The US is considering removing the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the list of US-designated terror organizations after the group led the offensive that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Washington Post reported that US officials are in contact with HTS and other groups involved in the offensive. One US official said the Biden administration was doing a “real-time assessment” on whether or not HTS should be removed from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
POLITICO reported there is a “furious debate” among US officials about the issue. “There is a huge scramble to see if, and how, and when we can delist HTS,” one official said.
HTS’s leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, also has a $10 million US bounty on his head. Middle East Eye reported that US officials are debating the “merit” of keeping the bounty in place. An Arab official told the outlet that the debate has divided the Biden administration.
Julani was the founder of al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. In 2016, Julani attempted to rebrand al-Nusra by changing its name and claiming to cut ties with al-Qaeda. In 2017, HTS was formed by merging al-Nusra and several other Islamist groups.
Julani is now portraying himself as a moderate, and President Biden has said he likes what he’s hearing from the former al-Qaeda leader. “We’ve taken notes of statements by leaders of this revolution in recent days, and they’re saying the right things now, but as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words but their actions,” Biden said on Sunday in a speech celebrating the overthrow of Assad.
Removing HTS from the terror list could allow the US to provide significant aid to an HTS-led government. Reports on Monday said that Mohammed al-Bashir, who was the prime minister of the HTS-led Salvation Government in Idlib, has been appointed as the new prime minister of Syria.
The prime minister who served under Assad, Mohammed al-Jalali, met with Julani on Monday to discuss a “transfer of power.” Jalali has said he would cooperate with HTS, and the head of Assad’s Baath party also released a statement backing a “transitional phase in Syria.”
The terror list is all political. The US Government has become an international joke.
The first thing I did after reading the headlines was laugh. Why be so obvious about it now the US worked and used these and other terror groups in the past to their advantage. they even pay ISIS fighters in the Ukraine to "beat" Russia.
The only good head-chopper is a Zionist head-chopper.
Well the joke’s on you, because the US gov has always been a joke.
Nonsense! HTS has always been our ally in our war against Eurasia. And we have always been at war against Eurasia. The Eurasia Wikipedia page says so!
From October 7th until today, note the growing agency the population of the Middle East is asserting. We understand the state actors are playing dirty games. However, if one can't see that it has been your tweeting, posting, demonstrating and commenting (and amplified by the world) that have caused the US, Israel and Arab regimes to respond on the backfoot, one should throw in the towel and don't post unless one has something good to say. You're wondering why the Biden administration is considering delisting Al Jolani even though he has qaeda/ISIS roots? It's because as powerful as America and Israel are, in secret they are sensing the growing agency of the Arab masses and they are scared. Perhaps they realize that if they cut ties, they will be cut out of the picture and have less influence and less of an ability to cause further mischief. If you all hate and are frustrated at what the US has been doing in the world in your name, I ask you how do you think Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Yemenis, Iraqis, Sudanese and Libyans feel?
From 2021:
Former US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey said in early March that HTS is “an asset” for US strategy in Idlib.
In response to these statements, Nicholas Heras, Senior Analyst and Program Head for Authoritarianism at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, tweeted that he doesn’t believe “it’s out of the realms of possibility” that HTS is “a Turkish intelligence (MiT) asset, and via proxy from Turkey to [the] USA (as needed).”
“HTS cannot survive without Turkish support, it’s that simple,” Heras told Ahval. “Turkey’s significant military investment to protect Idlib is the key factor that protects that region from collapsing back into the control of Assad and his allies.”
That's another point. Although many are calling Erdogan a snake, the interventions of indigenous regional players are relatively less condemnable than foreign entities (e.g., US, Israel and Russia), especially when Syria borders Turkey. In addition, Erdogan waited out patiently and now he can diminish the Kurdish threat which has been used as a tool by the US and Israel. Furthermore, with the weakening of Iran, Erdogan is helping to ease Hamas back into a Sunni axis of resistance. The Palestinians have always wanted the armed resistance to be on Israel's borders. Its the Americans who wanted them in Qatar after being kicked out of Syria so they can keep a watchful on them.
Finally, whatever one thinks of Erdogan, he is an Islamist. He has an interest in a calm Middle East that he can trade with to build Turkey's economy. And back to the people and agency, recall the coup attempt. Turks came out in masses to shut down the coup. Even the ones who didn't vote for him because they were not going to let the army destroy their democracy. That's agency. When you think about it. Everyone is against Turkey to differing levels, i.e., US, NATO, EU, Israel and his corrupt Arab regime neighbors.
Erdogan is duplicitous and invested in Erdogan. He is part of NATO.
Agreed, he cares about his economic legacy over all else. As for NATO, yes but it's a tenuous relationship, kind of like with Trump.
Too many of the commenters on this site are fixated with the "Great Game" competition between the military powers. They ignore the agency of the people who have the power to make history despite the machinations of state actors. It is hearts and minds, not force of arms that usually determine regime change wars or movements. Assad fell bloodlessly because in the end the military and the people would not defend his bloody regime.
