Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
Kessab is a tiny Syrian village on the Turkish border. In February 2011, Em Ahmad, a 30-year-plus resident of Kessab, was coming back to Kessab through the international border crossing at Kessab. She and her family were shocked to see white tents set-up in Turkey on the border as the passed by. The so-called 'popular uprising' in Daraa, Syria, did not begin until March 2011, and Em Ahmad had no inkling of the purpose of the empty tent community set-up waiting for Syrian refugees. Later, she would understand the role those tents played, and the fact they were ready long before any Syrian in Daraa, 371 kilometers away, would take to the streets.
Syria is now in the first steps toward ending the nightmare that destroyed many parts of the country, caused the largest migration since WW2, caused millions to become refugees living in tents in neighboring countries, displaced half of the country, and killed and injured hundreds of millions.
Recently, Turkey has changed its policy on Syria in an effort to restore diplomatic relations with Damascus. The Prime Minister of Iraq, al-Sudani, announced he expects a meeting between the Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad very soon.
In order to restore the relationship, Turkey must stop its support of terrorists, must withdraw its troops and mercenaries from all areas in Syria, which include Idlib and north of Aleppo. The first steps have been taken by Turkey as they have ended support of the terrorists in Idlib, and ended support of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) north of Aleppo.
This drastic change by Turkey was met recently by violent clashes between Turkish soldiers and Turkish civilians, and terrorists and their Syrian civilian supporters, who pulled down Turkish flags and stepped on them, attacked Turkish vehicles and Turkish drivers, and attacked a Turkish soldier and made him kneel and kiss the 3-starred flag of the FSA. In Idlib, the terrorists burned up Turkish vehicles owned by Turkish citizens working in Idlib officially, which resulted in all Turkish civil servants being evacuated from Idlib. Syrian refugees in Turkey were attacked by angry Turkish citizens who view the Syrians as unwelcome vandals.
North of Aleppo, there had been roads controlled by the Turkish-backed FSA, but a new order came from Ankara to relinquish the roads back to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). These beginning steps pave the way to a restored relationship between Ankara and Damascus.
The UN played a role in maintaining Idlib as a bastion for the armed opposition. Repeatedly, the UN pressured Russia and Syria to allow humanitarian aid to enter Idlib from Turkey. The UN argued there were 3 million civilians who needed food and medical supplies, and while that is true, the aid passed exclusively through the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). If you were a civilian supporter of HTS, you got your aid, but if you had any complaint, you got nothing. Civilians were forced to buy the food they needed from the shopping mall, Al Hamra, where HTS leader, Mohammed al-Julani, warehoused surplus aid to be sold. All the major international charities were in Idlib, and a number of them had serious problems with the terrorists who controlled their work there. For example, the terrorists would not allow female civilians to participate in aid programs that would teach them employment skills. According to the FSA, once called "McCain's Army", women were to stay at home in the kitchen and bedroom.
Turkey was a close ally of the US and a fellow NATO member. Turkey was directed to play a vital role in the 'regime change' project orchestrated by US President Barak Obama. The Syrian project was just one piece in the larger 'Arab Spring' in which the US and NATO attempted to create a 'New Middle East'.
Libya was attacked and destroyed by the US-NATO war machine, and has not recovered. Tunisia was transformed into a Muslim Brotherhood administration, Egypt's election was rigged by the US in order to place a Muslim Brotherhood president at the helm, and Syria was attacked in a 'regime change' project that failed. Tunisia and Egypt have both since recovered from the US meddling in 'Arab Spring' and have kicked out the Muslim Brotherhood. Syria fought back and refused to change a secular government into a sectarian nightmare to suit US interests.
General Wesley Clark, former NATO commander, said in a video that he visited the Pentagon and was told they had plans to 'take out seven countries'. Syria was one of them.
Serena Shim, an American-Lebanese journalist in Turkey on assignment, witnessed a UN World Food Program truck delivering armed terrorists from Jibhat al-Nusra (now called HTS) across the border from Turkey to Syria. After reporting her explosive news, she was killed in Turkey when a cement truck rammed her small rental car, and the driver of the truck has never been located.
HTS has occupied Idlib, and holds 3 million residents as human shields. Idlib is the last remaining territory occupied by the armed Syrian opposition. Recently, the residents of Idlib took to the streets to protest their treatment under the Julani iron-fist rule. Qatar, one of the last bastions of Muslim Brotherhood influence, stated they no longer support Julani, and were sympathetic of the protesters who voiced their grievances after arrests and torture of civilians by Julani's terrorists.
Despite the $10 million bounty on the head of Julani, issued by the US FBI, American media has visited Julani to interview him, while he sported a western suit and tie, in an effort to re-brand his image. In the end, the US project to morph a Radical Islamic terrorist into a Washington-approved leader in Syria failed, as did the entire Obama war on Syria.
Robert S. Ford, former US Ambassador to Syria, has been very critical of Obama's failure in Syria. Ford feels the US seriously underestimated the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), and bet that the army would break under the pressure from the Muslim Brotherhood supporters in the street. The SAA never broke. Ford had wanted the US to enter Syria militarily, but Obama refused to fulfill his promises.
US Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, was the biggest force behind arming and funding the terrorists fighting in Syria. McCain made several illegal visits to Idlib and met personally with the terrorists and their commanders. Even though he hated the Mexican migrants coming into Arizona illegally, that didn't stop him from doing the same and crossing from Turkey into Idlib without any visa or border controls. He believed in the FSA, and lobbied for them in Congress. The FSA sold fellow Arizonian, Kayla Mueller, to ISIS in Aleppo. She was later raped and tortured by the ISIS leader, Baghdadi, and died in a US airstrike.
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