In a further sign that the endgame of the Syrian war is upon us, the Russians are now accusing the US of not doing enough to finish the job.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it was convinced the US was deliberately reduced their attacking power now that Syrian forces have started to retake Deir al-Zor Province, the last battleground.
Russian Major-General Igor Konashenkov: “Everyone sees that the U.S.-led coalition is pretending to fight Islamic State, above all in Iraq, but continuing to allegedly fight Islamic State in Syria actively for some reason.”
The Russian army in fact accuses the US of allowing militants to move in from the Iraqi border into areas of Deir al-Zor digging in on the left bank of the River Euphrates.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Footage of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Russia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Russia</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/mod_russia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mod_russia</a> launching new strikes on terrorist targets in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Syria?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Syria</a> from Black Sea Fleet subs. <a href="https://t.co/cC8IBA0nwD">pic.twitter.com/cC8IBA0nwD</a></p>— Maxim A. Suchkov (@MSuchkov_ALM) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSuchkov_ALM/status/916680329280282624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Konashenkov asked: “The actions of the Pentagon and the coalition demand an explanation. Is their change of tack a desire to complicate as much as they can the Syrian army’s operation, backed by the Russian air force, to take back Syrian territory to the east of the Euphrates?”
“Or is it an artful move to drive Islamic State terrorists out of Iraq by forcing them into Syria and into the path of the Russian air force’s pinpoint bombing?”
This comment should come as no surprise if you take into account that the final hand is about to be played in the Syrian political poker game. Mr. Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian President who the US at a certain point aimed to topple, is simply waiting for the Russian backed Syrian army to retake this last strategic zone so he can declare victory over his country again.
The SDF backed US forces may be controlling a part of Syria, the political force still lies in Damascus of course.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was visited by Saudi King Salman just last week, and you can be sure that the Syrian situation will have been discussed.
At this moment, there is no official response from the Pentagon to Russia’s comments.
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Putin just wants a sweet water port for his fleet.