Alwaght- Recently, the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters and Russian air force, scored successive victories in the west of the war-torn country. However, Western media has purposefully imposed a blackout on the news as part of psychological warfare.
Admitting that the Syrian government and its allies are gaining ground in the war against terrorism and succeeding where the US-led coalition has failed—some claim it is an intentional one—would pit the West back to square one when it comes to the war on Syria. It basically means that Syria can fight terrorist groups without Western “help.”
To save face, and prevent the reality from spreading, politically-motivated media outlets are overlooking these triumphs.
Last week, the Syrian army and its allies carried out a major offensive to cut off militants’ supply lines between the city of Aleppo and Turkey as well as in the Latakiya province. Under consistent Russian bombing and Syrian army ground operations backed by Hezbollah, extremists’ strongholds in western Syria are shaking. They succeeded in breaking the siege off the Shiite villages of Nubbul and al-Zahraa. This was the latest significant breakthrough for the Syrian army. Yet it has not received the media attention it deserves, the attention which would have been overflowing were it the Takfiri terrorists who made the advances.
Not only has Western media discounted the massiveness of these events, but it has also shown bias toward the significance of these victories. Headlines such as “The Syrian government launches major offensive, forcing the peace talks to falter;” and: “Syria conflict Aleppo offensive threatens peace talks;” are aimed at casting a negative air over the accomplishments as diplomats try to buy more time for their terrorist groups at the negotiating table in Geneva.
In an article on CounterPunch, 2016, Mike Whitney writes: “What Americans are not reading in the western media is that, after months of slow but steady progress, the Russian-led coalition (Syrian Arab Army, Iranian Quds Forces, and Hezbollah) has broken through the sluice-gate and is advancing on all fronts while enemy positions are crumbling.”
When Russia joined the fight against ISIS and its likes, Western media made a bid that it would get irrevocably stuck in a quagmire. Just months since then, Russia has proven them wrong much to their disappointment.
Whitney adds: “The momentum has shifted in favor of Assad’s forces which now clearly have the upper hand. What the western media characterizes as a “quagmire” has all the makings of a stunning victory for the Russian-led coalition that is gradually reestablishing security across Syria while sending the invaders running for cover.”
Convincingly, the western media’s handling of Damascus’s military achievements reflects political fears that the public would see how, without the US-led coalition, Syria is making advances against terrorists. This would mean the “number 1 army in the world” has failed to do what the Russians and Syrians have been able to do in a much shorter period of time.
It is fair to conclude that the media outlets’ reactions to the Russian intervention and the Syrian army’s military progress—which include blackouts, accusations of murder and diverting a political solution—mirrors an underlying realization among Western powers; that they are gradually losing grip on Syria’s war as their proxies are besieged beyond escape. The only way out they have in sight is through propaganda—the tool of psychological war.
