Recent comments by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, and UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce indicate US coalition is hellbent on protecting Jihadi terrorists in Syria
As Syria and Russia prepare for the final battle to eradicate the Jihadi terrorists from Syria - the coming offensive on Idlib Province which is currently occupied by over 10,000 al-Nusra terrorists and radical militants from other various Jihadi terrorist factions - the US and UK war propaganda continues to intensify and reach new levels of absurdity. At the same time, western officials continue to push the same tired old narrative that the 'Assad regime' is likely to use chemical weapons in upcoming attacks on Idlib, an indication that a false flag chemical attack provocation to be staged by the White Helmets or carried out by al-Nusra terrorists and blamed on Assad is still in the works.
In press briefings last Tuesday and Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert warned Syria and Russia against ANY offensive in Idlib, apparently expanding the US threat to respond to any alleged 'chemical attack' to now include any military escalation in Syria at all. She also reiterated the US "concern" over the potential for "the Syrian regime backed by Russia" to use chemical weapons against Syrians in coming Idlib offensive, despite Syria's chemical weapons having been destroyed under the supervision of the UN all the way back in 2014, and reaffirmed the US would respond to any 'chemical attack' "in a swift and appropriate matter."
"We've made it very clear, the Secretary's made it clear that...any Russian and/or Syrian regime offensive on Idlib, and any kind of an escalation in the area, we would hold them responsible and we would hold them accountable for that," the spokeswoman said on Tuesday. It appears the US is set to hold the Syrian government responsible for "any kind of an escalation in the area," even escalation by the terrorists occupying Idlib, as the words "any kind of an escalation" clearly indicate.
Watch the video below which I put together over the weekend covering Heather's comments on Syria in those two press briefings last week:
(Video on D-Tube here: )
The spokeswoman also expressed concern over Iran's alliance with Syria and alleged "destabilizing activities around the world," ignoring the US destabilization of Iraq, Libya, and particularly of Syria by supporting ISIS, al-Nusra (al-Qaeda in Syria) and other Jihadi terrorist factions which the US at the same time falsely claims to be fighting to eradicate. In an obvious attempt to protect the terrorists in Idlib, Nauert went on to state that "a military solution is not going to solve the problem long term in Syria, that it has to be a political solution," because we all know the US policy is to negotiate a "political solution" for radical al-Qaeda terrorists who refuse to engage in peace talks, rather than bombing them. Right, I must have missed that memo... The hypocrisy is so blatantly obvious, it makes one wonder how these US officials can make such comments with a straight face.
When asked about the Russian claims that Jihadi terrorists in Idlib are planning to stage or carry out a chemical attack to frame Assad and create a pretext for more US airstrikes against Syria, Nauert answered by saying, "I think this is more false flag type reporting, we've seen this before...and we don't buy into that." In other words, they "don't buy into that" because the US is either directly behind the false flags being reported on and exposed, or at the least these false flags further the US foreign policy agenda in the region. So basically, anything Russia reports that runs contrary to the lies, goals and agenda of US foreign policy should be immediately dismissed as "Russian propaganda" which is "not true," to use the words of Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon.
Also last Tuesday, following a meeting about Syria, the UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce said much the same in her denial of the Russian claims regarding terrorists in Idlib planning a chemical attack. There is just one reason these claims are false and it doesn't have to do with any available evidence, but rather it is simply because Russia is making the claims and therefore they can't possibly be true, according to UK 'logic'!
"There are many terrorist organizations in Idlib," a reporter asked as a follow-up to previous questions regarding Russia's allegations that al-Nusra militants in Idlib had received a large batch of poisonous chemicals which they intend to use to stage a false flag chemical attack. "Why do you rule out that they would perpetrate such an attack?"
"Because this story is coming from the Russians," Pierce responded. "It is much more likely for this to be a smoke screen for things that the Syrian authorities are planning to do," she continued. "The way to deal with any terrorists who are in Idlib is to ask the UN to negotiate safe passage, such as has been done before."
Watch the video clip from the UN below for the full context and to hear this absurd reasoning for yourself:
(Video also on my D-Tube channel here: )
In the words of Caitlin Johnstone, as I am pretty sure I couldn't do a better job summarizing these comments myself:
So let's recap: it is the British government's official public position that the extremist jihadist factions who have been holing up in their final stronghold preparing for the long-awaited military confrontation in Idlib would have no incentive whatsoever to stage a false flag chemical attack in order to rally western reinforcements against the Syrian government and thereby escape defeat. Far more likely, in the British government's estimation, is that the warnings of such an attack are a "smoke screen" to cover for the Syrian government's plan to perpetrate its own chemical attack in order to accomplish the key strategic goal of suffocating a few dozen children. Oh yeah, and terrorists should be given safe passage to areas where they can safely regroup, because that's the thing that you do with terrorists now. - @caitlinjohnstone
Yes, the US and UK war propaganda is getting pretty ridiculous ahead of the battle for Idlib, demonstrating the US Empire's desperation as its terrorist proxy armies sit on the verge of total defeat in Syria. Both the US and UK are now advocating political solutions for the terrorists in Syria as a part of the ongoing attempt to save them from swift and certain destruction by Russia and the SAA. The Syrian/Russian alliance has already been seeking a peaceful political solution for weeks now, but these same al-Nusra terrorists occupying Idlib refuse to even talk or negotiate with Damascus, and have threatened the leaders of militant groups who are willing to negotiate. It sounds to me like it's the terrorists rejecting any type of political solution, not Russia or the Syrian government under President Assad as the US and UK governments would have us believe.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also pushing ridiculous anti-Syrian propaganda in his own comments in a Tweet on Friday.
