[Rich]

Trump has come out and said we shouldn't get involved with Syria. This is wise up to a point. We must rely on Israel now to stop a resurgence of Islamic State, keep Al Qaeda in line and give support to our allies the Kurds. We should give Israel extra support in weapons, ammunition, financial support and diplomatically. Ideally Israel could also provide a safe zone in south west Syria for Christians, Alawites and Druze.

[Deutschmania]

Here are the latest reports I have gathered up in a news digest . All are from The Guardian , for reference .

Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, has fallen and fled to Russia after rebel forces entered the capital Damascus, capping a stunning advance across the country in an extraordinary day for Syria.

Here is everything we know so far:

Reports in Russia have said Bashar al-Assad and family have been granted asylum in Moscow after Syrian anti-government rebels declared they had seized control of Damascus on Sunday, ending his family’s decades of autocratic rule after more than 13 years of civil war.

Rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, visited Damascus’ landmark Umayyad Mosque on Sunday. He said in an earlier statement read on Syria’s state TV that “the future is ours”. He has reportedly said that all state institutions will remain under the supervision of al-Assad’s prime minister until they are handed over officially.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday praised the end of Syria’s “dictatorial regime” and called on the country to focus on rebuilding. “After 14 years of brutal war and the fall of the dictatorial regime, today the people of Syria can seize an historic opportunity to build a stable and peaceful future,” Guterres said in a statement.

Footage shows the Damascus residence of Bashar al-Assad has been stormed and almost emptied by looters. There were reports earlier today that the Iranian embassy in Damascus was attacked.

As armed rebels swept cities across Syria, they flung open detention facilities where rights groups estimated that at least 100,000 people were considered missing or forcibly disappeared since 2011 at the hands of the state. This included the Sednaya military prison, a facility notorious as the site of particularly brutal and humiliating methods of torture.

Arab states will seek to avert the threat of a reignited Syrian civil war by starting an open dialogue with all the forces on the ground to ensure any transition is inclusive of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity, Qatar’s foreign ministry has said.

In Europe, Spain’s foreign ministry has urged for there to be an “inclusive political transition” in Syria, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would help to rebuild a Syria that safeguards minorities.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the collapse of the Assad regime “offers great opportunity”, but warned that it is also “fraught with significant dangers”, adding that he will “take action against possible threats (to Israel)”. Israel airstrikes were later reported against a major security complex in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus, along with a research centre where it had previously said Iranian scientists developed missiles.

The Pentagon has said the US will keep a presence in eastern Syria and take the appropriate steps to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State.

US president-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Assad had “fled his country” after losing the backing of Russia. “Assad is gone,” he said on his Truth Social platform. “His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer.”

Iraq has reportedly evacuated its embassy in Syria and moved staff to Lebanon, hours after rebels overthrew Assad and took control of the capital. Reasons behind the evacuation were not made public

Syria’s White Helmets civil defence forces has released a statement about the extraordinary events of the past few days. “The sun of freedom rises on the Syrians... the moment that has been long awaited for years... even decades... Syria, the homeland, is writing history today,” the group said in a video statement posted on X. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/08/syrian-rebels-enter-damascus-everything-we-know

The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, is believed to have fled the country his family has ruled over for 50 years as rebels said they had captured the capital after a lightning advance completed in just under two weeks.

Two senior Syrian officers told Reuters that Assad had fled Damascus, his destination unknown. The report could not be independently verified.

The senior Emirati diplomat Anwar Gargash declined to say whether Assad was fleeing to the United Arab Emirates. “When people ask where is Bashar al-Assad going to, I say, you know, when you really look at this, this is really at the end of the day a footnote in history,” he told reporters at a conference in Bahrain.

The Syrian leader had been publicly absent as Islamist militant insurgents spearheaded a sweeping offensive that began in a small enclave in north-western Syria, and within 11 days appeared to have toppled Assad’s rule. In their first announcement on state television following the offensive that took the world by surprise, rebels said they had ended Assad’s 24-year authoritarian rule.

A group of people were shown at the state television news studio, with one reading a statement from the “Damascus conquest operations room” announcing “the liberation of the city of Damascus and the fall of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad and the release of all the unjustly detained from the regime prisons”, calling on fighters and citizens to safeguard the “property of the free Syrian state”.

Syria’s army command notified officers on Sunday that Assad’s regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters. But the Syrian army later said it was continuing operations against “terrorist groups” in the towns of Hama and Homs and Deraa countryside. Rebels said they had freed prisoners from Damascus’s notorious Sednaya prison, regarded as a symbol of the Assad regime’s brutality, while video from Damascus showed a man climbing on top of a hospital sign to tear down a poster of Assad’s face. In the capital’s central square, people climbed on top of tanks and cheered as they trampled on a toppled statue of Assad’s father, Hafez, AFPTV images showed.

