US, allies afraid of Russia succeeding in Syria: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed James Jatras, a former US Senate foreign policy analyst in Washington, about foreign-backed terrorists fighting the Syrian Army south of the northern city of Aleppo, saying countries opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad have sent them new supplies of US-made anti-tank missiles.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: I do not know if you are fan of airdrops in particular in Syria and also what does this show when the US does it? In this particular news of course it does not say that it was airdrop but still getting these weapons to the so-called Free Syrian Army, if they even still exist?

Jatras: Well that is right. This is breathtakingly irresponsible. It shows that the people here in Washington at least some of them have learned absolutely nothing from having helped, achieve the birth of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, from the debacle of Benghazi. They have learned nothing about how foolish and dangerous it is to give weapons to people that are terrorists, that are these Jihad groups supported by the Saudis, the Turks and so forth. We do not know who they are.

You know, the Russians when they began their air campaign asked us if you object to our bombing so-called moderates tell us who the moderates are and we will not bomb them and Washington refused to give them and answer. The short answer is we do not know. We do not know of any moderates that are out there. We are essentially giving weapons to people we know are dangerous, terrorists and hoping that they will turn those guns against the right people not against the people we like.

Press TV: Do you think that these types of moves – air dropping, military equipments, bombs, what have you - and giving supplies to the so-called Free Syria Army is because the US is afraid that maybe the equation that is comprised of Russian strikes with Syrian government forces on the ground do the fighting, might actually succeed in eliminating these terrorists and that is what the US is afraid of?  

Jatras: Absolutely and I think that again reflects the point of view of some of our so-called allies in the region. They are not concerned that the Syrian offensive supported by Russian air power would fail and all these complaints that they are not really hitting Daesh but rather they are afraid that will succeed, that Daesh and other Jihad groups like Ahrar al-Sham and al-Nusra and so forth will be destroyed and that is the last thing that they want because they have got this boogeyman of the so-called Shia crescent that is going to rage all the way to the Mediterranean that simply does not match reality but that is the kind of pseudo geopolitical thinking that dominates Washington’s view of events in Syria.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk