The Islamists’ offensive across western Syria has accelerated substantially in the past few days, and now Reuters is reporting that the Syrian Army Command is telling officers that the era of President Bashar al-Assad’s rule has ended.
The apparent regime change is the culmination of just two weeks of offensives by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allies. HTS is run by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, and has had considerable ties to al-Qaeda.They held only a portion of the Idlib Province at the beginning, which they had held for years as the Syrian Civil War had mostly stalemated.
HTS took the major city of Aleppo in just a few days, and the Syrian Army promised a counterattack that ultimately never came. The HTS offensive continued southward, seizing Hama then, within 48 hours, taking both Homs and Damascus as well.
The current situation leaves the HTS in control of the four largest cities in Syria, along with much of the country’s southern frontier with Israel and Jordan. Celebrations have been reported in Damascus, but there is also substantial uncertainty over what is going to happen next.
Other parts of Syria remain divided, with the Kurdish SDF, backed by the US, holding the northeast. The SDF has also seized other towns and villages in recent days, as the Syrian government was unable to defend them.
Further west, along the Mediterranean coast, there is no word on who is in control of cities like Tartus. The Russian Navy, however, has reportedly withdrawn from the Tartus port.
The HTS hasn’t addressed what will happen to the port, but with numerous reports of them receiving arms from the Ukrainian government, it seems likely they will look to expel Russia on a permanent basis.
It’s not clear that the HTS offensive is actually over with the fall of Damascus either. Over the past several days it’s been reported that HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani was keen to take over not only Syria, but Lebanon as well, and had offered to allow Israel to open embassies in both Damascus and Beirut after they take them.
Turkey has been openly backing the HTS offensive, and Turkish-allied rebel factions participated in the fighting. Israel and the US have been a little less outspoken in their support of the al-Qaeda-linked HTS, but both expressed a preference for HTS over the Assad government. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said the US “won’t cry” about the ouster of Assad in favor of the al-Qaeda-aligned faction.
Still, it’s not clear a Sunni Islamist government with such strong historic ties to al-Qaeda will end up being particularly friendly to Israel in the long run. The US may also quickly find the HTS becoming an enemy once again when the faction decides to attack the SDF. HTS hostility to the Kurdish SDF is long-standing issue, and likely a big part of why the Turkish government has been supporting them.
HTS formed in early 2017 as a merger of several Islamist militant groups, centering initially around fighting Jabhat al-Nusra but ultimately merging with them. Jabhat al-Nusra was effectively the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda, though it rebranded in 2016, claiming to cut ties with al-Qaeda. Despite that, HTS maintains much of the underlying rhetoric of al-Qaeda.
Exactly what the results of this offensive will be is still unclear, even if the indications are that Assad is out. It seems unlikely that the HTS will be broadly embraced across Syria, and the Syrian Civil War may not be completed after over a decade of territory trading hands back and forth.
Al assad is out. Yes there is uncertainty. However, let's go by what is certain. The fall of Damascus has been "bloodless." The people are celebrating. Hate "Islamists" all you want. They are the future all over the Middle East. You have no idea how this affects other Arabs in the region. It is Euro-America that insists that we have to settle for either Al Assad, Sissi, King Abdallah, MBS, etc. or Al Qaeda.
Assad is dead. IMO he was murdered by the traitors that allowed this blitz to happen without nearly any resistance but the semi-official rumor is that he tried to flee to Iran and his airplane was shot down (a convenient story to hide the treachery under the rug and present him as a "coward").
The people are NOT celebrating, they are scared. These are Al Qaeda.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bSL3JqorkdU
Gen. Wesley Clark, Democracy Now! interview, 2007. Objective: take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran.
I knew why, because I had been through the Pentagon right after 9/11. About 10 days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon, and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, “Sir, you’ve got to come in and talk to me a second.” I said, “Well, you’re too busy.” He said, “No, no.” He says, “We’ve made the decision we’re going to war with Iraq.” This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, “We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?” He said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I guess they don’t know what else to do.” So I said, “Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?” He said, “No, no.” He says, “There’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq.” He said, “I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but we’ve got a good military, and we can take down governments.” And he said, “I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail.”
So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” — meaning the secretary of defense’s office — “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.” And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, “You remember that?” He said, “Sir, I didn’t show you that memo! I didn’t show it to you!”
The Zionist Plan For The Middle East By Oded Yinon Israël Shahak [ Yinon, Oded Shahak, Israël]
The plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must 1) become an imperial regional power, and 2) must effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states. Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state.
Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel's satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation.
https://archive.org/details/the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east-by-oded-yinon-israel-shahak-yinon-oded-shah/page/n2/mode/1up
Well the Evangelicals in the uSA are hoping that the Zionists win and some are praying for more slaughter.
The people? Syria was hit with sanctions and had its best areas occupied while Turkey limited water. It was squeezed to death by white people, and the new coalition embraces “diversity” of foreign occupiers who will serve Israel.
Arabs will just see their heritage erased as they become blob human “Muslims.”
Let's not give up regardless of the odds. We as the people should stand with the underdog, an American favorite. Pulling victory out of the jaws of defeat requires massive will power and patience. It's a process.
Yes Syria is occupied, and God bless the Syrian people for facilitating a bloodless overthrow under all these conditions. They have to play it smart with the big surrounding powers. Even if at this stage this current wave of resistance fails or falters there will be another waiting in the wings. Patience, patience.
In Michael Hart's The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, he ranked Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, 52nd. Umar has a famous saying: "We were a people who were lowly, and God dignified us through Islam. If we seek honor through anything else, God will humiliate us."
I don’t care what Michael Hart thinks. Anyway, I’m ethnically colonial British, a Southerner. I just hate seeing nations destroyed. This hasn’t been bloodless though.
I didn't say it because I thought you were Arab, I just assumed you were human. It is to explain how many Arabs may view themselves. This juncture has been relatively bloodless. Certainly not before and we can only hope that the future is better.
We’ll see I suppose, but it looks like Israel is already taking a bit more land.
I just want the US out. I know I don’t know about the region, and I know the US has messed up many parts of the world.
Agreed. Israel taking land while they still can't subdue Gaza is just jockeying for position and to placate israeli public and dumb US policymakers. If Syria is hurting sp is Israel.
Israel will come away stronger than ever if it can boot the Palestinians. There would no longer be as much motive for Arabs to hate Israelis then.
So, Israel is definitely suffering, absolutely at risk of dying; but it might win and become stronger.
Under takfiri islamist rule people don't get to "settle" for anything. They have the choice to submit themselves under a regime of thought control that does not limit itself to the political domain, but to all aspects of life. That's it. That are alle the choices. Any difference of opinion an anything is shirk. And that is unpardonable and deserving of death. It is not possible to plead ignorance.
It looks like Assad has finally been tossed out of power. Yet to be confirmed, but likely has happen. Good to get rid of him, he was no good.
Will whoever/whatever replaces Assad and his regime be any better?
And if so, who will they/it be better FOR?
It would be great if the answers were “yes” and “everyone” respectively, but color me doubtful, at least on the latter.
The revolt so far has been relatively bloodless. So there's that to be happy about. At least, so far. What comes next is a large question mark.
I have no crystal ball to answer questions. What I do know Assad and his "friends" are bad people. So good riddance.
So then "good to get rid of him" is premature.
Right. al Qaeda is such an upgrade. /s
There's that line again.
Love me a dictator.
What line? And do you think al Qaeda is an upgrade? So now the people will be oppressed by HTS (al Qaeda) instead of being oppressed by Assad?
