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A Muslims Zionism and the massacre of Syria’s minorities

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | March 11, 2025

The horrifying civilian massacres carried out across the Syrian coast are stupefyingly awful, on a scale reminiscent of the height of the ISIS insurgency in Iraq. Yet, there are still countless people identifying as Muslims who are trying to defend these actions. Their predominant ideology is not that of “Sunni Islam”, but rather of a nationalist identity rooted in a theological justification, in other words, a Muslims Zionism.

The Division of Syria

It has long been the agenda of the Zionist Entity to divide Syria into a number of weakened and defenseless Statelets, many of which it seeks to establish ties with and also of which justify its existence as a self-described “Jewish State”.

While the Zionist regime’s alliance with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has long been known, the Israelis doubled down on throwing their weight behind the group that controls Syria’s north-east on December 8, 2024. Simultaneously, the Zionists occupied the entirety of the Golan Heights and carried out their largest ever air campaign to destroy Syria’s military capabilities.

For years, the Zionist regime provided material and financial support, in addition to medical aid, to at least a dozen Syrian opposition groups, including Al-Nusra Front (Al-Qaeda in Syria). Al-Nusra would of course later become Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which now rules over Damascus with an iron fist. Its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who now prefers to go by Ahmed al-Sharaa, was originally an MI6 (British intelligence) project and was a former commander of ISIS.

The Zionists understood that the groups they were backing, including what would later become “HTS”, were led by foreign intelligence operatives, but that their rank and file were fanatical militants. This worked well for the Israelis in two ways: while the leadership of the group can be manipulated, the fanatical takfiris who actually believe in their group’s ideology are left to commit atrocities against civilians that will drive them towards federalization.

Although this history is largely forgotten, significant portions of Syria’s minority groups were in support of the movement to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, yet what changed their minds and made them rally around the former Syrian leader was the behavior of the sectarian death squads who ended up leading the Syrian opposition.

However, after 2018, as the Syrian economy went into steep decline and the civil war became a frozen conflict, the vision that many Syrians had adopted for their future had faded. The US and EU sanctions strangled the country and plunged the people of Syria into poverty.

By the time al-Jolani came to launch his assault on Aleppo, the entire State ended up crumbling and this occurred without any major fighting. On top of this, it appeared briefly as if the HTS militants were not going to carry out the kinds of massacres many had long feared they would.

Yet, after two months, the sectarian field executions did not stop, the Israelis were essentially at the gates of Damascus and the new government was still incapable of getting its affairs in order. The real question here is whether Jolani is part of a conspiracy to commit civilian massacres with the aim of dividing Syria, or if he is just a useful idiot that is behaving as a murderous dictator.

When the rebellion occurred on the Syrian coast, the instant response was the mass deployment of paramilitary forces and security services, while sectarian demonstrators chanted for the blood of the Alawites. The official justification for the massacres that followed – including civilians who had even been opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s rule – was that “remnants of the regime” were to be hunted down.

What followed was the largest gift to the Israelis that could ever have been given, sectarian gangsters burst into civilian homes and murdered men, women, and children. Even babies were not spared from the brutality of the new regime. Elderly men were tossed around, humiliated and shot in the streets, teenagers taken into the open and executed. When their Sunni neighbours tried to intervene to stop the massacres, they were murdered too.

It is clear that these actions were carried out with genocidal intent, and no reasonable person can deny the mass slaughter of innocent civilians. On a personal note, it is so bad that Sunni Syrian contacts of mine in Hama and Homs have told me that they are too scared to share their opinions on social media for fear of being targeted.

While it is certainly the malicious agenda of the Zionists to divide Syria, the blame cannot now be placed upon the reactions of the minority communities who seek to preserve their own livelihoods, but instead on the new administration in Damascus that has committed the atrocities. If the country continues on its current trajectory, there won’t be a country called Syria any more and this is the fault of the sectarian death squads who worked to divide the country.

The Israelis are now grinning, waiting for the opportunity to seize more territory and use collaborators to carve out a series of regimes that will work in their favour. Meanwhile, not a single bullet from Jolani’s men has been directed at the occupying entity.

March 11, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Unchecked expansionism: Senior Knesset member calls for ‘full Israeli control of Syria’

Press TV – March 10, 2025

In a brazen declaration of expansionist Zionist ambitions, an Israeli Knesset member has openly called for Syria to be placed under the regime’s full control.

Boaz Bismuth said Israel “will not allow a military force to emerge in Syria after Assad’s fall.”

“Damascus must be under full Israeli control, and we will ensure that it comes under our control.”

The remarks reveal long-standing Israeli objectives to reshape West Asia by force.

“Syria is our bridge to the Euphrates, and in the future we will reach Iraq and Kurdistan.”

The extremist Israeli politician also voiced wishful thinking that the entire region should become subordinate to Israeli policies.

“Syria must be completely subordinate to us, as must Jordan, without any military capabilities.”

“We wake up the King of Jordan in the middle of the night to make him carry out our orders.”

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said the regime will not tolerate the presence of the HTS or any other forces affiliated with the new rulers in southern Syria.

He also said the regime’s troops will remain stationed at a so-called “buffer zone,” seized following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, inside the occupied Golan Heights.

The buffer zone was created by the United Nations after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. A UN force of about 1,100 troops had patrolled the area since then.

Netanyahu said the regime’s forces will maintain an indefinite military presence at the summit of Mount Hermon, and the adjacent security zone.

Mount Hermon, known as Jabal al-Shaykh in Arabic, is a huge cluster of snowcapped mountain peaks towering above the Syria-Lebanon border.

It overlooks the Damascus countryside as well as the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Following the downfall of Assad, the Israeli military has been launching airstrikes against military installations, facilities, and arsenals belonging to Syria’s now-defunct army.

The strikes were accompanied by ground incursions, as tanks and armored bulldozers penetrated Syrian territory, beyond the Golan Heights to Qatana, barely 30 kilometers from Damascus.

Israel has been condemned for the termination of the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, and exploiting the chaos in the country in the wake of Assad’s downfall to make a land grab.

Former al-Qaeda affiliate the HTS took control of Damascus in early December in a stunning offensive, prompting Israel to move forces into a UN-monitored demilitarized zone within Syria.

The Israeli regime has occupied some 600 kilometers of Syrian territory since the fall of Assad.

The HTS remained conspicuously silent on the unprecedented Israeli aggression, refusing to condemn the land theft, a move seen by regional experts as a sign of internal instability.

March 10, 2025 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pro-Israel Think Tank WINEP Outed as ‘Dark Money’ Operation Driving US Wars

By Robert Inlakesh | MintPress News | February 26, 2025

The AIPAC-aligned Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), which often refers to itself simply as The Washington Institute, was recently outed as a “dark money” think tank for its lack of transparency on donors and is continuing to push the United States to engage in conflicts overseas to Israel’s benefit. Its case raises questions about how the Israel Lobby functions through think tanks across the board, shaping U.S. foreign policy behind closed doors.

WINEP has a long history of shaping U.S. foreign policy. It was deeply involved in the neoconservative push for regime change in Iraq, joining calls for the Clinton administration to topple Saddam Hussein as early as 1998. They also pushed for U.S. military intervention and helped justify the eventual invasion in 2003.

