![\"International](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/International-Syria-Support-Group-meets-in-Vienna-May-17-2016.jpg\")
<\/a>International Syria Support Group meets in Vienna May 17 2016<\/p><\/div>\n
US implication in Syria is as bewildering as ever. Despite the fact that John Kerry had negotiated a cessation of hostilites on the 22 February 2016, and that Russia had withdrawn its bombers, Turkey – a member of NATO \u2013 continued its support for Daesh.<\/span><\/p>\n On the 8 March, Russia registered a report with the Security Council accusing Ankara of controlling the traffic of antiques for the benefit of Daesh\u00a0[1<\/a><\/strong><\/span>]. On the 18 March, it registered a further report accusing Turkey of delivering arms and munitions to Daesh\u00a0[2<\/a><\/strong><\/span>]. In both cases, Turkey \u00abtotally refuted\u00bb these allegations and accused Russia of organising a diversionary man\u0153uvre to \u00abdistract the attention of the international community from the civilian losses, the chaos and the considerable destruction caused by the Syrian r\u00e9gime and Russian military operations in Syria\u00bb. The Russian Chief of Staff retaliated by revealing that Ankara had just allowed 9,000 new jihadists to enter Syria. However, it is possible to imagine that Turkey had acted alone, without referring to the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n On the 7 April, the US Department of Defense delivered 2,000 tonnes of weapons to the \u00abmoderate armed groups\u00bb, of which 500 tonnes were immediately redistributed to Al-Nusra (Al-Qa\u00efda), and 500 more to Daesh\u00a0[3<\/a><\/strong><\/span>].<\/span><\/p>\n In any case, Turkey\u2019s support for Daesh seems to have diminished rapidly over the last few days.<\/span><\/p>\n It would seem that Moscow had secretly but violently protested, to the extent that on the 9 May, John Kerry and Serge\u00ef Lavrov published a joint declaration\u00a0[4<\/a><\/strong><\/span>]. They called on \u00aball states to implement Security Council Resolution 2253 (2015), which forbids all material or financial assistance to Daesh, the al-Nusra Front or any other group qualified as terrorist by the UN Security Council, and to prevent any of these groups from crossing the frontier into Syria\u00bb.<\/span><\/p>\n Above all, it was agreed that Washington would set a deadline for its allies – the start of July – to arrive at a negotiated agreement in Geneva. Beyond that date, the US would withdraw all their armed forces, while Russia would redirect its aircraft-carrier Admiral Kutznesov to the Syrian coast in order to resume, on a reduced scale, its bombing campaign against the terrorist organisations (who have since been re-armed)\u00a0[5<\/a><\/strong><\/span>].<\/span><\/p>\n However, the uncertainty has still not been definitively resolved. A heated dispute opposed Russia and the United States at the UN concerning the Army of Islam (Jaysh al-islam) and the Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant (Ahrar al-Sham). Moscow intended to add them to the list of \u00abterrorist organisations\u00bb, while Washington still wants to consider them as a \u00abmoderate armed group\u00bb.<\/span><\/p>\n The Army of Islam is a formation funded by Saudi Arabia and supervised by the British SAS. Originally commanded by Zahran Allouche, it spread terror throughout the suburbs of Damascus and threatened the capital for three years. Its leader, who worshipped Osama Bin Laden, was characterised by his cruelty, ordering the decapitation of a number of local inhabitants, and using others, locked in cages, as human shields. Finally, the \u2019bunker-buster\u2019 bombs of the Russian Air Force destroyed the underground head-quarters specially built to house his Staff. After a period of confusion, one of Allouche\u2019s assistants, Issam el-Bouaydani, temporarily assumed his succession. He was rapidly ousted in favour of a Wahabist cleric, Sheikh Abou Abdarrahman Kaake, who recommended the nomination of one of Zahran Allouche\u2019s cousins, Mohamed Allouche, to direct the delegation of the Saudi opposition at the intra-Syrian peace negotiations in Geneva. Mohamed Allouche had become celebrated for having thrown Syrians accused of being gay from the rooftops \u2013 the Syrian Arab Republic is the only Arab state to respect the private life of its citizens, and does not penalise homosexuals.<\/span><\/p>\n The Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant is also supervised by the British. Like the Army of Islam, its communications are handled by InCoStrat\u00a0[6<\/a><\/strong><\/span>]. Its \u00abMinister for Foreign Affairs\u00bb, Labib al-Nahhas, circulates freely in the West. He is in fact also British, and a member of MI6. He published an op-ed in the Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0[7<\/a><\/strong><\/span>], and paid a secret visit to New York last December to present his report to Jeffrey Feltman.<\/span><\/p>\n On the 17 May, the International Syria Support Group met in Vienna. In its final declaration\u00a0[8<\/a><\/strong><\/span>], it questions the Syrian Arab Army\u2019s strategy of encircling the villages controlled by the jihadists of the \u00abmoderate opposition\u00bb. But above all, it once more validates all of the Russo-US decisions of these last months, namely –<\/span> However, even though Saudi Arabia is a member of the International Syria Support Group, the moderate opposition still refuses to accept these three points. It persists in demanding the departure of President el-Assad and most of the Christian, Chiite and Alawite senior civil servants before the formation of the transition organisation. Furthermore, it does not intend to run against the current leaders in a round of democratic elections.