Avigdor Lieberman, the War Minister of the criminal Zionist Israeli regime occupying the land of Palestine has urged Washington to step up its criminal activity in Syria, mortified that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “is winning.” As the US, although steadily increasing its special forces presence and expanding a network of illegal military bases, has a minimal direct presence in Syria, the implication is clear that Lieberman and the Israeli government wants Washington to push its proxy, the Kurdish dominated HSD into direct military clashes with Syrian Arab Army forces and its allies in the Deir ez-Zor province. Lieberman may not have been paying enough attention—preoccupied as he is with oppressing Palestinians— to realize that Washington is already deploying both ISIS and the HSD in missions to slow down the SAA advance and defeat it in the battle to liberate Deir eEzZor.

This will come as a welcome distraction for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces two bribery scandals which could lead to an indictment on criminal charges and removal from office. This will come as a welcome development for Palestinians under his boot heel, Syrians suffering from his support of terrorists and bombing campaigns, and the people of the Middle East in general who resist the expansion of the Zionist entity across their lands.

Israel’s bombing campaign and history in supporting terrorists in Syria

Israel itself has attacked Syria numerous times during the war on the country. It regularly mounts bombing operations on the Syrian army and its allies, acting as the air force of Al-Qaeda and its allied terrorists. Much of the bombing take place in southern Syria, coordinated with attacks by terrorist groups. Israel has at no time during the war attacked any terrorist groups, which would not appear logical considering the Islamist ideology of many groups which is hostile to the Jewish state. The relationship makes much more sense when we consider the hostility of Israel to Syria, —illegally occupying the Golan Heights since 1967— Iran and Hezbollah, its long-term close alliance with the US and its ambition of dominance in the Middle East and the plan for greater Israel; the Zionist plan for Israel to extend from the Nile Valley to the Euphrates.

Islamist terrorism serves the purposes of Greater Israel perfectly, so it has actively supported terrorist groups against Syria in much the same way that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have. This support includes ISIS, former Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon admitting tacit support for the terrorist group, Free Syrian Army groups and Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (Al –Qaeda in Syria). Ya’alon even said that an ISIS affiliate apologized for attacking IDF forces in 2016.

Israel has bombed Syrian civilian and military targets numerous times, often violating Lebanese airspace to launch air attacks, claiming to be targeting Hezbollah weapons shipments, yet always managing to kill Syrian soldiers fighting to defend their country from Israeli backed terrorists. The unrelenting and regular attacks extend back to strikes on weapons depots in Latakia and Damascus to the September attack on the civilian airport in Damascus, a clear war crime which the United Nations sweeps under the carpet. Syria News reported on the often overlooked fact that Israel committed a double crime by firing from the Golan Heights, Syrian territory it has illegally occupied since 1967:

The brave Syrian air defense countered another Israeli aggression on Thursday 22 of September at 1 a.m. Earlier this morning at 1 am, the Zionist entity Israel fired two missiles at the Damascus international airport which is a facility only for civilians. The Israeli drone fired its aggressor missiles from the occupied land in the Golan Heights this time.

Israeli commandos joined their Jordanian counterparts and the CIA in establishing rebel command centers in Jordan from where they trained terrorists, or so-called “moderate” Free Syrian Army forces to cross back into Syria to fight as organized terrorist gangs. The command centers in Jordan still operate to this day, the proxies deployed to Al Tanf to stop Syrian forces from reaching the Iraqi border being a recent example.

United Nations observer teams reported on the regular meetings between the IDF and terrorist groups in the border region, noting an escalation in interactions in the first six months of 2017. Terrorist groups have reported receiving cash funds, food, fuel and medical supplies from Israel on a regular basis. This material support is easily converted into buying ammunition and paying fighters. The provision of support suits Israel’s purposes of maintaining a buffer zone against Syrian and Hezbollah forces and to exacerbate the deadly war on Syria.

We can only gasp at the state of the art medical care Israel has provided to injured terrorist fighters, quality care besieged Palestinians wait in vain for as the cruel regime delays and denies permission to receive vital treatment. Who can forget the image of Benjamin Netanyahu and Moshe Ya’alon meeting an injured terrorist in an Israeli hospital, Netanyahu offering the hand of Zionist friendship to the takfiri fighter?

Netanyahu asks Putin to back off: Putin politely declines

Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in August to demand that Moscow withdraw Iranian and Hezbollah forces away from the Golan Heights area, promising to take preventative military action if its “red lines” were crossed. Aghast at the expansion of the “Shia crescent” Israel would much rather see ISIS and Al-Qaeda in the ascendancy in Syria, hence the continued support for the extremist groups. In truth, Israel wants to see a prolonged conflict with no clear winner emerging, consistent with its desire to see neighboring states weak, fractured and rife with sectarian divisions. A Stalemate benefits Israel in the key strategy of cutting off the east-west access from Tehran to Damascus. Balkanization is a policy described in the Oded Yinon Plan which Israel has high hopes for the achievement of through the Kurdish HSD forces, which have made territorial gains through military conquest. Reports are that Putin respectfully listened to the words of the leader of the Zionist regime, then politely told Netanyahu that while he understood Israeli interests, Moscow would make no such demands of its Iranian ally. Netanyahu, like many other leaders, is learning that Russia is filling much of the space vacated by the decline of US influence and control in the region.