Good
The Great Game continues……
This may well be the most impressive US victory since the conquest of Iraq in 2003. It may well be a decisive blow to the shattered Eurasian bloc.
You have no idea how pissed off I am at Putin and Iran.
They betrayed Syria. They sold out – for what, I have no idea except cowardice and economics.
Israel is now invading Syria as I write this. Good work Putin. I should have listened when his critics at MoA called him a tool of the Zionists.
And now there will be no assistance to Hezbollah because Iran will sell them out. And then Putin will sell out Iran. Betrayers are usually betrayed themselves in the end.
The Axis of Resistance has failed – but only because of betrayal and diplomatic cowardice.
And of course, the Palestinians are now doomed.
I wash my hands of the entire business. As far as I'm concerned from now on, it's death to everyone involved.
Have heart. It's not what you think. Time will demonstrate that. If you think the Palestinians are disheartened you are mistaken. They are welcoming the events in Syria.
Because they're brainwashed with religious nonsense. This is a massive Zionist victory by proxy.
You are saying they are a proxy Zionist force and Ahraf Nubani, who is apparently now the spokesperson for the Palestinians, is maintaining the opposite. He must certainly be right, judged by all the help they have had of these 'rebels'. This could of course be obscured by the fact that these puritanical revisionist islamists actually could not have done more to help Israel committing their genocide on Palestinians than they have done. Didn't lift a finger to assist their resistance now or ever. And so now favor for favor they are allowed to commit their own, while their Western newest best buddies look the other way.
They are a proxy US force for sure, one managed via Turkey. Not sure which Palestinians that Nubani represents (there are many factions and two competing “authorities”), all I could find was an Ashraf W. Nubani who wrote a few articles for Electronic Intifada years ago. I haven’t heard any specific name leading Hamas particularly (the strongest force) after the killing of its two historical leaders, whoever leads surely does so undercover now.
Anyway, I have indeed observed wishful thinking flip-flopping by Hizbollah, who now want to be friends with these Islamo-fascists. But IMO it’s diplomatic overtures and wishful thinking not very grounded on reality. Reality is that HTS won’t bother Israel (except maybe for some uncontrolled elements attacking UN positions, which Israel claims it actually happened) and that they, their SNA allies and even the Turkish Army itself is deploying in and near Aleppo to attack Manbij. They say that they won’t go further east but that’s of course just a pretense for the time being: Turkey’s main goal is the destruction of Kurdish-Arab democratic socialist hope altogether, and nobody cares. Once Trump is inaugurated Turkey will surely smash “the Kurds” (and all their Arab, etc. allies) and the USA will just pull out and leave them to survive on their own.
You have to understand that the whole anti-Baath operation since 2012 has been a joint US-Israel-Turkey one and this is the culmination of it. All the rest is daydreaming.
Syria is now part of the US/Israeli empire. The same empire that slaughtered Palestinians.
Richard Medhurst @richimedhurst
The war in Syria has very little to do with "democracy"
Nov 30
Syria is not some remote island in the Pacific. Pull out a map and open your eyes. We're talking about the key to the Middle East. The supply route to Lebanon. The crossroads of Africa, Europe and Asia. The Silk Road's gateway to the Mediterranean. The nation that Sykes Picot balkanized into smaller pieces, to divide and conquer on sectarian lines. The Cradle of Civilization. The only Arab state actor still behind Palestine.
Spare us the neocon drivel about freedom and look at the bigger picture.
The Americans and half their allies don't try to coup someone because they give a crap about human rights. It was always about controlling the most important region in the world, its resources, and protecting US-Zionist interests.
Sadly, I have to agree with you. So I woke up this morning – now 5:30AM Pacific time – and was hit with the news Israel, the US celebrating the developments.
How in a just universe can this happen? Genocide, bombing everything to hell is called strength, peace and is celebrated? so far I am disgusted. In the US both parties look for world domination, they are just fighting within which side wants to do it more.
Israel is not "invading Syria": they just had a skirmish. They would not be able to invade anything, as they have failed to even take control of Gaza Strip. Israel is extremely weak now and this will surely help them, because it is a US protectorate via Turkey (which is best friend of Israel, even if they pretend otherwise).
Otherwise I agree that Russia and Iran have shown to be weak and naive… and thus the Iranian embassy has been looted by the pro-Turkish fascists already. Worst is that they don't seem to understand or learn anything and are still trying to pretend that this massive US imperialist victory fits their agenda.
Back channel deal?
Syria for Ukraine?
If you’re talking about a back channel deal between the US and Russian regimes, that would be a very bad deal for Russia, since the Syrian regime wasn’t able to survive without additional Russian aid but the Ukrainian regime will continue to survive indefinitely even if US aid goes away entirely.
The Ukrainian regime is propped up by US aid. We pay for everything: govt, pensions, day to day.
The Ukrainian regime is propped up by aid from a number of countries.
Not all of that aid will be going away (if any does, which is possible but not that likely).
If all the international aid went away, the Kyiv regime might indeed fall, which would probably encourage the Russian regime to spend another 10-20 years unsuccessfully trying to pacify Kherson and Zaporzhzhia before slinking home in defeat.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you. The writing was really on the wall when Iran shifted the goalposts from defending Palestinians from genocide to an 18th century gentleman's pistol duel in which we aim in each other's general direction and miss and shake on it.
Aside from perhaps some Iraqi and Yemeni Shia (ironically Shia and not Sunni) who'll probably also be left twisting in the wind, the Palestinians haven't a friend in the world.
This is screaming tragedy for the Levant and the world. People desperately want the simple fact buried that most Syrians were just fine with the Assad government, preferred the pluralism and religious tolerance to the alternatives, and he did win and would have won any election easily. We don't care.
Like Putin, there was general genuine preference in Syria for Assad and a status quo, ranging from enthusiastic to the best realistic deal one could hope for. As in Russia, the minority of opposing interests or parties would never have the numbers to form a majority nor would they agree with each other on basics (such as religion and religious freedom) to form any cohesive opposition that could win at the polls. When neocons can't color revolution, they bomb and terrorize a country into submission.
I am not Russian and not Syrian and its none of my business who people prefer, a simple notion to which DC control freaks are allergic. The populations of Syria and Romania have fully lost agency over a long weekend, part of the ongoing sacrifice to the hegemony of the genociders.
One of the remarkable sights when Syria held elections was Syrians living abroad – people who could not be said to be fearful of Assad for that reason, they in many cases left Syria for economic opportunity years earlier – forming long lines outside of the London and Paris embassies to vote for him. They became Syrian Arab Army and Assad rallies. Police were called in to clear the sidewalks, nakedly because this was horrible optics for the official narrative. It's important we remember that. Lord forbid anyone ask a Syrian.
I live in Europe now so I'm 6 hours ahead of the east coast, and I read Antiwar in the morning (my morning), yet every story on here has the comments section peppered with Israel/neocon/Ukronazi support before I was awake. Funny, that. It doesn't matter if I'm reading the site at 2am Eastern time, hasbara from Tel Aviv to Bangalore has been out for a walk before one can get one's boots on. The genociders are dancing a stupid little jig today.
The majority of Syrians didn't want to be ruled by a minority. Get over it. They decided. I remember when Hezbollah was popular among all…well most Syrians then they sided with a brutal dictator. It's a shame. It could have been a merging of sects to topple a tyrant whose bloodlust became unrestrained after a grade school kid spoke his mind. What a joke. And anyone who defends that has no right to speak for Syrians. They spoke for themselves. This RT offshoot can spin it any way they like but the majority took back their country. I hope it's a transition of power that will make most Syrians proud. It's too early to say. But I am glad that long necked giraffe is out of power. Also, your comment was a whole lot of uninformed nothing. You can be much more concise and still get nothing across. Easier to read.
