SYRIA NEEDS HELP
سوريا تحتاج مساعدة
THE CRISIS
9.3 million people considered food insecure
Devastating forest fires destroy homes and crops
Unequipped to fight COVID-19
80% of Syrians live below the poverty line after 9+ years of war
Currency inflated by 314% since 2011
More than 11 million require humanitarian assistance
Up to 70% of the health workforce has left the country
Syria can not rebuild or recover economically due to unilateral sanctions placed by the U.S. and EU

Washington must end its war against the Syrian people
Bradley Blankenship
Share 

A displaced Syrian child poses for a photograph in a flooded camp near Dayr Ballut, Aleppo province, Syria, December 28, 2018. /Xinhua
Editor's note: Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter. The article reflects the author's opinions, not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Syrian war is drawing near its end, yet the nation still suffers as a new round of sanctions imposed by the United States sends the Syrian economy into more turmoil than nearly a decade of war. The U.S. claims that these latest sanctions previously penned at the end of 2019 will target those who support "the Assad regime's military efforts", but inevitably the Syrian people have suffered the most in what the Syrian Foreign Ministry accurately called "economic terrorism."

The U.S. must accept its failure in toppling the government of President Bashar al-Assad, end its war against the Syrian people and respect international law.

The United States has long had an interest in toppling an independent Syria. Even as far back as 1949, the U.S. overthrew Syria's democratic government in a coup, a fact later admitted by former CIA agent Miles Copeland in a BBC interview from 1967.

Clandestine activity against the Arab nation continued through the latter half of the 20th century and finally came to a head during the Bush-Obama years. In 2006, American diplomat William Roebuck outlined the weaknesses of the Syrian government later to be exploited by the Obama administration when the Arab Spring came to Syria in 2011:

"We believe Bashar's weaknesses are in how he chooses to react to looming issues, both perceived and real, such as a the conflict between economic reform steps (however limited) and entrenched, corrupt forces, the Kurdish question, and the potential threat to the regime from the increasing presence of transiting Islamist extremists."

After infiltrating and radicalizing what was originally a legitimate movement in the country, the U.S. and its allies plunged the nation into a gruesome war lasting nearly a decade.

Their plan of ousting Assad now failed given the near-full victory of the Syrian Arab Army, the U.S. has shifted its tactics now to demoralize the Syrian people by launching a new round of extraordinarily tough sanctions, the so-called Caesar Act, set to go into effect on June 17.

This new sanction is particularly aggressive in that it not only targets Syrian officials and entities, but also foreign entities doing business with Syria. The anticipated effects of the sanctions have already destroyed the economy with the Syrian pound hitting a record low on the black market on June 6 – trading at under a third of its official value at over 2,300 pounds per U.S. dollar. Before the conflict began in March of 2011, the dollar was worth 47 pounds.

Reports are coming out that runaway inflation has created scarcities of basic necessities – all of this in the midst of a global pandemic that Syria's decimated medical infrastructure, formerly one of the most robust in the Middle East, already cannot withstand. Journalist Asser Khattab said that "Syria's pharmaceutical industry is in crisis, with medicines disappearing, pharmacies closed and factories at risk of shutting down."

At the same time, it's likely that the sanctions will create generalized problems well past the pandemic as more than half of the population faces food insecurity due to the rapidly inflating price of basic foods.

A boy watches Christmas decorations on a cable car at a shopping center in Los Angeles, U.S., December 24, 2018. /Xinhua
The country's middle class has been destroyed and it is estimated that over 80 percent of the country's population was living in poverty even before the pandemic hit. However, things are only becoming worse as the situation unfolds.

"We are seeing children going to bed hungry now, which we did not see before," said Imran Riza, the top UN official stationed in Damascus. "The reality now is simply that people can't afford food."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry responded to these sanctions, rightly calling them a "flagrant violation to the most simple human rights and international laws." The ministry also pointed out that while the rest of the world unites to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic – an issue of paramount importance to humanity – the United States "continues the policy of hegemony and arrogance on the international arena."

Indeed, since the beginning of Syria's brutal war, Syrian blood has been sacrificed simply for American geopolitical interests. Joseph Massad, Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, lamented in 2011 in an op-ed for Al-Jazeera at the very start of the war that the Syrian people were being "sacrificed at the altar of U.S. imperialism."

"It was the United States that destroyed Syrian democracy in 1949 when the CIA sponsored the first coup d'état in the country ending democratic rule. It is again the United States that has destroyed the possibility of a democratic outcome of the current popular uprising. My deep condolences to the Syrian people," he wrote.

These actions by the United States against Syria were and continue to be horrifyingly immoral, but they're not unique. They're part of a pathological trend from Washington of not only continuing, but increasing, criminal sanctions against governments targeted for regime change even in the middle of a global pandemic.

Washington's violations of international law and transgressions against basic human decency, both at home and abroad, must be checked by the international community.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at [email protected].)