By contrast US attempts to destabilize or overthrow popular regimes in Cuba, Venezuela and Iran are defeated by mass mobilizations that didn't happen in Syria. It is frustrating that many folks on this site can't grasp or share the joy of the Syrian people who made history this week. There are dangers ahead and state actors will attempt to influence or control events. But all of us who care about Palestine should appreciate the significance of the Syrian people's victory and hope that the Axis of Resistance will be rebuilt stronger than ever.
Ironically, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Houthis grasp the significance of this moment and are hailing the victory of the Syrian people.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-hails-freedom-and-justice-gained-syrians-after-assads-fall
And you are fixated with some fantasy about "hearts and minds". As if HTS is some homegrown group that cares only about the well-being of the average Syrian.
It can be complicated for the outsider to understand. HTS may turn out to be the forces of hell. The dilemma the people face is that Euro-America and Israel give these groups reason to thrive. They are afraid of anything "Islam." They have undermined fair and free elections, equated Hamas with ISIS and make no distinction between moderates and extremists, etc. This radicalizes our youth. The Muslim Brotherhood won elections in Egypt after the "Arab spring." What was the response of Euro-America and Israel? To support the deep state in violently crushing them. What message did it send to our youth? No Matter what the West hates you not for what you do but because you exist.
Also when one considers the development of these groups, what motivates them? You saw the controversy over bin laden's letter that had been on a UK newspaper's website for a couple of decades. When Oct. 7th came along and the young generation discovered it, the paper immediately took it down (but that's the nature of free speech/censorship in the west). Anyhow, Bin Laden's justifications included US military presence Islam's holiest area SA and support for Israel. That's no justification for killing of innocents or committing a wrong to fix another wrong, but if we can get Israel and the US the hell out the Middle East, the people will deal with their own fanatics. For example, most good people want to weaken the neocons. They will always be fanatics but it's your job as USC (for those who are) to weaken them. (And by the way America in all likelihood will never ever hold these war criminals accountable or bring them to justice). They will still be Americans, etc. but they won't be the ugly face of America they have occupied for so long.
Why then is Euro-America so critical of the Middle East on that point?
And finally, Bin Laden at least will certainly go down in history as one of the first to rebel against US hegemony in the Middle East. His strategy was to lure America to the Middle East to bog it down in wars of attrition and economically bankrupt it. It looks like he has succeeded.
HTS may turn out to be the forces of hell.
But Skywalker's comments already have them as something completely acceptable and are representing the will of the people. And this after admitting that until this week he thought Assad was good for Syria.
I agree with Ashraf. It is too early to categorically condemn or to uncritically support HTS or predict what will arise in Syria. However it is not too early to recognize that HTS played a leading role in executing the popular will to overthrow Assad and his regime and currently has a lot of popular support from Shiites as well as Sunni Muslims. Whether HTS will devolve into a terrorist sect or play a leading role in reconstructing and revitalizing the Axis of Resistance remains to be seen.
I also never concluded that Assad was good or bad for the Syrian people. I recognized that his regime was part of the Iranian led Axis of Resistance supporting the Palestinians and opposing US imperialism. I also recognized that he was a target of US and Zionist propaganda. So I discounted the charges against him. Like Ashraf, I respect the agency of the Syrian people who are the ultimate judges of Assad and the Baathists. We can't know now what HTS really is or what it will become or whether the overthrow of Assad will result in a new, stronger Axis of Resistance. It is simply premature to dismiss HTS as a tool of US imperialism and Zionism as you and most of the commenters here have done.
If you want to go by reactions, then judging by the reaction of the US and Israel it would seem HTS played a leading role in executing the will of the US and Israel too. If they weren't a tool of the US, then they will be treated like the US treated Assad. I really don't see what has changed. Unless you play nice with Israel, you'll have the wrath of the US.
Israel is bombing the hell out of HTS held territory and using Assad’s collapse as an excuse to grab more Syrian land. The US doesn’t seem to have a coherent policy. We will see very soon what HTS and the rest of the resistance have to say about Israeli aggression and the presence of Turkish, American, Russian and Kurdish troops on Syrian soil.. But the US and Israel are sure not treating HTS as an ally or a client so far.
Shocking isn't it.I mean, who would have thought it? Now they get to destroy Syria's military assets to make sure HTS doesn't have any thoughts of doing a damn thing.
Netanyahu wants to establish ‘relations’ with Syria but says Israel will attack it if becomes a threat
I really don't know why you thought the US/Israel would treat HTS any different than Assad.
The fall of the Assad regime is a monumental event apart from the regional crisis and dynamics. A 50 year status quo has been brought to an end. They Syrian people are momentarily celebrating this potentially new era of Arab unity. It's a hard road ahead but that's what will eventually happen.
Man, you are a dreamer. What has happened is Syria will now become a failed state (much more than it was) just like the US and Israel planned.
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us… " John L.
or come along for the fun.
Yeah, looks like a whole lot of fun is going on.