Netanyahu would be well advised to tone down the rhetoric and the acts of aggression inside Syria, because, as John R. Bradley says in The Spectator:

For while the consequences of Netanyahu beating the war drums over Iran used to be non-existent, now Moscow could give the green light to battle–hardened Iran, Syria and Hezbollah to unleash hellfire against the Jewish state.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, reinforced the view that Israel faces a confident and capable adversary, warning it to cease its support of ISIS, atrocities against Palestinians, acts of war inside Syria and promotion of partition in the region, referring specifically to the secession of Iraqi Kurdistan. Nasrallah said; “The current Israeli government led by Netanyahu is leading your people to annihilation and destruction. For he makes only plans for war and only searches war.”

From Plan A to B to C: Balkanization through the Kurds

Israel’s desire to balkanize the Middle East is laid out in the Oded Yinon plan. Stoking sectarian tensions is integral to the plan. The occupied territories of Palestine are a perfect example where Israel has encouraged tensions and conflict between rival groups. Promoting an Iraqi Kurdistan and a Syrian Kurdistan fuels the type of conflict and sectarian divisions Israel believes will weaken its rival states, increasing its power and influence in the process. It believes it has the divine right to the land, but will never be able to achieve this without imposing itself as the regional hegemon.

Clinging to the forlorn hope of regime change, Israel turns to its US ally, perhaps not yet quite cognizant of waning US influence in Syria and its exclusion from the Astana peace process. War Minister Avigdor Lieberman urged the US to be “more active,” code for upping its military aggression and illegally seizing and holding land through its Kurdish proxies.

Israel is as aware as the US that Plan A; regime change and Plan B; partition through Sunnistan in Eastern Syria are now but a pipe dream. It views with trepidation a united Syria, battle-hardened and ready to reassert its moral and legal right to reunify the Golan Heights. It is deeply perturbed by the strengthening relationship between Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Hezbollah, anchored by the military and diplomatic power of Russia, and must be horrified at Turkey and Iran forging closer ties in response to separatist ambitions by Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. It must be said Syrians view with deep suspicion the conciliatory tones of Turkish President Erdogan. They are not ready to forgive him sending thousands of well-armed and trained terrorists across the Turkish border to cause mayhem in their homeland, his alliance with ISIS, which included a flourishing oil trade and the kidnapping and organ trading set up through the refugee camps with the true deplorable, the White Helmets.

Israel is fully on board with the move through the alphabet to Plan C; balkanization through a Syrian Kurdistan, involving grabbing as much land as possible to strengthen the weak US hand in future post-war negotiations. In any case, the US will be extremely reluctant to hand over any land acquired through its puppet separatist Kurds, particularly the oil and gas-rich areas of Deir ez-Zor.

Alexander Mercouris sums up the evolution of US/Israeli plans for Syria and the stubborn mindset of the imperialist duo:

Following the failure of Plans A and B, most governments would have accepted that there is no realistic way for the US to achieve its maximalist objectives in Syria, and would have cut their losses. Unfortunately, as has become all too clear in the last few months, the US has no reverse gear, so that in place of Plans A and B we are now seeing the rolling out of Plan C. This is to manipulate Kurdish national aspirations to undermine the Syrian-Iraqi-Iranian-Hezbollah “axis of resistance/Shia crescent”, which in my opinion had no real existence before the start of the Syrian conflict but which as a direct consequence of US and Israeli policy in Syria and Iraq is now emerging. The results of this new strategy – which can be called Plan C – are now evident in the form of the escalating conflicts between the Kurdish militia and the Syrian army in northeast Syria – with Deir Ezzor province emerging as the key flashpoint – and with the Kurdish independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Israel support for Kurds in Syria and Iraq.

The overall objective of weakening and partitioning Syria, which perfectly suits Israel’s interests, has not changed. The vehicle for the theft of Syrian land and expanding Israel’s reach and power has. Pepe Escobar, writing for Asia Times says; “That good ol’ project of balkanizing “Syraq,” via ISIS, might have flown out of the window just to reappear by the door in the guise of Kurdish separatism.”