What "minority": Syria was a secularist state! If anything it was an Arab nationalist regime and that to some extent excluded ethnic minorities like the Kurds but all Arabs were equal under the Baath system.
Lol don't be daft. An Alawite minority who ruled the country in a mafia style fashion. They comprised a tiny percentage of the country and yet had the most power, and ruled with complete disdain. Challenge them only slightly and prepare to be disappeared at best. That imbalance of power was placed there by Syria's French colonizers. It should have never come into existence and now it's gone. Good.
It’s impossible that what you said happened at all: a tiny minority cannot rule over the majority. That’s a propaganda distorsion of reality.
This is why one shouldn't argue with another who cherry picks reality based on what suits them. If you can't debunk then claim it's all fake. So you're not a historian. And since you can't believe it, it didn't happen. Got it. Well said.
I’m historian enough (I’ve researched history and prehistory all my life and that’s more than 40 years since I was old enough to learn, much more than any academic career). The question is that we can agree that, say, Mohamed existed and was a major religious and political leader, but we can’t agree in what is nowhere to be seen, what is sustained by no evidence at all: gods and whatever other “magic”.
When has a tiny minority ever NOT ruled over the majority? So far as I know, never, at least since the birth of the idea of the state.
I think he meant in the sectarian sense which is a reality for them. Of course those who "govern" over the people are a minority by virtue of their distinction from the governed. The more their aspirations align the better off that state will be internally.
Now it is replaced by US/Israeli empire rule. The same imperialist monster that slaughtered Palestinians.
Truth is the friend of peace…!
Something tells me that this cannot last. Is it the last "hurrah" for all mankind to see or is it wishful thinking on my part.
At the moment the celebrations in many quarters is disheartening.
Yes so let's discount one peoples' struggle while emphasizing another's. Because you can't have two just fights. Let's go ahead and make it as black and white as possible so all simple minds can unite in the certainty of their own assertions.
Or maybe be just a little unconventional and take a look at the real horrors Assad dealt to his own people. And after that, maybe fathom a world in which those same people would want to oust him while being sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. For me it's not that hard to fathom.
Time will tell what kind of country Syria will transition to. No amount of conjecture will validate any premature points here. I look forward to celebrating a deposed tyrant. Hopefully a dead one soon. At the same time, it is comforting to see Israel become more isolated on the world stage. May their demented leaders meet the same fate.
Mustafa, look what they did to Libya.
I recognize your concern. Although the opposition here has had 13 years to get their shit together. So far, institutions are intact. It has been relatively a peaceful overthrow. I'm not naive. There is reason to be concerned. But until I see it play out, I'm not deeming this a catastrophe just yet.
You are going to have to get used to this cognitive dissonance on this platform. They're hearts are in the right place because most champion the people and are critical of the oppressors and American empire, but they have difficulty applying the same standards to brutal dictators because those dictators serve the purpose of pricking the American empire. However, they are very depressing people who see the contradictions of their worldview, can't hold their own governments accountable (they think voting between Joe and Donald is the supreme form of government the rest of the backward world should adopt) and then lash out on Islam, tradition, modesty, etc. They want us to be miserable like them. Try to avoid it.
Personally, I’d like to see the US regime get the same treatment as Assad’s.
But Americans’ distrust of state establishment of religion isn’t unique. In stronger and weaker forms, it’s pretty much a pillar of “western” politics.
If you have time to read it and haven’t already (I think there may be free versions online), I’d be interested in your thoughts on Rose Wilder Lane’s Islam and the Discovery of Freedom.
It's not so much the distrust of state established religion, it's the need to recognize that the ME has a different experience with religion.
Thanks, I'll try to read it when I can.
Western distrust of state-established religion is a huge PART OF the difference in experience with religion.
That’s not intended as a criticism of Islam. In certain respects, quite the opposite.
The Ummah is, by definition, a “nation” that transcends any specific political regime.
The Ummah can survive terrible regional political regimes operating in its name across sections of the territory it covers precisely because Islamic religious authority, while rooted in the Quran and Hadith, resists the kind of centralization and politicization that “Christendom” suffered from and developed an ethos of “separation of church and state” to counter.
That is correct. And because historically and ongoing Islam has been experienced politically, economically, socially, etc. in different forms of governance, it doesn't profess any utopian state. Muslims believe Divine Law is perfect but its application is human. This allows the ummah to weather and suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune… (while never giving up)
It is the Russian and Iran failure in Syria what they are hurting for, not Syria. Bloggers here don't give a rat's ass about Syria. They just love dictators and today, dictators lost. Look at the people who disliked your comment. Those are the usual Putin supporters.
I hear the Syrian people in their cars honking and flying their flag right now in my city. I'm going out to have a glass of champagne and celebrate with him.
You're absolutely right, notwithstanding that the Baath regime was old and obsolete and definitely needed to change… but not in this fascist totalitarian direction, rather the opposite.
I started reading it 5:30 AM pacific time and was disgusted with the outcome and celebrations in many quarters so far.
At this point they really truly believe that Israel and the US and some nut jobs in the EU have won for world domination. some call it "peace".
then I recall something JFK said long ago that peace under the threat of guns and bombs is no real peace. I am paraphrasing.
And here it is:
“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”
Thank you for the exact quote.
Just be happy that the Syrian people are now liberated from their brutal dictator. They have their country back, whatever they do with it, it's their problem now.
Yes, the Syrians will now decide(/s). God are you gullible.
For how long? Either the extreme Islamic faction of former ISIS or AlQaedo or Israel will take over. It is not the first time that Israel and America have used ISIS to do their fighting. They even use some of them in the Ukraine and pay them well.
Most Syrians were just fine with Assad?
Are you nuts? That brutal dictator sent his army to kill his own people and destroy their cities along with Russia and Iran. Show me one city that has not not welcome the rebels. Syrians are all lined up outside cheering as rebels march through their cities.
Just like the Chinese merchants who had Rising Sun decals in their store windows when occupied by Japan, but immediately tore them off and put US decals in their windows after the war. Self-preservation at its finest.
Yeah, and I bet there were those in Kuwait cheering on Saddam when he invaded.
Show me one city that has not not welcome the rebels.” People don’t wish to be executed. They have no one to save them from your pet terrorists. “his army to kill his own people” The Syrian Arab Army was composed of Syrians. Your pet terrorists were from throughout the Islamic world.
One thing is obvious: Syrian army had no will to fight. There were some reports about staggering corruption in Syria in last years. Probably, that was the reason of collapse of Syrian army and Syrian state. Some fools are blaming Iranians and Russians. It is ridiculous to expect that Russians and Iranians would fight instead of Syrians; they can only help. The same about Hezbollah.
Just like corruption in Ukraine.
In Ukraine corruption is also staggering but the situation is different. Ukrainian top bureaucracy is bought by U.S. and is doing what they are paid for – to carry on with the war. In Syria no one from abroad paid them to defend their country. Probably, it was other way around: Syrian generals were paid not to defend their country.
More CIA backed BS.
