By Tony Cartalucci
Source: New Eastern Outlook
Unbeknownst to the general public, their elected politicians do not create the policy that binds their national destiny domestically or within the arena of geopolitics. Instead, corporate-financier funded think tanks do – teams of unelected policymakers which transcend elections, and which produce papers that then become the foundation of legislation rubber stamped by “legislators,” as well as the enumerated talking points repeated ad naseum by the corporate-media.

Such a policy paper has been recently written by the notorious US policy think-tank, the Brookings Institution, titled, “Deconstructing Syria: Towards a regionalized strategy for a confederal country.” The signed and dated open-conspiracy to divide, destroy, then incrementally occupy a sovereign nation thousands of miles from America’s shores serves as a sobering example of how dangerous and enduring modern imperialism is, even in the 21st century.

Pretext ISIS: US Poured Billions Into “Moderates” Who Don’t Exist

The document openly admits that the US has provided billions in arming and training militants fed into the devastating and increasingly regional conflict. It admits that the US maintains – and should expand – operations in Jordan and NATO-member Turkey to provide even more weapons, cash, and fighters to the already catastrophic conflict.

It then recounts the rise of the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS), but fails to account from where its money, cash, and weapons came. It should be obvious to readers that if the United States has committed billions in cash, weapons, and training on multiple fronts to alleged “moderates” who for all intents and purposes do not exist on the battlefield, a state-sponsor of greater magnitude would be required to create and sustain ISIS and Al Qaeda’s Al Nusra Front who Brookings admits dominates the “opposition” uncontested.

In reality, ISIS’ supply lines lead right into US operational zones in Turkey and Jordan, because it was ISIS and Al Qaeda all along that the West planned to use before the 2011 conflict began, and has based its strategy on ever since – including this most recent leg of the campaign.

The US Invasion of Syria

After arming and funding a literal region-wide army of Al Qaeda terrorists, the United States now plans to use the resulting chaos to justify what it has sought since the beginning of the conflict when it became clear the Syrian government was not to capitulate or collapse – the establishment of buffer zones now called “safe zones” by Brookings.

These zones once created, will include US armed forces on the ground, literally occupying seized Syrian territory cleared by proxies including Kurdish groups and bands of Al Qaeda fighters in the north, and foreign terrorist militias operating along the Jordanian-Syrian border in the south. Brookings even admits that many of these zones would be created by extremists, but that “ideological purity” wound “no longer be quite as high of a bar.

The US assumes that once this territory is seized and US troops stationed there, the Syrian Arab Army will not dare attack in fear of provoking a direct US military response against Damascus. The Brookings paper states (emphasis added):

The  idea would be to help moderate elements establish reliable safe zones within Syria once they were able. American, as well as Saudi and Turkish and British and Jordanian and other Arab forces would actin support, not only from the air but eventually on the ground via the  presence  of  special  forces  as  well. The  approach would  benefit  from  Syria’s open desert  terrain  which  could  allow  creation  of  buffer  zones  that could  be  monitored  for possible  signs  of  enemy  attack  through  a  combination  of  technologies, patrols,  and other methods that outside special forces could help Syrian local fighters set up.

Were Assad foolish enough to challenge these zones, even if he somehow forced the withdrawal  of  the  outside  special  forces,  he  would  be  likely  to  lose  his  air power  in ensuing  retaliatory  strikes  by  outside  forces,  depriving  his  military  of  one  of its  few advantages over ISIL.Thus, he would be unlikely to do this.

In a single statement, Brookings admits that the government of Syria is not engaged in a war against its own people, but against “ISIL” (ISIS). It is clear that Brookings, politicians, and other strategists across the West are using the threat of ISIS in combination with the threat of direct military intervention as a means of leverage for finally overrunning and seizing Syria entirely.

The Invasion Could Succeed, But Not for US Proxies

The entire plan is predicated on America’s ability to first take and hold these “zones” and subsequently mesh them into functioning autonomous regions. Similar attempts at US “nation building” are currently on display in the ravaged failed state that used to be North Africa’s nation of Libya, Syria’s neighbor to the southeast, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the list goes on extensively.

The folly of this plan both in attempts to use non-existent credibility and military will to actually implement it, as well as in terms of those foolish enough to place their trust in a nation that has left a swath of global destruction and failed states in its wake stretching from South Vietnam to Libya and back again, can be described only as monumental.

This strategy can almost certainly be used to finally destroy Syria. It cannot however, be used to do any of the things the US will promise in order to get the various players necessary for it to succeed, to cooperate.

Almost certainly there are measures Syria, its allies Iran and Hezbollah, as well as Russia, China, and all other nations facing the threats of Western hegemony can take to ensure that US forces will not be able to take and hold Syrian territory or ultimately succeed in what is essentially an invasion in slow motion. Already the US has used their own ISIS hordes as a pretext to operate militarily within Syrian territory, which as predicted, has led to this next stage in incremental invasion.

