Russia’s Air Force supports Daesh against Syrian Liberation Fighters

Another instructive episode how Russian imperialism helps Daesh/ISIS to attack the Liberation Forces in the North of Syria

By Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 23.10.2017, www.thecommunists.net

In recent days we experienced another highly instructive episode demonstrating the true nature of Russian imperialism and its priorities in its military intervention in Syria.

As we reported two weeks ago, the Syrian Army – with approval by their Russian masters – let a huge and heavily armed column of Daesh/ISIS fighters pass through its controlled areas in order to attack the largest region which is still liberated by the Syrian revolutionaries. (1)

This counterrevolutionary attack took place in a crucial moment. At that time Syrian liberation fighters – mostly led by Hayyat Tharir al-Sham (HTS) – successfully advanced in the area around Abu Dali in the north of Hama against Assad’s terrorist army. At the same time the Turkish Army – with the support of Russian as well as US imperialism – started its invasion in Idlib in order to subjugate the region. (2) This area in the north of the country – encompassing the province Idlib as well as West Aleppo and North Hama – is not only the largest area under the control of the liberation fighters.

This area is furthermore mostly controlled by the petty-bourgeois nationalist-Islamist HTS which is the largest and best organized force of the resistance and the main faction which denounces the reactionary Astana deal. This deal – agreed by Russia, Iran, Turkey, Assad and various treacherous factions of the resistance and tacitly approved by Washington – aims to pacify the civil war, to liquidate the Syrian Revolution and to divide the country in different spheres of influence of the regime and the Great Powers. (3)

This attack of several hundred Daesh/ISIS fighters against the Syrian revolutionary forces in north east Hama forced HTS to effectively stop its offensive in the Abu Dali area and to relocate its troops so that it could push back the Daesh intruders.

Fortunately HTS elite units (“Inghimasi”) are making constant progress and liberate one village after the other from the counterrevolutionary Daesh forces. It is to be hoped that they will soon finish them off.

As we already noted in the past it is obvious that the counterrevolutionary attack of Daesh took place with the support of Assad’s army and its Russian master as the Daesh aggressors marched dozens of kilometers of open field though areas controlled by the regime without being attacked by them a single time! (4)

Now, as the Syrian liberation fighters are advancing against Daesh and the latter are close to defeat, the Russian Air Force accelerates its attacks on exactly those HTS forces which are actually fighting against Daesh! (5) As currently the only ongoing battle in this region is the one between HTS and Daesh, the meaning of massive Russian airstrikes against HTS forces is clear: compared with HTS and other Syrian liberation forces, Putin considers Daesh as a lesser evil.

This confirms once more the sinister collusion of Russian imperialism and Daesh and their common hatred against the Syrian Revolution. Naturally, one must not forget a sense of proportion. Daesh represents a sadistic mafia capo while imperialist Russia – one of the main Great Powers beside the US, China and the EU – rather represents Al Capone who has already slaughtered tens of thousands of Syrians.

True, the regime’s forces, with the support of the Russian Air Force, are currently smashing Daesh – together with US imperialism and its SDF/YPG foot soldiers – in the east of the country as the latter constitutes an obstacle to the colonialist plans of the Great Powers. However, when it sees a chance to utilize Daesh in the struggle against its main enemy – the ongoing liberation struggle of the Syrian people – Assad and Putin are ready to support Daesh without hesitation.

This small episode of the ongoing civil war in Syria demonstrates very well the thoroughly counterrevolutionary character of the imperialist Putin regime as well as of Daesh. Shame on those so-called leftists who praise Assad and Putin as “progressive” forces! Shame on those who have deserted the ongoing liberation struggle of the Syrian people against Assad, against the Great Powers and against their joint sinister conspiracy in Astana!

Long live the Syrian Revolution!

Defend free Idlib against Assad, Putin, Erdoğan and Daesh!

Footnotes

(1) Michael Pröbsting: Syria: A Very Instructive Episode. Counterrevolutionary ISIS/Daesh collaborates with Assad’s Army (as well as Erdoğan and Putin) in Attacking the Syrian Liberation Fighters in Idlib, 10.10.2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/a-very-instructive-episode-in-syria/

(2) Michael Pröbsting: Syria: The Turkish-Russian Invasion against Idlib has begun! All out to defend the Syrian Revolution against the Astana Conspirators! For an anti-Assad, anti-imperialist and anti-capitulationist united front, 07.10.2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/the-turkish-russian-invasion-against-idlib-has-begun/. A second motive of this invasion is Erdoğan’s desire to encircle the area around Afrin which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

(3) On the RCIT’s assessment of the Astana deal see: Michael Pröbsting: Syrian Revolution: The Moment of Truth is Approaching! Rally to defend the Syrian Revolution against the Imperialist conspiracy called the "Astana Deal"! 20.09.2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/syria-moment-of-truth-approaching/; RCIT: Syria: Defend Idlib against the Great Powers! Down with the reactionary Astana Deal! Defend the Revolution against the butcher Assad, against Russian and US Imperialism and the local Allies! Victory to the Struggle of the Workers and Oppressed! 04.08.2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/defend-idlib-against-great-powers/; Michael Pröbsting: Syria: The Astana-Deal Struggle Intensifies. Some Notes on Recent Developments in the Syrian Civil War and the Dangers for the Liberation Struggle, 28 July 2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/syrian-revolution-28-7-2017/; RCIT: Syria: Condemn the Reactionary Astana Deal! The so-called "De-Escalation Zones" are a First Step towards the Partition of Syria and a Conspiracy by the Great Powers to Defeat the Revolution, 7 May 2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/astana-deal/

(4) Our article “Syria: A Very Instructive Episode” contains a number of sources about this latest attack of Daesh against the Syrian revolutionaries.

(5) See on this e.g. https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/922065096989446145, https://twitter.com/milietweet/status/920733544573530115, https://twitter.com/abdullahazzam34/status/922021856785391616

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For the RCIT’s analysis of the Syrian Revolution, we refer readers to our numerous articles and documents which can be accessed at a special section on our website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/collection-of-articles-on-the-syrian-revolution/