Tag: syria

Jolani Declares Himself President Of Syria After Canceling Elections & Constitution

Last month the de facto leader of Syria, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (aka Ahmad al-Sharaa), told Al Arabiya TV that it would take up to four years in hold new elections after Assad was ousted and fled the country on Dec. 8. This obviously undemocratic pronouncement was met with silence among Western leaders, who had long supported the anti-Assad ‘revolution’ and regime change efforts.

In a ‘victory’ speech given Wednesday night, Jolani declared himself president of Syria, claiming that this would be for an unspecified transitional period. “We announce the appointment of Commander Ahmad al-Sharaa as head of state during the transitional period. He will assume the duties of the president of the Syrian Arab Republic and represent the country in international forums,” a statement said.

“The president is authorized to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase, which will carry out its duties until a permanent constitution is enacted and put into effect,” the announcement added.

The statement further confirmed the cancellation of Syria’s 2012 constitution and the dissolution of the former government’s parliament, the army, as well as security agencies, state SANA noted. Additionally all armed factions which previously fought Assad and the Syrian army have been declared dissolved and will be integrated into state institutions.

Western mainstream media spent years whitewashing the hardline Islamist-led regime change war, as it was also backed by US intelligence, NATO allies, and the Gulf states. Al-Qaeda linked militants were presented all along as somehow being enlightened Jeffersonian Democrats. 

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Trump Plans To Finally Withdraw US Troops From Syria, Israelis Say

Israel and Turkish media reports say that President Donald Trump is planning to finally pull American occupying forces out of Syria. The statements began with a report this week by Israel’s official public broadcasting Kan. However, the Trump White House itself has yet to confirm this, but is likely in talks with regional states, particularly Turkey and close Washington ally Israel, about such a potential move.

Kan reported Tuesday that “senior White House officials conveyed a message to their Israeli counterparts indicating that President Trump intends to pull thousands of US troops from Syria.”

The Israeli reported added that “the withdrawal of American forces from Syria will raise significant concerns in Tel Aviv.” Israeli leaders see the US presence in northeast Syria as a stabilizing factor. Special forces, among some 2000 total troops have been advising and supporting the Syrian Kurds (SDF/YPG) for several years.

Just prior to Trump taking office, Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the US presence there as part of the ‘counter ISIS’ mission. US defense leaders have constantly argued over the years that the Islamic State could be resurgent if the Pentagon leaves.

But others would argue that Washington was among the biggest facilitators in the rise of ISIS, given that John Kerry once admitted that the US was trying to ‘manage’ ISIS in order to pressure Assad out.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said in the wake of Assad’s shock ouster in early December, “We will not allow hostile forces to establish a foothold in the security zone south of Syria, from here to the Sweida-Damascus axis. We will act against any threat.”

Trump stretching back to his first administration had been more brutally honest about what American forces are really doing there, to the embarrassment of US intelligence and defense leaders, and deep state insiders. For example here’s what Trump told FOX years ago:

“I left troops [in Syria] to take the oil. I took the oil. The only troops I have are taking the oil. They’re protecting the oil. I took over the oil“. -Trump on Fox News

This in turn was used as an economic noose against Assad, but in reality it has been strangling the common populace of Syria, who might see one hour of electricity a day during winter conditions.

During Trump’s first term he signaled the we wanted the US out of Syria, but many reports said at the time he was stymied by more hawkish officials within his administration.

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Syria Severs Relationship With Russia, Forces Kremlin Exit From Port Of Tartus

Russia has long coveted its warm-water port on the Mediterranean at Tartus, Syria, as a base of influence in the Middle East and beyond.

That geopolitical situation has now come to a rather swift close as the new Turkish-backed Islamic government of Syria has cancelled the contract for the Russian firm operating the port, forcing the removal of Kremlin influence in the Levant.

Moscow will now focus on Libya and other regional hubs to focus basing operations for its military.

The development is a major increase in tension between Russia and Turkey as Ankara flexes muscles in the Levant. Basing for Russia forces in the Middle East will likely be a point of negotiation during Trump’s upcoming visit with Russian President Putin.

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How the West Destroyed Syria

RS: Why do you think the Syrian military and government collapsed so rapidly?

Peter Ford: Everybody was surprised but with hindsight, we shouldn’t have been. Over more than a decade, the Syrian army had been hollowed out by the extremely dire economic situation in Syria, mainly caused by western sanctions. Syria only had a few hours of electricity a day, no money to buy weapons and no ability to use the international banking system to buy anything whatsoever. It’s no surprise that the Army was run down. With hindsight, you might say the surprise is that the Syrian government and Army were successful in driving back the Islamists. The Syrian Army forced them into the redoubt of Idlib four or five years ago. But after that point, the Syrian army deteriorated, became less battle ready on the technical level and also morale.

