The Fragmentation of Syria

Deir Ez-Zor airstrikes 'mistakenly' work toward the fragmentation of Syria

Image from almasdar

September 19, 2016 - Fort Russ News -
- Christian Vanneste**  in Boulevard Voltaire, - Translated by Tom Winter -

An event of unusual gravity just happened in Deir ez-Zor in Syria. This city is located northeast of the country near Iraq, in the desert zone held by the Islamic State which controls most of it along the Euphrates.The airfield and neighborhoods that surround it form an enclave defended by the Syrian army. 

The US Air Force has bombed the area killing 60 to 80 loyalist soldiers. Russia requested a meeting of the UN Security Council. The US military pleads "mistake." Their embarrassed explanations are very surprising. There were four strikes on target. The number of victims leaves little doubt about the power of the attack, which doubtless surprised the soldiers encircled by the jihadists.

Certainly, Americans, who have always preferred using their  firepower -- overwhelming but sometimes approximate -- rather than risk the lives of their fighters, regularly commit blunders. But today's means of observation and intelligence, as well as the possibility of intervening in a very precise way with drones and missiles, as when they eliminate Islamic leaders, for example, arouse suspicions about a bombardment "by mistake" in a perimeter held since the beginning of the rebellion by the legal army.

The pretext is an advance by the terrorists. One wonders why the coalition hostile to President Assad would come to the aid of his troops while the US still refuses to coordinate their military actions with Russia, as Moscow has proposed.

The clearest result of this murderous attack, on the contrary, is providing powerful support for Daech to end the resistance of the Syrian army. Damascus controls most of the useful Syrian territory, along the Lebanese border and the sea, with the majority of the population, including refugees who came in to live in peace and security.

Government enclaves remained inside the areas held by the Kurds, Hasaka, and Qamishli, and by the Islamic State, Deir ez-Zor. The Kurds expelled government forces from Hasaka in August. This operation and the progress of Daech, restrained for the moment, tend to reinforce the fragmentation of Syria. The penetration of the Turkish army alongside rebels called "moderates" and supported by US military advisers, north of Aleppo, also pursues this goal.

A buffer zone created between Turkey and Kurdish sectors will be called "liberated" by the so-called "Free Syrian Army" -- the rebels reputedly reputable.

In this mosaic outcome of Washington's maneuvers, nothing is clear. What are the terrorist factions? And what are the "moderate" groups? Certainly, the Islamic state is declared enemy No. 1, but we would have liked Coalition strikes to have caused ISIS as many losses as those resulting from this aggression against the Syrian armed forces.

Moreover, reports of Westerners with Fatah al-Sham, alias Al-Nosra, alias Al-Qaeda, which Fabius dared to say were "doing a good job" are very fluid. As for the all the combattant cells (often consisting of foreign mercenaries, that the US and its allies are more or less helping, including the alleged 'Free Syrian Army') they also contribute to the fragmentation of the country.
____________________________________
** Christian Vanneste is an MP of the Rassemblement pour la France (Rally for France) party