In Syria’s second city of Aleppo, claimed by insurgent forces just one week before, celebratory singing broadcast from the speakers of mosques was interspersed with the sound of ululating and cheering ringing out across the rooftops.

The Assad family have ruled Syria since 1971 when Hafez al-Assad seized power in a military coup, before his son Bashar inherited the presidency in 2000. Their control of the country was enforced through a vast security state, crushing dissent through a broad network of detention centres and government surveillance.

Bashar al-Assad suppressed a popular uprising against him in 2011, when Syrians first took to the streets of major cities to demand his overthrow. What began as peaceful demonstrations later spilled over into a civil war that is estimated to have killed more than 300,000 people in 10 years of fighting.

Assad willingly turned the full might of the state on his own people in order to maintain control, including pummelling the civilian population with airstrikes and using chemical weapons including the deadly nerve agent sarin.

“Today is the end of 54 years of the reign of Assad family in Syria. This is the only regime I knew all of my life,” said doctor Zaher Sahloul, a Syrian-American physician who organised medical missions into Syria, including hospitals in Aleppo that were targeted by Syrian and Russian airstrikes.

“I don’t cry often in my adult life but today I did. It has been 14 long years of horror. This is our Berlin Wall moment,” he said. Intervention from Russia and Iran had allowed Assad to survive almost 14 years of unrest and civil strife, leaving him in charge of a fractured state. His rule over Syria had appeared inevitable, until an insurgent advance led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham began to seize control of major towns along a highway leading to Damascus.

As the insurgency drew closer along the highway that leads to the capital, rebel groups across southern Syria took control of a swath of towns south of Damascus. Armed opposition groups closed in on the capital from three directions as Syrian army officers retreated, or fled. Video from Damascus showed soldiers rapidly changing into civilian clothes on the streets of the capital before dispersing.

The prime minister, Mohammed Ghazi Jalali, said in a video statement that the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition, offering to work with a transitional government. “I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said, without addressing Assad’s whereabouts.

Promising a “new Syria” in their own statement, the insurgents said: “We turn the page on the dark past, and open a new horizon for the future.”

As armed rebels swept cities across the country, they flung open detention facilities where rights groups estimated that at least 100,000 people were considered missing or forcibly disappeared since 2011 at the hands of the state.

This included the Sednaya military prison, a facility notorious as the site of particularly brutal and humiliating methods of torture. Video circulating online showed tens of people streaming into the streets around the facility, running into the night.

The exiled Syrian human rights defender Ranim Badenjki of the Syria Campaign said she was crying tears of joy at the news of Assad’s departure, as “it’s all too good to be true”.

“We always thought that Assad was lucky, supported by strong allies, and world leaders rushing to shake hands with him. But I’m happy to see that Syrians themselves made this dream come true,” she said.

“I am thinking of everyone we lost in recent years, killed for protesting or writing a post on social media. I think of the people tortured to death because they provided medicine or help to people in need. I think of my grandpa who was tortured by Hafez al-Assad,” she said.

Badenjki said her joy was also tinged with sorrow, fearful to learn the fate of some of the people missing or potentially lost in Syria’s labyrinthine detention facilities.

“I want to be happy – but I also want to see my friend’s father alive. He was forcibly disappeared by the regime 11 years ago. I want to know he is still alive and that he can be released. I want to know the fate of my missing cousin.”

Moayad Hokan, a Syrian analyst living in exile, said the events of the past day were “unbelievable.”

“Just a few months ago all of us were operating under the assumption that this day would never come,” he said. “Every time I say to myself the words the Assad regime has fallen, I still can’t really believe it.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/08/bashar-al-assad-reported-to-have-fled-syria-as-rebels-say-they-have-captured-damascus

The rebels who have swept through Syria are led by Islamist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, along with an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

Both have been entrenched in the north-west. They launched the shock offensive on 27 November with gunmen capturing Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and the central city of Hama, the fourth largest.

The founder of HTS, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, was once a participant in the Iraqi insurgency against the US as a member of the group that eventually became Islamic State.

In its former incarnation as Jabhat al-Nusra or the Al-Nusra front, HTS later declared allegiance to al-Qaida. It eventually publicly broke those ties in 2016 and rebranded as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or Organization for the Liberation of the Levant.

HTS is now the most powerful rebel faction in Syria.

It is designated as a terrorist group by the US and there are serious human rights concerns in the area it controls, including executions for those accused of affiliation with rival groups and over allegations of blasphemy and adultery.

