Socialist Appeal
The Marxist voice of Labour and youth
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.
Day after day the public in the West is submitted to a constant barrage of horror stories emanating from Syria. Such scenes are used by those who are experts in the business of shaping public opinion according to certain interests. Alan Woods explains that it is the duty of Marxists to cut across the fog of propaganda, to expose its cynical nature and to lay bare the real interests that lie behind it.