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/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

"The anons of the past have only shitposted on the Internets about the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it."
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 No.485932[View All]

Syrian rebels enter Aleppo three days into surprise offensive
Insurgents had recaptured territory around Syria’s second city with civilians including children killed in fighting

Islamist insurgents have entered Syria’s second city of Aleppo in a shock assault, eight years after forces loyal to Damascus seized control of the city.

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) began a major offensive earlier this week from their base in the Idlib countryside, a slim strip of land in Syria’s north-west. It took only three days for the fighting to reach Aleppo, with insurgents capturing territory around the city’s outskirts for the first time in four years as Syrian government forces pummelled rebel-held areas.

Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency reported on Friday afternoon that the insurgents had entered Aleppo, while unverified images and video circulating online showed armoured vehicles and armed uniformed militants on its streets. The Associated Press said residents reported hearing missiles striking its outskirts.

The fighting over the last three days had killed 27 civilians, including eight children, David Carden, the UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, told Reuters.

The rebels have rapidly recaptured dozens of towns and villages in the Aleppo countryside, seizing a military base, weaponry and tanks from Syrian government forces, while some Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups based elsewhere in north-west Syria joined the fighting.

The UN said Syrian government forces based in Damascus carried out at least 125 airstrikes and shelled areas across Idlib and western Aleppo controlled by the rebels in response to the offensive, killing at least 12 civilians and wounding 46 others, and displacing 14,000 people.

Syria has been promised extra Russian military aid to help the army thwart the assault, two Syrian military sources told Reuters on Saturday. Damascus expects new Russian military hardware to start arriving at Russia’s Hmeimim airbase near Syria’s coastal city of Latakia in the next 72 hours, the sources added.

HTS said on Friday that it had captured four more towns including Mansoura, five miles from the centre of Aleppo. Syria’s state news agency said four civilians were killed inside student accommodation in the city when it was struck by projectiles from insurgent forces.

“The regime’s lines of defence have crumbled, I think they were taken aback. No one anticipated how fast the rebels would reach towards the edge of Aleppo,” said Dareen Khalifa, of the nonprofit International Crisis Group.

She added that it remained unclear whether the rebel forces would be able to hold the swath of captured territory, or how Russian forces backing the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus may respond.

Turkey’s foreign ministry called for calm in the region around Idlib, demanding an end to the strikes on the area. “It is of utmost importance for Turkey that yet another and greater instability is avoided and civilians are not harmed,” it said.



A delicate balance of power in Syria has been increasingly tested over the past year, however, amid increasing regional fallout from Israel’s battle with the Iranian proxy group Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has dramatically escalated airstrikes against Iranian forces stationed on the ground in Syria, carrying out more than 116 strikes on Syrian territory, according to the UN, and killing more than 100 people, while recent fighting in Lebanon has forced 500,000 people to flee into neighbouring Syria.

The increasing Israeli strikes have put Iranian forces in Syria on the defensive, allowing rebels to exploit a moment where various proxy forces backing Assad are more engaged elsewhere.

Khalifa said Moscow remained focused primarily on the fighting in Ukraine. “The Russians are distracted in Ukraine. They are less invested politically if not military in Syria,” she said. “It’s difficult to tell what the result of this offensive is going to be. The rebels think the other side is vulnerable, and they have leverage.”

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday that Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and wanted the authorities to act fast to regain control.

Turkey, which backs rebel groups along Syria’s northern border but has sought recently to normalise relations with Assad, is yet to publicly intervene in the latest round of fighting.

HTS said it would target Iranian forces fighting alongside Syrian government troops as part of the latest offensive. Iran’s Tasnim news agency said a commander from the Revolutionary Guards was killed in western Aleppo late this week.

The fighting and airstrikes appeared to paralyse much of the fragile network of services across rebel-held territory in Idlib, forcing the closure of health services and other infrastructure that sustain millions seeking shelter there.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/29/syrian-rebels-launch-surprise-attack-on-aleppo
108 posts and 17 image replies omitted. Click to expand.
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 No.487602

>>487601
>The only true change is that Iran has tech-ed up and Israel no longer has better military hardware. That last exchange of hostilities (the back and forth airstrikes) had Iran at an advantage. The Iranian missiles punched through Israel's air defense systems, while the Israeli strike with fighter-jet based stand-off weapons, was mostly repelled, and follow up strikes had to be called off.
Ha ha ha, foolish anon
You believed your lying eyes!
I have it on good word passed down from the Biden state department, renowned for its honesty, that akshually the last Israeli attack on Iran destroyed Iran's air defenses! They were located in the sky far above Iran, which is why almost all of the Israeli missiles exploded up there! That's also where Iran stores its drone motherships!
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 No.487785>>487786>>487787>>487814

https://x.com/MintPressNews/status/1894816189370495063
A Druze militia has declared their intention to defect from Syria and form their own autonomous region

This development came only a day after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Syrian army forces aligned with the transitional HTS-led government must withdraw from all areas south of Damascus and that Israel will protect the Druze population. The Israelis are currently attempting to co-opt Druze forces to work under their proxy regime in southern Syria, essentially ending the country once known as the Syrian Arab Republic.
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 No.487786

>>487785
No one could have predicted this
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 No.487787

>>487785
Wonder if we'll see an Alawite and a Christian autonomous region as well. Or maybe those demographics are too disperse in Syria.
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 No.487814

>>487785
Forming a autonomous region might be a good idea, but throwing in with the Israeli … that won't end well. Israeli society is build around hating some group and displacing/dispossessing it, what they're doing to the Palestinians, that might happen to the Druze.
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 No.487850

Ocalan now asking the PKK/YPG to disarm.
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 No.487855>>487857

A compelling case can be made that the fall of Baathist Iraq in 2003 was a major precursor to the eventual collapse of Baathist Syria in 2024. The two regimes were structurally similar, sharing ideological foundations, geopolitical positioning, and common enemies. The destruction of one set into motion a chain of events that made the fall of the other almost inevitable.

### 1. The Loss of Iraq as a Strategic Counterbalance
Before 2003, Iraq and Syria—despite their differences—served as mutual counterbalances in the region. The fall of Saddam Hussein removed a major Arab nationalist stronghold, allowing regional and global powers (especially the U.S. and Iran) to reshape the Middle East’s political landscape. With Iraq gone as a buffer state, Syria was left more exposed to external pressures, particularly from the West, Turkey, and Islamist militant groups.

### 2. The Rise of Sectarianism and the Weakening of Baathism
The U.S. invasion of Iraq led to a power vacuum that was filled by sectarian conflict, weakening pan-Arab Baathist ideology in favor of identity-based politics. The Iraqi insurgency, dominated by Sunni jihadists and Shia militias, marked the beginning of the end for secular Arab nationalist regimes. This same sectarian dynamic played out in Syria’s civil war, where Assad's Baathist government increasingly relied on sectarian militias (e.g., Hezbollah, Iranian-backed forces) rather than its traditional nationalist base.

### 3. The Strengthening of U.S. and Western Interventionism
The precedent of regime change in Iraq emboldened Western powers to pursue similar policies elsewhere, either through direct military intervention (Libya) or through support for insurgencies (Syria). The 2011 uprising in Syria was met with U.S., European, and Gulf-state backing for rebel factions, mirroring the way the U.S. dismantled Iraq’s Baathist regime. The lessons learned in Iraq—such as the use of proxies, economic sanctions, and no-fly zones—were later applied to Syria, accelerating its destabilization.

### 4. The Spillover of Jihadist Insurgencies
The fall of Baathist Iraq created a breeding ground for jihadist groups like Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which later evolved into ISIS. These groups found new battlegrounds in Syria’s post-2011 conflict, directly contributing to the weakening of Assad’s control. Without the Iraq War, it’s unlikely that ISIS would have emerged as the powerful force it became, severely undermining the Syrian state and making its eventual fall more likely.

### 5. The Iran Factor: Overextension and Strategic Overreach
Iran stepped in to fill the power vacuum left by Saddam's fall, turning Iraq into a client state. This gave Iran a direct land corridor to Syria, allowing it to prop up Assad with fighters, weapons, and economic aid. However, this overextension drained Iran’s resources and put Syria in a precarious position. By the 2020s, with Iran facing its own internal crises and economic decline, its ability to sustain Assad became weaker—leading to the Syrian regime’s ultimate downfall in 2024.

### 6. The Normalization of Arab Regime Change
The fall of Saddam Hussein helped normalize the idea that strongman regimes in the Arab world were not invincible. While it took longer for Syria to collapse, the precedent set by Iraq was clear: once an authoritarian leader loses legitimacy and external support, their days are numbered. The 2011 Arab Spring, which fueled Syria’s civil war, was partially inspired by the realization that long-standing regimes could be toppled—something first demonstrated in Iraq.

### 7. The Erosion of Russian Influence
Syria, like Iraq before it, was a key Russian ally in the Middle East. The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 showed that Moscow was either unwilling or unable to prevent the downfall of its regional partners. This pattern repeated in Syria, where Russian intervention prolonged Assad’s rule but ultimately could not save him. The strategic retreat of Russian power in the 2020s (due to economic and military strain from the Ukraine war) sealed Syria’s fate—just as Russia’s post-Cold War weakness made Iraq’s fall possible in 2003.

### Conclusion
The fall of Baathist Iraq was not just an isolated event but a critical first domino that set the stage for Syria’s eventual collapse two decades later. It removed a key regional player, weakened Baathist ideology, fueled jihadist insurgencies, emboldened Western intervention, and overextended Iran and Russia. Without the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Syria’s fall in 2024 might not have happened—or at least, it might have played out very differently.(USER WAS WARNED FOR THIS POST: Do not repost AI-generated content verbatim)
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 No.487857>>487858

>>487855
Sorry but if the AI you got this from, believes in Domino theory, it's not very intelligent.

It's also wrong on the geo-pol big-picture, both Russia and Iran have expanded their influence in the region at the expense of Israel and US influence. The last 2 decades of neocon forever-wars were a giant waste of blood and treasure. Even before factoring in that China brokered a peace between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The side effect of this was the US losing leverage over Saudi Oil production volume / oil-price.

Considering that the neocons originally thought that it would take them at most a year to topple Assad, while in reality it took them over 20 years, proves how bad they really are at imperialising.

Isreal lost it's military exchanges with Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen and Iran. And considering how wrecked their economy, destroyed their international reputation and beat up the IDF now is, we're looking at a situation where Israel is likely going to wither away. The fall of Assad is just copium. If Netanyahu manages to instigate that war against Iran, he's been plotting and scheming for so long, we'll see a hard wipe-out of Israel alongside most of the US's bases.

Give up, you can't polish this foreign policy turd into triumphalism.
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 No.487858>>487878

>>487857
The stupid AI poster who, for some reason, posts shitty generated neocon "articles" in these threads, is obviously not providing anything of value, but I also disagree with some of your assessment to an extent.

It took 20 (or at least 13) years for the US to topple Assad, but, in retrospect, it really seems like they've been doing a lot of this stuff on behalf of Israel, and when you frame the toppling of Assad that way and all the humiliating, wasteful wars in the middle east by the US as a product of Israeli interests, then they seem like remarkable wish fulfillments. As pursuits of US interests, outside of selling arms (which the US pays itself for), they are catastrophic failures, but Israel has gotten to see a much larger country do most of the legwork and finance and fighting to kill people Israel doesn't like.

I think Israel's exchange with Hezbollah is also questionable as a loss. Strictly looking at it in terms of tactical accomplishments and a support front for Gaza, it's possible to say Hezbollah won; at the 'end' of the war in Lebanon, Hezbollah was hitting Tel Aviv, and they do seem to have succeeded in making Israel shift resources away from Gaza to an extent. However, Israel's terroristic attacks on the capital of Lebanon and on civilians did successfully lead to an internal political pressure on Hezbollah which resulted in Hezbollah de-linking from Gaza. The ceasefire did not come with Israel's unrealistic aim of completely destroying Hezbollah, but it also did not come with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The new president and prime minister of Lebanon are essentially US/Israeli puppets, installed under a great deal of US pressure, and they still have the stated aim of disarming Hezbollah, even as Israel has continued to consistently violate the ceasefire for months. Hezbollah has offered no retaliation, and there are now many bodies being discovered in the south of the country as Israel has partially withdrawn. Hezbollah itself seems to have much weaker leadership now than before, and it suffered a lot of terrible losses, so if their contribution to the support of Gaza can be considered a victory, it has to be considered an extremely pyrrhic one.

I always take issue when people on the left predict things will "wither away," too - there's a very prominent history of those words not coming to be realized. It will take a lot more to make it happen. You wrote about Assad earlier, and it took 13-20 years of continuous economic and proxy and (in some cases) direct attacks from the most powerful country in the world to topple Assad. Israel may be losing money, but it has the opposite relation with US, and it still has trade relations with the EU, Russia, etc. as well. The US's relationship with Israel seems outright suicidal; US leaders will completely destroy their own country to prop up this once-proxy. If that continues, and the opposition in the US don't get their shit together, who knows how long this could last?

The fall of Assad isn't insignificant at all, either, Syria has been plunged into chaos and largely disarmed, Israel has taken massive swathes of additional land in the country, and it looks like the plan to continue carving it up by turning ethnic and religious factions against eachother is largely working.
>>

 No.487878

>>487858
>wasteful wars in the middle east by the US as a product of Israeli interests
Israel is a partial reason for the middle eastern / west Asia wars. But there also was the military industrial complex making money on weapons. And then there are other geopolitical goals like preventing Arabs from forming a powerful block. These wars also were supposed to create chaos to slow down the belt and road project from China. And things like exploiting resources. Maybe other things like the CIA could have been using Afghani farmers to farm drug-plants for "covert budgets".

>seem like remarkable wish fulfillments

Both the US and Israel are in a worse geopolitical position then they were 25 years ago before all of this. So those must have been stupid wishes.

I think you are looking too much at the map and ignore too many other factors. Israel has depleted a lot of it's fighting-capacity in it's population, they're almost tapped out, and have to wait for another generation until they can try again. By that time Iran will be so strong that they can check anybody who tries to tear up the region. Netanyahu also wrecked Israel's economy, it's very doubtful that this can be repaired because Israel's reputation is ruined. If you're a Israeli tech-bro , you can go the US, EU or Russia, and get better conditions, so most of their tech ventures are lost. Keep in mind that "Israel based company" is now a bad marker. It means more risk, and a hole bunch of moral aversion.

You are right that the US installed a puppet government in Lebanon, but it's a sideshow. Lebanon is increasingly ruled by Hezbollah. Even the neocons agree with this. They started talking about "the post-Hezbollah period" in Lebanon. They never do this word-salad-game when they're winning at regime change, when things go their way they stay silent. The fact that they started talking this way means they also think they're loosing in Lebanon.

>it took 13-20 years of continuous economic and proxy and (in some cases) direct attacks from the most powerful country in the world to topple Assad.

Yes a small, relatively poor country, and the big super-power chewed 2 decades on it. That's not a big demonstration of power. Keep in mind that Syria wasn't an end in it self, it was a means to get to Iran. That ship has sailed a long time ago.

>The US's relationship with Israel seems outright suicidal; US leaders will completely destroy their own country to prop up this once-proxy.

They want to create the appearance that the US would back Israel unconditionally, but in reality i highly doubt that is the case otherwise Netanyahu would have already gone to war with Iran a long time ago.

>If that continues, and the opposition in the US don't get their shit together, who knows how long this could last?

Not long, a section of imperial capital wants to pick a fight with the Chinese, who are hiding their power-level. Once that shit starts a lot fewer imperial resources will be available for fucking with the middle east / west Asia.
>>

 No.487982

https://twitter.com/redstreamnet/status/1897744562967200043
https://twitter.com/HadiNasrallah/status/1897836967003365790

Dozens killed in clashes between Syrian forces and Assad loyalists

Forces linked to Syria's new rulers have engaged in heavy fighting with fighters loyal to deposed President Bashar al-Assad in a coastal area of the country.

It is the worst violence in Syria since rebels toppled Assad in December and installed an Islamist transitional government.

A war monitoring group, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said more than 70 people have been killed.

A curfew has been imposed in the port cities of Latakia and Tartous, where the fighting has broken out.

The clashes started when government forces were ambushed during a security operation in Latakia.

Reinforcements have been sent, and videos posted online show heavy gunfire in some places.

The coastal region is the heartland of the Alawite minority, and a stronghold of the Assad family, which belong to the Alawite sect.

Estimations of the number of people killed in the violence vary, and the BBC has been unable to independently verify them.

Late on Thursday, Syrian-based Step news agency was reporting that government-aligned forces had killed "about 70" former regime fighters, while more than 25 others were captured in Jableh and surrounds.

There have also been reports of clashes in the cities of Homs and Aleppo.

The crackle of heavy gunfire on residential streets in Homs could be heard on unverified videos on social media.

A spokesman for Syria's defence ministry, Colonel Hassan Abdul Ghani, issued a warning to Assad loyalists fighting in Latakia via state media.

"Thousands have chosen to surrender their weapons and return to their families, while some insist on fleeing and dying in defence of murderers and criminals. The choice is clear: lay down your weapons or face your inevitable fate," he said.

The region has become a major security challenge for interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Alawite activists said their community had been subjected to violence and attacks since Assad fell, particularly in rural Homs and Latakia.

He is also facing resistance in the south, where there have been clashes with Druze forces in recent days.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrxkm2evnlo
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 No.488001>>488003

[Embed]
KernowDamo on the emergence of the Military Council for the Liberation of Syria.
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 No.488003

>>488001
In retrospect this development seems kinda obvious. I'm slightly annoyed with my self that i didn't predict it. Especially since i knew HTS was going to do sectarian killings.

Iran probably will be able to funnel loads of weapons to MCLS.
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 No.488010

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 No.488016

[Embed]
BadEmpanada on the latest developments with US-backed Al Qaeda.
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 No.488017>>488018

It's really amazing how a bunch of foreign invaders from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China can be considered the "legitimate government" of Syria.
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 No.488018

>>488017
And they were recognized by western gov'ts immediately after overthrowing Assad, what luck! Weird that Ansar Allah has been governing Yemen for much longer and the west just skipped right over recognizing them to endorse ISIS.
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 No.488019

[Embed]
Laith Marouf sez HTS convoys are heading towards Iraq.
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 No.488041>>488085

[Embed]
Galloway on Syria (starts around 3 mins I think, initially he's talking about the Romanian election)
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 No.488057>>488085

[Embed]
HTS is apparently making friends with the Kurds now.
Seems sort of odd.
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 No.488085>>488086

>>488041
He thinks the Romanian population will not accept the abolishing of their democratic rights and enforce their democratic choice of leadership, and says they have done so before. I don't know anything about Romania, so is that's how it's gonna be ?

Yeah the Syria shit sucks. Consider the average Syrian had to endure extreme material hardship because the Syrian economy got sanctioned to shit, and now they have to dodge the sectarian head-choppers.

>>488057
>Seems sort of odd.
Indeed, the Kurds are at odds with Turkey who is HTS's principle backer.

HTS might just be desperate.
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 No.488086

>>488085
>I don't know anything about Romania, so is that's how it's gonna be ?
Idk anything about Romania either lol

>HTS might just be desperate.

I'd guess the Kurds are too.
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 No.488187

Syria accuses Hezbollah of abducting, killing three soldiers

The Syrian Defence Ministry said that Hezbollah had abducted the three soldiers from inside Syria, taken them to Lebanon, and then killed them.

The ministry said that the abduction happened near the Zeita Dam, on the Syrian-Lebanese border in Homs province.

