#Syrian Network for Human Rights

[youthchronical]

Violence in Syria Shows Difficulty in Unifying Armed Forces

Syria’s new president has spoken often about the urgency of merging the many armed groups that fought to topple the strongman Bashar al-Assad into a unified national army. But the spasm of violence that erupted this month in northwestern Syria, which killed hundreds of civilians, made it clear just how distant that goal remains. It displayed instead the government’s lack of control over forces…

[tomorrowusa]

There is no love for the al-Assad family which had brutally ruled Syria since 1971. Like North Korea, Syria turned into a hereditary autocracy.

Since the civil war began in 2011, a minimum of 580,000 Syrians have been killed. About 6,600,000 have fled the country and a similar number have been displaced internally. Putin's Russia has been propping up the régime for the past decade.

Hafez the father was not much better than Bashar the son. In 1982, Hafez massacred as many as 40,000 people in the city of Hama and largely destroyed it according to The Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Although Hafez has been dead since 2000, crowds struck back at him by torching his tomb.

[zvaigzdelasas]

The fighting took place in the Mediterranean coastal province of Latakia, the heartland of the ousted president's Alawite minority[...]

The death toll "following attacks and ambushes by gunmen loyal to Assad in the town of Jableh and its surrounding areas increased to 16 members of the security forces", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the majority of the dead were from the former rebel bastion of Idlib.

It said they were "the most violent attacks against the new authorities since Assad was toppled".

At least three of the gunmen in Jableh were killed, said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

The province's security director had earlier said that Syrian forces were clashing with gunmen loyal to an Assad-era special forces commander in another village in Latakia, after authorities reportedly launched helicopter strikes.[...]

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported "strikes launched by Syrian helicopters on armed men in the village of Beit Ana and the surrounding forests, coinciding with artillery strikes on a neighbouring village".[...]

A defence ministry source later told SANA that large military reinforcements were being deployed to the Jableh area "to support the security forces and restore stability to the area".[...]

Alawite leaders later called in a statement on Facebook for "peaceful protests" in response to the air strikes, which they said had targeted "the homes of civilians".[...]

Later on Thursday, large groups of young men, some bearing arms, gathered in Idlib, in support of the security forces fighting in Latakia, the Observatory said.

Messages broadcast over the loudspeakers of mosques called for "jihad" against the gunmen, it added.[...]

The country's new security forces have since launched extensive campaigns seeking to root out Assad loyalists from his former bastions.

Residents and organisations have reported violations during those campaigns, including the seizing of homes, field executions and kidnappings.

6 Mar 25

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Tulsi Gabbard’s history with Russia is even more concerning than you think

“What happened in Syria is what allowed the Russians to feel that they could do the very same in Ukraine,” he said.

“And what she is doing with Ukraine shows that it goes beyond her maybe misunderstanding one conflict. She is, hook, line and sinker, a Russian puppet.”

In the summer of 2015, three Syrian girls who had narrowly survived an airstrike some weeks earlier stood before Tulsi Gabbard with horrific burns all over their bodies.

Gabbard, then a US congresswoman on a visit to the Syria-Turkey border as part of her duties for the foreign affairs committee, had a question for them.

“How do you know it was Bashar al-Assad or Russia that bombed you, and not Isis?’” she asked, according to Mouaz Moustafa, a Syrian activist who was translating her conversation with the girls.

It was a revealing insight into Gabbard’s conspiratorial views of the conflict, and it shocked Moustafa to silence. He knew, as even the young children did, that Isis did not have jets to launch airstrikes. It was such an absurd question that he chose not to translate it because he didn’t want to upset the girls, the eldest of whom was 12.

“From that point on, I’m sorry to say I was inaccurate in my translations of anything she said,” Moustafa told The Independent. “It was more like: How do I get these girls away from this devil?”

Even before Gabbard left the Democratic Party, ingratiated herself with Donald Trump and secured his nomination to become director of National Intelligence, she was known as a prolific peddler of Russian propaganda.

In almost every foreign conflict in which Russia had a hand, Gabbard backed Moscow and railed against the US. Her past promotion of Kremlin propaganda has provoked significant opposition on both sides of the aisle to her nomination.

Her journey from anti-war Democrat to Moscow-friendly Maga warrior began in Syria. The devastating conflict was sparked by pro-democracy uprisings in 2011, which were brutally crushed by the Assad regime. It descended into a complex web of factions that drew extremist Islamists from around the world and global powers into the fray.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group with a network of sources on the ground, documented the deaths of 503,064 people by March 2023. It said at least 162,390 civilians had died in that same time, with the Syrian government and its allies responsible for 139,609 of those deaths.

But Gabbard, a veteran of the Iraq War, viewed it all as a “regime-change war” fueled by the West and aimed at removing the dictator from power. She saw Assad – and Russia, when it entered the conflict – as legitimate defenders of the state against an extremist uprising.

In 2015, when Russia entered the Syrian war on the side of the dictator Assad, Gabbard expressed support for the move, even as the civilian toll from Moscow’s devastating airstrikes grew into the thousands.

“Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. Obama won’t bomb them in Syria. Putin did. #neverforget911,” she wrote on Twitter.

It was precisely because of her support for Assad and Russia’s war that Moustafa was keen for her to attend the congressional delegation to southern Turkey to meet the victims of the conflict.

“From experience, everyone that we bring over to the border, and they see the victims, they always come back with a realistic view of what’s happening and who is behind the mass displacement and killing and atrocities and so on, and so that was the objective,” he said. “What was shocking was her lack of empathy. She’ll sacrifice the facts, even when it came to little girls in front of her telling her they got bombed by a plane – it didn’t matter.”

Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute who testified twice on Syria to the House Foreign Affairs Committee when Gabbard was a member, spent years debunking her various conspiracy theories about the war.

“Her consistent denial of the Syrian regime’s crimes is so wildly fringe that her potential appointment as DNI is genuinely alarming,” he told The Independent.

Lister said her views “appear to be driven by a strange fusion of America First isolationism and a belief in the value of autocratic and secular leaders in confronting extremism.”

They included a suggestion that Syrian rebels staged a false-flag chemical weapons attack against their supporters to provoke Western intervention against Assad — something the US intelligence agencies she will soon lead had concluded was false. She declined to call Assad a war criminal when pressed, despite masses of evidence, and used a video of Syrian government bombings to criticize US involvement in the war.

“Her descriptions of the crisis in Syria read like they were composed in Assad’s personal office, or in Tehran or Moscow – not Washington,” Lister added.

Gabbard was not swayed by meeting the victims of Assad’s airstrikes in 2015. In fact, two years later, she went to Damascus to meet the Syrian president in person and came away even more convinced of her opinions.

The congresswoman said her visit to meet Assad – the first by a sitting US lawmaker since the conflict began – was aimed at bringing an end to the war.

“I felt it’s important that if we profess to truly care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, then we’ve got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there is a possibility that we could achieve peace,” she told CNN at the time.

Fire rises following a Syrian government airstrike in Aleppo in 2016 (AP)

Gabbard was forced to defend her embrace of Assad and other dictators during her 2020 run for the Democratic presidential nomination. During the Democratic primary debate, she clashed with Kamala Harris, who accused her of being “an apologist for an individual – Assad – who has murdered the people of his country like cockroaches.”

