On April 6, two U.S. warships launched 60 tamahawk missiles to the air-base of Shayrat, in Homs, Syria. One of them fell into the sea and the others destroyed the base and several Syrian aircrafts (5 to 25 Russian made aircrafts, according to some reports; the others took off to other bases a few hours after the airstrike). The hit base is operative again.
By Fabio Bosco.
Trump’s government pretext for the airstrike was the chemical attack perpetrated by the Syrian Aviation against the civil population in Khan Sheikhun, in the rebel province of Idlib, in which 84 people died and over 300 were injured. He stated that Assad did not comply with the agreement made on 2013 to eliminate the chemical arsenal.
According to an interview made by Al Jazeera, the hit population, in midst of the funerals, celebrated the U.S. retaliation measure and demanded more international intervention against Assad’s assassin regime.
We understand that any weakening of the military power of the Syrian dictator is celebrated by the population after 6 years of genocide repression, half a million deaths, several cities destroyed and twelve million refugees inside and outside the country.
However, it is important to mention that the U.S. policy against the Syrian revolution has not changed. If the U.S. really wanted to “help” the Syrian revolution they would have provided heavy weaponry to help the defense of the population against the man-pads and stingers a long time ago. U.S. airstrikes against rebel militias and against civilians in Idlib, Aleppo and Raqqa are still happening. The U.S. aims to impose an agreement in Geneva between the regime and the “moderated opposition” to disarm the rebels and rebuild a capitalist, authoritarian state. There is no reason to trust the Trump administration nor its European, Arab, Turkish and Israeli allies.
Trump’s decision to take retaliations is an example. Out of the three options his military assessors gave him, he chose the less dangerous one for the Syrian regime: to airstrike the presidential palace, located in an isolated hill in Damasco; to airstrike all aerial bases of the regime; or to airstrike only Shayrat’s, previously warning the Russian military to take their soldiers out of there and inform Assad. So it is clear Trump’s goal is not to end the Syrian regime but to pressure them to negotiate in Geneva.
The Russian’s government reaction also confirms this: instead of taking any military or diplomatic retaliation, Putin just temporarily suspended the coordination of air and ground attacks in Syrian territory with U.S. Aviation; yet, he confirmed the visit of the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, to Moscow this week. The airstrike by Trump only increased the war dependence of Assad’s regime in comparison with Russia. It also increased the pressure on Assad and his Iranian allies to negotiate a “transition” in Geneva, keeping the essentials of the Syrian regime; negotiation that interests Putin as much as Trump and the European imperialism.
Assad is using the U.S. attacks to confuse the international public opinion on his fake anti-imperialism rhetoric, while he reevaluates his plans of retaking the whole of Syria manu militari.
There will be no peace nor guarantee against chemical weapons for the Syrian working class as long as the Syrian regime stands, with or without Assad in it. The dictatorship imposed by the police, the army and the several security agencies (called mukhabarat in Arabic) guarantee the enrichment of capitalists bound to the regime, such as Rami Amkhlouf, who ensures the security of the Nazi-Zionist State of Israel; and it is a barrier for a free Syria in which the Syrian working people can expel all foreigner forces (Russian, American, Irani, Daesh, Hezbollah, and others); trial pro-Assad war criminals, reconstruct the country on socialist bases to respond to workers’ needs; guarantee the return of the refugees; retake control of the Golan Heights occupied by the State of Israel; and support the struggles of all Arab peoples, starting by Palestinian freedom from corner to corner.
Syria can only be free through the Syrian workers’ fight, with international support and solidarity of all the oppressed and exploited people across the world.
**
Translation: Sofia Ballack.
Why the U.S. Airstrikes do not Serve the Fight for a Free Syria