“A group from the Hezbollah militia … kidnapped three members of the Syrian army on the Syrian-Lebanese border… before taking them to Lebanese territory and eliminating them,” the Syrian state news agency SANA quoted the Defence Ministry as saying.

Al Jazeera Arabic earlier reported that clashes had taken place on the Syrian-Lebanese border. Hezbollah has, however, denied any involvement in the incident.

aje.io/7jyucr?update=3583344

Astute observers with a great memory will recall that Israel bombed Damascus two days ago. For some reason, these HTS guys (formerly Al Qaeda) are only focusing on attacking Alawites, Christians, and Lebanon, though.
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 No.488339

https://twitter.com/redstreamnet/status/1905232716263473484
“The lands of the Syrian Arab Republic are forbidden to Israel.” Beyond the genocidal war on Gaza, Israel continues its attacks on Syria and Lebanon.

In recent days, Israel invaded and bombed the Syrian village of Koayiah, killing seven people and forcing residents to flee. Locals protested the attack, urging the new Syrian administration and the international community to intervene and stop Israel's aggression. Last night, Israel struck the city of Latakia several times. Ahmad al-Sharaa has not commented on the Israeli attacks.

In Lebanon, despite the ceasefire, Israeli attacks persist. Israeli drones continue to fly over Lebanese territory, and attacks leading to deaths continue. This morning, Israel bombed Yahmar al-Shaqif in south Lebanon with 13 artillery shells, killing at least four people. Lebanese authorities reported over 1,250 Israeli violations of the ceasefire, including at least 100 fatalities and over 330 injuries.
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 No.489257

Israel’s attacks on Syria part of its ‘new vision’ for the Middle East

Labib al-Nahhas, director of the Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity, says Israel’s claim that it is launching attacks on Syria to protect the Druze community is just a “false pretext” for a land grab.

“Their official narrative that they’re there to protect the Druze needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, because Druze themselves within Israel are considered second-class citizens. So that cannot be the genuine intention,” al-Nahhas told Al Jazeera.

He said “a new Israel” emerged after the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas-led fighters.

“The Israel we see is the most expansionist, aggressive, and hostile that we’ve seen since 1967. It has said it won’t stop the war until Syria has been partitioned. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has said they’ll establish their own buffer zone without any Syrian military presence,” said al-Nahhas.

“So what we’re seeing here is Israel trying to shape Syria to its liking in a way that Syria will remain weak, decentralised, and won’t pose any threat to Israel in the coming months and years. This intervention plays to the interests and new vision of Israel in the region.”

https://aje.io/p407e2?update=3687432
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 No.489818

The STFD-686 app operated with disarming simplicity. It offered the promise of financial aid, requiring only that the victim fill out a few personal details. It asked innocent questions: “What kind of assistance are you expecting?” and “Tell us more about your financial situation.”

The expected answer was clear: financial help. In return, users would supposedly receive monthly cash transfers of around 400,000 Syrian pounds — roughly $40 at the time — sent anonymously via local money transfer companies. Sending small sums across Syria, whether under real or fictitious names, required nothing more than a phone number, and the black market was teeming with intermediaries ready to facilitate such transfers.

On the surface, the app appeared to offer a special service for officers. Its first disguise was a humanitarian one: claiming to support the “heroes of the Syrian Arab Army” through a new initiative, while showcasing photos of real activities from the official Syria Trust for Development website.

The second mask was emotional, employing reverent language that praised the soldiers’ sacrifices: “They give their lives so that Syria may live with pride and dignity.” The third was nationalistic, and framed the app as a “patriotic initiative” designed to bolster loyalty, and this mask proved the most persuasive.

The fourth mask was visual: The app’s name, both in English and Arabic, mirrored the official organization exactly. Even the logo was an identical replica of Syria Trust’s emblem.

Once downloaded, the app opened a simple web interface embedded within the application, which redirected users to external websites that didn’t display in the app bar. The sites, syr1.store and syr1.online, mimicked the official domain of Syria Trust (syriatrust.sy). The use of “syr1,” an abbreviation of Syria, in the domain name seemed plausible enough, and few users paid much mind. In this case, no special attention was given to the URL; it was simply assumed to be trustworthy.

To access the questionnaire, users were asked to submit a series of seemingly innocent details: full name, wife’s name, number of children, place and date of birth. But the questions quickly escalated into riskier territory: the user’s phone number, military rank and exact service location down to the corps, division, brigade and battalion.

Determining officers’ ranks made it possible for the app’s operators to identify those in sensitive positions, such as battalion commanders and communications officers, while knowing their exact place of service allowed for the construction of live maps of force deployments. It gave the operators behind the app and the website the ability to chart both strongholds and gaps in the Syrian army’s defensive lines. The most crucial point was the combination of the two pieces of information: Disclosing that “officer X” was stationed at “location Y” was tantamount to handing the enemy the army’s entire operating manual, especially on fluid fronts like those in Idlib and Sweida.

