Getting away with murder
Once again the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is conducting a brutal and criminal offensive against its own population, with the support of Russia and Iran.
On Sunday, hours after the UN Security Council passed a resolution mandating a 30-day cease-fire, the offensive intensified: Ground forces launched an assault on five fronts, and opposition sources reported that chlorine gas had been used in at least one area.
This latest Syrian atrocity has been made possible, like so many before it, by Vladimir Putin. The Russian military is backing the Ghouta offensive, and Russian diplomats ensured that the Security Council resolution meant to stop it was held up for several days, then laced with loopholes providing a pretext for the slaughter to continue. On Monday, Putin offered, instead of the cease-fire, a daily “humanitarian pause” to allow the evacuation of civilians and entry of aid.
Moscow said it would begin on Tuesday, but—to the surprise of virtually no one—no such action was taken. Instead, the assault goes on.
Syria has become a maelstrom of war that has sucked in half a dozen outside powers, including the United States, which has some 2,000 troops deployed in the country. But most of the conflict is waged, supported or manipulated by Putin, who aspires to use Syria to reestablish Russia as a Mideast power at the expense of the United States. In addition to aiding and abetting the scorched-Earth campaigns of the Assad regime, the Kremlin appears to have signed off on a Feb. 7 attack by irregular Russian forces on U.S. and allied positions near the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. The assault was rebuffed with heavy Russian losses, but it showed Moscow’s audacity in risking a direct U.S.-Russian conflict.
Russia has suffered several recent reverses in Syria: not just the bloody nose on the Euphrates but the collapse of a unilateral attempt to broker a peace settlement outside the long-standing UN diplomatic process. Yet Putin does not appear chastened.
After months of hesitation, the Trump administration recently outlined a policy for Syria that supports the UN process and calls for eliminating terrorist groups; officials say U.S. troops will remain in the country, which provides Washington with some diplomatic leverage. But Putin eschews cooperation with Washington. Instead, he is doing his best to bluff and intimidate President Donald Trump into ordering a withdrawal. In the absence of a firm U.S. response to its latest outrages—and so far there is no sign of one—the Kremlin is unlikely to change course.