Sykes-Picot was not meant to end well, nor the Balfour Declaration and certainly not American intervention/hegemony for Zionism. It will get worse before it gets better because Zionists and neocons are not nice people. Patience.
Don't get me wrong man, I hope that you're right. But unfortunately, I don't believe you are.
The peoples of the ME are like any other. They want peace, justice and prosperity. They have gone through a lot. They will get it.
Thanks for that. And BTW, Hamas, unlike the PLO, has always tried to stay out of internal Arab affairs. When the Syrian people were being slaughtered they obviously sympathized with the people, but Assad wanted their loyalty and when they tried to refuse, he kicked them out. Because they were always hounded they came back many years later out of desperation to be in the arena of combat.
Ashraf, more than one thing can be true at the same time.
Syrians were starving, mistreated, Assad was an iron fist dictator, the empire wanted chaos, wanted to overthrow the gov’t, and the people wanted self rule.
These are not mutually exclusive conditions.
This site and others have been writing for some time that the empire is desperately flailing and doing extremely dangerous things at once that are devastating to not only the globe, but their own citizens who did not, or even could not, vote against all of it.
You should be wary because one minute groups are characterized as freedom fighters and the next terrorists and then back again.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
The fact that Israel is bombing all over Syria along with the US and taking over more land should also give you pause.
I agree they are not mutually exclusive. The days of Sykes-Picot and total domination of the Middle East is over. There are many reasons for this such as the waning empire and the people are fed up with the oppression and the killing. The bad news is it will get worse before it gets better. That is the nature of falling empires. Israel and America will be kicked out of the region but they will take down with them as many of the natives as they can.
And as an addendum, whether you hated Assad or not, the reason Syrians were destitute in the first place were the heavy US sanctions against the country, along with stealing oil and fertile land, further subjecting the country to no economic means to lift itself out of poverty.
I’m sure quite a few Libyans regret what has become of a once rising and prosperous nation.
Agreed, and America's brutality leaves people desperate that they are happy when anyone can come in and change their circumstances.
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
They may be terrorists, but they're our terrorists.
Useful idiots —> “Useful terrorists.”
Indeed ! Because EVERYONE knows that useful terrorists, like Ukrainian neo-Nazis, immediately give up their ideology, disarm & pacify, the moment American interests in the region are satisfied.
ukrainian neo nazis
haha
you sound like putins attack poodle, Dmitry Medvedev
Ukrainian neo-Nazis are a fact, demonstrated and verified numerous times both in the military and government of that country.
Russian neo-Nazis are a fact, demonstrated and verified numerous times both in the military and government of that country.
Cite sources identifying Banderites in Russia, and an Azov Battalion / Brigade as a formal unit of the Russian Federation military.
Your Whataboutism and False Equivocation are fallacies, intended to hide a reality you cannot justify.
Ok
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupa_Rusicz
https://www.trmlabs.com/post/who-is-task-force-rusich-the-neo-nazi-paramilitary-group-sanctioned-by-ofac-yesterday
https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2022/opinion/russias-long-history-of-neo-nazis
https://www.codastory.com/episodes/meet-the-russian-neo-nazis-fighting-for-ukraine/
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksiej_Milczakow
https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/putin-doesnt-combat-nazism-he-cultivates-it/
Feel free to explore beyond my links if you want to learn more
Knowledge is power!
I’ll check those later, thanks !
Right now we should focus on your dishonesty. For the trouble you’ve gone to ignore, hide, or dismiss neo-Nazis at the forefront of Ukrainian nationalism and national defense, why haven’t you just admitted :
“Yes, the reality IS that neo-Nazis ARE a significant social and military driver of resistance, but…”
1. “…I find them useful in fighting Russians so I don’t care.”
Or
2. “…their racism doesn’t impact me personally so I don’t care.”
Or
3. “…I support their Aryan supremacist vision for a future Ukraine and am OK with the ideology.”
Because at present, your fallacies (I forgot Tu Quoque earlier) just hide what appears to be one of my three suspicions about you, above.
Nobody knows you personally here – why can’t you be honest in this anonymity ?
They are minor. Certainly more minor than the amount of Russia.
Azov is depoliticized nowadays and there are no prominent neo nazis in power in Ukraine
Racism is always bad and I don’t care if it affects me or not
I don’t support aryan supremacy, I am a market socialist who disavowes racism
Yet your “they are minor” takes GREAT pains to dismiss the Nazi iconography, symbology, ideology that has been PROVEN to exist in the strongest military factions of Ukraine’s army; and as the driving nationalist force behind Ukraine’s sociopolitical actions since 2014 and its resistance since this war started.
I could take you seriously if you were honest, but I don’t think you, Kievvian Russel (or do I repeat myself?), the late ‘Christian Vila’ (or do I repeat myself?) or his followup ban-dodge account (or do I repeat myself?) or Almond (ibid) can admit to yourselves that your chosen “good guys” in this fight, are not the good guys.
