{"id":130529,"date":"2019-04-08T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=130529"},"modified":"2019-04-15T11:43:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T10:43:01","slug":"syria-is-us-fighting-isis-or-liquidating-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/04\/syria-is-us-fighting-isis-or-liquidating-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria: Is US Fighting ISIS or Liquidating Assets?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Iraqi fighters of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation units) stand next to a wall bearing the Islamic State (IS) group flag as they enter the city of al-Qaim, in Iraq’s western Anbar province near the Syrian border as they fight against remnant pockets of Islamic State group jihadists on November 3, 2017.
\/ AFP PHOTO \/ AHMAD AL-RUBAYE<\/p><\/div>\n

30 Mar 2019 – <\/em>That the\u00a0\u201cfinal stronghold\u201d\u00a0of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) resides in US occupied territory in Syria says it all.<\/p>\n

From US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memos dating back to 2012 noting efforts to create a \u201cSalafist\u201d [Islamic] \u201cprincipality\u201d [State] in eastern Syria precisely where ISIS rose and now clings to its\u00a0\u201cfinal stronghold,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0to the obvious fact that ISIS\u2019 fighting capacity was only possible through extensive state sponsorship \u2013 it was already clear that the US and its partners in regime change against Syria had been using terrorists including ISIS as proxy ground forces.<\/p>\n

Now the US claims it has cornered and is on the verge of defeating ISIS \u2013 despite the terrorist group having been cleared out of virtually every other corner of the nation by Syrian, Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah forces long ago.<\/p>\n

In reality, the US is merely liquidating assets it had harbored, protected, armed, and funded throughout the 8 year proxy war until no longer politically feasible.<\/p>\n

CNN in its article, \u201cThousands of ISIS troops surrender amid attack on final stronghold in Syria<\/a>,\u201d uncritically claims:<\/p>\n

At its height, ISIS controlled huge swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq. The US-led coalition has been working for years to oust the group from cities and towns.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CNN omits entirely any mention of the source of ISIS\u2019 fighting capacity and the fact that its supply lines led directly out of NATO-member Turkey and was overseen by US special forces and intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n

CNN also omits that it wasn\u2019t until\u00a0the 2015 Russian military intervention<\/a>\u00a0when Russian air power\u00a0attacked and cut ISIS supply lines<\/a>\u00a0that ISIS began suffering defeat across Syrian territory \u2013 first and foremost in territory being retaken by Syrian forces and its allies.<\/p>\n

In territory illegally-occupied by the US, it appears that ISIS militants and other extremists were simply being shuffled around. In other cases, US forces attacked the Syrian military and their allies when attempting to cross into US-occupied territory in pursuit of ISIS forces. This game has carried on to the point of absurdity with the largest and most powerful military in the world only now creeping in last across the finish line of its own supposed battle against ISIS.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Land Destroyer Report<\/p><\/div>\n

What Becomes of Surrendering and Fleeing ISIS Militants?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

CNN also claims:<\/p>\n

More than 3,000 ISIS fighters have surrendered amid a pitched battle by US-backed forces to retake the last ISIS stronghold in Syria.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article also notes that many more may attempt to flee. The US has not made it clear what will happen with these fighters, or others \u201cfleeing\u201d from the supposed US-backed offensive. In certain cases, it seems Washington has singled interest in sending foreign fighters back to their countries of origin \u2013 which means many will simply be\u00a0reintegrated into society<\/a>\u00a0where local intelligence agencies will keep tabs on them, use them for domestic distractions, or redeploy them to Washington\u2019s next proxy war when required.<\/p>\n

More: The US Syria Withdrawal and the Myth of the Islamic State\u2019s \u201cReturn\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A recent Iraqi military deployment near the Syrian-Iraqi border consisting of Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) amid the ongoing US offensive in Syria indicates that at least Baghdad believes Washington\u2019s \u201cdefeat\u201d of ISIS is more likely another attempt to shuffle valuable proxy fighters around on the battlefield \u2013 and this time \u2013 back into Iraq and in particular, into Al Anbar governorate where the US still maintains a military presence and where they will continue receiving defacto US protection.<\/p>\n

Al-Masdar News in an article titled, \u201cIraqi reinforcements deploy to Syrian border as ISIS terrorists attempt to escape Syria<\/a>,\u201d would note:<\/p>\n

The Iraqi Armed Forces deployed a large number of military personnel to the Syrian border this week to block any Islamic State (ISIS\/ISIL\/IS\/Daesh) from fleeing into Iraq.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0According to a new report, the Iraqi Army and Hashd Al-Sha\u2019abi deployed these reinforcements to the Anbar-Deir Ezzor border after some Islamic State terrorists were suspected of sneaking into Iraq from eastern Syria.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was\u00a0the rise of ISIS inside Iraq and its crossing over into Syrian territory<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0set the pretext<\/a>\u00a0for the now ongoing US occupation of Syrian territory. The threat of ISIS\u00a0\u201cresurging\u201d<\/em>\u00a0in Iraq also serves as an ongoing pretext for US forces still based there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Land Destroyer Report<\/p><\/div>\n

The rise of Iranian-backed militias throughout Iraq has become a potent counterweight to US-backed proxies attempting to take root there once again, and will make it infinitely more difficult for the US to repeat the scale and duration of the ISIS scourge the US visited upon the region.<\/p>\n

The term \u201cliquidate\u201d in this context doesn\u2019t necessarily mean destroying ISIS formations entirely \u2013 but instead simply moving them where they can be protected in Al Anbar and reconstituted to either continue serving as a pretext for US troops to remain in the region, or to fight in future proxies wars the US is planning in the wake of its current defeat in Syria.<\/p>\n

While the Western media is attempting to hail this \u201cfinal battle\u201d as a victory for US forces \u2013 it is in actuality an indictment of America\u2019s complicity in ISIS\u2019 creation, proliferation across the region, and its longevity on the battlefield \u2013 suspiciously where US forces are operating.<\/p>\n

The real story isn\u2019t that the US is finally moving in on ISIS\u2019\u00a0\u201clast stronghold,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0it\u2019s that the US presided over the\u00a0\u201clast stronghold\u201d<\/em>\u00a0for so long.<\/p>\n

________________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>The <\/em>Land Destroyer Report is maintained by Tony Cartalucci, an American geopolitical analyst based in Bangkok, Thailand.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 landdestroyer.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 Mar 2019 – That the \u201cfinal stronghold\u201d of ISIS resides in US occupied territory in Syria says it all. From US Defense Intelligence Agency memos noting efforts to create a \u201cSalafist\u201d [Islamic] \u201cprincipality\u201d [State] in eastern Syria precisely where ISIS rose and now clings to its \u201cfinal stronghold,\u201d to the obvious fact that ISIS\u2019 fighting capacity was only possible through extensive state sponsorship \u2013 it was already clear that the US and its partners in regime change against Syria had been using terrorists including ISIS as proxy ground forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":130531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","category-syria-in-context"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}