By evacuating and pardoning terrorists, is Bashar al-Assad being too nice?

Contrary to Western fake news, Assad's approach towards terrorists is deeply humane, some would say overly humane. Here is what we know and what must be answered.

Images of green bus convoys leaving Aleppo have provoked mixed reactions across the world. The coaches are filled with the surrendered terrorists who had occupied parts of East Aleppo prior to its liberation by the Syrian Arab Army.

Far from the fake massacres reported in the Western mainstream media, President Assad and his Russian partners are handling the situation in an utterly humane fashion, perhaps too humane. Assad’s rationale is that in order for Syria to once again be a peaceful and united country, as it was prior to 2011 when Western provocations triggered the current crisis, there needn’t be any Nuremberg style trials for the terrorists who continue to plague the country.

Assad has offered amnesty to any Syrians participating in terrorist activities in return for their pledge to lay down arms and permanently return to civilian life or join the fight against terrorism. He is also happy for the larger bulk of foreign fighters to peacefully leave the country, with many suggesting that  Turkey, knowing that her plans for regime change in Damascus have failed, will cooperate in this.

It is a safe assumption that many of the terrorists formerly operating in Aleppo will flee to Turkey, where they will no longer be Syria’s problem. Others may flee into ISIS controlled regions of northern Iraq and others yet may seek safe passage further abroad, to the terrorist paradise that is the failed state of Libya. But the danger for Syrians are the terrorists who stay in Syria.

The buses from Aleppo are heading for Idlib. There is a high probability that many terrorists from Aleppo will refuse to disarm and simply join the battle that other terrorist groups are currently waging in Idlib. This strikes one as a consequence of short-term thinking on the part of the Syrian government.

In a recent interview, Assad has stated that because of the finite resources of the Syrian Arab Army, one must understand occupied regions of the country as a set of descending priorities.

According to the Syrian President, Aleppo was the priority for obvious reasons. Its size, its location within Syria, its historical importance and its importance as a large urban centre for the region, all meant that Aleppo’s freedom was essential to secure first and foremost.

Assad’s second priority are regions on the outskirts of Damascus which continue to be occupied by terrorists. It is only after this that regions around Idlib, Palmyra and ultimately Raqqa will be dealt with.

All of this is totally logical, except for the idea that terrorist fighters should live to fight another day. The move is clearly one born of humanitarian concerns, but the question which necessarily follows is, why should anyone show mercy to terrorists who showed no mercy to their victims, and, furthermore, why should they simply be transferred to another region of Syria to do in Idlib or beyond, what they did to Aleppo?

These are questions which Syria and her allies will ultimately have to address, either in a diplomatic forum or perhaps directly on the battle field as part of Assad’s long term solution to gradually eliminate all terrorism from Syria. With Obama on his last legs and a seemingly cooperate Donald Trump on his way to the White House, the idea of meeting Obama’s America half-way in terms of sheltering Al-Nura/Al-Qaeda is becoming a non-issue.

The matter as British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson of all people said, is now in the hands of Syria, Russia and their allies. Terrorism cannot be tolerated in any form. This must be the long term and lasting message.

 Adam Garrie

 http://theduran.com/evacuating-pardoning-terrorists-bashar-al-assad-nice/

Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim

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They Said About The President

All eyes turn to what is happening in Aleppo province, north of Syria, as several regional and international countries are involved in the ongoing fighting there.

The real reasons of the countries' involvement in Aleppo fighting have not been mentioned by the misleading media outlets that only circulate tragic stories about children living in terrorists-held areas in Aleppo and turn a blind  eye to victims of daily terror attacks in government-held areas.

Turkey is seeking to annex Aleppo, while Saudi Arabia is seeking to destroy the moderate Sufi Islam and Syrian civilization in the province, the Syrian Member of Parliament Fares Shehabi told the Syria times e-newspaper's reporter via WhatsApp.

He added that the west wants to destroy Syria because it is a line of defense against Israel. "The west wants to eliminate the Syrian state's independence."

The MP also referred to the hypocrisy of the international community which justifies bombardment of Mosul in Iraq in which 1 million civilians are still trapped and criticizes operations for liberating Aleppo city from terrorists for the return of 1 million displaced civilians to their homes.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that it has information that terrorists are planning chemical attacks against the Syrian army and residential areas in Aleppo.

