Since the beginning of the US-led regime change effort against Syria began in 2011, the West and its Gulf state financiers have tried to prop-up a “Syrian Interim Government” in the desperate hope that this western creation could somehow be parachuted into the country after the real government in Damascus was decapitated by the western and Gulf-backed conclave of radical jihadist terrorist militants who formed what the western media and political operatives commonly referred to as the “rebel opposition” in Syria. The first iteration of this ‘interim government’ was known as the Syrian National Council (SNC), which collapsed for obvious reasons (starting with the fact that its members had been hand-picked by Washington, and also because no one in Syria, other than militant factions receiving western patronage, actually recognizes it). The SNC then morphed into a series of other entities, before reaching its current form, now sponsored by the Turkish state. But past failures have not deterred them, as this latest version of “legitimate Syrian government” seems to have found a permanent home in Istanbul, Turkey, where it’s now calling for military action against Damascus in order to save the remaining al-Qaeda terrorist brigades currently occupying Syria’s northern province of Idlib.
In addition to the their parallel ‘government’ in Turkey, the opposition confab has also given a marketing facelift to their western-backed militant forces, formerly known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA). As 21WIRE previously reported, Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan has been hosting but has now absorbed the terrorist-infested FSA into Turkey’s military ranks, and has redeployed them under a new brand, cynically named the “Syrian National Army”. Their new Turkish lifeline has no doubt pleased Washington who themselves have already invested billions in US taxpayer funds financing, training and arming these very same jihadist brigades that Erdogan has employed on the front lines of his latest incursions into Syria in the attempt to carve out a Turkish-friendly ‘safe zone’ along its border and inside of Syrian territory. Not content with matters, Istanbul’s ‘Syrian government’ is now demanding that Erdogan reassign all FSA terrorist fighters to Syria’s northern province of Idlib to help repel the current Syria Army and Russian offensive launched this past week.
The West’s “Syrian government” still on life-support, residing in Istanbul (Image Source: Hadi Abdullah)
Nonetheless, there is still a faint glimmer of hope held by the foreign-based opposition that the West will re-enter the theatre, topple the Assad government in Damascus, and help install them into power, thus rescuing the ephemeral “revolution” which some still claim happened in 2011, but which never actually happened in reality.
Of course, if the money ever dries up, then so will so-called “Interim Government” of Syria.
South Front reports…
Late on December 23, the Turkish-based “Syrian Interim Government” (an entity funded by Turkey in an attempt to legalize its actions in Syria) threatened the real Syrian government with a military action.
In a released statement, it claimed that forces that participated in Turkey’s Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield operations are now moving to Greater Idlib in order to support their counterparts in repelling an attack by “regime forces, Russia and Iranian militias”.
It remains unclear what “forces” the barely existing “defense ministry” is planning to send to Idlib because Turkish-backed militant groups are already supporting al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the battle against the Syrian Army. The Turkish-backed coalition of militant groups, the National Front for Liberation, has always been a useful partner for al-Qaeda in Idlib.
On December 24, united forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the National Front for Liberation and several other militant groups launched a counter-attack in an attempt to retake the town of Jarjnaz from the Syrian Army and its allies.
Clashes between militants and government forces erupted near Jarjnaz itself and the villages of Ghadfa and Abud Dawha. Militants used at least one suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive device.
Pro-militant sources that “rebels” destroyed several pieces of military equipment belonging to the army and captured an armoured vehicle and a battle tank. The fighting in the area continued on December 25.
On December 24, a Turkish delegation visited Moscow to discuss the situation in Syria and Libya, as well as the existing bilateral cooperation. Taking into account that Turkey’s soft reaction to the encirclement of its observation post in Surman and the lack of Turkish Army attempts to establish more observation posts to stop the Syrian Army advance, it seems that Ankara once again sold its Idlib proxies to Russia.
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