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US Mounts Psychological War After Failure in Syria

US Mounts Psychological War After Failure in Syria
US Mounts Psychological War After Failure in Syria

Americans, whose proxies have suffered a string of defeats in the war against Syrian government forces, have stepped up their psychological warfare against Iran and Russia, staunch backers of President Bashar al-Assad, a lawmaker said.

"As takfiri terrorists have faced repeated defeats over the past few months, Washington is waging a psychological war against Iran and Russia," Mohammad Javad Jamali also said in an interview with ICANA on Saturday.

Takfiris, brainwashed by the Wahhabi ideology propagated by Saudi Arabia, regard followers of some Islamic sects as apostates punishable by death. They constitute a major section of the armed insurgents involved in the five-year-old war in Syria.

Moscow and Tehran have been supporting Assad while Washington and its regional allies, especially Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have provided arms, funds and logistical backing to militants who want Assad gone.

The two sides have agreed to blacklist two of the groups in the opposition, namely Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formally called al-Nusra Front, and the self-styled Islamic State, as terrorists.

 

Deadly US Plan

Jamali was responding to recent comments by a former CIA official, who suggested the US should support more aggressive action by Syrian militants in the war.

"When we were in Iraq, the Iranians were giving weapons to the Shia militia who were killing American soldiers," Michael Morell, ex-deputy director of the CIA, claimed on PBS on Monday.

"The Iranians were making us pay a price. We need to make the Iranians pay a price in Syria. We need to make the Russians pay a price."

He went on to explain making them "pay the price" would mean "covertly" killing Russians and Iranians.

"You don't stand up in the Pentagon saying we did this. But you make sure they know it in Moscow and Tehran."

Morell also said he wants to make Assad uncomfortable.

"I want to go after those things that Assad sees as his personal powerbase. I want to scare Assad. So I want to go after his presidential guard. I want to bomb his offices in the middle of the night … I want to make him think we're coming after him."

Jamali said Morell has revealed the strategy the United States has been effectively pursuing in Syria.

"The Pentagon's intervention in favor of terrorists is no surprise. Washington has been supplying what it calls 'good Syrian terrorists' with the most modern weapons for five years."

Morell's "remarks can be interpreted as part of America's psychological warfare", the lawmaker said.

"The bluffing game by US officials will not affect the resolve of the Syrian Army and that of the coalition of Damascus's allies. And contrary to Pentagon's expectations, it will boost cohesion at the frontline of war against terrorists," he stressed.  

 

Financialtribune.com