Tag: Rob de Wijk

Why
Kerry Blames The Opposition For The Continuing Bombing In Syria

By
Moon Of Alabama

February
08, 2016 “Information
Clearing House”
– ” Moon
Of Alabama ” – According
to this
report from Middle East Eye U.S. Secretary of State
blamed the opposition for the continuing bombing in Syria:

US
Secretary of State John Kerry told Syrian aid workers, hours after
the Geneva peace talks fell apart, that the
country should expect another three months of bombing that would
“decimate” the opposition.

During
a conversation on the sidelines of this week’s Syria donor
conference in London, sources say, Kerry blamed the Syrian
opposition for leaving the talks and paving the way for a joint
offensive by the Syrian government and Russia on Aleppo.

“‘He
said, ‘Don’t blame me – go and blame your opposition,’”
one of the aid workers, who asked to remain anonymous to protect
her organisation, told Middle East Eye.
…
“He said
that basically, it was the opposition that didn’t want to
negotiate and didn’t want a ceasefire, and they walked away,”
the second of the aid workers told MEE in a separate conversation
and also on the basis of anonymity.

“‘What
do you want me to do? Go to war with Russia? Is that what you
want?’” the aid worker said Kerry told her.

The
hapless State Department spokesperson claimed that
the story was wrong:

John
Kirby Verified account @statedeptspox
@Charles_Lister Story
wrong. @JohnKerry didn’t blame oppo for collapse of talks, doesn’t
have comms w/regime & hasn’t wavered on Asad.

But this lets
me believe that the report of Kerry chastising (harde kritiek leveren) the opposition is
right on point:

U.S.
Embassy Syria @USEmbassySyria
#SecKerry on bombardment of
civilians in #Syria: This has to stop. But it’s not going to
stop by walking away from the table or not engaging

So
while the State Department spokesperson denies that the U.S.
blames the opposition, another part of the State Department does
exactly that: “it’s not going to stop by walking away from
the table or not engaging”. Kerry is clearly embarrassed that
the Saudi opposition group ran away from the UN talks in Vienna.
He should blame his “allies”.

The
Wall Street Journal says the
opposition group ended the talks before they began on Turkish and
Saudi orders:

The
Syrian opposition abruptly withdrew from peace talks in Geneva
this week under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, two of the
main backers of the rebels, according to diplomats and at least a
half-dozen opposition figures.

After
sabotaging the talks the Saudis came out with an
offer to send ground troops to invade Syria if the U.S.
would take the command of such an operation. No one is taking that
offer seriously. The Saudi troops who try to invade Yemen get
beaten to pulp. The Saudis themselves say they had to closed 500
school and evacuate 12 villages with 7,000 people in Saudi Arabia
because the Yemenis are now invading them. Their army has lots of
expensive toys but is clearly not able to put them to use. The
offer to send troops is simply to goad the U.S. into starting a
war with Russia.

That
is not going to work. The U.S. is now trying to find some end to
the conflict in Syria. Someone finally told Kerry that Russia is
not in a “quagmire” in Syria but is winning.  The
U.S. is in a hurry now as it knows that it will have zero
influence left on the issue should the Syrian government and
Russia have the time to kill off the opposition. It needs a
ceasefire to stay relevant. As
Kerry says himself that “whining”
about the situation and skipping negotiations will not help the
opposition. It will kill it.

Secretary
Kerry also called on the Russians to stop their bombing campaign
in Aleppo province. But that contradicts the UN resolution 2254
under which the talks in Geneva are held. That resolution
clearly calls
for a continuation of the Russian and Syrian campaign:
THE UNSC

[r]eiterates
its call in resolution 2249 (2015) for Member States to
prevent and suppress terrorist
acts committed specifically by Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL, also known as Da’esh), Al-Nusra
Front (ANF), and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and
entities associated with Al Qaeda or
ISIL, and other terrorist groups, […] and to
eradicate the safe haven they have established over
significant parts of Syria, and notes that the aforementioned
ceasefire will not apply to offensive or defensive actions against
these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, as set forth
in the 14 November 2015 ISSG Statement;

The
insurgents in Aleppo province as well as in Idleb province are
officially allied with the Nusra Front which is Al-Qaeda in Syria.
They are clearly a target of the above resolution and thereby a
legitimate target of Russian bombs.

Indeed
those who criticize Kerry for blaming the opposition because it
ran away from Geneva ignore the resolution. It is the plan the
U.S. and Russia have agreed to follow. That plan ends the war in
Syria in a ceasefire but only when the opposition agrees to one
AND cuts all ties with al-Qaeda and ISIS. As the opposition, and
its sponsors, are unwilling to do so the Syrian-Russian campaign
against them will continue, as agreed upon by the UNSC (VN Veiligheidsraad), until
their end.

NB: Waar gesproken wordt over Wenen, wordt Genève bedoeld, dit doet niets af aan dit artikel. 

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