Clashing interests in Syria: pipelines and oil & gas reserves
By Götz Aly, Berlin
The war in Syria started in 2011. Previously, in 2003, US and British troops had permanently destroyed the Iraqi state. In this way, the West expanded Iran’s influence in Iraq and raised the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS).
In no time at all, he succeeded in taking the demoralized Iraqi soldiers from their weapons, which had just been delivered from the USA. Even before Syria got really belligerent, a western alliance led by French, British, and U.S. air forces bombed Libya’s government and administrative elite to bring chaos to the country as well.
During the now nine-year war in Syria, the West supported the insurgents, which included jihadists, groups close to al-Qaeda and soon ISIS units. The forces, which were initially possibly democratic, worked together with the Islamist Free Corps, snipers and bombers because they were militarily efficient. The western allies of Saudi Arabia and Turkey directly supported IS for years, which then managed to overwhelm large parts of Syria with terror.
The government of Russia is not to blame for all of this. And yet German media and politicians are currently acting as if Russian President Vladimir Putin was the main person responsible for the situation in Idlib: The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls for “tough sanctions against Russia”, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung invents a “Assad extermination campaign” supported by Putin in Idlib.
As a reminder: The newspapers never systematically reported the destruction caused by the liberation of the metropolis of Mosul because this very bloody action took place under the leadership of the United States and with the German Bundeswehr’s reconnaissance aid. It is estimated that between 6,000 and 11,000 civilians died. Such numbers are still a long way off in Idlib. I am not justifying this, but rather as an indication of a divided morality.
Turkey supports terrorists with weapons
Mosul had to be cleared by IS. It is also necessary to free Idlib from the jihadists, ISIS men and international terrorists (Uyghurs, Chechens, Europeans who have gone wild, etc.) gathered there. Because right there, a U.S. command in 2019 killed IS leader al-Bagdadi. The successor al-Kuraishi was found immediately. Idlib is a terrorist nest!
And NATO member Turkey has supported these terrorists for a long time with weapons, now also with tanks, missiles and 5,000 of their own soldiers. Turkey has lost nothing there. Because it violates the territorial integrity of a state. Our government doesn’t seem to care.
Incidentally, IS in Syria was not only fought down by an alliance led by the West and by Kurds, who had meanwhile been betrayed by the US to Turkish Soldateska, but also – and with Russian help – by Syrian government troops. Has the federal government ever thanked you in Moscow and Damascus? Peace in Syria must be sought together with Russia, the Syrian government and the administrative elite. It won’t be easy. But it is the most promising way after nine years of a terrible war fueled by the West.
