Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
Western mainstream media is once again putting Idlib at the center of their coverage, with emotive and hugely exaggerated headlines like “Bombed as they flee: A million Syrians try to escape Assad’s onslaught” — however with no mention that a US designated terrorist organization, al-Qaeda’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has for years brutally held Idlib territory, suppressing the civilian population.
With the Syrian Army and its Russian allied force now again feeling US pressure over the ongoing offensive, the Kremlin has hit back, slamming the US for its occupation and resource plunder of Syria.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu while on a state visit to Rome on Tuesday charged American forces with a “shameless, impudent pillage of the wealth,” according to Russian state sources.
US armored vehicles on the key M4 highway in Syria’s northeast, via AFP.
“The oil fields… are controlled by the US. There’s shameless, impudent pillage of the wealth that belongs to Syria and the Syrian people taking place,” Shoigu said.
He pointed out that this resource theft combined with an extreme US sanctions regimen is creating horrific conditions among the civilian populace facing freezing winter temperatures. “Most of the people, who are now suffering in Syria, are in need of heat, hot water and electricity, which — as we understand it — come from hydrocarbons that are forbidden to be supplied there,” the minister said further.
Over the past two weeks US and Russian convoys have had dangerous run-ins in Syria’s northeast anytime Russian forces get too close to Syrian oil fields. Though no exchanges of fire have resulted, the two superpowers’ militaries are coming dangerously close to engaging in a major incident.
Meanwhile in separate statements a top Syrian official has confirmed that Russia is helping the Syrian state and its people to counter the West’s economic blockade.
Syria’s ambassador to Russia, Riyad Haddad, said at an event hosted in Siberia that “Russia together with the Syrians is fighting the economic blockade imposed by Western powers and is also providing our people with all kinds of support and humanitarian assistance.”
Over the past months President Trump has articulated in a provocatively blunt manner that US troops will remain in Syria “to secure the oil”. There’s been nothing in the way of a timetable or specified goal in terms of when the mission might be ‘accomplished’ or the troops might come home.
And last Saturday President Trump held a much anticipated phone call with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan at a moment tensions continue soaring over Idlib, and after a week of direct confrontations between the Syrian and Turkish armies left scores dead and wounded on either side.
The two leaders condemned the Syrian Army advance into Idlib, calling the military offensive with Russian support “unacceptable”. This after last week the US dispatched special envoy for the region James Jeffrey to Ankara, where the diplomat verbalized full support to “our NATO ally Turkey”.
President #Assad's message to #Erdogan;
"The battle to liberate #Aleppo countryside & #Idlib will continue regardless of some empty sound bubbles coming from the north, and the battle for liberating all #Syrian soil, crushing terrorism, and achieving stability will also continue" pic.twitter.com/msZilXc7mU— Wissam Sliman (@WissamSlimanSy) February 17, 2020
“Stressing that the regime’s most recent attacks are unacceptable, the president and Trump exchanged views on ways to end the crisis in Idlib without further delay,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
At the start of this week the Russian Defense and Foreign ministries expressed they will not heed the US call to halt the offensive, reaffirming that Russian forces are assisting in a legitimate counter-terror operation.
Ooh, as always, honest and straight to the point. Why not Shoigu for Pres?
Shoigu is the best DM so far and if there had been patriotic Russians like that in the 1980’s, we would still have the USSR. Russia and Belarus should merge and many like Armenia and most of the stans would join in.
LOL…the South will Raise Again? I wonder how that sounds in Russian and your Urdu?
When President Putin retires that could well be a possibility.
Sergey panics. Imagine a Syria without oil wells , a constant financial burden on Russian Shoulder.
Lets be honest,your only making an idiot of yourself with a comment like that,logic? Russias the biggest oil producer on planet earth with its own fossils(period), all bullshit aside, which prompts to realm of events for example as them incest spawned inspired parasitical nwo cia/usa world tyrant agendas,tells me which of whom are by far on planet earth vile+greedy? Imagine a Syria with oil wells,a constant financial burden on usa as is the rest of the middle east.
just saying.
A correction. Today, the US is the greatest producer of oil on the planet, producing almost 50% more than Russia.
The U.S gestapo can’t produce, they pillage and steal.
Damn, you have mastered the technique of putting words together that have no reality. Amazing! Again, the US is the greatest producer of oil in the world. Far out producing Russia. Try to keep up with reality.
Damn, you have mastered the technique of pushing propaganda with such low level of quality, Amazing! Again, the U.S gestapo can’t produce, they STEAL and PILLAGE.
Try to keep up with facts. Have a good day.
Thanks for proving my point.
Very true. The US for far too long has abandoned internal development development and manufacture of goods that benifit the US working population and consumers alike.
