Jack Trustam: In Britain, many people’s understanding of the war in Syria is hazy at best, although many of us have good enough sense to distrust the mainstream media and its blatant misrepresentation of imperialist interventions. Could you give us a brief overview of the war in Syria?

Khaled Bakdash: Absolutely. Firstly, the attack on Syria was because of natural resources. Syria has the third biggest natural gas reserves and has resisted attempts to construct an oil and gas pipeline from the Persian Gulf, Qatar in particular, to Europe, which would damage Russia as the main European supplier. Nowadays Syria is the only Arab state that defies imperialist expansionism and was a pillar of support for resistance in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. Reactionary regimes like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan consider Syria’s example unforgivable. Syria’s war differs from Iraq and Afghanistan, which were very expensive and rather unsuccessful. Starting with the Obama administration, US wars took an indirect form like that of the “Arab Spring” in Libya, or the “Colour Revolutions” in eastern Europe, but modernised.

The war has had four stages overall.