Assad demands Syrian approval for US attacks on Islamic State in Syria

Ali Haidar, a Syrian government minister, warned that any action in Syria such as the bombing contemplated by president Obama against the Islamic State needs the approval of the Syrian government.

Al Haidar said:"Any action of any type without the approval of Syrian government is an aggression against Syria. There must be cooperation with Syria and coordination with Syria and there must be a Syrian approval of any action whether it is military or not." Haidar said that attacks on the Islamic State in Syria could be used as a pretext for attacking Syria. The US and its allies have refused to ask for approval of the Syrian government to mount any actions against the Islamic State in Syria. The US and many of its allies recognize the western-sponsored Syrian National Council as the legitimate voice of the Syrian people. Beyond the Free Syrian Army few rebel groups recognize the Council including the main rebel umbrella group the Islamic Front. 

 Wherever the US thinks it interests are threatened or its allies endangered it claims that it has the right to intervene militarily. You can imagine the howls of rage from the west if Russia openly started bombing Ukrainian units advancing against pro-Russian rebels on the grounds that the attacks were a threat to its interest and to its allies. Maybe they could even suggest that they had a responsibility to protect civilians in rebel-controlled cities from the Ukrainian shelling. 

 The US has decided at the same time that it will be bombing the Islamic State in Syria it will bolster support for moderate rebels. US involvement so far has been from "operations rooms" in Jordan and Turkey run by US intelligence officials. They have provided limited amounts of light arms, ammunition, and some antitank missiles to groups they have vetted. So far this has not resulted in any great advances for rebel groups or stopped the Islamic State advances.

 US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf claimed that military action by the US in Syria would be aimed only at the Islamic State and not Assad. She added that there could not be a military solution to removing Assad from power but it had to be done by a political transition. At the same time however the US intends to spend more on arms and training for the rebels.

 Staffan de Mistura, UN-appointed mediator said that it was necessary for the international community to take action against radical militant groups in Syria since they were a threat to everyone. However not everyone sees the issue this way including many of the other rebels against Assad. Syria has said that it would work with Mistura. The mediator said: "Syrians, wherever they are, and the government should be helped by the United Nations and the international community to find a Syrian-owned all-inclusive, positive, political process." 

Even some rebel leaders who are in favor of fighting ISIS gave first priority to the fight against Assad. Ziad Obeid leader of a rebel group in Aleppo said: “The priority is the regime. But it is ISIS that is preventing any progress on the ground, so we have to get rid of it, too...People on the fronts with the regime can’t leave to fight ISIS,That won’t work.” The western-backed Free Syrian Army are now a much-reduced force in comparison with the Islamic Front umbrella group. Even the moderates fight along with radical jihadists such as the Jabhat al-Nusra Front linked to Al Qaeda.  

Aron Lund who blogs for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace writes: “You are not going to find this neat, clean, secular rebel group that respects human rights and that is waiting and ready because they don’t exist, It is a very dirty war and you have to deal with what is on offer.” A commander linked to an FSA group on the Lebanese border, Bassel Idriss, went even further to suggest that at times, the rebels should form tactical alliances with ISIS against Assad:“We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in ... Qalamoun. " Another FSA commander from the town of Arsal, Abu Khaled took a similar view: "We have reached a point where we have to collaborate with anyone against unfairness and injustice. Let’s face it: The Nusra Front is the biggest power present right now in Qalamoun and we as FSA would collaborate on any mission they launch as long as it coincides with our values.” Idriss noted that many former FSA members were joining ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front because the groups had food, funding and weapons. 

Many FSA fighters are refugees in Lebanon and often receive poor treatment causing them to turn to radical groups. The result of the US providing arms and training to "moderate rebels" and at the same time weakening the Islamic State through bombing may be the growth of other radical Islamic rebel forces such as the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. It would not be the first time US policies have actually helped jihadists. After all there are good jihadists such as those who fought against the Evil Empire in Afghanistan and bad ones such as the Islamic Front or so the western narrative seems to go.