An increase in non-NATO peacekeeping forces in Syria could ultimately unhinge Western plans altogether. The presence of Iranian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Afghan, and other forces across Syria, particularly bordering “zone” the US attempts to create, may offer the US the prospect of a multinational confrontation it has neither the political will, nor the resources to undertake.

The ability of Syria and its allies to create a sufficient deterrence against US aggression in Syria, while cutting off the logistical lines the US is using to supply ISIS and other terrorist groups operating in Syria and Iraq will ultimately determine Syria’s survival.

By Reme Sakr
Source: Global Research
The situation in Syria’s south seems to have turned for the worst in recent weeks, and at the heart of the south is Sweida Mountain (Jabal al-Arab or Jabal al-Druze), home to most of the region’s Druze people.

After Jabhat al Nusra (al Qaeda in Syria) seized the 52nd Brigade base in Daraa, their attention was turned to the Thaaleh military base in Sweida’s west where, for the past few days, local villagers along with the National Defence Forces and the Syrian Arab Army, have been deep in battle against the AlQaeda group who if successful in overrunning the base, would expose Sweida entirely from the West.

Closer to the city, at least two people were killed this week when mortars landed on their houses. This was the first such casualties in Sweida. The attack was an attempt by sleeper cells inside the province to create a distraction for security forces. Local news sites later reported that the perpetrators were found. Their launching positions in the Maqwas area on the eastern outskirts were discovered the very same day.

Being under a semi siege, the Druze mountain is facing its biggest threat since the beginning of the war. According to local sources on the ground and social media sites reporting on updates from Sweida, a meeting has taken place between the General Secretary of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and the Lebanese MP Talal Arslan. In coordination with the Syrian government a decision was made to send weapons and reinforcements from Lebanon to Jabal al-Arab to support Sweida’s defence.

Although no other media outlets have reported on this, if it is true, Hezoballah getting involved in the defence of Sweida is a highly significant move. It would be a direct message to the Zionists over the border.

According to Reuters this week, the Israeli President expressed his concern to US President Barrack Obama over the fate of Syria’s Druze, in the face of the Islamist threat creeping onto the Druze homeland. What Rivlin was setting the mood for was a pretext for Israeli intervention in the Syrian south to supposedly protect the Druze from the same Jabhat al Nusra militants that his government is helping.

President Rivlin’s gesture was firmly rejected by Sweida’s leaders, who accused Israel of playing its usual dirty politics to serve its own interests in the region. Sheikh Yousef Jarboue of Sweida in an interview with the Lebanese ‘Al Mayadeen’ responded by saying that if Israel cared about the Druze, then they should stop using the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to provide medical treatment to the Al Qaeda takfiri (sectarian terrorist) groups, who are not only a threat to the Druze but to all Syrian people.

Rivlin’s statement was merely an attempt to depict a lack of confidence in the Syrian army and to falsely present Syria’s Druze as allies of the Zionist state who are open to foreign intervention. Sheikh Jarboue reiterated that Sweida’s safety lies with the Syrian government, and as a province of a united Syrian Arab Republic.

Israel has tried to subdue the Druze in the occupied Golan Heights by repeated attempts to force Israeli citizenship upon them. Just this year Israeli security forces arrested 48 year old Sedki al-Maket, a Druze from the occupied Golan, for filming a meeting between Israeli officials and Al Qaeda militants near the Syrian border.

Israel has every reason to portray the Syrian war as a sectarian conflict and to sell the idea of partitioning Syria. Having a Druze State, a Sunni state, and an Alawite state would then give a Jewish state the legitimacy that it so desperately needs.

This is just how the Yazidis in Iraq, who have now disappeared from international headlines, were used as the pretext for the launch of the US-led coalition’s useless bombing campaign against ISIS. Israel would like to paint the Druze as helpless victims, in need of saving.

However, the situation on the ground tells otherwise. The Druze are organising. Close coordination between the Syrian army and local defence groups indicate that the Syrian government still occupies a strong support base in the Druze south. The prospect of Sweida falling into the hands of AlQaeda, like Palmyra and Idlib before, seems very slim for a number of reasons.

Firstly, as well as the Sweida National Defence Forces and Jeish al Muwahideen who have been active since the beginning of the war, a new battalion containing 33 different factions was launched last month. ‘Dere’a al Watan’ or ‘The homeland Shield’, under the leadership of the retired army General Nayef al-Aaqel is believed to have mobilised and armed at least 100 thousand civilians of Sweida’s men and women.