The HTS and Syrian National Army have been allies at times and rivals at times, and their aims might diverge.

The Turkish-backed militias also have an interest in creating a buffer zone near the Turkish border to keep away Kurdish militants at odds with Ankara. Turkey has been a main backer of the fighters seeking to overthrow Assad but more recently has urged reconciliation, and Turkish officials have strongly rejected claims of any involvement in the current offensive. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/08/who-are-the-syrian-rebels-who-have-captured-damascus-explained-in-30-seconds

So now we should all be caught up , as far as English language , western media sources go anyway .

[litwin]

Your attempts to make Assad look like a psychologically-damaged egomaniac who only thinks about himself and listens to no one else's comments... is pure projection on your part.

All the accusational videos you post point right back at you - litwin, slayer of scapegoats.TM

Assad is a war - criminal , THE SECOND ONLY TO Saddam Putsein
read this > Amnesty International UK

Syria: ousting of Assad is 'historic opportunity' to redress decades of human rights violations

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releas ... violations

[Deutschmania]

And as for Syrian sources of information , here are statements made by some of the various political parties in Syria , that I could find .

The defected Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab confirmed in an audio statement today, December 3,

On the unity of Syrian territory, and that Resolution 2254 guarantees the unity of the country.

Highlights of the speech of former Syrian Prime Minister Riad

Bashar al-Assad vows more killing and bloodshed, ignoring his successive failures

Bashar Assad only knows the language of blood .


The control of Aleppo and Syrian towns and cities was achieved without bloodshed or any violations.

The unity and independence of Syrian territory is a red line that cannot be accepted by any divisive projects.

We must realize that we have no future in Syria except through tolerance.

The ultimate goal of our movement is to achieve justice, freedom for the people, and preservation of their dignity.

We call on the wise people in the countries supporting Assad to put the interests of their countries first.

Bashar al-Assad implicated the countries that supported him in committing the largest massacre witnessed by the twenty-first century

Despite the support of some countries for Bashar al-Assad, those countries see his fragility and weakness.

We call on the international community and friendly and sisterly countries to help the Syrian people.

UN Resolution 2254 guarantees the unity of the country and preserves the Syrian state

Arab Socialist Democratic Union Party

Statement by the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces on the terrorist attack by armed organizations on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts

The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces confirmed that our armed forces worked to implement a redeployment operation with the aim of strengthening the defense

lines and confronting the terrorist attack launched by armed terrorist organizations on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts, and that it is working by all possible means to ensure the security and safety of our people in the city of Aleppo.
A statement issued by the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces on 11/30/2024 stated: “Over the past few days, armed terrorist organizations under the so-called (Al-Nusra Front), supported by thousands of foreign terrorists, heavy weapons, and large numbers of drones, launched a broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts. Our armed forces fought fierce battles against them at various points of engagement extending over a strip exceeding 100 km to stop their advance. During the battles, dozens of our armed forces were martyred and others were wounded.

The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack. With the continued flow of terrorists across the northern border and the intensification of military and technical support for them, terrorist organizations were able in the past hours to enter large parts of Aleppo city neighborhoods without being able to establish their positions due to the continued concentrated and strong strikes by our armed forces, pending the completion of the arrival of military reinforcements and their distribution on the fighting fronts in preparation for a counterattack.

The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces confirms that this measure it has taken is a temporary measure and that it will work by all possible means to ensure the security and safety of our people in the city of Aleppo, and will continue its operations and carry out its national duty in confronting terrorist organizations to expel them and restore the control of the state and its institutions over the entire city and its countryside.

Syrian Communist Party - Unified

Statement to the Syria People Towards a New Syria
Today, a dark page in the history of Syria and the Syrian people has been turned; a page in which an entire people was squeezed into its narrow margin, suffering all kinds of torment, oppression, deprivation, pain, displacement, poverty, and detention centers, while the main page was occupied by tyranny, corruption, plundering, and encroachment on people’s rights and dignity.

The Syrian people have traveled a long path of pain over the past years and decades. It is time for that path to end, and for the Syrian to look to the future eye to eye, with confidence and head held high, and with great hopes of rebuilding the country that is dear to its people, even if it has been unjust. Though it is not unjust, but those who have taken control of it are the unjust.

The hope that fills souls today is a hope charged with great potential and energy, and it should be a hope armed with caution, calm, wisdom, and reason; hope embraced by ardent, inflamed hearts, and carried by cool, wise minds.

The difficulties and challenges are enormous and huge, but Syrians are up to them. The main keyword to overcoming them is the unity of the Syrian people, their solidarity, mutual support, and their preservation of their state institutions, their compassion for one another, their transcendence of the mentality of revenge and retaliation, and their adherence to their deep fraternal legacy.

