Sunday, June 18, fighter F-18 hornet US Navy shot down a Syrian military aircraft that, in fact, is an act of war against the country, which Congress did not declare and were not allowed to declare war.
According to Washington officials, that Syrian military aircraft had attacked the rebels, which the US supports. According to Damascus, the aircraft attacked positions of the ISIS.
The Ministry of defence of Vladimir Putin made straight and sharp statement:
“The repeated military actions of the United States air force under the guise of “fighting terrorism” against the legitimate armed forces of a member state of the UN, constitute a flagrant violation of international law and, in fact, military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic”.
The ABC report confirms the statement of Moscow:
“Over the past four weeks, the U.S. has carried out three air strikes on Pro-government forces supported by Iran, who moved to the area of deconfliction the city At-Tanta in the South-West of Syria, where the training base of the coalition to train local forces to fight against ISIS (banned in Russia — approx. ed.)”.
Now, Russia announced the closure of the channels “hot line” with the United States, designed to prevent collisions in the skies over Syria, and readiness to take on support as aerial targets air all objects found to the West of the Euphrates.
That is, these aerial targets will be in the number of American warplanes and reconnaissance drones.
If Moscow is not bluffing, we are threatened by the real prospect of collision of Russia and the USA in Syria.
Shot down a plane on Sunday became the first military aircraft of the Syrian government forces shot down by U.S. military during the conflict in that country. In April, President trump ordered the release of cruise missiles on Syrian military airfield. According to U.S. officials, the airfield was used as a base for those aircraft in which civilians had used chemical weapons.
We’re all more bogged down in this six-year civil war. And what we are seeing now, may be the first swallows of a new phase — the battle for control of territories and populations, liberated after the fall of Raqqa and the destruction of the “Caliphate” of ISIS.
The army of President Bashar al-Assad seeks to capture as many territories as possible, and it enjoys support from Russia, the Iranian military, Shiite groups from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Hezbollah.
Assad’s forces and his allies fighting against ISIS now face America support the Democratic forces of Syria, is also fighting against ISIS, which include the Arab rebels and the forces of the Syrian Kurds.
But if America decided to use its air force to shoot down Syrian planes attacking the rebels, whom we support, this can lead to confrontation with Russia and much larger and more dangerous war.
How can we win this war without large-scale intervention?
Do we really want this? Do we want to move in this direction?
The U.S. Congress did not give its permission for such a war. In addition, the US has no key interest in who exactly will be in control of Raqqa and surrounding areas, provided that the militants leave their. During his election campaign, trump spoke about the possibility to establish cooperation between the U.S. and Russia in the fight against ISIL.
While in Saudi Arabia trump apparently agreed to what some call the “Arab NATO”, in which the United States considers Riyadh as a major ally and leader of the Arabs of the Persian Gulf in the regional battle for dominance against Shiite Iran.
After that trip, trump Saudi Arabia — with the support of Egypt, UAE and Bahrain — has closed its border with Qatar, which maintains ties with Iran. Although Qatar is the largest military air base in the region, many had the impression that the isolation of Qatar was the idea of trump.
Apparently, the President of trump and his country had reached the point where you want to make a decision.
If after the fall of ISIL in raqqa we are going to use the power and influence of the United States to strengthen the position of Syrian rebels and Kurds at the expense of Damascus, we can provoke a conflict with Syria, Russia, Hezbollah, Iran and even Turkey.
The President of Turkey Erdogan believes our Kurdish allies in Syria, allies of the PKK is a terrorist organization that operates inside the borders of his country.
© AP Photo, Murat wowbeez the armed squad of the PKK in Diyarbakir
During the election campaign, trump promised to cooperate with Russia for the sake of victory over our common enemy. But if after the withdrawal of ISIL from Syria, we decide that we are interested in the conflict with Assad, we will find ourselves drawn into a regional conflict.
In Iraq, the US and Iran have a common enemy (ISIL) and a common ally (the government in Baghdad). In Syria we have a common enemy — ISIS. But against our allies are Assad, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.
The question we face is: who will get the ISIS territory after raqqa and Mosul will fall and the Caliphate will disappear?
Now the US needs to chart the lines of promotion of the Syrian Kurds and to negotiate with the Russians, Syrians and Iranians.
We can’t let our friends in the middle East and in the Persian Gulf to make decisions for us because they too often force us to lead instead of war, we don’t need.