At the beginning of the year, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft unveiled the “Think Tank Funding Tracker,” a one-of-a-kind project that examined the funding sources of the top 50 U.S. think tanks since 2019 and rated their transparency from 0 to 5. WINEP and 16 others—including the neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)—received a zero transparency rating, exposing its reliance on “dark money” contributions.

While WINEP claims “to be funded exclusively by U.S. citizens” on its website, it does not publicly disclose its donor list. Its AIPAC roots were first exposed in 2006 by Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer in The London Review of Books, where they described WINEP as an AIPAC cutout advancing Israel’s agenda under the guise of independent research. The pair wrote at the time that “The Lobby created its own think tank in 1985, when Martin Indyk helped found WINEP. Although WINEP plays down its links to Israel and claims instead that it provides a “balanced and realistic” perspective on Middle East issues, this is not the case. In fact, WINEP is funded and run by individuals who are deeply committed to advancing Israel’s agenda.”

This claim that AIPAC created WINEP was later corroborated by former AIPAC official MJ Rosenberg, who wrote in HuffPost : “How do I know? I was in the room when AIPAC decided to establish WINEP.” The now-deceased WINEP co-founder, Martin Indyk, was also the head of the Saban Center for Middle East Studies, funded by Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban.

Recent U.S. foreign policy developments have only strengthened WINEP’s influence. The Biden administration’s unwavering support for Israel’s war on Gaza, including a $14 billion emergency military aid package, aligns with WINEP’s long-standing push to ensure that U.S. military assistance to Israel remains untouchable. WINEP actively shaped public discourse as the war progressed, with Executive Director Robert Satloff praising Biden’s refusal to support an early ceasefire, calling it “correct and courageous.”

When House lawmakers convened hearings in late 2023 to attack the administration’s Iran policy, their rhetoric mirrored WINEP’s narratives, particularly opposition to any sanctions relief. Witnesses from WINEP-adjacent institutions like FDD and JINSA were brought in to reinforce the case for a more aggressive posture toward Iran. Meanwhile, WINEP continues to push for U.S. military leverage in post-Assad Syria, another key policy area where the Biden administration has quietly followed its recommendations by maintaining a military foothold and targeting Iranian assets with airstrikes.

WINEP’s revolving-door relationship with the U.S. government does little to shed its reputation for shaping policy. In May 2023, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan delivered a keynote address at WINEP’s annual Soref Symposium, praising Satloff’s “extraordinary work.” Sullivan’s participation wasn’t just symbolic—it reinforced WINEP’s position as an informal but essential policy hub. This is evident from the administration’s embrace of the Abraham Accords, another WINEP priority.

Former WINEP fellow Dan Shapiro was appointed the State Department’s senior advisor for regional integration, carrying out the think tank’s long-standing vision for Arab normalization with Israel. WINEP is currently led by Michael Singh, Robert Satloff, Dennis Ross, and Dana Stroul. Stroul, who serves as WINEP’s Research Director, returned to the position after serving as the Biden administration’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East from 2021 to 2024. During her tenure, she played a central role in Washington’s anti-Iran initiatives, the response to the Gaza war, and shaping U.S. Syria policy.

Beyond WINEP, the broader issue of think tank influence is now facing increasing scrutiny. In 2023, lawmakers introduced the Think Tank Transparency Act, which requires policy organizations to disclose foreign government funding and contractual agreements. While WINEP does not receive direct funding from Israel, watchdogs have highlighted that its pro-Israel agenda is sustained through wealthy American donors closely linked to AIPAC. Using domestic contributions to advance a foreign policy agenda has enabled WINEP to operate without falling under the scrutiny of foreign lobbying laws, even as its “scholars” shape U.S. positions on Iran, Syria, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Currently, the two primary issues on WINEP’s agenda are how to best leverage American influence to shape outcomes in post-Assad Syria and how to assure regime change in Iran. Indicative of the think tank’s influence is that not only was its hardline Syria strategy the exact model used by the U.S. to aid regime change in Damascus, but its chief researcher was taken on as a senior official by the previous administration.

As demonstrated by the Quincy Institute’s new report, the lack of transparency over who exactly finances the AIPAC lobby’s “cutout” think tank presents serious questions about who is actually shaping U.S. foreign policy and to whose benefit.

March 2, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Good Jihadi, bad Jihadi: Al-Qaeda’s Sharaa vs Sinwar’s resistance

The Cradle | February 19, 2025

“Even the pages of the New York Times now include regular accounts distinguishing good from bad Muslims: good Muslims are modern, secular, and Westernized, but bad Muslims are doctrinal, antimodern, and virulent.” – Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror

In his seminal work, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror, Mahmood Mamdani dissects how the west constructs and weaponizes distinctions between “good” and “bad” Muslims to suit its geopolitical objectives. He argues that these labels are not inherent but imposed, shaped by the shifting demands of western foreign policy. 

Nearly two decades after its publication, his thesis remains alarmingly relevant. Nowhere is this clearer than in the stark contrast between the west’s treatment of Yahya Sinwar, the martyred Palestinian resistance leader of Hamas, and Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the head of Al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria.

A tale of two leaders 

While Sinwar has spent the past year in the war-ravaged ruins of Gaza, constantly evading Israeli and NATO surveillance while leading the Palestinian resistance against a brutal Israeli occupation and aggression, Sharaa moved freely through Idlib, and now Damascus, attending public events and meeting western diplomats without significant security measures. 

This is despite the fact that the US had placed a $10 million bounty on Sharaa’s head as a so-called terrorist. The incongruence is striking: an internationally recognized Palestinian resistance leader hunted and vilified, while a former Al-Qaeda affiliate leader rebrands himself as a legitimate political actor with western complicity.

Back in 2021, TRT World noted how Sharaa was “remodeling” himself as a peacemaker, enjoying unimpeded mobility even as western coalition forces actively hunted other jihadist leaders linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan later confirmed that Sharaa had been collaborating with Ankara for years in eliminating those classified by NATO as “terrorists.” The reality, however, is that Sharaa has been part of a western-backed laundering process for years, at least since 2012, but certainly since 2017, when with Qatari backing, he began rebranding his Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front as a Syrian liberation force opposing Russian and Iranian influence.

Media whitewashing and political legitimacy

The western media’s embrace of Sharaa was made explicit when The Times described his return to Damascus as that of “‘Polite’ Syrian leader heads home.” This was not an isolated occurrence but part of a broader effort to frame him as a liberator from foreign influence. His past crimes, including war crimes against civilians, enslavement of Yazidi women, and sectarian violence, were conveniently brushed aside.

When Sharaa’s group took control of Damascus last December, the alignment with western interests became clearer. Israeli airstrikes systematically dismantled Syria’s military infrastructure, particularly in and around the capital, yet Sharaa himself moved through the city undisturbed. 

While the Israeli Air Force bombed military sites near Umayyad Square, Sharaa was seen casually driving through the same areas. His silence on these attacks was deafening – especially given that his administration’s official stance on Israel marked a complete break from Syria’s historic anti-Zionist policies. 

Statements from his government indicated no intention to reclaim the occupied Golan Heights or other lost territories, signaling a de facto truce with Tel Aviv.

The west’s legitimization of Sharaa reached its peak when his Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, was invited to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, sharing a stage with figures like former British prime minister Tony Blair. 

His rhetoric was tailored for a western audience: peace, counterterrorism, privatization, and economic liberalism – all buzzwords signaling a willingness to operate within the neoliberal world order.

Demonizing resistance: Sinwar’s struggle

Meanwhile, Israel continued its relentless campaign against Yahya Sinwar, branding him a “butcher,” a “war criminal,” and a “child killer” – a narrative eagerly parroted by western media despite its lack of substantiation. 

Even as the alleged war crimes attributed to Hamas fighters on 7 October 2023 were later exposed as Israeli propaganda, Sinwar’s image remained demonized. In his final moments, as an Israeli drone executed him in Gaza, Sinwar did not cower. He fought until his last breath, cementing his status as an icon of Palestinian resistance. Yet even in death, the western narrative denied him any form of legitimacy.

Julani’s convenient redemption 

Conversely, Sharaa’s past was erased. His involvement with the Islamic State in Iraq, his position as deputy leader of ISIS under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, his group’s mass executions, and his forces’ role in the enslavement of women were all conveniently overlooked. 

Western journalists competed to polish his image, portraying him as a pragmatic leader rather than the war criminal he is. His forces still operate brutal prisons in Idlib, where opponents disappear indefinitely, yet he remains a media darling.

This contrast illustrates Mamdani’s thesis with unsettling precision: Sharaa is the “good jihadist” because he aligns with western-Israeli interests, while Sinwar is the “bad jihadist” because he defies them. 

Sinwar’s crime was not terrorism – it was successfully challenging the occupation’s military, exposing the vulnerabilities of an Israel long perceived as invincible. His resistance resonated across the Arab and Muslim world, cutting across sectarian lines and threatening western interests.

Sharaa, on the other hand, poses no threat to Israel. He remains focused on the sectarian score-settling within Syria, making him a useful pawn rather than an adversary. His group does not challenge Western influence in the region, nor does it resist the ongoing occupation of Palestinian land. This is the fundamental reason why he is embraced rather than demonized.

Sinwar may have fallen, but as the Quran reminds us: “And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah, ‘They are dead.’ Rather, they are alive, but you perceive it not.” (Quran 2:154). His legacy endures, living on in the hearts of those who continue his struggle. 

Sharaa, despite his crimes, remains alive and politically relevant. In the western geopolitical playbook, obedience is rewarded while defiance is crushed. 

February 19, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Islamophobia, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Neocon think tanks persuading Trump to stomp down on West Asia

By Hassan Fakih | Al Mayadeen | February 13, 2025

Think thanks are making attempts to persuade the reinstated Donald Trump administration to take an iron fist approach to West Asia in light of news that US government bodies are making moves to begin pulling troops out.

The Vandenberg Coalition, an American neoconservative think tank headed by Elliott Abrams, a US politician who held foreign policy positions in the offices of presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Trump, published a report with their recommendations on how the 47th president should handle the region.

Mainly, the report seeks to have Trump’s administration ensure that the region remains in line with American interests by seeing to it that olive branches are not to be extended to nations like Iran, China, or Russia.

“To protect U.S. security and ensure America has the resources to deter and confront adversaries outside of the Middle East, we must implement new policies toward the region,” the report reads.

The think tank lays out multiple methods as to how the reinstated White House Administration should act towards all of the nations of West Asia, whether they house forces hostile to the US or are Gulf allies.

The report sees Iran as the major roadblock to expanding US power over the region. It calls the Islamic Republic “the greatest threat to American interests in the Middle East and the cause of most of the region’s security problems.”

The coalition calls on Trump to reinstate “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic in order to deter it from gaining influence.

On the economic front, it demands that Washington fully enforce existing US oil sanctions so as to prevent economic growth via business between Iran and China.

Hostile words alluding to military action against Iran are littered throughout the report. It notes that the US should make Iran “pay” in the case that allied Resistance Axis forces carry out operations against an invading American force and considers it an attack carried out by Tehran.

“Any attack on U.S. forces or military assets by proxies must be considered an attack by Iran so as to encourage deterrence,” the report read. “The proxy attacks will not cease until Iran is made to pay a serious price for them. That should be US policy, communicated unequivocally to Iran.”

The Washington Institute, another US neoconservative think tank, also states in a report that the US should increase pressure on Iran. Its author, Michael Singh, outrightly declares that Washington should look towards a military solution as a means to combat Tehran’s nuclear enrichment project in place of complex diplomacy.

“One of the difficulties with diplomatic resolutions to nuclear crises is that they require the sort of domestic buy-in that was not obtained in America for either the Agreed Framework or JCPOA,” Singh wrote. “Given Iran’s vulnerability and the advanced state of its nuclear program, the Trump administration would be remiss not to consider, and indeed prepare seriously for, military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program.”

In regards to other West Asian countries, the Vandenberg coalition says that the US should keep its presence and sphere of influence in Iraq and Syria to prevent Iranian-backed groups from gaining power, as well as to try and cut off growing ties with China and Russia.

It supports the Israeli annexation of Syria’s land and attacks on military sites, adding that Washington should back such military moves by Tel Aviv.

“America must strongly support Israel’s efforts to identify, secure, and destroy the former Assad regime’s military infrastructure and chemical weapons stockpiles,” the Vandenberg Coalition’s report reads. “The United States must continue to allow Israel to obliterate these sites and equipment lest militant groups seize them.”

As for Lebanon, the coalition says that the Lebanese Republic should be treated “as a state captured by Iran” so far as Hezbollah exists.

It claims that “Israel” is the only capable body that can “secure the Israeli-Lebanese border,” and condemns the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by saying that they and other international organizations are too outspoken about “Israeli defensive actions.”

It wrongly justifies “Israel’s” occupation of Lebanese territory, done so under the guise of border protection, by pinning the blame on Hezbollah for breaking the 27 November ceasefire agreement.

The reality is that during the 60-day ceasefire, Israeli violations were north of 1,300; this includes the imposed ceasefire as well as breaches of UN Resolution 1701, with “Israel” targeting areas north of the Litani River. The counter continues to climb as the Israeli army is still bombing Lebanese territory during this extended ceasefire.

For its part, Hezbollah launched one “initial warning defensive response” against the Israeli army’s Ruwaysat al-Alam site after multiple violations by the Israeli forces.

The claim that “Israel” should stay in Lebanon is also a view held by the Hudson Institute’s Rebeccah Heinrichs, who claims Hezbollah’s presence in the south, generalizing the entire region and not just south of the Litani, is justification for “Israel’s” occupation of Lebanese territory.

When it comes to recommended actions against Palestine, the Vandenberg Coalition says that Gazan sovereignty should be replaced with overseers from volunteer Arab States vetted by the Americans, noting that “American policymakers should prohibit the participation of any entities with longstanding support for Hamas.”

The main goal for US foreign policy regarding Palestine, according to the think tank, is to “prioritize the security of Israel and our Arab partners,” Palestinian rights will only go so far as the Americans will allow them.

“Israel’s” Institute for National Security Studies’ Chuck Freilich gave the opinion that Trump should help with the idea of creating a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation instead of looking at a viable means for Palestinians to stay on their lands.

Trump seems to have taken this view, as he said during a February 5 presser with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that neighboring nations should absorb the Palestinians living in Gaza.

