The New Worker
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 9th September 2016
SYRIAN troops have resumed their siege of rebel-held western Aleppo after a successful drive to push the terrorists off a key road into the city. Russian war-planes carried out more than 100 sorties in support of the Syrian offensive that ended in victory this week. Syrian forces, backed by Lebanese and Iraqi volunteers, have now regained control of the only open road left to the rebel-held enclave.
In northern Syria the Turks continue to advance whilst a British delegation renewed calls for peace after meeting the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, in Damascus. But the imperialist-backed rebels struck back with a wave of terror bombings that rocked key Syrian cities on Monday.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the bombings, saying they were a continuation of the systematic terrorism practised by the terrorist groups in Syria. It urged the UN Security Council to undertake “deterrent” measures against the countries that support the terrorist groups, naming Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and France as patrons of the terror groups.
Turkish troops and their puppet “Free Syrian Army” militia have driven Kurdish and ISIS forces out of the border strip between Azaz and Jarablus, and they are now advancing against the key town of Al Bab to block any new Kurdish attempt to unite their two northern Syrian autonomous areas. The Turks and their puppets now control a 60-mile long and 25-mile wide sector along the Turkish—Syrian border.
This week a summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, on the side-lines of the G20 conference in China, failed to reach agreement on the Syrian crisis. The talks, which Obama called “candid” and “blunt”, were hampered by what the imperialist leader called “gaps of trust” between the two sides.
But Putin said some progress was made and that he had “grounds to believe” that the first results may be achieved “within the next few days.”
Last Sunday a group a British peers and religious leaders met the Syrian president and the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church during a visit to express solidarity with the Christian community and the refugees fleeing terrorism. A number of other British peers and religious figures wanted to join the delegation but they came under great pressure that prevented them from coming to Syria.
Headed by Rev Andrew Ashdown the delegation included: the Rev Michael Nazir-Ali the former Anglican Bishop of Rochester, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox and Lord Hylton.
The delegation expressed concern about British foreign policy on Syria and the media reports conveyed to the British people that told only one side of the story. They said they were happy to have visited Syria to meet its people and officials. And they called on the British public to listen to the Syrians because the crisis will not be solved without talking to the Syrian people living inside the country and to the legitimate government.
Meanwhile Noam Chomsky, the renowned American political activist and philosopher, has accused the United States and its Western allies of turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s support for terrorist groups. Speaking on Lebanese TV over the weekend, Chomsky said the Saudis were engaged in spreading extremism across the Middle East through religious sects and militias affiliated to the sectarian Wahhabi dogma of the feudal Saudi kingdom. He said the United States, Britain, and France were well aware that Saudi Arabia is using money to increase its leverage in the region.
The House of Saud is widely believed to be providing support for militias operating against the governments in Syria and Iraq, as well as for terrorists conducting sporadic attacks in Europe and the United States.
Chomsky also said that the US was against the establishment of democracy in Arab dictatorships in the Middle East. Although most Arabs in the region oppose US foreign policy, dissent against pro-American Arab regimes is quickly suppressed.
He also said that the Israeli—Palestinian conflict will continue as long as Washington continues to provide unlimited support for the Tel Aviv regime: “As long as occupation continues, things will take a turn for the worse, too. As long as the US invariably supports Israel, there will be no kind of pressure to change the policy of occupation.”