Morning Star.png Deadly Blame Game Picking fights with Russia is wasting time and costing lives John Haylett, The Morning Star, London, 5 February 2016 Major advances by Syrian armed forces and their allies broke the sieges on two Shi'ite towns north of Aleppo this week and, for good measure, severed rebel supply lines with Turkey. The blockades on Nubul and Zahra were lifted by the Syrian army and pro-government Popular Committees, assisted by Russian air support. United Nations under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs Stephen O'Brien warned immediately that encirclement of rebel-held areas of the city could lead to a humanitarian crisis, necessitating negotiations to allow aid through. "All sides in this conflict need to give this access. International law requires that this access is given," he said. O'Brien's concerns for the population under opposition - largely Islamic State (Isis) - control are understandable and efforts must be made to end their suffering. At the same time, it must be remembered that civilians in the west of the city, protected by government forces, have suffered armed attacks and also attempts to impose a blockade on them when jihadist forces were stronger militarily. Distribution of humanitarian aid must be closely monitored to prevent any repetition of jihadist forces taking control of supplies and selling food at extortionate prices to civilians. Western politicians have blamed the advances by the Assad government, supported by Russian air power, for UN envoy Staffan de Mistura's "temporary pause" of stuttering peace talks in Geneva. However, the Saudi Arabia-based anti-Assad delegation, known as the High Negotiations Committee, had already placed its own participation in doubt by attaching unsustainable conditions. Its delegation leader Riad Hajib had pledged to leave Geneva until Damascus agreed to halt bombing raids, allow aid into besieged rebel-held areas and release thousands of detainees. Bashar Ja'afari Syrian government team leader Bashar Ja'afari said that the opposition "had orders from its masters to ruin the talks." He identified the masters as "the Saudis, the Turks and the Qataris. They are the real handlers and the masters of the Riyadh group." So far so predictable, but prominent Nato states have trotted out a similar line to the jihadis. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the "brutal offensive by the Syrian regime with Russia's support to encircle and asphyxiate Aleppo and its hundreds of thousands of residents." He accused the Assad government and its supporters of not contributing in good faith to negotiations, "thus torpedoing peace efforts." His US counterpart John Kerry claimed that the government offensive "signalled that Syria intends to seek a military solution rather than a political one." This might imply that Washington has grounded its own warplanes and placed all its eggs in the Geneva negotiations basket, which is not true, as British Defence Minster Earl Howe confirmed on Wednesday in the House of Lords. His lordship exhibited that British ruling class cocksure grasp on comparative legality by asserting: "There is no question that Russia is actively targeting civilians and is almost certainly in breach of international humanitarian law in the process. That has to stop." He urged Moscow "to desist from indiscriminate bombing and to deploy precision weapons, as we are doing, and thereby conform to international humanitarian law," displaying a childlike faith that computer-guided missiles are immune to inflicting civilian casualties. But his real gripe with Russia, shared with Fabius and Kerry, is that the Putin regime is backing the wrong side. "Russia cannot continue to sit at the table as a sponsor of the political process and at the same time be bombing civilian areas of the very groups of people that, we believe, will form the backbone of the new Syria once Assad has left," he declared. Colonialist mentality of NATO This sentence repays further attention and analysis, since it encapsulates the colonialist mentality of the Nato powers. "We" have decided on the powers-that-will-be and "we" insist that Russia and, by inference, other countries do nothing to frustrate our plans. It mirrors the December 5 comments by Fabius on Syria's future leadership. "A united Syria implies a political transition. That does not mean that Bashar al-Assad must leave even before the transition, but there must be assurances for the future," he said, insisting that the view of former colonial powers should prevail over that of the Syrian people. It's as though Sir Mark Sykes and George Picot had never popped their clogs. In contrast, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: "The goal of the operation is to defeat the terrorist organisations Islamic State and Nusra Front. "I don't see any reason why the air campaign should be stopped as long the terrorists are not defeated." There is little likelihood of either Assad or Putin agreeing a unilateral ceasefire while their enemies on the ground remain active, as do the US, French and British air forces and the jihadi groups' key ally in Ankara President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan made a major miscalculation in November when he authorised the shooting down of a Russian Su-24 fighter jet on the Turkish-Syrian border. Putin not only responded with serious economic sanctions that have affected the Turkish economy badly but boosted Russia's military contribution to Syria. He sent more modern Su-34 and Su-35 fighters to the Russian base in Latakia - planes that are far superior to Turkey's US-supplied F-16s. S-400 Moscow deployed the sophisticated S-400 air defence surface-to-air missile system capable of destroying tactical and strategic aircraft as well as ballistic and cruise missiles, which caused Washington to rethink its air-support role to "moderate" rebels and to co-ordinate flights with the Russian military command. Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has been outspoken in his demands that Moscow "act responsibly" and "fully respect Nato airspace," in response to Ankara's repeated claims that Russian planes are infringing its borders. However, Washington has shown no desire to spark a confrontation with Moscow in the skies over Syria. Nonetheless, US officials have been engaged with the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian Democratic Forces, suggesting that the Abu Hajar airport, in the Rmelan area of northern Syria, have its runway extended from 700 metres to 1,300 metres. The Syrian Democratic Forces is an alliance of the YPG, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian and Turkmen militia forces set up to counter Isis in northern Syria. Its spokesman Talal Silo told Voice of America that the airbase had been used previously to carry agricultural products in the region and was now being expanded for humanitarian and, possibly, military use. "This does not mean it is a military base. We will use it to receive humanitarian and reconstruction aid," he stressed. Silo added that the base might indeed be used for military purposes by the Pentagon because "we are a strategic partner to the US." Syria's Kurds have also been given support by Moscow, both in terms of air support against Isis and in demands that they be not excluded from the Geneva talks. This was in stark opposition to Turkey's insistence that the YPG is a surrogate for Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and must be shunned. YPG advances along the Turkish border - even, against Ankara's wishes - to the west of the Euphrates have combined with the Syrian advance in north Aleppo to frustrate Turkish ambitions in northern Syria and the hopes of its jihadist allies. The longer the anti-Assad opposition, backed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, stalls over talks, the more it may discover that new facts on the ground have weakened its bargaining hand. From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-024b-The-Deadly-Blame-Game#.VrQZGLJ960 0> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-024b-The-Deadly-Blame-Game#.VrQZGLJ9600 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. 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