Though Israel was very supportive of the HTS regime change in Syria last month, Tel Aviv is now using that regime change as a pretext for open-ended occupation of more Syrian territory, above and beyond the occupied Golan Heights.
New reports citing unnamed senior Israeli officials express “shock” at Western nations embracing the Islamist leaders of post-Assad Syria, and accuse them of turning a blind eye to hypothetical future risks Syria could pose.
According to these officials, Israel’s plan is to create an occupied “control zone” inside Syria, stretching out 15 km from the already-occupied Golan Heights. This, they say, would prevent any future rocket fire against the Heights.
In addition to this expanded military occupation, Israel intends to have a 60-km deep “sphere of influence” in Syria under the control of Israeli intelligence agencies. The claim is this would prevent future threats from developing.
Israel invaded the demilitarized zone between the Golan Heights and the rest of Syria almost immediately upon the regime change. While Israeli troops have steadily moved deeper and deeper into southern Syria’s Quneitra and Daraa Province, it is only now that a potential permanent occupation of these areas is being talked about.
Israel has long considered its occupation of the Golan Heights since 1967 as permanent. While the international community overwhelmingly doesn’t recognize this, Israel annexed the Heights, and President Trump endorsed that annexation in 2019.
The Golan Heights annexation was supposedly a strategic matter, but the seizure of new territory overlooked by the Heights is based on the pretext of a “threat” posed by a new government that openly says it wants to be on positive terms with Israel.
“No one can guarantee that they will not eventually turn against us” appears to be the sum total of Israel’s new justification for the territory seizure. Given Israel’s overt hostility toward the Islamist government since the takeover, it’s hard to see Israeli leadership continuing to talk of “cordial” relations with the occupying power.
Israel was long hostile to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and took credit for his ouster in favor of al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Still, being hostile to whomever is in power in Syria seems to be the underlying policy and the justification for continued military action on Syrian soil.
So basically all the hand wringing and nail biting, moaning and kvetching about how Assad must go in order for war to end in Syria was a lie. Now he's gone, abandoned by his friends, and replaced by a gang of thugs with US, Turkish, Israeli, and Gulf state backers; and instead of 'peace", we get enhanced fighting between the CIA-supported Al Qaeda terrorist offshoots and the Pentagon-supported kurdish PKK terrorist offshoots, and everyone (USA, Israel, Turkey) is grabbing territory (or "bases") for themselves. If I didn't actually live in the USA I would damn it to hell; instead, out of self interest, I'll just damn our military and civilian leadership to Hell; and the entirety of Israel and Turkey as well.
Technically Assad had to go to do the land grab. So it does make sense. HTS is no match against Israel even when backed by Turkey.
Clearly, Just like Saddam had to go; and Gaddafi had to go, and “Putin must go”. Because “Peace”. Hell’s not hot enough for these lying murderous psychopathic MFs.
Stealing land makes sense???
Yes. It’s a time tested human concept. If don’t have your own , steal it from someone else. Hence why we must have a defense force.
It’s amazing to watch. “He’s killing his own people.” Then he’s removed, and we get radicals, inevitable civil war, the destruction of Syrian military assets, and Israeli expansion.
The Kurds are enticed with their own state to include the best of Syrian resources, and Turkey is lured in to stop it. Syrians want a secular state but have radicals. Syrian minorities are slaughtered. Rooted peoples in Syria lose ground to uprooted radicals.
It’s so bad that at least some Druze wish to join Israel just to avoid immediate destruction.
Christians are being killed.
Matters not to the Biden administration, and, will not to the Trump administration.
They may at least pay the jizya, eventually anyway.
Yazidis, like the Zoroastrians of Persia, the pagans of Europe, the Hindus and other pagans of India etc.: aren’t so lucky.
And Druze sound like pagans to me, pagan-like anyway, like Sikhs.
The Taliban is somewhat tolerant currently; but I expect they’ll be less so if the power balance changes.
Syria has a dangerous power balance, currently. If a killing happens, it can be dismissed as “anarchy.”
Taliban will be more tolerant once they crush isis. They follow the hanafi school of jurisprudence. Hanafi with a more local deobondi reading. They rthe most tolerant towards the idol worshippers deobindi ideas r from subcontinent and developed a nation filled with genuine idol worshippers
I’m relieved to hear that. It’s neat to have these different groups.
"Developed in a nation filled with genuine idol worshippers" I.e india
ROFL@U
Taliban and tolerance don't mix.
blah blah blah Trump's fault too blah blah blah
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was right about America after all.
Sounds like Western /US empire and Israeli Project are in conflict…!
Not "the sum total …." They also took the water.
One of the first things Israel did was lock down the water for Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
The operation of the past year, I believe, was planned years ago.
"Greater Israel" is the shout of the Zionists in Israel. The mask was taken off 7Oct when the Zionist executed the Hannibal Directive, then proceeded to kill ever more Palestinians, with the IDF soldiers (not all of them) becoming the evil animals that Palestinians were called.
Haaretz, the Jewish periodical, has documented admissions by IDF soldiers of the evil inflicted on Palestinians.
Contests between battalions as to how many Palestinians were killed. Children shot by IDF snipers.
One incident alleged by an IDF soldier involved the shooting of what turned out to be a 16 year old Palestinians boy. Each IDF soldier in the platoon laughed as the body of the child was continually shot as it lay on the ground.
The list went on. Evil.
No, it will take a full on battle between HTS, the Turks to be ride of Israel from what used to be Syria.
A tad Germanesque!…!….!
