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The Militant (logo)
Vol. 81/No. 5 February 6, 2017
(front page)
BY NAOMI CRAINE
Two days of talks seeking a political settlement that would defend the
sponsoring capitalist regimes’ interests ended Jan. 24 without any
agreement between the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and opponents of
his dictatorial rule. The sponsoring governments of Russia, Turkey and
Iran announced they would set up a joint system for monitoring the shaky
cease-fire that has been in effect since Dec. 30, with details to be
worked out later.
The talks took place in Astana, Kazakhstan, with United Nations envoy
Staffan de Mistura serving as mediator. The Donald Trump administration
decided not to send a delegation from Washington; the U.S. ambassador to
Kazakhstan attended as an observer.
This new cooperation between Moscow and Tehran (both have backed Assad)
and Ankara (which has supported opponents of the regime) reflects shifts
in the region as governments maneuver to defend their conflicting
economic, political and military interests. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
regime in Turkey has dropped demands that Assad step down. Moscow in
turn has substantially reduced relations with Democratic Union Party
(PYD), the dominant Syrian Kurdish party, and its armed Peoples
Protection Units (YPG).
After the conference broke up, the two Syrian delegations — one from the
regime and the other of opposition fighters — held competing press
conferences.
“We don’t accept any role for Iran in the future of Syria,” said
Mohammad Alloush, head of the opposition group, demanding that all
Iranian-backed foreign militias leave Syria.
Assad’s envoy Bashar Ja’afari said it was “pitiful” that the opposition
criticized one of the conference’s three sponsors.
It remains to be seen what course Trump’s stewardship of U.S.
imperialism will take in Syria. White House press secretary Sean Spicer
said Jan. 23 Trump would like to work with Moscow wherever possible,
including in combating Islamic State there.
Moscow and Ankara brokered the truce following the defeat of rebels in
the city of Aleppo by Iranian soldiers and allied Shiite militias along
with troops loyal to Assad, backed by Russian airstrikes. The cease-fire
does not include the jihadist Islamic State, nor Jabhat Fateh al-Sham,
formerly the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. And it does not include the
Kurds.
As soon as the fighting eased there were renewed street protests against
Assad’s rule. Al Jazeera broadcast video of hundreds rallying in Douma,
Idlib, Daraa and elsewhere the day after the cease-fire took effect.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Jan. 20 that hundreds
of people demonstrated in suburbs east of Damascus to oppose the ongoing
government siege of Wadi Barada, a valley northwest of Damascus that is
the source of water for the capital. “They also called for a ceasefire
in the entire Syrian territory and the release of detainees held by the
regime,” the Observatory reported.
In an effort to expand their long-term presence in the Mideast, Russian
officials signed an agreement with Damascus Jan. 20 to double the space
for Russian warships at the Syrian port of Tartus and extend their
access to an air base near Latakia.
The conquest of Aleppo put pro-government forces in control of most of
Syria’s western cities and coast. But Assad lacks the ground forces to
control this territory without substantial backing from Tehran and
Shiite militias such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.
As a result, Iranian capital’s influence in Syria has grown. In
mid-January, Iranian officials signed contracts with Damascus, gaining
control over Syria’s largest phosphate mine and receiving a license to
operate a mobile telecommunications network.
Working people in Syria face continuing catastrophe — with hundreds of
thousands killed by the regime and its allies and Islamic State and
millions driven from their homes.
Attacks on the Kurds
Both U.S. and Russian warplanes have been bombing near al-Bab, in
support of a Turkish-organized offensive against Islamic State. Ankara’s
central aim is to block the Syrian Kurds from taking that city and
connecting territories they control on Turkey’s border.
The Kurds are the largest oppressed nationality in the world without
their own homeland.
Ankara has organized a 450-person “Free Police,” including special
forces, to patrol in Jarablus, conquered by Turkish-led Syrian forces in
2016, driving the Kurdish YPG from the area. A video of the cops on the
internet shows recruits chanting in Arabic, “Long live Turkey, long live
Erdogan.”
Ankara is currently engaged in a bloody campaign to put down opposition
by the Stalinist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) inside Turkey. The
Erdogan government claims the YPG in Syria is just a different name for
the PKK.
At the same time, Washington has been working with forces led by the YPG
to attack Islamic State’s capital in Raqqa, Syria, and with the Kurdish
peshmerga in Iraq in a drive to retake Mosul from the jihadists —
putting the U.S. rulers at odds with Ankara.
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