The Status of Syria
It has been 10 days since the 53-year reign of the al-Assad family regime has ended, and what a brutal regime it was. More than 100,000 dead bodies were discovered to have been murdered and tortured in what can only be described as the sickest and most inhumane ways at Saydnaya prison, often referred to as the "human slaughterhouse.” If you can stomach it, listen to Dan Senor’s excellent interview with Joseph Braude, head of The Center for Peace Communications (CPC), an NGO that gained access to Saydnaya, or watch this.
In the meantime, it is unclear as to whether the new government, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) will be any less brutal. They are affiliated with al-Qaeda, and there is a reason that the United States designated them a terrorist organization and placed a $10 million bounty on HTS top dog Abu Mohammad al-Jolani back in 2018. There have been recent discussions on removing the bounty, but that decision is complex and controversial. Unlike their predecessor, HTS is not controlled by Iran or Russia, yet they are in bed with Turkey and Qatar.
The only good guys are the Kurds, the only population in Syria promoting Western values. Thomas S. Kaplan and Bernard-Henri Lévy make a compelling and important case in The Wall Street Journal for why America needs to back the Kurds.
Today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with some of his top officials including Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, at Syria’s Mount Hermon, the highest peak in the region, which has been the subject of territorial disputes since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. This was historic, because it is the first time a sitting Israeli leader entered Syrian territory; only 10 days ago he would never have step foot there. Netanyahu explained of Mount Hermon: “We will remain in this important place until another arrangement is found that will insure Israel’s security.”
To get a sense of the actual lay of the land there, watch an IDF spokesperson explain the demilitarized area between Israel and Syria.
The pace of change is dizzying, but this uprising creates an opportunity to expand democracy in the Middle East. We are indeed witnessing history being made.
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There really are no "good guys" in Syria with the exception, as you noted, of the Kurds. Unfortunately, the world has completely abandoned the Kurds. Weird, isn't it, how there are no weekly marches in western cities in support of them. No "encampments". No calls for boycotts/divestment/sanctions. No demands that Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, etc., either give up land or cease to exist altogether so that a Kurdish nation can be created. No specialized UN agencies devoted strictly to them. No accusations of "genocide" whenever they are attacked.
Hmmmmm, I wonder why that is....................
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