Israel is in a very long war with most of its neighbors, and some farther states like Iran and Turkey. The renewed war that started a year ago Oct 7 is only in its fourth act right now, and there are dozens of more acts in this play to come. Some expected future events in no particular time order are:
— Israel attacks Iran's nuclear program
— Jordan kingdom overthrown
— Egypt regime overthrown
— Turkey goes after the Syrian Kurds.
— US does (or not) prop up the Kurds
— Israel cleans out the Palestinians from Gaza and/or West bank
— Israel fights Turkey directly
— Houthis get incinerated
— US does (or doesn't) break with Turkey, a NATO member
— Israel rebuilds the Temple
— Israel fights a nuclear war
I'm not sure about all of those points, however I think there is going to be big trouble between Turkey and Israel sooner than later, The IDF has had it easy so far bombing women and kids in failed and/or weak states without an air force. Erdogan and Turkey would be a big mistake for them to pick a fight with.
Turkey and Israel have much to lose in war against each other and nothing to gain? That war will not happen.
There are too many groups religious, ethnic, and states Turkey, Israel, USA and Russia, the Kurds and the Syrians all have interests wanting a piece of flesh, all the vultures wanting a piece, it usually ends in a bloody civil war.
You like to day dream. Why would Israel want Egypt or Jordan governments overthrown? These two nations are friendly to Israel after 30 + years of not being friendly. Secondly, both Israel and Turkey have way too much too lose in war against each other and what would they gain in that war?
Israel wants pieces of both countries territory for the greater Israel agenda.
They want all of the ME.
That was decided during the Carter admin. Israel is to control the oil in the middle east along with some western multi-national corps. Carter was a Xtian Zionist, but since he died, people forget all the bad things he did. https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/11/jimmy-carters-blood-drenched-legacy-2/
Carter was not perfect and he too had to deal with the hidden powers, his biggest mistake I think was to trust Brzezinski.
Check this video out before it gets taken down: In Israel, ADL Chief Jonathan Greenblatt Appears to Call for Using Terrorism against people on the web against Zionism. In Israel, ADL Chief Jonathan Greenblatt Appears to Call for Using Terrorism
Israel already is a rogue terrorist state.
You don't get it, the ME belongs to the Zionist Israelis, their bible says so. What are 30 years in 2000 years of history? Wake up.
As long as Egypt and Jordan can contain their populations by way of US provided aid and weapons to their govts, all will be calm on that front–but this is not a long term stability– The Jordan and Egypt "friendship" for Israel is shallow as it is bought, but the payments don't get spread around.
As for US/Israel vs Turkey—the big loser will be the Kurds—US and Israel will now willingly abandon the Kurds to the Turks to wipe them out — All ok now that Syria has been "successfully" turned into an Islamic failed state. The abandonment of the Kurds is yet another example of the fatality of being friends with the USA
Do you have any idea of how much $$$ the U.S. pays in bribes to Jordan and Egypt to make nice with Israel?
Check this article out: https://www.sott.net/article/497160-First-order-of-business-of-new-congress-is-to-protect-Israel
They think that Pope Francis should excommunicate Biden? OK, I'll go for that. Oh, not for supplying and financing a genocide, but just because Israel has killed a few Christians and he didn't complain? That's their reasoning?
They can go fuck themselves.
I presume they can only afford to do this thanks to strong financial support from the USA.
They may need more than financial support. Occupiers need boots on the ground too. A Hodge- podge of religious and nations like Israelis, Kurds, Turks, Americans and HTS people can only result in bloody civil war, the Syrian people can only be the losers. Western values, could one ask for more?
Sunnis, Shiites, Allawi, Salafists, and Christians, a has been fairly secular Syria and an HTS AQ official in charge, what a mess the Biden/American legacy. Can people like Trump stop it?
I doubt Trump cares, but I would imagine that as they expand their perimeter they also expand the opportunities for disgruntled locals to take pot shots at them. I would expect a steady flow of killed and wounded in a country that is relatively averse.
Trump does not care blah blah blah blah blah
That is supposed to be insight, cheap smears???
Do you ever listen to the words that come out of Trump's mouth?
Israel is just stealing land as usual. The problem will arise when they run into Turkey who is also stealing land, who gets the territories in between?
That is interesting.
As Ankara and Washington disagree over the future of Syrian Kurds, Israel warns of war with Turkey
"In Syria, which has been ravaged by a war for regime change since 2011, Ankara may find itself clashing not only with its NATO ally Washington or the SDF, but also with Israel.
On 6 January, the Nagel Commission’s report, which was presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, stated that “Turkey has become the most influential power in Damascus and that the Sunni-Turkish axis has replaced Iran’s Shiite axis.” https://www.wsws.org/en?redirect=true
Damascus, it already looks like Gaza. Get ready for a river of blood in Syria, after many years of poverty and misery, the purpose of sanctions meant to destabilize a nation, the set up for regime change and failed states succeeded. American values, Freedom and Democracy, at it's best.
https://www.youtube.com
we seen the same thing happen in Libya… a once prosperous nation that refused to kill the US's a** so the US starts a false narrative to justify the use of military force to "conquer the enemy of freedom" that ends up not just destroying a nation but carving it up into warring factions for decades to come while the US rapes the nation's resources.
I always knew that Israel's attitude toward the terrorist groups in Syria was "The enemy of my enemy is my friend…..for the time being."
Israel helped the terrorists overthrow Assad knowing full well that once that was achieved they would turn on those same terrorists to justify another land grab in Syria.
In the eye of Israel…that would be the consequence of the Enemy-of-my-Enemy-is-my-Friend-Temporarily…!
Vile thieves!