Syrian government is in Washington's crosshairs

© SANA

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

An American antiwar activist says the United States wants to eliminate independent governments in the Middle East and at present the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in its crosshairs.

Joe Losbaker, a leader of the United National Antiwar Committee, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Tuesday while commenting on the US agenda behind its ongoing offensive against the ISIL terrorist group, which is operating in Iraq and Syria.

"The US has said since the very first days of the War on Terror that its goal is to eliminate governments in the region that challenge US hegemony. And that isn't just Syria, but Syria is in the crosshairs right now," Losbaker said.

"The US has made it clear that they don't want an independent Syria. They don't want an independent Iran, and for that matter, they want the Palestinian people and the Lebanese resistance to accept their domination at the hands of Israel. These are the long-term objectives that the US has," he added.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.

US warplanes have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq since early August. Some Western states have also participated in some of the strikes in Iraq.

Since late September, the US and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

The US Central Command said in a statement on Thursday that US fighter jets have carried out the overwhelming majority of the airstrikes so far.

The Pentagon also plans to train and arm 5,000 militants in Syria as part of the Obama administration's long-term strategy to confront ISIL.

Some analysts have long maintained that the United States and its allies have seized on the ISIL threat to target the Syrian government. The US and its allies have been accused of funding and arming the insurgency in Syria.

Alan Sabrosky, a US Marine Corps veteran, has said that the United States' airstrikes in Syria often target militants with "no military value" and actually aim at the country's infrastructure.