HELLFIRE OF THE EAST

It seems the bleeding local population may only dream about the peace in Syria and the entire Middle East. Meanwhile, the major powers intensively escalate the confrontation, which goes beyond the regional limits.

The tragedy of Khan-Shaykhun

On April 4, the world community heard horrible news: the Syrian city of Khan-Shaykhun in the province of Idlib was bombed, about 100 people were killed. The messages were accompanied by shocking photo and video footage of several dozen children writhing in torment from lack of air. These evidences gave reason to believe that the death was due to the use of chemical weapons.

The town of Khan-Shaykhun and the province of Idlib are almost entirely controlled by the rebels, including the so-called jihadists from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, and are often raided by Syrian and Russian military aircraft. Therefore, the Syrian opposition and Western politicians immediately accused the air forces of Syria of raiding and using chemical weapons against residents of Khan-Shaykhun. Damascus refused the allegations stating that chemical weapons were used by one of the rebel groups. The Russians claim that the Syrian air forces hit a large terrorist depot storing ammunition with poisonous substances. At the same time, Moscow further argues that the allied government of Syria headed by President Bashar Assad does not possess chemical weapons. Thus, it was reported several years ago that Damascus destroyed its chemical weapons reserves, which was also confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Nevertheless, the West insists that it was the Assad regime, which purposefully carried out the gas attack in the province of Idlib. The US President Donald Trump called the tragedy "a very sad day for Russia because they are aligned." And he warned that the gas attack, which became an "insult to all of humanity," will not go unpunished. The American administration confirmed these threats in practice in just a few days following the event. Almost 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles hit the Syrian airbase Shayrat in Homs province known to be the launch point of air raids on Idlib. According to Syrian sources, the airbase is destroyed with ten people killed.

American strike

In his letter to the members of the US Congress about the missile strike, President Trump openly explained the reasons behind his decision: "I directed this action in order to degrade the Syrian military’s ability to conduct further chemical weapons attacks and to dissuade the Syrian regime from using or proliferating chemical weapons, thereby promoting the stability of the region and averting a worsening of the region’s current humanitarian catastrophe."

Support for Washington's actions was expressed by its closest allies including the European Union, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and others. Special acclamations of approval of the American missile strike came from Ankara. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even said that the US missile strike against Syria is not a sufficient step to pacify the Syrian regime.

Naturally, Iran and Russia have strongly condemned the US action. Russian President Vladimir Putin described Washington's actions as "aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law under a contrived pretext." The statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry says: "Without bothering to figure anything out, the US moved toward a demonstration of strength, to military resistance against a country that is fighting international terrorism. The US is not the first time to demonstrate such a thoughtless approach, which only exacerbates the problems existing in the world and creates a threat to international security."

It goes without saying that the latest developments in Syria will have consequences for the future of the US-Russian relations, which have been remaining in the "cold peace" for the past decade. Putin has made it clear that the US strikes against Syria were damaging relations between Washington and Moscow. Thus, Russia suspended the memorandum with the US on the prevention of incidents and ensuring the safety of aviation flights during operations in Syria. In addition, after an American strike on the Syrian base, it became known that the Russian Navy ships are urgently returning to the Syrian shores.

However, all of the above is just a few strokes in a very saturated mosaic of the growing American-Russian confrontation. The tragedy in Idlib and the military action in Homs have demonstrated the dangers of the worsening situation. After all, perhaps for the first time since the collapse of the USSR, not to mention an even more ancient event - the Caribbean crisis around Cuba, the world has really come to the brink of a global conflict. The experts believe that if Russia used air defense systems on Syrian territory in response to the US missile strike, the issue could turn into a direct confrontation of the nuclear powers. Fortunately, this gloomy prospect for the whole planet was avoided. But the threat remains, fueled by the fact that the United States still wants to remain the only global leader, while Russia has once again challenged the dominant hegemony of the West led by the US.

"Ready to go further"

The emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the current situation in Syria has entirely reflected the level of American-Russian contradictions. The US confirmed that they were working towards the departure of Bashar Assad from the political scene. In fact, a few days before the attack on Khan-Shaykhun, the Trump administration assured that the removal of Assad from power was no longer a priority for the White House, and the Syrian people would decide his fate. Therefore, it is still a big question if the chemical weapons attack was in favour of the Syrian government under the current advantageous situation on the battlefield. After the Idlib tragedy, Americans tightened the rhetoric of the presidency of Barack Obama. According to Donald Trump, he now considers the situation in Syria as a zone of "his responsibility." And given this "responsibility", the US permanent representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned that the United States was "ready to go further" in Syria.

In response, the Russian representative to the UN, Vladimir Safronov, said that the US aggression against Syria only contributed to the strengthening of terrorism and that the US was not at all interested in impartial and independent investigation of the April 4 incident.

The Security Council did not accept any documents on the outcome of such a stormy meeting. And this fact only strengthened the impression of despair about the Syrian issue. The negotiations between the opposing sides is also under threat of failure, although their contacts in Astana gave some grounds for optimism. However, the Geneva round of Syrian negotiations following the Astana talks did not lead to the continuation of direct contacts between representatives of Damascus and the largest factions of the opposition.

The tragedy in Idlib and the American strike were not just new manifestations of the Syrian impasse. They point to the fact that the situation in Syria has only strengthened in the state of the war of all against all observed since 2011. And in this war, as it was again confirmed, the key role is played by the struggle of the giants - the USA and Russia, the confrontation between them only further alienates the burning Syria from the perspective of the long-awaited peace.

Mosul blames

Meanwhile, the Syrian arena is only part of the global confrontation. It is directly connected with the events in Iraq, which, like Syria, has undergone expansion by the IS and also depends on the course of great-power dissent. This is most convincingly evidenced by the events around the city of Mosul, which until recently has been under the control of jihadists.

In October 2016, the Iraqi army and a coalition led by the US started a military operation for the liberation of Mosul. Soon the terrorists left the eastern part of the city. In mid-February, Iraqi authorities announced the beginning of another operation to liberate the western part of the city. A month later, reports were received of the complete encirclement of the IS detachments in Mosul and the severance of their communications with militants in Syria. And although almost half a million people left their homes in the western part of Mosul, between 200 and 300 thousand civilians are still in areas that are under the control of terrorists. Almost daily information is received about the mass executions of residents for attempting to escape from the IS-controlled territory.

However, the disasters experienced by the local population are not related only to punitive acts of terrorists. Hundreds of civilians are being killed under regular bombardment of IS facilities by the air force of the US-led international coalition. One of the most terrible tragedies occurred on March 17, when more than 100 people were killed during the bombing in the western part of Mosul. Head of the city administration, Hussein Hajim, openly stated: "The coalition forces are responsible for these victims and mistakenly inflicted blows."

Russia took advantage of this fact. In particular, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement stating that the US military action against Syria was a desire to divert attention from the situation in Mosul.

Whatever the truth is, these mutual accusations of great powers do not ease the fate of peoples living in Syria, Iraq and other countries of the Middle East. A few years ago, world political strategists announced the beginning of the "Arab spring" in this region but as the bloody outcome of these events show, it has fanned only the infernal flame and the way out of this situation is blocked by global ambitions of the largest power centres.