“Being in [Gaza’s] presence just has not been good, and it should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there,” Trump said. “Instead, we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, […] and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck.”

The US president failed to mention “Israel” as being the reason for the death and destruction of the besieged enclave, instead, referring to them as “wonderful people.”

Normalization between “Israel” and Arab states is still also a significant goal of these recommendations. Both the American Vandenberg Coalition and the Israeli think tank, The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, call for an expansion of the Abraham Accords under the guise of creating a strong network to combat Iran.

The coalition also declares that the US should remove “unwarranted” restrictions to arms sales with “Israel”, noting, “Arming Israel in a timely manner shows Iran and its proxies that the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with its ally.”

Even Gulf states that have taken positions very kind to America and “Israel” historically are being targeted as nations in need of American discipline.

Growing ties with China are listed as a reason for cracking down on Saudi Arabian, Qatari, and UAE ambitions, as the three nations have been in talks with Beijing on military matters, a subject which Washington sees as a notable threat.

Censorship of Saudi Arabian speech is also a part of the recommended acts, noting, “Saudi Arabia should be asked to stop rhetoric about Iran or Israel that creates any confusion about the Kingdom’s allegiances,” highlighting statements made at the 2024 Arab League in which Riyadh called on Washington to respect Iran’s sovereignty.

The Vandenberg coalition called on Trump to revoke Qatar’s Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status due to its “overt support of Hamas and other Iranian-affiliated terrorist groups.”

In Yemen, there are calls for the Americans to conduct operations in the Red Sea to ensure the safe travel of ships, and “destroy Iranian ships,” as a means of fulfilling this goal.

It also calls for the US to discipline UN bodies operating in West Asia, the Vandenberg Coalition outrightly declares that Washington should “immediately cease all funding to UNRWA” and authorize UNIFIL to be able to independently search private property in South Lebanon to find weapon caches.

If UNIFIL doesn’t comply, the recommended act is for the US to halt all voluntary funding to the group.

The coalition states that the US should also “vet potential appointments of senior UN officials” in order to “prevent conflicts of interest.”

What these think tanks desire from Trump’s administration is for it to adopt a Henry Kissinger-esque view of America first policy towards West Asia, meaning that the US and its Israeli ally should always come before the natives of the land by any means necessary.

Trump’s vision of pulling out troops from the region is undesirable to these academic hawks because they view that without the policing of America, the region’s nations will turn their back to Washington and benefit adversaries like China or Iran.

Neoconservatives want a diplomatic strategy from Trump that sees the sovereignty of West Asian nations taking a back seat if they do not comply with America’s vision of the region.

We can expect that Trump will eventually comply in one way or another with the demands brought forward, as policymakers want to ensure that the US stays on the throne it commandeered following the collapse of the USSR by making Trump a Machiavellian prince.

February 13, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel establishes nine ‘permanent’ occupation bases in south Syria

The Cradle | February 11, 2025

Israeli occupation forces have discreetly established a security zone within Syrian territory, with nine sites already under advanced construction within the occupied buffer zone, beyond it, and on Mount Hermon, Israeli Army Radio reported on 10 February.

The army has established nine bases extending from Mount Hermon and through Quneitra until Deraa governate, which “appeared to be permanent.”

There is currently no set timeline for how long Israel will maintain control over this security zone, but the army has confirmed that it will remain until it is certain that there are “no threats to Israel.”

The army has also established “security cooperation with Jordan for mutual issues including against factions in south Syria and possible Hamas cells.”

Three army brigades currently operate on Syrian territory, an increase from the one-and-a-half battalions stationed in the occupied Golan Heights before 7 October 2023, the Army Radio added.

Israeli troops have attempted to minimize their contact with Syrians residing in villages now under Israeli occupation.

Israel first occupied parts of the Syrian Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967. After the October War in 1973, Syria and Israel struck a ceasefire agreement that established a demilitarized zone in the Golan.

After the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on 8 December, Israeli troops immediately occupied additional land in the demilitarized zone and beyond, including on strategic Mount Hermon.

The Israeli Air Force also launched hundreds of airstrikes to destroy Syrian army air and naval bases, as well as aircraft, air defense systems, and missile stores.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported at the time that about 80 percent of Syria’s military capabilities had been completely destroyed.

Leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and ex-Al-Qaeda chief Ahmad al-Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani) appointed himself as Syria’s president after Assad was ousted.

HTS previously received support from Israel, and Sharaa has stated he does not seek confrontations with Israeli forces occupying the country.

Instead, fighters from HTS and other armed factions have focused efforts on disarming and carrying out sectarian killings of Alawites in the countryside regions of Homs and Hama, and attacking Lebanese tribes operating smuggling rings along the Lebanese–Syrian border.

February 11, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Senior Ansar Allah official on why Yemen fought for Gaza

The Grayzone | February 9, 2025

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, welcome back to the Gray Zone. The Gaza ceasefire has finally been achieved after 15 months of gruesome fighting. And Western commentators, many of them referred to Ansar Allah as mad or insane for its refusal to back down in the face of U.S. and U.K. and Israeli airstrikes.

And to end its blockade of the Red Sea, its naval blockade. Why was Ansar Allah willing to risk so much to attempt to force a ceasefire in Gaza? And was the price worth it?

In the name of God, the most merciful, we in the Ansarullah movement act based on religious and moral principles, not agendas or self-interest.

That is why we were prepared to make every sacrifice to defend the oppressed in Gaza. We successfully pressured the US and the Zionist entity, ultimately leading to a ceasefire. Our operations became the most significant leverage for the Palestinian resistance. Without them, I feared the Palestinian people would have suffered even greater losses and the war would still be ongoing today. Yemen has endured immense suffering due to American and British policies. The price we paid was heavy, but it is insignificant compared to our duty toward Hamza. Our ultimate goal is to help establish a global order based on justice for all peoples of the world.

Many in the Gaza Strip, after the ceasefire was declared, profusely thanked Ansar Allah and the people of Yemen. That was the first party that they thanked, as well as Abu Abaydah, the spokesman for the Al Qasem Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. What message do you want to send back to them?

We consider what we did a moral, religious and humanitarian act. We consider the Palestinian people the first line of defense for the Arab and Muslim nations, as well as the nations of all those who are oppressed given the sacrifices they have made in the pursuit of justice.

For that reason, they are more deserving of gratitude than we are. They are confronting a global alliance of oppression and injustice.

Israel lobby-connected think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said last October that the Houthis are stronger, more technically proficient, and more prominent members of the axis of resistance than they were at the war’s outset. At the same time, the U.S. government, Tel Aviv, Even Riyadh, Doha have said that the axis of resistance as a whole has been significantly weakened by Israeli attacks. So what is your message to them? Is the axis of resistance still intact? What’s your message to those who say it’s been defeated?

Al-Khan al-Sahyuni wa-Hulafaa.

The Zionist entity and its allies failed to achieve their objectives. The Hamas movement not only endures, but has grown more popular than ever. Not just in Palestine, but across the Arab and Muslim world. Additionally, global awareness has increased significantly. The Zionist entity is built on lies and deception and its defeat in the arena of public opinion is a major blow. Yemen’s military operations inflicted significant costs on the US and its allies by draining financial resources, undermining the security of the entity and weakening the credibility of their military presence in the region. the american navy despite its overwhelming strength was forced to yield to us as a result the losses suffered by global zionism and its allies far outweigh those of the axis of resistance while syria was a significant loss for the axis the zionist alliance has suffered even more especially in the battle of global awareness.

Well, we’ll get to the issue of Syria, but first I want to ask you, what did you do when Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced his intention, the intention of the Israeli military, to assassinate the leadership of Ansar Allah, including Abdul Malik al-Houthi and yourself? You appeared on a public Israeli kill list.

What did you do and do you believe Israel still has the intention to assassinate you and other leaders of Ansar Allah?

We have made it clear to the US and the Zionist entity that we are ready for modernism. Our message has also been clear that any targeting of leadership in Yemen will be met in an equal retaliation, whether that be in the US, the UK or in the entity. We are serious.

If they want this war to become one of assassinated leaders, we are ready. We would advise them to focus on maintaining the ceasefire rather than further escalation of the war. An escalated war and a war of assassinations will not go in their favor. We are ready for all options. The ball is in their court.

The new U.S. President Donald Trump is clearly driven by rabid Zionist forces.

Some of the most extreme forces on the political spectrum in Israel support Donald Trump. which leaves open the possibility of a U.S. war with Iran, which has been Netanyahu’s top objective. Now, if that happens, what will Ansar Allah do? Will you intervene, for example, by opening a front against American Gulf interests, attacking oil facilities, which has been put on the table by other members of the Axis?

First, we are focused on achieving stability in the region. We want peace for the region and the whole world. We will never start a war. We do not believe in pre-emptive strikes even if we know that the Trump administration will escalate. That said, in the case that one member of the Axis is targeted, we will not leave them alone and we will support them exactly like we supported our brothers in Gaza. We consider that the American foreign policy and that of its allies aims to break each member of the resistance individually.

We won’t let that happen. Are you concerned after the devastation of the war and with a new president in Washington, that the plans for the Abraham Accords and normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states could go ahead, could be reignited. And what will be the consequences for Ansar Allah if this takes place and what would you do to prevent it?

We are always advising Arab and Muslim nations not to normalize or design this entity, as this will not be in their own interest. This goes against their duties towards their people in Gaza, especially considering that the Zionist entity is backed by powerful and rich countries. But if the Saudis and the Emiratis continue with further normalization,
we send them nothing but the advice. We will never escalate militarily against them unless they attack us first.

You had warned that Syria was the weakest link in the axis of resistance. How damaging to the axis was the loss of Syria to Mohammad al-Jolani’s NATO-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham forces? And why do you think the Syrian government folded so quickly along with its Iranian and Russian allies?

Yes, I had mentioned that Syria was the weakest link. I also advised that the Syrian government should have opened a front against the Zionist entity. That would have made Syria the strongest link. But sadly, the Syrian government made the wrong calculations. The enemies of Syria and the enemies of the resistance were able to focus their efforts on Syria, while the rest of the Axis was preoccupied with its engagements with the United States, the United Kingdom and the Zionist entity. The Syrian army was also struck on many occasions, strikes that went without retaliation, which I believe weakened morale on the army. Also, we can’t forget the massive support that Al Jawlani’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham received from the United States and its allies, and especially Turkey. Al Jolani’s people learned some lessons from their handlers and they pretended to offer amnesty to all their former rivals in Syria. This eased their consolidation of power, but now we are seeing that these initial actions were fake and those who believed them are paying the price.

What does it mean for the Axis to lose an ally like Syria? Does it fundamentally cripple Hezbollah because it loses the land bridge with Iran? Where does the Axis stand today without Syria?

The Syrian front was an important one for the Axis for two reasons. The first, because it was an important path for delivering supplies and arms to the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements. And the second, because it was the last sovereign Arab nation that shared their border with Palestine. No such state exists any longer. Lebanon’s government is not sovereign. Therefore, the loss of Syria cannot be understated.

Still, we must also remember that Syria had become a huge burden on the Axis in the last years. Syria’s loss is not the end of the Axis. The Axis will adjust to this loss. The losses of the Axis, as large as they were, are minute in comparison to the losses of the Americans and their allies.

More close to home in Yemen, Ansar Allah unilaterally released 153 war detainees, detainees from the Yemeni Civil War, in a good faith gesture to your adversaries in the south. This took place obviously in the wake of the ceasefire. So what message are you trying to send to southern Yemen and to the quote-unquote international community?

Our decision to unilaterally release the hostages had nothing to do with Gaza or the ceasefire. In the past, we have done dozens of similar unilateral overtures as a message to all that we aim to turn the page on the practice of hostage-taking on both sides. However, it is evident that our internal opponents did not return the favor.

At the end of the day, we would not have any of their hostages if they did not have any of ours. We strive to turn the page on the practice.

And southern Yemen state media is calling for the purification of the country from the sectarian Houthi militia. They’re using this sort of language. They’re accusing you of all sorts of crimes, of using human shields, pointing fingers. What’s your response to the… to these accusations? And have you considered actually just seceding and declaring independence given the seeming intransigence?

The mercenary leadership in southern Yemen no longer holds a popular mandate, nor does it represent the Yemeni people. They represent our oppressors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Everyone knows that the Saudis and their allies picked this mercenary government that is represented by Rashad Al Alimi and his leadership council.

They do not in any way represent the interests of the Yemeni people. Therefore, we are not surprised that this is their stance. For us, we still advocate for the unification of Yemen and a political solution that deals with the territorial and political concerns of all parties.

We are open to all solutions that address the interests of all the Yemeni governorates including the southern ones. And we must emphasize that the overwhelming majority of the Yemenis from the southern and eastern governorates are against secession. They equally desire the reunification of the country, especially after what they witnessed in terms of abuses from the militias that are supported from the outside, especially the militias that are controlled by the United Arab Emirates.

The forces of imperialism from Washington to Tel Aviv to the Wahhabi Gulf states are bringing enormous amounts of power down on Ansarallah and Yemen, seeking to dislodge you from power. And these are very powerful forces. Have you considered or undergone any process to reach out to China or Russia or any
other BRIC states to offset the impact of this imperial pressure?

Radical Islamic ideology exists in the world, but it is limited and weak. The problem is that the United Kingdom and the United States supported these radical movements, and on top of them, the Wahhabi movement, that considered all other Muslims infidels. The United Kingdom and then the United States benefited from these radicals.

They weaponized them against their opponents in the Muslim world and the rest of the globe. These radical forces were weaponized against the leftist movements in the Arab world. and the movements of Arab nationalism.

And most recently, they have been weaponized against the members of the axis of resistance in the name of a Sunni versus Shia sectarian war. They were also weaponized against countries that have stood by the Palestinian people historically, such as the USSR, as represented by Russia, and China, and even India.

We have sadly now lost India and its support in the struggle, and it is now one of the strongest allies of the United States and the Zionist entity. The victims of America and her politics are numerous. They include the Russians and the Chinese. Of course, there must be a form of an alliance between them and all the other victims of the United States around the globe, an alliance that could help each withstand the threats, external or internal, imposed by the United States. The United States today is the force that controls radicalism, whether that be by ISIS or Al-Qaeda.

