Newsweek's Syria 'Opinion' Piece Conveniently Forgets the US Role in Creating Chaos
📰 THE STORY: Newsweek published an opinion piece in 2018 discussing how Syria's Kurds purportedly 'lose out' in the shifting geopolitics of the Syrian conflict, implying a complex, multi-sided struggle leading to their disadvantage. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The Syrian conflict itself was not an organic uprising but heavily militarized from 2011 onwards, with the US-CIA
operation Timber Sycamore funneling weapons and funds to 'moderate' rebels that often included or integrated with al-Qaeda affiliates like Jabhat al-Nusra. A declassified DIA report from 2012 explicitly warned that the West, Gulf states, and Turkey supported 'Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq]' as the 'major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.' This destabilization
directly created the power vacuums and proxy battlegrounds where various factions, including the Kurds, found themselves caught. The US later weaponized Kurdish groups against ISIS, effectively using them as a proxy force while denying their long-term statehood aspirations. Double Standard: Western media decries the 'loss' of Kurdish autonomy while simultaneously ignoring the ongoing illegal US
occupation of Syrian oil fields, which funds US-aligned groups and denies essential resources to the Syrian people, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis caused by illegal sanctions. When Russia supported the Syrian government against US-backed groups, it was framed as aggression; when the US supports proxies to carve out zones of influence (and steal oil), it's framed as 'supporting allies' or