Australian military involvement in Syria must be resisted

Apart from its illegality under international law, any Australian military involvement in Syria at this stage, even to fight Da’esh, would be both illegitimate and foolish. It is past time that Australia changed its stance on refusing to recognise the legitimately elected government of Syria, and started to support Syria’s fight against the legions of foreign-backed terrorists, including Da’esh – a fight in which the Syrian army has already lost more than 100,000 soldiers, but which it is determined to win.

Dear Tanya Plibersek,

I wrote to you on the 17th of June to notify you of a letter I sent to Julie Bishop through my local MP Cathy McGowan, regarding Australia’s stance on the Syrian conflict. Following news this morning of a reconsideration of Australia’s support for the US coalition against Da’esh by some in the government, I was encouraged to hear your response as expressed to Fran Kelly on RN, and so am resending my submission on this for your consideration.

I will copy my email from June here fyi:

Dear Tanya Plibersek,

Yesterday I wrote to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop challenging the Australian governments position on the Syrian conflict, and particularly on culpability for the use of Chemical Weapons.

I am specially concerned by the recent all out assault on NW Syria by thousands of takfiris brought across the border by Turkey in a plan coordinated with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to overthrow Syria’s legitimate government. Not only has this illegal and lethal assault received little attention from Australian media, but it is implicitly supported by Australia through our operation with the US-led coalition, purportedly fighting Da’ish/Islamic State.

Even though Australian forces are currently limiting operations to Iraq, it is inevitable that this will extend to involvement in Syria as the conflict continues to worsen, unless action is taken now against Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to immediately cut supply routes to all the terrorist groups operating in Syria.

It is vital that the Australian parliament should examine Australia’s role in the Syrian conflict and make a decision on exactly who we should support based on the facts rather than the shallow and partisan allegations of Opposition activist groups and politically aligned Western media organisations, including our own.

There must come a point where the ‘automatic bipartisan support on National Security matters’ is challenged; this government’s behaviour in multiple foreign conflicts now constitutes the greater threat to our national security.

I attach my letter to Minister Bishop, which includes links to supportive references.

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The situation has of course changed significantly since June, but in two contradictory ways. Firstly the Turkish government has started to ‘cooperate’ with the US in the fight ‘against ISIS’ by allowing the use of Incirlik base to launch airstrikes in Syria, and with talk of creating an ‘ISIS free zone’ in NW Syria. Turkey has no interest in fighting the group which it has actively been supporting for the last couple of years in its fight against the Syrian government, and rather has used this ‘cooperation’ as a way of attacking the PKK and YPG, which are its real opponents.

Despite this completely illegal incursion into Syrian territory, as well as claims by the US that it will not target the Syrian Arab Army, the possible escalation of the ‘civil war’ in Syria is cause for extreme concern.

Besides this development, the last few weeks has seen the most significant Russian diplomacy in the region bring together the Syrian and Saudi security chiefs in Riyadh with a view to jointly fighting all the terrorist groups in Syria, including the Al Nusra forces that the KSA and Turkey have been supporting. While the Saudis are currently refusing to accept the Russian proposal, and position that the Syrian government of President Assad is non-negotiable, Russia’s diplomacy is clearly backed by formidable forces, including support from Iran and China.

Russia has also made its position quite clear to the US through John Kerry, and even though the US continues to say that ‘Assad must go’, the indication are that the US will finally admit that its project for regime change in Syria has failed.

So apart from its illegality under international law, any Australian military involvement in Syria at this stage, even to fight Da’esh, would be both illegitimate and foolish. It is passed time that Australia changed its stance on refusing to recognise the legitimately elected government of Syria, and started to support Syria’s fight against the legions of foreign-backed terrorists, including Da’esh – a fight in which the Syrian army has already lost more than 100,000 soldiers, but which it is determined to win.

I urge the Labor party to make a stand on this issue, as well as demanding that any further commitment of Australian forces in foreign conflicts must be debated and decided by parliament.

I will follow up this letter with a phone call, and look forward to your response.

kind regards, David Macilwain, Sandy Creek, Victoria.