Stephen Lendman

A separate article discussed Erdogan-ordered Turkish cross-border shelling of Kurdish YPG and Syrian forces - calling it a provocative US-approved act of war!

Damascus reacted sharply, its Foreign Ministry condemning naked Turkish aggression, saying:

“Turkish artillery shelling of Syrian territory constitutes direct support to the armed terrorist organizations,” in letters to the UN Secretary General and Security Council chairman, demanding international action.

Maranaz, al-Malkieh, Minnegh, Ein Daqneh and Bazi villages were attacked. Turkish forces entered Syrian territory. Its aggression constitutes “a gross violation” of its sovereignty, flagrantly breaching international law, its Foreign Ministry stressed.

Syria maintains the right to respond appropriately. Will war between both nations erupt? Is Obama using Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel and other regional rogue states as proxies for endless war while talking peace - continuing his aim to transform Syria into another US vassal state?

Is he willing to risk direct confrontation with Russia? Putin authorized his military commanders in Syria to take appropriate action to protect the security of Russian personnel - without first consulting Moscow.

Turkish aggression followed Syrian forces, supported by Russia’s aerial campaign, continuing to make impressive gains on the ground, retaking earlier lost territory, battering terrorist fighters, weakening them considerably, Assad committed to defeating them altogether.

Obama perhaps intending to use Turkish and Saudi Arabian ground forces against Syria represents a desperate, dangerous gamble, unlikely to succeed. He’s recklessly playing with fire.

Russia forthrightly supports its longtime Syrian ally, its military power able to effectively confront any threat to its ongoing campaign.

Saudi Arabia is an illegitimate despotic family-owned territorial entity, masquerading as a nation-state. Its foreign minister, Abdel al-Jubeir, is criminally complicit in its high crimes.

On Saturday, he addressed Munich Security Conference participants, suppressing its support for ISIS and other terrorist groups, turning truth on its head, saying Assad’s removal is crucial to defeating ISIS.

It’s a US-created/Saudi-supported scourge. Jubeir lied, blaming Assad for its existence, turning Syria into a “fertile ground” for terrorists.

He sounded psychopathically out-of-control, calling him the “single most effective magnet for extremists and terrorists in the region.”

Riyadh’s “objective” is removing him, “and we will achieve it,” he ranted. Longstanding Saudi regional objectives are diabolical, in league with Washington and other rogue states.

The stakes today are perhaps greater than ever, risking a potentially devastating East/West confrontation, affecting far more than the Middle East if initiated.

World peace hangs by a thread. US maniacal imperial aims remain unchanged. Russia’s intervention in Syria perhaps foiled them.

Using Turkish and Saudi ground forces as US proxies in Syria, if ordered, represents a desperate attempt to turn things around - ill-fated if initiated.

Most important is a possible hair-brained US scheme, risking direct confrontation with Russia, turning a regional conflict into a global one.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".