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Written by Uriel Araujo, PhD, anthropology researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts
After combating terrorism and rebel groups for over twelve years, the former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled the capital of Damascus with his family on December 7, shortly before it fell to the rebels. The victorious insurgents are the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organization along with an umbrella group called the Syrian National Army.
Craig Murray (former British ambassador to Uzbekistan), in a panel about “the end of pluralism in the Middle East”, described the “Syrian rebels” as “a tool of NATO, Israel and Turkey”. This is a complex description for a complex situation indeed. Of the three, many analysts are focusing on the Israeli and Turkish angle—not so much on the American angle, though.
To recap, since the 2011 armed rebellion, Syria has counted on military aid from its allies Iran and Russia. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as well as the (Tehran-backed) Lebanese Hezbollah have in fact been the main anti-terrorist actors in the Levant, by deterring the expansion of terrorist group ISIS (Daesh) and thereby making the region safer for Christians and other minorities. Islamic Wahhabi/Salafi extremists were, after all, beheading some of them while kidnapping others and selling women as slaves.
The fact is that the rebels who have won in Syria now are not of a very different persuasion, and it is no wonder many are now concerned. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens for one has urged the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to aid the Christian population in Syria. He wrote:
“The advance of extremist armed groups and the capture of Aleppo threaten… the interfaith composition of the region’s population… there is now a looming danger of the complete eradication… of Greek Orthodoxy and Christianity from the wider region.”
Such concerns are well founded. One should bear in mind that (Saudi-born) Abu Mohammed al-Julani, the very leader of Turkish-backed HTS, the group who has captured Aleppo (Syria’s second largest city), joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2003, later establishing its split branch in Syria, the so-called al-Nusra Front. This group, under al-Julani, cooperated with the infamous Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Al-Qaeda’s split offshoot called “Islamic State in Iraq”, later known as ISIL (ISIS) or Daesh.
Al-Julani’s own later split from al-Qaeda and creation of the aforementioned HTS has been described as a merely “bid” to “stress his group’s national, as opposed to transnational, ambitions.” In other words, the group is just another re-branded offshoot of ISIS/Al-Qaeda. And those are the people who have now conquered Syria.
One might disapprove of Assad’s ruling but such a development can hardly be described by most as anything other than a disaster. Turkey (who aids the rebels) and Israel, as already mentioned, do benefit from this outcome, however, for their own reasons—and much is already being talked about that. But not so many analysts are highlighting the American role in all of it.
For example, the US-backed Syrian Free Army (a coalition which has taken control of Hom’s Palmyra district) announced that they are “open to friendship with everyone in the region – including Israel. We don’t have enemies other than the Assad regime, Hezbollah and Iran. What Israel did against Hezbollah in Lebanon helped us a great deal”–while claiming they are not allied with Turkey. The group, being increasingly dependent on Turkey, is a close ally of the United States, and was even hosted at the American military base at al-Tanf. Turkey, despite its differences with Washington is of course also, let us not forget it, a NATO member.
The future of Syria and the concerned parties is far from clear now, there being lots of room for infighting among the different rebel factions. Turkey, which has long occupied northern Syria, has taken advantage of the ceasefire in Lebanon to give the rebels the green-light for launching an offensive (with Iran weakened in Syria and Hezbollah cornered in Lebanon). However Turkish-American differences pertaining to the Kurdish question are to remain a focal point for tensions.
HTS is indeed Turkish-backed but, as mentioned, its roots can be traced to Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other such groups empowered by Washington’s policy. One should not forget the fact that there are still around 900 US troops in Syria (mostly in the northeast, near Turkish strongholds) which witnessed the rebel victory. This has led some analysts to comment that “whether the Pentagon wants to admit it or not”, these troops are “likely involved in the broader conflict unfolding there right now.”
Moreover, there is nothing new about the West praising and empowering brutal terrorism and radicals when such is deemed geopolitically convenient: if former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton under President Barack Obama had achieved her stated goals, Syria would be in a similar situation to Libya since 2011 – in Libya, coincidence or not, arms provided by the US to rebels there also “ended up” in ISIS hands, according to Amnesty reports.
Back to the Levant region, it is a well-established fact that Washington played a key role in the empowerment of ISIS (or Daesh) both in Syria and Iraq (as well as other brutal radicals), with the Pentagon and the CIA arming mostly foreign Islamic militias that ended up even fighting among themselves. This is consistent with American foreign policy elsewhere too. The infamous Clinton emails also show how the US was aware of their allies Qatar and Saudi Arabia supporting Daesh terror.
The White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Sean Savett said in a recent statement that Washington “has nothing to do with this offensive.” Considering all of the above, one can certainly be justified in taking such statements with a grain of salt. For Washington, further destabilizing Syria might also serve the role of “countering” Russia in the region. The US has consistently aided, funded, armed and trained Fundamentalist rebels who operate in the Levant for over a decade and there is no reason to assume anything is different now with the newest developments.
Finally, still on the topic of the Christian minority, US foreign policy—for a variety of reasons—has actually often involved dividing or destabilizing Eastern Christian (both Orthodox and Miaphysitist) populations or sometimes even aiding or turning a blind eye to the ethnic-religious cleansing of such groups or of Christians in general in the Levant region, for that matter.
