Syria memo shakes up Washington but unlikely to shift policy

“Units of the Jaysh al-Islam group which affiliates itself with the opposition opened mortar fire at positions of Syrian government troops in the settmlements of Jobar, Haush al-Fara, Zamalka and twice in Jaur al-Basha in the province of Damascus”, the center said.: “No air strikes were delivered by the Russian air group and the Syrian air force at armed opposition group which have declared cessation of hostilities and referred their coordinates to the Russian or US reconciliation centers”.

Yesterday’s emerging reports of the State Department “demanding” that the U.S. abandon its ongoing war against ISIS in Syria in favor of a separate war against the Assad government continues to dominate USA foreign policy discussion, and is attracting major comments internationally.

Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the Central Intelligence Agency in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

At least 250,000 people have died in Syria’s civil war, while more than 6.6 million have been internally displaced and another 4.8 million people have fled the country.

According to the New York Times, which said it had seen a draft of the memo, the diplomats call for the USA military to directly target Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The Defense Ministry said that Shoigu discussed the current operations with the top Russian military commander in Syria, Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov.

“Russian aircraft have not been active in this area of Southern Syria for some time, and there were no Syrian regime or Russian ground forces in the vicinity”, a senior defense official said.

Indeed, some say Assad’s recent show of bravado and contempt for his adversaries (including the US) was a “last straw” that prompted the diplomats to launch their call for adding military muscle to the pressure on Assad to negotiate.

Aides also have acknowledged privately that even if Obama did decide to take a more aggressive stance, that would be much riskier now that Russian forces are directly supporting their ally Assad and bombing anti-government rebels.

But if Libya is an example, USA intervention doesn’t always play out that way.

“The cable reportedly calls for targeted military strikes against the Assad regime, something the Obama administration has been reluctant to do”, she reports.

There were more barrel bombs in rebel areas of Aleppo on Thursday.

“If this indeed was a Russian airstrike, that they’re targeting forces that are trying to get rid of ISIL, and we think that would be a mistake”, he said, using another acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. “Obviously that’s the first thing that’s problematic about this Russian conduct”, Carter told reporters, using an alternate acronym for the IS group.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that attempts to overthrow Assad would not “contribute to a successful fight against terrorism”.

The Pentagon has criticized the strike near al-Tanf, saying it raised concerns about Russian intentions in Syria and promising to bring up the matter with Russia.