What our homeland demands of us today, as Syrians, is that we work together to secure a smooth and peaceful transfer of power, so that at this stage a unifying reference is formed whose function is to secure achieving a new constitution and free, fair, democratic elections, to enable the Syrian people to determine their own destiny, and to rely on UNSC Resolution 2254, which is still completely valid as a roadmap for a peaceful and smooth political transition towards a fully unified Syria, people and land.

The experiences of different peoples prove that the departure of authority does not mean the departure of the regime, and that the process of changing the regime in a radical and comprehensive way – politically, economically and socially – is a much more complex process than the mere departure of a president and the arrival of a new one.

The Syrian people deserve to see their struggles crowned with a real, complete victory. At the core of this victory is preventing the transition from one tyrant to another and from one plunderer to another. Therefore, as broad as the scope of current joy can be, it can also be temporary if the people do not actually move from the margins of history to its core through their actual assumption of power.

The actual assumption of power means having a comprehensive program for the day after. The distinguishing point in this program is the socioeconomic direction the country should take, and the essence and goal of this point should be true social justice, far from the savage liberalization that the previous authority implemented, and which various forces that will become part of the next authority promise to continue.

Another essential landmark is the Syrian people’s firm, deep-rooted position on the Palestinian cause as their cause, and their decisive position on the occupied Syrian Golan, a Syrian land that must be taken back by all means.

We, in the People’s Will Party, while we congratulate the Syrian people on turning a dark page in their history, and we hope that their eyes will enjoy the warrior’s rest that they are now living, we affirm that the struggle to achieve complete freedom for the Syrian people, to achieve social justice, to rebuild the country, and to return the displaced to it, is still long and arduous, and requires sincere loving efforts for Syria and its people, and in particular requires the many skills that forcibly left Syria; Syria today is waiting for all of them, and with great impatience. People's Will Party

Kassioun Editorial 1203: Why Did We Propose “Moscow 3”?
Last Wednesday, November 27, during its press conference following its expansion with the addition of new forces, the Moscow Platform for the Syrian Opposition announced an initiative for a meeting between the opposition and the regime in the Russian capital, Moscow, similar to the “Moscow 1” and “Moscow 2” meetings that took place in 2015. At the time of issuing this call, the latest developments on the ground had not yet begun to appear, but they were nevertheless expected to some extent, and were one of the reasons for launching this initiative.

The crux of the matter is as follows:

First: We have repeatedly said and warned that the de-escalation zones, despite their importance in stopping the Syrian bloodshed, are not a sustainable solution in any way. Their function was to stop the bloodshed in order to move towards dialogue and negotiations to reach a real political solution that would reunite the Syrian people and the Syrian territory through the implementation of UNSC Resolution 2254, and through a real political transition towards a new political, economic, and social system that the Syrian people determine.

Second: During the past 13 years, Syria has gone through a phase of violent battles across the country, which Astana was able to stop through de-escalation agreements, leading to a near-complete ceasefire since mid-2019, i.e., 5 years ago. After that, the economic phase of attrition began, which included sanctions and the escalation and deepening of the brutal liberal policies of successive Syrian governments, which, along with the sanctions, led to a multiplied deepening of the Syrian tragedy, and laid the foundation for the subsequent explosion by crushing the society’s immunity and pushing it to search for any solutions, most notably fleeing the country.

The renewal of the cycle of violence and battles means that a political solution is more necessary today than ever before, and more possible than ever before. None of the sides concerned with sitting at the negotiating table can claim the ability to achieve a crushing victory that will destroy the other side, and this has been tried for many years at the expense of the blood and suffering of Syrians.

The only possible solution is to head directly, not just to a consultative meeting as the Platform initiative proposed a few days ago, but towards a direct dialogue to fully implement UNSC Resolution 2254, to stop the renewal and expansion of the circle of violence. In parallel, work must be completed on moving forward with the Syrian-Turkish settlement, the importance of which we have stressed for years and which would have been sufficient (if it had happened at the time) to prevent the possibilities of renewed fighting that we see today, and it is still important now because it is one of the key ways to contain the fighting today, and reduce the losses of the Syrian people who have lost more than enough.

Heading directly to a political solution through UNSC Resolution 2254 is the only way out. Repeating the illusions of “resolving militarily” and “toppling [the regime]” by the extremist sides will not only be disastrous as in the previous time, but will also threaten Syria’s survival and its geopolitical presence.

People's Will Party

The General Secretariat of the Kurdish National Council in Syria issued a statement on the occasion of the fall of the Baathist regime and the escape of the regime's presidentoutside Syria.

