It becomes clearer by the day that the world is shaky due to the world’s unstable Islam hubs that are destabilizing further. It is Islam that fights the Jews, the Christians and is in a constant battle within itself. That is, Islam against Islam, the Shia Islam against the Sunni Islam and vice versa.
Syria’s Civil War
In the past few days Islam war against Islam erupted in Syria, destabilizing the region with significant repercussions ahead.
The Syrian civil war has been an ongoing multi-sided conflict, involving various state-sponsored and non-state actors. As part of the wider Arab Spring protests in the region, in March 2011, popular discontent with the rule of dictator Bashar al-Assad and his Arab Socialist Baʿth Party triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria. After months of vicious crackdown by the Syrian security apparatus, various armed rebel groups, such as the Free Syrian Army began forming across the country, marking the beginning of the Syrian insurgency. By mid-2012, the crisis had escalated into a full-blown civil war.
Divided Syria
What is taking place in Syria is rather confusing, or of little interest, to people in the West. However, the effects of these events are global.
The political-military situation in Syria and who is attacking whom in Syria is as follows:
Northeastern (green) Syria: a Kurdish-dominated sector called the Syrian Democratic Forces, which has a similar situation to the Kurdistan region in Iraq. The Syrian army is present in important cities in this sector, such as Hasakah and border centers with Turkey, and they have a balanced approach with Bashar al-Assad.
Northern (purple) Syria: there are areas that were conquered by Turkish military operations and are the main center of presence of the Syrian Liberation Army, a group run by the Syrian opposition and forces separated from the Syrian army, as well as Turkish political and military assistance.
Northwestern (green) Syria: where you find Tahrir al-Sham. This group controls the important and strategic city of Idlib, Syria and apparently is opposed to Turkey, but in fact it provides all its weapons and needs through Turkey.
East, (black) toward the central regions of Syria: there are scattered ISIS cells, and if this area is neglected, there is a possibility of a new ISIS group forming in this area.
Who Is Fighting Whom in Syria?
It’s rather complicated. The best way to start understanding who supports and who opposes Mr. Assad and his government.
On the Syrian government’s side, are:
Russia, that carries out air strikes and provides political support at the UN;
Iran, that provides arms, credit, military advisers and reportedly combat troops; how soon will Iran decide to send regular Iranian military units to Syria?
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement has sent thousands of fighters. However at present it has been weakened by Israel, therefore its support diminishes;
Shia Muslim militias, recruited by Iran from Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen;
On the side of the rebels* (* the term “rebels” is used to describe a huge and diverse array of fighters, some of whom co-operate with jihadists like those from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an al-Qaeda-linked alliance. Different foreign states often back different rebel factions). There are:
Turkey, provides arms, military and political support;
Gulf Arab states, provide money and weapons;
The US, provides arms, training and military assistance to “moderate” groups;
Jordan, provides logistical support and training;
According to Syria: Hezbollah cannot help Assad and Russia and its air force are very busy.
Islamists Against the Iranian Axis in Syria – Who Are They?
The meltdown and attacks began the day after Israel signed a ceasefire agreement with Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, on November 26, 2024. Both Iran and Hezbollah are detested by the rebels.
An overview of the ongoing civil conflict:
On Wednesday, November 27, 2024, the Syrian rebels began a surprise offensive attack against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in northern Syria. In a swift operation, lasting under 72 hours, they seized significant portions of the city of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, which had taken the Syrian regime’s forces over four years to reclaim.
Employing tactics such as rocket assaults, drone strikes, and rapid incursions from concealed positions – all very familiar to Israel in its war with Hamas and Hezbollah – the rebels managed to outmaneuver the Russian and Syrian air forces that dominate the skies.
Catching off guard the Syrian army and its allies, including Iranian militias and Russian troops, the rebels celebrated triumph, capturing prisoners, seizing abandoned weapons, and chanting religious slogans.
Who Are These Rebels?
After years of the Syrian conflict fading from view how did this conflict emerge overnight?
The answer is involved with the uprising complex political landscape.
The rebel forces can be categorized into two main factions.
First group: Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani, an extremist Islamist organization with roots in al-Qaeda and ISIS operatives who joined the anti-Assad movement at its inception. The group has become the dominant force among Syrian rebels and was instrumental in orchestrating the northern offensive.
