Mocking Ceasefire and Humanitarian Pause in Syria
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Excluded from Security Council Resolution 2401 are military operations against ISIS, al-Nusra, al-Qaeda and elements connected to them.
US-led terror-bombing continues, massacring defenseless civilians on the phony pretext of combating ISIS Washington created and supports.
Begun on January 20, Turkish Operation Olive Branch aggression against Kurdish YPG fighters in and around Afrin continues. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded.
Damascus condemned its operations as “aggression” and “occupation,” flagrantly violating international law, including SC Res. 2401.
US-supported terrorists in Eastern Ghouta continue preventing civilians from leaving the enclave through Russian-established humanitarian corridors – “due to mortar shelling by militants,” Russian General Vladimir Zolotukhin explained, spokesman for its reconciliation center in Syria.
On Wednesday, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “Russia has been doing its utmost to maintain humanitarian pauses and unblock the situation in Eastern Ghouta. Continuing provocations by terrorists regrettably leave no chance for settling this situation properly.”
Moscow and Damascus “keep pressing for ensuring the necessary humanitarian conditions in that region.” Washington and its imperial partners block their good faith efforts.
Anti-Syria/anti-Russia propaganda war continues daily. A NYT report headlined “ ‘Humanitarian Pause’ in Syria: More Fighting, More Death,” saying:
In Eastern Ghouta, “a Russia-declared cease-fire…failed to yield the promised results: Civilians did not evacuate, the wounded were not ferried out, humanitarian aid did not flow in, and fighting persisted.”
Instead of condemning US-supported terrorists in the enclave for holding its residents hostage as human shields, preventing their evacuation through Russian-established humanitarian corridors, the Times blamed Syria, saying:
“(T)he Syrian government has undertaken one of the most intense bombardments of the offensive against eastern Ghouta…”
It cited the Western-funded long ago discredited Syrian Observatory for Human Rights propaganda operation, falsely blaming Syrian airstrikes for killing hundreds of Eastern Ghouta residents, injuring many more.
Syrian aerial and ground operations are combating US-supported terrorists in the enclave. These elements are responsible for the vast majority of civilian casualties. The Times suppressed what’s vital to explain.
A neocon/CIA house organ Washington Post report on Eastern Ghouta was much the same – featuring disinformation and Big Lies, falsely blaming Syria for high crimes committed by US-supported terrorists.
Reporting on “government warplanes launch(ing) several attacks in the early hours of Wednesday morning,” Al Jazeera lied blaming Syria for preventing Eastern Ghouta residents from leaving.
Its correspondent reporting from Beirut, not Syria, said terrorists she called “rebels” claim “they are not bombing the corridors and that people do not want to leave because they don’t have any security guarantees “ – a bald-faced lie.
During a Wednesday Security Council session on Syria, US mission to the UN representative for economic and social affairs Kelly Currie, recited a litany of Big Lies about what’s going on in Eastern Ghouta.
She ignored daily war crimes committed by US terror-bombing and atrocities on the ground by terrorist fighters it supports.
Instead, she condemned legitimate Syrian aerial and ground operations, focused solely on combating US-supported terrorists, a campaign to liberate Eastern Ghouta from their control.
She disgracefully lied saying its operation “demonstrates (its) complete and utter contempt for this council and the United Nations.”
She turned truth on its head, slamming Russia’s humanitarian pause, calling it “cynical, callous and in flagrant defiance of the demands of 2401.”
It’s a noble effort in full compliance with the resolution – Russia and Syria united in the campaign to liberate the country from US-supported terrorists and Washington’s illegal presence.
As long as US-led aggression continues in Syria, conflict resolution will remain unattainable – despite good faith efforts by Moscow and Damascus for peace.
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