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'Delusional': US State Dept Credits Washington With Bringing Peace to Syria

© AP Photo / Alexander KotsIn this photo taken on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, Syrian army personnel fire a cannon in Latakia province, about 12 from the border with Turkey in Syria
In this photo taken on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, Syrian army personnel fire a cannon in Latakia province, about 12 from the border with Turkey in Syria - Sputnik International
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Washington has succeeded in its efforts aimed at bringing peace and security to Syria this year, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby wrote in the agency's official blog, but reality on the ground is grimmer while the positive change could hardly be attributed to the US or the US alone.

Kirby tried to sum up America's diplomatic achievements across a range of issues, including Iran nuclear deal, Ebola and climate change, using a Twitter hashtag #2015in5words. "Bringing Peace, Security to Syria" is what he believes the US helped to achieve in the war-torn Arab country this year.

"The five words State used to describe the past year seem at the very least inappropriate and at the worst delusional," journalist David Francis observed. The US hardly brought "any significant 'peace' or 'security' to the Syrian people."

A Turkish fighter jet flies above the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey. - Sputnik International
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Specifically, Kirby credited Washington with playing a leading role in providing humanitarian aid to the Syrian people and pushing for the recently adopted UN Security Council resolution, which offers a roadmap to lasting peace in Syria.

It is hardly enough for the country devastated by nearly five years of war and torn apart by countless radical and terrorist groups. The conflict has claimed the lives of approximately 250,000 people and the death toll continues to climb.

"More than 11 million refugees have left the region, many of whom swelled onto European shores in the fall of 2015; it's not clear how many will ever get asylum in Europe, or elsewhere around the world, including in the United States," Francis detailed.

Syrian pro-government fighters guard a post in the Tal Sharba area on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 27, 2015 after they seized the area from Islamic State (IS) group jihadists - Sputnik International
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A UN report, released in March 2015, stated that four in five Syrians live beyond the poverty line, the journalist noted in an opinion piece for Foreign Policy. Words, such as peace and security, evidently do not describe Syria's current state.

"The conflict in Syria has continued to unfold in tragic ways over the course of 2015," Kirby himself acknowledged in the blog post.

Despite these trends, there are positive developments that could eventually lead to sustainable peace in the country. The UNSC resolution is one of them. Damascus' recent victories on the battlefield, made possible by Russia's counterterrorism campaign in Syria, also play crucial role in bringing stability and peace to the country.

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