The following is the text of the statement
: At dawn on Sunday, December 8, 2024, the regime of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad fell, and the dawn of freedom dawned on Syria. The dream of the Syrians for freedom and dignity was achieved after the great sacrifices made by the Syrian people with all their components, sects, and social classes and the bravery of their fighters. The sons of the Kurdish people had their share in the oppression and injustice they were subjected to throughout decades of tyranny, and they have the well-known national role in opposing the regime for decades and engaging in the peaceful revolution of the Syrian people since the first days of its outbreak.
The Kurdish National Council, while congratulating the Syrian people on the fall of the regime and the attainment of their freedom and victory over dictatorship and tyranny, affirms to all citizens, parties, factions and organizations the national responsibility for the smooth transition in leading the stage and working to preserve civil and societal peace, and state institutions, and loyalty to the values ​​of the revolution and the blood of its martyrs in strengthening the spirit of brotherhood and rejecting any provocative or vengeful discourse, and readiness and solidarity together to successfully overcome the transitional stage to build a democratic, pluralistic, decentralized Syria for all Syrians, a state that guarantees good neighborliness with its neighbors, respects basic rights and freedoms, and achieves the aspirations and hopes of Syrians, individuals and components, for a free and dignified life, a Syria in which there is no place for tyranny, discrimination and exclusion, and the Council also appeals to the international community and the United Nations to help the Syrian people overcome their ordeal and recover.
Glory to the martyrs and freedom to the Syrian people.

General Secretariat
of the Kurdish National Council in Syria
December 8, 2024 https://www-pdk--s-com.translate.goog/app/node/11192?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

On Sunday, December 8, 2024, Muhammad Ismail, Secretary of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Syria, sent a message to the Syrian people on the occasion of the fall of the Syrian regime, expressing his joy at the end of the era of tyranny and the beginning of a new phase.

The following is the text of the message:
Comrades, fellow fighters,
sons of our great people,
congratulations on your freedom and the end of the era of tyranny
. Everything we do must reflect the spirit of struggle for freedom and dignity, securing rights, and highlighting the importance of national unity and solidarity among all national and religious components in the post-tyranny era.
We call for building a new homeland based on the foundations of democracy and dialogue, far from exclusion and marginalization, which represents a roadmap for achieving justice and equality for all.
The dawn of freedom has risen to be the beginning of a joint journey in which everyone cooperates to overcome the differences of the past and build a future of peace and stability.
Our struggle has begun politically and diplomatically, alongside our Syrian brothers and sisters, to lift the injustice from the Syrian people, especially our Kurdish people, who have suffered from injustice and oppression.

Muhammad Ismail,
Secretary of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Syria,
Qamishli. 12/8/2024 Kurdistan Democratic Party

[JohnRawls]

Your attempts to make Assad look like a psychologically-damaged egomaniac who only thinks about himself and listens to no one else's comments... is pure projection on your part.

All the accusational videos you post point right back at you - litwin, slayer of scapegoats.TM

"Leave the Anti-Western, Pro-Genocide Dictator alone" "He is innocent" "Only West is corrupt" "It was somebody else who gassed civilians" "Assad never run industrial human death camps"

[Negotiator]

I'm pretty shocked by whats reported about the now freed political prisoners under Assad. Accused, no process, kept being tortured and frequently starved for years and years. Yikes ! Stuff of nightmares.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/ ... f-the-past

Unfortunately if the new regime is actually any better remains to be seen. These are groups officially recognized as terrorists by the UN and US (and probably other countries, too). I daresay those aint nice people either.

"It was somebody else who gassed civilians"

Indeed he did not.

The official story of the gas attacks goes like this:

- Assad fought the terrorists for months and years, until he won

- THEN, after he had already won, he somehow decided to gas attack them

Yeah sorry, but that makes no sense whatsoever. This was always a lie of the west, and a bloody obvious one.

[JohnRawls]

I'm pretty shocked by whats reported about the now freed political prisoners under Assad. Accused, no process, kept being tortured and frequently starved for years and years. Yikes ! Stuff of nightmares.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/ ... f-the-past

Unfortunately if the new regime is actually any better remains to be seen. These are groups officially recognized as terrorists by the UN and US (and probably other countries, too). I daresay those aint nice people either.





Indeed he did not.

The official story of the gas attacks goes like this:

- Assad fought the terrorists for months and years, until he won

- THEN, after he had already won, he somehow decided to gas attack them

Yeah sorry, but that makes no sense whatsoever. This was always a lie of the west, and a bloody obvious one.

I don't know why you still wanna die on that hill for Assad but okay. Go for it.

