Eric Zuesse<\/p>\n
On June 12th, Al Masdar News \u2014 the go-to site for the honest latest news regarding the war in Syria \u2014 reported that the U.S. coalition that\u2019s been fighting in Syria so as to replace Bashar al-Assad by a ruler whom the U.S. government will support, is now actively assisting ISIS against Assad\u2019s forces; that\u2019s to say, the U.S. supports ISIS against the internationally recognized government of Syria. Here was Al Masdar\u2019s report [along with bracketed additions from myself to explain what the writer was referring to]:<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.almasdarnews.com\/article\/video-humongous-isis-convoy-allowed-escape-raqqa-fight-syrian-army-instead\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n VIDEO: Humongous ISIS convoy allowed to escape Raqqa to fight the Syrian Army instead<\/span><\/p>\n By Chris Tomson<\/b><\/span><\/a> \u2014 <\/span>12\/06\/2017<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n DAMASCUS, SYRIA (3:40 A.M.) \u2013 Al-Masdar News has obtained jaw-dropping footage from northern Syria suggesting the US-led coalition has allowed hundreds of ISIS vehicles to leave Raqqa city for areas controlled by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).<\/span><\/p>\n Despite Kurdish and American drones hovering above Raqqa on all flanks, the Islamic State convoy remained completely untouched by coalition airstrikes, thus suggesting an under-the-table deal may have been struck between the warring parties [ISIS vs. U.S.]:<\/span><\/p>\n According to an Al-Masdar News researcher, the footage could be traced back to earlier this month while the convoy in the video later was bombed by the Russian Air Force<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Some conspiracy theorists also speculate the US-led coalition allowed thousands of ISIS militants to escape Mosul back in November, 2016 only to capture the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra the following month. [It wasn\u2019t \u2018conspiracy theorists\u2019; it was even stated by the Turkish government to be the allies\u2019 plan at the time, as will here be discussed immediately below.]<\/span><\/p>\n The news of ISIS convoys escaping Raqqa correlates with increased ISIS pressure imposed on the Deir Ezzor pocket<\/span><\/a> where the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is struggling to hold its ground<\/span><\/a> while US-backed Kurdish forces have captured three suburbs in Raqqa<\/span><\/a> with relative ease.<\/span><\/p>\n Last month, the US-led coalition also confirmed a Tabqa deal had been struck with ISIS<\/span><\/a>, thus allowing jihadist fighters to evacuate an isolate pocket of territory in western Raqqa.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n On 30 April 2017, I had reported \u201cHow Obama & Erdogan Moved ISIS from Iraq to Syria, to Weaken Assad<\/span><\/a>\u201d and stated there that:<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n Furthermore, on October 15th, the Turkish government posted online a map showing the <\/i>\u201c\u2018Sensitive\u2019 Operation Plan for Mosul\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/a> including six steps, one of which was \u201cAn escape corridor into Syria will be left for Daesh [ISIS] so they can vacate Mosul.\u201d Though the U.S. government wasn\u2019t public about this part of their plan \u2014 moving the jihadists \u201cinto Syria\u201d instead of killing the jihadists (as Obama always claimed to be his intention) \u2014 the Turkish government was public, and proud, of it.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n Trump is continuing that plan.<\/span><\/p>\n The brilliant \u201cMoon of Alabama\u201d blogger, \u2018bernhard’, who provides by far the most accurate and informative real-time current military and strategic assessments of the war in Syria, has just now documented and explained in a June 14th \u201cUpdate\u201d to his June 13th report<\/span><\/a>, the huge strategic blunder of James Mattis in Syria, Mattis\u2019s under-estimation of the Russian government\u2019s commitment to prevent the U.S. and its Saudi allies conquering Syria. \u2018Bernhard’ says:<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n The U.S. had <\/i>claimed<\/i><\/span><\/a> that the Syrian government aligned forces moving towards al-Tanf were “Iran backed” or “Iran led”. Now the Secretary of Defense says that was a lie. They were Russians allied with the Syrian government. The Russians certainly do not take their orders from some Iranian generals. It is no wonder then that the Russian command issued strong warnings against any attacks on these forces.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Mattis also exposes that he is incapable of strategic thinking. He really believed that Russian would not move to al-Tanf to cover for their Syrian comrades? It has been clear \u2026 months now that the Russians are all-in in Syria. They will not let the Syrian government fall to make nice with Mattis or Trump or anyone else. The strategic issue for them is clear and has been for a while. They will fight. They said so. It was utterly stupid to believe anything else.