How do you justify the racist anti-ethnic-Russian decrees against Donbas by Kiev, and the killings, that led the Russian Federation to need a SMO in the first place ? Is THAT also “just fine” because you quietly agree with it and/or it doesn’t affect you personally ??
“the killings, that led the Russian Federation to need a SMO in the first place?”
The Russian invasion didn’t start until the killings had nearly stopped.
Ah. So, then – there's an active shooter in a US school who has already killed eight people; go ahead & let the police know when his killing spree is "nearly finished" and THEN they'll act.
So, then: There's are two active shooters in a US school and have been for eight years, each killing hundreds of students a year. One of them is your employee, one is your opponent's employee.
Eventually, your employee gets tired, your opponent's employee has essentially won the contest, and the killings nearly cease.
So you grab your own gun and go into another wing of the school that previously wasn't experiencing the killings, bellowing about how you need to "protect" the students who aren't being killed anymore, by killing other students.
Ukrainians are the good guys
What racist anti ethnic decrees you you speak of?
Why would Ukraien want to kill ethnic Russians?
Russia is a fascist state.
Russia is doing what Hitler did with Operation: Himmler, where the poles were supposedly killing the ethnic german
they both used defending their people as a pretense, and in the 80 years since WW2 you have not yet learned it to be false
Holy s**t, that is the dumbest collection of lies & nonsense I’ve read since joke & Donald ceased posting.
You’re too divorced from facts & reality to waste my time on. Maybe ACTUALLY read some current & archived articles on antiwar.com and you’ll be worth anyone reasonable’s time.
Ok Gleiwitz Incident/Operation Himmler Apologiser
More lies. How deep is your well of dishonesty?
Clearly I know more than you
You lie more than everyone on here, with the possible exceptions of Almond, and Major Timbit Burns
Timmy Burns knows more than you obviously
False.
Wish you’d demonstrate that to us. Right now you’re just regurgitating propaganda, lies, and evident falsehoods. I thought you were in university – where’s that level of intelligent discourse you almost showed before ?
You embody bothsideism
Not a thing, liar.
Look it up
I know one more fallacy than you
You use 100x more fallacies than I do, too.
That stinks
Oh my, you’ve escalated to 3rd Grade rhetoric. Is “I”m Rubber, Ur Glue” in your next almighty unimpressive salvo ?
"They may be terrorists, but they're our terrorists."
Same goes for US-supported death squads.
Maura Clarke
Jean Donovan
Ita Ford
Dorothy Kazel
Smiley President Reagan's US covered up the 1980 El Salvador govt. atrocity, and it is perhaps not well-remembered now – such a long list.
But its horribleness loomed large in my 1980's college youth…as the horrible details of the 1955 Mississippi murder of 14-year-old Emmitt Till must have for generations of Civil Rights activists. NYT, 1998:
"4 Salvadorans Say They Killed U.S. Nuns on Orders of Military
"After 17 years…all four…former national guardsmen convicted of killing 3 American nuns and a lay worker in 1980 have said for the first time that they acted only after receiving 'orders from above.'
"The declarations, made from prison, are an important development in the case because El Salvador and the United States have always officially argued that the killers acted on their own. Human rights groups and relatives of the victims, however, have always maintained that the executions were ordered, approved and directed by the military authorities.
"The churchwomen — Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford and Dorothy Kazel — were abducted, raped and shot to death on the night of Dec. 2, 1980. The next day, peasants discovered their bodies alongside an isolated road and buried their remains in a common grave. The van they had been driving when stopped at a military checkpoint turned up 20 miles away, burned and gutted.
"The killings came as the United States was beginning a decade-long, $7 billion aid effort to prevent left-wing guerrillas from coming to power here."
Dear Antiwar Readers:
One of my brothers wrote me this re the US coverup of the El Salvador government's hand in the atrocity:
"You might want to write to the author and remind him that Carter reinstated military aid to El Salvador days before 'smiley' Reagan took over, less than two months after the rape and murder of four American nuns and their housekeeper. He was the lamest of lame duck presidents and could have gone out of office with a shred of morality on this corner of American violence, but didn't.
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/19/world/us-giving-salvador-combat-equipment.html
"The Times reminds us that Reagan was widely expected to reinstate aid, so why didn't Carter just wait for Reagan to do it?
"Putting aside the conspiracy-minded and the vulgar Marxists — 'Carter owed it to Big Banana' or was defending some collection of multinational corporations because he is a capitalist, (it seems very unlikely that the relationship would be so direct, especially for some place so economically small — and capitalism would do better with a more stable reformist government rather than a bloody dictatorship.)
"I think Carter was following the party line, believed in the party line, was the party line: Democrats did not want to be blamed for 'losing' El Salvador, so this dixie-crat reinstated aid so the party couldn't be blamed if the Marxists won even if it was under a Republican president. Carter gave guns to fight a rebellion as part of the cold war ideology that he believed: all the 'experts' argued for 'containment' — i.e. 'it's not starving, stymied people making the revolution, it's Russia.' The excuses never ended, never end."
