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Syria solution unlikely due to different players: Analyst

Thursday, 22 September 2016 9:18 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 22 September 2016 1:11 PM ]

Syrians sit and look at the rubble in the neighborhood of Karm al-Jabal, Aleppo, on September 18, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with E. Michael Jones, editor of Culture Wars Online Magazine, to discuss the remarks made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, renewing the call for a political solution to the bloody foreign-backed conflict in Syria.

Here is a rough transcription of the interview:

Press TV: How important is a political solution versus a military solution in Syria?

Jones: It is a great idea to have a political solution, but what you are dealing with here is the problem of irregular warfare. So if the United States were simply fighting Russia in this war, the United States and Russia could get together and they say, ‘Okay, we will negotiate’ but you have so many players in this war, you have got so many proxies and you have got so many people supporting the proxies that anyone has in a sense, anyone of these groups has veto power over any type of settlement.

All they have to do is to create some type of atrocity like the attack on that aid convoy. No one knows exactly who did it. The United States tried to blame Russia, but all they have to do is just something like that and then suddenly the ceasefire is undermined, the trust is undermined and there is not going to be a political solution.

Press TV: So then how do you feel about demands by the United States that Syria and Russia essentially stop all aerial operations?

Jones: If Syria and Russia were in charge of the operation or if they were the aggressor, you say yes, that would solve the problem but nobody knows who is going to start fighting. So in a sense it probably does not make any sense to have them stopped right now.

Press TV: And so then do you agree with President Rouhani’s concern that if they were to stop those operations against militants, terrorism will grow stronger in Syria?

Jones: Yes, I think he is right in that regard. The problem is that you have got all of these proxy groups and no one is really in control of them. If one of the sponsors does not like what it is going on, if Israel or Qatar does not like what is going on, they can have their people disrupt the entire peace process. It is that simple or that complicated.

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