By Ghassan KadiFebruary 07, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" -
Even though the Syrian Army,
with the aid of its international friends and
allies, especially Russia, has been able to score
many victories and liberate most of Syria’s major
cities from the control of terrorist groups, the
fight is far from over.
Before the situation in the American-controlled
North-East is addressed, the Western regions,
including Idlib and its surrounds must be put back
fully under the legitimate government control.
As a matter of fact, politically speaking, the
situation now is perhaps more complex to deal with
than nine years ago when the “War on Syria” took
form. Almost exactly nine years ago, the enemies of
Syria combined efforts to launch a joint attack.
United only by their hatred for Syria, they had
diverse agendas, but they combined efforts in order
to capitalize on each other’s strengths. The Wahhabi
version of Islamists, headed by Saudi Arabia, joined
hands with the Muslim Brotherhood version headed by
Turkey and financed by Qatar, and they all joined
hands with NATO, Israel and Lebanese ultra-right
militia among other vendetta groups, for the single
purpose of deposing President Assad and replacing
the legitimate secular Syrian Government with one
that is sectarian and pliable to the will of the
Western roadmap.
They failed.
They failed in achieving their combined
objectives and some of the armies they created, such
as Jaysh Al-Islam, headed by former Syrian Army
officer Zahran Alloush, ceased to exist. Alloush was
killed in a Syrian Army attack in December 2015, but
the casualties also included conspirators who were
sidelined and lost their careers; the most prominent
of which is Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, who was
perhaps the single biggest architect of the attack
on Syria.
The tides began to turn in favour of Syria after
the Syrian Army scored its huge victory in the
Battle of Qusayr in mid-2013. This was a decisive
battle that basically disabled the terrorists from
linking the Damascus province with their northern
supply lines. Without this victory, in retrospect,
it would be arguable if Syria would have been able
to earn much support from Russia; if any at all.
Syria had to show a fighting spirit, resolve,
determination and respect for her to reach such an
echelon. After all, Russia does not only by
tradition honour and respect those who stand up with
dignity against all odds, but on the geopolitical
scene, and after decades of being sidelined by the
Western bloc, any Russian global move had to be
fully and thoroughly assessed before any venture was
to be undertaken.