Secondly, there is absolutely no support base for the terrorists in Sweida. The Druze are considered heretics by radical Islam and the recent Jabhat al Nusra killings of Druze villagers at Qalb Lawzeh (Idlib province) were further proof of the impossibility of them surviving under an extremist Sunni rule. While terrorist groups in other parts of Syria may have found support from a small minority of AlQaeda sympathisers in those areas, they can be sure that no jihadis will be welcomed in Jabal al-Druze.

Thirdly, no towns or villages were evacuated in Sweida. Leaders have stated that the locals themselves alongside the Syrian Army will form the frontlines of defence against Al Qaeda’s Jabhat al Nusra from the west and ISIS from the east.

Sheikh Hussein Jarboue confirmed that there will be no concessions or negotiations made with the militants attacking the Druze homeland. This is contrary to the stance of Lebanese Druze politician Walid Joumblatt, who called for the Syrians to desert their army and agree to a settlement with Jabhat al-Nusra.

Anyone following the conflict must understand that the events currently unfolding in Sweida are not a threat to the Druze only, but a threat to the whole of Syria. While the threat against the Druze is serious and real, all of Syria’s communities are facing extinction from the Western-sponsored takfiri groups.

Just like the attacks on Maaloula, Kassab, and Kobani before, an attack on Sweida threatens Syria’s unity and distinct pluralist fabric. While there is a constant effort to report the Syrian war in sectarian terms, the truth is that the extremist takfiri groups are a threat not just to minorities or even just Syria, but to the whole region.

Provinces- Army and armed forces on Thursday established full control over towns in Idleb, killed terrorists in others and destroyed their hideouts and dens in others.

Source: SANA

Hama

The army and armed forces established full control over a number of strategic points and hills in the far northwestern countryside of Hama province, a military source told SANA.

Army units carried out series of special operations resulted in destroying the last gatherings of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in the hills of Gazal, Aawar and towns of al-Zeyadeyeh and al-Sararef and establishing full control over them.

At least 40 Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists were killed and scores were injured during the army’s accurate and fast operations.

The army inflicted heavy losses upon the terrorists’ ammunition and destroyed a number of mortar launchers and vehicles equipped with machineguns.

Later, an army unit hit in a strike a terrorists’ position in the hills of al-Sermaniyeh in the northwestern countryside of Hama, destroying a weapons depot for them.

Hasaka

The Army Air Force carried out strikes against dens and gatherings of ISIS terrorists in the southern countryside of Hasaka, northeastern Syria.

The air strikes resulted in killing many terrorists and destroying vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns in the area around the Juvenile Delinquency Institute and al-Dawoudiyeh village.

More ISIS hideouts were targeted in airstrikes in al-Meilbiyeh area, 15 km to the south of Hasaka city.

Lattakia

Units of army and the armed forces, in coordination with the people defense groups, targeted positions of Jabhat al-Nusra and its affiliates in al-Nouba Mountain, al-Eido village, Kensabba town, al-Durra, al-Khadraa, al-Oteira areas and near Bradoun dam in the northern countryside of Lattakia.

Large numbers of terrorists were killed and arms and ammunition depots and vehicles equipped with machine guns were destroyed in the operations.

The terrorist Hamdan Ismael and Mohammad Balsha, a terrorist group’s leader, were identified among the dead.

Homs

An army unit targeted ISIS gatherings and movements near Sellam Sharqi and al-Sultaniyeh villages in Jeb al-Jarrah area in the eastern countryside of Homs.

The operation resulted in killing a number of ISIS terrorists and destroying their vehicles, some of which were equipped with heavy machine guns.

Idleb

The Army Air Force destroyed several Jabhat al-Nusra hideouts in Maaret al-Nouman, Jadraya and Hila in Idleb countryside, in addition to destroying an ammunition cache in Bsamis.

The air force also launched a series of airstrikes against Jabhat al-Nusra gatherings in Bazit, Shagwrit, Maaret al-Numan and al-Tibat in the province’s countryside, killing dozens of terrorists, injuring many others and destroying their vehicles, some of them equipped with heavy machineguns.

Aleppo

Army units targeted terrorists’ positions in Mare’, Tal Rifa’t, Tlalin, Ezaz, Bashkouy, Orum al-Kubra and the villages of Tal Qarah, Herdatnin and Deir Jamal in the northern countryside of Aleppo province.

The operations in those areas left a number of terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra and some of its affiliates killed and several vehicles equipped with heavy machineguns destroyed.

An army unit destroyed several terrorists’ hideouts, vehicles and supply routes extending into the Turkish border in Ritian town.

In the southwestern countryside of Aleppo, army units killed numbers of terrorists and destroyed their arms and ammunition in concentrated operations on their dens in al-Atareb town and Khan al-Asal.

Groups of terrorists were also targeted to the west of al-Nairab airport in the eastern countryside of the province.