Of course, it controls them indirectly through its Saudi and other Gulf puppets. Still, we emphasize that any alliance between said allies must be built on a strong foundation of humanitarian and ethical grounds. This is a sacred priority for us. And as I mentioned before, according to our military doctrine, we only engage in defensive military action, or military action to support the oppressed. We do not believe in preventative war. There are many shared interests that we can unite for with other nations of the resistance. Still, there are many shared interests that we can unite under with all the other nations that are equally suffering from American policies.

And finally, I asked you this question during our last interview, which took place at a different time in the midst of war. What is your message to the American people at the dawn of the second Trump administration?

My message to the American people and the people of the West in general is that every civilization is built on a set of foundational pillars. And when a civilization loses these pillars, it crumbles. Today, Western civilization is dangerously close to collapse due to its abandonment of many of its moral and ethical foundational values.

The ethical and moral values of the West seem to exclude the Palestinians and deprive them of their rights while excusing all the crimes of the Israelis and offering them no accountability. This is a massive problem for the Western mentality. Also, they must recognize that the peace that will come by way of Trump and his Abraham Accords is not a real peace, but a submission. Every time the West speaks of stability and security, they mean security and stability only for them and their people. We see how the Zionist entity is aiming to achieve a ceasefire for only one side. They want to keep targeting Gaza, the south of Lebanon, and the West Bank with impunity and without a response. That’s why we must all re-examine our moral and humanitarian ideology and worldview. Our ideologies must be built on the foundation that everyone deserves peace, everyone deserves freedom, and everyone deserves human rights. Not human rights, freedom, peace, for some, at the expense of others.

Okay, well, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, spokesman for Ansar Allah, thank you for joining us again at the Grey Zone. Best of luck.

Thank you, Max, for all that you do in this fight for the rights of the Palestinian people. We count on voices like yours to achieve real change in the world, in America and in the West.

Absolutely. And I look forward to talking again with you.

February 10, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trump plans withdrawal from Syria – media

RT | February 5, 2025

The Pentagon is drafting plans for a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria, NBC News has reported, citing two anonymous defense officials. This comes shortly after President Donald Trump suggested that America’s military involvement in the country serves no useful purpose.

US troops entered Syria in 2014 on the pretext of fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), and have maintained a presence in the country ever since, despite never being invited by Damascus.

According to NBC’s report on Tuesday, US defense officials have begun preparing withdrawal plans, with timelines ranging from 30 to 90 days. Sources told the network that Trump’s new national security adviser, Mike Waltz, met with senior military commanders at the headquarters of US Central Command in Tampa, Florida on Friday. He was reportedly briefed on the situation in the Middle East.

Commenting on media reports suggesting that he had informed Israel of the imminent pullout, Trump said last week: “We’ll make a determination on that. We’re not getting, we’re not involved in Syria.”

“Syria is its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don’t need us involved,” he added.

The Israeli public broadcaster Kan made the claim regarding the supposed withdrawal plans late last month, which presumably caused concern among Israeli officials.

In December 2018, during his first term, Trump announced plans to withdraw US troops from Syria. The decision faced significant pushback from Defense Secretary James Mattis, who ultimately resigned in protest. While some personnel were withdrawn, many were later redeployed

Shortly after the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s government in December 2024 by a loose coalition of armed opposition groups, the Pentagon acknowledged that the number of US troops in the country was in fact 2,000, as opposed to the previously reported 900. Several media outlets claimed later that month that several large US military convoys carrying weaponry and equipment had crossed into Syria from Iraq, further reinforcing the US contingent.

Assad and Moscow have repeatedly denounced the US military presence as an illegal occupation, stressing that Washington was never granted permission to station troops in Syria. The former government in Damascus also accused Washington of stealing the country’s natural resources, given that the US bases are located in the oil-rich northeastern parts of Syria.

The latest claims about the potential withdrawal from Syria came as Trump announced on Tuesday a proposal that includes a plan to “take over” Gaza. He did not rule out deploying US troops to the Palestinian enclave, vowing to “do what is necessary.”

February 5, 2025 Posted by | Illegal Occupation | , , | Leave a comment

Israel withdraws from al-Muallaqa town in Syria hours after infiltration

Al Mayadeen | February 4, 2025

Israeli occupation forces withdrew from the al-Muallaqa town in Quneitra, Syria, hours after infiltrating the town, field sources told Al Mayadeen.

During their invasion, the IOF searched civilian houses in the area.

Israeli occupation forces are reinforcing their positions on strategic hills on the outskirts of Kodana, South of the Quneitra countryside.

“Israel” has been preparing for the long haul as it takes over Syrian territories. Satellite images reviewed by The Washington Post revealed buildings and vehicles within a fortified Israeli base and another base toward the South.

The two bases are connected through newly dug dirt roads that lead to the Golan Heights.

Satellite images also show two forward observation bases being built by occupation forces; one in Jubata al-Khassab and another one toward the South.

Another Israeli force invaded 2 kilometers east of the al-Salam town in Quneitra and patrolled in front of the Syrian General Security Headquarters.

Last month, Israeli Air Forces targeted a military convoy between Dara’a and Quneitra in Southern Syria, killing 3 people.

“Israel” took advantage of the collapse of the Assad regime and occupied the demilitarized buffer zone between the Golan Heights and Syria. It also targeted the former Syrian army’s arms and vehicles with violent airstrikes over days, destroying most of the capabilities.

February 4, 2025 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Compatible Left Joins Imperialism in Celebrating Defeat of Syria

By Stansfield Smith | Covert Action Magazine | January 8, 2025

It may be no surprise that the “mainstream” corporate news media have turned into advertising agencies for U.S. 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 successful U.S. “regime change,” this time, in Syria.

Portside, which assembles daily news articles that it advertises as “being of interest to people on the left,” ran an article, “Liberation in Syria Is a Victory Worth Embracing” by Layla Maghribi, which criticized “some self-styled Western ‘anti-imperialists’” for their lack of enthusiasm for the “victory.” While it does note that Israel bombed Syria 220 times up to mid-November this past year, one finds no mention of the long U.S. blockade imposed on Syrians.

CounterPunch has been a compatible left website outspoken in its hostility toward those exposing U.S. coup operations in Syria.

On December 10, CounterPunch published “Understanding the Rebellion in Syria” an interview with Swiss-Syrian socialist Joseph Daher. The introduction made the outlandish assertion that “some on the Left have claimed without foundation that their rebellion was orchestrated by the U.S. and Israel.” Daher himself in turn said that “the U.S. nor Israel had a hand in these events. In fact, the opposite is the case.”

Daher goes on to write off as “campists” and “tankies” those of us who recognize the obvious, “that this military offensive is led by ‘Al-Qaeda and other terrorists’ and that it is a Western-imperialist plot against the Syrian regime intended to weaken the so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’ led by Iran and Hezbollah… [T]he campists claim that the fall of Assad weakens it and therefore undermines the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.”

On December 11, CounterPunch turned to academic Stephen Zunes for an “exclusive interview,” presenting him as a “foreign policy expert” for the left.

Zunes, however, is on the advisory board of International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC); a group whose founder and primary funder was Peter Ackerman, a member of the Executive Committee of the Atlantic Council and chair of Freedom House. Also, back in 2011, Zunes praised the U.S.-NATO destruction of Qaddafi’s Libya in Truthout.