“She has embraced and been an apologist for him in a way that she refuses to call him a war criminal. I can only take what she says and her opinion so seriously and so I’m prepared to move on,” added Harris, who would subsequently drop out of the race and later be selected as Joe Biden’s running mate.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard again defended Russian aggression.

“This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/Nato had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns,” she posted on Twitter in 2022.

Gabbard appeared to fall for various conspiracy theories about the conflict that were promoted by Russia, as she had done in Syria. One of those conspiracy theories was a Russian claim about the existence of dozens of US-funded biolabs in Ukraine that were supposedly producing deadly pathogens.

She later walked back on those remarks, suggesting that there might have been some “miscommunication and misunderstanding.”

Gabbard’s frequent echoing of Kremlin talking points has earned her praise in Russian state media. Indeed, an article published on 15 November in the Russian-state controlled outlet RIA Novosti went so far as to call Gabbard a “superwoman.”

The possibility that Trump would tap someone with Gabbard’s history to be America’s top intelligence official shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who followed the president-elect’s first four years in the White House.

During his 2018 summit with President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, the then-president was asked if he believed the US intelligence community’s assessment, which stated that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election on his behalf.

That assessment was based on analysis of what was determined to have been state-sponsored campaigns of fake social media posts and ersatz news sites to spread false stories about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, as well as cyberattacks targeting the Democratic National Committee and prominent operatives associated with the Clinton campaign.

But Trump, who’d just spent several hours in a closed-door meeting with Putin, stunned the assembled press and the entire world by declaring that he trusted the Russian leader’s word over that of his own advisers.

​​"President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be," he replied.

Trump would go on to repeatedly clash with his own intelligence appointees during the remainder of his term. He sacked his first DNI, former Indiana senator Dan Coats, after Coats repeatedly declined to back away from the government’s assessment of what Russia had done during the 2016 presidential race.

Larry Pfeiffer, the director of George Mason University’s Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security, said Gabbard’s apparent susceptibility to foreign disinformation and her affinity for strongmen will give pause to American allies with whom the US routinely shares intelligence on common threats.

Intelligence services, he explained, are notoriously territorial and tight-lipped on sources and methods – particularly when it comes to so-called human intelligence, or Humint, which refers to information collected by and from spies and sources within hostile governments.

Pfeiffer said foreign allies are likely already concerned about how a second Trump administration will handle intelligence, given the president-elect’s record. He also predicted that Gabbard’s confirmation as DNI would cause even more problems among skittish partners.

“I think they wouldn’t feel like they’ve got an American confidant that they can deal with on a mature level,” he said. “I can guarantee you that the foreign intelligence services of Europe, including the Brits, are all having little side conversations right now about … what is this going to mean, and how are we going to operate, and what are we going to do now.”

Gabbard has taken the side of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad as well as the Russian president (AP)

The former US intelligence veteran also said Gabbard’s record of spreading foreign talking points calls into question whether she will be able to carry out the DNI’s important responsibility of briefing the president on threats to the nation.

He told The Independent: “Somebody like Tulsi Gabbard, you look at her long history of statements that seem to come out of the Kremlin’s notebook, her propensity to be influenced by their viewpoint – [it] raises questions as to whether she has the ability to present the intel community’s perspective as it is, or is she going to be one who’s going to want to discount it, influence it, color and change it, or ignore it and just present her own view?

“I think it also raises questions of judgement. You know, here’s an individual who seems very prone to misinformation, prone to conspiracy theory. That should worry anybody who’s worried about America’s national security,” he added.

Trump’s selection of the former Hawaii congresswoman could be a problem for the senators tasked with confirming her, on several different levels. For one, the position is unique among cabinet agencies in that there are strict requirements for who can serve in the director’s role.

The text of the 2004 law which established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington and the intelligence community’s failures leading up to the US invasion of Iraq, specifically states that any person who serves in the DNI job “shall have extensive national security expertise.”

The first person to serve as DNI, John Negroponte, was a widely respected foreign service veteran who had served as US ambassador to Iraq, Mexico, Honduras and the Philippines, as the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, and as a deputy national security adviser during the Reagan administration. The next three people to hold the office were flag-rank military officers with significant intelligence experience.

Pfeiffer, a US intelligence veteran of three decades’ standing who once ran the White House Situation Room and served as chief of staff to then-CIA director General Michael Hayden, told The Independent that Gabbard’s experience in the House and her military service, while admirable, do not match the standards envisioned by the authors of the 2004 law which established the office.

“That’s national security experience … but she was a freaking military cop … operating at a largely tactical level, not that strategic, long-term national security perspective that one would expect,” he said.

Gabbard may have left the Syrian conflict behind, but Moustafa still works with its victims every day. And he believes the connection between her views on Syria and Ukraine is clear.

“What happened in Syria is what allowed the Russians to feel that they could do the very same in Ukraine,” he said.

“And what she is doing with Ukraine shows that it goes beyond her maybe misunderstanding one conflict. She is, hook, line and sinker, a Russian puppet.”

[starseedpatriot]

🇱🇾 USAID & NGOs were the Hidden Hand Behind Libya’s Destruction

For over four decades, Libya thrived under Gaddafi, but in 2011, the U.S., NATO, and Western-backed NGOs engineered an uprising, leading to his overthrow and Libya’s descent into chaos. USAID and its affiliated organizations played a critical role in financing, legitimizing, and facilitating the regime change operation.

How USAID & NGOs Helped Topple Gaddafi

USAID:

• 2011-2012, USAID funneled $75 million into “civil society” groups, opposition media, and transitional government structures.

• Funded the National Transitional Council (NTC), the de facto government after Gaddafi’s fall.

• Assisted in setting up opposition-run election commissions to ensure Libya remained under Western control post-regime change.

NED:

• Funded exile-run opposition media like Barada TV, which broadcast anti-Gaddafi propaganda from Washington, D.C.

• Provided grants to “civil society” groups that later funneled support to jihadists, including Free Syrian Army (FSA) members who later fought in Libya.

• Trained and promoted exiled opposition leaders who were later installed in Libya’s post-Gaddafi government.

OSF: Soros’s Role in Libya

• Pushed Western narratives on Libya, reinforcing media campaigns to justify NATO intervention.

• Funded opposition movements that aligned with U.S. geopolitical interests.

• Lobbied for mass migration policies in Europe, using Libya’s collapse to drive refugee influxes.

What did Libye lose?

Before 2011:

• Debt-free economy with $150 billion in foreign reserves.

• Free healthcare, education, and subsidized housing.

• One of Africa’s highest literacy rates at 87%.

• The Great Man-Made River Project provided sustainable water to the entire country.

• Oil wealth was distributed among the population.

After NATO & USAID Intervention:

• Libya became a failed state with rival militias battling for control.

• Open-air slave markets appeared, with migrants sold openly.

• Oil production collapsed, foreign corporations took over key sectors.

• ISIS and jihadist groups flourished.

• The country became a hub for weapons trafficking and human smuggling.

Gaddafi's Final Warning Before NATO Bombing in 2011?

“If Libya falls, chaos will take over North Africa, the Mediterranean will burn, and waves of migrants will flood Europe.”

Gaddafi knew what was coming. He was right.

The U.S. and its NGO network didn’t remove Gaddafi for “human rights.” They targeted him because he threatened Western financial dominance and refused to comply.