Syria’s collapse is a loss for the Syrian people and their Iranian, Russian, and Chinese allies;
It is a reminder that while US military and industrial power wanes, it still possesses potent “superweapons” in terms of monopolizing information space, poisoning populations against their own best interests, and toppling nations;
The US strategy has been to create multiple crises for Russia along its periphery including in Syria, forcing Russia to make difficult decisions regarding where it commits limited resources;
The multipolar world must accept the reality that what is essentially World War 3 is ongoing and they will all eventually be targeted in turn;
Investment is required in securing and defending national and regional information space from US interference through the creation of local education programs producing journalists and analysts, local social media platforms to replace US-based platforms, and laws ending foreign funding of media inside targeted countries;
I believe that commanders were bought. We've seen these strange collapses happening before in Afghanistan (2020) and North Iraq (2014) and it was not just demoralization: it was outright treason.
Probably you are right, still there were reports of Syrian militaries racketing their own civilian population and other nasty things of the sort.
Yes, this is a failure on Iran and Russian part.
But you have to defend your favorite dictators.
Sorry for your loss and Glory to Ukraine.
Hate on that you fake christian.
So now Syria under Al Qaida rule is going to be a democratic and possible woke country. They're our guys now. Obedient lot these islamic terrorists. Easy to reason with. Sensitive to rational dialogue. Or is that perhaps what the 'substantial uncertainty about what is going to happen now' is about? Perhaps these takfiri's have left some ambiguities about that in the past. If so they are invisible to me, but I'll be happy to be suprised. Not expecting it though.
They will rule Syria as they ruled Idlib: with totalitarian iron fist. The Taliban also promised to reform their ways but in the end they are the same as before.
Precisely.
Public beheading.
Get rid of minority religions, like Christianity. Christians need to flee. ASAP.
Thank you, Israel and America for this mess.
They won’t get rid of them: Syria is too multi-faith for that but they will impose Sharia, they are already doing it, and have declared openly that other faiths will have to submit to their diktats. Nobody needs to flee: they should join the Kurds and fight back rather.
And Turkey will then fight them, like the Kurds they are already preparing for that. The genocide on the Yazidi will probably now also be completed.
Turkey is already deploying in Aleppo to attack the Kurds and allies. They will begin with Manbij apparently (mostly an Arab canton) but will surely continue with all the NSF once Trump is in power. Unless Iran and/or Russia make a radical shift, nobody will help them.
Erdogan is a fascist and his followers are already claiming that Aleppo is not less Turkish than Istanbul, with a bit of ethnic cleansing and resettling, already tested in the areas that Turkey/SNA occupy, he aims to annex not just Aleppo but all Kurdistan. He also aims to physically join with Azerbaijan (Shia Turks, no major difference) via Armenia, something that only Iran (and much more meekly France) seem to oppose. And there is a lot of Azerbaijan inside Iran…
Erdogan has at least once expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, even if I think of him rather as a Mussolini, his ways are in between the two (and Turkey has a lot of historical experience at mass genocides, mind you).
This has been one of those operations of induced high treason, much as in Afghanistan in 2020 or in North Iraq and Ukraine in 2014 or even the USSR in 1991. I'm truly amazed at the hidden power of the CIA and its European extension: Gladio Network. If I could admire supervillains, they would be my heroes, really. Respect, because who doesn't respect their enemy is doomed to defeat.
Said that, my greatest concerns are now:
1. Talibanistan has reached the Mediterranean shores and potentially threatens Europe itself. This is bad because Islamo-fascists are fascists and fascists are terrible, as we know from history, old and recent.
2. Israel and its genocidal plans for Palestine, still ongoing every single day, have gained massive impunity as result.
3. The promising Kurdish-centered project of Democratic Confederalism, which I deem a beacon of hope in the midst of a very reactionary and callous global reality, is under immediate massive threat, because this Julani and his well armed and trained goons does not just obey the USA but also Erdogan (duplicitous evil fascist like almost no other in history) and Uncle Sam will be happy to give away their influence on NE Syria in payment for Turkey's fascist imperialist service.
So, extremely worrying, almost as much as when the nazis took over Ukraine in 2014. Maybe even worse.
These people aren't geniuses, they uniquely get to print their own money without it becoming completely worthless, they have unlimited weapons and other tools and they only need to be lucky once.
Wrecking things is easy and requires at minimum moderate and even low intellect. Building things of value is usually hard. Do that and I'm impressed.
I have to admire them to an extent: deceit and trickstery are important in war (or other conflicts). I’ve played enough strategy games and read enough books on war to understand that one should never grow arrogant and discount the enemy.
How will Turkey control the euphoric HTS goons. HTS is drunk with power at the moment.
Russia has to rethink agreements with Erdogan. This is very bad for Russia. The focus has been on Ukraine and NATO. This injects a new and dangerous element for Russia.
Has the jihad element in Georgia and Chechnia taken note? Russia needs to "finish the job" in Ukraine. Quickly. Abandoning Assad was foolish.
Iran needs to act quickly.
Hezbollah needs to act quickly.
They need a provider and also loyalties have been built in all those years. HTS or its precursors (Al Nusra-Al Qaeda) have been almost breastfed by Turkey, which has organized arrivals of militants from all over the world (many of them Turkic from Central Asia) and also reused them in places like Libya. You don’t normally betray your mum: all those goons, or at the very least their very authoritarian commanders are absolutely loyal to Erdogan. If cracks do happen they won’t happen any time soon.
Of course Russia has to be extremely cautious about Erdogan but Putin is absurdly naive in his diplomacy: he was deceived at Minsk and then again at Astana, he doesn’t seem to learn, probably because he’s used to managing a clique, where personal trust is most important, and expects something like that in international politics, which are not at all the same. Rather than chess he should train in the game called “Diplomacy”, sometimes dubbed “the multiplayer chess”, which is all about timely backstabbing. But I guess you can’t teach new tricks to the old dog…
I don’t know of any jihadist element in Georgia: just watched Patrick Lancaster’s live coverage of the attempted “color revolution” and it seems to be largely foreigners, some with nazi flags. Chechnya has been for long under iron fist control of a very close ally to Putin, Kadyrov, and doesn’t look like there can be any reignition of rebellion there… yet. However, would I be Putin, I would carefully watch my back, not just in the Caucasus but also in Central Asia: that Erdogan will backstab further if not kept under careful watch.
Russia tried to support the Syrian Army but they could not replace them.
One they historians will realize that Gaza, the beheading of Hezbollah, the destruction of Lebanon, the fall of Syria, the fate of Iran and every other event that occurred hence, all started when Hamas invaded Israel and decided to take a detour to a music festival.
Total bullshit. This had been the plot for decades.
Reminds me of the "six degrees of Kevin Bacon". Just substitute Hamas for Kevin Bacon.
One they historians will realize that Gaza, the beheading of Hezbollah, the destruction of Lebanon, the fall of Syria, the fate of Iran and every other event that occurred hence, all started when Hamas invaded Israel and decided to take a detour to a music festival.
There was no "detour".
The rave location was approved two days before 7Oct, the location being adjacent to the road to the military facility the Hamas fighters were to attack (the plan which was known by Israeli authorities one year in advance).
Ukraine gave them arms as a policy or black market?. Either way it doesn't hurt Russia but rather places america and her allies especially turkey And Saudi Arabia in possibility to fall as well not to mention Iraq. Who knows what might arise. With Israel spilling blood daily and reports of rape and twisted behavior coming out every other day. We might witness the birth of an Arab superstate from Libya to Iran just to scare Israel and the west from causing more bloodshed
Doesn't look like it at the moment. With Trump already calling the shots more and more billionaires and oligarchs and Wall Street are moving over to Trump because they can smell world domination and victory.