In the interview, Zunes impugned Assad for his “savage repression” and “endemic corruption” and blamed him for Syria’s growing poverty without mentioning the draconian U.S. sanctions policy or ravaging effects of a war that had been triggered by outsiders.

Zunes went on to characterize the anti-Assad rebels as a “popular resistance movement,” obscuring its domination by jihadist elements, and said that the rebellion “would have happened regardless of U.S. policy,” which obscures the crucial nature of U.S. support.

Zunes showed his true colors subsequently when he defended President Barack Obama, who inaugurated the largest covert operations in Syria since the 1980s Afghan mujahadin and illegally bombed Syria based on fraudulent pretexts, a phony charge of chemical weapons attacks.[1]

According to Zunes, “Many of these Western ‘anti-imperialists’ are themselves stuck in an imperialist mindset which denies agency to people of color in the Global South (or Slavs in Eastern Europe) who are struggling for their freedom against tyranny.”

However, the struggle against tyranny in this case was financed heavily by outside powers, including the U.S., and was led not by “freedom fighters” but jihadist terrorists who came from 84 different countries.

CounterPunch has long supported the fake “Syrian revolution.” They refuse to publish anti-imperialist writers such as Ben Norton, who reported, “a bombshell declassified 2012 memo from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reveals that, from the start, ‘The Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.’ AQI is a reference to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which later evolved into ISIS.”

Even the New York Times disclosed—seven years ago—that the CIA had already spent more than $1 billion to overthrow Assad, “one of the costliest covert action programs in the history of the C.I.A.”

Why do these “left” websites like CounterPunch cover up major CIA regime-change operations?

Truthout on December 11 ran its own pro-U.S. regime-change article, “As Assad Regime Falls, Syrians Celebrate — and Brace for an Uncertain Future” by Shireen Akram-Boshar, a socialist writer and Middle East/North Africa solidarity activist. The article repeats the same apologetics for U.S. imperial rule: “Contrary to common misconceptions, the U.S. and Israel did not aspire to remove Assad after 2013.”

Similarly, Democracy Now ignored the U.S. involvement in the operations against Assad and triumph of al-Qaeda and interviewed an AP reporter, Sarah El Deeb, who pointed to cheering crowds and expressed enthusiasm about the new Syria with Assad’s removal from power.

El Deeb further echoed the mainstream media in pointing out human rights abuses allegedly committed by Assad, while ignoring the record of ethnic cleansing, suicide bombings and massacres carried out by the rebel forces backed by the U.S. which have now succeeded in deposing Assad.

John Feffer of the Institute for Policy Studies published a more sensible article, but one that still covered up the U.S. economic blockade’s destruction of Syria as well as its long regime-change operation. Feffer also repeats the U.S. line that the Syrian government used chemical weapons attacks, even though Seymour Hersh, MIT scientist Theodore Postol and The Grayzone showed that the U.S. concocted this story.

None of the compatible left websites mentioned the words of Biden and Netanyahu, who with legitimate reason took credit for the fall of Assad.

Netanyahu recognized the Assad government as “a central link in Iran’s axis of evil.” The Axis of Resistance to the Israeli-U.S. anti-Palestinian genocidal bloc includes Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, Assad’s Syria, and Yemen. The Israeli butcher proudly acknowledged the overthrow “is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, the main supporters of the Assad regime.”

Biden spoke likewise: “Neither Russia nor Iran nor Hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in Syria. This is a direct result of the blows that Ukraine and Israel have delivered upon their own self-defense with unflagging support of the United States.” Indeed, Israel inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Russia remains tied up combating the U.S.-instigated war in Ukraine.

Some of the compatible left—LA Progressive and Common Dreams, both orbiting the Democratic Party—ran honest articles on the U.S. role.

On December 11-12, Common Dreams posted “The West Celebrates Assad’s Fall, But What Comes Next May Be Even Worse,” and Jeffrey Sachs’ excellent “How the US and Israel Destroyed Syria and Called it Peace.”

The former noted the so-called “liberation” was “cheered by U.S. President Joe Biden and other major Western leaders, like French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.” It asked the obvious question: “[W]hy is the West cheering for al Qaeda and its allies?” Indeed, and why are these compatible lefties following suit?

It continues: “Since the fall of Assad, Israel has already carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, targeting airports, naval bases, and military infrastructure. And the U.S. Central Command announced that it has struck more than 75 targets, including ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps…

The Obama administration provided support to the anti-Assad forces, primarily to the Free Syrian Army forces and its affiliates, but the CIA began to support other groups as early as 2013 even though they had jihadi orientations. CIA’s covert operation against the Syrian regime, known as Timber Sycamore, was a joint effort with Saudi Arabia that had long ties with radical Islamist groups…

Syria was under imperialist attack for the past 13 years. The U.S. (along with Turkey) backed and funded mercenaries and terrorist forces against Assad’s regime, imposed economic isolation of the country through sanctions, and denied plans that would have contributed to reconstruction even though aid was desperately needed for civilians.”

Jeffrey Sachs (also here and here) pointed out that U.S. destruction of Syria was planned since 1996. General Wesley Clark revealed in an interview clip, probably seen by leftists of all stripes, that, back in 2001, after Afghanistan, the U.S. intended to wage war and overthrow seven more states in the Middle East: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. The only one not yet destroyed is Iran.

The Long U.S. War Against Syria

Relying on deadly sanctions, an invisible form of carpet bombing, the U.S. starved the Syrian people and hollowed out the Syrian economy until it collapsed.

Before 2011, Syria, just like Qaddafi’s Libya, was a thriving nation, self-sufficient in energy and food, with free health care, free education and no national debt. Then the U.S. and its NATO and Gulf allies orchestrated a dirty war, funding and arming sectarian terrorists to fragment Syria. These groups were deceitfully presented by many on the compatible left as part of a liberation movement.

Even David Sorenson, a professor at the U.S. Air War College recognized, “By 2015, aid to anti-Assad forces became the most expensive U.S. covert action program in history, topping 1 billion USD.” Since 2014, U.S. and Turkish military and proxy forces have occupied about one-third of Syrian territory and appropriated all its oil, gas, and wheat harvests.

Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on the effect of the U.S. economic blockade against Syria, reported, “The imposed sanctions have shattered the State’s capability to respond to the needs of the population, particularly the most vulnerable, and 90% of the people now live below the poverty line.” They have “limited access to food, water, electricity, shelter, cooking and heating fuel, transportation and healthcare.” The World Food Programme states that almost 13 million Syrians, half the population, lack sufficient food.

How many died from these measures we do not know, but the similar draconian U.S. blockade on Venezuela killed 40,000 in a year and a half.

Douhan continues, “With more than half of the vital infrastructure either completely destroyed or severely damaged, the imposition of unilateral sanctions on key economic sectors, including oil, gas, electricity, trade, construction and engineering have quashed national income, and undermine efforts towards economic recovery and reconstruction.”

We should wonder who CounterPunch is serving when it publishes the claim that “Neither the U.S. nor Israel had a hand in these events.”

The “campists” or “tankies” CounterPunch refers to run the gamut—from Scott Ritter, Ron Paul, Vijay Prashad, Ben Norton, Glenn Greenwald, Colonel Douglas MacGregor, Aaron Maté and JD Vance to Sara Flounders.

