Boggart Abroad: 03/11/17

Saturday, March 11, 2017

No - one Invited US Troops To Raqqa, All Foreign Troops In Syria Uninvited Are Invaders Says Assad

We did not expect, as we woke on November 9, 2016, to the news that Donald Trump had beaten Hillary Clinton in the election and would become Preident of The United States in January 2016, that the billionaire would make good his promises to 'drain the swamp' and disengage from Obama's illegal wars immediately. It was always obvious that Trump, even if he attempted to introduce his isolationist agenda, would have a fight on his hands if the wanted to prise the fingers of the military - industrial complex and the vested interests embedded in the Washington bureaucracy from the throat of Uncle Sam.

At the moment he is not winning, if the latest news from the middle east is an indicator of how things will go under Trump, it's business as usual in the US government as the shadow government influences policy in the interests of its friends.

A convoy of US armoured military vehicles arrive in the Syrian town of Manbij (source: Russia Today)

Hundreds of US Marines have landed in Syria in preparation for an operation to retake the city of Raqqa from occupying ISIS forces the US military confirmed on Thursday. Raqqa is an oil town in north east Syria and de-facto capital of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) occupied territory,

"We are talking about an additional 400 or so forces in total, and they will be there for a temporary period," US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters. The deployment is an addition to the existing 500 US forces already in Syria and is aimed at accelerating the defeat of IS in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa city, Dorrian said.

The Washington Post broke the news claiming anonymous defense officials, stated that the marines will be working to establish an outpost from which they can fire artillery in support of the fight for Raqqa. According to the newspaper, the new deployment is part of a task force of the 11th US Marine Expeditionary Unit. It includes part of an artillery battery that can fire 155mm shells from M777 Howitzers. It is known Russia has a powerful flotilla of its warships in the eastern Mediterranean and missile defence systems on the ground in Syria.

Any foreign forces, including those from the US, that enter Syria without invitation are invaders, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Chinese media in an interview, noting that no one had given the US troops currently in Manbij permission to be there.

“Any foreign troops coming to Syria without our invitation or consultation or permission, they are invaders, whether they are American, Turkish, or any other one,” Assad told Chinese PHOENIX TV, as cited by the Syrian state-run SANA news agency.

When a journalist asked the Syrian president if Damascus had “opened doors” for American troops in Aleppo province’s city of Manbij, Assad said “No, we didn’t.”

“What are they [foreign troops] going to do? To fight ISIS [Islamic State, formerly ISIL]? The Americans lost nearly every war. They lost in Iraq, they had to withdraw at the end. Even in Somalia, let alone Vietnam in the past and Afghanistan.”

According to Assad, the US “didn’t succeed anywhere they sent troops, they only create a mess; they are very good in creating problems and destroying, but they are very bad in finding solutions.”
The Pentagon confirmed earlier in March that US troops had been sent to Manbij to prevent conflict between US-backed Kurdish forces and rebels backed by Turkey.

The USA was hugely embarrassed by the success of Russia and Iran against ISIS and this latest war crime may be an attempt to save face. If so it is too late, Russia has already replaced America as the dominant military power in the middle east. It will however be interesting to see what Vladimir Putin does in response to this latest Washington idiocy and whether Trump takes on the perpetual war party or saves that fight for another day.