<\/span><\/p>\n It is not inconsequential that during the meeting in Vienna, a diplomat declared that his country was ready to fight Al-Qa\u00efda, but that he was concerned as to who would then ocupy the terrain. Serge\u00ef Lavrov noted what he considered to be a \u00ablapsus\u00bb – this diplomat was admitting, de facto, that his country preferred the victory of Al-Qa\u00efda to the victory of the Syrian Arab Republic. By doing so, he was distancing himself from the decision of the Security Council to make the fight against terrorism its primary objective.<\/span><\/p>\n On the same day, the 17 May, the special representative for the UN Secretary General, Terje R\u00f8d-Larsen, presented his final report on the application of Resolution 1559, and announced his resignation. The Resolution had been drawn up in 2004, on the initiative of the United States, France and Saudi Arabia, to demand the disarmement of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the non-renewal of President Emile Lahoud\u2019s mandate, and the withdrawal of the Syrian peace force from Lebanon. The Resolution had never been applied, although Syria withdrew its soldiers of its own accord when asked to do so by the Lebanese public during the \u00abCedar Revolution\u00bb. Mr. Ban immediately charged his assistant for Political Affaires, Jeffrey Feltman, with taking over Mr. Terje R\u00f8d-Larsen\u2019s functions as well as his own until the end of the year. However, very many observers consider that Jeffrey Feltman, ex-US Ambassador in Beirut, is the real author of Resolution 1559, and that today, he secretly directs the military coalition against Syria from New York.<\/span><\/p>\n On the 19 May, Jeffrey Feltman took part in a ceremony in Paris alongside members of the foreign Syrian opposition, Burhan Ghalioun, Michel Kilo, Bassma Kodmani and Samar Yazbeck.<\/span><\/p>\n Still in France, General Beno\u00eet Puga announced his resignation as the French President\u2019s personal Chief of Staff, in order to join the Chancellory of the L\u00e9gion d\u2019Honneur. An integrist Christian, nostalgic for the monarchy and colonisation, he was the only military man to occupy his post during the mandates of two successive Presidents, Nicolas Sarkozy and Fran\u00e7ois Hollande. He had personally directed France\u2019s secret operations in Syria \u2013 sometimes in contradiction to the advice of the Army\u2019s Chief of Staff \u2013 notably with the assistance of the officers of the French Foreign Legion who worked directly for the Presidency.<\/span><\/p>\n We are moving inexorably towards an interruption of the Geneva negotiations. Moreover, if an agreement should be found between the Syrian parties present, it would be invalidated in the light of earlier international decisions, taking into account the exclusion \u2013 demanded by Turkey \u2013 of the main Kurdish party. This is why the failure of the Geneva talks would probably be followed by the reumption of the intra-Syrian negotiations between those who wish to take part \u2013 in other words, without the pro-Saudis, but with the Kurds. Then the formation of a transitional system with new participants. On the military side, the Syrian Arab Army should take back the country\u2019s main cities, but combats will probably persist at the Iraqi-Syrian frontier.<\/span><\/p>\n Thierry Meyssan<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Translation<\/span> [1<\/a>] \u201cRussian Intelligence report on Daesh\u2019s smuggling of antiquities<\/a>\u201d, Voltaire Network<\/em>, March 8th, 2016.<\/p>\n [2<\/a>] \u201cSecond Russian intelligence report on Turkey\u2019s current assistance to Daesh<\/a>\u201d, Voltaire Network<\/em>, March 18th, 2016.<\/p>\n [3<\/a>] \u00ab Les \u00c9tats-Unis violent le cessez-le-feu en Syrie et arment Al-Qa\u00efda<\/a> \u00bb, \u00ab Qui arme les jihadistes durant le cessez-le-feu ?<\/a> \u00bb, par Thierry Meyssan, T\u00e9l\u00e9vision nationale syrienne, R\u00e9seau Voltaire<\/em>, 25 et 30 avril 2016.<\/p>\n [4<\/a>] \u201cJoint Statement of the Russian Federation and the United States on Syria<\/a>\u201d, Voltaire Network<\/em>, May 9th, 2016.<\/p>\n [5<\/a>] \u201cThe imminent return of Russian planes to Syria<\/a>\u201d, by Valentin Vasilescu, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network<\/em>, May 16th, 2016.<\/p>\n [6<\/a>] \u00ab Comment le Royaume-Uni met en sc\u00e8ne les jihadistes<\/a> \u00bb, R\u00e9seau Voltaire<\/em>, 13 mai 2016.<\/p>\n [7<\/a>] \u201cThe deadly consequences of mislabeling Syria\u2019s revolutionaries<\/a>\u201d, Labib Al Nahhas, Washington Post<\/em>, July 10th, 2015.<\/p>\n [8<\/a>] \u201cStatement of the International Syria Support Group<\/a>\u201d, Voltaire Network<\/em>, May 17th, 2016<\/p>\n
\n —<\/strong> to form a common organisation for the transition between the Syrian government and the entire range of opposition parties when the moment for transition is reached;<\/span>
\n —<\/strong> to elaborate a new Constitution;<\/span>
\n —<\/strong> then to organise new Presidential and parliamentary elections on that basis.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Pete Kimberley<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n