Loading ...The devils never stop the warmongering…
“The State Department warnings come at the end of a week in which Syrian state media claimed US fighter jets attacked Syrian Army positions in the eastern desert near the Iraq border overnight Wednesday, which reportedly killed 12 pro-government fighters.
The US, however, has denied any involvement: “We have no operational reporting of a U.S.-led coalition strike against pro-Syrian regime targets or forces,” CENTCOM spokesman Captain Bill Urban said in a statement. And a separate Pentagon spokesman said, “These reports are false, the coalition did not strike any Syrian army positions in eastern Syria.”
And less than 24 hours later, another airstrike on a base in central Syria is widely reported to have involved Israel, believed to have targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.
Notably, a Reuters report acknowledges the US warning issued late Friday comes as 1) Syrian government forces have cleaned out the last ISIS pockets in the country’s south; and 2) Damascus is now “in its strongest position since the early months of the war in 2011”. Reuters notes further that the government has “recaptured all remaining insurgent areas near Damascus in recent weeks, including the densely populated eastern Ghouta area, as well as big enclaves in central Syria.”
So essentially while warning against “Assad regime violations” and expansion, the State Department is reasserting the US position that Syria cannot “expand” within its own sovereign borders (borders obviously long recognized internationally and by the United Nations).
The Syrian Army is making preparations to move deeper into the southern province of Deraa where fighting began during the opening months the war starting in 2011. Syrian state media has reported that government planes are dropping leaflets over towns in the region, warning anti-Assad forces that they must disarm or face military attack.”