The Obama administration is trying to keep the Syrian war simmering, hoping that Clinton will take office in 2017, said Jim Jatras, former US diplomat. She’ll want to dig in with both feet in support of so-called ‘moderates’ against Assad, he added.
RT asked Jim Jatras, former US diplomat, whether it is possible that this incident with Syrian rebels threatening American soldiers could be a turning point in the country’s conflict.
“We have US Special Operations personnel accompanying the Turks – let’s call them ally Number 1 - in their incursion into Syria. We know that the primary target is not ISIS/ISIL/DAESH for the Turks, it’s the Kurds, who are also American allies – let’s call that ally Number 2. Now we have so-called ally Number 3 – the Free Syrian Army elements threatening these Americans, who are operating with ally Number 1, that they are going to slaughter them. They don’t want the Americans and Christians here. [The subgroup] that did this supposedly is Ahrar al-Sham, which is a really nasty piece of work. It is as Wahhabist, as radical, as violent as Al-Nusra [Front,] or ISIS. But I guess they are part of the moderates here… If you’re going to put it in a work of fiction, it would not be deemed to be plausible to the reader,” Jatras said.
In his view, though, it’s unlikely to happen under the Obama administration.
“The Obama administration shows all signs of trying to keep the Syrian war simmering until they hope Hillary Clinton can take office in January 2017. And, of course, she’ll want to dig in with both feet in support of these so-called moderates against the Assad government. I just don’t see any signs in reappraisal here,” Jatras added.
Joshua Landis from the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma argues that it’s the US support for the Kurds that could have triggered the US-backed rebels to push American soldiers out of their positions.
“Many of these Arab fighters see the Kurds as enemies who are fighting over the same national territory,” he said.
“There has been a widespread sense that the US is in a war against Sunni Islam; that it has signed the agreement with Iran; that it overthrew Saddam Hussein,” he continued.
“Even the fight against ISIS many of them see as the war against Islam; America should be fighting against the [Shiites] and Assad’s government, they should not be fighting against Sunnis,” he said, adding that it’s a widespread belief.
“We know from various documentaries that the schools in Idlib and the other areas, where the rebels predominate and where Al-Qaeda is very strong, are teaching to young people to lionize [Osama] bin Laden, the blowing up of the World Trade Center, and the fight against America. So this is part of what is going on in rebel-controlled Syria – not all militias, but perhaps more than America really thinks,” he told RT.
Meanwhile, Ruptly video news agency has obtained footage apparently showing an American flag flying over a Kurdish position in Tal Abyad, a Syrian town on the border with Turkey.
There have also been reports that US flags are being flown in the town held by the Kurdish YPG, allegedly as a warning from America to Turkey not to attack the Kurds.
— RT (@RT_com) 16 сентября 2016 г.
“They’ve put their trust on the US. Clearly, the government of Iraq, the government of Turkey, and the government of Iran, and the government of Syria have no interest in pursuing or protecting their sovereign rights. They’ve put their money on the US, and as we’ve seen over the last couple of months… given the right political circumstances, the US would sell them down the river, sell them out, not back them up, and abandon them. I think they are calculating that if they raise this flag, it would potentially give Turkey, in particular, pause in launching any kind of airstrikes,” Johnson said.