‘US policy shift on Syria meant to mask defeat’

Press TV has conducted an interview with Derek Ford, scholar and professor in New York to discuss ​the latest US policy on Syria.

Professor Ford believes the situation in the Middle East and especially in Syria has pushed the United States to shift its alliances in the strategic region.

“The US is trying to grapple with very rapidly shifting sands in terms of the total destabilization in the region brought about by US occupation and US intervention and particularly funding and arming of the Syrian rebels, but the situation is becoming so dire that the US is attempting to shift the alliances to create a situation that would provide some stability to the region,” Ford told Press TV on Monday.

His comments come after US Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that launching negotiations with the Syrian leader would be inevitable, if a settlement is to emerge from the conflict in Syria.

Professor Ford said, “Kerry’s remarks… may be a slip of the tongue and backtrack. The Syrian government and [President Bashar al-]Assad are handling this entire nation that represents a profound misunderstanding of the Syrian state.”

“The US objective is to overthrow the Syrian government and to install a client regime in the state, … that prospect is becoming increasingly unattainable,” he said, noting that “the United States is trying to navigate rhetorically a way out of this crisis that they have created and they would not appear as a complete defeat.”

The US scholar went on to say that the US is also aware of the crucial role of Iran in the region and especially in Syria.

“I think that’s a crucial piece here that these remarks come of course as the United States is trying to establish some favorable relationship with Iran precisely, because it is Iranian military advisers they are collaborating with different militias and different militaries in the region to fight ISIL and actually establish some stability in the region,” he said.

“So the US doesn’t want to appear they have completely been defeated. This tendency to early separation of Assad from the Syrian government, I think it’s largely rhetorical in an effort to appear that the US is not being defeated.”

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fueled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 215,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.

Over 7.2 million Syrians have reportedly become internally displaced due to the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Source-Press TV