US falls out of love with Syrian opposition

The US is revising its policies towards the Syrian government, as the army is gaining considerable successes in sweeping the armed rebel away, director of the Center for Middle East Studies Joshua Landis said. In an interview with RT, Landis said that the chemical weapons deal was a turning point in the Syrian crisis and caused al-Assad’s power to be consolidated. Asked if he thinks those who wanted to see the Assad government toppled are now having second thoughts and secretly want him to stay in power, he replied that the chemical deal showed that the US officials want Assad to have the control of weapons, until they can destroy them. “In that sense, I think the United States is beginning to despair of the situation in Syria and it’s thinking containment, and how do we bring both sides to the table,” Landis said. He also said that the deal persuaded the US to take a second look at Assad’s government and also try to work with Russia for solving the Syrian crisis. Landis added that one of the other turning points of the issue is rapprochement of America and Iran, because it alienated Saudi Arabia, although the Saudis declared that they would go alone for arming the rebels. The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states. The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history. As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists. Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.