USAID used Libya as a practice round to hone their skills to be used in future campaigns:

Ukraine (2014): Funded Euromaidan protests → Led to civil war & U.S. economic control.

Syria (2011-2024): USAID financed the opposition → Led to over a decade of war.

Venezuela (2002-Present): Funded opposition coup attempts → Economic collapse under U.S. sanctions.

Georgia (2003/2023): Engineered “color revolutions” → Destabilized the country.

Libya, once Africa’s most prosperous nation, is now a shattered warzone. A direct result of U.S.-backed regime change funded directly by USAID.

🔴 @DDGeopolitics | Socials | Donate | Advertising

[mariacallous]

One can only rejoice in the demise of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Much is uncertain about Syria’s future, but there is no question that the 24 years of Assad’s rule, preceded by 30 years under his comparably brutal father, Hafez al-Assad, have been utter hell for the Syrian people. No crime was too heinous for the Assads as they did whatever it took to retain power. Few governments worldwide have been as ruthless.

The catalogue of Bashar al-Assad’s atrocities quickly transcends the toolbox of a run-of-the-mill dictator. It is deeply moving, if horrifying, to see people emerge from his prisons after decades in custody. In most countries, families can learn about their loved ones in detention, but few people departed from Assad’s worst prisons, leaving the inmates completely isolated. Their families had no idea if they were still alive.

Many were not. A Syrian military police photographer who adopted the code name “Caesar” had the unenviable task of documenting the bodies of Syrians who had been executed or tortured to death. (Even dictatorships want assurance that their orders are being carried out.) In August 2013, Caesar defected, taking with him tens of thousands of photographs showing at least 6,786 bodies of people who had died in Syrian government custody. Most had been detained by just five intelligence agency branches in Damascus, their bodies sent to at least two military hospitals in Damascus between May 2011, as Assad crushed an initially peaceful uprising against his rule, and when Caesar fled Syria.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) documented 157,634 people who had been arrested between March 2011 and August 2024 and who remained in custody. Many had been forcibly disappeared. These included 5,274 children and 10,221 women. For some, we will only now begin to learn of their fates.

Assad’s slaughter was not limited to prisons. Having inherited his father’s chemical weapons program, he was a rare leader who used these banned weapons against his own people. (The only other ones in recent history were Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, who used chemical weapons in his 1988 genocide against Iraqi Kurds, known as the “Anfal” campaign, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who deployed the nerve agent Novichok against selected dissidents.) In August 2013, for example, Syrian forces fired rockets filled with sarin gas on Ghouta, a rural area east of Damascus that at the time was held by the armed opposition. The attack killed an estimated 1,466 people, mostly women and children.

Under threat of military intervention after then-U.S. President Barack Obama had declared that the use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line,” Assad in September 2013 agreed to surrender his chemical weapons. However, because chlorine has legitimate uses, the government was not required to eliminate its chlorine stockpiles. Between 2014 and 2018, the Syrian military periodically used chlorine as a chemical weapon, even though such use violates the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria had ratified. In April 2014 alone, there were 10 attacks in which chlorine was dropped on civilians in villages in northern Syria. An April 2018 chlorine attack on Douma in rural Damascus killed 43 people. Moreover, the government secretly kept a stash of sarin, which it used most lethally in an April 2017 attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, killing at least 90 people.

(U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday mocked Obama for not having used military force to enforce his red line. However, when Trump, along with Britain and France, responded to the Douma attack by bombing three suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities in April 2018, it “prompted defiant celebrations in Damascus … as it became clear that the limited attack posed no immediate threat to President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power and would likely have no impact on the trajectory of the Syrian war,” as the Washington Post reported at the time.)

Horrible as chemical weapons are, their death toll was dwarfed by conventional bombing. The Syrian air force notoriously dropped “barrel bombs” on residential neighborhoods in parts of the country controlled by the armed opposition. Barrel bombs were improvised weapons: oil drums filled with explosives and metal fragments that were dropped without guidance from helicopters, typically hitting the ground with huge explosions and the widespread diffusion of deadly shrapnel. They pulverized neighborhoods, destroyed entire buildings, and left broad strips of death and destruction. One of the most dreaded sounds of the conflict was the “swish-swish-swish” of the barrels as they tumbled, with people below waiting horrible seconds to learn whether they would survive.

When Russia joined the conflict in September 2015 to prop up Assad’s regime, the Syrian-Russian alliance attacked more precisely. Jets targeted hospitals, schools, markets, and apartment buildings—deliberate war-crime attacks on civilians and civilian institutions—with the aim of depopulating regions in the hope of facilitating follow-up ground attacks on the rebel forces who lived there. The devastation was so bad that many compared the destruction of eastern Aleppo to Russia’s decimation of Grozny during the Second Chechen War. Russian and Syrian government airstrikes have killed more than 100,000 Syrians since 2011, according to SNHR.

The government’s bombing and persecution forced more than 14 million Syrians to flee their homes, half abroad and half within Syria—more than any other country. That represents some two-thirds of Syria’s prewar population.

Assad also used starvation and deprivation to force opposition-held areas to surrender. In eastern Ghouta and eastern Aleppo, Syrian forces imposed a total siege. Even when humanitarian agencies occasionally were allowed to deliver medical supplies, the Syrian military would “delete”—or ban—much of what was most urgently needed, a blatant violation of the legal duty even in time of war to allow humanitarian access to people in need. Gradually, one by one, these areas succumbed, with occupants given the “choice” to take their chances under Assad’s rule or to board the government’s dreaded green buses for a one-way trip to Idlib in northwestern Syria, the last area under the rule of the armed opposition. Most chose Idlib.

Idlib borders Turkey, making a siege impossible, but the Syrian government, with Russia’s help, tried to limit humanitarian access even there. They used a deeply disputed ruling by U.N. lawyers, backed by Secretary-General António Guterres, that cross-border humanitarian aid required either the consent of the Assad government or an increasingly difficult-to-obtain U.N. Security Council resolution. Over time, the Russian and Syrian governments limited aid there. Meanwhile, the U.S. and other governments gradually reduced the aid they supplied, overburdened by new crises in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan and conscious that the Syrian government was siphoning off large amounts of the aid delivered through Damascus.

With Assad and his henchmen now on the run, the prospect of bringing them to justice for these mass atrocities is no longer theoretical. There are two options.

The first is for national prosecutors in countries outside Syria to file charges under the concept of universal jurisdiction, which allows any authorized national court to address certain of the most heinous crimes, including torture as well as the war crimes of attacking civilians and weaponizing health care. Several governments have already initiated such prosecutions, mainly for lower-level officials who happened to be in custody because they had fled Syria. For example, a German court convicted a Syrian military intelligence officer for overseeing a torture center and sentenced him to life in prison.

France has also charged Assad for the August 2013 sarin attack on eastern Ghouta. As a sitting head of state, Assad had arguably enjoyed immunity for such national prosecutions under a controversial International Court of Justice ruling. Having now been deposed, he no longer enjoys any such protection.

The second is for International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan to file charges. There is no question that Assad’s atrocities are worthy of ICC attention; Khan’s challenge has been jurisdiction. Syria never joined the court, and a U.N. Security Council effort in 2014 to confer jurisdiction was vetoed by Russia and China.