This is of course quite ironic for a country such as the US who often hails itself as “one nation under God” or as a “Christian nation”– this being the Republican party line at least. Trump for one has posted that “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend”.
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once again, on south front, nato-sponsored voices will try to convince you of putin’s many supposed flaws. their sole strategy to avoid a loss in ukraine is to push for regime change in russia. don’t expect reasoned arguments or honesty. these are the same individuals who dismiss accusations of genocide against israel, so expecting fairness is futile.
high-level sources say by feb. 20th, nato wants to be officially at war with russia—
as globalists launch massive military destabilization campaigns in syria, romania, & georgia, threatening to engulf the world in total war
tell your high level sources in your ass that no one believe them, you loser.
remember “by february 20”..!
remember “you loser” !
this is probably why iran nor russia cared to fight in syria. theyve both been/being threatened by a war with nato. usa and israel for starters. i think its smarts not fear.
syria was a lost cause. a war between nato and russia will go nuclear fast, and while most of the west politicians are desperate and reckless, i’m sure they understand quite well that their persons are strategic targets. do you think keir starmer is willing to die for ukraine or syria ? olaf scholz ? macron ? trump ? skip59 is an idiot and its last fearmongering was that nato would be making a nuclear attack on russia at the beginning of december.
this kind of fearmongering should have worked on some kid in the past and now he thinks that he is mighty clever. he is also very proud of how he is able to clear the cookies of its browser. that is the level of the guy.
it’s obvious now that an al-qaeda controlled syria is a threat not only to its citizens, who will be beheaded/persecuted, but to their neighbors as well. i propose a separate christian state, as a safe haven, as well as free kurdistan 🇭🇺 ! free daraa, which belongs to israel, and free alawites from salafist oppression.
i propose to balkanize israel into a haredi statelet where imbreeding is official policy. that should make for some really ugly babies. a secular statelet, a palestinian statelet and a druze statelet. imposing jewish beliefs onto non jewish minorities is racist. balkanize israel is the final solution. jerusalem is a free city for all religions. capital of the jewish state can move to jew york
israel enemies are collapsing while it moves on. you will be squashed like a cockroach. jihadist fight on lebanon will bring it to it to heel, you will see.
moves on where? where are you going moshe. into the wall then down a hole
“squashed like a cockroach”. hmmmm … i sense tension here, and a big dose of insecurity. too much sugar in the bagels methinks 🥯🥯. 😋😜
the europeans countries celerity with freezing syrians’ refugee applications shows how they are concerned with the rise of right wing parties. that is another face of why this operation was launched. i think they are gravely mistaken if they think that further chaos in the middle east will improve their lot.
ukrain would had the same outcame with nato troops at the ground in 2 weeks they were back to moscow
but there would be no nato cities anymore.
or either russia debil mental
remember that one time people were telling y’all about assad making occultist handshakes with kiketin?
have fun with the consequences of uncaring.
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=h9dxnatd8w4 the spearpoint focues the energy of the strike.
no. doesn’t ring a bell 🔔
assad has indeed fallen, but what has not fallen and power in the hands of some rebels still, they will dispute for power. the war is not over yet friends, there are potential enemies for the dispute of the throne in syria
where’s our favorite erdoganist, damir nazarov. we missed his wahabi anti-shia rants.
russia’s “security guarantee” to syria was worth as much as used toilet paper…heheheh…
and that’s why the russians moved their nuclear arsenal away from kike control. they remember the bolshevik kikes who murdered their families in the millions.
usa spent trillions in afghanistan and said taliban are nowhere in sight. 1 week later, taliban rules. and that’s with way more forces than russia. you clown
guess you have no idea what has been going on. assad turned his back on his people and his allies. why should iranian and ‘russian forces fight for syria, when the syrian elite could not be bothered and assumed their allies would do all the work?
all amerikunts like used tp in taco
russia and iran now in shambles.
business as usual. it’s not what it seems .it’s just business. its not personal or political even really its burun3ss acquisitions corporate take overs .land grabs. the ” religion ” in it imo if anything is human sacrifice..from sacrifice they believe comes profit .to please mars the god of .war .
we amerikunts humiliated again—hts hates us respects russia
this on zh – “idf tanks reach just 25km from damascus as netanyahu declares golan is ‘ours forever'”!… if all else is lost for the genocide in palestine, lebanon and now syria hoping that there is a nuclear “light” at the end of i$rael’s tunnel!…
ready for this to be my last “x”mas as it is and will continue to be a zi0ni$t apartheid global $tate and prison for all of the rest of us especially the prc and india that have contributed immeasurably to it’s fruition by betraying both the un/unsc charter and more importantly briics by not facilitating support militarily to russia when it was most needed!!!
should we be at all surprised at this coup in syria? turkey should be banished from brics first and for most! to think venezuela was outed from the last round for a nato zionist scum like turkey and erdogon! backstabed russia, iran, china and other global south nations with a modicum of balls to stand up to the zionist globalists. if their was ever any doubt the zionists were at the centre of this, its been dispelled.
pokrovsk is starting a massive new flower over the last days, swing northwest threatening to completely cut off pokrovsk from the east. we are officially seeing the very edge off city being entered already; as edges are already collapsing. all supply routes will be cut in to the city from east in next 2 weeks in a pincer move while flower expands south and further east.