THE CAESAR ACT: THE LATEST WESTERN ATTACK ON SYRIA DIDN'T DROP FROM A PLANE
JUNE 19TH, 2020
By EVA BARTLETT
Talib Mu'alla served as a soldier in the Syrian Arab Army before he was wounded in Aleppo in 2014. As he described the multiple shots he took to his body, I thought it remarkable that he survived.

"A shot (bullet) to my chest, a shot to my stomach, three shots in my spine. My chest, stomach, and intestines ruptured, and I lost a kidney. I was also shot in the right side of my face," he recounted. "I fell into a coma for 25 days, then woke for a few days and fell back into a coma for another 16 or 17 days. It took two years for me to be able to walk again."

Talib was discharged from the army after his injuries and has since joined an auxiliary of the army. "From  2011 until now, I haven't taken off my uniform. And I won't take it off until the war is finished," he said.

READ MORE
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect MintPress News editorial policy.

Republish our stories! MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

The Absurdities of America's Syrian War Propaganda
Eva Bartlett Mon, Nov 20 2017 | 1700 words 3,217  Comments
WAR IN SYRIA
As if we have no memory, corporate media continues to recycle accusations of starvation, chemical weapons, and more, in the propaganda war on Syria.

In Syria, there never was a "revolution." Instead, it was a premeditated war on Syria by foreign powers (namely the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Israel) who armed even Al-Qaeda (something Qatar recently admitted).

In support of the conflict comes some of the most egregious war propaganda, endorsed by media, Hollywood celebs, and faux human rights groups. The following is a brief outline of some of the most obvious hoax personalities and purveyors of misinformation on Syria.

Al-Qaeda's rescuers

Irrefutable documentation reveals that the group known as the White Helmets and portrayed as "neutral, volunteer, rescuers," are obscenely-funded by Western nations, work solely in Al-Qaeda and co-extremist areas, and have been present to clean up at executions. Yet, we are expected to believe they rescue civilians. People from areas liberated of Al-Nusra and cohorts described them as "the Nusra Front's civil defense."

Corporate media did not bother to investigate this transparent propaganda construct. Instead, they lobbied for Al-Qaeda's rescuers to get the Nobel Prize.

While the group didn't get the Nobel, they did receive an Oscar, and actor George Clooney's endorsement. Even though he is busy being a celebrity, by now, he surely cannot claim ignorance. One wonders whether he will have the gall to continue his support for Al-Qaeda's rescuers.

Funny terrorist spokesman

American former comedian Bilal Abdul Kareem was embedded with Al-Qaeda and other "moderates" in eastern Aleppo, promoted their narrative and interviewed Saudi terrorist Abdullah Muhaysini. Yet, corporate media like CNN have presented him as an "independent" source of credible information on Syria.

As Aleppo was being liberated of Al-Qaeda and company, Abdul Kareem claimed civilians did not want to go over to 'regime areas.' However, on many occasions before liberation, civilians did try to flee to government areas. In November 2016, I interviewed one family who managed to escape, along with over 40 other people. This particular family had tried twice before and were forcibly prevented by the "moderates" in the district of al-Halek in Aleppo.

When I returned in June 2017, in eastern Aleppo, I spoke with residents who had come back when peace was restored. I also saw hospitals turned into terrorist headquarters, using basements for Sharia court prisons.

Following the expulsion of Al-Qaeda and other "moderates," over 100,000 people from eastern Aleppo chose to stay in government-secured areas, celebrating the liberation of their city.

Starvation in Syria?

The "Assad is starving civilians" theme has been recycled for years, from Damascus to Aleppo to eastern Ghouta. In 2014, a month after the Old City of Homs was secured, I met civilians who told me of terrorists stealing every last morsel of their food. I heard the same in Aleppo, and also this June in Madaya and al-Waer, Homs. When I visited Madaya, people told me: terrorists hoarded the food aid and dramatically inflated the prices to rates civilians couldn't afford.

I saw a bomb factory, tucked away behind an apartment building, and remnants of the food aid which Ahrar al-Sham and Al-Qaeda had hoarded, and I visited some of their makeshift prisons used to torture and try civilians in Sharia courts. In al-Waer, life was trickling back. People spoke of starvation due to the terrorists, and of relief that their rule was over.

When "rebels" fire mortars into civilians areas, corporate journalists like to claim the Syrian government was the perpetrator. On a November 2016 day when two mortars hit Aleppo's Castello road, less than 100 meters from where I stood without a helmet or flak jacket, the NY Times wrote that soldiers blamed "rebels" and "rebel groups denied it." Yet, there was no disputing that the shells came from an Al-Nusra area.

In April 2014, after an elementary school was mortared by terrorists east of Damascus, killing one child, the BBC later reported, "the government is also accused of launching them into neighborhoods under its control." On a recent social media post, I noted this deceitful journalism, and the BBC could have easily learned about the trajectory of mortars and from where the mortar in question could only have come: the "moderates" east of Damascus.

