Thursday , 28 March 2024

Lies as the distinguishing feature of Syria, Russia and Iran

AL-Arabia – The cruel Syrian war launched by Bashar al-Assad on his people seven years ago under the name of counterterrorism demonstrated that the culture of lies connects the three allies Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime.

The Syrian regime’s indiscriminate shelling of Eastern Ghouta, targeting hospitals and blocking access to humanitarian convoys, confirms what is already obvious to everyone: That Russia is not committing to enforcing the UN Security Council Resolution that it had agreed to implement, which is to stop the fighting in Ghouta and deliver humanitarian aid.

The international community is leaving the Syrian people to die while Russia’s bombing of Syria continues. Everyone knows that Putin and his crew along with the Iranian leadership are lying

Randa Takieddine

Russia and chemical attacks

Russia, put under enormous international pressure, complied with the resolution but did not commit to it as it helped the regime continue its shelling. When French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reproached his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov about not halting the bombing and fighting in Ghouta, Lavrov replied that “the bombing targets terrorists in Ghouta and not civilians.”

The Syrian regime and its intelligence services were schooled by the Soviet Union, which was later inherited by Russia led by figures, like Putin, who learned and grew up within the dictatorship of the former regime. Putin once promised former US President Barack Obama that the Syrian regime will destroy its chemical weapons. The same regime is now bombing children with deadly gases and chlorine.

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Russia holds the Astana talks under the pretext of reducing the escalation in Syria while the opposite is true. Putin has also declared more than once that Russian troops will withdraw from Syria but they haven’t. In fact, they have increased their presence. Russia is also using mercenaries who previously took part in the war in Chechnya and Afghanistan to fight in Syria instead of the Russian army.

According to the Russian journalist Elena Volochine. who writes for the newspaper Liberation, Russia has hired a private military company, Wagner, to guard Syrian oil sites where Russian companies Gazprom and Lukoil have factories. The Russian defense ministry is providing Wagner with weapons, ammunition and equipment.

As stated by a Russian foreign ministry statement on February 7, Moscow acknowledges that dozens of Russian citizens have been killed in Deir az-Zour as a result of US bombing. The statement alleged that they had gone to Syria out of their own volition and for different reasons. Russia is not only lying inside Syria, but also internationally. British Prime Minister Theresa May stated that Putin was most probably responsible for the assassination attempt of the former Russian spy who worked for Britain and his daughter with poison gas.

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The anticipated Russian denial came from Lavrov. But no one can believe what the Russian leadership says. Previously Lavrov has already told Le Drian that Iran is a stabilizing factor in the region, as if the French minister is ignorant of what Iran is doing in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.

Iran the facile liar

Like its Russian and Syrian allies, the Iranian regime is no stranger to lying especially when it completely refuses to acknowledge supplying the Houthis and Hezbollah with ballistic missiles. Iran’s interference on the ground in Syria with its military experts and Hezbollah fighters to guard Assad and establish an arsenal of missiles and weapons between Lebanon and Syria is partly responsible for destabilizing the entire Middle East region, counting the entire Gulf region. Those who say that the dialogue with Russia and Iran is beneficial are misguided because it only culminates into non-commitments and the partaking in Assad’s crimes against his people.

The international community is leaving the Syrian people to die while Russia’s bombing of Syria continues. Everyone knows that Putin and his crew along with the Iranian leadership are lying and are taking part in Assad’s crimes, but no one is doing anything to stop them and punish these criminals.

This article is also available in Arabic.

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Randa Takieddine is a Lebanese writer and the director of Al-Hayat newspaper office in Paris.

Last Update: Thursday, 15 March 2018 KSA 09:43 – GMT 06:43
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Al Arabiya English’s point-of-view.
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