However, facing a similar challenge in Myanmar, Khan pursued a novel legal theory, obtaining jurisdiction by focusing on the Myanmar army’s mass forced deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh, which is an ICC member. He is now seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s junta leader. Despite the considerable global demands on him, Khan should use a similar theory to obtain jurisdiction over senior Syrian officials, including Assad, for their atrocities that drove hundreds of thousands of Syrians into Jordan, which is also an ICC member.

Such prosecutions are important not only as a measure of respect for the victims and an acknowledgment of their plight. They are also a critical tool for the future. We can only guess how Syria’s new rulers will act. Will they fall back on their jihadi roots, or will they abide by their recent more tolerant rhetoric? Establishing a precedent of accountability for the atrocities of the past would be a significant way for the international community to signal expectations for the future.

[follow-up-news]

In the outskirts of Syria’s capital Tuesday, the hope of a country freed from its longtime dictator was muddled with the emerging horrors of the Assad regime. Thousands of people were rushing to labyrinthine prisons, searching for any trace of loved ones they feared had disappeared into their unseen depths. The most notorious gulag lies in the barren, rocky hills outside the capital, Damascus. Saydnaya military prison is a dungeon of tiny, concrete cells nicknamed “the human slaughterhouse.” NBC News went there Tuesday and found evidence of barbaric conditions — as well as the desperation of Syrians searching for their loved ones. During the Assad family’s 50-year rule, a network of facilities like Saydnaya were patrolled by armed guards, ensuring those who went in could not come out. The regime used the prisons to detain, torture and kill tens of thousands of Syrians, some for criticizing the government or other trumped-up allegations, according to rights groups, whistleblowers and global officials.

[ritchiepage2001newaccount]

Project2025 #CorpMedia #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #FeelTheBern

JinJiyanAzadi #BijiRojava Inside the Democratic Forces of Syria [UPDATES]

https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/inside-the-democratic-forces-of-syria-idUSRTX1VTG7/

On the battlefield with the U.S.-backed Syrian rebel alliance…

RELATED UPDATE: Interview with Ruken Ehmed on Jîna Amîni and the philosophy of 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadî'

RELATED UPDATE: Hengaw's Comprehensive Report on the Death of 142 Kurds During the "Woman, Life, Freedom" Movement on its Second Anniversary

RELATED UPDATE: Brother of Kurdish protester killed in ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ uprising sentenced to prison

RELATED UPDATE: Academy of Jineoloji Conference publishes Final Declaration

RELATED UPDATE: SDF dismantles an ISIS cell in Deir ez-Zor countryside

RELATED UPDATE: Leader AP0's thought represents glimmer of hope for humanity

RELATED UPDATE: Panel and exhibition for AP0 in St. Gallen

RELATED UPDATE: SDF captures 3 ISIS Mercenaries

FURTHER READING:

[youthchronical]

Violence in Syria Shows Difficulty in Unifying Armed Forces

Syria’s new president has spoken often about the urgency of merging the many armed groups that fought to topple the strongman Bashar al-Assad into a unified national army. But the spasm of violence that erupted this month in northwestern Syria, which killed hundreds of civilians, made it clear just how distant that goal remains. It displayed instead the government’s lack of control over forces…

[beardedmrbean]

Islamist rebels and their allies were advancing towards the key Syrian city of Hama on Tuesday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Militants with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group were fighting in what SOHR called the "most violent" clashes with government troops since launching their surprise offensive last week.

Syria and Russia strike Hama region

"Clashes have erupted in the northern Hama countryside, where rebel factions managed to seize several cities and towns in the last few hours," said the monitor, which relies on a large network of sources inside Syria. 

The Associated Press reported that the rebels were just 10 kilometers (6 miles) away from the city.

Syrian government forces were reportedly preparing for a counter-attack, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.

The SOHR added that "Syrian and Russian air forces carried out dozens of strikes on the area."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a longtime ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has regularly provided material support since Assad's clampdown on protests sparked the Syrian Civil War in 2011.

Russia began intervening directly in 2015 with airstrikes when the extremist "Islamic State" (IS) entered the conflict.

Hama is key link between Aleppo and Damascus

Syrian state news agency SANA also reported air strikes on Hama province and rebel bastion Idlib in the northwest. Hama is considered a strategically important city because it connects Aleppo, which HTS swept into last week, and the capital Damascus. 

The area is home to the Alawite community from which Assad hails, and thus a rebel takeover of Hama would "pose a threat to the regime's popular base," SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

According to the United Nations, some 50,000 people have been displaced and hundreds, mostly fighters, have been killed since the conflict touched off again in November.

[duhragonball]

Were you aware of/do you have an opinion on the Dragonball theme park that is starting construction soon? On the one hand it seems like that Harry Potter theme park (which was a dumb idea, nobody serious cares about HP anymore), but Dragonball also isn't shitty, and Akria Toriyama didn't spend the last years of his life making sure everyone knew he was a transphobe (which J.K. Rowling is doing her best to do). Do you have a take?

I was not aware of any of this, so I don't think I have much to contribute to the conversation.

The article I just found was published only a few hours ago, so I guess this is a HOTTT scoop? Also, it looks like the thing is being built in Saudi Arabia, so I guess that's why this got announced in the middle of the night where I live. It's 3am here and I'm up early because I went to bed at 7pm and woke up around 1am.

Okay, so the Saudi connection is something I can talk about, because this sounds a lot like the same agenda that led to the WWE's infamous deal with Saudi Arabia. For those of you who aren't into pro wrestling, in 2018 WWE started putting on events in Jeddah and Riyadh. This has been controversial for several reasons, but the main sticking point is that the Saudi assassination of dissident journalist James Khashoggi took place in October 2018, a few weeks before WWE's second-ever Saudi show, Crown Jewel. The U.S. condemned the assassination, and politicians pressured WWE to call off the show, but the Kingdom paid a lot of money for the deal, and Vince McMahon only cares about himself, so they just went ahead and did the show anyway. There's other issues, but that one especially stuck in my craw, and it's why I canceled my WWE Network subscription and haven't watched their product ever since.

Basically, the Saudi government has been trying to revamp their economy to reduce dependence on the petroleum industry. The WWE deal is part of the "Saudi Vision 2030" project, which aims to increase the economic, social, and cultural diversification of the country by the end of this decade. Tourism is a big part of that plan, which is why they're paying big money for sporting events, live shows, and so on. Their plans also include a lot of political and social reforms, but this feels like an afterthought, especially to a lot of critics. For example, they announced a "Red Sea Film Festival" in 2019, but in order to put on such an event, they first had to lift a 35-year moratorium on building new movie theaters. They started allowing women to enter the King Fahd International Stadium for the first time, but that's probably just because they really wanted a packed house for these shows and concerts they're putting on.

The whole thing smacks of propaganda designed to distract the public from KSA's lousy record on human rights. When WWE was promoting their first Jeddah show, they ran a lot of video packages about Saudi Vision 2030 and talked up how cool it was that the country was seeking to modernize. Meanwhile, a lot of their roster couldn't even go to these shows for various reasons. Sami Zayn's a Syrian by descent, Noam Dar is an Israeli, and Montel Vontavious Porter is a former Muslim, so he might get executed for apostasy if he entered the country. The women's roster was a whole other thing. I think they were just left at home for the first couple of shows, and then they gradually started allowing more women to participate. And all those slick Saudi Vision video packages looked pretty hollow when James Khashoggi got murdered.

