Syrian President Basher al Assad with Russian President Vladimir Putin

• US current policy for today’s Syria began in January 2002, when US President George W. Bush listed Syria as a member of “The Axis of Evil”, along with Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Undersecretary for State John Bolton declared that Damascus was acquiring weapons of mass destruction, the same claim, proven false, that was made to justify the war on Iraq.
  
  
• In October 2003, Israel bombed a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, a military aggression in Syria as stated by President Assad.
  
  
• In May, 2004 the US imposed economic sanctions on the country, claiming that it supported terrorism.
  
  
• In September 2007, Israel again attacked Syria, this time claiming without evidence that it destroyed a nuclear site.
  
  
• In September, 2008, President Assad hosted a four way meeting with France, Turkey and Qatar to build peace in the Middle East. At the time, there was an explosion on the outskirts of Damascus and President Putin identified the bombers as Islamist militants.
  
  
• In May 2010, the US renewed its sanctions against Syria, making new claims of government oppression.
  
  
• In March 2011, violent attacks on military and police intensified in the southern city of Deraa and security forces responded, killing some of the assailants. But the western media claimed they killed peaceful protestors. President Assad responded by lifting the state of emergency, announcing conciliatory measures with genuine Syrian protestors and released dozens of prisoners.
  
  
• In May 2011, the government sent Army tanks into 3 cities and suburbs of Damascus to stop violence and announced amnesty for the Syrian protesters who had committed crimes against the state. The US and EU responded by increasing economic sanctions.
  
  
• In June 2011, 120 members of government security forces were killed in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour and the government responded with force against the terrorists and pledged to start a national dialogue on reform, but only with Syrians.
  

• In July 2011, President Assad removed the governor of the northern province of Hama, who instigated mass riots. He then sent in troops to restore order in the province.
  
  
• In October 2011, the self-proclaimed Syrian National Transitional Council, based in Turkey, declared that it represented the “Syrian opposition". The Western media called them “activists.”
  
  
• In December 2011, two suicide bombers attacked security buildings in Damascus killing 44, the first of a series of attacks that continued into the following summer. The US and the Western Media began to claim that the Assad government was killing civilians.
  
  
• In July, 2012 the newly invented “Free Syria Army” assassinated three military chiefs in Damascus and seized the city of Aleppo in the north.
  
  
• In November 2012, Israel attacked Syrian artillery units near the Golan Heights.
  
  
• In December, 2012, US, Britain, France, Turkey and Gulf states officially declared that the “opposition” was the "legitimate representative" of the Syrian people, that President Assad must resign and the government be dissolved.
  
  
• In January 2013, Israeli jets attacked a military research center near Damascus, targeting an Iranian commander for assassination.
  
  
• In March 2013, the Syrian Air Force carried out missile attacks on terrorists who had gained control of the northern city of Raqqa.
  

• In June 2013, the Syrian government recaptured the town of Qusair and the terrorists complained that they were not receiving enough arms from their foreign sponsors. 
  
  
• In October 2013, President Assad invited international inspectors to begin destruction of old stores of chemical weapons following earlier accusations that the government had been using them on their own people. Removal of these weapons was completed in June 2014.
  
  
• In August and September 2014, the Islamic State gained more control while the US and its Arab allies began bombing some of them.
  
  
• From September 2014 forward, the US continued bombing some of the terrorists, while arming and training others they claimed were “moderate rebels.”
  
  
• On September 16, US Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of US Centcom, publicly admitted that their $500 million program to train and equip 5,400 terrorists to overthrow the Syrian government was “a total failure” and that “all but 4 or 5” of the terrorists under their command had defected and turned over their US-supplied weapons and equipment to the Islamic State.
  
  
• On October 1, 2015, Russia launched it’s aerial attacks in support of Syrian ground forces Assad to eradicate the Islamic State and all allied terrorists from Syria.

"From the beginning it was clear to us that there were foreign hands behind terrorism in Syria."

President Assad thinks that the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) is ineffective because the West does not want to defeat terrorist groups. In fact, it wants to preserve the balance between the warring sides to “perpetuate the process of erosion in Syria and Iraq and, later, other countries of the region, so that we all remain weak for decades and maybe generations.”

“From the beginning it was clear to us that there were foreign hands behind terrorism in Syria. How can the United States and its allies fight terrorism or ISIS in Syria and Iraq while their closest allies in the government of Erdogan and Davutoglu are supporting terrorists and enabling them to cross the borders and bring weapons, money and volunteers through Turkey? Since the US-led coalition was formed, terrorism expanded geographically and its recruits multiplied. God willing it [Syria, Iran and Hezbollah] will be able to defeat terrorism which is a new instrument for subjugating the region.”

“It must succeed. Otherwise, the whole region, not only one or two countries, will be destroyed. [Russia nor the Soviet Union in the past] “ever tried to impose anything on Syria, especially in this crisis,” stressing that unlike the US, Russia is against interference, hegemony, and violations of the UN Charter.

If my departure is the solution, I will never hesitate to do that. President Assad also said, as he has many times in the past, that he’s ready for political dialogue with all Syrians but not with foreign powers, “Any talk about the political system or the officials in this county is an internal Syrian affair. When the Syrian people decide that a certain individual should stay, he will stay; and when the Syrian people decide that he should go, he will go immediately. If my departure is the solution, I will never hesitate to do that. From the beginning it was clear to us that there were foreign hands behind terrorism in Syria.” In this interview, President Assad said he thinks that the US-led coalition against the terrorists in Syria has been ineffective because the West doesn’t really want to defeat terrorist groups; rather it wants to preserve the balance between the warring sides to “perpetuate the process of erosion in Syria and Iraq and later other countries of the region, so that we all remain weak for decades and maybe generations." -excerpts from Habar TV Interview, Iran

Prelude to a Military Campaign
During the West’s most recent aggression against Russia’s neighbors, Putin patiently waited, studied their movements, and prepared a systematic response that included sequential steps which led to Russia’s military action during the last 7 days and continuing. Here we take a look at President Putin’s diplomatic process leading up to the current military campaign.

for help by Damascus, unlike the US who “neither waited for the Syrian government to ask for help, nor had a mandate from the UN.”

Below we shall see how public confirmation of Assad’s secret letter of invitation to Putin triggered action that moved forward at warp speed.

4. President Putin's Address at the United Nations

70th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

spoke of international law, state sovereignty, instigated coups, anarchy, terrorism, restoring statehood where it's been destroyed, the Cold War mentality, economic cooperation; unilaterally imposed sanctions circumventing the UN Charter, used to eliminate market competition; the rise of economic selfishness, the imposition of "new game rules, deliberately tailored to accommodate the interests of a privileged few," the task of creating an equal and indivisible security environment that would not serve a privileged few, but everyone." We encourage everyone to read Putin's entire speech and watch the video of his address. But here we provide excerpts that pertain to our topic, Russia's military action during the last 7 days.

President Vladimir Putin delivering his historic address at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly

Russian President Vladimir Putin: "We all know that after the end of the Cold War the world was left with one center of dominance, and those who found themselves at the top of the pyramid were tempted to think that, since they are so powerful and exceptional, they know best what needs to be done and thus they don’t need to reckon with the UN, which, instead of rubber-stamping the decisions they need, often stands in their way. "Of course, the world changes, and the UN should also undergo natural transformation. Russia is ready to work together with its partners to develop the UN further on the basis of a broad consensus, but we consider any attempts to undermine the legitimacy of the United Nations as extremely dangerous. They may result in the collapse of the entire architecture of international relations, and then indeed there will be no rules left except for the rule of force. The world will be dominated by selfishness rather than collective effort, by dictate rather than equality and liberty, and instead of truly independent states we will have protectorates controlled from outside. Learning from Past Mistakes: "We should all remember the lessons of the past. For example, we remember examples from our Soviet past, when the Soviet Union exported social experiments, pushing for changes in other countries for ideological reasons, and this often led to tragic consequences and caused degradation instead of progress. "It seems, however, that instead of learning from other people’s mistakes, some prefer to repeat them and continue to export revolutions, only now these are “democratic” revolutions. Just look at the situation in the Middle East and Northern Africa already mentioned by the previous speaker. Of course, political and social problems have been piling up for a long time in this region, and people there wanted change. But what was the actual outcome? Instead of bringing about reforms, aggressive intervention rashly destroyed government institutions and the local way of life. Instead of democracy and progress, there is now violence, poverty, social disasters and total disregard for human rights, including even the right to life. "I’m urged to ask those who created this situation: do you at least realize now what you’ve done? But I’m afraid that this question will remain unanswered, because they have never abandoned their policy, which is based on arrogance, exceptionalism and impunity." Flirting with Terrorists: "In fact, the Islamic State itself did not come out of nowhere. It was initially developed as a weapon against undesirable secular regimes. Having established control over parts of Syria and Iraq, Islamic State now aggressively expands into other regions. It seeks dominance in the Muslim world and beyond. Their plans go further. "The situation is extremely dangerous. In these circumstances, it is hypocritical and irresponsible to make declarations about the threat of terrorism and at the same time turn a blind eye to the channels used to finance and support terrorists, including revenues from drug trafficking, the illegal oil trade and the arms trade. "It is equally irresponsible to manipulate extremist groups and use them to achieve your political goals, hoping that later you’ll find a way to get rid of them or somehow eliminate them. "I’d like to tell those who engage in this: Gentlemen, the people you are dealing with are cruel but they are not dumb. They are as smart as you are. So, it’s a big question: who’s playing who here? The recent incident where the most “moderate” opposition group handed over their weapons to terrorists is a vivid example of that. "We consider that any attempts to flirt with terrorists, let alone arm them, are short-sighted and extremely dangerous. This may make the global terrorist threat much worse, spreading it to new regions around the globe, especially since there are fighters from many different countries, including European ones, gaining combat experience with Islamic State. Unfortunately, Russia is no exception. "Now that those thugs have tasted blood, we can’t allow them to return home and continue with their criminal activities. Nobody wants that, right?" Working with Assad: "Russia has consistently opposed terrorism in all its forms. Today, we provide military-technical assistance to Iraq, Syria and other regional countries fighting terrorist groups. We think it’s a big mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian authorities and government forces who valiantly fight terrorists on the ground. "We should finally admit that President Assad’s government forces and the Kurdish militia are the only forces really fighting terrorists in Syria. Yes, we are aware of all the problems and conflicts in the region, but we definitely have to consider the actual situation on the ground." Russia's Motives: "Dear colleagues, I must note that such an honest and frank approach on Russia’s part has been recently used as a pretext for accusing it of its growing ambitions — as if those who say that have no ambitions at all. However, it is not about Russia’s ambitions, dear colleagues, but about the recognition of the fact that we can no longer tolerate the current state of affairs in the world." International Coalition and Role of Muslims: "What we actually propose is to be guided by common values and common interests rather than by ambitions. Relying on international law, we must join efforts to address the problems that all of us are facing, and create a genuinely broad international coalition against terrorism. Similar to the anti-Hitler coalition, it could unite a broad range of parties willing to stand firm against those who, just like the Nazis, sow evil and hatred of humankind. And of course, Muslim nations should play a key role in such a coalition, since Islamic State not only poses a direct threat to them, but also tarnishes one of the greatest world religions with its atrocities. The ideologues of these extremists make a mockery of Islam and subvert its true humanist values. "I would also like to address Muslim spiritual leaders: Your authority and your guidance are of great importance right now. It is essential to prevent people targeted for recruitment by extremists from making hasty decisions, and those who have already been deceived and, due to various circumstances, found themselves among terrorists, must be assisted in finding a way back to normal life, laying down arms and putting an end to fratricide. Coordinating anti-terrorism within the UN: "In the days to come, Russia, as the current President of the UN Security Council, will convene a ministerial meeting to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the threats in the Middle East. First of all, we propose exploring opportunities for adopting a resolution that would serve to coordinate the efforts of all parties that oppose Islamic State and other terrorist groups. Once again, such coordination should be based upon the principles of the UN Charter."

5. Putin Meets Obama


Russia and the United States agreed on Monday to look for a diplomatic end to the Syrian civil war. But Obama continues the demand of his masters that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad be "removed" as part of any international effort to destroy the terrorists. President Putin has adamantly rejected this in his calls for sovereignty and democracy, arguing that only the Syrian people have a right to remove their president if they desire.

During a 90-minute meeting with the US president, Obama bent the knee and agreed that US and Russian military commanders should hold talks to avoid coming into direct conflict in Syria. But the two maintained their positions regarding President Assad: the US demanding that Assad step down after reviling and demonizing him over the last several years; and Russia's logic in defense of national sovereignty that only the Syrian people have the right to depose their president.

6. Assad makes his invitation public
Last Wednesday night, Syria confirmed that its government had previously sent a letter to President Putin, asking for military assistance in fighting the terrorists. In Damascus, a military source welcomed the development as “positive”, saying Russia's support is,

“the culmination of long-standing coordination between Syria and Russia. [It] is something positive and natural between allied states and a supportive friend. The coordination (with Russia) will now take on other dimensions, beyond what was already the case. The areas of coordination will be expanded to include areas like reconnaissance, information gathering and target guidance, based on the needs on the ground.”

From the moment that Assad confirmed his request, late Wednesday night, to President Putin, things moved ahead at warp speed.

7. The Upper House of Russian Parliament votes
Within an hour or so of Assad’s confirmation of the letter, Russia's upper house of parliament voted unanimously to approve Russian air support to the Syrian military fighting the terrorists.

8. Russia Attacks IS
Immediately following the parliamentary vote, at 2 a.m. GMT. October 1, two Russian airstrikes hit a training camp run by Syrian rebels who had received US military training. The US has been calling them “the moderate opposition,” trying to link them to the original Syrian protests who were co-opted by the US. It's the same strategy the US used to exploit the original Maiden protesters in November 2013 to overthrow the elected government in Ukraine. In Syria, by hitting the US-backed terrorists first, Putin threw down the gauntlet, sending a message to the US and Europe that Russia makes no such distinction among the terrorists in Syria.

On Thursday, the Russian Air Force went on to attack 8 terrorist encampments, weapons depots, and infrastructure. Prior to the attacks, Russia had not revealed details of its forces in Syria but now the world knows. RT News reports that the Russian Air Force in Syria includes over 50 warplanes, helicopter gunships, Russia's Su-24M armed with laser guided missiles and bombs, Su-25 ground attack planes and their Sukhoi SU-34 Supersonic Strike Fighter. Russia has long range striking ability with its Su-24M2 Fencer jets which it sent to its newly opened base at Latakia, Syria. They are armed “with guided weapons, including 500 and 1,500kg laser-guided bombs and TV-guided bombs, and laser/TV-guided missiles Kh-25 and Kh-29L/T, anti-radar missiles Kh-58 and Kh-14 (AS-12 'Kegler') and Kh-59 (AS-13 'Kingbolt')/Kh-59M TV-target seeker guided missiles". Upgrades to all these systems are being used in Syria.

The First 6 Days

Igor Konashenkov stated that at the time of this Axis of Logic report, "Su-34, Su-24M and Su-25 have launched air strikes on 12 objects of logistic infrastructure, command posts, training camps and facilities of militants belonging to terrorist groups allied with Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL],” The Defense Ministry reported the Russian jets destroyed an Islamic State army munitions plant outside Damascus as well as two command centers in Deir ez-Zor, according to the ministry’s statement. In the Idlib Governorate, a training camp for IS militants was eliminated, while several IS strongholds came under attack where ammunition depots were blown up. The Ministry also published a fresh video said to show extremists positioning their hardware near a mosque. Konashenkov reported that Russia’s targeted airstrikes have caused “panic” among the militants, also stressing that the attacks are not conducted in residential areas or places containing landmarks. RT News reported that Hmeymim airbase has been used by the Russian Air Force since Moscow launched its anti-IS operation last Wednesday, following a request from Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. As I indicated previously, the Russian combat unit is comprised of over 50 aircraft including gunship helicopters and space surveillance equipment and drones.

UPDATE: Today, October 7, Russia took it's offensive against the terrorists in Syria to a new level. They launched guided cruise missile strikes from their warships in the Caspian Sea, about 1,500km (930 miles) distant, striking their targets with pinpoint accuracy. This move is particularly interesting as it demonstrates a a sophisticated sea-based capability in which the United States has taken pride as having been their exclusive domain. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said four warships fired 26 sea-based cruise missiles on 11 targets, destroying them and causing no civilian casualties. The BBC reports that Russia's Caspian Flotilla - together with the Black Sea Fleet - is the maritime part of Russia's Southern Military District, stationed in the port city of Astrakhan. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the flotilla consists of several brigades and divisions of surface ships and coastal troop units, carrying out anti-terror activities and protecting trade and oil interests.

 
The Russian Defense Ministry published the following video on YouTube and Twitter showing the first images of today's naval attack.

One of the terrorist positions destroyed by the Russian Air Force in Latamneh and Kafr Zaita in central Syria.

Media Reports Civilian Casualties
Allegations of civilian casualties quickly became the centerpiece in the media war and the US media machine was well prepared - too well prepared. President Putin pointed out that media reports of civilian casualties began even before Russian warplanes were first launched for their first combat mission and Putin described them as 'information attacks':

“As for media reports claiming the civilian population is suffering, we are prepared for such information attacks. The first reports about civilian casualties emerged even before our planes were in the air.”

RT News reports on how social media is used to spread anti-Russian propaganda:

"Virtually simultaneously, reports started surfacing on social media saying Russia is not targeting terrorists. Instead, they claimed Russian warplanes hit residential areas, killing dozens of civilians. Others said there was no IS (terrorist) presence in the attacked areas and these positions were actually held by ‘moderate rebels’.” (The term invented by the US for their extremists charged with the overthrow of the Syrian government.)

 
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov asked news organizations and the public to carefully confirm all information related to Syria, "because there was plenty of biased, distorted or patently false information coming from the region."

