Socialist Appeal - International Marxist Tendency
Marxism. Socialism. Revolution.
For the last month the Gulf state of Qatar has been blockaded by its neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, who along with Egypt have severed all diplomatic ties with the country. These events have opened up a crisis situation in the Gulf region, which is being viewed with trepidation by the major powers on the world stage.
The defeat of Isis is imminent: their last pocket in Mosul is about to be wiped out, Raqqa is being encircled and even Deir ez-Zor is under pressure. As Niklas Albin Svensson discusses, however, the end of Isis in Iraq and Syria has begun a struggle amongst the imperialists and the various regional powers to carve out spheres of influence in the aftermath.
Last week, under orders from President Trump, the US navy launched a series of missile attacks on the Al Shayrat airbase in the central governorate of Homs in Syria. This attack was said to be in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. Once again, however, we see the reeking hypocrisy of the imperialists on display.
The recapture of Aleppo by loyalist forces in December, represents a decisive milestone in the Syrian civil war, as well as for the crisis in the whole region. But, as Hamid Alizadeh discusses, it also has wide ranging consequences for world relations in the coming period.
After four years of bloody war of attrition, Aleppo has fallen. For the rebels and their foreign backers this represents a humiliating blow which will have major consequences internationally and domestically. Hamid Alizadeh looks at the stinking hypocrisy of Western imperialism regarding the tragedy of Aleppo.