US, allies responsible for regional conflicts: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Richard Becker, with the ANSWER Coalition San Francisco, about the military cooperation between Russia and Iran to fight terrorism in the Middle East region.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview|:

Press TV: Iran, as part of its cooperation with Russia to help out Damascus, is allowing Moscow to utilize its soil to target terrorists in Syria. Your thoughts?

Becker: Well, clearly the effects of Daesh are devastating and al-Qaeda as well. And these are right-wing terrorist organizations, which have no regard at all for human life. They have a murderous record and the fact that there is now an alliance that is fighting them very seriously is something that I think is encouraging development. No one likes to see the war. No one likes to see the bombing. We see images presented to us of the effects of airstrikes by Russia or by Syria. But we see much less in the way of the graphic images of the death and destruction and the horrors that have been inflicted on the people of Iraq and Syria and Libya and other countries by these terrorist organizations.

Press TV: And there are some regional countries that continue to fund and arm these terrorist organizations. To what extent are they willing to cause this death and destruction and civilian casualties to gain their political ends in Syria?

Becker: Well, I think you're talking about countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And Saudi Arabia is also not only providing heavy weaponry to the armed opposition inside Syria but is also waging its own brutal war and we see virtually no images of that against the people in Yemen. And while we say Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others, we have to keep in mind that it's the US and Britain who are providing the bombs, who are providing the weaponry for Saudi Arabia and providing vast quantities of other weaponry that then ends up in the hands of the armed opposition inside Syria and those bombs are the bombs that are falling on the people of Yemen.

Press TV: And how effective do you think that the Iranian and Russian contribution and cooperation with Damascus has been in the fight against the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria?

Becker: A year-and-a-half ago or several months ago, it looked like the Syrian government was losing ground. The situation has turned around. We deeply regret what has happened to Syria, what has happened to Iraq, what has happened to Libya, what has happened to Yemen. These are the products of Western intervention and the intervention by the allies of the Western big powers in these countries. But primarily the responsibility, the blame, rests with Washington.