The West is continuing shedding blood all over. No bombs or missiles have stopped flowing other than from the Arab side. Israel and the US can ignore "cease fire" deals but the Arab nations cannot they get immediately bombarded.
As one Rothschild said, "when there is blood in the streets, we are buying".
Blackrock in Ukraine.
et al
Another future failed state with chaos, bloodshed and thousands of refugees.
The destruction of all of Israel's neighbors continues so that US and Israel can claim:
"Israel is the only modern "secular" state in the ME!…But why?
'cause it and the USA destroyed all the others
And both US parties supported the Zionists "Ueber Alles". And they are celebrating in Israel and most in the uSA. Sickening.
This cannot be over. Wars, killings, dominance and bullying just cannot win in the end. The problem is when is the end?
Never
"When is the end?"
I am surprised. You want peace?
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wesley+clark+7+countries+5+years&qpvt=wesley+clark+7+countries+5+years&FORM=VDRE
The fall of Damascus was a political victory, not a military win. As always, the regime change war was determined by hearts and minds, not force of arms. Assad's Russian and Iranian armed military refused to fight. The common people are rejoicing at Assad's fall. For the moment, HTS represents the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people. Hamas overcame its sectarian roots in the 1980's and evolved into a legitimate national liberation movement supported by the Palestinian people. And Hamas educated Islamic Jihad along the way. Maybe HTS can do the same? I hope so. We will know more in the coming days and weeks.
The HTS march on Damascus is a sharp contrast to Putin's 2022 march on Kyiv. There is always propaganda on both sides. But the truth is that people won't fight to defend an unpopular regime. The fall of Damascus proves that Assad did not represent the will of his people. The defeat of the Russians at Kyiv proved that the Ukrainians are a separate nation from Russia whose people are willing to fight for their independence.
After 13 years of torture killings, assassinations, economic embargo, millions of refugees having left the country, mass theft of the country's natural resources, invasion on multiple fronts including by global mercenaries from everywhere except Syria… you've declared 'the regime change war was determined by hearts and minds, not force of arms." Perhaps The Onion is hiring.
Hearts and minds were won by bribery. I can smell the stink of high treason in the morning.
If bribery could win hearts and minds, Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam would be US puppets.
Personally, I learned a lot this week. For years I dismissed the accusations of mass murders, torture and poison gas against Assad's regime as Western propaganda. Well, it is obvious that the Syrian people did not.
Will HTS be better than the Taliban? I hope so. But the Syrian people have decided that they will give HTS a chance to prove they are not Daesh any more. It's their call.
Maju, I have been watching national liberation movements for over 60 years. The unrestrained joy at the fall of Assad was not the result of bribery. The scenes of spontaneous celebration in Damascus and around Syria, including both Sunnis and Shiites, reminded me of the Fidelistas marching into Havana, the Indian Army liberating East Pakistan in 1971, the North Vietnamese liberating Saigon, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the celebrations at the fall of Mubarek, the Taliban sweeping into Kabul. Some of these revolutions failed. But I have learned to recognize the fall of an unpopular regime.
By contrast, except for Crimea, there has been no outpouring of universal joy where the Russian army conquers territory in Ukraine, not even in Donbas. I discount the propaganda on all sides in any war. But the scenes being broadcast out of Syria now are not staged. The virtually unanimous verdict of the Syrian people celebrating the overthrow of Assad contrasts sharply with the resolute resistance of the Ukrainians to the Russian invasion.
I was just watching Prof. Marandi, an Iranian analyst, at Danny Heiphong’s YT channel and one thing he emphasized several times is that, because of economic erosion after so many years of siege, Syrian Army commanders were earning $40/month, while HTS ones are earning $2000/month. Obviously in such context there is a huge room for bribery: I have no idea if they were paid $1000 or $100,000 but, in any case, it was years worth of salary. Loyalty to a political system can only reach that far ultimately. He also compared this erosion of loyalties to what Cuba has been suffering.
The celebrations I’ve seen have been mostly among exiles and refugees outside Syria (Erbil and Paris specifically). Sure: the Islamists also have some following and the Baathist regime had some opponents but you can compare with someone like Marco Rubio landing in La Habana and getting all the opositores in hiding cheering him in exchange for a few dollars, some maybe genuinely but many others out of opportunism. Anyway, let’s hope that doesn’t happen in Cuba, which is infinitely more socialist than the Baath could ever get. Damascus is a big city of some 2.5 million people: anyone can gather a few thousand for the show.
One of the analysts I’ve been following is from Aleppo (an Armenian Christian) and he’s extremely worried. Nobody seems to have cheered the return of the fascists to Aleppo, a city already experienced with their brutal rule (and almost as big as Damascus). Granted that the Kurds still seem to be resisting in their neighborhoods (or at least it was the case before the weekend).
I’ve been following the situation in Donbass for a decade already and I know well that nobody, absolutely nobody, was unhappy about being liberated from the nazi terror. People even withstood brutal urban sieges in places like Bakhmut under constant threat and abuses by the Ukrainians, only so they could one day be liberated. They’re Anna Frank style stories, really, just that some succeeded at surviving the nazis this time (not everyone, especially not the children kidnapped by “charities” to become unwilling organ donors).
You are giving a lot of credibility to Russian-Iranian axis propaganda. Which is mostly better than US/Western propaganda. But pundits are pundits and facts are facts. Also you overestimate the power of the US to corrupt the popular will in another country. Money and weapons can't fake a popular uprising.
Actually Marco Rubio landing in Havanna is a good hypothetical. Except it already happened in the Bay of Pigs when the people of Cuba rose up to defend the revolution and held the gusanos "at Bay" until the national guard arrived to finish them off. You can't buy a popular uprising. The Ukrainians are facing terrific adversity that no mercenaries would ever endure to defend their country against Russian imperialism. If the Zelensky regime was dominated by Nazis it could not have lasted this long in a country where the Nazis killed millions of Ukrainians, including Christians.
Will HTS be able to shed its terrorist roots? Hamas, Islamic Jihad and ANC did. The Syrian people want to give HTS a chance. We will know more in the weeks and months to come.
But those of us who uncritically supported Assad and apologized or ignored his regime's atrocities because Syria was part of the "Axis of Resistance" need to recognize that we were wrong.
Ironically, Hamas was ahead of its supporters when it abandoned the Assad regime following his crackdown on the pro-democracy protestors in 2011. Hamas leadership left Syria in 2012 and dispersed throughout the middle east because it could no longer stand in solidarity with Assad's crackdown on dissidents.
I rather give little credibility (or none at all) to the US mainstream media monopolistic propaganda engine. I’ve always sought alternative news sources and was once a very active part of such alt-media as activist-journalist myself. Marandi has of course an Iranian quasi-official bias but he’s still very interesting, you should expand the scope of your news and analysis sources.
Bahía de Cochinos is old history: there was a true global class war then. Now there’s nothing but remnants: then a massive fire engulfing the whole world, now barely a few embers like the SDF. Then the Cuban Revolution was young and vibrant and spreading seeds all around, now it’s old and tired by many decades of siege and lack of allies.
The Zelensky government is just the last incarnation of Maidan (nazis and ultra-conservatives). In 2014, which is the date that matters, after the nazi putsch against Yanukovich (legitimate neutralist federalist social-democratic president), the nazis of Pravy Sektor and Slovoda were given all the security offices (the ultra-conservatives still formally led but were not directly in charge of security, of police, of terror against the people). Those nazis had very limited popular support (only Slovoda had some seats in Parliament and they were all from the far west of Ukraine) but they got the share of the lion in the Maidan Regime and that was not any bug but a feature: Gladio is the fascists and has been so since the 1940s.
