US wrongly blames Russia for Syria crisis: Analyst

The United States is blaming Russia for the breakdown of a ceasefire agreement in Syria, while US-backed terrorist groups in the region are violating the ceasefire, a former US Senate policy adviser and diplomat says.

“The ceasefire in Syria is breaking down and it seems some of the Western powers, including the United States would like to blame this on Russia and on the legitimate Syrian government,” said James Jatras, who is also a specialist in international relations and legislative politics in Washington.

Some of Washington’s allies in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia and Turkey, are aiding terrorist groups like Daesh (ISIL) and al-Qaeda who are not abiding by the truce, Jatras told Press TV on Friday.

"They are directly working with al-Qaeda [and other terrorist groups], and these [groups] were always going to be the object of military action by the Syrian government with the Russian support,” the analyst noted. 

“We should be directing our criticism towards Turkey and Saudi Arabia and the states that are aiding the terrorists in Syria,” he added.

The United States on Thursday demanded that Russia prevent the Assad government from conducting airstrikes against foreign-backed militants.

Washington expressed outrage over an airstrike on a hospital in the Syrian city of Aleppo, leveling accusations against Damascus and Moscow, which were flatly dismissed by both as unfounded.

Russia and Syria rejected allegations that their warplanes had targeted the hospital in the northwestern Syrian city, with Moscow suggesting that the US-led coalition was instead responsible for the incident.

The developments come as the latest round of UN-brokered indirect Syria peace talks, which began on April 13, were brought to a halt after the main foreign-backed opposition group, known as the High Negotiations Committee, walked out of the discussions to protest at what it called the Damascus government’s violation of a Russia-US backed ceasefire in the Arab country.

Since March 2011, the United States and its regional allies, in particular Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, have been conducting a proxy war against Syria.

UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has furthermore displaced over half of Syria’s pre-war population of about 23 million.

In September 2014, the US and some of its allies started conducting airstrikes inside Syria against Daesh terrorists. However, observers say the attacks did little damage to the terrorists; rather, they targeted the country’s infrastructure.

In September 2015, Russia launched its own air offensive against the terrorists who were still wreaking havoc in Syria. The Russian campaign, analysts say, has broken the backbone of ISIL and other militants, and has provided the Assad government an opportunity to defeat the foreign-sponsored terrorist onslaught.

In recent months, the Syrian army, backed by the Russian air power, has been making major gains against Takfiri groups, recapturing several strategic areas from their grip, particularly in the strategic northern province of Aleppo.

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