Russia and China vow to protect Syria from becoming another Libya

Such interventions would not only induce wide scale human loss but would also bring with them adverse economic effects for the world states.  And with the recent announcement of joint war games, and one of the biggest, among China, Russia, Iran and Syria, the signal is going strong for forces that wish to intervene in either Syria or Iran.

Photo: It is now widely known that the Obama administration, with the help of its allies, is planning to launch an offensive against the Assad regime in Syria. The attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, with the help Israel, also seems to be on the cards. In such a situation, where Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have proven to be clear fiascos, the dwindling world economic scene can least afford another major conflict. 

Iran's Fars news agency reported that more than 90,000 soldiers from the aforementioned 4 countries would take part in the military exercises, making it the largest in regional history. Theses war games will include air defense and missile units as well as ground, air and naval forces and are scheduled for early July.

A total of 400 planes and 1,000 tanks are said to be taking part, among them 12 Chinese warships, Russian atomic submarines and warships, aircraft carriers and mine-clearing destroyers as well as Iranian battleships and submarines are included. It is said that all the arms and ammunition used for the exercise would be stocked in Syria from where they will begin.

This exercise also means that it would be the first time that Russia and China have deployed such a large army in Syria. This army would also send out the right message for Syria, that is, it is not the right time to bomb or attack the country. And the presence of armies of both these states would at least make sure that till their presence, Syria would be safe from foreign interventions. But would this be enough to send a strong message to Obama as well? The answer would most probably be a big YES, as USA can least afford to enter in to a conflict with China, on whom it relies majorly for financial cooperation, both for its own finances as well as NATO's.

With greater resilience from both Russia and China against any action on Syria, the situation in Middle East has become like gunpowder. Any offensive from either side may even trigger the possible beginning of a World War.  

It is being reported that the US administration is planning a military campaign in Syria similar to what happened in Libya in terms of execution.  The U.S. would institute a no-fly zone, bomb the Syrian government and the Syrian military, and provide heavy military hardware for the rebel forces on the ground.

A recent report by Debka stated regarding the US plans of attack on Syria,

As the violence in Syria continued to go from bad to worse in scope and intensity, US official sources had this to say Saturday, June 16,  about planned US military operations in the war-torn country:

"The intervention will happen. It is not a question of 'if' but 'when.'"

A Syrian Free Army rebel delegation is now in Washington to talk about their requests for heavy weapons from the Obama administration. In their meetings with US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and the State Department's expert on Syria Fred Hof, the rebel leaders handed in two lists for approval: types of heavy weapons capable of challenging Bashar Assad's armed forces and selected targets of attack to destabilize his regime.

The basic error that US and its allies are making in calculating the Syrian situation is that the country is very unlike Libya. Libya had far less friends compared to Syria. Assad's government is one of the chief  buyer of Russian arms and a strong economic partner of China. That is why, the western media is trying to drag Russia in to the mess by alleging it of supporting the human rights abuse carried out by Assad regime.

Moscow seems to be affected very little by the media propaganda as it still advocates a no-war policy on Syria along with its ally China. Both the countries have vetoed all UN resolutions against the Arab state. This has made the relations of both the countries with the US really tensed.

In the recent G-20 summit in Mexico, both Putin and Obama showed the tension with their expression as the media reported "The two men barely looked at each other. You could just feel, sort of, the tension between them. And the body language really represented how far apart the two leaders remain on the issue of Syria." In fact, Putin reportedly was very direct with Obama.... "Apparently President Obama got a bit of a lecture from Putin about some other failed transitions that are going on around the world."

Although it is very clear that Russia and China are saying No to Syrian intervention, President Obama clearly seems to defy this intention. If this happens, the situation would certainly move towards a conflict, a conflict for which the Chinese and Russian militaries have now long been preparing for whereas the US military is already stuck in major failed campaigns such as Iraq and Afghanistan. And with proxy engagements in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan, it would be daunting task for the US forces to face Chinese and Russian militaries.

Farooq Yousaf