I am not very familiar with Syria situation. Purely a honest question.
I am not very familiar with Syria situation. Purely a honest question.
Turkey used to smuggle Syrian oil, but today that "job" belongs to the USA.
Really? I did not know that. Have you a source?
> The Turkey-backed FSA's wages are paid for by the Turkish government, they operate alongside the Turkish Armed Forces
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_National_Army
As for their terrorist proclivities:. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/14/turkish-backed-forces-f...
To be fair though, they basically took over the CIA operations.
Arguably the only reason Syria didn't collapse like Libya/Iraq is because Russia was there to balance against US interests.
Of course, this would have isolated and aggrovated Russia further, and Assad knew that. Nevermind that Syria is within range of Russia's missiles. He also knew what became of Sadam Housein (once an ally to the US) once he was of no use to the West.
In any case, causing a civil war inside a country just to punish a leader for making calculated, reasonable choice is criminal and evil.
Russia has been supporting the secular Syrian government.