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Is the West waging the wrong war in Syria?

While the USA and few other European powers are busy fighting virtual wars with Daesh, the Syrian regime is committing terrible war crimes which do not need satellite intelligence to be proven

May 2, 2016 at 2:05 pm

What has been taking place in Syria during the last few days is beyond belief- partly due to the scale of barbarism that the Syrian regime and its allies are waging against Syrian civilians in Aleppo and other towns and villages, and partly because of the total paralysis internationally regarding attempting to save those civilians.

The chaotic situation begs the very question whether the western powers consider those people human or that they are sub-human, and not worthy of protection!!

What is even more worrying is the ineptitude of the Arab league or the Organization of the Islamic Conference which do not seem to show any sign of life as umbrella organizations that are supposedly there to protect civilians from brutal dictators such as Bashar Al Assad. Civilians are human beings to be protected and shielded from any atrocities regardless of their faith, race or colour.

News reports confirm that over 600 people have been killed in Aleppo only in a span of two days. The world is witnessing via social media networks or satellite TV the city being flattened and civilians being murdered in cold blood.

So while the USA and few other European powers are busy fighting virtual wars with Daesh, the Syrian regime is committing terrible war crimes which do not need satellite intelligence to be proven.

Isn’t the west waging the wrong war against Daesh (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq? Isn’t Daesh a symptom rather than the cause of what is going on?

Isn’t the Bashar regime the root of all the drastic catastrophes taking place in Syria, including the creation of this terror group?

The Daily Telegraph in the UK has recently revealed that the business exchange between the Syrian regime and Daesh reached 40 million Dollars per month. An agreement, the newspaper claimed, was made since 2014 between the regime and Daesh to sell the oil under its control. Arabi 21 also reported (26 April 2016) that the source of this discovery was due to the documents obtained by the American and British special forces when they captured a prominent Daesh leader Abu Sayyaf (also known as the Minster of Oil and Finance).

The significant income from oil sales to the Syrian regime explains the sophisticated logistics that Daesh owns. Military showing off by the group reveals every now and then unconventional military capabilities possessed by a terrorist group which is meant to be under assault by the major powers.

New reports from media organisations, in addition to the UN Human Rights Commission, testify to the growing human catastrophe in Homs, Damascus and its outskirts, Edleb, and Deer Alzour.

This gloomy reality begs the following urgent question: isn’t the war waged by big powers on Daesh a wrong war? Are they attempting to distract the international community? It seems they keep extending the life of the Assad regime while watching everyday the total obliteration of more hospitals, schools, and other infrastructure that sustained the remaining civilians in Syria.

It appears that the Syrian opposition leaders who recently withdrew from the negotiations due to the lack of sincerity of the regime’s delegates, and refusal to accept Assad as any part of the future of Syria, have been penalised for that. The Syrian legitimate opposition factions are left with no choice: either to accept the concession regarding Assad, or face further annihilation.

When we know that the Syrian regime is actually responsible for the growth of Daesh and sustaining their power through providing safe routes for their oil, we realise that the real war is not primarily on Daesh but the sectarian regime of Al Assad and its allies.

The stigma of what has been taking place in Syria will remain associated with Assad and his allies for a long time to come. If the world powers remain silent and inactive then they will share in this culpability, and the blood of many innocent and helpless men, women and children will be on all their hands too.

The writer is Professor of Media and Communication. This article was first published by The Peninsula.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.