US-backed Islamist rebels launch offensive in Syria

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US-backed Islamist rebels, dominated by the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, launched a counteroffensive against Syrian government troops Friday in Aleppo.

The offensive was preceded by the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas in government-controlled western Aleppo. Russian General Sergei Rudskoi reported that 43 civilians were killed and 96 wounded in the days prior to the offensive in rocket and mortar attacks.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 115 people were killed and wounded on Friday alone. In one attack, rebels fired Grad missiles at al-Nayrab airport. Outside of Aleppo, an air base in Latakia where Russian aircraft operate from also came under rebel attack.

Making clear the central role being played by Al Qaeda-linked forces, a military spokesman for the Fastaqim faction told the Associated Press, “All the revolutionary factions, without exception, are participating in the battle.”

Charles Lister, a Syrian expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told the New York Times that 11 of the 20 groups involved in the offensive had been vetted by the CIA and provided with antitank missiles and other weaponry. He acknowledged that the American-supplied weapons were being used to carry out the bombardments, while Al-Nusra forces fought on the front line.

This did not stop the US and European media from generally reveling in the counteroffensive, with the Washington Post reporting breathlessly that, following a “smothering Syrian blockade and round the clock air strikes” aiming “to starve and shock rebel-held areas of Aleppo into surrender,” the “counterpunch” had now been launched. Only later did the article observe that the military action had been accompanied by “indiscriminate” shelling of civilian areas of western Aleppo.

Despite the new offensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin refused a request by the military’s general staff to resume air strikes in eastern Aleppo. Russian and Syrian warplanes have observed a ten-day pause in the strikes, which they say is aimed at allowing civilians and militants to leave the city and bring in humanitarian supplies. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, still sought to press for a deal with Washington by urging the US to separate “moderate” rebels from the extremist fighters. However, he added that Russia reserved the right to launch renewed attacks if the situation on the ground required it.

It is now clear that, as with the brief ceasefire in September, the US-backed rebels used the pause in fighting to regroup and prepare a counterattack.

Washington has no intention of retreating from its goal of regime change in Syria, which is part of its broader agenda to consolidate its hegemony over the energy-rich Middle East and sideline its chief rivals, above all Russia and China.

The anti-Russian campaign led by the US with charges of war crimes in Aleppo continues to gather pace. On Friday, The UN Human Rights Council narrowly voted to block Russia’s membership on the body. Western media outlets and politicians have been incessantly denouncing the Russian and Syrian governments for committing “war crimes” over recent weeks during their attacks on the Islamist positions in the east of Aleppo.

Washington’s hypocrisy over war crimes is staggering. It is in the process of leading an all-out assault on Iraq’s second largest city with an estimated civilian population of 1.5 million people. Officials from the UN and aid organizations have warned that the assault threatens to trigger the largest humanitarian catastrophe in recent times.

But in stark contrast to its denunciation of Russian and Syrian attacks on eastern Aleppo as war crimes, the shelling of civilians by US allies in Mosul is being hailed as a liberation and civilian casualties are being blamed on unscrupulous ISIS fighters using residents as “human shields.” In reality, mounting reports indicate that there is a de facto collaboration in place between US-led forces in Iraq and the jihadi militants, who are being permitted to leave Mosul through a western route and cross the border into Syria to fight Assad.

At a meeting of Russian, Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers in Moscow yesterday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem indicated that Russia could intervene militarily to cut off this escape route, telling the media, “I’m happy to hear from Mr. Lavrov the confirmation that we’ll prevent ISIL from reaching Raqqa.”

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