Syrian army truly fighting Daesh: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Marcus Papadopoulos, a publisher and an editor of Politics First, in London, to discuss Russia’s ongoing air campaign against the positions of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in Syria.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It seems that the Russian mission so far in Syria has been very effective. Why do you think that it appears that the accuracy seems to be very high while at the same time the United States seems to have missed so many alleged targets on the ground in Syria?

Papadopoulos: Well, there is a fundamental difference between the Russian air force bombing Islamist positions in Syria and the way the American air force has been bombing ISIS for the last year and that fundamental difference is this: the Americans for the last year have been bombing ISIS without any coordination with ground forces in Syria i.e. without coordinating with the Syrian army, whereas the Russian air force is coordinating its actions with the Syrian army and, therefore, the whole plan of the Russian military action is that the Russian air force will weaken ISIS positions across Syria and other Islamist positions across Syria and then the Syrian army will go in and capitalize on the weakening of those Islamist positions by the Russian air force.

And we have to keep on telling people that the Syrian army is the heart and soul in the fight against ISIS and all the other Islamist groups in Syria; and so it is just simply not so plausible to defeat ISIS for example without working in tandem with the Syrian army. That is why the American attacks against ISIS for the last year have been an abject failure and why and how they have been an abject failure, because… look at the map for Syria. In the last few months, ISIS has increased the amount of territory that it occupies in Syria of course with the most recent acquisition of Palmyra; so whereas the Russian air force is working with the Syrian army, the American air force has just been bombing without any coordination with anyone on the ground in Syria.

Press TV: Why would that be the case? Obviously, the Americans have lots of experience with wars and bombings. Why then would they basically just be bombing without any type of effectiveness unless they did not want to be effective? How do you see it?

Papadopoulos: Because the Americans are opportunist. What they see in Syria, what they have seen in Syria since 2011 is an opportunity to get rid of the Syrian government and to replace it with a pro-Western government, a pro-Israeli government, an anti-Russian government and anti-Iranian government. That is why the Americans and their regional allies – Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar – have been supporting various Islamist groups in Syria in the fight against the Syrian government and in the fight against the Syrian army.

So it is little wonder that the Americans still refuse to work with the Syrian army because the American objective, even though they know it is very unlikely to be achieved now, but their objective still remains the overthrow of the Syrian government, which of course contravenes international law; it contravenes the United Nations Charter; and so why would they work with the Syrian army when the Syrian army, as I said just now, is the heart and soul of the fight against Islamist terrorists in Syria?

The Americans along with their regional allies have been working with Islamist terrorist groups for the last five years in Syria to try and achieve their objective in overthrowing the Syrian government. What stands between the Americans and their regional allies in achieving their objective? The Syrian military. The Syrian military; even though it is war-weary, it is very, very tired, it still remains a potent force in Syria and in the Middle East as a whole.

So there is no way the Americans will even contemplate working with the Syrian army because that just defeats their objective in Syria.

Press TV: And with the entrance of Russia into this now, are we about to see an escalation or de-escalation of the situation in Syria?

Papadopoulos: Well, hopefully there will be a de-escalation because what the world wants, what the international community wants is for all Islamist terrorist groups in Syria, from ISIS to the Free Syrian Army to al-Nusra, to be defeated.

What we need is for the Americans and their regional allies – Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar –to stop supporting those Islamist groups in Syria; for the Syrian army, which is the only authorized force, a legitimate force in Syria to recapture all of the territory of Syria and then the Syrian government and the opposition parties in Syria, which are loyal to Syria, not to other countries in the world, they can sit down, they can put together a new constitution and there can be a new government put forward.

So, hopefully, Russia’s campaign will eventually, not overnight, beat the scourge or contribute to beating the scourge of Islamist terrorism in Syria; and then, there can be a transition whereby there is a new government put together by the Syrian people of course not by Washington or Riyadh or Ankara.

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