US, Saudis to target Syria’s Assad along with ISIL: Analyst

The Obama administration is renewing its push to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria with an expansion of airstrikes in the conflict-ravaged country, says an American analyst and author.

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Saudi Arabia Thursday for talks with Arab leaders on how to fight ISIL.

The trip is part of the Obama administration’s efforts to forge “a coalition of the willing” against ISIL. Saudi Arabia has agreed to an American request to provide a base to train what Washington and its allies call “moderate” elements within the Syrian insurgency.

“I think the major purpose of Secretary of State Kerry’s conversations… is directed at having [the Saudis] shift their overseas aid to another group of terrorists, mainly the so-called ‘moderates’ in Syria in order to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad government,” said James Petras, emeritus professor of sociology at Binghamton University, New York, in an interview on Thursday.

“I think the visit [by Kerry] to Saudi Arabia is a way of bringing them onboard in this new move by President Obama to directly intervene militarily not only against ISIS but particularly against the national government in Syria,” Petras emphasized.

Petras, who is the author of sixty five books, said, “The Saudis have a long history of supporting the Wahhabis and other extremist terrorist groups and I think the temp now is shift their overseas interventions in a direction that accommodates the US war now being extended to Syria.”

President Barack Obama said Wednesday the United States was prepared to expand its bombing campaign against ISIL terrorists and launch airstrikes in Syria.

"I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq," Obama said during a speech delivered from the White House. "America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat," he added.

The United States and some of its regional allies, chief among them Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been supporting militant groups in Syria to fight the government there.