{"id":69821,"date":"2016-02-15T13:02:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T13:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=69821"},"modified":"2016-02-15T13:02:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T13:02:03","slug":"you-have-now-landed-in-geneva-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/02\/you-have-now-landed-in-geneva-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"You Have Now Landed in Geneva, Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pepe<\/a>29 Jan 2016 – <\/em>The alleged Syrian peace process now enters its Geneva charade stage. This could last months; get ready for lavish doses of posturing and bluster capable of stunning even Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The notion that Geneva may be able to impersonate Damascus in a suit-and-tie pantomime is ludicrous to begin with. Even the UN envoy, the sartorially superb Staffan de Mistura<\/a>, admits the Sisyphean task ahead – even if all relevant players were at the table.<\/p>\n

Then we have Syrian \u201copposition figure\u201d George Sabra announcing that no delegation from the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee will be at the table in Geneva. As if Syrians needed an \u201copposition\u201d instrumentalized by Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

So in the interest of providing context, here\u2019s an extremely concise recap of recent, crucial facts on the Syrian ground which the \u201cnew capital\u201d Geneva may ignore at its own peril.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with last summer, when Iranian Quds Force superstar commander Qasem Soleimani laid down the law, in person, in Moscow, establishing without a doubt the grim situation across the Syrian theater of war.<\/p>\n

Essentially Soleimani told the Kremlin and Russian intelligence that Aleppo might be about to fall; that Jabhat al-Nusra was at the doors of southern Damascus; that Idlib had fallen; and Latakia \u2013 home to Russia\u2019s naval base at Tartus \u2013 would be next.<\/p>\n

\"U.N.<\/a>

U.N. mediator for Syria Staffan de Mistura \u00a9 Denis Balibouse \/ Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

One can imagine the effect of this jolt of realpolitik on President Putin\u2019s mind. That clinched his resolution to stop the fall of Syria, and prevent it from becoming a Libyan remix.<\/p>\n

The Russian Air Force campaign turned out to be the ultimate game-changer. It is in the process of securing the Damascus-Homs-Latakia-Hama-Aleppo network \u2013 the urban, developed Western Syria that holds 70 percent of the country\u2019s population. ISIS\/ISIL\/Daesh and\/or Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria, have zero chances of taking over this territory. The rest is mostly desert.<\/p>\n

Jaysh al-Islam \u2013 a motley crew weaponized by Saudi Arabia \u2013 still holds a few positions north of Damascus. That\u2019s containable. The country bumpkins in Daraa province, south of Damascus, could only make a push towards the capital in an impossible 1991 Desert Storm context.<\/p>\n

\u201cModerate rebels\u201d \u2013 that Beltway concoction \u2013 did try to hold Homs and Al-Qusayr, cutting off the resupply of Damascus. They were repelled. As for the gaggle of \u201cmoderate rebels\u201d who took all of Idlib province, they are being pounded mercilessly for four months now by the Russian Air Force. Aleppo\u2019s southern front is also being secured.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t bomb \u201cour\u201d rebels<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to pinpoint who\u2019s livid with all the Russian action: Saudi Arabia, Turkey and \u2013 last but not least \u2013 the \u2018Empire of Chaos\u2019, all at the table in Geneva.<\/p>\n

Jabhat al-Nusra – remote-controlled by Ayman al-Zawahiri – is intimately linked to a gaggle of Salafi-jihadists in the Saudi-sponsored Army of Conquest, as well as tactically allied with myriad outfits nominally grouped in the nearly extinct Free Syrian Army (FSA).<\/p>\n

The CIA, using the Saudis for plausible deniability, fully weaponized \u201cvetted\u201d FSA outfits, which received, among other things, TOW anti-tank missiles. Guess who \u201cintercepted\u201d virtually all the weapons: Jabhat al-Nusra.<\/p>\n

The follow-up was nothing short of hilarious: Washington, Ankara and Riyadh furiously denouncing Moscow for bombing their \u201cmoderate rebels\u201d and not ISIS\/ISIL\/Daesh.<\/p>\n