Operations against ISIS terrorists operating in the vicinity of the Air Force Academy resulted in killing and inuring numbers of them and destroying arms and vehicles equipped with various types of machineguns.

A Jabhat al-Nusra position in old Aleppo in the city was targeted.

Daraa

An army unit killed at least eight terrorists and destroyed two of the vehicles of the so-called “Jaish al-Yarmouk” in Saida town in the eastern countryside of southern Daraa province.

A number of terrorists were killed and others were injured and three of their vehicles were destroyed in army operations in al-Hrak town and on the road of al-Gharyiat-al-Soura in the northeastern countryside of the province.

Dozens of terrorists were also killed in a series of army concentrated operations against their dens in Busra al-Sham city in the eastern countryside of the province.

Meanwhile, another army unit killed a number of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists and destroyed their arms and ammunition to the north of al-Qasr al-Saudi in al-Yadoda town, 5 km to the west of Daraa.

Another army unit killed at least 10 of terrorists, mostly of foreign nationalities, and destroyed four of their cars and two mortar cannons in the vicinity of al-Mutanabi School and al-Muhandisin building in the camp area in Daraa city.

In Daraa al-Balad neighborhood, units of the army and the armed forces carried out precise operations, killing a number of terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra, and the so-called “Tawhid al-Janoub Brigade”, “Mujahidi Howran Brigades,” and “Madfa’ayet Sijil Brigade”. A convoy of the terrorists’ vehicles was also destroyed in the operations.

Sweida

The Army Air Force carried out airstrikes on dens and gatherings of terrorists of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Housh Hamad and al-Mdawara villages in the northern countryside of Sweida, southern Syria.

The airstrikes left a number of ISIS terrorists killed and their vehicles that were equipped with heavy machine guns destroyed.

The army also targeted groups of ISIS terrorists in Rajm al-Dawla in the northeastern countryside of the province, killing a number of terrorists and destroying their vehicles.

A convoy of vehicles for Jabhat al-Nusra was hit in the area surrounding Soum al-Darajeh village in al-Lajat, with the strikes leaving a number of the vehicles destroyed.

Damascus countryside

Units of army and the armed forces destroyed arms and ammunition depots and vehicles for terrorist organizations in eastern Ghouta.

Warplanes carried out raids against terrorist organizations in Ain Tarma valley, killing a number of terrorists and destroying vehicles, arms and ammunition caches, a military source told SANA.

Many terrorists, including three leaders of the so-called al-Islam Brigade were killed in a series of operations against their dens in Marj al-Sultan village that also resulted in destroying a mortar and four vehicles.

In the southern parts of eastern Ghouta, a unit of army chased a terrorist armed group in the farms of al-Qasemyia, Dair Salman, al-Zamanyia, al-Baharyia and al-Belalyia villages in al-Nashabyia area and killed a number of terrorists.

In Zabadani, a number of terrorists were killed in an army strike against their dens in the eastern mountains of Zabadani.

Source: The Arab Source

On Sunday, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) appeared amid the gloomy skies above the provincial capital of Idlib for the first time in 24 hours, pounding multiple strongholds belonging to the Syrian Al-Qaeda organization “Jabhat Al-Nusra” and their allies from Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, Jund Al-Aqsa, Ansar Al-Sham, Jaysh Al-Muhajireen, and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in this northern Syria province.

The Syrian Air Force began their aerial assault over the village Abu Al-Dhuhour in eastern Idlib after militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra attempted to infiltrate the Syrian Arab Army’s “Liwaa Abu Al-Daher’s” frontline defenses at the Abu Al-Dhuhour Military Airport and at the town of Tal Salmo located south of this base.

Once the Syrian Air Force began their aerial campaign, they would launch 83 airstrikes over the province of Idlib on Sunday, where they specifically targeted the Jabhat Al-Nusra controlled towns of Al-Mastoumah, Kafr Najd, Kafr Lata, Kafr Nabl, Taftanaz, Ma’arat Misreen, Qameenas, Fayloun, Koreen, and Broumah, along with the cities of Idlib, Saraqib, Sarmeen, Binnish, Ariha, Ma’arat Al-Nu’man, and Jisr Al-Shughour.

In addition to the airstrikes over the aforementioned towns and cities in the Idlib Governorate, the Syrian Air Force also relentlessly targeted the road leading to the Bab Al-Hawa border-crossing that the militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham utilize to reinforce and resupply their entrenched fighters inside the province.

The majority of the airstrikes over the province of Idlib on Sunday occurred along the militant supply route to the city of Jisr Al-Shughour from the provincial capital, as the strategy behind this was to delay supplies to the enemy combatants from Jabhat Al-Nusra and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, who are currently combatting the Syrian Armed Forces for control of the Jisr Al-Shughour countryside.