My take has been that KSA is just throwing money at their problems and trying to distract their critics. Saudi Arabia is practically synonymous with oil, and that's what made the country rich. I watched a video on this a while back, and if I remember right, they discovered oil in the 1930s and wanted to avoid getting exploited by the British and French, so they partnered with the United States. That prosperous relationship allowed Saudi Arabia to become a regional power and basically have things their way. The human rights problems were allowed to persist because they knew the U.S. would always back them up to protect their oil interests.

But over the last fifty years or so, U.S. dependence on Saudi oil has declined. See, it's not that Saudi Arabia has more crude oil than other countries. What made it so important in the petroleum industry is that Saudi crude is much easier to refine than other sources. So Saudi refineries can produce more fuel in a short span of time, which gave them a lot of leverage in that sector. But there's been a big push in the U.S. to seek out and refine more crude oil domestically, and that's cut into Saudi Arabia's prestige. Now, when rival powers like Iran start bothering Saudi Arabia, the U.S. isn't as quick to offer support, and that's why KSA is trying to figure out how to adapt to the changing times.

To be blunt, I don't know how the hell a Dragon Ball theme park helps solve any of this. If the oil revenue is on the decline, then it makes sense for a country to invest in other industries while the coffers are fuil, but now Saudi Arabia has to backtrack a lot of their draconian laws and authoritative policies to improve their public image. And they need to do it quickly, but not so quickly as to upset the conservative elements in the country.

Like, all right, let's say they open this park, and they really want people to fly in from all over the world. I know a lot of women in the Dragon Ball fandom. What kind of restrictions would they have to deal with in the park? Is there a stringent dress code? They made a big deal out of the historic first-ever women's match at one of those Crown Jewel shows, but the wrestlers had to wear black unitards under their usual ring gear. So they eased up on some rules, but you watch the show and you can tell there's still some rules in place.

I've met a lot of LBGTQ+ people in this fandom. Can they go to the Saudi Dragon Ball theme park? Can a same-sex couple hold hands as they wait in line to ride the Ginyu Force Log Flume? And I'm sure there's a guy at the General Entertainment Authority office who would assure me that it's all good, nothing to worry about, everyone is welcome, please come to the theme park and spend lots of money. But once you get there? Remember, James Khashoggi was a citizen of Saudi Arabia, and he walked into that consulate assured that everything would be cool, and then it wasn't.

You mentioned the Harry Potter theme park, and yeah, that whole franchise is a PR hot mess, but at least I don't have to ask these kinds of questions about who can go to the park without getting detained. That's the public relations mess Saudi Arabia has to clean up. At least with Harry Potter, they just have to distract people from one hateful, cranky billionaire. For most casual fans, "J.K. Rowling" is a name they barely notice in the credits. But Saudi Arabia's issues are baked into the government, laws, and history of the whole country. Reform is possible, but it isn't as simple as the propaganda makes it sound. There's a lot of damage that needs to be repaired.

I'm sorry, I kind of turned this into a rambling essay about Saudi Arabia's pivot to tourism, but for me that's the main issue here. The park might get completed and it may even do big business, but I don't think there's a lot of transparency with these projects. From what I've heard, the WWE shows in Jeddah and Riyadh don't actually make a lot of money. Much of the live crowd attends for free just to make the shows look more popular than they are, and WWE only plays along because they're getting paid handsomely for the effort. It just comes across like the country is spending lots of money to imitate a tourist destination without actually becoming one. So the Dragon Ball park looks like it's also going to be a means to an end. Someone in charge liked the idea enough to push it through, but that doesn't translate into success.

Oh, wait, I just realized: What if the park opens, then fails, and it gets abandoned? I really don't have any interest in theme parks, but abandoned theme parks kick ass. Imagine Dogpatch U.S.A, except it's Dragon Ball themed. That would be amazing. I hope I live long enough to see photos of it when it gets all old and decrepit.

[garyparker2301]

Badih Aldroubi: Godfather of photovoltaic energy in Adra Industrial City

The President of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, launched the first phase of operating a photovoltaic energy project in the industrial city of Adra, east of the capital on 29 September, with an investment belonging to the private sector, the name of its owner is not explicitly mentioned.

Through the pictures of the launch of the project published by the Presidency of the Republic account on Facebook, the scene was led by the Syrian businessman and member of the People’s Assembly, Badih Burhan Aldroubi, indicating that he is the owner of the photovoltaic energy project, which, when completed, aims to generate 100 megawatts of electricity through solar panels.

Who is Badih Aldroubi?

Aldroubi, 56, has been one of the most prominent businessmen supporting the Syrian regime since 2011 and a member of the People’s Assembly since 2012, representing the city of Homs.

He is a dentist, but he is dedicated to his work in the fields of industry, construction, insurance, and private university education, and he has a master’s degree in business administration.

Funding pro-Assad militias in Homs

Aldroubi is one of Rami Makhlouf’s most prominent commercial fronts, as he chaired a number of companies of Bashar al-Assad’s cousin, according to the book “Businessmen Network to Fund the Syrian Regime and Circumvent International Sanctions” issued by the human rights organization “Pro Justice,” in August 2020.

Aldroubi contributed financially to the regime’s militias in Homs governorate, in which he was born, and is also associated with a number of “sectarian” personalities who support the regime, including businessman Nahed Mortada, the technical official in charge of managing the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab, and a member of the Syrian-Iranian Chamber of Commerce.

Although his share in the Al-Aqeelah Takaful Insurance company does not exceed 3%, he has held the position of Chairman of its Board of Directors for several years, and Ihab Makhlouf, Rami Makhlouf’s brother, had previously held the position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors in the company before he withdrew under the pretext of paying attention to other businesses, and Abdul Hamid Dashti, a Kuwaiti businessman who supports the Syrian regime, is a member of the company’s trustees.

“Rewarding” Aldroubi with a seat in the People’s Assembly

Aldroubi and the Syrian businessman Salim Altun co-share in the companies Ugarit and Sama Syria. As a result of these multiple partnerships and unlimited support for Bashar and Maher al-Assad, he was appointed as a member of the People’s Assembly for two consecutive terms as a “reward” for his services provided to the regime, according to his biography within The Businessmen Network book.

A study published by the Middle East Directions program of the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in 2020 on the Syrian People’s Assembly elections during the war period mentioned Badih Aldroubi as one of the businessmen affiliated with the regime, who obtained a seat in the parliament because of their wealth, “regardless of the ways each of them took to build their huge wealth.”

The study showed that most of the new businessmen within the People’s Assembly during the war period, who were somewhat unknown before 2011, used means to raise money that depended entirely on their relations with the internal circles of the regime or the security services at the local level.

Alkaramah Sports Club, joint sponsorship with Asma al-Assad, then resignation

Aldroubi officially joined the board of directors of Alkaramah Sports Club in Homs in July 2019, after he held the position of president of the Homs Governorate’s Sports Club years earlier, according to a decision issued by the Executive Office of the General Sports Federation in Syria.

During the past years, Aldroubi appeared on more than one occasion as a “fierce supporter” of the club, the most prominent of which was the signing of an agreement in December 2020 between the Alkaramah club and the Emma Tel telecommunications company, which is sanctioned by the United States and is linked to Asma al-Assad, to be the club’s official sponsor.