The targets bombed and attacked this week were distant from civilian populations. This is confirmed by testimony on location and aerial videos we have read and watched. Footage, for example, released by the Russian Ministry of Defense shows airstrikes on the terrorist infrastructures with no local civilian populations. Russia’s Lieutenant General Andrey Kartapolov reported that Washington notified the Russian Defense Ministry that there were “only militants” in the areas where Russian forces were operating. "The Americans informed us during contacts that there was no one except terrorists in this region."

John Laughland, (IDC in Paris) explained US “tacit support” for the Russian operation is a major change to its previous stance, and the reason is that:

“the Western bombing of Islamic State has been a complete failure. We know that Washington and Moscow are cooperating and that Washington is giving tacit support. It’s precisely the result of the meeting that occurred in the UN building between presidents Putin and Obama. Moscow would inform Washington about its airstrikes in order to prevent any kind of accidents, any kind of conflict breaking out.”

 
The difference between the Western deployment of troops and the Russian aerial attacks is that Moscow’s decision is being “conducted in cooperation with the Syrian army.”

• Economy, Industry, Human Capital: Rabie Nasser, a Syrian economic analyst who works with the Syrian Center for Policy Research reported:
  
  

  “Basically, the economy has been systematically destroyed. First, Syria’s capital stock is lost. There has been direct destruction as a result of the armed conflict, and there is currently a great deal of idle capital in Syria due to the security conditions. The second point is the loss of human capital, either because of displacement, migration, or because of death and injury. We have lost a lot of skilled workers. And we have lost a huge amount of human capital in Syria. Third, there has been a loss of infrastructure: there was a huge infrastructure for health, education, telecommunications, industry — we have lost it, and we have lost the networks between some Syrian markets and other markets both inside and outside Syria.”

  
  Health Care: The US military’s attack last week in Kunduz, Afghanistan on the medical center run by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) shows their capacity for heartless maiming and slaughter, even of patients in their hospital beds, not to mention their disregard for international law. Their warplanes repeatedly hit those facilities for an extended period, wounding at least 37 staff and patients and killing at least 22 (10 patients, including 3 children, and 12 members of the MSF staff). A doctor reported how unbearable it was to see intensive care patients burning to death in their beds. The bombing continued in spite of doctors calling Washington and NATO, begging them to stop. There’s good reason to believe that the attacks were intentional. The “new rules of engagement” released by the Pentagon this year authorize US commanders to attack civilian infrastructure and populations based on their own calculations of “military necessity.” Some analysts see the attack as a warning to health care workers not to accept wounded enemy soldiers who may have been in the Kunduz facility. MSF denied any presence of wounded enemy soldiers in their facility but we ask, even if there were? Obama ruled out an independent investigation leaving it to the military to investigate itself, calling the civilian deaths “collateral damage.” Obama sent his “condolences” to the victims.

The latest assessment we could find on Syria's health care system reported that half of Syria's hospitals had already been destroyed by 2013. At that time, Lancet (the British medical journal) published an open letter submitted by international aid agencies stating: "Systematic assaults on medical professionals, facilities and patients are breaking Syria's health-care system and making it nearly impossible for civilians to receive essential medical services."

Oil Pipelines and Refineries: September, 2014 the LA times reported: "Making the first major push to choke off financing for Islamic State, U.S. and allied Arab warplanes bombed a dozen small oil refineries in eastern Syria on Wednesday that U.S. officials said were part of a $2 million-a-day revenue stream for the Sunni Muslim extremist group.”

Maram Susli, known in the media as "Syrian Girl," responded:

"The trouble with this justification for destroying Syria’s oil pipelines, is that ISIS does not have the capability to use the pipelines to transfer oil. ISIS transports the stolen oil on the back of trucks, and sells it on the black market in Turkey. "If the US truly intended to stop ISIS oil profits, they would bomb these oil convoys, which are easily spotted via conventional surveillance flights already allegedly taking place as part of ongoing Western operations. The US agenda behind destroying Syria’s pipelines has very little to do with ISIS oil profits, and far more to do with destroying Syria’s oil infrastructure.”

Illusions of World Dominance: The fourth reason that I think the future of Syria cannot be predicted at this time is the willful, morally bankrupt and ignorant (add your own adjectives), hell-bent mentality in Washington that lives in the cloud of illusion that they can eventually gain "full spectrum dominance" of the entire world - by force. Do you really believe that eyeball-to-eyeball with Putin and the prospect of full scale nuclear war, the chicken-hawks, cowards with big mouths, in Washington are going to go for it? They haven't in the last 7 days now have they.