Re: [Marxism] U.S. Focus on ISIS Frees Syria to Battle Rebels

[Clay Claiborne via Marxism]

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http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-role-of-us-imperialism-in-syria-and.html

*Tuesday 23 September 2014* On the day the US strikes started, this is what
Assad's air force did:
[1]:  Aleppo
Province: Helicopters dropped 2 barrel bombs onto areas near al Imam al
Nawawi mosque in the neighborhood of Tariq al Bab leading to the injury of
some people. Two other barrels were dropped onto the neighborhoods of
Masaken Hanano and Jabal Badro in the east of Aleppo.

[2]:  Idleb
Province: Some surface-to-surface missiles struck areas in the city of Khan
Sheikhon followed by the dropping of barrel bombs onto the city killing a
man, his daughter and a woman while others were injured. Helicopters
dropped barrel bombs onto areas in the town of Saraqeb with no information
about casualties.

[3]:  Helicopters
dropped 5 barrel bombs onto areas in the west of Khan al Shih Camp and 5
barrels onto places in Bet Sayer in the Western Ghouta,  casualties were
reported in Bet Sayer.

[4]:  Idleb
Province: Warplanes carried out a raid on the town of Ma’er Zayta in the
southern countryside of Idleb.

[5]:  Warplanes
carried out a raid on al Dokhaneyyi area and 9 raids on the Wastelands of
al Qalamun.

[6]:  Idleb
Province: Warplanes carried out 3 raids on areas in the town of Khan al
Sobol, 2 raids on the town of Madaya in the southern countryside, a raid on
the outskirts of al Hbet town, a raid on the southern outskirts of Ma’arret
al Nu’man, a raid on the town of al Rkaya and a raid on the town of Deir
Sonbol leading to the killing of 2 children from the same family in Khan al
Sobol. They also attacked areas in the town of al Taman’a.

[7]:  Daraa
Province: Warplanes carried out a raid on an area in the town of Kafar
Nasej.

*Wednesday 24 September 2014*
[8]:  Helicopters
dropped barrel bombs onto areas in Handarat Camp. Two barrel bombs dropped
near the Central Prison of Aleppo. A woman died while other were injured
due to air raids launched on the town of Qbasin near the city of al Bab.

Most telling about the unity that has developed between the US air force
and Assad's is that in one case the SOHR had to report:
 *"It is unknown
till the moment whether the aircrafts that attacked the area are affiliated
to the Syrian regime or to the International-Arab Coalition." *

[9]:  Deir Ezzor
Province: Warplanes attacked areas in the village of al Shola with no
information about casualties. They also carried out a raid in the vicinity
of Deir Ezzor airbase.

[10]: 
Helicopters dropped 7 barrel bombs onto the city of al Rastan with no
information about casualties.

[11]: 
Helicopters dropped 2 barrel bombs onto areas in the town of Allatamneh.

[12]: 
Helicopters dropped 4 explosive barrels on al-Zabdani, no reports of losses.

*Thursday 25 September 2014*
[13]:  8
civilians ( 3 children and a woman ), killed by aerial bombardment on Duma,
a man killed by regime's bombardment on Duma, a woman killed by air strikes
on Arbin, and a man from al-Abada town.

Apparently, in the first days of US air strikes, Assad didn't entirely
trust the US promise that he could carry on with his usual routine. The
SOHR reported: *
"The provinces of Deir Ezzor, al Raqqa, al Hasaka, Homs, Aleppo and Idleb
have witnessed a significant reduction in the regime’s aerial bombardment,
where the rate of strikes has declined since the beginning of the
International- Arab Coalition aerial strikes 2 days ago. There have been
only few sorties during the last two days while aerial bombardment stopped
completely in some provinces."* That changed as his confidence built that
the US was not going to interfere with his carnage.

*Friday 26 September 2014*
[14]:  Homs
Province: Helicopters dropped 4 barrel bombs onto the city of al Rastan
causing the death of 7 people while others were injured.