Zelensky was ironically elected on a peace platform and he could only win because Darth Vader was not allowed to run under the mask (sounds like a joke but it was real: Darth Vader was the most popular candidate in Ukraine in 2020). As soon as he got in power, possibly after being slapped around by the nazis (what happened at least once), he shifted gear and went on to attack Donbass with bombings and genocidal measures. Then Russia intervened.
I’m not Putinist, I just consider Russia the lesser evil in these circumstances, just as I would have considered Churchill or Stalin the lesser evil against Hitler 80 years ago, even if I dislike both. Putin is actually to blame partly for what happened in Ukraine: he disowned Yanukovich and abandoned Donbass, worse: he forced on them Minsk Accords just when they were winning, exactly as he later forced Astana Accords on Assad when the Islamists were about to be driven out of Syria. But it’s like Hamas vs Zionism: Hamas is the lesser evil no doubt.
HTS will no shed its “terrorist roots”, the Kurds know that well and have tried to get their US “ally” involved against them. But Washington won’t fight against Turkey and their proxies, which are right now about to conquer Mambij (with direct Turkish bombings).
Whatever faults Zelensky has he ain’t a Nazi. The majority of Ukrainians have family members who were among the millions of Ukrainians the Nazis killed or the seven million who fought in the red army. The war in Ukraine is between revanchist Russian imperialism and Ukrainian nationalism. Russia is usually the lesser evil. But Mao said that the secondary contradiction can become primary. Putin is a revanchist who is trying to reset the balance of power in Europe to what it was pre-1997. That makes him dangerous just like Hitler’s revanchism made him more dangerous than the stronger US/UK/French imperialists.
As for Syria, none of us can know at this point whether HTS will revert to its Daesh roots or transition into a legitimate national liberation movement like Hamas and ANC did. Now is the time to be paying attention, not making premature pronouncements.
You’re talking of ancient history, not actual nazis now, which is what I’m talking about. I don’t care if Zelensky personally feels nazi, zionist or whatever, what I know is that he’s a hyper-corrupt class A war criminal and a puppet of both the USA and US-sponsored local nazis. Zelensky doesn’t rule much, he’s basically a sockpuppet, even more than Biden.
Meanwhile Russia has been exquisite in not targeting civilians and not comitting genocide, rather saving millions from it at the hand of the Maidan nazis, and that’s why they have got the moral upper ground. We may some other day talk about the many failures of the Russian regime but at the core they’re infinitely better than the Ukronazis and a slim hope for a better Europe without US fascist interference.
HTS is Daesh, Al Nusra and Al Qaeda. They may pretend otherwise at convenience but we already saw in other cases (from Iran to Afghanistan) how the Islamists (or Salafists or Wahabbis or just damn fascists) always revert to their roots and impose totalitarianism. Again I may feel like Iran has got the upper moral hand because they don’t go around doing genocides but rather try to help the victims of such genocides, be it in Gaza or Armenia, but I have no illusions about the nature of the regime of the ayatollahs anyhow and there are powerful reasons therefore why the Kurds especially oppose it (although of course Turkey is a much more menacing threat). We saw how the Talibans briefly pretended to have changed their ways but now they are back to square one of extreme fascism.
If you want to talk facts and you state that the global Western propaganda machine is inferior to a couple of people on internet struggling to buy recording equipment and subject to YouTube demonitizing measures if not outright censorship then I hope for your sake that it is an attempt at humor. A rather elaborate joke for a pretty select audience I'm afraid.
Also the mechanisms and the timescale by which you corrupt such a large body as a Syrian army as alluded to by Prof. Marandi is not of the caricatural nature you appear to think it is. You don't come in with cases of gold bars to hand out to anyone willing to switch sides. All you need first are a few, very few, preferably mid-cadre officers to seduce taking some extra money on the side in exchange for some not too conspicuous services. Given their dire financial situation not too difficult. Not too much to gain for not too much to ask. Approach with care. This is your point of entry from which you work. All you need is self-interest and rational weighing of risk and gain on the part of the corruptee and an end-goal, patience and some measure of diligence on the part of the corruptors.
al Qaida whatever their current rebranding sounds like is al Qaida. It is a revisionist takfiri islamist movement. They are not a regional power with regional aspirations. Their ideology is world domination. Allah to them is not just the creator and master of Syria or the Syrian people it is the creator of the entire Universe and all that is in it and they are the means by which Allah is to impose his will on Earth, extends his benevolence on all those who submit and exterminates those who won't.
The idea that you just need to wait to see if al Qaida have just been putting up a show all this time and are really at heart a bunch of sweeties intent on nothing but the best for all, and who if we would only allow them the time to show the fruits of their newfound liberal democratic image would reveal how we have all this time so stupidly misjudged them, adds entirely new semantic domains to the word preposterous.
Oh, BTW, Iraq is a US puppet, largely by coertion of these fascists. The whole ISIS campaign was launched to force Iraq to recall the US military presence, which was this year extended until 2026.
And who says that Afghanistan is not a US puppet. I don’t trust those Talibans, created by the CIA, at all (nor does China nor does Iran). The demise of the Republic of Afghanistan after US sudden pullout was extremely suspicious and not dissimilar to what just happened in Syria, we know that bribery was widespread in persuading the commanders in spite of troops being willing to fight and that Pakistan played a major role… but Turkey was lurking there until the last moment anyhow.
Vietnam is another story altogether: they are (or at least used to be) Marxist, not capitalists or sub-capitalists like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
For the moment, HTS represents the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people.
Yes, such a wonderful alternative. /s
Let's not get rid of dictators because the next leader could be worse.
Right.
That's a common line from dictator supporters.
This is the extent and content of your principled opposition to tyranny: as long as they are beneficial to Israel or US interests they are good and their tyrannies should be couched in euphemisms.
So now you feel the moment is opportune to add al Qaida to your list of approved tyrants. They are now friendly democratic heroic rebels who aspire to a free Syrian liberal democracy, at worst perhaps with somewhat of a token islamic character to appease the locals for the time being.
HTS is run by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, and has had considerable ties to al-Qaeda
Did you read that part?
And there you go with the supporting dictators accusation on anyone who thinks the Syrian people will be similarily oppressed under a designated terrorist organization.
My profile is wide open. Go find something that I've said that remotely suggests I support Assad or Putin or shut the fuck up.
Wars, just read the anti-Semitic 1988 Hamas charter and Google some of Hamas' earlier acts of terrorism, such as bombing bus stations. Or Nelson Mandela's support for bombing shopping centers. Hamas and the ANC changed and became legitimate national liberation organizations. Can HTS do the same? What is clear is that for now, the Syrian people, including the Shiite majority are virtually unanimously rejecting Assad and placing their faith in HTS. Will they feel the same in six months? It is their call. That is what self determination is about. I hope HTS has truly changed. We will see.
The Syrian people didn't, and won't, have a say. The Syrian military not fighting back doesn't mean they are doing the will of the people.
The spontaneous demonstrations throughout Syria by Shiites as well as Sunnis and by Syrian refugees around the world demonstrate the genuine sympathies of the Syrian people for the overthrow of Assad. For the moment, the Syrian people are united in favor of the overthrow of Assad. Has HTS evolved beyond its sectarian terrorist roots? The Syrian people are willing to give them a chance to prove they have matured. So am I.
Yeah, like the spontaneous demonstrations in Iraq when Saddam went down. That worked out well. And what about the people that don't want to give HTS a chance to prove they have matured? Do you think they'll be able to speak out in spontaneous demonstrations? I highly doubt it.
