People of Aleppo do not wait for the US elections

Jamal Khashoggi explains in his article in Al-Hayat that no one should expect a change in the US’ passive foreign policy in Syria following the nation’s November presidential elections since the US is playing its isolation card.

However, the writer argues that the US should at least lash out at the fact that Russia is using an Iranian base to target the Syrian people, not for the Syrian people but for maintaining the strategic balances in the region.

“The US did nothing to restrain Russia’s power in Ukraine, so why should we expect that it would do something like this in our world?” the writer asks.

Nonetheless, the US, UK and France – from time to time – remember that they are superpowers, exercising foreign policies blunderingly, ranging from apathy to withdrawal.

The writer then explains the superpowers’ reluctance to force the conflict into a solution, conducting a round of negotiations after the other with no agreement on anything as Russia and Iran encroach into Syria.

“It is no more important to wonder about the reason behind Russia’s continued involvement in Syria’s quagmire,” the writer argues, adding why Russia does not understand that its involvement is actually intensifying extremism in the region.

“We should unroll the map of this troubled world and its major conflict in northern Syria and analyze the conflicting statements ourselves,” the writer explains, pointing out the US’ and Russia’s conflicting policies on Syria, in addition to Russia’s and Turkey’s contradictory definition on who is the enemy in Syria.

The writer then argues that perhaps the Aleppan is the best strategist in the region, explaining that the people of Aleppo did not wait until the US elections, the outcome of the Turkish-Russian meeting, or for a definite answer on who the enemy is. Instead, they unanimously broke the siege on Aleppo and turned the table up-side-down on everyone.

The writer concludes by stating that “the main factor is that the people of Aleppo forced their own strategies on to everyone, from Moscow to Washington to Riyadh to Ankara. And I think they have gained the respect and recognition they deserve.”