The “Friends of Syria” —the Orwellian name given to the coalition of the US, its NATO allies, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar— met in Qatar on June 22 and issued a communiqué announcing that US and its allies will “take all necessary practical measures” to arm the opposition forces in
The “Friends of Syria” —the Orwellian name given to the coalition of the US, its NATO allies, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar— met in Qatar on June 22 and issued a communiqué announcing that US and its allies will “take all necessary practical measures” to arm the opposition forces in Syria, with assistance of whom they have been waging a two-year civil war to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad. This declaration opens up a new stage in the civil war in Syria, and heightens the danger of war in the entire region.
The communiqué proposes to supply “sufficient weapons and supplies to the anti-Assad opposition” to enable it to counter the Syrian military ahead of “peace talks” in Geneva. The document also suggests US and NATO military operations along Syria’s borders to prevent assistance to those resisting the US led opposition forces from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran—even as imperialist aid pours in for the so-called “rebels.”
The communiqué follows the Obama administration’s assertion that the Syrian government had used chemical weapon against the opposition forces. As reported in the last issue of Mazdoor Ekta Lehar, all evidence so far points to the fact that the opposition forces have been using chemical weapons against the people, while there is no evidence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons. The US administration is repeating a lie a thousand times in order to assert that it is true! A Los Angeles Times report on June 21 indicated that US intelligence and military officers have been on the ground in Jordan and Turkey since late 2012, training rebel fighters.
US imperialist strategic and political analysts have welcomed the Qatar declaration as a important step in more direct US military intervention in Syria. They have even gone to the extent of calling for an sir war to support the opposition forces and proposing that a “peace-keeping force”—including American troops—should be sent into Syria once the regime falls. They have set as the near-term strategic goal of the US led opposition forces, the complete control of the important centres of Aleppo and Damascus, in order to force the Assad government to accept exile. This would involve bombardment of the two most densely populated urban areas of Syria and a bloodbath in that country.
It has been reported that US Secretary of State John Kerry played the leading role in Qatar in pressuring participants to agree to the communiqué, which was adopted despite opposition from representatives of Germany and several other countries. The German government reportedly, finally signed on the document.
In their drive to bring the West Asian region under their political and military control, US imperialism and its allies have been raining death and destruction on a massive scale, first in Iraq and now in Syria. In Syria it is being estimated that 90.000 people have already died as a result of this.
US imperialism and its allies must be stopped from realizing their predatory ambitions, otherwise more death and devastation will follow.