RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/

WHAT CEASEFIRE?

[Notes below by Tom Gross]

One of the most misleading aspects of news coverage in the New York Times (which stated again a couple of days ago – in a story abut John Kerry and Iran – that there is a “cessation of hostilities in Syria”) is the impression the paper has given that there is an effective ceasefire in Syria. Or that Russia has withdrawn its forces. Neither is true. One can only presume that New York Times editors are eager to defend the policies of the Obama administration, which helped negotiate the failed ceasefire in Syria.

I attach seven articles below. There are summaries first of some of these articles.

There are also still reports in the Iranian media every day, about the funerals of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and other Iranian-backed Shia mercenaries who died fighting in Syria. For example, this IRGC commander, Amir Ali Mohammadian, died in Aleppo province on April 8.

For example, on April 6, IRGC members Mohammad Jabali and Abufazl Rahchamani, both from Tehran, were killed in Syria.

On the same day, three members of the Afghan Shia militia Fatimiyoun Brigade and four members of the Pakistani Shia militia Zainabiyoun brigade were killed in Syria. The Zainabiyoun and Fatimiyoun Brigades are among the Shia militia that have been brought in by Iran to support of the Assad regime. There are pictures of their funerals here from the Mehr News Agency.

And so on.

But Western media that want to pretend the Iranian government is moderate, or not at the forefront of orchestrating the killings and ethnic cleansing in Syria, fail to report on this.

ARTICLE SUMMARIES

ONLY IN ISRAEL

From the start of the Syria conflict over five years ago, Israel has treated wounded Syrian civilians (see the video here for example, and here).

Israeli media reported this week that a five-year-old girl treated in recent weeks at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa for severe wounds she received in the Syrian war, was found to have cancer. Israel’s security services then took the unprecedented steps of risking their own lives by crossing into an enemy state to bring a relative of the girl who wished to help with a bone marrow transplant. The girl is currently undergoing treatment and her relative is also in Israel. Her name has not been released in order to protect her family from retaliation in Syria.

(There are few other countries in the world who would do this for a citizen of an “enemy state” but it is unlikely that the BBC and other anti-Israel media will report it.)

NO ONE LEFT TO TREAT THE WOUNDED

An Iranian-trained Hizbullah sniper has shot dead Mohammed Khous, 70, the last doctor in the Syrian town of Zabadani, where Assad, Iranian and Hizbullah forces continue their campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing (into Europe) of Syria’s majority Sunni Arab population.

Dr. Khous was known to Zabadani residents as a generous and skillful surgeon who would recite poetry at the town’s cultural center before the war began.

Following Dr. Khous’s assassination, regime snipers have continued to shoot other residents of the town. Ibrahim Ahmad Deeb was a close friend of the hospital administrator, Burhan. “He suffered a pretty serious wound, and as we do not have doctors, we didn’t know how to treat him,” Burhan told the AP. “We watched him pass away.”

Zabadani has been held since 2012 by the Free Syrian Army, not by an Islamist militia. The FSA has been betrayed by the Obama administration which initially encouraged them.

The Associated Press: Nearly half a million Syrians remain trapped in sieges, according to the UN. Most are besieged by government forces. Dozens of people have died from starvation or illness related to malnutrition in besieged areas across Syria.

THE WASHINGTON POST WRITES IN AN EDITORIAL:

There is “no real cease-fire in Syria. The accord brokered by the Obama administration with Russia has not stopped the regime of Bashar al-Assad from continuing offensives against strategic territory held by rebel forces that joined the truce. It also has not opened corridors for humanitarian aid into those areas, which are occupied by hundreds of thousands of people.

“Much of the regime’s military activity has been aimed at the suburbs of Damascus, including an area known as Eastern Ghouta. According to reports by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch, the government has continued to block aid to at least six areas in the region, populated by 250,000 people, since the cessation of hostilities began on Feb. 27. Even where humanitarian convoys have gotten through, aid workers say Syrian government forces have stripped them of vital medical supplies, including surgical equipment and antibiotics.

“Meanwhile, the bombing continues. Last Thursday, a government airstrike hit the Damascus suburb of Deir al-Asafir, killing 33 people, including at least a dozen children.”

RUSSIA HAS NOT STOPPED KILLING SYRIANS

James Miller writes in Foreign Policy magazine:

It has now been several weeks since Putin announced his withdrawal, and there is much evidence that the Russian presence in Syria has not been significantly reduced. An analysis conducted by Reuters shows that Putin has sent more supplies to Syria since announcing that his mission was accomplished.

There are signs of new Russian weapons in Latakia, where Moscow maintains a large, and recently revamped, forward-operating base. The Russian Defense Ministry released videos of these aircraft taking off from the Hmeymim air base, about 10 miles southeast of Latakia, and sharp-eyed analysts noticed two types of attack helicopters that had never been seen on the Russian air base before. The Mi-28 “Havoc” is a potent attack helicopter, boasting a formidable array of rockets, or missiles, and the 30 mm Shipunov 2A42 autocannon, capable of ripping through armored vehicles…

Over the past two months, a coalition of international fighters – including Hezbollah militiamen, elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troops, and Shiite militias sent from Iraq – have bolstered Assad’s depleted army…

Another myth that needs to be dispelled is that Putin and Assad entered into this cease-fire in order to pursue an agenda of peace or political compromise. Instead, Moscow and Damascus are doing what they have done so many times since the start of this conflict – taking advantage of diplomatic developments to advance new goals.

The truth is: Russia wasn’t attacking the Islamic State. Russia was simply trying to make it look like it was doing so.

Instead, Western-backed rebels and civilians were the ones bearing the brunt of the Russian bear. Meanwhile, Islamic State forces took full advantage of this situation and attacked some of these same rebel groups. And as long as the terrorist group was further weakening Assad’s enemies, it was fine with Damascus.

This and other past dispatches can be read here.