Killing a Nation: Endless US-Led Aggression in Syria

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

The defining feature of US imperialism is its endless war on humanity at home and abroad.

Instead of fostering cooperative relations with other nations, it smashes ones unwilling to bend to its will — and/or wages war on them by other means.

For nearly 10 years, Republicans and Dems waged endless preemptive war on Syria.

US forces illegally occupy northern and southern parts of the country. 

Millions of its people were displaced. Severe hardships were inflicted on the entire population.

What US regimes did to Syria and its people is one of history's great crimes — similar to its criminality against numerous other nations.

What's vital to explain in feature reports, US-led Western establishment media suppress.

Last week, Russia's Sergey Lavrov and his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad met in Moscow to address major issues affecting the Syrian Arab Republic, its people, and region.

Lavrov stressed what he said many times before.

In stark contrast to the US, NATO and Israel, Russia champions "unconditional respect for Syria's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence as well as the right of the Syrian nation to determine its own fate and future."

These principles are embodied in Security Council Res. 2254.

Like all SC resolutions, it's binding international law on all nations.

Russia is also committed to providing Syria and its people with humanitarian aid — what the US and its imperial partners go all-out trying to obstruct, what UN secretary general Guterres ignores.

Throughout his tenure, he's done nothing to aid long-suffering Syrians, nothing to denounce US-led aggression on their homeland, nothing to fulfill the mandate of his office with regard to fostering world peace and stability.

Lavrov explained that Syrian socioeconomic development goals are grievously "hindered by the illegal…criminal…sanctions adopted against Syria by the US and some of its allies."

He "condemn(ed) illegal" occupation of Syrian territory by US and other foreign forces.

Russia is committed to aiding Syria restore normalcy to the country.

It provided 100,000 tons of grain to the country. Deliveries will continue, said Lavrov.

Together with Syrian officials, Russia is helping them prepare a "comprehensive strategic program for economic cooperation" and redevelopment.

Throughout Trump's tenure, under Obama/Biden, and most of their predecessors, the US "show(ed) no desire, ability or skill when it comes to discussing their concerns openly and on the basis of facts during direct negotiations," said Lavrov, adding:

"The Americans and their Western allies have developed a trend of publicly accusing others without any facts, making these accusations part of the international agenda, and presenting them as a proved matter."

I've stressed many times that diplomatic outreach to the US in recent decades by Russia and other independent countries achieved nothing but betrayal.

The US operates like other rogue states, demanding obedience, smashing or otherwise punishing non-compliers. 

In 2011, the Obama/Biden regime and its imperial partners in high crimes smashed Syria and "destroyed Libya's statehood," said Lavrov.

SC Res. 2254 mandates respect for Syria's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence — ignored by the US and its partners in high crimes of war and against humanity.

The US consistently and repeatedly breaches international and its own constitutional and statute laws — with impunity, no accountability ever forthcoming.

Lavrov slammed Pompeo's serial lying, his contempt for peace and the rule of law, his thuggishness on the world stage.

Days earlier, Sputnik News asked:

"Will we ever know how many thousands of civilians were killed and maimed by American bombs in Syria, as (its forever) war still rages?"

Russia's Rear Adm. Vyacheslav Sytnik, deputy head of the country's Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said the following last week:

"Thirty-five cases of shelling from the positions of (US-supported) Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist(s) were registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone in the provinces of Idlib (23 attacks), Latakia (5), Hama (4) and Aleppo (3)" — defenseless civilians in the line of fire.

Separately, Southfront reported that "Israeli media and think tanks (are) promoting the idea of (IDF) intervention into the 'unstable' Syrian south under the (phony) pretext of restoring 'peace and prosperity' in this region."

"Therefore, it is possible to expect the resumption of active Israeli military and clandestine operations to undermine the Syrian statehood in this particular region."

AMN News quoted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's close advisor  Buthaina Shaaban, saying the following:

"(R)emoving (Iranian military advisors and) Hezbollah (forces) from Syria is totally out of the question," adding:

"(N)o one decides for Damascus how its relationship with Iran, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian resistance should be."

"The relationship between Damascus and Moscow is a relationship that is equitable and based on respect." 

"Russia and China respect their allies," polar opposite how the US, NATO, Israel, and their imperial partners operate.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

"How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/

"Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/banker-occupation-waging-financial-war-on-humanity/