According to an analysis by a Syrian software engineer, what the officers dismissed as a tedious questionnaire was, in reality, a data entry form for military algorithms, turning their phones into live printers that generated highly accurate battlefield maps. “The majority of officers often ignored security protocols,” the engineer said. “I doubt any of them realized that behind these innocent-looking forms, traps were laid for them with the innocence of a wolf.” He added that while the mechanism of espionage was technically old, it remained devastatingly effective, especially given the widespread ignorance of cyberwarfare within the Syrian army.

At the bottom of the application’s web page, another trap lay in wait: an embedded Facebook contact link. This time, the user’s social media credentials were siphoned directly to a remote server, quietly stealing access to personal accounts. If the victim somehow escaped the first snare, there was a good chance they would fall into the second.

After harvesting basic information through embedded phishing links, the attack moved to its second stage: deploying SpyMax, one of the most popular Android surveillance tools. SpyMax is an advanced version of SpyNote, notorious on the black market, and typically distributed through malicious APK files (files designed to install mobile apps on Android phones), disguised on fake download portals that appear legitimate. Crucially, SpyMax does not require root access (the highest level of access to the phone’s operating system) to function, making it dangerously easy for attackers to compromise devices. While original versions of the software sell for around $500, hacked versions are also freely available. In this case, the spyware was planted via the same Telegram channel that distributed the fake Syria Trust app and installed on officers’ phones under the guise of a legitimate application.

SpyMax has all the functions of RAT (Remote Access Trojan) software, including keylogging to steal passwords and intercept text messages; data extraction of confidential files, photos and call logs; and access to the camera and microphone, allowing real-time surveillance of victims.

Once connected, the victim can appear on an attacker’s dashboard, the live feed displaying everything from call logs to file transfers, depending on the functions selected.

The spyware targeted Android versions as old as Lollipop — an operating system launched in 2015 — meaning a broad range of both older and newer devices were vulnerable. An examination of the permissions granted to the app showed it had access to 15 sensitive functions, the most critical among them including tracking live locations and monitoring soldiers’ movements and military positions, eavesdropping on calls, recording conversations between commanders to uncover operational plans in advance, extracting documents like maps and sensitive files from officers’ phones and camera access allowing the person who launched the spyware to, potentially, remotely broadcast footage of military facilities.

read more:
https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/how-a-spyware-app-compromised-assads-army/
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 No.489882>>489886

[Embed]
Dan Kovalik and Jamarl Thomas on alleged intra-faction fighting within HTS and supposed dissonance with Israel-backed al-Jolani
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 No.489886

>>489882
Like the guy in the vid points out the policy is keeping Syria down. If there's factional fighting that certainly would align with that policy.
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 No.490438>>490472

>be "former" ISIS leader
>win civil war against tyrannical Assad regime
>top Iraqi general warns you to stay the fuck away from his country
>Turkey takes territory from the east
>Israel bombs state buildings, destroys remaining Syrian air defenses, air force, naval fleet, and almost the entire arsenal you just inherited from Assad but left unmanned and unguarded for some reason
>IDF takes even more land from your country than they already occupied, kicking your people out of their homes
>reach out to Israel to extend the hand of friendship
>such is the price of de-escalating and creating a lasting peace after the end of this brutal civil war
>begin massacring Alawites and Christians
>invade Lebanon
>topple priceless ancient artifacts, destroy symbols of Syrian culture
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 No.490472>>490473

>>490438
>invade Lebanon
I missed this one. What's Hezbollah doing about it?
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 No.490473

>>490472
That was last year or earlier this year IIRC.
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 No.490481>>490482

File (hide): 1751722631290.jpg ( 149.35 KB , 800x533 , June 22 2025 Syrian gather….jpg )

Suicide bomber kills at least 22 in Greek Orthodox church in Syria during Divine Liturgy

DWEIL’A, Syria (AP) — A suicide bomber in Syria opened fire then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church filled with people praying on Sunday, killing at least 22 and wounding 63 others, state media reported.

The attack took place in Dweil’a on the outskirts of Damascus inside the Mar Elias Church, according to state media SANA, citing the Health Ministry for the toll of dead and wounded. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were at least 19 peopled killed and dozens wounded, but did not give exact numbers. Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.

The attack on the church was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities. As President Ahmad al-Sharaa struggles to exert authority across the country, there have been concerns about the presence of sleeper cells of extremist groups in the war-torn country.

No group immediately claimed responsibility Sunday. Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba said in a news conference that their preliminary investigation points to the extremist Islamic State group. The ministry said one gunmen entered the church, fired at the people there before detonating himself with an explosives vest, echoing some witness testimonies.

“The security of places of worship is a red line,” he said, adding that IS and remaining members of the ousted Assad government are trying to destabilize Syria.

Syrian Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, calling it a terrorist attack.

“This cowardly act goes against the civic values that brings us together,” he said on X. “We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship … and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.”

Witnesses said the gunman with his face covered entered and fired at the people. When a crowd charged at him to remove him from the church, he detonated his explosives at the entrance.

