The New Worker
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 26th September 2014
RUSSIA and Iran have condemned the American- led air strikes against Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Syria as a violation of international law and a further move to destabilise the situation in Syria.
The air-raids and missile attacks by US war-planes and those of some its feudal Arab lackeys targeted IS camps and arms dumps in parts of eastern Syria under the control of the sectarian Sunni Muslim militia that was once covertly supported by imperialism it its bid to bring down the Baathist-led popular front government in Damascus.
The Syrians are ready to cooperate with international efforts to fight the IS militia, which has been waging a brutal campaign together with its Muslim Brotherhood allies to overthrow the Assad government.
But though the Syrians were given advance warning of the raids the Assad government gave no formal consent to the attacks. At least 30 IS fighters are believed to have been killed in the bombings along with eight civilians including three children.
The IS terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012, control parts of northern Syria and a large swathe of territory in Iraq seized during a June offensive against the Baghdad government that is dependent on American and Iranian military support to remain in power.
A few weeks ago the Americans began bombing IS positions in Iraq to prop up the Iraqi government. But it has refused to co-operate with the Syrians or abandon its support for the so-called “moderate” guerrillas in Syria.
But the Syrians say no such “moderate opposition” exists. Syrian General Yahya Suleiman told the media: “We are accustomed to the fact that the United States is often hypocritical. The biggest hypocrisy was displayed by the American side when the US president announced that there is a “moderate opposition” in Syria. But this is nothing more than a figment of his own imagination.”
The Syrians believe all this talk about “moderates” is simply another American ruse to continue support for the rebels who do their bidding and derail Syrian efforts for a peaceful dialogue to end the fighting.
They rightly argue that if the Americans and their allies were serious in their efforts to combat terrorism they should stop supporting, financing and training the terrorist movements that are operating inside Syria and co-ordinate their actions with the Syrian government.
“The move to establish an international alliance to face the terrorism of the ISIS is not debatable as a title,” Syrian Deputy Premier Walid Al Moallem said. “For decades Syria has called for an international conference on combating terrorism ... since the beginning of the crisis, Syria said that terrorism will affect its supporters and funders and will spread outside the country to reach even Europe and the US.”