Glimmer of Hope on Outlines of a Possible Settlement in Middle East; Syria and Iraq
In US perception, whether in the form of government or foreign bilateral relations," If you are not with us than you are against us." Washington therefore loves poodles like Blair and now Cameron paying obeisance to whoever is installed in the Oval room. Thus to be on the blacklist of USA can be taken as a sign that the person or the organization is nationalistic, patriotic and doing something for its people. In Middle East the two patriotic and nationalist organisations are on the blacklist of USA. These are the Kurdish party PKK, led by its charismatic leader since 1980s by Abdulla Ocalan, who is now jailed on an island in Marmara Sea near Istanbul. However, at the best the times in Washington's relations with Ankara, USA never gave up of idea of using PKK as a tool to prod and influence Turkey by allowing PKK fighters in Kandili Mountains in North Iraq, which has almost become and could end up as protected ally of Washington. PKK still remains on the US list of terrorist organization.
Only recently almost on the eve of the visit to New Delhi of US Pres Barack Obama, Washington added some anti-India Pak terrorist organisations on its list .As if they were not till now anti-India .They are responsible for 26/11 , possibly with FBI/CIA complicity.
Here I am, of course talking about the Lebanese Shia patriotic and nationalist resistance organization, the Hezbollah, the party of God, led by a very charismatic leader Nasarullah, a rare example of both the religious leader as well as its military commander. The best of efforts by Israel and USA have failed to get him assassinated or even locate its television outlet al Manar, from where he regularly addresses his followers and others in the world.
Hezbollah, which has been active both inside Lebanon and since 2013 in Syria, is one of the best fighting forces in the Middle East .In the 2005 conflict with Israeli defence forces, considered to be best armed forces in the Middle East, Hezbollah fighters destroyed the so-called invincible IDF tanks , killed its soldiers who ran back to Israel. Even the Israeli commission of enquiry headed by a judge concluded that IDF did not win the war, which is supposed to be the best trained and equipped military in the region.
Like many others I have followed the destruction and damage and mammoth killings brought on the hapless people of Iraq and Syria since 2003. I have written more than 50 articles on U.S.-led illegal war on Iraq, and dozens on the evolving situation in the region, including Syria, Israel and Turkey, not forgetting North Africa.
The stand-off between Russia and USA in September 2013 was the turning point in the contest between U.S.-led criminal forces and Russia supported by China, Iran and indirectly by India. After threatening to bombard Syria, faced with a determined Russia, Washington backed off. Since then, dingdong battles have been going on in which nearly a quarter million Syrians have lost their lives and millions have been rendered refugees crowded in refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and putting unbearable burden on these countries.
USA and its poodles, especially the so-called socialist leader the current French Pres Hollande who, like all former colonial powers believe that they have a right to interfere in their former colonies in this case, Syria and Lebanon .They have done their worst and are still doing it by creating ISIL a bunch of West created criminals with support from Turkey and Jordan and finance and weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. However, it now seems, that in spite of continued supply of money and promise of training terrorists against the regime of Bashar Assad, who was recently re- elected, there are some signs that there are some outlines of the possible agreement on Syria, which will bring stability and peace to the region and to the world. But do not count on it. Since you can never count on aggressive US Congress, which is held by its short hair by Israel and Jewish financial and media corporations.
US and European implant/dagger Israel in the heart of the Arab world with more than 200 nuclear bombs and counting, keeps on interfere indirectly and even directly .Recently with Al Nusra in the affairs of neighbors, especially in Syria now that the latter has been under attack from its neighbors ,Gulf states and U.S.-led NATO countries.
According to a UN report covering the period from March to May 2014, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) detected contact between rebels and the Israeli army across the Golan cease-fire line, particularly during fierce clashes between the Syrian army and the rebels. The report also confirmed that the UN forces spotted rebels transporting 89 wounded across the cease-fire line into the Israeli occupied zone, where they were handed over 19 people who had received medical treatment in addition to two dead. The UN forces also noted that the Israeli army delivered two boxes to rebels on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
Communications increased between rebels and the Israeli army before the eruption of the southern front in Daraa and Quneitra in September, according to Quneitra opposition activist Mohammad Qasim, a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the subject.
Qasim, who was active in a support capacity to the rebels during the September offensive, told Al-Monitor via Skype, "The battle to capture Quneitra on Sept. 27 was preceded by coordination and communications between Abu Dardaa, a leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Israeli army to pave the way for the attack. And according to an FSA commander who partly participated in this battle, the Israeli army provided Abu Dardaa with maps of the border area and the Syrian army's strategic posts in the southern area."---
Apart from Russian TV and its website , information clearinghouse . Info website, Al Monitor , is a decent website although located in USA , for facts and figures and information on the greater Middle East. I am reproducing below an article on the situation and outlines or contours of a possible settlement. It is not going to happen any time soon. And in this part of the world ,one never knows, especially with Washington under great pressure with some of its European partners having been denied almost free supply of gas by Russia and Washingon's anti-Russian policies and measures by Obama .
In next six months, something very definite and most probably clearly against the Western dispensation will come about, including dollar no longer as the sole reserve currency, which will bring about a tectonic change in the East-West equations in place since 18th century A.D.
K. Gajendra Singh .18 January, 2015. Delhi
Nasrallah: 'The game is over'
"The game is over," Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said. "All hostile attempts to execute plans in Syria and Iraq failed," he said in the three-hour interview with the pan-Arab news channel Al-Mayadeen on Jan. 15.