If we can grasp this simple but distressing for Syrian unity reality we come to understand that the Kurdish led HSD are not recapturing or liberating gas and oil fields in Deir Ez-Zor. What is actually happening is an illegal transfer —perhaps even openly agreed by ISIS— from one hostile, illegitimate force to another. The Kurds have no exclusive right to control, develop and reap the economic benefits of Syria’s natural resources. The process of HSD/YPG balkanization of Syria has been openly admitted and is expanding to the oil and gas-rich east. The Kurds announced they would annex Raqqa to their so-called “Federation” in the north, which is evolving into aggressive land grabs in Deir ez-Zor in the east. Recently Omid Kabar, a commander of HSD said,

“The regime says we will hand over our regions or al-Tabqah town to the regime’s army……we have not handed over any inch of our land… We will never hand it over. Our law is clear.”

Such statements should jolt into reality anyone who naively thought the Kurdish forces would hand control of land to the legitimate Syrian government. The recent description by Bouthaina Shaaban, political and media adviser to President Assad of the Kurds as an illegitimate force is proving accurate.

Israel’s support for the Kurds goes back to the 1960’s, seeing them as an ally against Arab nationalism and in weakening Israel’s neighboring states. The strategy developed through the 1980’s aiming to sow ethnic and sectarian conflict. The plan was furthered after the bombing and enforced the no-fly zone in Iraq in 1991 gave the Kurds effective autonomy in the north of the country. This advanced again after the 2003 invasion, and since that time Kurds have been able to exercise autonomy until the present when they have just held an independence referendum. Israel, proclaiming the Kurds have a moral and historical right to independence, backed the referendum, setting them in opposition to the region and the international community who oppose independence either outright, or at least consider the timing ill-advised while ISIS is still a force being fought in the country. The irony of the plight of Palestinians is very unlikely to have registered in the minds of Israeli politicians, who are excited at the prospect of Kurdish allies in Syria and Iraq acting as a buffer zone against Iran, the real enemy of Israel.

Afraa Dagher summed up perfectly the treacherous and opportunistic behavior of separatist Kurds:

And after all those came the Separatist Kurds led by the US and its stooges like Israel and Al Saud, and with their ugly flags, ISIS first and The Israeli flag later. They supported Israel, wanted the autonomy and moreover to steal the oil and attack other Syrians to uproot them from their own land.

Israel can identify with and is the blueprint for the violent and illegal seizure of land it has no right to, taking advantage of conflict and weakness to assert its illegitimate claims. Kurdish separatists are doing the same in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, they have capitalized on the inability of government forces to fight in all regions of the country simultaneously. Assisting in the liberation of the land is something all Syrians are grateful for and the ordinary Kurd is proud to do this. However, the separatist Kurds, armed and funded by the US and with Israel encouraging them to carve out a second Israel, must be confronted into abandoning their plans of separation.

Baghdad, Damascus, Tehran, and Ankara seek to preserve Iraq’s territorial unity, while Israel, the US and Gulf States long to see it fragmented and in a state of perpetual turmoil. Israel aims to break the Tehran to Damascus connection and hopes Kurdish independence will stir up Kurdish unrest in Iran, the ultimate target. While the US said it opposed the referendum, calling it ill-advised and ill-timed, this is likely to just be a tactical ploy, the US just as invested as Israel in seeing a balkanized Iraq. The past 27 years is a history of the US spreading sectarian conflict and virtually destroying the once prosperous state.

The HSD and ISIS Striking a Blow for Israel

Just as Netanyahu and Lieberman don’t need to fret over Donald Trump doing their bidding by standing poised to decertify the Iran nuclear deal, they needn’t worry about the US pointing its Kurdish proxies, guns in hand, in the direction of the SAA and its allies.

As the SAA moved across the desert toward Deir Ez-Zor, a city under siege by ISIS for three years, the US could see the dream of the reimagined Kurdish statelet stretching all the way east to the Iraq border evaporating. An HSD led operation moved south and made quick advances, notable for the lack of reports on expected fierce ISIS resistance, something the SAA and allies have faced.

This made much more sense when the Russian Ministry of Defense released satellite images showing US Special Forces and the HSD located and moving freely among the positions of ISIS fighters. “Without resistance from ISIS militants the SDF troops are moving along the left bank of the Euphrates River towards the town of Deir Ezzor,” the statement from the Ministry of Defense read. “There are not even signs of an organization of a battle outpost,” it added. It went on to say that the HSD/US forces must feel very safe among ISIS fighters.

This startling, but perhaps unsurprising revelation may not be a case of units moving rapidly unopposed through the countryside. Many of the fighters appear to have already been there. Local tribal fighters who had pledged allegiance to ISIS were convinced (bribed most likely) by US diplomat Brett McGurk to join and fight with HSD forces. They are being led by Kurdish commanders and receiving intelligence from US Special Forces, accessing vital information they would otherwise not be able to gather and put it to deadly use in the cost of Syrian lives. The formation of a trio of evil which is music to Israel’s ears is becoming more public and harder to hide and deny.

