Skip to main content

Conflict Between US-Allies In Syria

This week conflict between the U.S. and its allies in Syria against the Syrian regime, Russia, and Iran heated up.
A US F-15 has shot down what has been reported as an armed Iranian made drone operated by Syria as well as the downing of a Syrian SU-22 strike aircraft that was shot down by a US F/A-18E a few short days earlier.
The response by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was to pull back on coordinated communications between the different forces in the region and issue a statement claiming that any U.S. or allied aircraft incurring into the Syrian territory will be painted/tracked by Russian and its allies anti-aircraft radar and fired upon if a threat is demonstrated against forces aligned with the Kremlin
Reporting on the facts of the incidences has been somewhat consistent, but the rationale behind the attacks has been confused in interpretation by many writing on the issue. The U.S., especially under the new  Trump administration, has focused on targeting ISIS and keeping pressure on its fighters while their hubs of Raqqa and Mosul are picked apart by local forces.
Russian complaints that the SU-22 was targeting ISIS fighters complicates the story, as U.S. sources claim that the Syrian SU-22 was instead targeting Syrian rebel allies in the region. In the past, the U.S. has asserted that because Syrian rebels are often linked with jihadi organizations, what constitutes Syria’s rebels was hard to define. Indeed, many American weapons have ended up in in the hands of the very fighters the U.S. is fighting against.
The fate of the Syrian SU-22 pilot remains unknown, an event that mirrored the Turkish shooting down of a Russian SU-24 strike aircraft in 2015. In that incident, a Turkish F-16 shot down a SU-24 killing at least one of the pilots and causalities were suffered by the Russian marines attempting to rescue the pilot.
Like in the current incident, there is a high degree of uncertainty about who Assad’s regime allies are in the region. It should be openly detailed who local U.S. allies are in the region so it can be demonstrated whether or not Washington is really on the offensive against ISIS while Russia and Syria are trying to wipe out future legitimate political opposition in the region.
Ignoring this long lasting conflict in the West can lead to more incidences that are still not clearly understood or addressed in an appropriate manner. Information and education will be the only way the effects of the Syrian war can be understood and addressed effectively.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Theories of International Relations: An Introduction to Realism, Liberalism and Idealism

A  theory of international relations  is a set of ideas that explains how the international system works. Unlike an ideology, a theory of international relations is (at least in principle) backed up with concrete evidence. The two major theories of international relations are realism and liberalism. National Interest Most theories of international relations are based on the idea that states always act in accordance with their  national interest, or the interests of that particular state. State interests often include self-preservation, military security, economic prosperity, and influence over other states. Sometimes two or more states have the same national interest. For example, two states might both want to foster peace and economic trade. And states with diametrically opposing national interests might try to resolve their differences through negotiation or even war. Realism According to  realism,  states work only to increase their own...
Post a Comment
Read more

International Relations: Theories, Paradigms and Approaches (A-Z)

Balance of Power Theory As a theory, balance of power predicts that rapid changes in international power and status—especially attempts by one state to conquer a region—will provoke counterbalancing actions. For this reason, the balancing process helps to maintain the stability of relations between states. A balance of power system functions most effectively when alliances are fluid, when they are easily formed or broken on the basis of expediency, regardless of values, religion, history, or form of government. Occasionally a single state plays a balancer role, shifting its support to oppose whatever state or alliance is strongest. A weakness of the balance of power concept is the difficulty of measuring power. Behavioralism An approach to the study of politics or other social phenomena that focuses on the actions and interactions among units by using scientific methods of observation to include quantification of variables whenever possible. A practitioner of behavioralism is...
Post a Comment
Read more

Manu Bhaker's gun malfunction: The origin of the disagreement between Morini and Pandit, coach

 Ronak Pandit, Indian shooting coach, and Swiss gun manufacturer Morini have reignited the debate about Bhaker's claim that her gun malfunctioned while she was competing in the Olympic 10m air pistol qualification event. At the Asaka Shooting Range, the 19-year-old was forced to wait 17 minutes, which caused him to fail to qualify for the finals. https://github.com/bshelly-web/nlp-paraphrase https://irwaffairs.blogspot.com/2021/08/foreign-travel.html During the women's 10m Air Pistol event, what happened? Bhaker's gun malfunctioned during the qualification stage after firing the 16th shot. In the next 55 minutes, the teenager had another 44 shots to take. She ended up having to complete the qualification round in 38 minutes, having had to stop due to the repairs. At the time the malfunction occurred, Bhaker was in fourth position — the top eight proceed to the finals. To put it another way, most of her competitors had completed four of the six series or 60 shots in the qual...
Post a Comment
Read more