Syria’s Social Affairs and Labor Minister Hind Kabawat, the country’s Christian and female minister, met with the clergy at the church in the evening to express her condolences.

“People were praying safely under the eyes of God,” said Father Fadi Ghattas, who said he saw at least 20 people killed with his own eyes. “There were 350 people praying at the church.”

However, Meletius Shahati, a church priest, said there was a second gunman who shot at the church door before the other person detonated himself.

Issam Nasr who was praying at the church said he saw people “blown to bits.”

“We have never held a knife in our lives. All we ever carried were our prayers,” he said.

Security forces and first-responders rushed to the church. Panicked survivors wailed, as one lady fell to her knees and burst into tears. A photo circulated by Syrian state media SANA showed the church’s pews covered in debris and blood.

https://apnews.com/article/syria-church-attack-damascus-mass-da2ed505d6625fce1fc9de9e88c200a3
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 No.490482

>>490481
Maybe they should have kept Assad after-all.
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 No.490486>>490557

I wonder which one is worse: white supremacy & colonization vs arab supremacy & colonization vs Russo supremacy & colonization


nature is built on struggle to maximize profits. to expand and get more.

And the Arabs found a gold mine as to use religion to advance their race.
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 No.490555>>490558

Per a guy named N. Hourani on Twitter:
Hi Razan, proud Syrian here 🙋🏽‍♂️

As I'm sure you know, today marked the non-renewable deadline for the investigative committee probing war crimes committed during the coastal violence in March. And yet, no official statements have been issued.

Many of us (perhaps naively) have been awaiting the results of the government's investigation for 4 months now. Since March, many of my relatives have fled due to ongoing abuses. Some narrowly survived the pogroms. Moreover, my little sister is terrified of leaving her home due to ongoing kidnappings of young Alawite women and arbitrary violence against civilians committed in no small part on sectarian grounds.

Does the Syrian government plan on publishing the results?

https://x.com/DarthHummuss/status/1943441512311701780

This is in response to a March 9th tweet in which someone named Razan Saffour wrote that Jolani had assured someone from the Alawite community that the massacres of Alawites (and Christians) earlier this year would be investigated and there would be accountability.
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 No.490557

>>490486
>I wonder which one is worse: white supremacy & colonization vs arab supremacy & colonization vs Russo supremacy & colonization
Comparing Apple and Oranges. Russian is a multi ethnic national identity, Arabic might be too, not sure.

>nature is built on struggle to maximize profits

we should ask the shrubs and flowers for a quarterly earnings report.

>the Arabs found a gold mine as to use religion to advance

Not a goldmine. The US is using religious fundamentalists as mercenaries to plunge entire regions of the Arab world into chaos.
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 No.490558

>>490555
>Jolani had assured someone from the Alawite community that the massacres of Alawites would be investigated
<The Fox had assured someone from the chicken community that the massacres of chickens would be investigated
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 No.490569

https://x.com/ME_Observer_/status/1943689110125736254/
Syria: Massive explosion inside the air defense battalion in the vicinity of Al-Nayrab town near Aleppo International Airport.
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 No.490585

The Syrian Civil War might be the least ended civil war to ever "end," and it's on purpose, quite obviously.
https://x.com/MintPressNews/status/1944432994019578055
Massive clashes in Suwayda, southern Syria, between Druze militias and government forces

So far, 7 are confirmed killed & over 20 injured. The fighting erupted after several Druze citizens were kidnapped, which led to the mobilisation of militia forces.
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 No.490590

https://x.com/MintPressNews/status/1944538400469479816
MintPress News: Syrian tribal militias affiliated with the government forces attack Druze civilian areas

Videos emerge showing the capture of Druze, including an elderly man by militants with ISIS patches near Suwayda.

Syrian government forces are on the way now, it is unclear whether they are heading there to de-escalate or join in on the sectarian violence, as happened on the Syrian coast against the Alawite minority.
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 No.490594

https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1944721845447426469
Israel's Channel 12:

Syrian tanks crossed the borders set by Israel in southern Syria, so Israeli aircraft struck them.

???????????????????????????????
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 No.490603

Per Press TV -
https://x.com/PressTV/status/1944770758963589463
Abu Musab al-Shami, a senior HTS commander, was killed in clashes with Druze factions in Syria’s Sweida province.
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 No.490609

https://x.com/ME_Observer_/status/1945084364594819119
A religious leader from the Druze community (Bani Ma'aruf) calls upon fellow Druze to take up arms against the Golani occupation forces, vowing steadfast resistance and defense of their sacred land.

Syria, Suweida.
15th of July, 2025.
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 No.490611

File (hide): 1752662656590.jpg ( 55.88 KB , 404x319 , July 16 2025 Israel bombs ….jpg )

Israel bombs Syrian army HQ.
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 No.490612

https://x.com/MintPressNews/status/1945331903164289280
Syrian regime aligned militias have burned the St. Michael’s Church

The sectarian militants invaded the Sweida Province, in order to attack the Druze minority group.

