Middle East Politics
- Thread starter Raoul
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Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
Exclusive: More than 1,000 Syrians died in airport prison under Assad, report says
https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...rt-prison-under-assad-report-says-2025-02-27/
Unfortunately it looks like the new Damascus regime’s honeymoon phase is well and truly over - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025...as-syrian-forces-and-pro-assad-fighters-clash
I thought this was a brief overnight flareup that has already been squashed ?
Doesn’t seem like that from the reports and the (admittedly unverified) videos I’ve seen of some pretty brutal violence.
Possibly based on the perception that Netanyahu is agitating for more land in Syria, especially following the latest comments about "protecting" the Druze.
That was probably more about local Druze votes and support within Israel.
The Druze city in question is near Damascus. Israel isn't taking anything there.
Yet
Israel also isn't taking London.
yet.
Seriously though, this isn't about taking more lands. And even if Netanyahu wanted to, the IDF is too stretched as it is, while Netanyahu makes an effort to maintain the support of the ultra-orthodox parties by alliowing their electorate to remain undrafted. He really doesn't want to create an extra need for soldiers.
You can be as facetious as you want but israel took the first opportunity to land grab (more) syrian land. And they will keep syria as unestable as possible to keep grabbing land maybe not anymore now but in a decade or two with the excuse of secure the land that they grab now with the excuse to secure the land that they grab decades before.
Is what your country does. While putin does it, russia is punishes , when israel is doing it is supported. Israel is just an expansionist colonialist country that didnt officialize its borders
Come on mate, it's pretty outrageous to claim Israel is going to invade Damascus.
They simply do not have the soldiers to do so.
The highlighted part is factually right, though the idea it was done just to grab land is wrong. All we can get from that is further stretching of the IDF forces.
The rest is simply wrong.
Where i said that israel is going to invade Damascus?
How do you know what will it happen in 1 or 2 decades? I doubt very much that 2 years ago anyone would suspect that we are where we are. The reality is that israel is year after yrar claming the facto more land in jersusalem, west bank, syria, now gaza, more syria...is a piece is an evil country that will continue to kill and expand as much as they can. Now migth not be able to strectch the IDF. When they secure what they have, they'll go for more. What it seems far away today it will ve achievable later on
Come on man. I may actually agree with oli at times . But in this case, Israel has bombed the entirety of the regular military infrastructure, encroached into more land, said they’ll be taking mount hermon indefinitely, bombed again, including in Damascus, demanded that southern Syria be demilitarised and that they won’t allow any of the new forces to go south of Damascus.
Syria also borders Israel and you have senior ministers saying anyone who threatens Israel will end up like Gaza.
All in the last couple of months. Despite Al-Sharaa emphasising that he has no interest in Israel.
They’ve also been bobbing mostly Hezbollah facilities there for the past decade or so.
This isn’t someone in Uzbekistan reeling off random anti-Semitic conspiracies. Israel has a very very clear interest in keeping Syria weak and divided.
Yes, the probable support so-called “Assad Loyalists” are receiving or hoping to receive from external sources has to be considered here, otherwise they are just making every Alawite in Syria a defenseless target for the battle-hardened, revenge-thirsty Sunni militants that now comprise Syria’s government forces.
While Russia and Iran are the obvious potential sources of such support, it is not out of the question that Israel may already be involved to some degree. It has been proven that under-the-table collaboration was an ongoing feature of Israel’s relationship with the Assad regime in recent years (at least), and it is quite possible that contacts that existed then have been maintained in some areas since the regime’s downfall. On a broader strategic level, the division of Syria along ethnic/sectarian lines has been a regularly touted aspiration of elements of the Jerusalem-DC think-tank nexus for decades.
And the reports and footage of executions and humiliations visited upon Alawites in the north-west by government forces will surely be monitored closely by all Syria’s minorities with great apprehension, and make the prospect of any external backing, even from Jerusalem, all the more attractive. Just the other day SDF leader Mazloum Abdi openly courted Israeli support - https://m.jpost.com/middle-east/article-844895
Jesus, casualties just keeps rising.
No doubt many have died, I’d be a bit wary of relying on the SOHR (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights) for the figures though, as the AP article does. During the Civil War I seem to remember the SNHR (Syrian Network for Human Rights) was considered a more cautious and reliable monitor, making greater verification efforts than the SOHR, which is basically just one guy.
Very big news breaking, seems the new regime have reached an agreement with the SDF for the full integration of the latter into the state. Really positive development after last week’s horrors.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/...ian-democratic-forces-into-state-institutions
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/...ian-democratic-forces-into-state-institutions
Trying to find a translation of the text of the agreement, found this on Reddit:
Based on a meeting held between President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Mr. Mazloum Abdi on Monday, March 10, 2025, the following was agreed upon:
1- Guaranteeing the rights of all Syrians to representation and participation in the political process and all state institutions based on competence, regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.
2 - The Kurdish community is an indigenous community in the Syrian state, and the Syrian state guarantees its right to citizenship and all its constitutional rights.
3- Ceasefire on all Syrian territories
4- Integrating all civil and military institutions in northeastern Syria into the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the airport, and oil and gas fields.
5- Ensuring the return of all displaced Syrians to their towns and villages and ensuring their protection by the Syrian state.
6- Supporting the Syrian state in its fight against the remnants of Assad and all threats to its security and unity.
7- Rejecting calls for division, hate speech, and attempts to spread discord among all components of Syrian society.
