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Syria

US Military Supported Syrian Rebel Offensive That Toppled Assad

Syrian rebel commanders have boasted that the US military helped them overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. They acknowledged this in a report published by major British newspaper The Telegraph, titled “US ‘prepared Syrian rebel group to help topple Bashar al-Assad’”. The article revealed that a rebel group armed, trained, and funded by the United States, based in the south of Syria, collaborated with rebranded al-Qaeda in the north to jointly topple the Syrian government. According to the report, the US military helped to create a Syrian militia called the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA).

Syria’s Fall And Anti-Imperialist Lessons

The fast-paced unfolding of events that took place in Syria shook everyone, including the regime change and color revolution enthusiasts who hoped to destroy Syria only to deliver it on a golden plate to the Zionist entity to annex massive swaths of lands. The forceful overthrow of the government in Syria represents a colossal defeat to the Pan-Arabists in the region and those who center the Palestinian national liberation cause. This is not a rhetorical exaggeration; the demise of Syria will have direct consequences on the Axis of Resistance — given that the land bridge (Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon) has been undermined — and the interconnected struggle against imperialist zionism.

Has The Resistance In West Asia Been Defeated?

The situation in Syria has generated more questions than answers. Some ten days after the seizure of power by the terrorists, there are still no clear ideas as to what will happen. Three powers are occupying parts of Syria: the United States, Israel and Türkiye. The new government has made not the slightest move to prevent this occupation. Today the new regime is complicit in the partition of its country, the destruction of its sovereignty and the disappearance of the Syrian state. Undoubtedly in the tactical sense, Israel, Türkiye and the United States are winners following the collapse of the regime of Bashir al-Assad.

How To Understand The Change Of Government In Syria

Just over a decade ago, Assad’s government remained in power largely because of support from Iran and Russia, but also because of the involvement – to a lesser extent – of neighbouring Iraq and Hezbollah (Lebanon). Assad did not have the stomach for the contest. He became president in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who took office through a military coup in 1971. Bashar al-Assad had a privileged upbringing and studied to be an ophthalmologist in the United Kingdom. When the rebel armies neared Damascus in December of this year, Assad fled to Moscow with his family, claiming that he wanted to retire from politics and resume his career as an ophthalmologist.

Pentagon Confirms ‘Around 2,000’ US Troops Deployed In Syria

Pentagon Press Secretary General Pat Ryder revealed on 19 December that the US has “around 2,000” troops deployed inside Syria, more than double the figure Washington has previously claimed to have inside the war-torn country. “As you know, we have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately 900 US troops deployed to Syria. In light of the situation in Syria and the significant interests, we recently learned that those numbers were higher,” Ryder told reporters on Thursday, adding that he “learned today there are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria.”

Compatible Left Joins Imperialism In Celebrating Defeat Of Syria

It may be no surprise that the “mainstream” corporate news media have turned into advertising agencies for US government policy. But it still surprises that what the CIA called a compatible left - those on the left it deemed compatible with maintaining imperialist rule - celebrates another US successful “regime change,” this time, Syria. Portside ran an article, Liberation in Syria Is a Victory Worth Embracing, which criticized “some self-styled Western ‘anti-imperialists’” for their lack of enthusiasm for the “victory.” While it does note Israel bombed Syria 220 times up to mid-November this past year, one finds no mention of the long US blockade imposed on Syrians. 

Inside ‘Greater Israel’: Myths And Truths Behind The Zionist Fantasy

As Israel pushed its forces deep into sovereign Syrian territory following the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime the term ‘Greater Israel’ has resurfaced in media coverage. The term has been used in recent days to describe Israel’s military expansion beyond its currently recognized borders, an ever-expanding definition of what the Israeli state can come to encompass. The maps used to describe the vision often echo biblical stories that many Zionists consider as history. But what is the ‘Greater Israel’ idea in actuality? Is there really such an Israeli project? And how realistic is it that it will be realized?

Privatizing Syria: US Plans To Sell Off A Nation’s Wealth After Assad

In the immediate wake of the Syrian government’s abrupt collapse, much remains uncertain about the country’s future – including whether it can survive as a unitary state or will splinter into smaller states as did Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, a move that ultimately led to a bloody NATO intervention. Moreover, who or what may take power in Damascus remains an open question. For the time being at least, members of ultra-extremist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) appear highly likely to take key positions in whatever administrative structure sprouts from Bashar Assad’s ouster after a decade-and-a-half of grinding Western-sponsored regime change efforts.