Right! The re-invented HTS is a woke bunch of tolerant moderates. I wonder what pronouns Julani prefers? Maybe "headchopper" is one.
Let's send a team from our rainbow coalition to investigate.
So, HTS is the new Mujahideen, how did that work out for the region?
Ooh, déjà-vu
Al Nusra Front was formally Al qaeda in Iraq, before the US offered them the sweet deal of ……go to Syria we will fund you and you can wage war on Syrians…..we will even give you nice new Toyotas and all of that stuff……. they did that and behaved for a little while until some of them decided to go rogue, and split to form ISIS…. even the Israelis were giving them medical aid. But this should not be a shock……Mossad were the original funders of Hamas, in an attempt to over throw Yasser Arafat way back then, and Bin Ladin well he was originally trained by the CIA and given Stinger Missiles code named Archer…..
People are not supposed to know any of this. So far it has worked pretty well to tell the masses that there are good guys and bad guys and that the US decides which is which and the masses make cut outs of the bad guys and throw darts at them.
And why was al qaeda in Iraq… because America was in Iraq devastating the place.
"we will even give you nice new Toyotas and all of that stuff"
toyotas? you gotta picture terrorists thrilling to the same world marketed american action movie car chase scenes as every other impoverished and powerless third world-er
humvees n' ford crown victoria police interceptors? cool! huge sleek menacing black mercedes-benzes and bmw's? well, duuh! but toyotas? dude – toyotas?????
Toyota trucks, specifically.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/us/texas-plumber-sues-car-dealer-after-his-truck-ends-up-on-syrias-front-lines.html
EDIT – the one in the story is a Ford. But there is this article :
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/us-officials-isis-toyota-trucks/story%3fid=34266539
I stand corrected.
"US Officials Ask How ISIS Got So Many Toyota Trucks"
oh – and the news footage of a seemingly endless column of identical toyota trucks barreling towards the camera – isis flags flapping, cargo beds bristling with upright rockets and cowled jihadists?
hilarious! but needs a toyota ad voiceover!
I do feel bad for that nice plumber (?) fellow in California (?) who sold his company truck, it went to auto auction, the US gov't bought it and shipped it with others to Iraq, it was seized by ISIS and converted to a "technical", and shown on international news one time – with his company name & phone number still emblazoned on the doors.
EDIT – plumber, yes, but Texas.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/us/texas-plumber-sues-car-dealer-after-his-truck-ends-up-on-syrias-front-lines.html .
Hey… you know what the say. Any publicity is good publicity.
Good. F Assad, and F Putin.
Ignorance is bliss?…
;-/
I’m not in bliss watching from a far But he sure seems to be getting rich from killing. I’m glad you can support that.
Our 'terrorist list' is a joke. It is nothing more than a list of groups and countries we want to either reward or punish for compliance. Why is Cuba on the list, what terrorist activities do they support while HTS beheads people and executes prisoners.
Cuba beheads its cigars.
Cuba isn't corporation and capitalist friendly.
One of the defining traits of the Biden administration has been its insistence that it behaves honorably while implementing policies that are patently immoral. But I am comforted that he, those in his administration who attempt to whitewash their own savagery will one day have to face the millions of people whose lives they either ended or ruined.
Before her death in 1996, Baba Vanga "The Nostradamus of the Balkans", predicted that Syria’s fall would act as a precursor to a global conflict. She warned, “As soon as Syria falls, expect a great war between the West and the East. In the spring, a war in the East will begin, and there will be a Third World War. A war in the East that will destroy the West.”
Given the utter absence of character in this administration (and a few of its predecessor administrations), I have no reason to disbelieve her.
That's interesting. Have not heard that prophesy. On the other hand have heard from Christian preachers all over that prophesies of the bible are being fulfilled with the war in the Middle East heralding in the win of Israel and the West over the "enemy" adn that Israel will prevail and with Jesus reappearing will rule the world for thousand years they call "the Golden Age"
The Baba Vanga prophesy makes more sense karmic wise. Because just as I commented on the other one why would a just God, creator, the essence of love glory in the slaughter and ethnic cleansing of entire nations?
That's what has never made any sense to me about Christian Zionism. Why would God/Jesus support genocide? Unless the god of the Old Testament is the real god. As I recall he was all in on smiting whole groups. None of the touchy-feely stuff like love and .forgiveness.
…because it's Yawehovah's M.O. The god of the Old Testament is all about genocide, misogyny, racism, slavery, and homogeneous clothing materials. Additionally, he's quite the idiot.
Baba Yaga's "prophecy", especially as recently as 1996, is entirely unremarkable. Watch :
"In the coming years, nations that vie with each other for dominance in resources, trade, and wealth, will come to conflict in the air and seas and land; great domestic upheaval, environmental disaster, and death shall follow for both."
