When 72-year-old Secretary of State John Kerry and 66-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced a Syrian War ceasefire Sept. 10, the whole world cheered, though not the Saudis. Committed to toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since starting the Arab Spring toppling Mideast dictators in 2011, the Saudis felt betrayed by the U.S.-Russian ceasefire. Saudi Arabia’s 56-year-old U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir vowed to never give up the fight against al-Assad, exposing fully to the world Saudi Arabia’s proxy war against al-Assad. President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave Saudi Arabia 100% backing, pitting the U.S. against Russia, committed to saving al-Assad’s regime. Obama and Hillary did everything possible to arm and fund terror groups to topple al-Assad.
Kerry promised Putin and Lavrov Sept. 10 that they would rein in various rebel groups seeking to topple al-Assad. While the ceasefire worked for the first six days, U.S.-backed coalition air strikes struck Syrian forces at the Deir Ezzor Airport near Aleppo, killing 83 Syrian troops, wounding another 120. Russian officials called the U.S.-led coalition strike a deliberate violation of the Sept. 10 ceasefire. Russian officials don’t buy that the attack was a mistake, knowing the precision mapping of all U.S.-led coalition air strikes. “I have never seen such an extraordinary display of American heavy-handedness,” Russian U.N. representative Vitaliy Churkin, demanding an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council. U.N. Amb. Samantha Power threw a fit, angrily denouncing Russian and Syrian government violations of the Sept. 10 ceasefire agreement.
Power’s vitriol was so misplaced, so illogical, so counterproductive, President Barack Obama should have called her to the White House for urgent consultation. Power knew that the U.S.—not Russia or Syria—violated the ceasefire agreement. “Since 2011, the Assad regime has been intentionally striking civilian targets with horrifying, predictable regularity. They have besieged civilian areas, prevented live-saving aid from reaching people who are starving to death, and dying of illnesses that could be treated with basic medicine,” said Power, railing against Churkin’s call for the Security Council emergency meeting. Power’s statement delivers the Saudi propaganda about the Syria War that began March 15, 2011, morphing into today’s Saudi-Turk-U.S. funded proxy war. Power ignored the egregious U.S. violation of the U.S.-Russian Sept. 10 ceasefire agreement.
Declaring the ceasefire over, Syrian warplanes hit rebel held targets in Idlib province, west of Aleppo. Syrian forces hit a U.N. aid convoy in the region today. “The region and the Russians are taking revenge on all the areas,” said Abu al-Baraa al-Hamawi, a Saudi-backed rebel commander. Secretary of State John Kerry said it was too early to say whether the Sept. 10 ceasefire had collapsed, seeking clarification from the Syrian government. Neither Obama nor Kerry have admitted that they sabotaged the fragile ceasefire by hitting Syrian forces. Touting the accuracy of U.S. air strikes, Russian and Syrian officials don’t buy that it was a mistake. “We just began today to see real movement of humanitarian goods, and let’s see where we are. We’re happy to have a conversation with them,” said Kerry, referring to the Russians. Kerry won’t admit the U.S. sabotaged the ceasefire.
Blowing the first real opportunity to end the Syria War, Obama and Kerry hoped to use the cessation in fighting to get U.N. aid trucks into the region. Russian officials admitted that the U.S. couldn’t coral various Saudi-backed rebel groups still seeking to topple al-Assad. Whatever the violations of the ceasefire by the Syrian regime or rebel groups, it was U.S.-coalition air strikes on Syrian troops that violated the ceasefire. Instead of measuring her words carefully, Powers made a bad situation worse, blaming al-Assad and the Russians. “I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo,” said U.N. Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O’Brien. O’Brien knows that it was the U.S. that violated the ceasefire attacking Syrian troops, preventing the U.N. convoy from getting supplies into the area.
Obama and Kerry have a lot of explaining to do to salvage the seven-day ceasefire, now collapsing due to U.S.-led coalition air strikes. If there’s any hope of rescuing the fragile ceasefire, the Obama and Kerry must commit to Russia that the U.S. no longer backs the Saudi proxy war seeking regime change in Damascus. With so much distrust, only an ironclad commitment to let al-Assad stay in Damascus can salvage the ceasefire. Obama and Kerry have played both sides against the middle, telling the Saudis they back regime change while telling the Russians they can live with al-Assad. If the U.S. and Russia really want to end the war, both have to tell the Saudis to stand down, no longer backing rebel groups seeking to topple al-Assad’s Shiite government. Only by standing up to the Saudis can the U.S. convince Russia that they’re serious about ending the Syrian War.
