#Who Are the Syrian Rebels? 🤔

[reality-detective]

The BBC interviews the rebranded version of Ahmad al-Shara' (Abu Muhammad al-Julani)'s now that they are selling him as a statesman rather than a terrorist. 👇

Jolani is the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.

He began his militant career with al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, gaining expertise in insurgency and extremism.

‼️In 2011, Jolani established Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, an al-Qaeda branch known for suicide bombings, assassinations, and mass killings.

‼️Between 2012 and 2015, Jabhat al-Nusra conducted widespread attacks, including suicide bombings and chemical attacks, targeting civilians and government forces.

‼️In 2017, he rebranded Jabhat al-Nusra as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to distance it from al-Qaeda, though terrorist activities continued.

‼️HTS enforced strict Sharia law, carried out public executions, suppressed minorities, and used civilians as human shields.

‼️Jolani and HTS are internationally recognized as terrorists, with the U.N. and U.S. designating them as such.

‼️Jolani has a $10 million bounty on his head under the U.S. Rewards for Justice Program.

This is who the US and Israel have been funding in order to get rid of Assad. This is who the media is now trying to whitewash and rebrand. 👇

Syrian sources: An official American delegation led by Barbara Leaf, the Biden administration's envoy to the Middle East, is currently meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, commander of the rebel organization Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham.

What's in the news, but NOT on the news 🤔

[dizzymoods]

so the thing about imperialism is that it makes countries battlegrounds for foreign powers. In Syria we see Turkey & Israel at the behest of the US backing “rebel” militias against Assad.

As a matter of fact, the Syrian’s can get Assad out. They have the self-determination and agency to do so. They’ve said as much. But it’s hard to achieve when you got nato and cia spoilers splitting your attention & resources!

If we know this then we can see how mr jones is idealistic and his analysis has no attachment to the real world:

It’s not that ppl like Assad. It’s not that Assad hasnt committed crimes against Syrians. he probably smells bad too. It’s that Assad does not play nice with the us. the us wants him out so they can, if not take over then have a destabilized Syria which is bad for the axis of resistance in particular but the region more broadly and for Syrians of course.

Anti-Assad discontent began in March 2011. If we recall October 2011, we’ll remember Kkkillary Kkklinton assassinated tyrant Gaddafi in Libya. And what came as a result? Open air slave markets!!!! yaay much better living conditions for those oppressed Libyans no doubt.

We can go back to the Shah’s overthrow in Iran in 79. A monarch is scary and undemocratic but the bp oil & cia backed coup didn’t work out so well for the Iranians and certainly not the US for that matter 😔😔

We can move out of the MENA region and into Latin America with the cia backed Pinochet led coup against Allende in Chile. The original 9/11 back in 73. A socdem certainly is evil and tyrannical but what about the violence Pinochet caused in the aftermath? not just his fascistic violence but the violence of neoliberalism the Chicago Boys means tested in Chile so that we can all enjoy austerity and perpetual economic distress!

We could go on but what do you think will happen to Syria in the short term & long term given these historical precedents??

But how meaningfully can Assad be anti-imperialist? can we think of at least one thing? well you’d be hard pressed to think of one if you only followed known fruit fly owen jones:

in the 06 Lebanon War, Syria was an important resupplier. And so now too are they an important resupplier for Hamas and Hezbollah. That doesn’t seem to be in us interest! so going back to the earlier point: getting rid of Assad means getting rid of these resupply lines that are essential for Hezbollah and Hamas to continue the resistance.

If you support Palestine as well as support the Tüsareali backed militias against Assad, you are actually playing both sides which, given the weight of imperialism means you are a stooge for the us and an enemy of Palestine. Hence the PFLP’s recent statement against the rebel groups in Syria, rightfully pointing out that they are zionist and us backed.

The world is complicated. and things exist *shock* in contradiction. Yes Assad is bad and yes America is bad. what’s the moral thing to do? the us is the greatest threat to humanity. Assad wishes he could be so evil.

you can vote for the lesser of two evils in an election where both evils support us imperialism & genocide! but you can’t support the lesser evil Assad who happens to be america’s enemy 🤔 how convenient is that!

But back to the point, Syria is a state. There’s only so much it can do especially since it’s already in the west’s crosshairs. aiding non-state actors is helping actually. Non-state actors have a flexibility with international law that states do not have! This is partially the reason Iran’s response has been less than desirable. Getting too involved as a state can accelerate the west’s plan for regime change (something israel is doing anyway in Syria and trying to achieve with Iran). If that happens then logistically it makes it harder for Syria and Iran to help these non-state actors like Hamas.