[15]: 

[Marxism] U.S. Focus on ISIS Frees Syria to Battle Rebels

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, Oct. 9 2014
U.S. Focus on ISIS Frees Syria to Battle Rebels
By ANNE BARNARD and ERIC SCHMITT

BEIRUT, Lebanon — As American warplanes cross the Syrian sky dropping 
bombs on Islamic State militants, another set of air raids has sown 
destruction across the country, as the Syrian government returns with 
new intensity to its longstanding and systematic attacks on rebellious 
towns and neighborhoods.


On Saturday, a mushroom cloud towered over the town of Saraqeb in the 
northern province of Idlib, after a ground-shaking government bombing 
that residents said killed two civilians and wounded six.


On Sept. 26, government warplanes struck the nearby town of Bdama, 
injuring 11 people, damaging a school and enraging residents who 
initially assumed the planes were American.


And in the northern province of Aleppo, army helicopters have been 
dropping crude barrel bombs packed with explosives on a near-daily 
basis, sending residents to dig the dead and wounded from the rubble 
with their bare hands. Dozens have died in such bombings since the 
American-led air campaign began.


Such attacks — from airspace that American warplanes now enter at will — 
have fueled anger at the United States among opponents of President 
Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who wonder why the Americans are leading the 
fight against the Islamic State but give free hand to a dictator whose 
fight to remain in power has left as many as 200,000 of his own people dead.


The United States’ focus on the Islamic State has given cover to Syrian 
forces, they say. That has freed Mr. Assad’s military from worrying 
about checking the militant group’s advances and allowed them to 
continue to focus attacks on the greater political threat — less extreme 
Syrian-based insurgent groups bent on ousting Mr. Assad and the 
communities where they hold sway.


The Syrian government had long focused its attacks on insurgents other 
than the Islamic State, a group that had seemed more interested in 
establishing Islamic rule in its territories than in ousting Mr. Assad. 
But after the group overran parts of Iraq and carried out a series of 
lightning routs of Syrian Army bases, terrifying many government 
supporters, Syrian warplanes began attacking it with more intensity in 
its eastern strongholds.


Since the American-led campaign began about two weeks ago, however, the 
need for Syrian forces to check the Islamic State has ebbed, and some 
insurgents who oppose the militant group say the government attacks on 
them have intensified.


A United States official said there were indications that since the 
American campaign started, Syrian fighter jets and helicopters had 
increased strikes somewhat in the core territories of non-Islamic State 
insurgents, such as Idlib, Aleppo and the Damascus suburbs.


“It would be silly for them not to take advantage of the U.S. doing 
airstrikes,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to 
discuss confidential intelligence reports. “They’ve focused in the west 
and left off the east, where we are operating. Essentially, we’ve 
allowed them to perform an economy of force. They don’t have to be 
focused all over the country, just on those who threaten their 
population centers.”


That dynamic is at the heart of Washington’s impasse with President 
Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who is demanding that President Obama 
increase efforts to oust Mr. Assad before Turkey takes tougher action 
against the Islamic State.


The attacks by the Syrian government are creating other political 
problems for the United States. With both air forces in the sky, attacks 
by the Syrian government can be mistaken for American ones, including 
raids that kill civilians.


Mistrust of the United States is deepening among Syrian opponents of the 
government, including insurgents whom Mr. Obama hopes to train as a 
ground force against Islamic State militants.


“Syria is divided between Assad and the coalition,” said Suhail, a 
fighter with the Free Syrian Army, the loose-knit group from whose ranks 
the United States is vetting potential allies. “The Syrian citizen is 
paying the price. The coalition took some of the burden from the regime.”


Some Syrians go further, saying that the simultaneous bombings are 
evidence that the United States is covertly coordinating with the Syrian 
government. Mr. Obama has publicly ruled out such coordination, saying 
Mr. Assad lost his legitimacy after using force against peaceful 
protesters and carrying out indiscriminate bombings.


“From a military perspective — there’s no communication or coordination 
with the Assad regime,” said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press 
secretary, adding that American strikes were focused in “largely 
ungoverned spaces that he