Russia has thwarted US hegemonic plans in the Middle East: Analyst

Russia has been able to derail the plans of the US in the Middle East by supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and assist in defeating the Daesh terrorist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, an American political activist in Maryland says.

“Russia is still a world power, but not as strong as the US. Yet it has been able to thwart the plans of the US hegemon in the Middle East by supporting the Assad regime and fighting back ISIS, as well as brokering cease fires in Syria,” said Myles Hoenig, who ran for the US Congress in 2016 as a Green Party candidate.

“To the US, who the ‘other side’ is has never mattered, as long as their objective, removing Assad, prevails,” Hoenig told Press TV on Wednesday.

“We see as far back as WW ll, the US supporting Nazi officers and scientists in their own ideological struggle against the Soviet Union, and as recent as the 80’s supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, also in their fight against the Soviet Union,” he said.

PressTV-US lets terrorists train in Syria bases: Russian general

A senior Russian general says the US has been providing training to terrorists such as Daesh Takfiri elements in its bases in Syria.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov has accused the United States of training former ISIL terrorists in Syria to try to destabilize the country.

In an interview with Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Wednesday, Gerasimov said the US had turned its military base near the town of al-Tanf in southeastern Syria into a training camp for militants.

Russia says the US base is illegal and that it and the area around it has become “a black hole” where militants operate unhindered.

The Russian general said the United States was training up militants who were former ISIL terrorists but who now call themselves the so-called New Syrian Army or use other names.

The official also stressed that the Pentagon has so far failed to provide any explanation for its military presence at the al-Tanf base after Daesh’s defeat, saying, “So far, their answers have been ambiguous.”

Daesh has this year lost all the territory it held in Syria and Iraq. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the main part of the battle with ISIL in Syria was over, according to the state-run RIA news agency.

“If the reporting by the chief of the Russian General Staff is true, then 2018 could be a pivotal year for a radical restructuring of powers in the region,” Hoenig said.

“One would argue that this is the Israeli tail wagging the American dog but in all likelihood it is simply to expand the US empire into the oil rich region of the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia the most supportive benefactor and one most likely pulling the US’s strings,” he added.

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