Britain supports al-Nusra

Peter Oborne: ‘There’s quite a lot of evidence that Britain supports al-Nusra.’

Al Masdar News,

24 February, 2016

Aleppo is now nearing a critical point and the Syrian Arab Army is closing in on a full liberation of the city. What is hardly reported, however, is how the people of Aleppo see this, and also how they see the terrorist occupation that has befallen Aleppo for the past 3 years. There has been instance after instance uncovering the West’s tacit support of terrorism in Syria, both implicit and very explicitly, and Peter Oborne weighs in with his experience visiting Aleppo. 

“Is Britain on the side of the good guys? Well, it’s a very complicated war as we all know.” Oborne says that the people of west Aleppo kept asking “Why is Britain on the side of the terrorists?” 

He gives a notable example. The siege of Idlib, a Jabhat al-Nusra and Free Syrian Army stronghold, he says, has been heavily supported by the British government. He noted that Aleppo has the general sense of being an inclusive society, that it is a diverse city, and that the general public has viewed the invasion of jihadi groups into Aleppo as a terrorist occupation. They are not Ba’athists, as he says, they are people that are not supportive of radical Islam. 
This is, of course, not the narrative being reported in the mainstream media. Now, to Oborne’s credit, he is not a fledgling Assad apologist, but he does concede to the point that the mainstream media ha not been doing a very good job on its coverage. 

Mr. Oborne says “I talked for instance to a man who said that he had been captured by the Free Syrian Army,” and he elaborates that the man was attacked and harassed by the Free Syrian Army for not joining their ranks. This is the very same group that the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has been pledging support to for quite some time, as well as other leaders in the West who have been promising the same support. The myth of moderate groups in Aleppo has been heavily contended in media circles, but testimony by the people of Aleppo discredits any entertainment of this mythology relating to the ‘moderate rebels.’ 

Oborne says that Russia has been playing a crucial role in overturning rebel entrenchment in Aleppo and he compared the battle for the city to the Battle of Stalingrad, where suddenly the tides are turning. He said this was due in large part to cutting off the supply line from Aleppo to Turkey. Mr. Oborne has his reservations about how these strikes are being conducted and their effects on civilians.