I just covered all bases for the past 50 and the next 300 years. You're welcome to quote me as accurate in any of the next couple centuries when the obviously inevitable obviously happens.
https://x.com/i/status/1866087123629023507
Will they pay a price? in America the Christian right is celebrating it for Greater Israel seeing the prophesies being fulfilled and the secular bunches on the Left and the Right are also dreaming of a Greater Israel to control the entire Middle East. "Might makes right" is still the slogan or now "Peace through strength".
After Syria's Shia minority is genocided, does the roadshow go to Iran?
The Middle East's Sunni Muslim population could be genocided by Israel and the US within two years.
The question isn't as far-fetched as Jerusalem and Washington may claim.
"'They’re saying the right things now, but…we will assess not just their words but their actions,' Biden said."
Biden demurred regarding Syrian "actions" the White House envisioned, but said unconditional fealty to the US and its regional allies, or declaring a Jihad on Gaza, wouldn't hurt.
Shockilng!! But I figured they'd at least wait a week or two. But I guess compared to Israel, HTS isn't really a terrorist organization. No one is.
We'll always have DC ….
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/12/10/taliban-in-afghanistan-bad-al-qaeda-in-syria-good/
Cool
Its how you know the american fed gov is corrupt and complicit.
Who is a "Rebel" and who is a "Terrorist" depends on whose ox is being gored.
This is so 1984-ish. Orwell was on to something. "We are not at war with Al Qaeda, we were never at war with Al Qaeda….."
If Biden recognizes Julani's government that was linked to Al Qaeda, he should withdraw his troops in Syria.
What a convenient way to release yourself from supporting a so called "moderate" terrorists…!
"The US is considering removing … (HTS) from the list of US-designated terror organizations."
They might have considered that BEFORE Joltin' Joe Biden had his "we supported, they insurrected, Assad fell" moment.
A month before he takes office, they left Trump another mess to deal with: https://x.com/RonPaul/status/1866201354177335756
The same mess that Trump promised to end, then escalated and maintained, before.
President Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Syria during his first term. Not surprisingly, his orders were disobeyed. Let's hope this time he gets our remaining 900 troops out of Syria for good. If anybody can do it, it will be President Trump.
You are talking about the guy who said "Take the oil."
Well if you’re going to have an empire you might as well plunder your colonies like Britain did for centuries. Otherwise what’s the point.
“President Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Syria during his first term. Then he reversed the order.”
Fixed, no charge.
You can't really defend him with him doing something he didn't follow through on. He did two missile strikes also. And he didn't have to impose draconian sanctions on the Syrian people, but he did that too.
Only America and Israel can invade other countries with impunity. The US has a two tiered international legal system as well as a two tiered domestic legal system.
How about the US financing of terrorists in Syria? The same terrorists who came out of the group that destroyed the World Trade Center are financed and armed by the American CIA and UK MI6
Why is Israel allowed to attack Syria and take territory? Why is Israel taking Damascus?
Not to mention:
State Department Spokesman Matt Miller justified Israel’s invasion of Syria based on hypotheticals.
Shaun Tandon: Israel has gone across the Golan Heights, the UN said it’s a violation, does the US agree
Miller: Every country would be worried about a possible vacuum that could be filled by terrorist organizations on its border…Israel said it’s temporary
Humeyra Pamuk: Did they describe what ‘temporary’ would look like, is it 6 months, one year—
Miller: I’m not gonna get into those diplomatic conversations
America has become a pariah to the Global South.
Miller has demonstrated over and over – ad nauseam – that he is an idiot.
Gen. Wesley Clark infamously named Syria as one of the 7 Muslim countries the US intended to methodically overthrow. The neocons had targeted "the Arab Republic of Syria" for "regime change" at least a decade ago but Putin's Russia notably stood in the way by saying "Nyet". That was the point at which Putin suddenly was vilified as "Hitler" and the Russians became our enemies again. It explains why the West fomented and funded the Ukrainian-Russian War that has caused hundreds of thousands of dead European Slavs over the past two years and caused the partition of Ukraine into east and west. It took Hundreds of Billions of US $$$ but it apparently helped preoccupy Putin in Ukraine so that he could no longer protect his ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria. So now we've got ISIS and Al-Qaeda linked "rebels" roaming free in Syria. What could possibly go wrong?
Funny how Biden-loyal media ape each other. European social democrat papers write that al-Assad is a "dictator" but the terrorist al-Bashir is "a prime minister" in Idlib who has been "appointed" prime minister of Syria. And he is a "modernizer" who "introduced digital administration" in Idlib. So the rest of Syria doesn't have computers?
They also write that Idlib is "an autonomous enclave."
He is not "appointed by HTS." He is the FOUNDER of HTS. He is not "appointed" in Damascus either, he invaded Damascus and is a dictator. He is not a "modernizer," he is an Islamist, the opposite. Idlib is not "autonomous," it was invaded and occupied.
They NEVER write that Donbass is "an autonomous enclave." They write that it is "occupied by Russia-backed separatists."
The media also write that al-Bashir is an electro engineer – never a word about al-Assad's education. And al-Bashir is "educated" in Sharia law. Not that he FORCES Sharia law on Idlib, where the people weren't allowed to leave – so they were slaves for the Islamists.
The media ALWAYS mention that women have to wear a veil in Iran. No such word about these Islamists. In Iran women are in education, media and the military. They wear modern clothes and colorful veils that are pushed far back on the head, so you can see their hair. That is not allowed in Idlib.
In short, Biden-loyal media lie, but we knew that already.
You sound dangerously close to questioning our Fake News. Be careful.
ok swede
Vi har sett Washingtons köpta brottslingar göra sådant här förut. De bombade kärnkraftverket i Zhaporizhie för att orsaka en kärnkraftskatastrof, och använda det i media. De ljög och påstod att "det var Ryssland som gjorde det!" och Aftonbladet och de övriga lögnarna i väst repeterade som vanligt alla Kievregimens uttalanden som om de var fakta.
Till slut har Ryssland tvingats stänga ned kärnkraftverket. Från vilket de även hade gett ström åt Kievkontrollerade områden. Men att invånarna där förlorar el är inget som Zelensky bryr sig om. Han som för ett år sedan sålde Ukrainas mark till Kina (10% av all åkermark), Bidenallierade BlackRock, och andra utlänningar.
FN-observatörerna har bekräftat att nej, Ryssland bombade inte sitt eget hållna kärnkraftverk, det var Kiev som gjorde det. Även västerländska media fick erkänna det – och släppte omedelbart nyheten. Hade det varit Ryssland skulle vi hört om det varje dag.
Kievs nazistiska Azovbataljon höll civila som mänskliga sköldar i Mariupol. De sade innan kriget att "vi är på fiendemark" här, för att befolkningen var rysk, och de sköt med automatgevär mot demonstranter 2014, efter kuppen i Kiev. Nu i år tvingade de in rysktalande i teatern i Mariupol och sprängde den, för att skylla på Ryssland. De ställde pansarfordon intill bombskydd för att bombskydden skulle träffas av ryskt artilleri och civila skulle dö.
Azovbataljonen drog sig in från sina vanliga ställningar utanför Mariupol och andra städer i Kievockuperade delarna av Donbass, för att förskansa sig i fabrikerna som ligger i städernas mitt. Kiev förlade soldater i övergivna sjukhus och skolor, och anklagade sedan Ryssland för att "bomba sjukhus och skolor!" – utan att media nämnde att de var tomma förutom soldaterna, vilket gör dem till legitima militära mål.
Kiev ljög och sade att Ryssland bombat turkiskbyggda Sultan Suleiman-moskén i Mariupol. Den var inte bombad. De ljög och sade att Ryssland bombat Babi Yar-monumentet från andra världskriget, vilket har värde för Israel. En israelisk journalist reste dit och konstaterade att Kiev ljög igen. De har också använt bilder på de civila bostäder de bombat i Donbass DAGLIGEN I SJU ÅR, och påstått att det är bostadshus bombade av Ryssland i västra Ukraina. De ställer artilleri på stadsgator för att Ryssland ska skjuta artilleri mot dem, så de sedan kan visa förstörda byggnader.
Ukraina lägger ut personminor i skogarna, vilket gör att man aldrig någonsin kan gå in i dem igen. Ryssland gör det inte. Men media nämner det inte.
En ukrainsk läkare skröt om att han ger order om att alla tillfångatagna ryska soldater ska kastreras, för att "de är djur". Ukrainarna har skjutit ryska fångar i knäna. De har tagit mobiltelefonerna från döda ryska soldater för att ringa deras mödrar och skratta åt dem. Medan Ryssland strikt håller sig till krigslagarna för tillfångatagna soldater, vilket media i väst inte säger något om.
När Amnesty klagar på Kievdiktaturens krigsbrott påstås de vara ryssagenter, etc. Precis som varje politiker eller diplomat i Europa som kritiserar Kiev på något sätt. De har förbjudit 11 oppositionspartier, förbjudit kritiska och rysktalande TV-stationer och tidningar, så att Zelensky nu är en diktator. Med lönen för honom och hans parti helt betalade av Biden. Parlamentet gav sig en 70-procentig löneförhöjning nu under sommaren, med amerikanska pengar. Men det är Ryssland som påstås vara en diktatur. Där den konservativa regeringen tillåter till och med kommunistpartiet.
Medan Ryssland är mycket noga med att avancera långsamt för att inte slösa bort sina soldaters liv, gör Zelensky av med minst 300 värnpliktigas liv dagligen, och tvingar ut tusentals på platt mark vid Kherson, där de lätt bombades av artilleri, mot general Zalarskys råd. Och han slösade bort 5000 värnpliktiga på att ta mark utan industrier eller strategiskt värde vid Kharkov, när Ryssland hade nästan helt flyttat soldaterna där till det viktiga Donbass, och ställt in artilleriet för att lätt kunna bomba Kievsoldaterna i förplanerade områden. 20 000 av Ukrainas värnpliktiga har dött bara i september, och 60% av deras utländska stridsvagnar har förstörts, för att Zelensky hoppades på en filmseger. Bidens sida är vårdslös med liv och egendom gång på gång.