Scandal Deepens Around CNN’s Clarissa Ward Staging Syria Prison Scene

“In nearly twenty years as a journalist, this was one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed.” That’s how veteran CNN journalist Clarissa Ward described her foray into a Syrian prison on December 12, where she promptly claimed to have rescued a forgotten inmate after three months in jail. But there was just one problem with the “extraordinary moment”: a review of a dramatic story depicted by CNN reveals a number of glaring inconsistencies, the greatest of which is that the man stands accused of being an impostor.

Ajamu Baraka On The US-Backed Coup In Syria And Anti-Anti-Imperialism

On December 8, the United States and Israel, with support from Turkey, succeeded in overthrowing the Syrian government using Islamic jihadist militants as proxies. Some people in the United States are claiming this as a victory for the Syrian people even though the proxies are Al Qaeda terrorists. Clearing the FOG speaks with Ajamu Baraka about the coup, the history of resistance in Syria and in the region, and what this means for the Syrian people. Baraka discusses Israel's immediate expansion of its occupation in Syria and its quest for a 'Greater Israel.' He also discusses a tendency for some Left forces in the United States to side with US imperialism and why it is important to have ideological clarity about what is happening.

In Syria Dirty War, ‘Our Side’ Has Won

In his first remarks on the ouster of Syrian president Basher al-Assad, President Biden made the case that he deserves a share of the credit. Assad’s “main allies” -- Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia -- “are far weaker today than they were when I took office,” Biden said. Therefore, their inability to save Assad from the Turkish-backed insurgents’ sweeping advance was “a direct result of the blows that Ukraine, Israel have delivered upon their own self-defense, with unflagging support of the United States.” Beyond the blows inflicted by US client states, Biden also noted that he had maintained crushing US sanctions; kept US troops in Syria’s northeast; “ordered the use of military force against Iranian networks” in Syria; and supported Israel’s “freedom of action” to carry out even more military strikes against similar targets.

Iran’s Khamenei Blames US And Israel For Syrian Crisis

The US and Israel bear joint responsibility for the current situation in Syria, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said during a public event in Tehran on Wednesday, December 11. This was the first time Khamenei addressed the topic following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and the establishment of a Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-backed administration in Syria. While acknowledging Turkey’s role in supporting HTS, a designated terrorist organization that seized power after President Assad left the country on Sunday, Khamenei said that “the main conspirator, the main planner and the command centre lie in America and the Zionist regime,” IRNA reported.

War Propaganda And The Fall Of Syria

The rapid fall of the Syrian Arab Republic government was both a shock and a catastrophe for that region and for the world. It was incomprehensible that the state which withstood a sustained attack since 2011 from the United States, Israel, Turkey and other NATO members, and gulf monarch states such as Saudi Arabia, would collapse so swiftly. The defeat was political, not military. There was surprisingly little actual fighting on the battlefield. Russia, Syria’s most powerful ally, is engaged in Ukraine, while Turkey, Syria’s nemesis, played a two-sided game of working with its NATO allies while claiming to be negotiating in good faith with Russia.

Inside Israel’s Opportunistic Invasion Of Syria

Even as Bashar al-Assad was scrambling to get out of Syria, Israel was mobilizing its military to take advantage of the power vacuum that Assad’s ouster had created. After five decades of a low-level conflict between the two countries, Israel saw an opportunity to change the calculus, and it seized it. As of Wednesday, Israel had struck Syria nearly 500 times. Their goal with these attacks has been to essentially destroy Syria’s military capability, and they have already succeeded. Reports by Israeli media claim that well over 80% of Syria’s weaponry, ships, missiles, aircraft, and other military supplies have been damaged or destroyed.

The First Phase Of A New War Returns To Syria

Liberals and their Western allies, among the social-imperialist left in the U.S. and Europe, are celebrating the end of the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria after the stunning sweep across the country by so-called “rebels” led by the Al-Qaeda offshoot, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Their celebratory mood is informed by a tragic misunderstanding of what appears to be more of a coup d’etat in Syria than a military defeat. This was a coup orchestrated to replace the Syrian government with this coalition of Jihadists, which included the Turkish-supported Syrian National Army (SNA) and a coterie of depoliticized religious and gangster elements from the country’s Southeast.

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Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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