Slowly but surely, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), parallel to the Russian offensive, retook the initiative. The \u201c4+1\u201d \u2013 Russia, Syria, Iran (Special Forces, many of them from Afghanistan), Iraq, plus Hezbollah \u2013 started coordinating their efforts. Latakia Province \u2013 which hosts not only Tartus but the Khmeimim Russian airbase \u2013 is now under total control by Damascus.<\/p>\n

And that brings us to Ankara\u2019s nightmares. Russian Air Force smashed most of Ankara\u2019s Turkmen proxies – heavily infiltrated by Turkish fascists – in northwest Syria. That was the key reason for Sultan Erdogan\u2019s desperate move of shooting down the Su-24.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s by now clear that the winners, as it stands, on the ground, are the \u201c4+1\u201d, and the losers are Saudi Arabia and Turkey. So no wonder the Saudis want at least some of their proxies at the negotiating table in Geneva, while Turkey tries to change the subject by barring the Syrian Kurds: these are accused of being terrorists, much more than ISIS\/ISIL\/Daesh.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/RT_com\/status\/691003054771019777\/photo\/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw<\/p>\n

Exit Geneva, enter Jarabulus<\/strong><\/p>\n

As if this was not messy enough, US \u2018Think Tankland\u2019 is now spinning there is an \u201cunderstanding\u201d between Washington and Ankara for what will be, for all practical purposes, a Turkish invasion of northern Syria, under the pretext of Ankara smashing ISIS\/ISIL\/Daesh in northern Aleppo.<\/p>\n

This is utter nonsense. Ankara\u2019s game is three-pronged; prop up their heavily battered Turkmen proxies; keep very much alive the corridor to Aleppo \u2013 a corridor that crucially includes the Jihadi Highway between Turkey and Syria; and most of all prevent by all means necessary that YPG Kurds bridge the gap from Afrin to Kobani and unite all three Syrian Kurd cantons near the Turkish border.<\/p>\n

None of this has anything to do with fighting ISISL\/ISIL\/Daesh. And the nuttiest part is that Washington is actually assisting the Syrian Kurds with air support. Either the Pentagon supports the Syrian Kurds or Erdogan\u2019s invasion of northern Syria; schizophrenia does not apply here.<\/p>\n

A desperate Erdogan may be foolish enough to confront the Russian Air Force during his purported \u201cinvasion\u201d. Putin is on the record saying response to any provocation will be immediate, and lethal. To top it off, the Russians and Americans are actually coordinating airspace action in northern Syria.<\/p>\n

This is bound to be the next big thing, fully eclipsing the Geneva pantomime. The YPG and its allies are planning a major attack to finally seize the 100-kilometer stretch of the Syria-Turkey border still controlled by ISIS\/ISIL\/Daesh \u2013 thus reuniting their three cantons.<\/p>\n

Erdogan was blunt; if the YPG pushes west of the Euphrates, it\u2019s war. Well, looks like war then. The YPG is getting ready to attack the crucial towns of Jarabulus and Manbij. Russia most certainly will aid the YPG to reconquer Jarabulus. And that will directly pit \u2013 once again – Turkey against Russia on the ground.<\/p>\n

Geneva? That\u2019s for tourists; the capital of the Syrian horror show is now Jarabulus.<\/p>\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n

Pepe Escobar, from Brazil, is the roving correspondent for Asia Times\/Hong Kong, an analyst for RT and a frequent contributor to websites and radio shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the author of <\/em><\/em>Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War<\/a> (Nimble Books, 2007), <\/em>Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge<\/a> (Nimble Books, 2007), and <\/em>Obama does Globalistan<\/a> (Nimble Books, 2009). His new <\/em>book is Empire of Chaos<\/a>.<\/em> He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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

The alleged Syrian peace process now enters its Geneva charade stage. This could last months; get ready for lavish doses of posturing and bluster capable of stunning even Donald Trump\u2026 Geneva? That\u2019s for tourists; the capital of the Syrian horror show is now Jarabulus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-syria-in-context"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69821","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=69821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}