The US is akin to a company that has failed to reinvest and develop their products for decades and as a result the company is in terminal decline whilst the owners bleed the company dry and even borrow cash to enhance the plunder.
Add to that the plunder with violence of foreign lands by the US military and CIA, and we can all see that the US is a rapacious and out of control ‘beast’.
Print print print, shove the money down unprofitable shale oil, what does it matter, the GosPlan is for oil, and they will get it even at a loss!
When the US is bankrupt, a d back to 5-7mbpd, Russia will still be going strong with its 10m, and endless Nat gas.
BTW, awesome Nat gas tech that guarantees Russia, Iran, and Qatar will be very well off in the 21st century: https://www.netpower.com/technology/ (and how it scuppers a tirade by any environmentalist, it’s almost magical!)
The US also produces significantly more natural gas than Russia. The US oil and gas is very real and on average quite profitable. But oil and gas revenues are not an important part of the US budget. However, they represent a major part of the Russian budget. So any fall in price as is happening now hits the Russian Government and economy hard but not the US. Actually, a decrease in oil price helps our economy.
Lets be honest , you are irrelevant.
What is the relation between Russia being one of the biggest oil producers on world and Syria’s ability to sustain itself economically ? Are you trying to imply that Russia will support Syria financially forever if Assad can not re gain its wells back ?
What is the correlation between American hegemony and Syrian incomes ?
What I meant was simple; If US does not hand oil wells to Assad , Syria will not be able to sustain herself economically and will be a financial burden to Russia. But what I got in return was an angry tirade about how Russia was the biggest oil producer, how bad is The USA etc etc. You people are very sensitive about yr beloved Russia, and complete lose control when you think Russia is mentioned negatively by someone. Simple as that .
Imagine a Turkey without that anal wart Erdogan (no insults to anal warts implied)? Imagine the prosperity and freedom Turks would have again? Not seeing their country’s wealth sapped into pointless wars supporting Jihadi’s in Syria and Libya? Enjoying normal relations with other countries again?
Yep, and ditto for Putz Putin the Poisoner.
JEW BOT ALERT.
Thanks for the recognition.
I am in good mood so PUNK!
You mean those poison incidents for which there was never any evidence given other then ‘because our intelligence agencies said so’?
That which is presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Although a cripled one TR is a democracy as we have all seen in Istanbul municipality elections. Sooner or later people leave their posts, but it wont change what he had been done to Libya and Syria can not be reversed without a military intervention anymore.
Syrian refugees can not be returned back to Syria , either Assad must leave or a safe zone must be created. On the contrary to what you all believe Assad is not an angel either. He will run a huge cleaning amongst refugees if they are forced to return with the present status quo. More over , a vindictive Assad will make further use of PKK. What we had done to Syria with Gladio was a complete mistake. But shit had hit the fan what we can do is to clean it whatever we can find around now. At this stage , it seems that only solution is a total out war directly between state actors.
Libya in fact is a covered war between KSA+UAE and Turkey for the influence, not something related with humanity or democracy or whatsoever. Moreover Libya owes 2,5 B USD to TR for the construction works from Kaddafi era which Haftar refused to pay so far. Hafter is a 77 year old dictator kept alive by Russian mercaneries conscripted by Putins buddy and paid by the sheiks of UAE . What Russia is doing in Libya , btw ?
I liked Turkey way better before Erdogan consolidated power. Too bad he survived that coup. My secular friends warned me about him when I worked there. When he’s gone, I hope soon, Turkey can get back on track to becoming a more modern, advanced economy and country. Could make some great, mutually beneficial partnerships with Israel.
Stop insulting Turkish people, they won’t marry the Israeli prostitute
Turks and Israelis get along just fine. They did for many decades before Erdogan and they will after he’s gone.
Wow, man yoo many lies… You are loosing credibility. Well Jews are experts in intoxication. It’s the only way for them to thrive, this is what they call “Jewish superior intelligence”. Rotschild made Israël State… Let me laugh: Totally ridiculous and villainous…
You gave a respectful and overall fair reply. So I will put aside my sarcasm and try to give a respectful fair reply in return.
I have no illusion that Assad was and is a nice guy. Never had, still don’t. I’m not an Assad fanboy in the slightest. I am however firmly of the belief that a secular dictator who wants to line his own pocket is 100% of the time preferable over religiously obsessed Jihadi’s who are only 1 step less extreme then ISIS. Assad only wants you to shut up while he gets rich, the religious fundies want you to shut up, and adhere to their strict Islamic rules. And godforbid if you’re part of a different religion, or a different Islamic sect. They want to control how you live, how you think. And after that they STILL want to line their own pockets, because that’s what everybody in power inevitably does.
