About US policy towards Syria
The recent American policy towards Syria, especially after President Donald Trump came to power in the USA, often gave the impression of a chaotic and obscure process without clear goals and a clearly defined program. This, in particular, is evidenced by the statements of the US president on the withdrawal of American troops from Syria made in December 2018 and in 2019, despite the fact that a significant number of troops still remained in Syria.
The agreements between the USA and Turkey reached in October last year on the withdrawal of the US military from the zone of the Turkish military operation “Source of Peace” left a double impression. At first they were interpreted as the green light given to Turkey to occupy territories in the northeast of the SAR, but then it turned out that the Americans were not going to leave their Kurdish allies from the SDF at all.
An interview with James Jeffrey of the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq al-Ausat, given to him on May 2 this year, shed some light on the American political line regarding Syria. and his speech at the Hudson Institute on May 12. James Jeffrey is a special representative of the US State Department on the Syrian conflict and the fight against the terrorist organization Islamic State, so his statements can be interpreted as an expression of the official line of Washington.
The journalist of the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq al-Ausat asked Jeffrey whether the SAR government’s allegations that US and European sanctions are worsening the humanitarian and economic situation in Syria are legitimate. Geoffrey immediately retorted the accusations against the United States and other West states, placing all responsibility for the disastrous economic in Syria with the government of Bashar al-Assad. At the same time, the American diplomat actually called for the economic strangulation of Syria, its depletion, which will force the Syrian elite to accept the conditions of the collective West.
Jeffrey noted that the issue of renewing Damascus’ membership in the League of Arab States (LAS) is a big mistake. “They probably hope to get relative democratization or an end to repression from Assad. But they will receive nothing but “thank you.” The United States never welcomed friendship with Assad, even under the Obama administration, and today the American administration is unfavorable to such normalization.
Jeffrey called the political goal of the United States in Syria the process of democratization of the country and national reconciliation, and the withdrawal of all the foreign military that appeared there after 2011, especially the Iranians. However, he said that the Americans will also leave Syria when the situation there normalizes and ISIS will be finally defeated. Speaking about the Russian military in the SAR, the American noted that they appeared in this country before the crisis, and the United States does not insist on their withdrawal.
However, on May 12, during a videoconference at the Hudson Institute, Jeffrey showed great frankness. He openly admitted that Washington’s goal is to bleed Russia in Syria and achieve the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Middle East region. In particular, he noted: “Our military presence, albeit small, is important. We have repeatedly convinced Congress, the president, the American people to keep our military in Syrian territory. But I repeat again, this is not Vietnam, this is not Afghanistan, this is not a nightmare. My job is to make Syria a nightmare for Russians. ” He also admitted that “the Russian military was successful in Syria.”
US diplomacy argues that Washington remains committed to regime change in Syria. Only now is this being done not through the support of jihadists and the armed opposition, but through the economic strangulation of the SAR. In the hope that the economic crisis will force the Syrian elite to make concessions to the United States and take Western proteges into power. In addition, the US military presence in Syria is almost endless and you should not wait for the complete withdrawal of American troops, no matter what Donald Trump says about this.
