Syrians see U.S. bombing as cover for Assad overthrow

WASHINGTON – An increasing number of Syrians believe U.S. and coalition bombing of ISIS locations inside Syria is primarily an attempt to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia also has suggested the bombings are an effort to topple Assad under the guise of fighting terrorism.

“Another night of heavy shelling in Sham (Syria),” one source in Damascus, Syria, told WND. “Friends say the government does not report most of them, but many think the Raqqa operation by the USA is aimed equally at the regime.”

Raqqa, the ISIS provisional capital in Syria, was heavily bombed in recent days by coalition aircraft, led by the U.S., with the varying participation of aircraft from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Moscow has complained that the issue of the bombing should have gone before the United Nations Security Council.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed to the precedent of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1970 of Feb. 26, 2011, which imposed a “no-fly” zone over Libya.

What was first designed to be a humanitarian effort in Libya resulted in the U.S. and participating countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization using that resolution as a basis to carry out airstrikes that led to the fall of the 40-year-old regime of Muammar Gadhafi.

Lavrov said that what followed was “unlimited” chaos.

“Moscow has clearly learned its lesson from this Libyan scenario and will not accept its recurrence,” said Lebanon-based Middle East expert Jean Aziz.

Long-term goal?

While the declared immediate purpose of the U.S.-led bombing campaign is to go after ISIS strongholds in Syria and Iraq, concerns are being raised over the long-term goals of the bombing and what comes later. ISIS has shifted its own tactics since the bombing began to meld more into the local population.

Concerns among Syrians on the ground and in Moscow appear to revolve around comments President Obama has made offering to train and equip more “moderate” jihadist fighters.

Specifically, Obama has referred to the Sunni Free Syrian Army, which recently announced it had signed a non-aggression pact with ISIS, since its first priority is to topple the Shiite-Alawite Assad regime.

FSA fighters would be among some 5,000 “vetted” Islamic fighters who would undergo training for a year in Saudi Arabia, which offered a base for that purpose.

The approach was approved by Congress before it adjourned for the upcoming November elections, and Obama signed it into law.

FSA is the “moderate” group that turned over to ISIS two U.S. embedded journalists – James Foley and Steven Sotloff – after they had written stories critical of FSA. Sources say FSA sold each journalist for up to $50,000.

Collateral damage

Sources tell WND the recent bombings of ISIS positions has caused “collateral damage” to local civilians, making the tactic increasingly unpopular, which could work to the advantage of ISIS.

ISIS also is winning favor by bringing some degree of order, opening businesses and delivering much-needed social services to the local population, including electricity and running water.

ISIS, the sources say, will not tolerate corruption. They cite examples of episodes in which corruption, including theft, was uncovered, resulting in the summary execution of the alleged perpetrators.

Middle East expert Edward Dark has pointed out that the Syrians had waited for similar benefits from the Syrian opposition, but they never delivered.

“The failure of these groups to make substantial gains against the regime or the jihadists despite a large investment in arms, funds and training begs the question of what has now changed,” Dark said. “If they were unreliable then, what makes them a viable option now?

“Not only were some of them merely unreliable, but they also openly collaborated and allied with al-Qaida-linked groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, or through sheer incompetence and corruption allowed Western-supplied weapons and equipment to fall into the hands of extremists,” Dark said.

“Indeed, the stigma of corruption and ineptitude permeates most of the Syrian rebel factions designated as ‘moderates,’ and some have even been involved outright in serious war crimes,” he said. “This makes them not only an unreliable ally on the ground, but also a potentially very dangerous one.”

Dark said that the rise and popularity of ISIS stems more from the failings of the Syrian opposition and the fractious rebel factions than from ISIS.

“For almost three years,” Dark said, “the opposition and the local rebels had failed to provide any semblance of civil administration or public services to the vast areas they controlled. This lawless chaos added to the people’s misery, already exacerbated by the horrors of war.

“In the end,” he said, “they rallied around the only group that managed to give them what they wanted – the Islamic State. But now, it seems a new fear is rising among the people, the specter of war against ISIS, a war they feel threatens not only their lives but also their livelihoods and the tenuous normality they’ve grown accustomed to.”

Regional spillover

The Syrians on the ground and the Russians aren’t the only ones concerned about where the U.S.-led airstrikes against ISIS in Syria are leading.

Lebanese officials in recent days similarly have expressed concerns about the long-term impact of the bombing.

Just as ISIS is a threat to Syria and Iraq, it also is threatening Lebanon, where ISIS cells in recent days in the northern city of Arsal have had firefights with the Lebanese army. A number of soldiers have been taken captive, and in at least two instances, captives have been beheaded.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil had told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the Sep. 15-16 Paris Conference on ISIS among U.S. allies of concerns of a spillover effect should the Syrian regime be toppled. He reportedly said the Syrian crisis then would affect the entire region.

Sources say it was the Lebanese delegation that had passed a message from Iran to the U.S. delegation led by Kerry regarding airstrikes on ISIS and “the potential margins of this action that would facilitate certain understandings on the ground between Washington and Tehran.”

There has been criticism that U.S. officials are in contact with Iran. The concern is that in exchange for Iran’s cooperation to defeat ISIS, the U.S. would concede to more demands by Iran over its nuclear development program.

Washington, however, appears concerned with the optics of being seen collaborating or cooperating with either the governments of Syria or Iran.

Credit to WND


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/syrians-see-u-s-bombing-as-cover-for-assad-overthrow/#z83G07lSll8SS7qA.99