Russian Ambassador (click here) in Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin, in Beirut, Lebanon, last year. In a television interview Zasypkin warned that Russia would "shoot down" any American missiles launched at Syria.
When any proxy war starts to smell like genocide, it is time for all those doing the killing or backing the killers to step back and reassess.
That's right, when a civil war and it's reasons for warring changes to genocide, they are no longer soldiers, but, killers.
Russia doesn't seem to be in the mood to admit it is backing a killer in Assad. I don't doubt there are places where Daesh still has sympathetic forces, but, for the most part they are defeated.
The reality in Syria as in Iraq, is the strong lines of demarcation based in ethnic and/or religious differences. While the West sees old arbitrary lines in the sand that worked for 'the colonies' the reality of the people and their place on the globe is different. War has brought a change in the concentrations of people in any particular area in the Middle East, so the West and Russia need to respect that, but, genocide is out of the question.
Any war has to end, therefore, there is something called Peace that must be resolved and accepted. War is not a matter of returning the land to it's old masters and/or regimes, but, accepting the outcomes and living with it. War rearranges things and in the case of the Middle East that rearrangement is not so much resources and wealth, but, people and their ability to live on the land and worship as they will.
It is time for the United Nations to realize the very long and fatal wars that have occurred in Iraq and Syria. It needs to begin to heal the wounds and settle a peace where by Hezbollah does not have to live in Lebanon to assure the Alawites their place along the coast. There needs to be reassurances to the Kurds by Turkey as well that is has to accept it's outcome without a new paranoid war by Erdogan.
I think the Middle East has seen enough killing in the past two decades to last the next hundred years. It was 2001 when the USA was attacked, went to Afghanistan to end the al Qaeda regime and then wrongly launched a highly destabilizing war into Iraq. Any excuse for war is not a good excuse. I would think all those in leadership then and now have learned at least that much.
If the USA is going to launch smart bombs into Syria it will be to end the ability by Assad for launching his chemical weapons and randomly killing innocent people. That level of disinterest in the causalities spells genocide to me and all too clearly. There is a reason why chemical and biological weapons were OUTLAWED. They are indiscriminate and kill innocent people with abandon.
When battles are fought with bullets, foot soldiers and other conventional means of war, there is a human mind behind 'the aim' and the innocent civilians are not suppose to be a target. Civilians, as a rule, are unarmed and trying to survive the ruthlessness of war.
The killing Assad is carrying out is indiscriminate and attacks the innocent. That is not legal warfare.
So, if Russia cannot back those that want to end the killing of innocent people in Syria and would rather back a brutal killer, those are limits most major countries recognize as dangerous, not ruthless.
President Putin needs to step back from backing Assad. Assad has gone a step to far in eliminating so called "rebels." Assad's measures are not ruthless, they are desperate and dangerous.
Every country is different and this is not North Korea. Every battlefield is different and this one is appearing to be more like genocide, then victory.
Syrian Civil War zones of control. Assad forces (red), ISIS (black), SDF (yellow), Free Syrian Army (green) March 28, 2018
Many Americans (click here) might be surprised to learn that the US has boots on the ground in Syria. They are there as “military advisors,” as trainers, forward air observers, and embedded special forces.
America’s involvement began in 2014 with airstrikes against Deash (ISIS). The US had no ground forces in Syria back then. Greater emphasis was given to Daesh’s advances in Iraq.
Beginning in late 2016 Iraq was put on the back burner in favor of Syria. Iraq was pushing back Daesh successfully, but American efforts in Syria weren’t matching up.
This is when the US increased their assistance to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). With help from the Peshmerga (Iraqi Kurdish Militia), the SDF became a major player in the Syrian conflict.
Events in Syria moved fast in 2017 with the inevitable doom of Daesh. America had to secure their geopolitical position in the Middle East. During this time the official number of US troops in Syria was 503....