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s putting it bluntly but accurately. On April 25th, Mattis had said “We\u2019re going to have to confront Russia where what they\u2019re doing is contrary to international law or denying the sovereignty of other countries.\u201d<\/span><\/a> Russia had been invited into the Syrian war by the sovereign government of Syria in order to defend that sovereign government against foreign invaders, and the U.S. Secretary of Defense alleges that the U.S., which is instead a principal one of those invaders trying to conquer that sovereign government, is the one who is supporting \u201cinternational law\u201d by invading there to overthrow it and replace it by Saudi-financed jihadists and by a breakaway Kurdish republic? Is Mattis that stupid, or that much of a liar? He\u2019s both.<\/span><\/p>\n As I had reported on 13 January 2017<\/span><\/a>, before Trump even became President:<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n Marine General James Mattis, whom Trump has chosen to head the \u2018Defense\u2019 Department, is similarly focused against Iran and Shia Islam (including Hezbollah) as the main source of jihadism, and as being America\u2019s number-one enemy. Consequently, on 4 December 2016, Mark Perry at Politico headlined <\/i>\u201cJames Mattis\u2019 33-Year Grudge Against Iran\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/a>, and he attributed Mattis\u2019s obsessive hatred of Iran to the 23 October 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, by an Iranian, during the Lebanese civil war \u2014 an event that had turned the Marine Corps (the entire institution) rabid against Iran. Perry wrote that \u201cIt was also this Iran obsession that led Obama to force Mattis\u2019 retirement back in January 2013.\u201d Referring to Obama\u2019s National Military Strategy, Perry wrote: \u201cThe gravest threat to America, according to the document, is not \u2018Iran, Iran, Iran\u2019 [as Mattis insisted], but \u2018Russia, Russia, Russia\u2019.\u201d Obama <\/i>would not keep any general who failed to share his hatred of Russia<\/i><\/span><\/a>. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n At the far-right Heritage Foundation, on 13 May 2015, Mattis delivered <\/i>a lecture<\/i><\/span><\/a> in which he stated that jihadists are mainly Iranian or Shia (actually they\u2019re almost 100% fundamentalist Sunnis, not Shia, and that\u2019s one of several historical falsehoods in Mattis\u2019s lecture). The only other major source of it that he even identified there was \u201cthe Muslim brothers in Cairo for a year\u201d \u2014 by which he referred to the <\/i>temporary Muslim Brotherhood rule of Egypt, from 30 June 2013 to 3 July 2013<\/i><\/span><\/a>. He didn\u2019t mention there, for example, as being the main Sunni source of jihad, Al Qaeda, or ISIS \u2014 he gave as the main Sunni example of what he referred to as America\u2019s number-one enemy, or \u201cpolitical Islam,\u201d the one example in which it was democratically elected into power (which jihadist groups never are). He treated that \u201cpolitical Islam\u201d which he identified as America\u2019s top enemy, as being a threat that comes from the masses of Muslims (the Sunni public for example who voted Mohamed Morsi into Egypt\u2019s Presidency) and not at all from the the Sunni elite (the royal families who own the Arabic nations that are allied with the U.S. aristocracy). He mentioned Sunni leaders only as being allies of America. Mattis is targeting only Iran\u2019s aristocracy and public, and their supporters abroad.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n Apparently, Mattis\u2019s anti-Iran hatred is so blinding his strategic vision, he has thus far simply refused to even begin to recognize the actual geo-strategic issues that are involved in the Syrian war.<\/span><\/p>\n And Trump is so stupid as to let a man like that<\/i> control the Pentagon?<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0 They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a>,<\/i> and of<\/span> \u00a0<\/i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eric Zuesse On June 12th, Al Masdar News \u2014 the go-to site for the honest latest news regarding the war in Syria \u2014 reported that the U.S. coalition that\u2019s been fighting in Syria so as to replace Bashar al-Assad by a ruler whom the U.S. government will support, is now actively assisting ISIS against Assad\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":312779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[115,30,1036,96,1035,3604,535,34,907,1009,34618,59,1017,804,524,8748,754,6257,76,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-312775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials","8":"tag-barack-obama","9":"tag-big-brother","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-cover-up","12":"tag-daily-news","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-global-news","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-isis","17":"tag-islamic-state","18":"tag-mattis","19":"tag-military","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-politics-2","22":"tag-russia","23":"tag-saud","24":"tag-syria","25":"tag-trump","26":"tag-warfare","27":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}