Presumed chemical attacks of Syria, a real problem
The presumption of the use of chemical weapons is once again the pretext to continue the conflict in Syria. Still warm are the headlines of media reporting on the use of chemical weapons by government forces against the population, the incident that allowed, in 2011, the crusade against the government of President Bashar Al-Assad succeeded. Now, when the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) threat is about to be erased from Syria and the elimination of the opposition strongholds is removed, a chemical attack suspiciously resurfaces, a sufficient pretext for US president Donald Trump to invoke Ares, the Greek god of war.
Incidentally, the fact that shocked the world due to the death of mostly children and women occurs precisely when the Syrian government is defeating the rebel strongholds in its territory. Syrian government forces resumed their offensive against the rebel stronghold of Duma on Friday after a 10-day truce that ended up because of disagreements over the evacuation of opposition fighters.
The images have caused commotion, even the sentimental fibers of the most undaunted human being have moved by it. Yet, we should not be fooled by the journalistic impact. It is not the first time that the Syrian rebels prove the validity of the informative assemblies of which they know their effectiveness. On the other hand, the Government has condemned the international information campaign of which they blame the entrenched Islamist insurgents of Duma.
Although it seems crazy it is not entirely unwise to imagine that the political threads of Washington through the CIA and independent contractors have plotted to create the attack. Interestingly, the White House via its president twitted several messages of condolence and condemnation for such action. History repeats itself. Again a doctor is accused of savage and criminal: Bashar al-Assad. He has been threatened by another American leader, one with a more aggressive and coarse rhetoric. Trump commented in Twitter that "a high price» would be paid and called the Syrian president "animal". But this is something that the Syrian cabinet is already used to. A year ago, from the White House, an attack launched on a government military base under the supposed accusation of Assad suffocating defenseless civilians in which supposedly prohibited chemicals were used.
So far there only are the images of the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets. However, Assad’s cabinet strongly denied the accusations. To the attack in Damascus - one of the few remaining rebel strongholds - attended activists, rescuers and paramedics after the poison gas attack that killed at least 40 people. A similar scenario used the White House when it ordered the Gulf War. At that time Saddam Husseim was accused of murdering newborns. As always, the reports are still to be confirmed, but the Pentagon and Washington heat the engines of their bomber fighters and prepare their troops.
Meanwhile, the American leader blamed, as expected, his enemies Russia and Iran to support the "animal" that Assad is. Moscow, currently immersed in a scandal of chemical weapons use, denied the use of these.
A year ago, the United States used the same pretext to authorize the launch of Tomahawk missiles against the Shayrat air base in the Syrian city of Homs, where more than 80 civilians died. Paradoxically during his campaign Donald Trump said he would not get involved in the conflict.
Now he is again involved after a cooling that made analysts think about the withdrawal of the troops. In spite of that, the interests in Washington are darker and the advisers of the president cannot deal with the idea of renouncing to Syria after 7 years of war, although the US officials’ discourse is that its withdrawal would strengthen the terrorists of the Islamic State and the Iranian influence.
What began as a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March, 2011, became a brutal and bloody civil war where regional and international powers intervened. The conflict has left a balance of more than 400,000 people dead, according to the latest estimate made by the UN in April 2016. The figure, however, could be higher due to access problems to certain areas of the country and the difficulties to make compatible the numbers presented by the opposing parties. The Syrian Center for Policy Research, for example, already estimates the death of 470,000 people.