The evidence is overwhelming for it and its not a mater of belief. Sort of like the plane that Russians shot down in 2014. Its a fact by now. You might try to display it as a belief but all of the world knows its a fact.

You kinda remind me of this:

[noemon]

I don't know why you still wanna die on that hill for Assad but okay. Go for it.

I don't know why you still want to die on that hill for Al-Nusra but okay go for it.

Tell us how Al-Nusra/Al Qaeda are diversity-friendly jihadists and the antidote to Baathism.

[JohnRawls]

I don't know why you still want to die on that hill for Al-Nusra but okay go for it.

Tell us how Al-Nusra/Al Qaeda are diversity-friendly jihadists and the antidote to Baathism.

They are not. I would argue that it is the failure of secular dictatorships that made the rise of Islamic radicals in one way or the other possible which don't seem to be the answer also.

This doesn't change the fact that failure of secual dictatorships in almost all Arab countries is the basis of the Jihadist rise.

At the end of the day, it is all about wellbeing of the people. If they are not happy under secular dictatorships and religious radicals then have an easy time spewing their own bullshit for "moving forward". This is the tragedy of the middle east/arab states right now.

Arguably some countries already managed to go through to the 3rd part of after the jihadist radicals but what exactly is it, is hard to say for now.

[Rich]

@JohnRawls So are we in agreement here at least that:

1 The West must demand the immediate withdrawal of all Turkish forces from Kurdish Syria.

2 We need to urgently give more arms to the Syrian Kurds.

3 We should encourage the Israelis to create as a big a safe zone in the south of Syria as possible, till we see how Al Qaeda or what ever it is they're calling themselves today behaves once they've consolidated power.

[JohnRawls]

@JohnRawls So are we in agreement here at least that:

1 The West must demand the immediate withdrawal of all Turkish forces from Kurdish Syria.

2 We need to urgently give more arms to the Syrian Kurds.

3 We should encourage the Israelis to create as a big a safe zone in the south of Syria as possible, till we how Al Qaeda or what ever it is they're calling themselves today behaves once they've consolidated power.

Not a bad idea yeah. I mean "Diverse JIhadists" are only diverse until they consolidate power like the Taliban. So the Kurds are on the chopping block especially because they are Turkish semi-proxies that chewed through the leash.

Israel doesn't have much to worry about in the short term since the rebels want Hezbollah dead more than Israel.

What I am trying to say here, the idea is good. Probably won't happen though since Turkey doesn't really react to "being asked" well. Israel probably has no interest in a huge buffer zone right now with all the other things going on.

[Rich]

Israel doesn't have much to worry about in the short term since the rebels want Hezbollah dead more than Israel.

Yes its funny, but no one seems to have asked the question. If and when Al Qaeda have consolidated power, will Al Qaeda in Syria respect Sykes-Picot or will they attempt to wipe Lebanon off the map?

[ThirdTerm]

There is nothing to celebrate. Europe will pay for the Islamist takeover of Syria. Without law and order under a functioning government, Syria will start exporting terrorism to the West, just like Afghanistan does. Syria will be ruled by a known jihadist and his Islamist militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). America is unlikely to send ground troops and set up a puppet government in Syria. Trump argued that the US should not intervene: "The country is in chaos, but it is not our friend. It is not America's fight and we should not get involved." Europe will be on its own to take care of jihadist Syria.

Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani has dropped that nom de guerre associated with his jihadist past, and been using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in official communiques issued since Thursday, ahead of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

This move is part of Jawlani's effort to bolster his legitimacy in a new context, as his Islamist militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), leading other rebel factions, announces the capture of the Syrian capital, Damascus, solidifying its control over much of the country.

Jawlani's transformation is not recent, but has been carefully cultivated over the years, evident not only in his public statements and interviews with international outlets but also in his evolving appearance.

Once clad in traditional jihadist militant attire, he has adopted a more Western-style wardrobe in the past years. Now, as he leads the offensive, he has donned military fatigues, symbolising his role as the commander of the operations room.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q0w1g8zqvo

[noemon]

This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East.

The Assad regime, a central link in Iran's axis of evil, has fallen.

This is a direct result of the blows we inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, the main supporters of the Assad regime.

It has triggered a chain reaction throughout the Middle East among those who wish to free themselves from this oppressive and tyrannical regime.

This, of course, creates new and very significant opportunities for the State of Israel.

But it is not without risks.

First and foremost, we are acting to protect our border.

This area, governed for nearly 50 years by a buffer zone agreed upon in the 1974 disengagement agreement, has collapsed. Syrian forces have abandoned their positions.

Together with the Minister of Defence and with the full backing of the Cabinet, I instructed the IDF yesterday to seize the buffer zone and the dominant positions near it.

