Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov again addressed the media today surrounding a sudden flurry of Western criticism of its support for the Syrian government, reiterating that Russia is providing the same aid it’s been providing throughout the civil war, and that they are based on the same contracts with Syria that have been in place for years.
The complaints about Russia’s involvement in Syria follow myriad media reports, many from Reuters, claiming Russia was dramatically increasing its military presence in Syria. Russia denies this, and says the only troops in Syria are military advisers, and in no greater number than before.
Even though the whole story is based on unconfirmed media reports citing unnamed sources, NATO has latched onto the story, and despite offering no evidence of its own is expressing “concern” about the allegations. NATO nations have been trying to block Russian aid flights to Syria in recent days, at the behest of the US.
Lavrov went on in his comments to insist that the US-led anti-ISIS coalition really needs to include the Syrian government if it wants better results. The US has been resistant to this, supporting regime change as well as opposing ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria, meaning they’re averse to materially all of the major factions in the nation.
If our (US) Government had consistently followed its alleged policy since 9/11 of attacking Al Qaeda and its affiliates wherever and whenever they appeared, US military strikes against Al Nusra and ISIS would have commenced three years ago in Syria and in Iraq — and very likely would have greatly slowed if not stopped the emergence of those Al Qaeda affiliates in both Syria and Iraq. Instead, our Government — apparently motivated by a geopolitical view that "regime change" in Syria was more important than suppressing Al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq – deliberately withheld US military strikes against Al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq, and effectively adopted those Al Qaeda forces as allies in a common effort to overthrow the Syrian government by force and violence. Our political "leaders" (of both political persuasions, and in Congress as well as in the Obama Administration) deserve to be treated as the traitors, liars and fools which they in fact are. We need a mass replacement of the pack of dishonest office-holders who presently infest our federal Government.
Richard Young I agree with you a 100 percent . Those Al Qaeda forces are the same forces the United States supported in Libya ,Egypt , Russia and even Yugoslavia and I don't believe they are fighting them as hard in Syria as they claim to be doing either .