Even as all sides - including the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and select rebel groups - pretend to be working towards a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the five year conflict in Syria, actions speak louder than words, and to put it as succinctly as possible, everyone is still fighting.
It was just two days ago when Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev warned that if Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar invade Syria in a transparent attempt to shore up their Sunni proxy armies currently under siege by Moscow’s warplanes and Hezbollah, a “new world war” would be inevitable.
He also indicated that such a conflict would likely drag on for “decades.”
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubier has demanded the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying that his removal is necessary in the fight against ISIS. Jubier told a security conference in Munich that Assad was responsible for the creation of ISIS by turning Syria into a ‘fertile ground’ for militants. Alarabiya.net reports: He called Assad the “single most effective magnet for extremists and terrorists in the region” and said his removal was crucial for restoring stability. “That’s our objective and we will achieve it,” he said.
Perhaps this is why Washington is so keen for peace and calling very loudly for a ceasefire in Syria. The Russian military successfully closed the Azaz Corridor, a narrow strip of land that connected Turkey to the rebel forces in Aleppo. The corridor had been a major supply route for the “moderate rebels” in Syria and that it is now closed should be seen as a crippling military defeat for the United States. Russia Insider reports: As analysts have pointed out, US Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly implored Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to keep the Azaz corridor open.
Nine months ago, things weren’t look good for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
Four years into his country’s bloody civil war, he found himself fighting a multi-front war against a long list of largely Sunni extremist elements and the government’s forces were stretched thin. The rebels enjoyed the support not only of the US, but of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. That meant that their resources were essentially unlimited.