Global Research

Letter to:

Hon Melissa Parke MP [pictured left], Australian MP.

Federal Labor Member for Fremantle

Dear Melissa,

My apologies for writing to you once more in what should be a time to relax and reflect – as well as plan for a way forward in the New Year that could help us to break out of the spiral of disaster in the Middle East. Unfortunately there are many malevolent forces at work contriving to continue and worsen that disaster, while talking the language of peace and humanity.

My immediate reason for writing is following your short interview by the ABC last week, in which you quite appropriately suggested that the UK should be dropping food rather than bombs in Syria. It is tragic that such sentiment – which I’m sure would be shared by many Australians, and Syrians, is actually playing directly into the hands of those people responsible for supporting and prolonging the war on Syria, for which the plight of the civilians of Madaya has become just another emotive lever in their illegitimate campaign.

This was well illustrated in the position expressed on Al Jazeera news this morning by a representative of the ‘Syrian Opposition’ in Istanbul, who wagered that ‘before talks with the Syrian government can take place there must be an end to the sieges and a release of political prisoners’.

As has happened on a number of occasions before, notably in Yarmouk, Opposition forces have created a crisis which demands intervention as a way to sabotage ‘peace talks’ or to deflect attention from new advances in the Syrian government’s position.

Even to people familiar with the situation in Syria, and the state of play of the armed conflict in different parts of the country, the reality of what is happening in Madaya is confronting. But this is not because of the images and video we have been shown of emaciated and starving people. It is confronting because of the close involvement of aid agencies like MSF in confecting this ‘humanitarian crisis’ while concealing the reality of the political and military situation in Madaya and the surrounding Lebanese border area.

Despite my own scepticism about the claims being made – and most vociferously by Al Jazeera which actively supports the violent insurgency – I was not aware till last night of the details; of which ‘rebel’ groups are present in Madaya, what the details of the UN plan are, or how the food shortage arose.

Yesterday however I received a link to this interview with a colleague in the ‘No Syrian Intervention’ group of which I am part – Vanessa Beeley.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/f2jyWMu5kRY

Vanessa has long been an activist for Palestine, and worked in Gaza, so has a wealth of background knowledge. This perspective might be problematic for many people who either have no problem with the State of Israel, or imagine it has no close involvement in the Syrian war. The reality of course is different; not only has Israel been actively supporting jihadist groups including Al Nusra and Ahrar al Sham with hospital care and intelligence, but it has been carrying out strikes against Hezbollah forces helping the Syrian army fight those terrorist groups.

 But as she explains in this interview, the situation in Madaya is intimately connected with Israel’s pursuit of its own illegal agenda in Syria, which sees the extension of control over the Golan heights into the southern Lebanese border area as vital to limiting cooperation between Syria and Hezbollah and Iran.

That is the background perspective, which focuses on the affliations and intentions of the remaining terrorist/jihadists in Madaya, and the campaign of extorsion and siege which THEY are responsible for inflicting on the civilians in the town.  As Vanessa explains, the UN made a food delivery to Madaya in mid October, which should have lasted till the end of the year. Notwithstanding that many of the images of the starving people, allegedly in Madaya, have either been shown to be from elsewhere or are unverifiable, it appears that the privations of the population are a result of the armed insurgents taking control of the food aid and inflating its price for the civilians under their control.

It has additionally been stated by the UN that the Syrian government has not been any hindrance in the supply of aid to civilians as part of the ceasefire plans that have resolved sieges in other towns. Confirming this fact, the aid about to be despatched to Madaya by the UN is being loaded not in Beirut or in Southern Turkey, but in Damascus, despite that city still being subject to Western sanctions.

 Another vital aspect of the whole situation in Syria as regards the control of areas by insurgent groups is that the situation for the majority of Syrians is ignored by Western media, including the ABC and SBS. This is despite many cities being under constant attack by snipers and mortar fire, as well as the suicide car bombs of Al Nusra and IS. This is the situation for the two Shia villages trapped in one such occupied area of NW Syria, which has been under siege for the last three years, and in which 1700 ordinary residents have died in the struggle against the invading jihadist groups.  An essential part of the ceasefire deal which aims to resolve the crisis in Madaya – and rid the country of the armed jihadists – is the lifting of the siege of Foua and Kefraya. It is passed time that our media and government leaders acknowledged the reality of THAT siege – which is an unremitting and totally illegitimate attack on Syrian citizens being carried out by mercenaries for Saudi Arabia and Turkey, using weapons supplied by the US and trucked in over the Turkish border.

The idea that these jihadists, of the so-called ‘Army of Conquest’ could be party to any agreement brokered by the UN is ludicrous, yet the Syrian Opposition and its Western supporters present it as having equal claim to legitimacy as the Syrian government and its army.

It may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is about time that our leaders got used to the idea that the Syrian government is the ONLY legitimate actor in Syria, along with those allies currently supporting it militarily at its invitation. So whether the UK thinks to drop bombs or food parcels in Syria is actually irrelevant. In both cases it should be working with the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies both to defeat the terrorist armies and to supply aid to the whole Syrian population.

We should not be fooled by the incessant propaganda and false flag operations now being perpetrated against Syria by the Saudi and Turkish governments, supported by the US/NATO allies. This is a direct result of the huge successes of the Russian military in disrupting the Islamic State’s Oil-for-Weapons scheme, as well as its successes in driving back the Saudi-Turkish mercenary Army of Conquest, and CIA supported ‘rebel’ groups in Western Syria. The last thing these rogue states want to see is UN brokered settlements in Syrian towns and cities, as happened recently with Homs.

My apologies once again for presenting you with this detailed and ‘controversial’ viewpoint ( incidentally not at all controversial amongst Syrians), which I hope will add some perspective absent from our main media reporting, as well as challenging the ‘expert commentary’ that helps to sell the false narratives to Australians.

with best wishes, and many thanks,

David.

PS  I have one last request, that you might help to publicise Ms Beeley’s interview amongst your colleagues or even with the ABC.   AMRIS is currently compiling a complaint to the ABC about its reporting and bias on presentation of the Syrian conflict, and part of the problem we face is in getting them to consider viewpoints and facts which have no ‘official sanction’. While Vanessa’s views might be contentious, the many factual statements she makes are quite incontrovertible – or at least need substantive and credible disproof.