Tahrir al-Sham has been engaged in extensive training allegedly funded by Persian Gulf states, while building underground command networks and stockpiling weapons and ammunition sourced from Turkey.
Second group: spearheading the northern attack, consists of various factions under the umbrella of the “Syrian National Army,” which receives direct military support from Turkey.
These groups, ranging from moderate nationalists to more radical Islamist factions, do not always cooperate smoothly, some factions have even clashed with one another.
Both rebel groups significantly rely on the Turkish military presence in northern Syria, support that helped stabilize the front lines, preventing the capture of Idlib province. In the meantime, Idlib has turned into a chaotic environment, where countless refugees endure dire living conditions.
From this much of northern Syria region, the rebels have long strategized for a counteroffensive to reclaim their homeland. With Turkey’s desire for reprisal against Moscow, the weakening of the Iranian axis, impaired by setbacks for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the situation transformed into a meticulous planning scenario ripe for the actions taking place in Syria as of this writing.
Just Like Hamas
Hamas captured Israeli women. Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists of Turkey, have captured hundreds of Kurdish women in Tel Rafaat, Syria, threatening to sell them as sex slaves.
This is the exact scenario they did to Yazidi women in 2014.
These painful scenes are reminiscent of the horror of October 7th, 2023 in Israel.
Islam Against Islam
In Pakistan, where years of Islamic chaos have taken place, Shiite militias beheaded a senior Sunni cleric, and put his head on display.
The Muslims bring blessing and enlightenment wherever they go. The darkness of the Middle-Ages covers the Muslim entities, and now also the unfortunate West.
For Israel, There Are No Good Guys Here
There are no good guys in the Syrian current war.
The rebels are al-Qaeda and ISIS, assisted by Turkey and Ukraine.
The other side consists of Syria, Iran, and Russia.
Almost all the above hate and reject Israel, but the rebels have learned to detest the Arab-“Palestinian” because it is funded and enabled by Iran and is supported by Russia. And so, in a very strange way, the rebels are inadvertently supporting Israel’s fight against Hamas and Hezbollah, for now.
Israel must not trust any jihadist Muslim, even if it seems for a moment that he serves the same interests. Israel must use the situation to advance its interests only. The enemy of my enemy is no friend of mine.
Israel’s goal should be to continue dismantling the Shiite axis of evil that has formed around it, which ultimately aims for Israel’s demise.
Gideon Sa’ar, Israel Foreign Minister on the rebel attack in Syria: “We don’t want to take sides in this matter, there is no good side there.”
“We need to look at the interests of the Kurdish minority in northern Syria, see what their desires are and how we can take advantage of the situation to increase cooperation.”
Only time will tell how the cards of this war fall. For now they are falling to all sides and fast.
Lesson learned
The lesson that every free society country, especially the State of Israel that all those fighting each other in Syria are its enemies, must learn:
“Indeed I have defeated the enemy and dealt him a mortal blow. It is true that he is now gathering in a smaller area, beaten, bruised, weakened and discouraged. And I think there is no chance that he will want to fight again, and so, ‘calm will be met with calm.'”
This is what, in 2020, Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad thought to himself about the rebels. After nine years of fighting and rivers of blood – the Russians, the Iranians and what was left of Assad’s regime crushed – temporarily – the resistance. At the end of the war, they allowed the remnants of the rebels to establish themselves in part of the Idlib province, thinking that trouble would be far from them and that the rebels would sit quietly forever.
But the rebels took the time to arm and strengthen themselves.
Then, in those 4 years with the thought that “calm will be met with calm” everything exploded in Bashar and the Russians’ faces. At the most inconvenient moment for them, when Hezbollah and the Iranian axis were defeated and weak by Israel, the rebels who had strengthened, armed, trained and prepared for this moment of truth went on the offensive. Assad froze in his tracks and is now paying the price with interest.
We are accustomed to hearing the same phrases and ideas from our leaders and politicians. “They are weakened,” “We have dealt a decisive blow,” “They are deterred,” and so on. It is all a cover for the truth.
Bashar al-Assad is now paying the price for blindly allowing small and weakened rebels to strengthen and attack mercilessly.
And by the way, let’s hope that after October 7, 2023, Israel has learned on its own skin the crux that such a privilege of “calm will be met with calm” does not exist for it.