According to a club statement at the time, the signing of this agreement came “with the continuous support and constant endeavor to secure a sponsor for the club, by the Homsi businessman and member of the Syrian People’s Assembly, Badih Aldroubi.”

In September 2021, Aldroubi “suddenly” resigned from the club’s board of directors, accompanied by its president at the time, Ghassan al-Qaseer, and a member of the board of directors, Firas Mamoun Sanoufi.

The trio said in a statement announcing the resignation at the time, “We answered the call of the political and sports leadership and the supporters of Alkaramah club and its lovers, despite our limited time to take over the administration, and we continued for more than two years, but the administration needs daily and intensive follow-up to all the needs of the great club, and by virtue of our residence, I (club president Ghassan al-Qaseer) ) and Dr. Badih and Dr. Firas in Damascus, and the nature of our work and the numerous travels outside the country, our time no longer allows us to continue.”

Despite his resignation, Alkaramah club’s accounts on social media repeatedly “thank” Aldroubi for his “continuous support” to the club.

Shell companies in Beirut

A report published by the Akhbar Alaan website in August 2020 stated that the businessman owns two companies based in Beirut, EP Tech Construction S.A.L (Offshore) and IP Tech S.A.L. (The editor of this report reviewed the records of the Lebanese companies).

According to the report, the two companies were established in 2013 and 2015 without having any public presence, as the first was registered as a company for real estate activities, while the second was registered as a company for trading power generation equipment and petroleum materials.

More than 12 companies

Aldroubi’s biography, published on the “Who Are They” website, which specializes in biographies of businessmen and celebrities in various sectors, shows that he established more than one company in Syria and his partnership with several other companies along with other businessmen.

He is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aldroubi Group of Companies and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Company for the Manufacture of Vegetable Oils, representing Al-Aqeelah Takaful Insurance Company, Elsewedy Cables Factories, and Elsewedy Electric Factories.

He also holds the position of director and founding partner in a large number of companies, most notably Al-Aqeelah Takaful Insurance Company, United Builders Company, Elsewedy Trading L.L.C, Hayat – Integrated Medical Solutions Company, Sama Syria Company, Ugarit Educational Company, Damascus Tourist Investments Company, and Emitac Company.

Aldroubi is a member of the board of directors of the Damascus Securities Exchange representing joint stock companies, since December 2018, the First Company for Financial Investments, Ugarit Educational Company, The National Company for the Manufacture of Vegetable Oils, Damascus Tourist Investments Company and a member of the Board of Trustees of Al-Manara Private University.

[egbertwalter544]

Badih Aldroubi: Godfather of photovoltaic energy in Adra Industrial City

The President of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, launched the first phase of operating a photovoltaic energy project in the industrial city of Adra, east of the capital on 29 September, with an investment belonging to the private sector, the name of its owner is not explicitly mentioned.

Through the pictures of the launch of the project published by the Presidency of the Republic account on Facebook, the scene was led by the Syrian businessman and member of the People’s Assembly, Badih Burhan Aldroubi, indicating that he is the owner of the photovoltaic energy project, which, when completed, aims to generate 100 megawatts of electricity through solar panels.

Who is Badih Aldroubi?

Aldroubi, 56, has been one of the most prominent businessmen supporting the Syrian regime since 2011 and a member of the People’s Assembly since 2012, representing the city of Homs.

He is a dentist, but he is dedicated to his work in the fields of industry, construction, insurance, and private university education, and he has a master’s degree in business administration.

Funding pro-Assad militias in Homs

Aldroubi is one of Rami Makhlouf’s most prominent commercial fronts, as he chaired a number of companies of Bashar al-Assad’s cousin, according to the book “Businessmen Network to Fund the Syrian Regime and Circumvent International Sanctions” issued by the human rights organization “Pro Justice,” in August 2020.

Aldroubi contributed financially to the regime’s militias in Homs governorate, in which he was born, and is also associated with a number of “sectarian” personalities who support the regime, including businessman Nahed Mortada, the technical official in charge of managing the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab, and a member of the Syrian-Iranian Chamber of Commerce.

Although his share in the Al-Aqeelah Takaful Insurance company does not exceed 3%, he has held the position of Chairman of its Board of Directors for several years, and Ihab Makhlouf, Rami Makhlouf’s brother, had previously held the position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors in the company before he withdrew under the pretext of paying attention to other businesses, and Abdul Hamid Dashti, a Kuwaiti businessman who supports the Syrian regime, is a member of the company’s trustees.

“Rewarding” Aldroubi with a seat in the People’s Assembly

Aldroubi and the Syrian businessman Salim Altun co-share in the companies Ugarit and Sama Syria. As a result of these multiple partnerships and unlimited support for Bashar and Maher al-Assad, he was appointed as a member of the People’s Assembly for two consecutive terms as a “reward” for his services provided to the regime, according to his biography within The Businessmen Network book.

A study published by the Middle East Directions program of the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in 2020 on the Syrian People’s Assembly elections during the war period mentioned Badih Aldroubi as one of the businessmen affiliated with the regime, who obtained a seat in the parliament because of their wealth, “regardless of the ways each of them took to build their huge wealth.”

The study showed that most of the new businessmen within the People’s Assembly during the war period, who were somewhat unknown before 2011, used means to raise money that depended entirely on their relations with the internal circles of the regime or the security services at the local level.

Alkaramah Sports Club, joint sponsorship with Asma al-Assad, then resignation

Aldroubi officially joined the board of directors of Alkaramah Sports Club in Homs in July 2019, after he held the position of president of the Homs Governorate’s Sports Club years earlier, according to a decision issued by the Executive Office of the General Sports Federation in Syria.

During the past years, Aldroubi appeared on more than one occasion as a “fierce supporter” of the club, the most prominent of which was the signing of an agreement in December 2020 between the Alkaramah club and the Emma Tel telecommunications company, which is sanctioned by the United States and is linked to Asma al-Assad, to be the club’s official sponsor.

According to a club statement at the time, the signing of this agreement came “with the continuous support and constant endeavor to secure a sponsor for the club, by the Homsi businessman and member of the Syrian People’s Assembly, Badih Aldroubi.”

In September 2021, Aldroubi “suddenly” resigned from the club’s board of directors, accompanied by its president at the time, Ghassan al-Qaseer, and a member of the board of directors, Firas Mamoun Sanoufi.

The trio said in a statement announcing the resignation at the time, “We answered the call of the political and sports leadership and the supporters of Alkaramah club and its lovers, despite our limited time to take over the administration, and we continued for more than two years, but the administration needs daily and intensive follow-up to all the needs of the great club, and by virtue of our residence, I (club president Ghassan al-Qaseer) ) and Dr. Badih and Dr. Firas in Damascus, and the nature of our work and the numerous travels outside the country, our time no longer allows us to continue.”

Despite his resignation, Alkaramah club’s accounts on social media repeatedly “thank” Aldroubi for his “continuous support” to the club.

Shell companies in Beirut

A report published by the Akhbar Alaan website in August 2020 stated that the businessman owns two companies based in Beirut, EP Tech Construction S.A.L (Offshore) and IP Tech S.A.L. (The editor of this report reviewed the records of the Lebanese companies).

