US Must Stop Supporting Terrorists in Syria: Analyst

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani says the crisis in Syria cannot be resolved through political approaches as long as terrorist groups, including Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra are operating in the Arab state and supported by certain regional countries, according to Press TV.

He said some regional countries have expressed concern over the political initiatives of Iran, Russia and Turkey in Syria and do not have any sympathy for people in war-ravaged countries, but are worried that the terrorist groups they have been supporting are losing ground and on the decline.

 An author and journalist believes as long as the United States supports the terrorists groups in Syria, there is no possibility of a political solution to the conflict in the war-torn country.

“I have said many times and I have wrote in many articles that as long as Obama remained in power, there was no possibility of a political solution to the conflict for the very simple reason that America supports the terrorist groups – ISIS (Daesh), al-Nusra, [and] al-Qaeda – in Syria,” Stephen Lendman told Press TV in an interview on Sunday.

“As long as this continues, there is no possibility of anything but a military solution,” he added.

The analyst also opined that there are no so-called moderate “rebel” groups operating in Syria, emphasizing that all of them are terrorists.

Lendman noted that it should be seen what exactly US President Donald Trump will do, given his comments about wanting to cooperate with Russia in combating Daesh.

However, he said, there have been “terrible” and “hostile” comments coming from US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson toward Iran and China.

Therefore, he said, there is no possibility of improving relations with Russia if the United States remains hostile to Iran and China which are Moscow’s allies.

The analyst further expressed fear that Trump will be manipulated to go the wrong way rather than the right way, asserting that the situation is very “dicey”.