Latest editorial
Waiting for the grander vision to emerge
THE United States’ “exclusion zone” in northern Syria, apparently designed to protect US special forces embedded with Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Syrian bombers, marks a dangerous new phase of this nightmarish war.
However much the US denies it is creating a no-fly-zone, threats to shoot down Syrian or Russian aircraft that come too close certainly make it sound like one.The fact that the YPG evidently asked for such assistance highlights the breakdown in relations between it and the Syrian government, for years effective allies in their joint struggle against Isis terror.
Turkey’s attitude to the raging conflict across the border has changed dramatically since July 15’s failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
VIJAY PRASHAD details how US support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa allowed him to break the resistance of the autonomous Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
Trump threatens war and punitive tariffs to recapture Iranian resources – just as in 1953, when the CIA overthrew Mossadegh and US corporations immediately seized 40% of the oil, says SEVIM DAGDELEN
VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention