Syrian MP Dismisses US Military Rhetoric as Political Game
DAMASCUS (Tasnim) – A Syrian lawmaker played down the US talk of launching airstrikes on the Arab country, saying such wrong calculations are the result of Washington’s failed policies toward Syria and part of political games ahead of the US presidential election.
In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Khalid al-Aboud described the threat of US aerial strikes in Syria as a political game before the US presidential election in November.
“I believe the US situation is critical and we know that the US presidential candidates are counting on Syria’s (developments),” Aboud added.
His comments came after the Washington Post reported that officials from the US State Department, CIA, and Joint Chiefs of Staff have discussed using limited airstrikes in Syria to pressure President Bashar al-Assad to halt operations in Aleppo and return to the negotiating table.
“I think the US is not serious in carrying out its threats,” the Syrian MP said, stressing that Russia will block any attempt by the US to change the situation in Syria.
Following the US threats, Moscow gave the starkest warning yet against Western intervention in the war, with Russia’s chief military spokesman General Igor Konashenkov saying that any airstrikes on government-held territory in Syria would be considered a “clear threat” to Russian servicemen.
US military planners should “carefully consider the possible consequences” of such action, Konashenkov stated, adding, “I remind US strategists that air cover for the Russian military bases in Tartus and Hmeymim includes S-400 and S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, the range of which may come as a surprise to any unidentified flying objects.”
Russian air defense troops would not have time to identify the flight path of incoming rockets or aircraft that fired them, and would respond immediately, the Russian general added.
The developments come against the backdrop of collapse of a Russian-US brokered ceasefire in Syria.
Moscow blames the collapse of the short-lived truce on a US-led airstrike on Syrian military forces near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor that killed more than 90 troops and paved the way for the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group on September 17.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.