Along the way they stopped in Al-Soura al-Kabira village and targeted the Christian place of worship.
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 No.490613

File (hide): 1752678552062.jpg ( 216.95 KB , 770x578 , July 16 2025 A view of the….jpg )

Ben-Gvir calls for ‘elimination’ of Syrian president
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said that the “only solution” with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa “is to eliminate him”.

“The horrific images from Syria prove one thing: once a jihadist, always a jihadist. Those who kill, shave mustaches, humiliate, and rape should not be negotiated with,” Ben-Gvir said on X.

“I love the Druze citizens in the State of Israel, and I embrace them warmly, and I tell them: we must cut off the head of the snake,” he added.

Ben-Gvir has previously been convicted on charges of supporting a Jewish “terrorist organisation” and of incitement to racism against Arabs and non-Jews.

Druze religious leader says new ceasefire deal reached
Following the confirmation by Syria’s Interior Ministry of a ceasefire agreement, Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou has also said there has been a deal with the government in Suwayda, which will take immediate effect.

He made the announcement in a video broadcast by state media.

No other details were immediately available.

Israel’s main goal has been to ‘divide and weaken Syria’
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara has called the Israeli attacks in Syria “vulgar exhibitionism”, saying Israel is “once again trying to prove to all its neighbours that it is the new regional hegemon”.

Bishara said that Israel, which is supported by the US, has been able to bomb Beirut, Damascus, Tehran and Sanaa, and feels it is capable of dictating policy in the Middle East.

Israel’s “main goal has been to divide and weaken Syria, turn its minorities, whether they are Druze or Kurds or Alawites, against the central government in Damascus”, he said.

It is also a way for Israel to deflect from its genocide in Gaza by bombing Syria, Bishara noted, adding the attacks in Syria are “yet another Israeli aggression in a neighbouring country”.

He also said the Israeli government will say the attacks are “to protect the minorities in Syria – in this case, the Druze”.

Bishara added, “Since the 1950s, Israel has pretended to be the protector of minorities, like the French colonialists … like the American imperialists, the British … every foreign power comes to the region, and they want to be protectors of minorities to weaken countries in the region to impose their will, and here we have it again.”

Israel confirms attacks on Syrian army HQ, presidential palace
The Israeli army has confirmed it targeted Syria’s army headquarters in Damascus and a “military target” near the presidential palace.



So far, one person has been killed and 18 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Damascus, according to Syria’s Health Ministry.

Israeli attacks on Syrian defence ministry fills Damascus neighbourhood with smoke
Al Jazeera was broadcasting from Damascus with the Syrian Defence Ministry in shot in the background as the building was hit by three or four Israeli strikes a few minutes ago, sending several mushrooming grey clouds into the air.

Huge columns of smoke are continuing to billow from the ministry, engulfing the building and drifting throughout the neighbourhood.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/7/16/live-israel-bombs-gaza-syria-as-alarm-grows-over-malnourished-children
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 No.490621

‘Any attack on the Syrian state is an attack on the Druze community’
Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou has condemned Israel’s air strikes on central Damascus, which Israel says it carried out to protect the Druze minority and prevent hostile forces from gaining ground near its borders.

“Any attack on the Syrian state is an attack on the Druze community,” Jarbou told Al Jazeera Arabic.



Jarbou said the agreement enjoyed broad support within the majority-Druze city of Suwayda in southern Syria and expressed his hope that the Syrian state would overcome the obstacles posed by attempts to disrupt it.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/7/17/live-israel-bombs-syria-as-latest-strikes-on-gaza-kill-at-least-93?update=3842712
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 No.490626

Syrian Bedouin fighters launch new offensive in Suwayda: Report

Syrian Bedouin fighters have reportedly launched a new offensive in Suwayda against Druze fighters, despite a ceasefire agreement that was announced last night.

A Bedouin military commander told the Reuters news agency that the truce only applied to government forces and not to them.

The commander said the fighters were seeking to free Bedouins whom Druze armed groups had detained in recent days.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/7/17/live-israel-bombs-syria-as-latest-strikes-on-gaza-kill-at-least-93
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 No.490630

https://x.com/MintPressNews/status/1946031388370616813
Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara’a fled Damascus, according to reports

Some Syrian channels have denied it, while other media outlets claim al-Shara’a did flee as Al-Mayadeen reported, but to Idlib with Turkish coordination.

Also reports of an assassination attempt against the defence minister.

While the situation in Syria remains unclear, the State appears to have at least temporarily disintegrated for now & has no power over a myriad of armed groups mobilising across the country.

Israel is backing many actors in a bid to further cripple the country. Complete chaos.
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 No.490635

https://x.com/MintPressNews/status/1945965188974624888
BREAKING: 41 Bedouin Tribes Have Mobilised To Fight In Southern Syria

This Bedouin force heading to Sweida, to fight against the Druze, could number up to 40,000 if they all arrive there.

The Druze militias are estimated to be 60,000 fighters in total.

In other words, this is an impending bloodbath if not stopped immediately.

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