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Syria

I Crashed An Anti-Syria Lobby Meeting

This July 30, I registered under an alias to join a workshop organized by the Syrian American Council (SAC), the leading voice of the lobby that aims to starve and destabilize Syria into submission to the West’s demands. The workshop instructed SAC members to advocate for the most recent Syria regime change bill, H.R. 3202, during those visits. During the seminar, I was able to witness firsthand the impact of the anti-Syria lobby and understand the cynical tactics it employs to condemn the population of Syria to poverty and famine. Most recently, the lobby successfully ended the life-saving sanctions exemption known as General License 23 (GL 23), which allowed humanitarian aid into Syria following the catastrophic earthquake that struck the country this February.

US Sanctions Block UN Software For Earthquake Response In Syria, Iran

Life-saving humanitarian coordination software used by the UN’s emergency response network was blocked in Syria after February’s devastating earthquake because of US sanctions, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported on 28 July. The online system is also inaccessible in Iran, which has suffered from devastating earthquakes in the past, and where the rapid coordinated deployment of search and rescue teams may prove crucial to save people trapped under rubble after an earthquake in the future. The 6 February earthquake killed tens of thousands of people across hundreds of kilometers of southern Turkiye and northern Syria, but thousands of people were also saved from collapsed buildings by search and rescue teams.

Situation Will Improve If All Illegal Sanctions, Occupation Are Withdrawn

On Monday, July 24, Syria’s permanent representative at the UN, Bassam Sabagh, announced that his government had permitted the UN agencies to carry on their cross-border aid program through the Bab-al-Hawa border crossing. He was speaking at a special briefing of the UN Security Council on the condition of his country. The announcement ends the uncertainty about the future of the UN humanitarian aid program in the rebel-held areas in Syria’s north-west. Following Syrian objections, Russia had vetoed the resolution for the extension of the program earlier this month. Syria and Russia had objected to the nature and period of the program that is supported by the West.

Railway Of Resistance: A Grand Project To Connect Iran, Iraq, Syria

Sir Halford John Mackinder, one of Britain’s most prominent theorists in the field of geopolitics, discusses the significance of land connectivity between nations in his 1904 essay called The Geographical Pivot of History. Besides introducing his notable Heartland Theory, Mackinder argued that advancements in transportation technology, such as the development of railways, have altered the balance of power in international politics by enabling a powerful state or group of states to expand its influence along transport routes. The establishment of blocs, like the EU or BRICS, for instance, aims to enhance communication between member states. This objective has positive implications for the economy and helps reduce the risk of tensions among them.

Arab Leaders: Foreign Interference In Arab World Must Come To An End

At the conclusion of the 32nd annual Arab League summit hosted by Saudi Arabia on 19 May, the regional bloc issued a joint declaration calling for an end to foreign interference in the region and reaffirming their support for Palestinian liberation. “We call for stopping foreign interference in the domestic affairs of Arab countries and categorically reject all support for the formation of armed groups and militias outside the scope of state institutions,” the joint statement reads. It also stressed that the Israeli occupation of Palestine remains “one of the key factors of stability in the region” and condemns “in the strongest terms the practices and violations targeting Palestinians in their lives, property and existence” while calling for the formation of a sovereign Palestinian state “on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Bold Gambits On The West Asian Chessboard

West Asia is a region that is currently experiencing a great deal of geopolitical activity. Recent diplomatic efforts, initiated by Russia and overseen by China, secured a long-elusive Iranian and Saudi Arabian rapprochement, while Syria’s return to the Arab League has been welcomed with great fanfare. The diplomatic flurry signals a shift away from the Imperial “Divide and Rule” tactics that have been used for decades to create national, tribal, and sectarian rifts throughout this strategic region. The proxy war in Syria, backed by the Empire and its terror outfits – including the occupation of resource-rich territories and mass theft of Syrian oil – continues to rage on despite Damascus having gained the upper hand.

Iran And Syria Call For End Of Western Economic Domination

The Syrian and Iranian presidents met in Damascus and announced their resolve to work for greater regional stability. They stressed that the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the region was necessary for this purpose. They emphasized that their mutual cooperation in the economic field is intended to be a strategic move to counter the impact of illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and some of its allies. The countries signed a long-term comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement during the state visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Damascus on Wednesday, May 3.

