Over the last couple of days you've probably heard a lot about Syria, the news bombarding us with headlines stating Assad has used chemical weapons on his own people... And now the US, UK and France have teamed up to bomb Syria to teach Syria not to bomb their people... where is the logic?
The truth is Assad hasn't bombed his own people, but that's hard to believe if you watch mainsteam news, Russia claims the chemical attack in Douma was staged by Britain, but as the is no clear evidence, and since then the US has been bombing Syria.
But there is another side that not a lot of people have heard of, and that is the oil/gas side. There has been tension between Europe/Us and Russia, with the 2016 election, the chemical poison attack in England...
Europe doesn't like being so reliant on Russia when it comes to fuel and it wants to reduce it's demand, and this move has been supported by the US.
Russia is on of Europe's largest suppliers of energy, in 2013 it accounted for 39% of its natural gas imports. And has a history of cutting off supply to countries during conflict. That's where much of Russia's power comes from, transporting gas to Europe cheaply. But now many countries are looking to go around Russia and provide new sources of gas to Europe.
This is where the conflict in Syria appears, before the Civil War, two pipelines were put forward by Qatar and Iran aimed to transport gas to Europe through Syria.
Qatar's plans were first put forward in 2009 and involved building a pipeline from the Persian Gulf via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. This plan was aimed to provide cheaper access to Europe but this plan was pushed back when Syrian president Assad refused to give permission for the pipeline to go through his territory. It is believed that Putin, Russia's president pressured him to reject the pipeline to safeguard its own business.
The other pipeline plan was put forward by Iran, which owns a smaller share of the Persian Gulf gas field, planned a $10 billion pipeline to Europe via Iraq and Syria and then under the Mediterranean Sea. These plans apparently had Russia's blessing, some speculate because, unlike Qatar, Iran didn't have a US air base.
Assad signed the Iran plan 2012 and was due to be finished in 2016 but because of the Arab Spring and Civil War it has been delayed.
Many countries that support Assad were involved in the plan for the Iran pipeline, that's why he approved it, they also supplied Syria with weapons and troops, contrary to the Qatar pipeline that was called off, that was supported by people who oppose Assad's regime.
Qatar the failed pipeline bidder is believed to have funded anti-Assad rebel groups by $3 billion between 2011 and 2013, Saudi Arabia has also been accused of funding the terrorist group.
Even Major Rob Taylor, an instructor at the US Army's Command and General Staff College wrote in 2014 in the Armed Forces Journal that the rival pipelines could be influencing the conflict in Syria, he stated "Viewed through a geopolitical and economic lens, the conflict in Syria is not a civil war, but the result of a larger international players positioning themselves on the geopolitical chessboard in preparation for the opening of the pipeline"
Just as the 2003 Iraq War has been linked to oil in the Persian Gulf, Syria may turn out to be all about gas.
One of the countries that want to get rid of Assad is Turkey. Erdogan, Turkeys president has been vocal in calling for Assad to step down and has also been accused of helping Islamic State, but why does Turkey care? quite simple because as they support US and Europe to get rid of Assad, if they do Turkey is a key country as it connects Europe and Asia, so they would benefit from transit fees and other energy-generated revenues as it's the best option for facilitating the movement of gas supplies from the Middle East to Europe. And with US support it could ensure that all gas suppliers in the Middle East could freely export their product. And as I stated before, Europe are trying to free their dependence from Russia so if Qatar could install the pipeline running through Syria and Turkey it would be another hit to Russia.
What's your opinion on the Syria conflict? Feel free to leave your opinion below.