As for the PMU popular militias, the last time I looked they were under the control of the Iraqi president, and all are Iraqis
By Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor
…from PressTV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: Iran is of course angry whenever it gets hit with the charge of the big terrorism threat in the Mideast. The charge has been repeated endlessly, despite the huge evidence of the US coalition’s massive support of jihadi terrorists in its attempt to Balkanize Syria, the old colonialist tool that has not yet gone out of fashion.
I have written here many times of the former PM and FM of Qatar admitting on the Charlie Rose show that the US Coalition had spent $160 billion trying to carve Syria up, and that “mistakes were made with some of the groups we supported”. Yes, I would say so.
And let’s not forget how Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi imams gave cover to the ISIS rapists in Syria and Iraq via the fatwa ‘temporary marriage’ religious exception that nullified (in religious courts) any charges of rape by the victims.
The Yazidi women, some of them children, suffered brutally under this religious sleight of hand. And the abomination was visited upon young Syria women who were bought and sold by jihadi fighters all during the war, with Western media rarely covering the story.
The aerial photos of the bombing target show it to be one of the many logistical supply dumps all over Syria, and a nest of them near the Iraq border crossing. They tend to be isolated with a handful of security guards, as seems the case here with the low casualties.
In that respect the casualties were similar to those on the US base in Iraq. I view this as a media event that neither side will make a big deal over.
As for the PMU popular militias, the last time I looked they were under the control of the Iraqi president, and all are Iraqis, along with some Iranian trainers who have worked with them closely in anti-terrorism operations since the worst of the ISIS wars there. Any Iranians there are guests of the Iraqi government.
Yet we find the uninvited US forces remaining in Syria, despite our long record of using proxy terrorists to overthrow the country, and then claiming those who are invited by the Syrian government to be the bad boys. It is a fairy tale that has long worn out… Jim W. Dean ]
First published … February 28, 2021
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has condemned recent attacks on areas east of Syria by US troops, saying the illegal bases run by American forces in the country are used to train terrorists for later use against the government in Damascus.
“Illegal American bases on the Syrian soil are training terrorists and using them as a means [against the Damascus government],” Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Sunday.
Recent military activities under the new US administration blatantly violate Syria’s territorial integrity and international law, which would intensify clashes and fuel instability in the region, the Iranian official said.
“These attacks, which were in the continuation of the Zionist regime’s constant acts of aggression against the Syrian territory, have been carried out after American forces illegally entered Syria over the past few years and occupied parts of its soil and plundered its natural resources, including oil, which is an absolute right of the Syrian people.”
One person was killed and four people were injured after US warplanes on Thursday conducted airstrikes on areas in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr near the Iraqi border, the first of its kind under President Joe Biden.
The airstrikes were carried out against facilities used by forces with Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). Many say Biden’s approach is similar to that of his hawkish predecessor, Donald Trump.
The PMU – better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi – has been fighting remnants of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group across border regions of Iraq and Syria in coordination with the governments in both Arab countries.
A US-led military coalition has been active inside Syria under the pretext of fighting Daesh since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. The US military strikes in the Arab country have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.
In a meeting with Iraq’s visiting Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in Tehran on Saturday, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani warned that the “brutal” US air raid against positions of resistance groups on the Iraqi-Syrian border was part of Washington’s attempts to revive “organized terrorism,” emphasizing that Tehran will never allow a resurgence of Takfiri terrorism in the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has also rebuke the dangerous move by the US military and called on the Iraqi government to find the perpetrators of these “suspicious” incidents which may have been plotted to disrupt Tehran-Baghdad relations and cause insecurity in Iraq.
In a Saturday letter addressed to the UN secretary general and the president of the Security Council, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates urged the council to assume its responsibility and put an immediate end to Washington’s acts of aggression.