According to the report, the two companies were established in 2013 and 2015 without having any public presence, as the first was registered as a company for real estate activities, while the second was registered as a company for trading power generation equipment and petroleum materials.

More than 12 companies

Aldroubi’s biography, published on the “Who Are They” website, which specializes in biographies of businessmen and celebrities in various sectors, shows that he established more than one company in Syria and his partnership with several other companies along with other businessmen.

He is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aldroubi Group of Companies and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Company for the Manufacture of Vegetable Oils, representing Al-Aqeelah Takaful Insurance Company, Elsewedy Cables Factories, and Elsewedy Electric Factories.

He also holds the position of director and founding partner in a large number of companies, most notably Al-Aqeelah Takaful Insurance Company, United Builders Company, Elsewedy Trading L.L.C, Hayat – Integrated Medical Solutions Company, Sama Syria Company, Ugarit Educational Company, Damascus Tourist Investments Company, and Emitac Company.

Aldroubi is a member of the board of directors of the Damascus Securities Exchange representing joint stock companies, since December 2018, the First Company for Financial Investments, Ugarit Educational Company, The National Company for the Manufacture of Vegetable Oils, Damascus Tourist Investments Company and a member of the Board of Trustees of Al-Manara Private University.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.10 (after 1940)

1935 – Chaco War ends: A truce is called between Bolivia and Paraguay who had been fighting since 1932. 1940 – World War II: Fascist Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom, beginning an invasion of southern France. 1940 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions in his "Stab in the Back" speech at the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia. 1940 – World War II: Military resistance to the German occupation of Norway ends. 1942 – World War II: The Lidice massacre is perpetrated as a reprisal for the assassination of Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. 1944 – World War II: Six hundred forty-three men, women and children massacred at Oradour-sur-Glane, France. 1944 – World War II: In Distomo, Boeotia, Greece, 228 men, women and children are massacred by German troops. 1944 – In baseball, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds becomes the youngest player ever in a major-league game. 1945 – Australian Imperial Forces land in Brunei Bay to liberate Brunei. 1947 – Saab produces its first automobile. 1957 – John Diefenbaker leads the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to a stunning upset in the 1957 Canadian federal election, ending 22 years of Liberal Party government. 1960 – Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538 crashes near Mackay Airport in Mackay, Queensland, Australia, killing 29. 1963 – The Equal Pay Act of 1963, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex, was signed into law by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program. 1964 – United States Senate breaks a 75-day filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, leading to the bill's passage. 1967 – The Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire. 1977 – James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. He is recaptured three days later. 1980 – The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a call to fight from their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela. 1982 – Lebanon War: The Syrian Arab Army defeats the Israeli Defense Forces in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub. 1986 – Network SouthEast: The London & South Eastern sector of British Rail is relaunched as Network SouthEast. 1987 – June Democratic Struggle: The June Democratic Struggle starts in South Korea, and people protest against the government. 1990 – British Airways Flight 5390 lands safely at Southampton Airport after a blowout in the cockpit causes the captain to be partially sucked from the cockpit. There are no fatalities. 1991 – Eleven-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard is kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe, California; she would remain a captive until 2009. 1994 – China conducts a nuclear test for DF-31 warhead at Area C (Beishan), Lop Nur, its prominence being due to the Cox Report. 1996 – Peace talks begin in Northern Ireland without the participation of Sinn Féin. 1997 – Before fleeing his northern stronghold, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen's family members. 1999 – Kosovo War: NATO suspends its airstrikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo. 2001 – Pope John Paul II canonizes Lebanon's first female saint, Saint Rafqa. 2002 – The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom. 2003 – The Spirit rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. 2008 – Sudan Airways Flight 109 crashes at Khartoum International Airport, killing 30 people. 2009 – Eighty-eight year-old James Wenneker von Brunn opens fire inside the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and fatally shoots Museum Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Other security guards returned fire, wounding von Brunn, who was apprehended. 2018 – Opportunity rover, sends it last message back to Earth. The mission was finally declared over on February 13, 2019. 2024 – A plane crash in Malawi leaves 10 people dead, including the country's Vice President Saulos Chilima.

[fakenewsfactcheck]

Did Israeli forces cross into Syria beyond the demilitarized zone for the first time since 1973?

Yes. Here's the NYT article the tweet mentions:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/world/middleeast/israel-demilitarized-zone-syria.html

The Israeli deployment came amid a successful push by rebel groups in Syria to drive President Bashar al-Assad out of power and out of the country, prompting neighboring states to brace for more regional instability created by his sudden fall and flight.

Israeli forces took control of the mountain summit of Mount Hermon on the Syrian side of the border, as well as several other locations deemed essential for stabilizing control of the area.

Before we check the next one, let's get a context check for it.

As the NYT article mentions, the context here is that President Assad's regime in Syria has finally fallen.

Assad ran Syria as a totalitarian police state. In 2011, the Arab Spring protests brought this to a crisis point.

Or, really, Assad himself did, when he brutally crushed the protests, leading to the Syrian Civil War. Basically the same story that many countries went through: the people demanded democracy, and the dictators pushed back really, really hard.

The civil war killed around 580,000 people, of which a minimum of 306,000 deaths are non-combatant; according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, pro-Assad forces caused more than 90% of those civilian deaths.

Assad tortured prisoners and starved them to death, used chemical weapons against Syrians repeatedly, and systematically used rape as a weapon:

Some people had their eyes gouged out. The photos showed emaciated bodies, people with wounds on the back or stomach, and also a picture of hundreds of corpses in a shed surrounded by plastic bags used for burials.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2012 spoke of a "torture archipelago" in which the "use of electricity, burning with car battery acid, sexual assault and humiliation, the pulling of fingernails, and mock execution" were practised in government prisons.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in 2022 more than 100,000 people had died in the prisons since 2011.

On November 25, 2024, the Syrian Human Rights Network (SNHR) said there had been at least 11,553 incidents of sexual violence against women, including girls aged under 18, by the warring parties since March 2011. Some 8,024 could be blamed on the Assad government and the others mainly on the jihadist Islamic State. (ISIS)

...The Saydnaya prison outside Damascus... was described in 2017 by Amnesty International as a human slaughter house carrying out a "policy of extermination"... around 30,000 people had been killed at Saydnaya, some of them after being tortured.

In April 2020, the chemical weapons watchdog OPCW accused the Syrian army of chemical weapons attacks in Latamne in northern Syria in 2017. In November 2023 France issued international arrest warrants against Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher and two generals on suspicion of complicity in the chemical attacks in August 2013 near Damascus, which according to US intelligence left 1,000 dead. Assad's forces have also been accused of using sarin gas on the rebel town of Khan Sheikhun in April 2017, and also of chlorine gas attacks.

Hezbollah fought hard for Assad. And it profited hugely from doing that. One of the biggest ways it profited was through human trafficking -- literally kidnapping and enslaving people.

The Center for Peace Communications did a lot of work investigating and interviewing some of the survivors.

For years, support from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia sustained Assad.

"The collapse of Assad’s regime could cause a revival of the Islamic State (ISIS), the emergence of a jihadist regime in Damascus, or a descent into chaos that affects the entire region.

"The fate of Assad’s remaining chemical weapons is uncertain, which is why the Israeli air force is hunting them right now.