"It became known that terrorist groups are preparing provocative attacks by chemical weapons on Syrian army's positions and residential areas in the east part of Aleppo to accuse government forces [of the attacks]," Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir, the first deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff, said as quoted by the Sputnik.

The cessation of hostilities in Syria was undermined by militant groups that have increased their activities, he added.

 "We were ready to prolong the ceasefire regime consistently, striving to extend it indefinitely. At the same time the cessation of hostilities was derailed by militants. Not only did the intensity of shelling of government forces positions [by militants] fail to subside, but the armed groups' activity increased," Poznikhir said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the situation in Syria has deteriorated as militants have regrouped and launched offensives in Aleppo and Hama provinces. "As a result of the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic has escalated significantly. In the provinces of Aleppo and Hama, opposition groups, taking advantage of the seven-day truce, replenished the stocks of ammunition and weapons, to regroup and started offensive operations in order to capture new territories."

Over the last several days, the ceasefire in Syria has teetered on the verge of collapse. Fighting in Aleppo intensified after the Syrian army declared an end to the week-long ceasefire on Friday, blaming "rebels" for numerous violations that made the cessation of hostilities untenable.

On Tuesday, Syrian government forces liberated most of the al-Farafira district northwest of Aleppo's historic Old City and advanced the frontline for the first time in years.

 Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim

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http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/the-chemical-attack-on-ghouta

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The Bulgarian Member of Parliament Magdalena Tasheva has said that the European states owe the Syrian people for defending the European civilization through fighting terrorism.

She clarified that Syria is the last barrier defending the civilizations.

"If this barrier collapsed, Europe would be full of terrorist organizations such as the ISIS, the al-Nusra Front [Jabhat al-Nusra], the Jaish al-Fateh [army of conquest] and the Jaish al-Islam [Islam army], which perpetrate savage crimes against the Syrian and Iraqi peoples," the MP affirmed.

In early August, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, Political and Media Adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, spoke with me about how the Western media is stifling Syrian voices, endlessly propagating false allegations against the Syrian government and army.

On the question of the Western media's reaction whenever the Syrian Arab Army liberates areas from foreign-backed terrorists (the most recent examples include the liberation of Aleppo's Bani Zaid and Lairamoun industrial districts from the so-called "Free Syrian Army" (FSA), Jabhat al-Nusra, Nouriddeen Al-Zinki, and Ahrar al-Sham, among other terrorist factions), which was met with deafening silence by Western corporate media, Shaaban accused the Western media of "double standards."

"If the West really wants to end this terrorism, why are they so upset about liberating Bani Zaid in Aleppo, which was responsible for killing thousands of civilians in Aleppo? They should have hailed the Syrian Arab Army that liberated these Syrian citizens from terrorism, and they should have hailed overcoming these terrorist groups that were sending hell into Aleppo.

"There's no real stand against terrorism," the Syrian president's adviser continued. "Not only do they not care about the lives of civilians in Aleppo or Syria, they don't care about the lives of civilians in Nice or Paris or in the USA. The lives of civilians in Syria is as worthy as the lives of civilians in any European country, and one should be human in this regard."

Comparing the Russian method of battling terrorism in Syria to the Western coalition forces, Shaaban said the Western forces lack the necessary will to fulfill their mission.

"Russia believes that terrorism is a world-wide cancer, and therefore it should be fought truly and drastically in Syria so that it doesn't get to other countries. But the West doesn't have this conviction, doesn't have this will or intention.

Government amnesty actions ignored

The Syrian government has since the start of the war shown a willingness to work for a political solution, including the establishment in 2012 of a Reconciliation Ministry, which has overseen numerous reconciliation agreements that allow Syrians caught up in the war to surrender their weapons and receive an official pardon.

Yet such a willingness to meet the opposing side half way has been ignored in the Western media.

"Regardless of what [the anti-government rebels] did, the President issued a decree to grant them clemency, and he called on all of them to return to their country and be constructive in rebuilding their country, with no punitive measures against them. This is maximum forgiveness. I don't think any other country or president would do that.

Still, this has not been mentioned in Western media, at all. Not even by the UN mediator, he did not mention this at all, which tells you volumes about the 'efforts' they are making for a political solution in Syria."

