substantiated" 336 CW incidents, including use of toxic sarin and chlorine, maintaining that 98% of attacks were carried out by Syrian or allied forces.

Throughout eight years of war, repeated US, NATO, and other reports claimed Damascus responsibility for CW attacks - no credible evidence ever backing the fabricated claims.

Numerous CW attacks occurred during the war, more likely coming - all conducted by US-supported terrorists, none by Syrian and allied forces.

No evidence suggests otherwise. Plenty of evidence proves responsibility by US supported jihadists.

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