Syrian soldiers are mainly conscripts and they suffer as much as any ordinary Syrian from the really dreadful economic situation in Syria. I hesitate to admit it, but the Western sanctions were extremely effectively in doing what they were designed to do: to bring the Syrian economy down to its knees. So we have to say, and I say this with deep regret,  the sanctions worked. The sanctions did exactly what they were designed to do to make the Syrian people suffer, and thereby to bring about discontent with what they call the regime.

Ordinary Syrians didn’t understand the complexities of geopolitics, and they blamed the Syrian government for everything: not having electricity, not having food, not having gas, oil, high inflation. Everything that came from being cut off from the world economy and not having supporters with bottomless pockets.

Syria was being attacked and occupied by major military powers (Turkey, USA, Israel). Plus thousands of foreign jihadis. The Syrian army was so demoralized that they really were a paper tiger by the end of the day.

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Mainstream Media Ignoring Ethno-Religious Genocide Under Syria’s New Rulers

Mainstream Western media previously wrote several puff pieces on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its US-designated terror leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani in the wake of Assad’s ouster, but now that same media is completely ignoring the atrocities taking place under Jolani’s watch.

Various armed allied groups of HTS are rampaging through the central and northern countryside, attacking Christians and Alawites, in a developing ethno-religious genocide. It has only been one month since Assad was overthrown.

Initially HTS and other factions, which includes foreign groups such as Chechens and Uyghurs, rounded up individuals and tortured or executed them under the guise that they were former “Assad regime agents”.

Now, according to regional reports, the jihadists are dropping even this pretense and are simply taking over Alawite villages. Serious problems and threats are also being reported in the historic ‘Valley of the Christians’ (or Wadi al-Nasara, which lies in Western Syria in Homs governate).

Various locations have seen jihadists seeking to impose public segregation of the sexes, Islamic head-coverings, and blanket bans on alcohol… 

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Lessons from Iraq, Libya, and Syria: Resistance, Betrayal, and Collapse

The tumultuous collapses of Iraq, Libya and Syria offer stark parallels and contrasts, shedding light on the complex interplay of foreign intervention, internal strife and the fragile dynamics of power in the Middle East.

At the heart of anti-colonialism lie two principles which, at first glance, seem to stand in direct opposition. The first calls for unwavering support of the global struggle for resistance and liberation against white supremacy and colonialism, a battle fought across borders and systems of oppression. The second prioritizes empowering the poorest workers and peasants, ensuring that wealth is redistributed to uplift those most marginalized.

Achieving both of these core principles is rare and remarkable. State-building efforts, including attempts at socialist state formation, are constantly pressured to compromise with colonial powers and transform into comprador states that serve external capitalist interests. Most succumb to this pressure swiftly. The coup against Ben Bella in Algeria and the betrayal of Lumumba by Kabila are just two of many examples.

Despite their flaws and criticisms, Saddam’s Baathist Iraq and Gaddafi’s Libyan Jamahiriya managed to uphold both principles. In stark contrast, Syria failed on both fronts, resulting in the hollowed-out, degenerated state under Assad. This stands in sharp contrast to Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011, both of which resisted colonial destruction at the time. A telling indication of Syria’s failure is the complete lack of popular will to fight for the decrepit Baath regime once it falls.

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Twisting the Terrorism Narrative

There was absolutely nothing stopping them. But not one single member of Western mainstream media ever visited a bomb site in Lebanon to verify whether Israeli claims it was a Hezbollah base or missile site were true because they knew the answer is negative, as I found across dozens of bomb sites, and that is not the narrative they are paid to promote.

But when a narrative they are paid to promote came to the fore, they flocked to Damascus – driving right past the bombed civilian homes, ambulance centres and schools of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to get there – to promote Syria’s new Israel-, U.S.A- and Turkey-sponsored “democratic” government of entirely “reformed” HTS (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) Wahhabists.

Now in the past I had unfortunate arguments with some who broadly take a similar view of politics to me – Vanessa Beeley comes to mind – because I was never a fan of the Assad regime and its human rights record. Nevertheless, I consistently preferred Assad to the NATO-, Gulf- and Israel-sponsored extremist Wahhabi “rebels” who were fighting him.

