‘American deeply involved in Middle East’: West Asia Strategist counters Donald Trump’s remark on Syria

New Delhi [India], December 8 (ANI): West Asia Strategist Waiel Awwad has countered US President-elect Donald Trump’s recent remark on Syria, wherein he claimed that US “has nothing to do” with the conflict and should not get involved in it.

Speaking to ANI, Awwad said that US is “deeply involved” in the Middle East including the conlficts in Syria, Iraq and Iran.

He blamed US’ policy of “foreign intervention” for the current situation in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, and also accused Washington of “destroying” the whole region.

Being asked about Trump’s recent remark, the strategist said, “Absolutely wrong. The American is very much deeply involved in the Middle East. They are deeply involved in the fight in Syria, in Iraq, Iran.”

“Look, when they invaded Iraq unilaterally, exceptionally, what was the reason for occupying Iraq? Invasion of Iraq took place in 2003 because they wanted to take the control of the oil and the resources of Iraq. And that’s they have on the weapon of mass destruction. There was no weapon of mass destruction, as they’ve been claiming. Having said that, they also created ISIS and then revived Al-Qaeda, which they have created in Afghanistan…So, that is the policy of the United States. How can the United States say no?” Awwad added.

Recalling former US President Barack Obama’s remarks about democracy in Egypt, the West Asia Strategist criticised the United States for ‘destroying’ the whole Arab world.

“When President Obama came to Egypt when he took over and he delivered the speech of democracy, everybody in the world thought that the United States is seriously promoting democracy in the Arab world. Is this a democracy or an idiocracy? They have destroyed the whole region. They knew that Arab Spring is coming. They knew that political Islam is coming. They knew they have made a movement. They hijacked the people movement who wanted, who were inspired to have an independent, leaving governing, good governings, and free of corruptions and malpractices. So where did this lead us to?” he said.

“Look what happened in Libya. Look what’s happening in Iraq. Look what’s happening in Syria, in Lebanon, in Palestine. So, all this is nothing but the culmination of the continuous American policy of foreign intervention, changing regime by force. That’s what Trump trying to say to the American before Biden leave office, that we do not want to keep American troops in Syria, which they give by Syria illegally, part of Syria. But, complicating the situation now, reviving of Al-Qaeda, will have a pretext to keep the American troops in Syria,” the strategist added.

Earlier on Saturday, President-elect Trump issued a statement on the situation in Syria and asserted that this is not America’s fight and the US should have “nothing to do with it.”

“Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out President Bashar al-Assad. Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Criticising the previous policies of former President Barack Obama, Trump further said that there is the possibility of Assad himself being forced out, which can actually be the “best thing” to happen to Syria.

“This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them,” Trump stated.”There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid. In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!,” he added.

Waiel Awwad further asserted there is “no civil war” in Syria and this has been happening since 2011. He said that people have taken a very peaceful demonstration for over six months until the Islamist forces came and took over the lead in the Syrian crisis.

“Actually, there is no civil war in Syria. In fact, this has been happening since 2011, when the Arab Spring started in the Arab world. Most of the people felt that the Libyan government left, Tunisian government left, the Egyptian also, the president was removed. So, the people of Syria also took it on their hand that they could remove the president or they could go for political reforms. They have taken a very peaceful demonstration for more than 6 months until the Islamist forces came and took over the lead in the Syrian crisis, and we could see that their agenda is different from what was declared. So, Syria has been fighting since 2011,” the strategist said.

“We had lots of terrorist groups come across the border from Turkiye, which have opened their infrastructure on the border from 100 and 173,000 terrorists from 83 nations came to Syria, including Indian, in fact. They were in came to Syria and Iraq. Then, ISIS was created, Al-Qaeda revived in Syria. Abu Mohammed Al-Julani was a member of ISIS, a member of Al-Qaeda, and he had a 10 million bounty in his head by the American, which they have not said anything about it. Now, he is leading what call is the al-Nusra Front, which was affiliated to Al-Qaeda. And now he made a new form, which is called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, under the American and the Turkish umbrella, where they have been functioning and active train his cadets in Idlib, which is a northern part of Syria, occupied by Turkiye since 2012,” he added.

Awwad pointed the reasons of economic stress behind the fall of the Syrian regime. He also said that the rebel forces have been backed by Turkiye, US and Israel.

“So all this development have taken place, and immediately the Syrian government fell because of the economic harsh, because of the domestic pressure, because of the forces who had come from those areas, supported by Turkiye and supported by the United States and Israel. So, the government fell. We don’t know yet if this is giving a circular outlook to the government, to the new government to be formed, we are yet to decide what will be the future of Syria. But I would say this picture is very grim. We do not know this is a new Bangladesh happening in Syria or it could be the Kandahar of Afghanistan,” he added.

This comes after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flee out of Damascus to an unknown destination on Sunday, Reuters reported. The news agency cited two senior army officers, whom it did not name as rebels Syrian groups said they entered the capital, Damascus, in the early hours today.

The development comes hours after rebels claimed to have captured Syria’s third-largest city, Homs, to the north of the country. The head of Syria’s main opposition group abroad Hadi al-Bahra Syrian said that Damascus is now “without Bashar al-Assad” according to Reuters.

Speaking about the current situation in Syria, Awwad further stated, “The actual situation in Syria, they’re trying to give you the image that there is no civil war, there is immediate smooth transition of power. Because of the war, because of the Syrian army has been moving out from their position, because of the president that fled the country, that is the general picture currently. We do not know what could happen next. There is not much of killing currently.”

“There is not much of revenge, because they wanted to gain the popularity, the image of the international community that there is a political movement, there is an opposition, there is forces which took over, it has nothing to do with the foreign intervention. That is the image they are trying to give to the rest of the world. But what could be next? We don’t know. If Syria had been to be disintegrated, then you can imagine what will be the ramification of this development in Egypt, which they will revive the Muslim Brotherhood, on Jordan, on Iraq, on Iran and the regional war could break out because Netanyahu will be gaining from this war. In Gaza, he’s failed. In Lebanon, he failed. Sectarian violence is very much on the card. So all the options are open,” he added.

Syrian rebels have claimed capturing Damascus, Al Jazeera reported.

“The tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled,” the armed opposition said in a statement. “We declare Damascus free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad,” they said. The rebels earlier claimed to have entered the capital and taken control of the notorious Saydnaya Military Prison north of Damascus, CNN reported.

The civil war in the country that had remained dormant for a few years has resurfaced and within a the span of a few weeks, the Syrian rebel groups have taken over several key cities like Aleppo, Homs and Daraa.