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More unneeded complications in Syria

Jun 22,2017 - Last updated at Jun 22,2017

The shooting down of a Syrian warplane near the central Syrian city of Raqqa, where US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces are deployed to help capture the city from Daesh gangs, threatens to escalate tensions over Syria between Moscow and Washington.

Russia warned the US that henceforth it will treat US-led coalition planes flying west of Euphrates, the redline it decided to set for the US military, as targets.

Moscow also suspended the hotline established in October 2015 to prevent accidental engagement of Russian and US warplanes over Syrian territory, but such a move was threatened after the April missile launch ordered by the US president and was never carried out, so it may turn out to be just posturing. 

Soon after Russia brought its military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, in 2015, Moscow and Washington signed a memorandum to prevent air clashes between them in Syria.

At the same time, the hotline has been playing a very important role, allowing Moscow and Washington to notify each other about their air operations over Syria which half a dozen countries, and more — Iran, Israel, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the United States with its allies — have transformed into their play field.

The downing came after the Syrian government’s SU-22 jet dropped bombs near US-backed fighters combating Daesh. 

It only complicates an already very complex situation in which rival local groups fight a civil war and foreign powers compete, in a proxy war, for territorial gains and influence in Syria.

It is important now to contain the animosity between the two superpowers.

The US military said it will work on de-escalating the situation, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. saying on Monday that the United States will work diplomatically and militarily “to re-establish de-confliction”, but the Russian side seems seriously irked.

 “All flying objects, including planes and drones of the international coalition, detected west of the Euphrates, will be followed by Russian air defence systems as targets,” a statement from Russia’s defence ministry said.

The many parties fighting in Syria have as many interests to advance, but they should realise that the Syrian conflict cannot be settled through a military solution if stability is to last.

Washington and Moscow, the two biggest protagonists on the Syrian stage, should iron out their differences at the discussion table and attempt to come up with a solution that is fair to the Syrian people and guaranteed to endure.

 

They should put aside rivalries and blind support for this or that group and attempt to put an end to the six years of suffering Syrians have gone through, with the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty a prime, and sacred, concern.

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