Like I said, we will know more in the weeks and months to come. Some terrorist groups mature into legitimate national liberation movements. And some national liberation movements devolve into terrorist cults.
What we can say with certainty is that the Syrian people were not willing to defend the Assad regime and many Shiites as well as Sunnis are welcoming the rise of HTS.
That means that those of us, including me, who discounted the reports of human rights abuses by Assad as Western propaganda should do some reflection and self-criticism. We were wrong about Assad and we were wrong to dismiss the opposition as pro-Zionist terrorists. We need to admit that and learn from our mistakes.
“Tell no lies. Claim no easy victories,”
-Amilcar Cabral
Some terrorist groups do indeed mature into legitimate national liberation movements. As soon as they agree to play nice with Israel. That is the sole criteria. This group is an extremist group that will oppress people the same as Assad but now they'll be our terrorists, like Israel. So, it will now be acceptable for human rights abusing. Ask Egypt and the Saudis. Maybe HTS can even get on the gravy train. It all depends on how long they play nice with Israel
That means that those of us, including me, who discounted the reports of human rights abuses by Assad as Western propaganda should do some reflection and self-criticism. We were wrong about Assad and we were wrong to dismiss the opposition as pro-Zionist terrorists.
And what made you come to that conclusion? Suddenly, you just woke up and did a face palm and decided Assad was guilty of human rights abuses? Like you didn't know that already? Personally, I never thought Assad was a good leader or that he didn't oppress his people, but I certainly didn't change my mind about HTS or any other group that is just as oppressive and for the life of me I can't understand why you would.
If HTS cozies up to Israel, they will have proven that they are on the dark side of human history. But it is too early to say. Julani's father was a Nasserite Arab Nationalist imprisoned by the Baathists who was a member of the PLO when the PLO was actively resisting the Zionists. Julani became radicalized as a teenager inspired by the Second Intifada. He was only 20 when he volunteered to fight against the US in Iraq. He got mixed up with al-Qaeda and ISIS and since he returned to Syria shortly after the demonstrations against Assad broke out in 2011, he has been trying to distance himself from those terrorist roots. Is he sincere? If he is, can he build HTS and its allies into a progressive pro-Palestinian and pro-Syrian movement? I am waiting to see.
I always understood Assad was targeted by the Zionists, the US/NATO and the Arab monarchists and the Sissi regime. But, I discounted most of the anti-Assad propaganda. I recognized that the Baathist regime was authoritarian. But I assumed Assad had mass support. The HTS lightning sweep and the outpourings of joy at Assad's overthrow proved that the Syrian people did not support the Baathist regime. The military wouldn't fight and the Syrian people would not stand up to support the Baathists. That was a historical verdict on Assad and his regime. When a government has popular support, the masses manifest that like the huge counter-demonstrations in Iran and Venezuela when the US tried to overthrow popular regimes. Like the massive demonstrations that supported Khan or Lula when people risked their lives to oppose repressive regimes. Like the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and Hong Kong that challenged a repressive Chinese regime (that I generally support). Like the Palestinians who risked their lives on the Great March of Return or the South Africans who took to the streets to oppose apartheid. Like the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion where the Ukrainian army has endured casualties that would have disintergrated an army that did not have at its core a belief that led the men to risk their lives.
So for 24 years I gave Assad the benefit of the doubt because I assumed that he had support among the Syrian people. In the end he did not. They judged him to be a dictator and for the moment they are placing their trust in HTS.
Now is the time to wait an see. What does Hamas have to say about HTS and the new Syrian regime? What does the new Syrian regime have to say about the genocide in Gaza? These are questions we don't know the answers to yet,
Well said, Skywalker.
Noticed all the dislike you received?
Those are the usual dictator supporters in this blog.
Instead of being happy about the Syrians finally getting their will, they are angry to see their favorite dictators failed.
Some Syrians are getting their will.
Other Syrians aren’t.
And it remains to be seen whether the new ruling gang will be better or worse than the old ruling gang, and better or worse for who.
Terrorists, i$lamic terrorists is what they are and what they ought to be referred to as. The territory has seemingly fallen to the modern edition of the 7th century ideology.
Israel and the USA are falling into the BC ideology of the Old Testament. Make room for the "chosen people" and kill everything and anything else in sight.
If true, then humanity could be set back 5 thousand years or so.
Happened when we dropped two nuclear weapons on a country already defeated.
Voltaire said this: It is forbidden to kill, therefore all murderers are punished, unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Trumpets were sounded with the great and wonderful mushroom clouds over Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Peace will help people find their own way home…
Indigenous Christians from any country in that region must be immediately allowed automatic entry into the "West" If they so wish to leave their thousands of years motherlands.
Not just automatic entry, but preference for refugee and asylum.
ASAP. The head of HTS has said they would go after "minority religions", aka, Christian.
I thought the "indispensable nation" cared about Christians. My bad.
Syria (Assad) is guilty of "not kissing Israel's pompous ass."
Syria has been liberated and Ukraine can take credit for it.
The Russian and dictator supporters here who have been for a week now spreading Russian propaganda and denying the events are now heartbroken and making up excuses.
Must suck to know that Western mainstream media was right from the beginning and you were the ones lying as usual.
The Syrian people are welcoming the rebels in every city and the army and Assad on the run. Iran and Russia abandoned Assad as expected.
Glory to Ukraine!!
Any shred of global prestige Russia had is now gone… people now see the true value of a Russian Security Guarantee
People are happy, people are cheering
And I am glad that Poland has played a part
Today was a victory for freedom
Chława Polska!
Chława Syria!
Niech zyje!
Like our guarantees to South Vietnam and Afghanistan?
Yes!!
downvote harder, it will really make your point clearer
I guess the jokes here in America really are true.
I am not American
Bless your little heart you missed the point.
Next – the overthrow of the UKrainian Dictator.
There you go, obama was able to overthrow one of two of his enemies.
What other vendettas will he unleash before 20 January?
Kind of hypocritical for a leader of a country with conscription to flee. Shouldn't he stay and fight to the death for his country like he forced so many peasant men to do?
Assad gave orders for a peaceful power transition, thus saving thousands of lives. He always put the welfare of Syrians first, trying his best to protect their Freedoms. Never in Syria were women denied education, never forced to cover their heads, never prevented from travel, forced to marry, etc. Only ignorant people think Syria was ruled by a tyrant, but NOW no Christian or Woman, will be safe in Syria.
Tell it to one of the 18 year old boys, wanting nothing to do with war, who was forced to the front lines and died in a ditch for nothing.
Ukraine?
Exactly
If that would be the case, Truman, LBJ, the Bushes, the Clintons, Obama, and Biden should have been at the front lines in the trenches where the peasant men were.
Same for Nixon, Johnson, McNamara.
When did Syrians not have Freedom? If you had family in Syria, you would know they have always had freedoms to come and go as they please. Freedom of religion, nobody was forced to be anything, women were educated, etc. The reason people left Syria was for work, due to the sanctions by us and the millions of refugees coming into Syria, work was hard to find. So what freedoms will Syrians have under Al Qaeda, under ISIS? How is it that these terrorist were in Syria, when Trump and Biden said they destroyed them? Was this Regime Change done by the Turkish Army?
With the good graces of the U.S. and Israel who bankrolled and supplied the "rebels".
Why? Well, this: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wesley+clark+7+countries+5+years&qpvt=wesley+clark+7+countries+5+years&FORM=VDRE
All you idiots are sad about the collapse of Assads state?