But you can acknowledge Assad’s human rights abuses without subscribing to the ludicrous atrocity propaganda that spewed out of the mainstream media – 150,000 prisoners in one jail, 100,000 people in a mass grave, the “body press” whose plywood-pressing surfaces were peculiarly unstained, the suntanned American prisoner who had been “locked in a room for seven months”, the splendidly groomed dissident prisoner “rescued” by CNN.

Atrocity propaganda is as old as warfare. Like the “60 beheaded babies” of Oct. 7, or the 100,000 prisoners in a mass grave, it will doubtless recur indefinitely despite being nonsense. The installation of HTS by the NATO powers and Israel was a propaganda orgy of “joy” and “liberation.”

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US Eases Restrictions For Syria In ‘Signal Of Goodwill’ To New Islamist Rulers

The US is planning to announce an easing of restrictions on providing humanitarian aid and other basic services such as electricity to Syria while still keeping crushing economic sanctions on the country in place, Reuters reported on Monday.

Reuters noted the “decision by the outgoing Biden administration will send a signal of goodwill to Syria’s new Islamist rulers and aims to pave the way for improving tough living conditions in the war-ravaged country while treading cautiously and keeping US leverage in place.”

Syria’s new government, led by extremist militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is calling for the lifting of the US sanctions, which impoverished Syria and prevented reconstruction after the end of the Syria war in 2019.

Washington is so far refusing to lift sanctions, despite its longtime support for HTS and its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani), a former deputy to slain ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Previously known as the Nusra Front, HTS was the official Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. The group enjoyed support from the US, Israel, Qatar, and Turkiye, which sought to use the group to topple the Syrian government led by former president Bashar al-Assad starting in 2011.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration approved the easing of restrictions over the weekend, saying the move authorizes the Treasury Department to issue waivers to aid groups and companies providing essentials such as water, electricity, and other humanitarian supplies.

The US-funded Syrian opposition group, the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), and other Syrian activists lobbied heavily for the US to impose the sanctions, claiming they would only hurt Assad and other top Syrian officials, not Syrian civilians.

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‘Moderate’ New Islamist Rulers of Syria Publicly Humiliate German Foreign Minister Baerbock, Refuse To Shake Her Hand, Syrian Channels Blur Her Out in Pictures

‘First handshake refused, now THAT’ – German BILD tabloid.

It’s no wonder the failed German coalition led by outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz is such a train wreck: at the same time that they want to lecture the world on their failed Globalist policies and prejudices, they wanted to jump the gun and be one of the first states to send top-level officials to engage with the ‘moderate’ new Islamist Syrian rulers – and they sent a woman to try to do the job, FM Annalena Baerbock..

Rarely was a disaster so predictable.

BILD reported (translated from German):

“Annalena Baerbock’s visit to Syria on Friday has another aftermath: In Damascus, the new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa did not shake hands with the Federal Foreign Minister at first – unlike her male companions.

Now comes the next discrimination: Islamist news channels from the environment of the new rulers spread photos of Baerbock’s visit – and censor the German politician in the process!”

The humiliation began at her arrival at Damascus airport: Syrians did not shake her hand – so she shook the hands of German officials instead, with gusto!

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Ukraine To Be First European Country To Establish Diplomatic Ties With HTS-Led Syria

Ukraine is among the first countries in Europe to declare it is working to re-establish diplomatic ties with Damascus and that it will soon recognize post-Assad Syria under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

President Zelensky in last week’s comments made no mention that a US-designated terrorist organization which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda is running things in Damascus, as this is apparently but a minor detail to him.

“We are preparing to renew our diplomatic relations with Syria and our cooperation within international organizations. I want to thank our intelligence for the security framework of these contacts,” Zelensky said.

The comments followed closely on the heels of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha visiting Syria to meet with HTS officials, including the jihadist group’s head Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.

The Ukrainian government has long acknowledged that it provided drone and intelligence support for months to the originally Idlib-based HTS.

Ukrainian officials had previously openly boasted that they would assist in hitting Russian assets and bases in Syria, in order to bog its forces down there and distract the top Russian command from the Ukrainian front lines.

Small drone warfare has been described by many analysts to have been a key component further demoralizing Syrian Army positions after Assad’s military and state institutions had been essentially hollowed out after years of grinding war and crippling Western sanctions.

Ukraine first severed diplomatic relations with Syria in 2022. It was triggered by then President Bashar-al Assad recognizing Russian sovereignty over the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

“Certainly the Syrian people and the Ukrainian people have the same experience and the same suffering that we endured over 14 years,” an HTS representative said during last Monday’s visit of the Ukrainian delegation.

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