'Foreign intervention main obstacle to ceasefire in Syria'
With a unilateral ceasefire announced by Russia in Syria's divided city of Aleppo over, renewed heavy fighting has broken out between Syrian government forces and militants. The truce, which expired on Saturday, was meant to allow civilians and militants to leave the eastern part of the city through eight humanitarian corridors. However, the opportunity has been viewed as largely missed. Talking to Press TV, Scott Bennett, a former US army psychological warfare officer, has blamed the foreign-backed militants for the current situation.
"I can tell you from the Iraq situation and my experience [that] the problem was always foreign fighters. I don't remember Iraqi commanders throwing down buckets of foreign fighter passports. The same thing applies to Mosul; the same thing applies to Aleppo,” Bennett told Saturday's edition of 'The Debate' program.
He further noted that the war in Syria is originally an invasion by foreign militants, financed by countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, which have received the green light from Washington.
"So, this is not about President Assad barrel bombing his own people. That is a lie. That is a false narrative. This is about the duly-elected Democrat president of Syria protecting his people from foreign fighters, foreign invaders who have no love for the people," Bennet opined. "That's why they're using them as human shields and thank God for Vladimir Putin being on the United Nations Security Council, because at last we will have Russia, Iran, and China set up a corridor between Syria and Baghdad that will push these foreign fighters out of Syria and Iraq.”
However, the other panelist on the show, Richard Hellman, the president of the Middle East Research Center, described Iran and Russia’s support for President Assad as a major obstacle to a ceasefire in Syria.
“The main thing is not just a ceasefire but to have the great powers of the world who are involved on various sides here to say stop the killing," Hellman said.
"Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council indeed has taken a good step to start to identify the brutal killings and barrel bombings and other things that have happened with respect to the Syrian people in which the Damascus regime [was] egged on by Russia and also by Iran."
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