At this point in the interview, the Syrian president's political and media adviser had harsh words for the present state of the Western media, which she said routinely "falsifies the facts".

"There's no free press in the West. There is a corporate media who have an agenda and who try to portray everything according to that agenda. Either they're labeling accusations against us or falsifying facts and reporting things that have nothing to do with the truth...

Shaaban lamented that because the media has "demonized us in the eyes of Western people," the Western people "don't know who we are".

"We don't have a voice with Western people. We have no channel of communication; the corporate media is blocking the channels of communication between us and the West," she continued.

The conversation then moved to the recent announcement that Jabhat al-Nusra's had changed its name and whether this means they are somehow no longer terrorists.

"They are terrorists," Shaaban responded. "It is the deeds that matter, not the name. This is good for a Hollywood film: a terrorist organization that has been killing in Syria for five years and is an offshoot of al-Qaeda is now changing its name, which means that it has become a 'moderate opposition'. This is absolutely ludicrous, and no sensible person should take this seriously."

Shaaban expressed serious reservations over the term 'moderate opposition,' which she said does not exist in Syria.

"There is nothing in Syria called 'moderate opposition'. All of those criminal groups are killing people, confiscating land, looting hospitals and factories, and they are all the same, no matter what names they might take."

The UN Resolution that disappeared

Shaaban also spoke on the West's fight against terrorism, which she described as a "farce." To support the claim, Shaaban pointed to Western leaders and the UN itself disregarding UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2253, which entails stopping terrorism in Syria. At the same time, they support UNSC Resolution 2254 and NATO's alliance plan of implementing a change of government in Syria.

"I would like anybody in the UN to answer this question: You want to implement 2254? Why don't you mention 2253? They should be dealt with  the intention in which they were taken: implement 2253 first, and then it would be very easy to implement 2254," Dr. Shaaban asserted.

Indeed, the focus of UNSC Resolution 2253 is specific to actually stopping terrorism of "ISIL (also known as Da'esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups .." in Syria, after which a political resolution could follow. Stipulations include a cessation of funding terrorist groups (including ransom payments), travel bans, an arms embargo, and to "bring to justice, extradite, or prosecute any person who supports, facilitates, participates or attempts to participate in the direct or indirect financing of activities conducted by ISIL, Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups...," as noted in the UN Press Release regarding the resolution.

On the subject of UNSC Resolution 2253, Dr. Shaaban had this to say: "It is a Security Council resolution and it was issued under the 7th Chapter, so it is more obliging than 2254. And yet even the UN people don't mention it. This is the double-standards of the West: they address their audience with having a stand against terrorism and wanting to fight terrorism, when in reality they are facilitating terrorism and not even mentioning even a Security Council Resolution under the 7th Chapter, that was taken 24 hours before 2254.

I think they don't mention it because 2253 has the prerequisite of stopping terrorism in Syria, because it speaks about a punishment for financing, arming, facilitating terrorism into Syria. And if this resolution is implemented, it means that the Turkish border should be closed, it means that Saudi Arabia and Qatar should be brought to task because of financing the terrorists, it means that there would be no justification for more terrorists to cross the border and come to Syria."

Regarding the disappearance of 2253, unimplemented and not discussed, Dr. Shaaban concluded what this means to her: "First, is it tells me that those who have taken this decision, including the UN and the West, are not serious in fighting terrorism. In fact they don't want to fight terrorism. They want to employ terrorism for their own purposes, and threats to fulfill their agenda, through using the weapon of terrorism.

Second, they would not be able to implement 2254, with all the good intentions on earth, because in order to implement 2254 you need to fulfill the prerequisite of at least controlling terrorism. Otherwise, how can you reach a political solution in Syria? How can you negotiate, how can you liberate Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and the rest of Aleppo, unless you first undermine terrorism?

There is no real international will to stop this war on Syria, no matter what they are saying. It's not important what they say, it's important what they do. Unfortunately, it is the Syrian people that who are paying the price, first and foremost.

Those who targeted Syria from the beginning, whether they are regional or international partners, they do not want this war on Syria to end. Thus, it is becoming like a war of attrition against the Syrian people.

Eva Bartlett
RT

Dr.Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.