President Barack Obama’s policy backing the Saudi proxy war against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has failed with Syrian troops re-capturing territory lost to Saudi-backed opposition groups. On the campaign trail, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hasn’t caught up to the new reality that the U.S. can’t topple al-Assad’s Shiite government. Obama and Hillary have swallowed Saudi propaganda hook, line and sinker. Started March 11, 2011 at the height of the Saudi-funded Arab Spring, the war has cost 250,000 lives and displaced more than three million Syrians. Saudi and U.S. officials insist the Syrian “civil war” was a homegrown rebellion, camouflaging the Saudi funded and orchestrated proxy war. U.N. Syrian peace talks, led by senior diplomat Staffan de Mistura, started in Geneva Feb. 1, and promptly collapsed Feb. 4.
Hoping to turn the tide on the five-year-old Syrian War, Russia intervened at the request of the Syrian government Sept. 30, 2015 hitting Saudi-backed opposition groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] and al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front. Retaking lost Syrian territory, including the key city of Aleppo, Syrian troops with Russian air support are now driving Saudi-backed Syrian opposition groups out of the country. Calling on Turkey to take another 35,000 Syrian refugees, the European Union conceded that all looks lost in Syria. Backing the Saudis and U.S., the EU also threw its support behind toppling al-Assad’s regime. Russian President Vladimir Putin looks poised for victory for al-Assad in Syria. Receiving 3.3 billion euros from the EU, Turkey provides the lion’s share of relief to Syrian refugees. Al-Assad’s victory against Saudi-backed rebel groups spells an end to the conflict.
Collapsing peace talks in Geneva prompted Kerry to insist Russia stop air strikes against Saudi-funded Wahhabi rebel groups. U.S., EU and Turkish officials haven’t admitted that the Saudi proxy war to topple al-Assad has failed. With Russia and Iran, and especially its Hezbollah militia, driving Saudi-backed opposition groups out of Syria, it gives the Kremlin renewed clout on the world stage. Despite agreeing Dec. 15, 2015 in Moscow to stop a U.S. policy regime change in Damascus, Kerry insisted in Geneva that Russia stop its air strikes. Revealing that Obama and Kerry back the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad, the U.S. has lost credibility and prestige under a failed policy. Once Russia jumped in to defend al-Assad Sept. 30, 2015 the Saudi proxy war was doomed to failure. Obama’s Syrian policy became untenable once Putin decided to defend al-Assad’s Shiite government.
When you consider the disaster in Iraq, caused by former President George W. Bush’s March 20, 2003 Iraq War, backing the Saudi proxy war to topple al-Assad was sheer madness. Dealing with ongoing Islamic insurgencies in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, it’s inconceivable the U.S. would back any plan to topple another Mideast dictator. De Mistura pretended to back peace talks but actually took Saudi Arabia’s side, insisting al-Assad must go. Obama’s Syrian policy shows he’s learned nothing about the fallout from the Iraq War. Backing toppling Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi Aug. 24, 2011 while secretary of State, Hillary helped turn Libya into another terrorist haven. When the U.S. mission was attacked Sept. 12, 2012, killing Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans, no link was made between toppling Gaddafi and the spread of Islamic terrorism in Libya.
Time has come for the White House to stop ripping Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayataollah Ali Khamenei for preventing another Iraq in Syria. Putin told the U.S. General Assembly Sept. 28, 2015 that toppling al-Assad would sent the Mideast into more chaos. Knowing Putin’s logic, Obama still defers to the Saudis to call the shots. Causing the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII, the Saudi-funded proxy war has inflicted untold misery on the Mideast and EU. Unable to manage the floods of Syrian refugees in Europe, the EU has teetered on recession for two years. Without resolving the Syrian crisis, it could spread economic contagion across the Atlantic. Obama can’t continue to do the Saudi’s bidding at the expense of the U.S. and world economy. Putin got his conflict right. Obama needs to urgently retool his policy before another global recession.
Closing in on Aleppo, al-Assad’s forces with Russian and Iranian help are moving quickly to end Saudi Arabia’s proxy war. Instead of optimism for ending the five-year-long bloodshed, Kerry asks Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end air strikes backing Damascus. “There is a big wave of people leaving Aleppo City because they are scared al-Castello Highway—the only way out—will be cut off,” said Osaid Pasha, an Aleppo-based activist who fled to Turkey. With the Saudi proxy war failing, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem confirmed the Syrian government was “on track to end the conflict.” “Like it or not, our battlefield achievements indicate that we are headed toward the end of the crisis,” said al-Moallem, embarrassing the White House. Watching Putin succeed in Syria proves that backing the Saudi proxy war has hurt U.S. global credibility.