There is no evidence that Assad has been vindictive to any of the refugees that have returned so far. Even former rebels who have laid down their arms and accepted the amnesty. There have even been Syrian refugees that made it to Europe and decided to return to Assad’s Syria. Even Aleppo when it was still under the guns of Erdogan’s Jihadi’s. So I see no reason why the millions of refugees in Turkey can’t return to Syria proper. And I reckon they will be a lot safer there then in the socalled safe zone created by Turkey, where various armed groups constantly fight with each other over who gets to divide the spoils of the black market smuggling if Assad’s army is not attacking.
Will Assad support the PKK as an act of vengeance against Turkey? He might. But then again he is not really running the show in Syria. Russia and Iran are pulling his strings, although not always in concert. Iran is not interested in having Syria embroiled in conflict with Turkey, it wants to use Syria as a forward operating base against Israel. Russia is not interested in having Syria embroiled in conflict with Turkey, it just wants the war to end and enjoy its naval and air base in Syria to project power into the Mediterranean. Thing is, Assad is a known quantity and I think he is more interested in lining his own pockets inside Syria then engaging in all sorts of crazy schemes across the region. That particular hobby seems more something that Erdogan is up too. But if Turkey goes to war with Syria to overthrow Assad it will create A: a giant mess, because who gets to rule Syria afterwards, B: Russia will not take kindly to that and Russia will make Turkey suffer for it, maybe not militarily, but it will find ways to do so, and C: you break it, you own it. And a lengthy military occupation will be costly, both in military losses and for the Turkish economy. And it would still leave the YPG in East Syria under US protection and armed with US weaponry to cause problems and funnel weapons to the PKK. If anything THAT should be the common cause that can unite both Erdogan and Assad, because neither wants to see the SDF state within a state to continue.
There is a name for ‘we have to stay the course because there is no going back and we have already spent so much money, effort and blood into something’. It’s called sunk cost fallacy. It’s always a bad advisor. Don’t listen to it.
I hope that was a respectful and fair reply in return.
Americunts and Jews are historical thieves. Look at their history, they even stole lands and organs from children.
May be . All hegemons were and are . Russia is trhe next candidate for the hegemony around. It must be watched very closely.
Since you are intelligent guy, I would say no, Russia is not the threat as it is much weaker and its demographics are changing fast, but China is far more dangerous and evil. Look at Chinese oppression in Tibet and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). The only problem with Russia is Jew parasites and oligarchs.
Well, don’t forget Russia also supports your enemy, India. But you are also realizing China isn’t actually your friend. Like India and Russia, China is not overly fond of you Muslims.
Jake321 the hasbara liar is at it again with Zionist wetdreams in his Zionist Alternate Universe. You mean China’s “all-weather” Pakistani bromance is a mirage and the Chinese have never fought wars against India. Since the Cow Worshippers have been butt-F@cked by Nuttyyahoo, flexing their pathetic flying skills in non existant bombing raids and israeli taught falseflag terror attacks, the Chinese have been supplying the Pakis with Miniature battlefield Nukes just to make sure macdonalds India Never run outta real beef
China is a fair weather friend to Pakistan. And you’re puffing the too strong sh*t if you really believe China would give nukes of any kind to any country. But more important. You clearly don’t know China and the Chinese.
I sometimes thinlk Russia and US will ally against China with 3-4 decades or so , but people laugh at my idea now. Russia belongs to West at the end of they day , unlike China LOL
Nahhhhhhhh…Russia is increasingly not of great importance in the world. Regardless of Putz Putin’s Greater Russia Follies, the RF in the longer term is on the slippery slope to near irrelevance. When it goes bankrupt thanks to the Putz, the US and falling oil prices, it will split up like the old Russian Soviet Empire. And China will be the master of Siberia.
Man , if yr assumptions happen to be true, we will all be working at rice fields for food.
And why is that?
Well, mostly as Putz Putin the Poisoner finds more ways to bankrupt the RF with his Greater Russia Follies along with the help of increased US sanctions and falling oil prices.
Those who are looting is because their miserable mentality and poverty mind, and therefore will appear at the eyes of whole worls as poor guys…US looters under the orders of Israel … And all the other “Democracies” of the world, except Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Irak and may be one or two more…!
WOW…Israel is that all powerful and fools like you want to take them on? Hey, you can’t take them on in the real world. How the hell you think you could do that in your delusional world where you think they dominate? Oh, you forgot that paradise of Cuba. Your rouges’ gallery is not complete without it.
leper warning on this thread – well known leper joke321 is on the loose so be aware – he adds nothing of value.