"The US sees this [Syrian and Russian assault on Idlib] as an escalation of an already dangerous conflict," the Secretary wrote. "The 3 million Syrians, who have already been forced out of their homes and who are now in #Idlib, will suffer from this aggression. Not good. The world is watching," the Secretary's Tweet read.
Never mind that it was the terrorists now cornered in Idlib who initiated the war of aggression against Syria 7 years ago which is responsible for causing the Syrian refugee crisis. Never mind that these terrorists have been refusing for weeks now to discuss any political solution with Damascus. Never mind that these same terrorists have in the past starved the residents in areas under their control, beheaded children, executed countless civilians, used kidnapped civilians as human shields - all war crimes - and have now been accused by Idlib residents of kidnapping hundreds of civilians across the province in the last several weeks. Never mind all that - any move to eradicate these ruthless Jihadi terrorists is "aggression" on the part of the Syrian and Russian armies according to Pompeo, even though it was the terrorists who initiated the aggression in the first place. The Secretary says the Syrian people will "suffer" from the upcoming offensive on Idlib, and I guess he just discounts the suffering they are currently subject to under the rule of the radical terrorist factions occupying Idlib.
The first reply to Pompeo's Tweet by user "Dustin" illustrates the insanity of the US position:
"Was the world watching when you were busy giving weapons to extremist groups in Syria? Or funneling in foreign fighters to keep the conflict going? The U.S. is not interested in peace in Syria and your actions confirm that."
Yes, and the Secretary's comments also bank on Americans having a very short memory span, as they fly directly in the face of comments made by the White House appointed anti-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk almost exactly a year prior to this!
"Idlib provice is the largest al-Qaeda safe-haven since 9/11, tied to directly to Ayman al Zawahiri, this is a huge problem," McGurk warned on July 27, 2017 at a Washington D.C. event hosted by the Middle East Institute in which he was a panelist. For more on this, please check out a recent ZeroHedge article discussing this in a little more detail.
The hypocrisy and apparent contradictions of the US government are so incredibly blatant now, it makes one wonder just how much longer the American public will put up with the obvious attempt to protect terrorists in Syria and prevent the country from returning to peace. According to an article published by the Washington Post on Saturday, one US official even said that "our job is to help create quagmires [for Russia and the Syrian regime] until we get what we want":
“Right now, our job is to help create quagmires [for Russia and the Syrian regime] until we get what we want,” says one administration official, explaining the effort to resist an Idlib onslaught. This approach involves reassuring the three key U.S. allies on Syria’s border — Israel, Turkey and Jordan — of continued American involvement.
As Jason Ditz explained in a more detailed AntiWar.com article regarding this statement, the US goal in Syria is to keep the war going, and the only way to do so right now is to protect al-Qaeda in Idlib. Recent statements from France, UK, and numerous US officials demonstrate just how desperately they are trying to protect the terrorists in Idlib and keep Syria from winning the 7 year war against Jihadi terrorism in the country. With how obviously insane the current US position on Syria is right now, it is shocking that any Americans at all still believe the foreign policy agenda of the US coalition has anything to do with 'fighting terrorism,' when the opposite is so clearly the truth.
It is just as Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari, quoting Najib Mahfouz, said in response to threats made by Niki Hailey some time ago:
"They are liars. And they know that they are liars. And they know that we know that they are liars."
And they don't care, and they just keep on lying anyway. But soon enough all the deception, fraud and hypocrisy will come back to bite them, and in fact it already is, and the US Empire will eventually come crashing down just like every other empire before her. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has recently warned the US "not to play with fire," but it seems the US isn't listening. Syria and Russia have both made it clear that no amount of US threats or planned military intervention, even amidst new false claims of another 'chemical attack' by the 'Assad regime', will stop the coming liberation of Idlib from terrorist control. Until then, expect the western propaganda to continue to intensify and become even more ridiculously absurd in the days leading up to the coming battle for Idlib.
Update: Trump has now also jumped on the propaganda bandwagon in Monday Tweet:
For more info on recent developments in the region, check out South Front's Syrian-Iraqi War Report for September 3rd:
(This video and much more Syrian war analysis available at https://southfront.org, and @southfront on Steemit)