West seeks to spread war in Syria: British journalist

The West and its regional allies seek to spread the conflict in Syria by aiding the militants operating in the country and refusing to facilitate a political resolution of the conflict, says a British journalist.
“If they were genuinely interested in saving lives …[,] western leaders would be using their leverage with the rebels’ regional sponsors to negotiate a political settlement,” Seumas Milne wrote in an article in the Guardian on Tuesday.

The British journalist further said the US, Britain, France and their regional allies, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan, are funding the militants in Syria.

“Airlifts of arms to the Syrian rebels, coordinated by the CIA, have increased sharply in recent months to become what one former US official calls a ‘cataract of weaponry’. British and American forces are training rebel fighters in Jordan. The worth of US aid to the Syrian opposition has doubled to $250m, while the EU has now lifted its oil embargo to allow exports from rebel-held areas.”

“The result will certainly be to ratchet up the death toll and spread the war,” Milne added.

He further pointed to the recent Israeli acts of aggression against Syria and said, “Israel is clearly intervening in the war” in Syria.

On May 5, Syria said the Israeli regime had carried out an air attack targeting a research center in a suburb of Damascus, following the heavy losses of al-Qaeda-affiliated groups inflicted by the Syrian army. According to Syrian media reports, Israeli rockets struck the Jamraya research center. The Jamraya facility had been targeted by another Israeli airstrike in January.

Milne described the Israeli airstrike on Syria as “unprovoked and illegal,” which was supported by “the US and British governments.”

The British journalist also pointed to the fact that the US and other Western governments as well as Israel are “making common cause with al-Qaida.”

In an interview with Press TV, Dr. Kevin Barrett, an American political analyst earlier shed light on the relations between the Israeli regime and the al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria.

According to the political analyst, Israel, working with groups such as the terrorist al-Nusra Front, has crafted the current war on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to spread instability in the region.

The al-Nusra Front, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, has been behind many of the deadly bombings targeting both civilians and government institutions across Syria since the beginning of violence in March 2011.