US Sanctions Are Killing Syrians and Are a Human Rights Violation

By Steven Sahiounie

 

Damascus is now bitterly cold and is soon to be blanketed with snow. About 12 million Syrians are facing a deadly winter without heating fuel, gasoline for transportation, and dark houses each evening without electricity. Aleppo, Homs, and Hama are also extremely cold all winter. 

Imagine being ill and having to walk to the doctor or hospital.  The ambulances in Syria will now respond only to the most life-threatening calls because they must conserve gasoline, or face running out entirely. Gasoline on the black market costs Syrians an equivalent of 50 US dollars for a tank of 20-liter fuel.

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RUSSIA HAS UNDERTAKEN BOTH MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS TO HELP SYRIA MAINTAIN THE INTEGRITY AND SOVEREIGNTY

By Dragana Trifkovic 

The Congress of the National Dialogue of Syria, which takes place in Sochi, aims to finally settle the long-standing conflict in that country.

 

It is attended by representatives of various ethnic, religious and political groups who through dialogue should determine the future structure of Syria. In addition to the ruling Baath party, representatives of the opposition and civil unions, as well as representatives of the permanent members of the UN and the countries of the Middle East, came to the congress. Russia has made both military and diplomatic efforts to help the Syrian people maintain the integrity and sovereignty of the country, as well as to overcome terrorism. In cooperation with Iran and Turkey, successful negotiations were held in Astana, and the congress in Sochi is the final point of all efforts to bring peace.

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Challenges And Lessons Of The Situation In Syria: An Overview

By Dragana Trifkovic

The ceasefire in Syria entered into force on February 27th in accordance with the agreement reached between the Russian Federation and the United States of America following the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry. The terrorist group “Al-Nusra” (a branch of Al-Qaeda) and the Islamic State were exempt from the agreement. With the truce not applying to these groups, the struggle against these terrorist structures has continued. It is estimated that since the beginning of the war in Syria (March 2011), more than 270,000 people have been killed. Once rebel forces in Syria had successfully taken control of large territories of the state, the last line of Syria’s defense fell back to Damascus, Latakia, and Aleppo. When terrorists seized Aleppo, Damascus’ resistance was close to collapsing. 

 

The Results of Russian Support

 

At the last moment for Syria, the Russian Federation committed to a military intervention. In early September last year, the Russian army began operations against the terrorists in Syria and inflicted serious blows against terrorist units over the course of six months, thus turning the tide of the war. The Russian Air Force carried out more than 9,000 sorties and destroyed over 200 infrastructural objects of the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State. It should be noted that Syrian, Russian, Iranian, and Lebanese forces from Hezbollah have all participated together in the defense of Syria. If Russia had not come to support the Syrian Army, then by all estimates Syria would have lost the war to the jihadists. On this note let us recall how the US and its allies allegedly led the fight against Islamic State in Syria for months without any results. In reality, since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the US and EU supported, trained, and armed malicious forces in the country and region as a whole, with the special role of financing terrorism played by the United Kingdom, France, as well as the American allies of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. 

Seventeen days following the announcement of the ceasefire in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the decision to partially withdraw Russian armed forces from Syria with the justification that they had accomplished all of their established goals. However, a necessary number of soldiers and S-400 anti-air defense systems have remained at Russian air and naval bases in Syria. The focus in Syria has since shifted from military operations to the peace process in favor of which Russia had acted from the very beginning. 

 

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Syria’s Balkanization: Partitioning the Country ‘Not a Good Option’

By Ekaterina Blinova

 

The division of Syria is not a good option and cannot be regarded as a permanent solution, Serbian geopolitical expert Dragana Trifkovic stresses, drawing parallels between Syria and Yugoslavia. When the West rushes in to redraw state borders, it usually means it plans to capitalize on the fragmentation, she adds.

A chorus of Western pundits and military analysts is calling for the partitioning of Syria, claiming that Humpty Dumpty, as they cynically dub the country, cannot be put back together again.

However, the last things they are concerned with are the will of the Syrian people and the nation’s peace and prosperity. What really makes the hearts of the Western establishment beat faster are their vested interests.

NATO’s Humpty Dumpty Approach

For instance, John R. Bolton, an American scholar and a former US Ambassador to the United Nations, suggests carving the Syrian and Iraqi oil regions out from the countries in order to create a pro-Western Sunni state — an oil producer and a „bulwark against both Mr. Assad and Iran-allied Baghdad.“

In his turn, Israeli academic David M. Weinberg claims that it is in the interest of the international community to recognize Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights amid the Syrian civil war. „Humpty Dumpty is down: The Golan is Israeli“ — the title of his articlefor The Jerusalem Post reads.  

„I think that the division of Syria is not a good option and that it won’t result in a permanent solution,“ Serbian expert in geopolitics and the Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies in Belgrade Dragana Trifkovic told Sputnik.