Och när Rysslands värdefulla pipelines sprängs – då skyller media naturligtvis på Ryssland. Helt otroligt. Bidens sida har till och med beskjutit ett kärnkraftverk i flera månader, men så klart är det Ryssland som attackerar SINA EGNA PIPELINES, vilka de har kämpat för att få igång i åratal.
The Al-Qaeda "rebels" has a much nicer ring to it than Al-Qaeda "terrorists" don't you think? "Rebels" conjures up images of Bunker Hill and 1776 instead of 9-11.
Terrorist or Resistant depends on where the political wind blows from. The Salafists and AQ and other religious fanatics united to get rid of Assad, an Allawi who governed ab almost secular Syria. The CIA is in charge and they will pick the new man replacing Assad. The power struggle could turn ugly and end up another Libya and Iraq, just another failed state.
“Terrorist” and “Resistant” aren’t antonyms. The former is a tactic, the latter is a cause. It’s entirely possible to be both.
The Western powers led by the USA kept Nelson Mandela on the terrorist list for 7 years after he had been in prison for decades for what they called terrorism aka resistance.
Now our leaders jumped in bed with AQ and the Salafists aka HMT, and do they honestly believe they can control them or simply want another failed nation like Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan?
I heard the massacres in Syria have already started.
Play ball with us, and I just might make yer rap sheet disappear.
Nya, and if ya don't, ya'll get the old Gaddafi treatment! Nya, see, nya!
Is there any fundamental difference between the terrorism of al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria and the US and Israeli state terrorism in the Middle East?
Olê, Olê olê olá, Syria!
Laughing my ass off. Really, you just can't make this stuff up. The most laughable excuse for a government in history – bar none.
Is there a single, solitary offense against human decency these circus clowns have made or won't make?
Biden: the worst excuse for a head of state I've seen in my entire 80 plus years – bar none. Nixon wasn't even close.
In 2014 and before, western media was howling over the dangers of the Azov Battalion and others. There were constant articles about the dangers of this organization being an international recruitment of white supremacist neoNazis.
After they began doing the empire bidding as proxies to fight Russia, the narrative turns to, “well they don’t really have those beliefs anymore”, “let’s train them and send arms”. Whitewashing pawns while they are useful is standard empire playbook 101.
Mulls? Can we remind them of the video of 8 year old chikd being beheaded? Can I remind nedia that went into overdrive then to argue that it was a thirteen year old — to suggest that he may have been a militant? Everebidy who saw that knows the difference between the little legs of a child dangling as his executioner held him in his arms before killing the child — and leggs of a thirteen year old. This is how low our media can get!
Sure – what is to mull over. Our taxpayer funded HTS and former Nusra Friont for more than a decade. But it is British that do day to day work from their sovereign territory in Cypress, White Helmets were flown out years ago, needed for other missions. But shipped now back
No matter what, it is not likely HTS will be a major player nor a king maker. It can only be propped up for others to manage it from behind. HTS is officially 15,000 strong. May be a little nore.
But this is nothing to the force Turkiye assembled from various factions over years. It may be over 100,000. Most peeled off from HTS that was not popular in Idlib.
while it is hard to estimate strength of this now renamed Syrian National Army — let me venture a guess that Assad’s army did NOT fold in front of a might of HTS. ASSAD’s army had essentially turned their assets over to Turkiye built Syrian National army. A controlled demolition. Let us see — who is the current army going to join — Turkiye trained forces or HTS?
Even the interim prime minister to rule trrough transution is not HTS. Anybody defined “transition”? In fact under his rule in Idlib in Marvh 2024 there were massive anti-HTS protests. HTS imprisoned many of them, but Mihammed Al-Bashir issued amnesty.
As we speak Syrian National Army has already forced Kurds to withsmdraw from the city of Manbij SDF held with US help for at least six years.
Israel is getting nervous and is incessantly bombing Syrian military assets in order to improve HTS chances to wrestle power. But Israel must know that Turkiye has no problems resupplying. Yes, Israel has much to fear — Turkiye is a king maker. And would not wish it on its borders.
HTS leader made a nice show to make himself appear the natural new leader of Syria. But no matter what his fortunes, HTS can only remain a managed marginal group.
Power struggle has just begun.
Seyed Mohammad Marandi® @s_m_marandi
Erdogan's Al-Qaeda terrorists execute former Syrian
Arab Army soldiers in a hospital.
https://x.com/s_m_marandi/status/1866339233729819030
https://x.com/s_m_marandi/status/1866339233729819030
They may have already taken down the video.
Watched it. Looks like it's right up Biden's alley.
It’s a shitshow.
tim anderson & @timand2037
https://x.com/timand2037/status/1866356832161468580
"Liberated Syria". Sectarian killings by armed gangs in Damascus. The men beg for mercy but the shooter says "No you are Nusayri [Alawil pigs".