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US worried by Russia, Syria success in fighting Daesh: Analyst

Tuesday, 23 February 2016 7:34 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 23 February 2016 7:33 PM ]

“The United States I think is likely worried that Russia and Syria with assistance from Iran and Hezbollah are being too successful in defeating ISIS (Daesh),” Gagnon says.

The recent victories of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies over the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group have sparked concern in the US, prompting Washington to buy time to rearm and resupply groups fighting Assad, says an analyst.

US President Barack Obama’s top military and intelligence advisers have expressed doubt on Russia’s willingness to abide by the recently-announced ceasefire in Syria, saying they want Moscow to feel “real pain,” a US government official said on Tuesday.

In an interview with Press TV on Tuesday, Bruce Gagnon, with the Global Network against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, said Washington is alarmed by recent developments in Syria.

“The United States I think is likely worried that Russia and Syria with assistance from Iran and Hezbollah are being too successful in defeating ISIS (Daesh),” Gagnon said, using an alternative acronym for the terror group.

Gagnon said Russia’s aerial campaign in Syria which began September last year upon a request by Damascus disrupted a US-led plan for regime change in Syria.

“No doubt that the US-Saudi-Turkish-Israeli war project against Syria is failing since the Russian intervention began,” he said. “And it should be noted that Russia was invited to come into Syria.”

The US and some of its allies have also been pounding alleged Daesh positions in the Arab country since 2014, without getting approval from the Syrian government or the UN.

“Under international law you are allowed to go in and do military operations in another country essentially unless you are invited,” Gagnon noted.

The analyst pointed to Ukraine conflict’s similarities to the current situation in Syria, suggesting that the US “would use the ceasefire as a way to rearm [and] resupply, along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, their so-called moderate rebel allies.”

“It is possible that the US is just trying to buy time so they can save their Syria war project from defeat and then if the ceasefire breaks down Washington would blame [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, as they do for everything else,” Gagnon added. “This is their usual modus operandi.”

Concluding his remarks, Gagnon said given that US military is openly planning to continue arming so-called “moderate” militants in Syria, “this might be not a sincere ceasefire move in the part of the United States.”

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