SYRIA & LEBANON

Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Syrian journalist Bashar Barazi, the correspondent for HispanTV in Damascus, about recent developments in the country. They discuss the impact of the new “Cesar sanctions” on the Syrian public, US and Turkish maneuvers within Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to the country, as well as the average Syrian’s response to efforts from Gulf countries to normalize relations with Israel. Barazi explains why he believes the US is seeking to “create a new base in Syria”. 

The senior correspondent with The Grayzone—Aaron Maté— debunks the big lie about Assad attacking his own people with chemical weapons, and the internal corruption of OPCW to force it to act as a US propaganda asset in the empire’s hybrid war against Syria. 

ELIJAH MAGNIER—In the Levant, both US and Russian forces are present in a small area, but with different goals, interests and reasons. Russia seeks the unity of Syria because it is its region of influence. Long-term stability must be established there as an example to other nations. That is not an easy goal to achieve when the US is operating in Syria, interfering with the flow of food, oil and gas in an area considered to be the resource reservoir of the entire country.

VANESSA BEELEY—Iran has come to the aid of the Syrian air-force helicopters from Hama airport that were transporting water from Sourani Dam in Tartous to limit the expansion of the fires burning in the inaccessible mountain ranges, impossible to reach with fire brigade vehicles. The risk for Iran to assist Syria in this campaign is huge. The terrorist groups are equipped with the US-manufactured ground to air missile launchers which have been used in the past to bring down Syrian aircraft. Fire-fighting planes must necessarily fly low and slow to be most effective which makes them a relatively easy target for the Al Qaeda-linked armed groups armed by the US Coalition members.

MoA—Today the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was set up to investigate the 2005 assassination of billionaire and former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri, is giving its final judgment: Judges at a U.N.-backed tribunal said Tuesday there was no evidence the leadership of the Hezbollah militant group and Syria were involved in the 2005 suicide truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.