Aleppo is the biggest and second most important Syrian city after capital Damascus which was occupied by terrorists and Takfiri armed groups in 2012. Last week, Syrian Army and Russian forces cut the only border route to Turkey and completed their siege around the city in a significant achievement during more than 5 years of war with terrorists and Takfiris. The achievements of Syrian army and its allies, though, are not limited to this and they have been spending recent months gaining momentum on the battleground.
The imminent recapturing of Aleppo, and even the siege over the city, has improved and will increase Syrian government and Army’s position and will drastically change the game in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his resistance policy. In other words, liberating Aleppo would pave the way for Syria – and Russia and Iran as its allies – to defeat Al-Nusra Front on one hand, and ISIL which is weakened both in Syria and Iraq on the other hand.
There are two evidence marking the significance of the ongoing developments in Syria. Split of Al-Nusra Front from al-Qaeda was a headline-making news for many media outlets, but did not surprise so many people. It is no secret that Al-Nusra has long been supported by states seeking removal of Assad both in region and outside the Middle East as so-called ‘moderate’ fighters who can fight Assad and Syrian Army to follow a regime change policy in the war-torn country. However, when it was clear that Al-Nusra is affiliated with Al-Qaeda, no more – at least direct – support was possible; though they still managed to funnel supports in lower scale.
The idea was in fact raised more than a year ago by Qatar and some Persian Gulf states who suggested the group to split up with Al-Qaeda and they in return would provide the group with funds and supplies, according to a Reuters report in March 2015. The Arab countries had suggested the idea to get rid of notoriety and illegality of working with and supporting an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group. So in this way they could circumvent the international laws and work with the same terrorists who were once in allegiance with Al-Qaeda in order to use the terrorists to topple Bashar Assad and pursue their regime change plan in Syria.
Now, with the tough situation for Al-Nusra in Aleppo, the same scenario seems to be under way. Al-Nusra has split off from Al-Qaeda and voices of support for the group under the pretext of humanitarianism is being heard from west. Syria and Russia have considered three ‘safe corridors’ for nearly 250,000 civilians and one for the fighters who lay down arms to evacuate the city; Assad has also issued an amnesty verdict for 3 months for any fighter who lays down arms and surrenders to Army or releases prisoners captured by terrorists. Yet, the United States who has the group on its list of terrorist organizations, cast doubt on Moscow's intent where Secretary of State John Kerry claimed "it has the risk, if it is a ruse, of completely breaking apart the level of cooperation."
French and British foreign ministers were next to stand against the siege which can weaken terrorists in Aleppo after about five years, talking of possible humanitarian catastrophe despite measures such as safety corridors and distribution of warm food to the displaced taken by Syria and Russian forces. German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier also joined the western officials to oppose the siege. With Syrian Army and its allies’ upper hand in the country’s war on terror and renaming of Al-Nusra, western states and some regional Arab countries seem to be trying to rescue terrorists in Aleppo and prolong Syrian war.
It is also important to have an eye on the other side of Syria to understand the situation in Syria and find out another evidence the government is gaining the upper hand in the devastative war. Reviewing last few months in behavior of ISIL terrorist group shows that they losing the ground in Syria (and of course in Iraq as well) more and more and to keep their face, they have turned toward spreading fear by carrying out terrorist attacks in different parts of the world. Recent tragic events in Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany and France which were claimed by ISIL reflects the fact that they are trying to bully the world and hide their losses on the battle ground in Syria and Iraq.
By supporting terrorist groups – directly or indirectly – and curbing Syrian government’s achievements, anti-Assad countries are playing with fire as they have put collapse of Assad government on the top of their agenda, while it negatively impacts their own security. Such terrorist attacks by love wolves or ISIL members across the Europe and other parts of world can happen again unless the Syrian government uproots the terrorists in the country and is ‘truly’ and ‘honestly’ helped in that way. Otherwise, the current policy of west in supporting so-called ‘moderate’ terrorists with their double-standards and impeding Assad’s victory by engaging him in a prolonged war, will have no other result but more sporadic terrorist attacks in their lands.
Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh has done his MA in North American Studies and his focus has been on US policies towards the Middle East. He is also Englsih Chief Editor of Mehr News Agency.
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