Has the situation really changed for Syria? [Annotated]
Rick Staggenborg, Links for the Wildly Left
HUGE news on Syria!
While this is definitely good news in any event, it raises interesting questions. A few that come to mind are:
1) Has there been a real shift in policy or is the US simply distancing itself from the Saudi-backed terrorists as US citizens increasingly realize that those who the US military is allegedly fighting a worldwide war of terror to stop are actually CIA mercenaries?
2) If the US is abandoning this project because it has concluded that it cannot control the flow of arms (how brilliant!), has the corporatocracy really decided that it is going to let Saudi Arabia and Israel go it alone in continuing to destabilize the region?
3) If so, is the corporatocracy splitting between those who will defend Israeli hegemony and imperialist expansion at any cost and those who recognize they are setting up conditions for WWIII, which could be a virtual Armageddon?
If you are not already doing everything you can to let your government know you want it to help stop the madness in the Mideast, please get busy doing so or prepare to tuck your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.
Syria: US and UK suspend aid after Islamist fighters seize weapons stores
The US and Britain have suspended all non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels after Islamist fighters seized control of headquarters and stores belonging to western-backed opposition forces.
The sudden decision highlights the hazards of backing rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad at a time when extremist groups are in the ascendant.
The US embassy in Ankara said on Wednesday it had suspended “all non-lethal assistance” into northern Syria after members of the newly formed Islamic Front took over premises belonging to the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council, which is aligned to the anti-Assad opposition National Coalition.
Louay Meqdad, a spokesman for the FSA, urged “our friends” to reconsider the decision. Washington and London have supplied communications equipment, vehicles, body armour, medical supplies, cash and food to rebels fighting under the authority of the FSA. Arms are generally paid for and supplied by the Gulf states.
The Islamic Front, which comprises six rebel brigades, seized warehouses reportedly containing dozens of anti-aircraft weapons and anti-tank rockets at the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border last weekend. The group is backed by Saudi Arabia.
a UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are currently investigating events that took place over the weekend. While that investigation is under way, we will not be making any deliveries of equipment to the SMC. We intend to resume support as soon as we and the SMC are satisfied the conditions on the ground allow the SMC to take safe delivery of equipment provided.”
The US said there had been no change in its policy of providing non-lethal support to the moderate opposition.
In the House of Commons, David Cameron warned against the idea that the entire Syrian opposition was extremist and stressed the need to continue working with its moderate members. He said Britain should remain “fully engaged” in all efforts to end the civil war. “We must not allow this argument to develop that the only opposition in Syria is an extremist opposition,” he said.
The opposition is under heavy pressure to attend a peace conference on Syria in Geneva in the third week of January. Divisions in the rebel camp have weakened their efforts to bring down Assad. The conflict began with peaceful protests in Deraa in March 2011 and has descended into outright civil war that is estimated to have killed more than 126,000 people from both sides.
Wednesday’s announcements do not affect humanitarian support because that is distributed through aid groups and the United Nations. The first UN relief airlift to Syria from neighbouring Iraq will deliver food and winter supplies to the mostly Kurdish north-east over the next 10 days.
Thirteen international news organisations including the Guardian have written to Syrian rebel groups urging them to desist from kidnapping journalists and asking for the release of an estimated 30 who are believed to be held hostage.
Addressed to “the leadership of the armed opposition in Syria,” the letteris signed by news agencies, leading US newspapers, the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and the Economist. It is being emailed to the FSA and sent via social media to the leaders of other groups including the Islamic Front.
It was revealed on Tuesday that two Spanish journalists – Javier Espinosa, an El Mundo reporter, and Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, a freelance photographer – are being held in Syria. They are thought to be in the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in north-eastern Raqqa province. Another group with links to al-Qaida, Jabhat al-Nusra, has abducted other journalists.