China is not falling for America's "devious plan" to topple Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad under the guise of an anti-terror campaign against the Islamic State, the Beijing-based Sina Military Network says in a bombastic editorial.
The editorial was released three days after the US carried out a new round of airstrikes in Syria on Tuesday against the brutal jihadist group also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in partnership with a coalition of Arab nations. The attacks were made in support of the Syrian opposition, which remains engaged in a bitter civil war with the government led by Assad.
The Sina editorial said that though the airstrikes were carried out under the auspices of an anti-terrorism campaign, it is obvious that Washington's ultimate aim after forcing ISIS out of Syria is to topple Assad's regime.
The editorial added that Russian president Vladimir Putin was effectively calling out US president Obama on the strategy when he made a call to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon last week to say that the US-led strikes should not have been carried out without the consent of the Syrian government.
Read the full story at Want China Times