Summary In an interview with pan-Arab news channel Al-Mayadeen, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah talked about sensitive regional issues, mainly the Syrian crisis, saying that "the game is over" there with the failure of hostile plans.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/lebanon-nasrallah-interview-syria-hamas-iraq.html
Nasrallah's interview was packed with messages on Israel, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Iran; in rhetoric, it seemed offensive, non-conciliatory and threatening, yet between the lines, there were stances that could be seen as new and promising, mainly on Syria.
Regarding the front with Israel, Nasrallah reiterated his threats that Hezbollah is capable of occupying the Galilee and beyond, if necessary, thereby confirming previous reports that his party possesses Iranian Fateh-110 missiles. "We have had them since 2006, today we have much more sophisticated missiles … We have all [the weapons] you can imagine, and in great quantities; we are now stronger than we ever were as a resistance movement," he said.
This might be the first time that Nasrallah mentioned an advanced missile in his party's arsenal, for he always preferred to be ambiguous about the kinds and numbers of rockets Hezbollah has. Nasrallah's statement can be interpreted as part of the longtime deterrence strategy adopted by Hezbollah, the aim of which is to postpone any attack as much as possible, by giving a clear hint on the party's level of armament. Yet, the Hezbollah leader said: "There is deterrence on both sides of the border. If the resistance decides to force a confrontation, it should be aware that Israel is a strong enemy and the Israelis also know the resistance is strong and capable."
Regarding the latest Israeli raids on targets in Syria, Nasrallah said these attacks were against the "resistance bloc." He said, "This means the whole resistance bloc is responsible for the response and that might happen at any time," giving the impression that the "resistance bloc" has become a kind of unifying body that takes the lead in taking political and military decisions, especially since he explained in-depth the situation in Syria, politically and militarily, and with regard to any possible solutions in the future.
Nasrallah seemed more like the custodian of the Syrian regime than the leader of the regime's strong Lebanese ally. He drew the red lines, analyzed the efforts and gave recommendations, and criticized Turkey as never before by accusing it blatantly of being the main country backing and supporting the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra. However, in regard to Iraq, he pointed out a change in Ankara's strategy.
His unprecedented verbal attack on Turkey was accompanied by critiquing the Saudi role in Syria, which he said is the weakest of them all. Yet, Nasrallah revealed that one main Gulf country backing Bashar al-Assad's opponents would not object to keeping the whole regime intact, including the army and the Baath Party, on the condition that the president steps down. He said, "They [the Saudis] are hopeless, and they know they can't change anything on the ground; it's just a matter of personal grudges." He suggested that the departure of Assad is no longer Washington's main concern. "The depth of the US stance is that the Americans do not care if Assad stays or steps down, but they didn't arrive here without paying a price. Even the opposition, if I was left without regional influence, wouldn't mind sharing power with President Assad. Developments in Europe and abroad will prove to the international community that there is no solution without Assad."
Nasrallah indeed reflected a positive view on Assad and his regime from the US side, but a question on his meeting with the Russian president's special envoy to the Middle East, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, gave a different impression. "Did you tell Bogdanov that Assad is a red line?" the interviewer asked, to which Nasrallah replied, "This is correct but I don't remember saying these exact words — even Russia will lose if it gives up on President Assad, and I'm not saying it is." The Russian plan for Syria — asking for serious sacrifices to reach a political solution — was said to have intimidated the regime in Damascus.
The political solution in Syria was a main subject in the interview with Nasrallah. He emphasized that any solution must include Assad, and that the regime's army must hold control of most of the Syrian territories and that IS, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) take control of the rest of the country. In this regard, he left the door open by saying, "Even if the political solution means that Assad should go after the end of his term, this should be in coordination with him."
Nasrallah suggested that there is a draft for a solution circulating among some Arab countries, which intends Assad to continue his term and a national unity government to be formed with both the "government and the moderate opposition. Nobody is suggesting that IS or Jabhat al-Nusra be part of the government, neither do I think their structure, ideology or understanding allows them to," Nasrallah said. He added, "A committee needs to be formed to review the constitution and reforms, and a dialogue established. Some might suggest that early parliamentary elections be held — this is what's being suggested — or that the president gives part of his powers to the Cabinet, not all his powers."
In connection to the Syrian crisis, Nasrallah revealed that ties with Hamas have resumed, and that the longtime former ally showed a strong will to strengthen bonds with Iran and Hezbollah, though serious issues continue to hurdle any possible mending of relations with the Syrian regime. Hamas, according to Nasrallah, has its own view on Syria, and "even if Hamas chooses to mend its relationship with the Syrian regime, Syria might have some difficulty accepting this due to past events and developments," he said. He added there is no proof that any of the Palestinian factions, mainly Hamas, gave orders in the past to its fighters to fight against the regime in Syria.
This busted a myth that has been circulating for years among the pro-resistance and resilience bloc media machines on the role of Hamas in training the Syrian opposition and building a tunnel infrastructure in Syria. It is also an indication that the bloc — mainly Hezbollah and Iran — is becoming flexible with those who disagree with them on Syria, meaning that once again these parties started viewing developments and alliances from a different angle, not only related to the crisis in Syria.
Regarding Iraq, Nasrallah criticized the United States, saying that the anti-IS coalition led by the United States is not aimed at ending IS' activities, but rather attempts to contain it and build military bases in Iraq, once again. He highlighted the Iranian role that "helped the Iraqis stop IS' attacks and gain back their lands," and praised the commander of the Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Suleimani, as a "beloved and dear brother who leads the Quds Force, and whose main mandate is helping the resistance groups in the region. Hezbollah is the leading resistance group in the region, so our relations are [among] the closest and strongest."