Channel 4 and Guardian deceptions

In a hotel in Aleppo in July 2016, I shared an elevator with Channel 4 reporter Krishnan Guru Murthy, without knowing who he was. I would later become very familiar with Channel 4 and Guru Murthy's relentless anti-Syria propaganda and romanticization of the terrorist factions in Syria, white-washing their crimes, relying on Al-Qaeda and other very partial sources.

Guru Murthy produced a report embedded with the Nour al-Din al-Zinki faction, who he deemed "moderates," although some months prior they had savagely beheaded Abdullah Issa, a Palestinian boy. Not initially a problem for Channel 4, they did later remove the incriminating video.

Not featured on Channel 4 or other corporate media reports were the nearly 11,000 civilians killed by the bombing and sniping of "rebels."

I wrote about these attacks, and the over 4,000 Aleppo doctors disappeared by the media, along with hospitals and schools attacked by "moderates." Corporate media was busy claiming "last doctors" in Aleppo.

When Krishan Guru Murthy, in July 2017, returned to Aleppo and interviewed MP Fares Shehabi, Guru Murthy refused to "get into history" over his lies, much less to acknowledge that the "moderates" he propagated about were Al-Nusra.

In April 2016, the Guardian reported that a Syrian or Russian airstrike "completely destroyed" the Quds hospital in Sukkari, Aleppo. The Guardian later claimed civilians were being treated in the same hospital after a chlorine gas attack, not researching that the sole chlorine gas factory in Syria had been taken over by Al-Nusra in 2012.

The original lie about Al-Quds' destruction came from Médecins Sans Frontières, which claimed Quds had been "destroyed," reduced "to rubble." Since the Guardian was complicit in reproducing the lie, why didn't the Guardian at least go to see the Quds hospital after Aleppo was secured? I did.

In June 2017, I stood inside the intact hospital. It was never destroyed.

I also met the boy, Omran Daqneesh, who, according to the Guardian, was injured by a Syrian or Russian airstrike in 2016. Mohammad Daqneesh said his son was only mildly injured, and not by an airstrike. He blamed media and those affiliated with the White Helmets for using his son in propaganda.

America's fake war on ISIS

In June 2017, the American-led coalition illegally attacked Syria, shooting down a Syrian plane. America did so admittedly to protect its proxy forces, the Kurdish SDF, which the US is using not to fight ISIS but in its continued attempts to destabilize Syria and control its oilfields.

In September 2016, the US-led coalition waged a nearly one hour attack on a Syrian military position in Deir ez-Zor, enabling ISIS to take over the post.

In May 2015, convoys of ISIS streamed through hundreds of kilometers of open desert, taking over ancient Palmyra. The well-equipped, high tech, US-led coalition, offered no resistance, something which even Robert Fisk, openly sour about his dislike of the Syrian government, noted.

America has also "accidentally" delivered weapons to ISIS and has long sought to use a "Salafist principality" in eastern Syria, aka Islamic State, as per a declassified US DIA document. One can always listen to John Kerry speaking in September 2016 about how America watched ISIS flourish. Excerpts include Kerry saying "We were watching. We saw that, that Daesh was growing in strength. And we thought Assad was threatened."

ISIS terrorist bedfellows with Israel

In July 2017, the Washington Post reported on an Israeli attack on Syria, citing Benjamin Netanyahu as saying they had attacked Syria "dozens" of times. Mint Press News reported on Israel giving medical treatment to over 3,000 terrorists. A 21st Century Wire article said the preference of Israeli politicians was even for an ISIS victory in Syria.

According to the Times of Israel, ISIS has opened fire on Israel and apologized. This is the jihadist group, ISIS, which doesn't attack the natural target, Israeli regime occupying Palestine, but instead, collaborates with it.

Unbelievable memoirs

Eight-year-old Aleppo girl, Bana al-Abed, is incapable of speaking or writing in English, and has recently miraculously published her memoirs. For those not familiar with the shameful exploitation of this girl by her mother and terrorist father, I wrote about it in July 2017, also noting: "The Bana narrative features an endearing child who causes otherwise rationally-thinking people to uncritically-accept transparent war propaganda rhetoric." Rhetoric included calling for WW3.

Bana has been promoted by fiction writer J.K. Rowling, who shares the same sponsor: the Blair Partnership. Critiques on Amazon reveal that thinking people aren't buying brand Bana, in spite of her UN appearance and rehearsed speech about children dying from bombs and hunger (which the United Nations retweeted, as all good neutral and credible institutions might).

The above examples don't even begin to cover the depth of war propaganda on Syria, but they do serve as warnings to consider from where corporate media are getting their claims, and what agenda their claims serve. Hint: it isn't an agenda of bringing peace to the Syrian people. Maybe it's time to start believing us "Russian propagandists": you know, those who actually go and speak to Syrians, instead of citing Al-Qaeda affiliated sources.

Source: RT

Support Russia Insider - Go Ad-Free!
Our commenting rules: You can say pretty much anything except the F word. If you are abusive, obscene, or a paid troll, we will ban you. Full statement from the Editor, Charles Bausman.