Due to the provocations and the resistance by ISIS, including strikes against supply lines along the Palmyra/Deir ez-Zor highway, the advance by the SAA has slowed. The HSD, on the other hand, has sped south and east capturing crucial oil fields, blocking the SAA advance from the Euphrates and progressing toward the border with Iraq.

The HSD has been able to progress along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River capturing strategic oil and gas fields including the Jirah, Tabiyeh and Al-Isba oilfields as well as the major Conoco gas field originally developed by the Houston based Texas Conoco Oil Company. The US will be glad to see that in their hands and the western media has presented the theft as momentous victories in capturing vital resources held by ISIS. Syrians view this with scorn, knowing the national treasures, vital to income and reconstruction has passed from one thief to another.

As the SAA crossed over the Euphrates River looking to make serious advances on ISIS forces and capture oilfields east of the river, they came under heavy fire which stalled progress. Russia’s Ministry of Defence accused the HSD of these attacks, saying the heaviest fire was coming from positions under HSD control. Russian commanders bluntly told their US counterparts this would not be tolerated, stating, “Fire from positions in regions [controlled by the SDF] will be suppressed by all means necessary.”

The attacks on the SAA in addition to stalling its progress, opened up the path for the HSD to move south and east, capturing oil and gas fields as it went with little apparent ISIS opposition. In further evidence of an ISIS/HSD/US collusion which must put a twinkle in Israel’s eye, ISIS has been able to launch several effective attacks, which while counter-attacks have repelled their forces, the objective of the HSD placing itself between government forces and the Iraq border has been achieved.

A Russian general was killed in a precision strike by ISIS, with the intelligence required to carry out such a strike seeming to come from US Special Forces. The next attacks came at multiple points along the main supply road between Palmyra and Deir Ezzor. The town of Al-Sukhna was surrounded by ISIS fighters clashing heavily with Syrian elite Tiger Forces. Eventually, the attacks were repelled, but again vital time is lost in the race to liberate all of Deir Ez-Zor.

Further details of how widespread the cooperation has emerged when the Russian Ministry of Defence declared that attacks launched by ISIS had originated from close to the Al-Tanf base which the US was using to house its proxy forces and from where the US had bombed government and Iraqi militias, making the spurious claim they were threatening the US and its allies. Moscow went on to say that ISIS had very accurate intelligence on where Syrian positions were, so were able to avoid them and launch quick attacks along the road from Palmyra to Deir-Ez-Zor.

Infuriated by the support of the US for terrorists in Syria while it hypocritically claims to fight them, Syrian General Ali Ali said the Pentagons weapons program is funneling weapons to ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

“We know that the United States delivered 1,421 trucks with military equipment and weapons between June 5 and September 15 this year to terrorists in Syria. The weapons were allegedly intended to fight terrorists, but eventually they fell into the hands of militants of the Islamic State [Daesh] and Jabhat al-Nusra [terrorist groups banned in Russia],” Ali said.

A recent report revealed a $2.2 billion Pentagon program supplying weapons to rebel groups to fight ISIS, or at least that is what the Pentagon claims. The report shows the lack of transparency, deception, and obfuscation by the Pentagon to hide where the weapons really end up. The program deceptively lists US forces as the end receiver of the weapons, when in actual fact the final destination is to groups fighting in Syria, the arms sent through Jordan and Turkey. A lack of tight controls on the program seems deliberate to allow for plausible deniability when the weapons end up in the hands of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, something which is inevitable considering they are two of the largest groups of terrorists in Syria. General Ali is on the money with his claims, as only a fool could deny the Pentagon program facilitates huge amounts of heavy weaponry being supplied to terrorist groups to continue their barbaric war against the people of Syria.

As the SAA and its allies face a wall of US-backed HSD resistance on the eastern side of the Euphrates, complete with the risk of direct clashes between Russian and US forces, the campaign has moved south, with the race now along the river to reach Mayadin and then on to Al-Bukamal, which could prove to be ISIS’s last stand. It is an excellent development to see reports that Syrian government forces have entered Mayadin, engaging in fierce clashes with ISIS and able to capture strategic heights near the town. Liberating Mayadin cuts off supplies for ISIS forces in Deir Ez-Zor, leaving them little choice but to retreat towards Al-Bukamal where their caliphate dreams may be left in ashes.

So the expansionist ambitions of the Tel Aviv regime, desperate to see a second Israel carved out in Syrian Kurdistan are still entirely avoidable. Syrian government forces appear destined to be able to meet up with Iraqi allies at the border soon. Then attention can turn towards the HSD, who have the choice to reclaim a place as law-abiding and respected Kurds who have been welcomed into Syria, or to resist not just the Syrian government, but its neighbors and Russia, while it can only count on two rogue regimes for support; the US and Israel.

— Paul Mansfield