The
Syrian people are suffering under the ‘moderate rebels’ and
‘opposition forces’ backed by the US, NATO member states and
their allies in the Gulf states and Israel. Yet their suffering is
largely ignored in the mainstream media unless it furthers the agenda
dictated by the State Department.
This
article is the first in a two-part series of one Western journalist’s
journey to Aleppo, a city ravaged by an insurgency supported by the
United States, NATO member states, and their allies in the Gulf
states and Israel. In Part I, Vanessa Beeley lays out the mainstream
narrative on Syria, revealing a neoconservative agenda promoted by
NATO-funded NGOs. These NGOs paint the destruction of the historic
city as being caused by the Syrian government under Bashar Assad, not
the violent armed insurgents which receive arms, funding and training
from Western governments and their allies.
Aleppo
has become synonymous with destruction and “Syrian state-generated”
violence among those whose perception of the situation in the
war-torn nation is contained within the prism of mainstream media
narratives.
The
NATO-aligned media maintains a tight grip on information coming out
of this beleaguered city, ensuring that whatever comes out is
tailored to meet State Department requirements and advocacy for
regime change. The propaganda mill churns out familiar tales of
chemical weapons, siege, starvation and bombs targeting civilians–all
of which are attributed to the Syrian government and military, with
little variation on this theme.
The
purpose of this photo essay and my journey to Aleppo on Aug. 14 was
to discover for myself as a Western journalist the truth behind the
major storylines in the U.S. and NATO narrative on Syria.
Humanitarian
disaster and siege
In informing
the Western world that the Syrian government under President Bashar
Assad is responsible for the siege of Aleppo, the Western media is
selling the public a humanitarian war. “Syria’s rebels unite to
break Assad’s siege of Aleppo,” according to a headline in the
Guardian on Aug. 6.
This
particular article actually celebrates the use of suicide bombers in
the “rebel” capture of the SAA military academy in southern
Aleppo. It describes the area as “the heart of Aleppo,” but
that’s a very misleading term which suggests “rebels” have
broken into the depths of the government-held western Aleppo. It’s
an untruth that becomes a truth in the minds of a public which relies
upon a “respected” media outlet to provide them with insights
into the Syrian conflict.
These
articles often do not mention the humanitarian corridors established
by the Syrian state and Russia, or the amnesty deals being offered to
the “armed opposition” fighting in Aleppo. When these subjects
are mentioned, though, it is in passing or with a negative slant that
undermines the very real efforts toward reconciliation being made by
the Syrian state. The ministry of national reconciliation is headed
up by Dr. Ali Haider, a member of the genuine, nonviolent Syrian
opposition, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
On July 27,
the Syrian Arab News Agency reported:
“The
General Command of the Army and Armed Forces has been sending text
messages calling on the militants in the eastern part of Aleppo city
to lay down arms and seek a settlement of their legal status, and
urging citizens to join national reconciliations and expel foreign
militants from their localities.”
Nor does the
media mention that the United States and European Union are imposing
crippling economic sanctions on Syria, while also actively pouring in
thousands of weapons and millions of dollars in funding to the
360,000 foreign mercenaries committing human rights abuses throughout
Syria.
Aleppo is,
indeed, under siege, but that siege is being imposed by the “moderate
opposition” groups on civilians in western Aleppo and those living
under a terrorist occupation in eastern Aleppo. Humanitarian convoys
heading into western Aleppo are forced to pass through high-risk
areas occupied by the Nusra Front and the myriad other terrorist
groups operating there.
In August
2015, I shared a report from a resident of Aleppo on my blog. It
reads, in part:
“I
feel nothing but rage when I see these thugs and criminals on the
other side of the city pouring thousands of litres of clean, fresh
water into the disease infested river under the noses of the thirsty
Syrians they are claiming to liberate. They are the terrorists, they
are the monsters in this story and they are committing daily mass
crimes against the citizens of Aleppo but this is never mentioned by
the western media. Are we not Syrian? Does our plight mean nothing,
does our story not count? This is Aleppo, the real Aleppo, not the
western media fantasy, this is our sleeping, waking, perpetual
nightmare of life under terrorist occupation.”
As Dr.
Bashar Al-Jaafari, Syria’s permanent representative to the United
Nations, told the U.N. Security Council in January: “The true
siege is on 23 million Syrians and it is being inflicted upon them by
the U.S., U.K. and EU government sanctions.”
Along with
the U.S.-led coalition’s bombing raids that have targeted power
plants and other essential infrastructure, these sanctions have
decimated the civilian health and education sectors in Syria. If
Syrians are starving or unable to receive treatment for severe
injuries or chronic illnesses, it is because NATO is imposing a war
upon them, introducing mercenary fighters who are paid to murder and
drive Syrians from their homes, and blocking supplies and equipment
from reaching hospitals and schools.
Of course,
all of these topics are worthy of stand-alone articles. My trip to
Aleppo was curtailed slightly due to the escalation in fighting
between the SAA and various “moderate rebel” and mercenary groups
headed up by the Nusra Front. I was, however, able to glean some very
valuable information and statements that go a long way toward
discrediting the NATO-aligned media narrative.
One Syrian
man in Aleppo told me:
“Almost
everything they blame the government or the army for in the last five
years was actually carried out by the terrorists, by NATO. They are
targeting infrastructure, hospitals, kids, women. They are raping
women. They are using chemicals, chlorine, mustard gas.”
I’ve
withheld his name out of respect for his safety–a common issue in a
city that has been under a constantly evolving media and terrorist
siege since the NATO intervention gathered momentum in Syria almost
six years ago.
The
information siege has been imposed upon Aleppo by American and
European mainstream media, as well as various offshoot media funded
by the Gulf states or Turkey that rely heavily on al-Qaida as
sources. It has ensured that little real news has been able to escape
the propaganda tent erected over a city that resisted all attempts to
be drawn into the armed insurrection from the very beginning of the
dirty war on Syria.
And this
dirty war is one that had been incubating long before it officially
began in December 2011, as demonstrated by State Department cables
released by WikiLeaks, which show that plans to destabilize Syria and
overthrow the government had been forming as early as 2006.
What often
goes unreported is the punishment meted out to Aleppo’s civilian
population by the multiple brigades of terrorists armed, funded and
even trained by the United States, NATO members and their allies in
the Gulf states and Israel. The mainstream media instead scrambles to
further vilify the SAA and Assad government by any means available to
them, including the dissemination of later debunked and discredited
reports.
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