Baladi News – (Yasser al-Atrash)
The decisive and unexpected advance of the Syrian resistance in the battle of breaking the siege on Aleppo caused obvious confusion in the policies of the United States and Russia toward the Syrian cause. The recent victories of the rebels led the two superpowers to make recriminations against each other and escalate their tones unprecedentedly, which is compatible with the current period of proclaimed collaboration between the two parties regarding the Syrian case.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman accused the United Sates a couple of days ago of supporting opposition groups that “bombard civilians with toxic gases” as well as killing thousands of civilians in airstrikes conducted by its air forces, affiliated with the “international coalition against terrorism”, on areas in northern and northeastern Syria.
In return, the president of the United States responded in a brief statement yesterday that urging Assad regime change is the only way to defeat ISIS, in clear provocation of the Russian side.
In what seems a return to the practical approach, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov informed his US counterpart, John Kerry, on Friday that it is important to intensify the fight against “extremist groups” in Syria because of using toxic gases against civilians, which is the pretext that Russia is trying to build on in order to mobilize public opinion against the Syrian resistance. Such mobilization would allow it to intervene more strongly against the effective advances of the rebels before completely breaking the siege on the liberated parts of Aleppo or achieve significant progress in the regime-held parts of the city.
In an analysis of the US and Russian attitudes, Author and political analyst, Ghazi Dahman, said, “The United States believes that the timing of the battle of Aleppo is not in its favor given the US administration is occupied with the current elections, and what is being circulated about the possibility of the existence of harmonization, or at least the boundaries of harmonization, with the Russians is not clear enough. Certainly, the Washington explains the Russian momentum in the attack on Aleppo as an attempt to obtain concessions by Washington, or at least shake the allies’ confidence in the United States.”
“Meanwhile, Washington prefers the status que management approach in Syria until it is done with elections, Russia is pushing strongly to determine positions and attitudes, which would help it to enter negotiations with a military balance that could impose its vision regarding the settlement in Syria,” the speaker added in a private interview with Baladi News.
Russia counts on circulating its own story regarding the Syrian case among the world nations. Such a story alleges that the Russian role in Syria, and in Aleppo in particular, is generally a humanitarian one. For example, the helicopter that was brought down a few days ago, on board of which five Russian militants were killed, allegedly was delivering humanitarian supplies to Aleppo, although Russia depends on a fleet of dozens of air fighters and attack helicopters in its “humanitarian operations” that are coordinated from Hmeimim Air Base in Lattakia!
On the ground, Syrian resistance factions declared on Friday afternoon the full liberation of the Artillery Academy in Ramouse in the third stage of breaking the siege on the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo.
The Artillery Academy is considered the strongest bulwark and the biggest arsenal for the regime in Aleppo and the northern area. The fall of the academy would put the opposition on the verge of breaking the siege, and probably heading west to capture areas held by the regime.