US MILITARY forces have just held eight days of exercises with Syrian terrorists in the south of the country around the US military base of Tanf, near to the Syrian-Iraq border. This is while the Syrian government forces are preparing to launch the battle for Idlib, the last major terrorist stronghold in Syria. Both Syria and Russia have warned the US that, as well as Idlib in the north, they plan to launch an offensive to clear the terrorists out of Tanf where hundreds of US marines and special forces are stationed.
US colonel Sean Ryan, a senior military official confirmed that the US was sending a ‘strong message’ to Iran and Russia. He said: ‘The exercise was conducted to reinforce our capabilities and ensure we are ready to respond to any threat to our forces within our area of operations.’
The US are working hand in glove with the Maghawir al Thawra terrorist group in Tanf. The war games were the first such exercises with live-fire, air and ground assaults, involving hundreds of US troops and terrorists. Since 2011, the Syrian government forces under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad’s have led a successful, determined struggle to drive every single foreign-backed terrorist out of their country.
They have systematically fought town to town, village to village, driving the terrorists back, liberating the Syrian people as they go. They have now liberated the vast majority of the country. With each and every victory, more of the terrorists have retreated to Idlib. In some cases, the Syrian government has assisted their retreat, organising dozens of buses, demanding the terrorists surrender their weapons and then bussing the terrorists and their families to Idlib.
Russia’s Defence Ministry says its air force has killed more than 86,000 terrorists, conducted more than 39,000 strikes, destroying 121,466 terrorist targets in Syria since it began its operations in Syria in September 2015. The seven-year war is in its last act.
The beginning of the insurgency was marked by the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on 29 July 2011, as an organised military terrorist force to fight against President Assad and his government. The US and the UK openly boast about arming, training and funding the Free Syrian Army to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Imperialism believed that it could create a force of terror in the country capable of overthrowing the democratically elected president and his government, handing power over to the terrorist groups.
It wanted to do to Syria what it did to Libya. In Libya imperialism unleashed terrorist forces, releasing them from jails around the world, brought them to Libya, armed them to the teeth, paid them, trained them and let them loose to ransack the country, kill the Libyan leader Gadaffi and send the country back to the dark ages. Libya is now a living hell.
However, imperialism’s plans in Syria have come completely unstuck. The UK working class rose up against attempts by PM Cameron and US president Obama to seek to launch war against Assad in 2013. The working class thwarted their plans. Then an alliance of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon and the Russian air force, supported the Syrian government forces who fought long and hard to beat the terrorists back, till now the only major area left to the terrorists is Idlib.
The final battle is about to begin to liberate Idlib.
Russia has warned the US twice in the past week that its forces, together with Syrian troops, were also prepared to wage an attack on terrorists in the Tanf area where the US is training terrorists. Reacting to Moscow’s warnings, US military officials bluntly warned Russia and Syria ‘not to go forward with an attack within a 35-mile-wide security zone’ that the US wants to maintain around Tanf.
Workers in France, UK and the US have to make sure that their governments understand that they will take action to stop them keeping the war in Syria going.
The TUC, the CGT and the American AFL-CIO Trade Union Federation must make it clear that all US, UK and French forces must leave Syria now, and that any attempt by them to attack the Syrian army will be met by mass strike actions at home!