Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 13/Dec 09:55

Syria’s Yankee jihad

THE EDITOR: It is curious that while the Newsday editorial of December 10, "Syria’s new chapter," correctly commented that the West, as well as many others, recognised the rebel forces which overthrew the Syrian government as terrorists, yet it chose not to mention that it was the very West, in addition to Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which armed and financed the terrorists. They dance with terrorists, while yet denouncing terrorism. The editorial chose to ignore what should have been evident, that it was the West which gave the green light for the attack on Syria to commence during the window of opportunity which still existed before president-elect Donald Trump assumes power in the US. Indeed, President Joe Biden has publicly claimed credit for the fall of the Syrian regime. Israel has also done the same, and Turkey cannot hide her joy. The editorial also chose to ignore the bigger picture that the Western plan for the attack on Syria was scripted to provoke Russia and Iran to intervene in the fighting in order to save their Syrian ally. Such an intervention would have effectively taken the noose of imminent defeat from Ukraine’s throat. Both Russia and Iran wisely refused to take the bait, and that was the deciding factor in Bashar al-Assad’s sensible decision to hand over power peacefully and depart Damascus. Trump could not hide his frustration that the bait was not taken, and as a consequence the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine still remain a nightmare for the West. Syria has not been lost to the forces which resist oppression in Israel, and in the world. Rather, it is most likely that Syria will eventually become another Libya with a civil war that would more clearly define the actors than has hitherto been possible. The departure of an Alawite regime which ruled over Syria with no credentials in Islam has resulted in greater clarity for the role of Islam in the struggle against oppression. The Yankee jihad has succeeded, as planned, in toppling the Assad regime, even though it cannot save Ukraine from the fate which awaits it when Trump replaces Biden. But the consequence of the success of the Yankee jihad is that Syria’s capacity to offer military resistance to Israel is now being quickly destroyed – publicly so – by Israel; and demands for respect for Syria’s territorial integrity amount now to no more than whistling in the wind. The lesson for TT is that local clients of the West are similarly being used and exploited to advance Western interests, particularly with respect to our relations with our dear neighbour in Venezuela. Such local clients pose a grave threat to TT’s freedom and capacity to maintain fraternal relations with a Venezuela which is courageously defying Western oppression. Such local clients of the West must be denounced and rejected. IMRAN N HOSEIN via e-mail The post Syria’s Yankee jihad appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.