They share opposition to the endless neo-con wars advocated by Obama, Hillary, Biden and Cheney.

We find, once again, sectors of the compatible left functioning as a conveyor belt for U.S. regime-change propaganda broadcast into the progressive and anti-war movements, telling us to celebrate another successful U.S. imperial operation.

Meanwhile, the struggle of the Middle East to free itself from U.S.-Israeli domination has suffered a major defeat, on top of that inflicted on Hezbollah and Gaza. The Palestinians’ situation has worsened, Iran is next on the U.S. hit list, and Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua are not far behind. Our active solidarity is needed now more than ever.

  1. Zunes said that “President Obama had been subjected to unfair criticism both for providing some support for the resistance as well as for not doing enough.”

January 29, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Live from Bethlehem – Jason Jones on the Trump Effect on Gaza

If Americans Knew | January 27, 2025

Eric Metaxas interviews Jason Jones about his thoughts on the Trump effect on the Gaza agreement.

Full video at:    • Live from Bethlehem – Jason Jones on …  

– See Jones’ articles and bio at https://israelpalestinenews.org/trump…

January 28, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Video | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The whitewashing of Western crimes in Syria

By Sonja van den Ende | Strategic Culture Foundation | January 18, 2025

After the fall of Syria and the partial collapse of the Axis of Resistance, a predictable smear campaign has been launched in Western media, which, like for Russia, is based on distortion and lies.

It is a well-oiled Western psyops campaign to make the public believe that after Hitler, Bashar al-Assad was a feared dictator, just like they do with Putin and, before that, Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.

The world was surprised when, on December 8, 2024, the most feared terrorists took over the old Syria, a semi-secular state form, and immediately turned it into a caliphate.

But for the American imperial planners, their European allies, and their terrorist proxies, including those in Ukraine, there was no surprise. They knew about it. The NATO-sponsored terrorist militia was trained by the CIA in Idlib, and provided with drones by Ukraine, drones that are produced in Ukraine, from semi-finished products from a company in the Netherlands called Metinvest B.V.

Large parts of the Syrian army did not defect, as the Western media and so-called experts claim. About 9,000 soldiers are still held captive in the Syrian desert, or in the Sednaya prison, held by the terrorists.

Not only the terrorists but the American army is in charge everywhere in Syria. American rulers secretly prepared for the occupation of Syria, as they did with Iraq. They primed the terrorists in Idlib for the final offensive with Operation Dawn of Freedom.

The operation included the Turkish-financed and supported so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), which falls under the umbrella of the U.S., also known as the Syrian National Army. As early as 2016, Turkey began to assemble a new coalition of so-called Syrian rebel groups, including many former FSA fighters, in an attempt to create a more cohesive and effective opposition force. This coalition consists of the terrorists most feared by the Syrian people, who have been massacring civilians since 2011. Among others, the Syrian National Army includes Chinese Uyghurs, notorious for their brutality among head-choppers.

Little known by the Western public is that the so-called Syrian National Army was active in Karabakh during the 2020 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Turkey provided military support to Azerbaijan by supplying the terrorists of the Syrian National Army. This proxy army of international mercenaries, controlled by the U.S. and Turkey, has been fighting in Ukraine for the NATO-backed Kiev regime. The most brutal of its senior members is Abu al Shishani, who has been hiding in Ukraine for years – despite his U.S. handlers declaring him dead in 2017.

Of course, the Western terrorist sponsors wash their hands of blood. After all, there are supposed to be no real U.S. “boots on the ground” in Syria, they will argue, but there is an army base coordinating the terrorists who fight for them. The same applies to Turkey.

Turkey has two faces: it is a member of NATO while trying to realize, under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a political aspiration for a great Ottoman empire based on Islam. Some say it is utopian or a lie, but it is not. The Syrian people know this very well; for 14 years, this has been going on and, unfortunately, has come true.

Then there is the other “superpower” in the region, the tiny Zionist apartheid project called Israel. No one, not even the International Atomic Energy Agency, knows what its nuclear weapons arsenal is, and it has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Since 2022, Israel has become a fully-fledged fascist regime, the most ultra-right government in the history of the colonialist project, which carries out the agenda of the settlers. These settlers are dangerous terrorists and, like ISIS (Daesh), use religion, racism and murder as weapons against all other beliefs and opinions. Yet the United States and its European lackeys continue to brazenly back the Zionist rogue state. The U.S. has supplied it with $20 billion in military aid over the past year despite the genocide in Gaza.

One of the seven political parties that govern Israel is the Otzma Yehudit Party. This party advocates for the deportation of those they consider to be the “enemies of Israel”, such as the Arabs. The party has been described in the international press and also in Israel itself as an extremist, ultra-nationalist, fascist, and racist organization.

One of the supporters of this party is Daniella Weiss, who watched with her extremist settler friends as “Gazans” were murdered on a boat off the coast of Gaza and cheered. She and her group are invited to the inauguration of Donald Trump, who himself is a Zionist and his entire incoming administration consists of nothing but Zionists.

After the attack of the U.S. and Turkish-sponsored terrorists in the north of Syria, Israel attacked the south, in Dara’a, which was agreed upon, planned and coordinated with the U.S. and Turkey. Dams and bridges were blown up, and large-scale bombardments on the Syrian army were carried out. Large parts of the army were captured and imprisoned, left in the desert, or the former prison Sednaya. They surrendered; the superior force was too great. Remnant army forces, mainly from the “Tiger Forces”, are fighting the terrorists in the hills around Hama and Latakia.

The Western media was there suspiciously quickly, after a day or so, visiting Sednaya for photo-ops. All kinds of so-called Western journalists arrived in Syria, mainly to promote the narrative that the terrible regime was gone, Syria was “free”, and Assad had turned the former Sednaya prison into a “human slaughterhouse”.

Many fake stories, especially by CNN, about so-called prisoners who were hung on ropes, photos were distributed, which later turned out to be photos from a museum in Iraq. There were also stories about prisoners in underground dungeons, yet no proof of this has ever been found.

Certainly, everything was prepared for the “journalists”; they were already waiting in Jordan, primed to cross into Syria when the “surprise fall” happened.

Years ago, there was a report made by Amnesty International called the “Slaughter House”, but now, in 2025, no evidence has been found for this fake report. What has become clear is that a large number of the prisoners were ISIS (Daesh) members, who have now been released and are imposing a terror regime on minorities such as the Alawites, Christians, and Kurds.

The West is now professing innocence and wants good relations with what they call the new government. All kinds of Western politicians have visited the terrorist leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani. He is dressed up in a new suit and his beard is trimmed. The West wants to send the Syrian refugees back from Europe. There are also flight connections again. The airport of Damascus is changed into a mosque. Is the new caliphate going to send its terrorists on holiday? To do what? Commit attacks, perhaps? Russia, in particular, must be careful, especially after the mass murder at the Crocus City shopping complex last March when 145 people were killed by Daesh-linked terrorists. Many terrorists in the new Syria are from the Caucasus and have years of experience.

Transferring terrorists to Idlib after the fall of Aleppo in 2016 was never a good idea. History has proven it.

The U.S. and its European partners want to freeze the conflict in Donbass, which can result in the same problem as in Syria. That was the biggest mistake by Assad and the former government, which took too humane a position on terrorists.

January 19, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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