Putin is breaking the ISIS supply line

Washington is panicking that Putin is breaking the ISIS supply line

Michael Lehner, Russia Insider

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 01:22 UTC

http://www.sott.net/article/308503-Washington-is-panicking-that-Putin-is-breaking-the-ISIS-supply-line

© Telegraph

ISIS is integral to the West's strategy for toppling Assad 

For years, the US-directed NATO alliance has made sure that convoys full of food, weapons, and other goods have gotten to the terrorist groups IS and al-Qaida via the Syrian-Turkish border. Russian air strikes have massively impeded this service, if not brought it to a standstill.

Russian airstrikes hit one of these convoys in the northwest Syrian town of Azaz, and the Turkish-based newspaper Daily Sabah is reporting the following:

At least seven people died, 10 got injured after an apparent airstrike, reportedly by Russian jets, targeted an aid convoy in northwestern Syrian town of Azaz near a border crossing with Turkey on Wednesday.

Strangely enough, this incident wasn't picked up by the Western high-performance press. This is rather atypical considering both sides are currently engaged in a propaganda war. It almost seems like the USA/NATO either (a), don't want to draw attention to the location of this remaining supply line, or (b), it's not an aid convoy, but a supply truck for IS.

The Daily Sabah report continues:

Speaking to Daily Sabah, Serkan Nergis from the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said that the targeted area is located some 5 kilometers southwest of the Öncüpınar Border Crossing. Nergis said that IHH has a civil defense unit in Azaz and they helped locals to extinguish the trucks. Trucks were probably carrying aid supplies or commercial materials, Nergis added.

Regardless of what kind of goods were transported, this confirms that the terrorists in the area near the Oncupinar Border Crossing are in charge. This is where the supply line from Turkey to IS can be found. Already in November of 2014, the Oncupinar Border Crossing was mentioned in an article by Deutsche Welle (DW), that described a scene of hundreds of trucks waiting at the border to get into IS territory. Probably with Ankara's approval. The DW article from 2014 reads as follows:

Every day, trucks laden with food, clothing, and other supplies cross the border from Turkey to Syria. It is unclear who is picking up the goods. The haulers believe most of the cargo is going to the "Islamic State" militia. Oil, weapons, and soldiers are also being smuggled over the border, and Kurdish volunteers are now patrolling the area in a bid to stem the supplies.

Already last year one would have had to ask the legitimate question: if the plan was to destroy IS, why didn't the US just bomb the supply route instead of leading operations inside Syria? (because it was, de facto, never the plan to destroy IS.) Especially if (a), these attacks were considered to be less dangerous and (b), logistics for the attacks were right there in the area (Turkish airbase).

Asking the more obvious questions would be enough to place a crown on the lying politics of the West:

• Why weren't these convoys stopped while they were still in Turkish territory?
• Why wasn't the driver arrested and detained in Turkey, and "the sources for these supplies" traced back to their origins?

Because they just didn't want to?

When answering these questions, it has to be obvious to everyone - even to those who don't give it much thought - that there's real intent behind this, and that USA/NATO purposefully provided IS with supplies. Period. 

Here's where Russia comes in. Every country that wants to fight IS will do so on the supply lines. This has been an employed military strategy for centuries. Russia's bombing of supply trucks near the border (so that the fewest possible goods can be unloaded and redistributed through other means) is therefore logical, because if the supplies make it over one of the controlled border crossings, they will end up in the hands of terrorists (whichever target area that may be).

This development doesn't please the strategists in Washington one bit and is probably the reason for the shoot-down of the Russian fighter jet. While Syrian and Kurdish forces control the border east of the Euphrates, the Afrin-Jarabulus corridor is the last remaining pathway for supplies to the IS. The Syrian army has also begun a campaign (starting from Aleppo) and has advanced eastwards. 

Eventually they will start to swing towards the Syrian-Turkish border at Jarabulus. More or less at the same time the Syrian army began their campaign, Russia began bombing in the area around Afrin, Ad Dana, and Azaz to cut off the supply route.

The interaction between Russian air raids and the Syrian army offensive on the ground have the potential to get rid of IS. This is an unparalleled nightmare for the planners in Washington. Closing this supply corridor would mean the complete defeat of the terrorists from IS, al-Nusra and Co. and it would mean the restoration of Syrian sovereignty and the government structures in this area. This could explain the sudden "activity" of the West in sending special forces to Syria, and as already mentioned, the reason for the shoot-down of the fighter jet.

In summing it all up, it also becomes evident that the Syrian "civil war" never really was one. Rather, the terrorists were supported by the West from the very beginning, for the purpose of overthrowing Assad's government (as I've written in previous articles). When faced with a terrorist defeat, the sponsors will throw all their political weight behind the terrorists, no matter what it costs.

Ultimately, this is proof that the hegemonic ambitions of the US / the West in this region were the reason behind the creation of IS. It was never a fight against IS. It was the targeted, planned, intentional creation of Islamic extremism, in the form of the Islamic State.


Originally Appeared at NEOPresse. Translated from the German by Susan Neumann