Hahah
One oppressive regime taking over for another oppressive regime shouldn't make anyone happy.
the syrian state is collapsed
the kurds could get freedom
the druze could get freedom
the people in NW syria could get freedom
Syria gets to start from scratch
With Jihadists in control. ISIS types. The first minority group that will get the hammer is the Christian minority in Syria.
The leader of HTS has pointedly said that the would go after minority religions.
And what else could happen?
The Ba’athist regime trundled along for a little more than 60 years. Not a bad run for an inherently unstable form of government.
i guess
it managed
Are you the idiot supporting a TERRORIST takeover of Syria?
No I am the idiot supporting regionalism, Kurdish, and Druze independence
You actually believe that they will be independent with a murderous offshoot of Al-queda in command??
Utilizing HTS to ruin another country is pretty low, I would say. After all, they are much the same guys who brought down the Twin Towers.
the al qaeda offshot doesn't control kurdistan or druze areas
the syrian democratic army controls Kurdistan and the Southern Operation Forces control the Druze areas
Syria is set
It’s a little early to make any good guesses about who will be “in command.”
But I’ll issue my early guess anyway: The overthrow of the Assad regime isn’t the end of the Syrian “civil war.” It’s the beginning of a bigger one.
This is just a stage in the US and Israeli war against Iran and Hezbollah.
It does certainly put some points on the board for Mr. Hack’s long-time thesis that US involvement in Syria is primarily aimed at opening the way to Iran on behalf of Israel.
One outcome I’ll be interested in seeing is whether Hezbollah, near-term, takes a large role in Syria, or refocuses its assets and abilities there to shore up its position in Lebanon.
Libya 2.0. There are already reports of militant factions' skirmishes in Aleppo over territory disputes.
But you don't support regionalism like independence for the people of Donbass or Crimea.
they dont Want independence
They want independence from Ukraine.
so does karelia, yakutia, chechnya, and many other groups from russia
My point, because you are deliberately trying to avoid it is you don’t support independence of people who don’t want to be a part of Ukraine. They must be slaves to your Ukrainian nationalist aspirations. They must be your slaves to feed your lust for power over them.
Well then can you agree the same thing for Russia?
Feel free to donate your money
Sullivan Says US Would Run Out of Munitions in China War
Good – then don't go to war with China, dummkopf!
One more step by the globalists in their never ending battle for one-world government.
Sad.
thanks for a good laugh
I presume you do not remember Gen. Wesley Clark's declaration of the U.S. seeking to knock off 7 countries in the ME. Syria is on that list.
Never mind, here is is: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wesley+clark+7+countries+5+years&qpvt=wesley+clark+7+countries+5+years&FORM=VDRE
Who is laughing now??
Nonono the "1 world government" was funny
sounds like around 3 years ago when i was dumb and senile
At least now that pipeline can be built and Israel will get that land they've always wanted. The resemblance between Syria's new sheriff Al-Julani and Ukraine's Zelensky is striking, take the big beard and turban off and they look like brothers…has any ever seen the two of them in the same room together?
The next step is partition of Syria. West will be annexed by Israel., east side will be handed to Kurds, north to Turkey, and the south will be the puppet terror group.
"Over the past several days it’s been reported that HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani was keen to take over not only Syria, but Lebanon as well, and had offered to allow Israel to open embassies in both Damascus and Beirut after they take them."
Report is link to an article he had written. What a hack. I like this site but sometimes it might as well be RT news.
Get a mind!
What the leader of HTS is saying is that for the help Israel gave them, rewards are in order.
It was an Israeli/U.S. operation to cripple support for the Palestinians and Russia.
Will HTS attack Russian element at the warm water ports?
Will the Russians retain their Syrian naval and air force bases?
https://euobserver.com/eu-and-the-world/ar3302d38e
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/12/well-arab-militaries.html
They better.
Also, Hezbollah better launch their rockets in force. Iran needs to prepare for the invasion.
I believe all of this was planned years ago.
Notice there is no talk about the Palestinians. It has floated off into space……
Exactly. As you mentiond in another thread.
Still hoping for a Hezbollah rocket attack. How did the rocket attack goes against the chlorine plants go?
Of course they will.
Losing an ally like Assad is somewhat regretful.
Losing their Mediterranean port in Tartus is unthinkable.
The new rulers of Syria could be the HTS, the SAAF, ISIS, Iran, Turkey, they might even by Syrians.
What they are not going to be is the group that sent the Russian troops on their way home.
The Russians, will call for the end of hostilities and, most generously, allow all Syrian Allawites to huddle in the costal area around Tartus as protectorates/human shields.
To me, the most intriguing part in this unfolding drama is what will become of the Kurdish people and their hard won territories.
The immoral, unethical, and criminal slick obama settling old scores in Syria before his proxy government of Joey Biden and Harris are flushed down the toilet of history and he loses his proxy control of America.
Syria's collapse is a loss for the Syrian people and their Iranian, Russian, and Chinese allies;
It is a reminder that while US military and industrial power wanes, it still possesses potent "superweapons" in terms of monopolizing information space, poisoning populations against their own best interests, and toppling nations;
The US strategy has been to create multiple crises for Russia along its periphery including in Syria, forcing Russia to make difficult decisions regarding where it commits limited resources;
The multipolar world must accept the reality that what is essentially World War 3 is ongoing and they will all eventually be targeted in turn;
Investment is required in securing and defending national and regional information space from US interference through the creation of local education programs producing journalists and analysts, local social media platforms to replace US-based platforms, and laws ending foreign funding of media inside targeted countries;
Obama, Obama, Obama. You remind me of another poster who seemed fixated with Obama. You even have the same initials.
You noticed too, huh?
Hard not to.
It was the CIA under Obama that funded, trained and armed al qaeda's Syria affiliate. Read Seymour Hersh's piece at the time ( https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n08/seymour-m.-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line ). After Obama destroyed Libya he immediately sent Gaddafi's weapons to Turkey where the CIA trained and armed al qaeda's Syria affiliate to overthrow Assad.
When Obama's desired coup of Assad did not happen because Russia put a stop to it, Obama immediately got the State Dpt. involved in the overthrow of Yanukovych in Ukraine. At the time it seemed obvious that was revenge for Russia stopping Obama's coup in Syria.
I'm not defending Obama. He deserves the blame. But to think Obama is calling the shots, or ever did, is ridiculous. And thinking he has to talk the career warmonger Biden into anything is just as ridiculous.
Oh I agree with you — all our Presidents in current history are no more than corrupt puppets of AIPAC and the MIC. But that's the problem: they are all willing to pursue endless slaughter, theft of other's resources and destruction of their countries for power, money and greed. Biden and Obama are two of the worst though for the number of countries that underwent coup d'états, proxy wars and outright wars during their reign. Obama in particular: expanding in Afghanistan, continuation in Iraq, destruction of Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, the coup in Honduras and the drone war in Pakistan. I think they understood the horror they were perpetrating. As for Trump, I don't think he truly understands everything going on, however, he will continue it because he wants to keep the support of the evangelicals and he wants to be liked (his ego).
And Obama was such a huge disappointment that everything he did makes it that much more sickening. I even voted for him his first term and I rarely vote for an R or D. And it was so rapid how quickly that small flicker of hope was dashed.
Will Russia's Tartus naval base and the Hmeimim Air Force base become a Russian enclave?
Yes, but only technically, unofficially and actually.
Officially, Tartus will be the capital of the new Allawite protectorate (Suria Aljadidah).