We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself along our border.

At the same time, we are pursuing a policy of good neighbourliness.

This is the same good neighbourliness we demonstrated when we established a field hospital here, which treated thousands of Syrians injured and harmed in the civil war.

Hundreds of Syrian children were born here, in Israel.

We extend that same hand of peace to our Druze neighbours, first and foremost to them—they are brothers to our Druze brethren in the State of Israel.

We also extend a hand of peace to the Kurds, Christians, and Muslims who seek to live in peace with Israel.

We will closely monitor developments and do whatever is necessary to protect our border and ensure our security.

The fall of Assad is a severe blow to Iran’s axis of evil, which aims to destroy the State of Israel.

The tentacles of the octopus are being severed, one by one.

We have come here to state clearly that we are determined to ensure the security of the communities in the Golan Heights.

The Prime Minister, the IDF, and I, with Cabinet approval, have directed the seizure of the buffer zone and the dominant positions to ensure the protection of all Israeli communities in the Golan Heights, both Jewish and Druze, so that they face no threats from across the border.

We are determined not to return to the situation of October 6th, neither in the Golan Heights nor anywhere else.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

[Rugoz]

There is nothing to celebrate. Europe will pay for the Islamist takeover of Syria.

Your concern for Europe's security is truly touching.

Meanwhile, Russia has killed more Europeans in recent history than Islamists ever could.

[JohnRawls]

Yes its funny, but no one seems to have asked the question. If and when Al Qaeda have consolidated power, will Al Qaeda in Syria respect Sykes-Picot or will they attempt to wipe Lebanon off the map?

This is for your consideration also @noemon

It is not that nobody asked but that there is no clear answer to this. You might think that this is redicilous since they are "Former AQ/ISIS" so DUH THEY ARE GONNA JIHAD THE WORLD. But that is an uneducated and wrong understanding the situation a bit.

The reason why the current breed of "diverse jihadists" is different from the good old "international jihadist" is the way they are coming to power. Their whole foundation of power right now is failure of the secular dictatorship because that secular dictatorship didn't manage to provide wellbeing to the people and their general promise is that they are gonna do a better job. So they are formally bound by that promise to do a better job than a secular dictatorship in terms of stability and economic development meaning that their "International Jihad" ideas are severely limited. That is not the reason why they are in power right now. Their contract is a bit different to lets say 80s/90s Taliban and radicals who were fighting for independence from the infidels.

That is the reason that post-arab Spring those radicals didn't really export the Jihadism that much although they were religious fanatics who managed to come to power. This applies to modern Afghanistan also and the Taliban.

Now do I think that "diverse jihadists" will succeed in increasing the wellbeing of the people? I mean, they are just religious dictatorships compared to secular dictatorships so no real difference will be between the two long term honestly. And they will probably default to international "Jihad" to maintain power after 5-10-15 years of economic failure.

In this context, question to Noemon:

Don't you think that Assad regime death was inevitable? The rebels basically moved down the regime without anybody wanting to even defend Assad or the regime. I understand that you might not like a secular dictatorship falling and being replaced by diverse jihadists as they label themselves but what is the alternative or was? We have seen this pattern in most Arab countries that a form of incompetent and corrupt secular dictatorship gets replaced by religious fanatics since Arab spring.

[ingliz]

Meanwhile, Russia has killed more Europeans in recent history than Islamists ever could.

Why Russia? The Americans started it all back in 2014 with a false flag. And since 2022, NATO (America) has been providing logistical support, intelligence, targeting, and specialists to operate the weapons they provide to prolong this stupid war.

And you can't say the Ukrainians want to fight. The army has something like a 50% desertion rate.

[Rugoz]

Why Russia?

Because Russia has invaded twice and is doing all the killing. No amount of propaganda lies can change the facts on the ground. If the roles were reversed, you and all the other Putin shills here would not take these lies seriously for a millisecond.

[noemon]

This is for your consideration also @noemon

It is not that nobody asked but that there is no clear answer to this. You might think that this is redicilous since they are "Former AQ/ISIS" so DUH THEY ARE GONNA JIHAD THE WORLD. But that is an uneducated and wrong understanding the situation a bit.

The reason why the current breed of "diverse jihadists" is different from the good old "international jihadist" is the way they are coming to power. Their whole foundation of power right now is failure of the secular dictatorship because that secular dictatorship didn't manage to provide wellbeing to the people and their general promise is that they are gonna do a better job. So they are formally bound by that promise to do a better job than a secular dictatorship in terms of stability and economic development meaning that their "International Jihad" ideas are severely limited. That is not the reason why they are in power right now. Their contract is a bit different to lets say 80s/90s Taliban and radicals who were fighting for independence from the infidels.

