By Elson Concepción Pérez on December 9, 2024
Syrian terrorist groups taking over Damascus. Photo via The New Arab
I have read in the media, and in some blogs of the so-called social networks, all kinds of analysis about the Syrian collapse. In some cases they seem to me markedly disqualified by their superficial and absolute subjective judgments on the government of Bashar al-Assad, and also on the confrontation or not with the armed groups that in 13 days occupied power in the Arab country, without much resistance.
There may have been apathy or fatigue at the last hour – the hour of truth – to organize the military and social forces and confront the armed groups, but, in my opinion, any analysis in this regard has to start from the social, ethnic, religious and other components that make up Syrian society.
It is worth remembering that Syria has been at war for 13 years, with the illegal occupation of part of its territory by U.S. military forces, which not only act against the Army and the Government of that nation, but also steals its resources.
It is not only a coalition of forces to act against the so-called terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) – headed by the US -, as has been justified by Washington for more than a decade; but it has been its economic and military support of the Al Nusra group, one of those who developed the onslaught in the seizure of Damascus.
On Monday, Al Jazeera reported that the Syrian armed opposition will authorize Mohammed Bashir to form a transitional government, who since January 2024 leads the group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS, formerly Al Nusra Front) or self-styled “Salvation Government”, which proclaimed the fall of President Bashar al Assad.
Some of the analyses in this regard refer that there are also Russian military means and Iranian advisors in Syria.
And it is true, but in both cases, they have traveled there at the request of the Syrian government. For example, refers Sputnik, Russia supported the Assad government in the fight against insurgents since 2015, and currently has a naval base near Tartus and the Hmeimim air base, near Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast.
Geopolitically speaking, Syria is located at the center of a larger conflict, which transcends its boundaries. Israel shares borders and has a portion of Syrian territory militarily occupied. The Zionist war of genocide against the Palestinian population has in Damascus not only a people in solidarity with the Palestinians, but also in direct support of resistance groups operating in the region.
An eloquent example of the Israeli participation in everything that happens in the Middle East region is the statement made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The Golan Heights will forever be an inseparable part of Israel”, referring to the capture and subsequent annexation of that territory by his country in 1967.
Now, regarding the development of the latest events in Syria, we could ask ourselves: could it be that the structures of government and related social organizations failed, or that there was no adequate preparation of the military components, in the strategy foreseen for times of war, which were considered a bastion of the defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab nation?
To qualify one or the other action could lead us to superficial conclusions, because the internal situation, the diversification of power among unrelated religious ethnic components and the consolidation of a strategy of their own that could confront, from day one, those who militarily assaulted the country, will always have to be taken into account.
Another question whose answer would clarify many questions is that of how it has been possible that for years -the opposition groups of full war and those of less confrontation- were armed with modern means and organized in such a way that their final irruption was a kind of walk with only a few skirmishes against them.
Logic tells me that the time is now for solidarity with the Syrian people, for the country’s sovereignty to be respected, for peaceful dialogue to prevail among all the components involved in this conflict, and for military actions to disappear from the national scene, so that they can undertake their development and life project, and all their citizens can participate.
In this context, the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil and Nicaragua have called to preserve the sovereignty of the Arab country and its territorial integrity. Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, U.S. President Joe Biden reported that “U.S. forces carried out a dozen airstrikes in central Syria on Sunday, hitting 75 targets linked to the Islamic State terrorist group,” according to the Pentagon.
The U.S. has 900 troops deployed in the Arab nation.
It is to be imagined that the Syrian issue is not over, that the situation may worsen, depending on the way in which the new government is formed and the interference of external factors; for one cannot fail to observe the current circumstances of the international panorama and the components involved in the Syrian conflict and its development.
Source: Granma, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English