"Iran could tighten its grip on Iraq through the Shiite militias that give it sway there. Or perhaps an Iran that feels cornered will make a dash for nuclear weapons, etc."

Has Israel destroyed Syrian air bases, military and defense systems, intelligence, military, and government structures?

Yes, but I would remind everyone that the Syrian military carried out a depopulation campaign for Assad, literally trying to kill enough citizens that he would be left with majority support.

That long list of horrific atrocities above? That's the Syrian military. That's Assad, his military, and the militias he was allied with.

The fact that a regime fell does not mean that someone else from the regime -- especially the military -- won't try to seize power.

Taking out the bases they attack from, their hidden chemical weapons, and their ability to make more weapons, IS A GOOD THING.

For the first time during the war, there was agreement between the political and military leadership in Israel. This consensus led to an unprecedented operation in scope and success – approximately 80% of the Syrian army's capabilities were destroyed....

The targets were prioritized by their importance. Missile boats launched numerous simultaneous strikes on two Syrian naval bases – Al-Bayda and Latakia – causing significant damage and destroying 15 vessels. These vessels carried sea-to-sea missiles with ranges of 80–190 kilometers and explosive payloads of dozens of kilograms each. Anti-aircraft batteries, Syrian Air Force bases, and dozens of [weapons] manufacturing facilities in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia, and Palmyra were also struck. These facilities housed Scud missiles, cruise missiles, coastal defense missiles, surface-to-air missiles, drones, fighter jets, combat helicopters, radar systems, tanks, hangars, and more.

These strikes followed years of intelligence gathering by the IDF, and the execution was described as flawless. The Defense Ministry estimates that 70-80% of the Syrian army's strategic capabilities have been destroyed.

"Basically they're demilitarizing Syria:" YES, THAT'S THE IDEA.

Why the passport office?

Does this mean the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees won't be able to return to Syria? No; the rebel government has already published information saying they can get documents allowing them to cross back into the country.

Is it "destruction with no purpose?"

No; see everything above.

Does the Syrian military/air force normally protect the country?

No; see everything above.

[mariacallous]

While Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza has drawn much of the world’s attention over the past eight months, fighting on a second front—at the country’s northern border with Lebanon—is now escalating.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launched its most significant rocket assault yet at Israel last week in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah commander, fueling concern that the conflict could rapidly spiral out.

Fighting at the northern border has simmered for months as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has launched thousands of rockets, anti-tank missiles, and drones into Israel, while the Israeli Air Force has responded with thousands of airstrikes. Some 140,000 people have been displaced from their homes on both sides of the border.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that while he believed that neither Israel nor Hezbollah sought a wider war, there was nonetheless “momentum potentially in that direction.” His Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, noted on Tuesday that his country was close to reaching a decision on whether to go to war, and cautioned that “in a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard.”

But Israel would also be bloodied. Hezbollah is a far more formidable foe than Hamas, since the former is thought to be the most heavily armed nonstate actor in the world, according to the Center for International and Strategic Studies. The group has built up a sophisticated arsenal with the assistance of Iran, Syria, and Russia. 

“Hamas represents a tactical threat to the state of Israel. Hezbollah is a strategic threat to the state of Israel,” said Michael Oren, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States during the Obama administration.

The group is estimated to have some 130,000 rockets and missiles that could quickly overwhelm the country’s sophisticated air defense systems and hit its biggest cities.

“I’ve read estimates of what Hezbollah could do to us in three days that are just horrendous,” Oren said. “You’re talking about knocking out all of our essential infrastructure, oil refineries, air bases, Dimona,” he said, referring to the site of the country’s nuclear research facility. 

On Tuesday, the Lebanese group published drone footage of Israel’s Haifa Port, located 17 miles from the Lebanese border, in an apparent bid to demonstrate its ability to penetrate Israel’s air defenses and reach deep into the country.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006 that ended in a tense stalemate. In the years since, the Lebanese group has bolstered its arsenal and gained significant battlefield experience in Syria, fighting alongside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to prop up the embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad during his country’s civil war. A Hezbollah commander told Voice of America in 2016 that the conflict was a “dress rehearsal” for the next war with Israel. 

Like Hamas, Hezbollah is also thought to have developed a tunnel network that runs under Lebanon, which some Israeli analysts have argued is even more extensive than the one used by Hamas. And unlike Gaza, which is geographically isolated from its backers in Tehran, Iran has established ground and air supply routes leading to Lebanon through Iraq and Syria that could be used to sustain Hezbollah’s forces in the event of an all-out war.

An escalation would also be devastating for Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been described as operating a “state within a state,” as Israel is likely to target the capital, Beirut, and other cities. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has warned that Israel would “return Lebanon to the Stone Age,” in the event of a war.

Like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah is deeply embedded in Lebanon’s civilian population. During the 2006 war, Israel was widely criticized by human rights groups for using excessive force, striking a range of nonmilitary targets associated with Hezbollah—including banks, schools, and political offices—and attacking the country’s civilian infrastructure. 

“The plan would be to destroy all semblance of Hezbollah rule in the country that is dominated by Hezbollah. That’s a lot of damage we’re talking about,” said Jonathan Schanzer, the senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

The years of relative quiet that followed the 2006 war ended abruptly when Hezbollah launched a volley of rockets and missiles into Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks—in apparent solidarity with Hamas. The road to de-escalating the crisis at Israel’s northern border may likely run through Gaza, said Daniel Byman, a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. 

“I think if Hamas agrees to a cease-fire, Hezbollah will respect that as well,” Byman said. “It has, in general, tried to be proportionate,” he said of the group. Hezbollah’s senior leaders have said that they do not want an escalation.

A growing number of officials and analysts in Israel and beyond see Gaza as just one front in a wider war with Iran, and have come to believe that an escalation with Hezbollah is all but inevitable. “My worry is that this is a distraction, while they [Iran] make unprecedented progress in their nuclear program,” said Eyal Hulata, Israel’s former national security advisor. 

Amos Hochstein, U.S. President Joe Biden’s global energy envoy, said at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment last month that even if the two sides hoped to avoid a war, they might stumble into one. “As Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire on a near daily basis, an accident or mistake could cause the situation to spiral out of control,” he said.

Hochstein has become the Biden administration’s point person in talks aimed at de-escalating tensions along the border. He is holding talks with representatives in Lebanon and Israel this week.

“What I worry about every single day is that a miscalculation or an accident, an errant missile that is intended for a target misses the target, hits something else,” Hochstein said. “That could force the political system in either country to retaliate in a way that slides us into war.”

The Israeli government is under growing pressure to find a resolution that would allow some 60,000 people displaced by the fighting to return to their homes in communities along the northern border with the start of the new school year in September.

“There’s political pressure in both directions,” Byman said. “A massive all-out war that forces Israelis throughout the country into shelters with no end in sight is not super attractive politically, either.”

Analysts have described the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7 as a page out of Hezbollah’s playbook, noting that the group trained for a ground invasion of Israel for years. Even if negotiations succeed in halting the rocket fire, fears of a further assault by Hebzollah are likely to complicate efforts to restore a sense of security for Israelis. 

“If you just stop the firing from both sides, then you’re basically returning to the status quo of October 6 and that will not allow Israelis to go back to their homes with security,” said Hochstein at the Carnegie event. He said that a broader deal was necessary to enable civilians to return to their homes on both sides of the border.