That is the reason that post-arab Spring those radicals didn't really export the Jihadism that much although they were religious fanatics who managed to come to power. This applies to modern Afghanistan also and the Taliban.

Now do I think that "diverse jihadists" will succeed in increasing the wellbeing of the people? I mean, they are just religious dictatorships compared to secular dictatorships so no real difference will be between the two long term honestly. And they will probably default to international "Jihad" to maintain power after 5-10-15 years of economic failure.

In this context, question to Noemon:

Don't you think that Assad regime death was inevitable? The rebels basically moved down the regime without anybody wanting to even defend Assad or the regime. I understand that you might not like a secular dictatorship falling and being replaced by diverse jihadists as they label themselves but what is the alternative or was? We have seen this pattern in most Arab countries that a form of incompetent and corrupt secular dictatorship gets replaced by religious fanatics since Arab spring.

Thank you for washing the jihadists, rebrading them and finally openly arguing that they are a better solution than secural Arabs.

What could possibly go wrong?

Already today, the Greek government has come out and said that the EU-funded project connecting Cyprus-Greece(& Israel) is mired in a Gordian Knot and we should perhaps ask from Erdogan to "license us".

Quite literally:

The ambitious Great Sea Interconnector, designed to link Greece and Cyprus through an undersea electricity cable, is mired in geopolitical tensions and bureaucratic delays, raising questions about its future viability.

This €1.57 billion EU-funded project aims to enhance energy security, yet, the endeavor has hit major obstacles, with Ankara’s opposition and Nicosia’s hesitation at the forefront.

Last July, the Italian research vessel Ievoli Relume was forced to halt its work when Turkey deployed five warships near the Kasos-Karpathos Strait, claiming jurisdiction over contested waters. The standoff, which lasted 40 hours, highlighted the fraught relations between Athens and Ankara. Greek officials assert the surveys were completed without Turkish approval, but Ankara claims a maritime notification from the Italian ship that exploration was about to start was tantamount to seeking Turkish permission.

Complicating matters further, Nicosia has delayed its financial participation in the project. Analysts point to a strong Cypriot “solar lobby” opposing the interconnector, preferring to focus on renewable energy projects. This hesitation has frustrated the French contractor Nexans, which warns that failure to complete surveys by late 2025 would derail the timeline, potentially jeopardizing the project.

Four scenarios loom: an unlikely repeat of Turkish naval obstruction; Ankara granting limited authorization; rerouting the cable at great expense; or a provisional arrangement between Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, though the latter is fraught with political challenges.

Athens remains determined to proceed, framing the project as critical for regional energy independence. However, the ongoing geopolitical chess game risks leaving the interconnector tangled in its own Gordian knot, with high stakes for energy security and regional cooperation.

Translation:

"Determined to proceed laying a cable between 2 EU countries, but if we fail, don't judge us too harshly after all we 're just weak and feeble compared to Erdogan".

For at least 15 years now I sit here and watch you, Rugoz and so many western liberals, ourageously moralising and defending, Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia, Syria, Sudan. All now under the Turkish neo-Ottoman thumb. Your former PM(Kallas) licking Erdogan's balls openly just a day before the jihadi invasion. Our PM approving Sinirioglou as OECD President, appointed the same day as the jihadi invasion, same guy who wrote over 1000 letters to the UN EXPLICTLY claiming Crete & Rhodes.

And for what? Because the extent of your political acumen does not go any further than dancing over a Russian corpse, while both yourself and your country are half Russian John.

Because Russia has invaded twice and is doing all the killing. No amount of propaganda lies can change the facts on the ground. If the roles were reserved, you and all the other Putin shills here would not take these lies seriously for a millisecond.

No amount of propaganda changes the fact that NATO membership HAS NEVER BEEN OPEN without your NEIGHBOURS APPROVAL.

Turkey prevents Cyprus from joining NATO to this very day.

Greece prevented North Macedonia.

Israel prevents Palestine from joining the UN even.

For you though, this is a cross you are willing to put all of Europe to die for? Turkey can do it, Greece can do it, Israeli can do it, but god forbid Russia disagrees with her Naval Headquarters being donated to NATO without a fight. God forbid.

The west started the war in Ukraine, not Russia. All these deaths are on you.

[Rugoz]

The west started the war in Ukraine, not Russia.

Complete and utter nonsense, but it's not even relevant. I said Russia killed more Europeans in recent history than Islamists. That is a fact. In fact orders of magnitude more. Russia also threatens Europe with nuclear weapons on a regular basis. Russia is the prime security threat for Europe and nothing else even comes close.