Syria Comes In From The Cold

While the world continues to come to grips with the reality — and consequences — of the Chinese-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Araba and Iran, another diplomatic coup is unfolding in the Middle East. This one is orchestrated by the Russians. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan flew to Damascus last week, where he met Syrian President Bashar Assad. This visit followed that of Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad earlier this month to Riyadh. The two countries severed diplomatic relations in 2012 at the beginning of a Syrian civil conflict that saw Saudi Arabia throwing its money behind anti-regime fighters seeking to remove Assad from power.

Echoes Of Taif: Syria And Saudi Arabia Reconcile

In the same Russia Today interview, Assad declared his refusal to meet with Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan without the withdraw of Turkish military forces from the lands it occupies in Syria.These two statements clearly underline Damascus’ policy approach to “reconciliations” taking place across West Asia. Assad’s change in stance towards Saudi Arabia came only after Riyadh completely withdrew its military presence from Syria. Notably, rapprochement efforts took a big leap forward two days ago when the Saudis, for the first time since the Syrian war’s onset, received Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Riyadh.

Xi’s Diplomacy For Peace Vs. Biden’s Diplomacy For War

“Global Power Struggles Signal An End to An Era of Diplomacy.”  So ran a page one headline for the New York Times April 11 print edition, marking Joe Biden’s ceremonial Ireland visit to to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Accords. The commemoration served as an “unspoken reminder that such diplomatic breakthroughs remain a thing of the past,” bemoaned reporter Peter Baker.  Certainly, he is correct if one confines one’s view to the record of the US and its vassal states on the Ukraine crisis.  Sec. of State Blinken has made it abundantly clear that the US wants nothing to do with negotiations to end the US proxy war in Ukraine.

Peace In The Middle East? That’s A Threat

Thanks to China's and Russia's mediation peace is breaking out in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates has begun withdrawing its forces from #Yemen. The Saudi-Emirati-Yemenite agreement will be announced soon. The Middle East is solving its conflicts without the #US negative impact. Peace will also come to Syria. The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia will soon visit Damascus. He will invite Syria to rejoin the Arab League. An Arab League summit will be held next month in Saudi Arabia and the Syrian president Bashar al Assad is expected to be there.

How The US Uses International Bodies To Manufacture Consent For Warfare

Both the Obama and Trump administrations used alleged chemical attacks in 2013 and 2018 to justify bombing Syria. When inspectors with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, who inspected the site of the attacks, stated that there was not evidence to prove the Syrian military was responsible, and in the case of the 2018 attack, that chemical weapons were even used, they were silenced and punished. Aaron Mate has been covering this story for several years and has testified before the United Nations Security Council three times, most recently on March 24 of this year. He speaks to Clearing the FOG about what really happened and how the OPCW is being corrupted by US influence.

Chechen Torturers From Syria Sign Deal With Ukraine To Fight Russians

In early March, Asia Times reported that the Ukrainian government under Volodymyr Zelensky had signed a deal with newly arrived Chechen fighters from Syria to establish an all-Chechen brigade reporting directly to the Ministry of Defense. Many of the Chechens in Syria had been part of ISIS and other al-Qaeda offshoots like Jabhat al-Nusra, with Chechen commander Abu Omar al-Shishani serving as ISIS Minister of War. The Chechens wanted to directly fight the Russians with whom they have been at war for more than 300 years—and to fight against Chechen forces on the Russian side led by Ramzan Kadyrov, who switched sides after brokering a deal with Russia in 2006.

Imagine If All Officials Were Interrogated By Reporters Like This

A fascinating exchange took place at a UN press briefing the other day between China Global Television Network’s Xu Dezhi and the UN’s Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Farhan Haq about the US military occupation of Syria. The exchange is interesting both for the wild pro-US bias shown by a UN official, and for the way it illustrates how much truth can be exposed when journalists do what they’re supposed to do in the press gallery. Xu, who has done on-the-ground reporting in Syria in the past, asked Haq some challenging questions about an attack on a US military base in eastern Syria last week which injured multiple American troops and killed an American contractor.

ICC Charges Putin With War Crimes; US And Israeli Leaders Enjoy Impunity

On March 17, a little more than one year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced that the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) had issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the commission of war crimes in Ukraine. The PTC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, for the same war crimes. While the U.S. celebrates the arrest warrant against Putin, it has pressured the ICC to refrain from prosecuting Israelis and Americans. There is a double standard in the ICC’s treatment of the situations in Ukraine and Palestine.

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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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