Covid-19 gives cover for US-led coalition to keep up pressure on Syria
The attack was carried out by Israeli warplanes unlawfully hijacking Lebanese airspace to fire their missiles into Damascus suburbs. It is the fourth such attack in the past month, two having taken place in the same week. Israeli media used the typical “self-defence-mission” arguments to justify the aggression. The EU-funded, UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) announced, in lock-step with Israeli media statements, that the missiles had hit positions “controlled by Iran and their proxies”, and that four “unknown-nationality” gunmen had been killed in the raid.
Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett, bellicose as ever, warned that Israel would not “allow the establishment of an advanced Iranian base in Syria.” Images that were circulated immediately after the attack depicted scenes of civilians returning to inspect the damage, not of Iranian militia. These called into doubt the familiar Israeli claims of self-preservation while attacking a sovereign nation from airspace it does not control and where it is not welcome.
A recent article written for the Brookings Institution, funded by Qatar and Bill Gates, among other US corporate heavyweights, outlines “Israel’s changing regional landscape in light of Covid19.” Effectively, Israel will attempt to seize the opportunity to double down on an already expanding collaboration with the Gulf States to combat the perceived threat of Iran they both face. One interpretation of the article is that Covid-19 offers Israel the opportunity to capitalize on Hezbollah/Syrian/Iranian distraction and the reshuffling of resources towards Covid-19 to strike at the heart of its alliance in Syria. This is being borne out by the uptick in aggression.
These violations of international law committed by Israel are not the only ones being conducted by the US-led alliance, which has, for almost 10 years, maintained a military and economic campaign to topple the Syrian government.
The entire region is reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the globe, fuelled by an unprecedented media fear campaign that has driven multiple states into lockdown and isolation, with borders closed and movement curtailed. Yet the US alliance has militarily ignored its own domestic-policy diktats, which have effectively.
Source: QOSHE – Covid-19 gives cover for US-led coalition to keep up pressure on Syria – Vanessa Beeley