The west’s tone towards Russia’s intervention in Syria is changing as Russia’s coalition proposals seem as close as ever
Since Russia began its operations in Syria on September 30th it has launched over 2000 sorties, striking over 4000 targets. After a formal request from president Bashar Al-Assad, Russia began its mission in Syria targeting terrorist positions and infrastructure. Western media scorned Russia for its actions and continued to do so.
There has been a long campaign against Russia in Western media outlets some argue it has carried on long after after the end of the Cold War. The Syrian situation is no different, we seen a ramping up of propaganda against Russia when air strikes were launched. Media outlets ran with the story from Washington that Russia were not only targeting the Islamic state but also targeting so called “moderate” fighters.
President Putin had asked the U.S. to supply targets if the U.S. believed that Russia was hitting the wrong targets. He believed that the U.S. were deliberately ignoring requests to provide targets, but the mainstream media outlets largely failed to report this or incorporate it into their set narrative.
Russia’s air strikes have lifted the veil on U.S. involvement in Syria and its sheer unwillingness to hit Islamic State with a decisive blow. In recent developments it was confirmed that the Metro Jet airliner which was brought down over Egypt’s Sinai was indeed brought down by an explosion on board. Soon after this conformation Russia turned up the heat on ISIS hitting targets across Syria, including up to 500 ISIS fuel tankers destined for Iraq.
Russia’s president at the G20 supplied evidence and information on financiers of the Islamic State, some of those financiers having been some of the G20 members themselves. These revelations and developments along with a coordinated and effective strategy against the Islamic State has made the news outlets in the west change their tune on Russia’s air strikes.
In the days after the deadly Paris attacks which seen over 129 people murdered in cold blood by ISIS, France began coordinating its efforts with Russia. Now more than ever Russia’s proposals for a joint international effort to tackle the Islamic State seems even more likely than it was before the attacks in Paris and the confirmation of the downing of the Russian passenger plane.
Gerard Dinnen
SouthFront