8- The Executive Committees are working and striving to implement the agreement no later than the end of this year.
It’s clearly short on detail but hopefully can provide the basis for full unification going forward, which would be momentous for Syria given that the entire northeast has been separate for well over a decade. Lots of challenges ahead though.
Lots of challenges ahead not least the constant barrage in the south from the evil empire looking to expand their territory further with the theft of even more land
Excellent news. Also announced a commission to find out what happened on the coast and bring all those responsible to justice.
He’s saying the right thing at least, let’s see what’s comes of it and hope it doesn’t spiral.
Al Jazeera now reporting that Al-Sharaa has reached a similar agreement with representatives from the predominantly Druze Suwayda province.
This is a fairly grim assessment of where things currently stand and the prospects for stability going forward - https://tcf.org/content/commentary/will-sectarian-massacres-derail-syrias-transition/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2... area beyond contested northern Israeli borders
@Wibble You still adamant that Israel has no intention of permanently occupying the territory? You seemed pretty stubborn in rubbishing the accusation when they first made a land grab for Mount Hermon.
@Wibble You still adamant that Israel has no intention of permanently occupying the territory? You seemed pretty stubborn in rubbishing the accusation when they first made a land grab for Mount Hermon.
The defence minister is a Netanyahu puppet with very little authority (or brains or abilities, for that matter).
I don't think Israel has any idea when it will leave the territory, and you never know how things will develop in our region, but I don't believe there's an intention to stay there permanently. Even in practical terms - there's nothing to gain by keeping IDF forces there forever.
They aren't expanding beyond the current buffer zone and why wouldn't they stay there until Syria stabilises? Which may be a very long time.
There are lots of reasons to criticised Israel (and I do) but this isn't one of them.
Jesus Christ.
What possible reason do they have to withdraw at the moment given the current instability in Syria? Unless you expect Israel to unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank. Which is unlikely in the extreme.
As already been mentioned, a buffer zone already exists - its called the Golaan heights which Israel already occupies in contravention to international law. The whole reasoning for 'indefinitely' occupying more Syrian territory for the sake of security is pretty disingenuous too, I take it you'll be content with Putin using that as his excuse to continue occupying Ukrainian territory until things 'stabilise'.
They are, by many accounts, considering the annexation of three provinces (as most predicted).
This is definitely a reason to criticize Israel and the United States (people forget).
Please Amir, we're well past these kind of platitudes. Mount Hermon will never be given back and so will the rest of the Syrian territories taken by Israel after Assad's fall.
After what happened in the last decade and more importantly since November, Syria will never be able to challenge the IDF in any shape or form, not that it ever was. A minimal military presence will be more than enough to secure the occupied territories, while settlers will quitely be shipped in, in the coming years/decades. That's how Israel operates and it always plays the clock. National security will always be invoked as an excuse to stay, well... forever.
The day Israel declares its own borders will be the day I'll maybe start to believe your claims.
Al-Sharaa has signed a new temporary constitution today, set to last four to five years, after which elections will be held. It seems generally positive and relatively liberal-ish on paper. There will inevitably be some negative focus on the requirement that the President be a Muslim and that Islamic jurisprudence will be the primary source of legislation. However these articles are unchanged from the old Ba’thist constitution. There could certainly be more checks on the President’s power - it seems that although the provisional parliament will have the power to impeach and dismiss him, they will be appointed by him until full parliamentary elections are held after five years. Womens’ rights are accounted for, as is Syria’s cultural diversity. Political parties are allowed, with freedom of speech, etc. protected.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/3/13/syrias-al-sharaa-signs-five-year-temporary-constitution
I’ve recently been designing a course I hope to teach soon on the history of global Islamic activism and militancy from the Afghan jihad to ISIS, and have been going over the evolution of Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda in Iraq during the 2000s to ISIS a decade later. It boggles my mind that the same guy currently donning a suit and tie, shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, openly speaking on the protection of minorities, and signing constitutions, etc. was not just heavily involved in that evolution, but was considered high enough up the hierarchy to be trusted with the command of Syria for that organization. He has spent years and years overseeing some of the most battle-hardened and brutal men of violence in a region with no shortage of them. Yet here he is. Despite what my heads tells me, I don’t know quite what to make of him right now (and I wonder if the rank-and-file share this ambivalence), although I figure I will need to incorporate the idea that Al Qaeda in Iraq’s evolution has been multi-faceted, and that the current Syrian government represents an alternative and more successful evolutionary path than that of ISIS.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/3/13/syrias-al-sharaa-signs-five-year-temporary-constitution
I’ve recently been designing a course I hope to teach soon on the history of global Islamic activism and militancy from the Afghan jihad to ISIS, and have been going over the evolution of Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda in Iraq during the 2000s to ISIS a decade later. It boggles my mind that the same guy currently donning a suit and tie, shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, openly speaking on the protection of minorities, and signing constitutions, etc. was not just heavily involved in that evolution, but was considered high enough up the hierarchy to be trusted with the command of Syria for that organization. He has spent years and years overseeing some of the most battle-hardened and brutal men of violence in a region with no shortage of them. Yet here he is. Despite what my heads tells me, I don’t know quite what to make of him right now (and I wonder if the rank-and-file share this ambivalence), although I figure I will need to incorporate the idea that Al Qaeda in Iraq’s evolution has been multi-faceted, and that the current Syrian government represents an alternative and more successful evolutionary path than that of ISIS.