Saturday Homs, Syria Terrorist Attack

by Stephen Lendman

On Saturday, multiple suicide bombings killed dozens, injured many others in Homs, Syria during peace talks in Geneva with anti-government terrorist groups. Al-Nusra claimed responsibility, along with ISIS excluded from talks.

Head of Syria's delegation in Geneva Bashar al-Jaafari said any Geneva participant failing to condemn Saturday's attacks will be considered "accomplice(s) of terrorism, and we will deal with them accordingly."

"(W)hat happened (was) a terrorist message…cast(ing) a shadow over Geneva…(not) just a military terrorist act, but also a political" one."

"(T)his is the main reason that drives us to having the (issue) of fighting terrorism as a priority in our agenda for the Geneva talks."

ISIS, Al-Nusra and their foreign sponsors want peace talks derailed, he stressed. The Homs bombings and similar incidents are "message(s) to Geneva from the patrons of terrorism."

"We say to everybody 'the message has been delivered,' and that this crime will not go unnoticed."

Geneva talks are in recess until Tuesday. It's unclear if anything was accomplished since beginning on February 23. It's doubtful any significant breakthroughs will be achieved.

So-called Saudi cobbled together High Negotiations Committee (HNC) members are terrorists, wanting Assad toppled, expressing hostility toward Iran.

Its delegation head Naser al-Hariri lied, claiming HNC delegates "condemn terrorism," ignoring their support for imported death squads still actively committing gruesome atrocities.

Trump's position on Syria is unclear. The State Department isn't involved in Geneva talks, nor preceding ones in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Washington co-sponsored a Security Council Resolution on Syria, yet to be introduced, Russia promising a veto, falsely accusing Damascus of using chemical weapons, wanting tough new sanctions imposed.

Trump's UN ambassador Nikki Haley asked "(h)ow much longer is Russia going to continue to babysit and make excuses for the Syrian regime? People died because of this and the United States isn't going to be quiet about it."

Trump is letting hawks like Haley and other administration officials speak for him on foreign policy. 

It's time for him to address it directly - on Syria, Ukraine, China, Iran, cooperation with Russia in combating terrorism or lack of it, along with other major geopolitical issues.

On February 28, he'll deliver his first State of the Union address before a joint congressional session, attended by cabinet and diplomatic corp members, Supreme Court justices, the Joint Chiefs and invited guests.

Last August on the stump, he discussed foreign policy, vowing to "defeat radical Islamic terrorism" - without explaining its US creation and support at least since the 1980s in Afghanistan against Soviet Russia.

Will he use Tuesday's SOTU address to explain where he stands as president on all key geopolitical issues?

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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