US lame duck policy giftwrapping Syria to Iran, as in Iraq

Along with mercenaries dispatched by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Assad army in Syria is set to launch a ground offensive backed by Russian airstrikes targeting Syrian opposition fighters in the Aleppo region. This is yet another result of US President Obama backing off from his red line in the face of Bashar Assad resorting to chemical weapons, and Washington’s over all passive and “lead from the behind” policy in Syria.

Currently, control over Aleppo and its vicinity near the Turkish border is divided amongst the Assad regime, Syrian opposition fighters fighting Assad and ISIS in small rural areas near the city. While Washington is focusing all its efforts against ISIS, this has left opposition fighters abandoned against the Moscow-Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah coalition, and delivering ammunition through airdrops will merely act as a temporary pain reliever.

The Syrian army, enjoying support from Russia in the air and Hezbollah and Iranian soldiers on the ground, is seeking to force opposition fighters out of western areas crucial to Assad’s survival.

And after massive air attacks by Russian targeting opposition fighters, and not ISIS as Moscow preposterously claims, what has Washington done? Just moan about Russia targeting the opposition fighters, not even daring to take any serious action to defend the CIA-trained rebels.

Russia and Iran are paying close attention and when the U.S. is requesting yet another round of military talks with Moscow to avoid any incursions in their bombings campaigns over Syria, President Vladimir Putin reaches this conclusion that Washington lacks the will to take any actions against his regime. Like it or not, these talks legitimize Putin’s Syria campaign and provide it exactly the green light it needs. Iran is also calculating its measures very carefully.

In the face of weakness seen from Washington and Europe to Russia and Iran’s meddling in Syria, it is obvious that Assad’s foreign minister will come and accuse Europe of trying to misrepresent the Russian intervention. Assad’s top diplomat goes as far as to say Russian airstrikes “demonstrated the credibility and determination of the Russian and Syrian leadership to combat terrorism”. Absurd.

This is what we get from a lame duck policy adopted by President Obama, and we should expect the status quo to only get worse in the Levant.

keyvan Salami an Iranian human rights activist writing for freedom and democracy in Iran and tweets at @SalamiKeyvan