Miguel Ángel González Claros

Since September 22, U.S. fighter jets have been carrying out missile strikes and drone attacks against targets surrounding Raqqa, a northern Syrian city which serves as the headquarters of the Islamic State. The attacks have not been authorized by the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.

It is widely known and documented that the U.S. and its allies have financed, trained and armed rebel factions in Syria, including the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in order to overthrow the government of Bashar Al-Assad.

This strategy has not worked and we are now told that ISIS must be defeated by means of air assaults, yet this military intervention violates international law and Syria’s territorial sovereignty. The objective of Obama’s "War on Terror" is not to defeat ISIS, but rather to overthrow those governments who refuse to abide by Washington’s instructions.

The Obama administration is planning to establish a no-fly zone over the Northeast of Syria. The aim is to deactivate the air defense system of the Syrian government through a series of air attacks. Once the no-fly zone is established, they will begin to carve out a NATO managed buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border, which could allow them to send U.S. ground forces into the region in 2015. The proposal would allow for strategic planning to assist the rebel offensive in weakening the military forces of the Syrian government.

The idea that the U.S. requires a no-fly zone in order to combat a group of Sunnis who have no air force is ridiculous.

The U.S air strikes have caused the terrorists to desert the city of Deir al-Zor and head to areas such as Ayn al Arab (Kobane), resulting in a dramatic increase in the presence of Islamic State fighters in this smaller city on the border with Turkey. This has been a huge spectacle and yet ISIS’ capabilities have not diminished despite the air strikes from the U.S and its puppets.

In order to effectively eliminate al-Assad, who has proved to be a major obstacle to the geopolitical interests of the Anglo-American axis in the region, and to weaken the strategic position of Russia, Washington requires NATO forces to defeat the Syrian air defense.

Which is why the West used its delegated forces of ISIS to destroy the Raqqa airbase in eastern Syria, in order to open up half of the country to an U.S. military assault.

The Syrian army was about to recover control over refineries that had been taken by the jihadists, as in Dayr al Zor. The death squads, aided by NATO, were trapped when the city was about to be liberated by the Syrian government. That opportunity was lost as a result of the U.S. air strikes which destroyed the infrastructure of the refinery. Most of the terrorists fled to other areas after receiving prior notice of the attacks, which caused more civilian deaths than those committed by ISIS thugs.

In fact, many of these thugs have moved on to northern Syria, on the border with Turkey, thus reinforcing other death squads in their efforts to reopen supply lines from Turkey.

U.S. citizens have expressed opposition to the bombing of Syria.

Obama prefers to bomb infrastructure to avoid the government resuming control of it. The U.S. and allies’ bombing campaign has resulted in the destruction of important regions of Syria and will leave little of real value left for the Syrian army should they defeat the ISIS militia.

As the U.S. continues its assault against the Syrian government, new targets for air strikes appear: not only oil refineries, but also grain deposits in Manbij, a city northeast of Aleppo, where intense fighting is taking place between ISIS forces and the Syrian government. The attack on grain facilities by NATO forces and their allies is yet more proof that the bombing of Syria is not intended to destroy the ISIS factions, but rather government forces, in order to prevent them from retaking the resources required to provide for their citizens or armed forces.

Israel has provided medical attention and other unidentified supplies tg the terrorists. During the past three months, the rebels have transported dozens of injured across a ceasefire line that has separated Israel from Syria since 1974, in the Golan Heights. Once in Israel, they receive medical treatment before being sent back to Syria.

The U.S air strikes and their attempts to create a "security zone" within Syria are nothing more than a farce.

The bombings seek to ensure that Raqqa remains in the hands of the very same terrorists which the U.S. claims to be fighting. The idea is that Raqqa will be the "capital of the opposition," just as Benghazi was in Libya.

ISIS has already achieved many of the implicit goals of Washington. The former President of Iraq, Nuri Al Maliki, has been replaced by a U.S. puppet who will amend the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement, on U.S. military withdrawal), allowing for the total elimination of a strong and unified state, that serves as one of the countries in the resistance against Israel.

The "war on ISIS" is merely the latest episode in U.S. imperialist intervention in the Middle East. The desire of the White House is to dominate the region, rich in hydrocarbons, and prepare new attacks on Iran and Washington’s main targets: Russia and China. (Excerpts taken from La Haine)