This is quite a good article on the one year anniversary celebrations of the overthrow of Assad, and the one-year Israeli war against new Syria. However, there are a number of points I'd like to clarify:
Article: Since early 2025, the buffer zone between Syria and Israel established after the 1973 war has been repeatedly altered, more frequently than at any point in the past five decades. Through various military and administrative measures, Israel has effectively taken control of several towns along the border, from the Golan Heights to the frontier with Jordan, in a widening military occupation ( https://www.972mag.com/southern-syria-new-israeli-occupation/ ) that shows no sign of reversing. Me: Two comments: first, the UN buffer zone established in 1974 is not “between Syria and Israel,” but between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. I realise this was probably just sloppiness on the part of the author, but it is important to not allow such normalisation of the Israeli annexation to creep in (likewise, elsewhere the author has referred to the 1974 disengagement frontier as the “border,” no doubt once again unwittingly). Second, while pointing out the expanded Israeli occupation since last December is important, the article omits the open Israeli air and land war that began on December 8, 2024, the very day Israel’s preferred leader was ousted. Since December 8, Israel has launched over 1000 air strikes and up to 500 land-based attacks, riads on towns and villages, destroying farmland, capturing water sources, kidnapping locals and taking them to Israel for interrogation etc. The article referred to several specific strikes around the Druze question, but the overwhelming majority of attacks are unrelated to that issue. In fact, immediately after December , Israel launched weeks of air strikes destroying virtually the entire Syrian military arsenal inherited from Assad – advanced weaponry it had had no problem with as long as Assad was in power. Article: Until then, the followers of Al-Hijri, who has since developed ties with Israel, were not widely regarded as a legitimate armed force. But the intervention of Al-Sharaa’s General Security units in the July clashes, which resulted in the massacre of Druze civilians, combined with Israel’s military presence in the region, has bolstered Al-Hijri’s standing; in August, Suwayda’s Druze military factions united to form the National Guard, a new militia affiliated with Al-Hijri. Me: It is simply untrue that Druze religious leader Hikmat al-Hijri has only developed ties with Israel “since” the massacres of Druze in mid-July. Hijri’s ties with Israel (and with some prominent former Assad regime military leaders) began shortly after the overthrow of Assad, indeed a recent Washington Post report detailed Israel’s lavishing of arms and money onto his militia, reflected in his intransigent position in negotiations with the government about issues of decentralisation and ‘federalism’. What is true however is that the majority of the Druze leadership had rejected Hijri’s ties with Israel and his rejectionist views, and rather had sought a negotiated settlement of these issues, but the massacre left mud on their faces and as such al-Hijri’s standing was indeed “bolstered,” with his former critics now mostly in support of his hard line (though recent dissent has resulted in two murders in Hijri quasi-state custody of prominent Druze religious figures). Article: For its part, Israel launched repeated airstrikes on Syrian government forces in and around Suwayda in July — once again citing the protection of the Druze — which culminated in the bombing of the Defense Ministry ( https://snhr.org/blog/2025/07/19/three-civilians-killed-and-34-others-wounded-in-israeli-bombing-targeting-the-ministry-of-defense-headquarters-in-damascus-on-july-16-2025/ ) in Damascus on July 16. Later that day, Al-Sharaa began withdrawing his forces from Suwayda, while some 50,000 Bedouin fighters ( https://aljumhuriya.net/en/2025/08/01/a-two-way-road/#:~:text=On%2016%20July%2C%20Bedouin%20men,number%20of%20whom%20is%20unknown. ) had mobilized to fight what they described as “Israeli-backed Al-Hijri militias.” The violence that followed devastated the local community: upward of 2,000 people ( https://www.syriahr.com/en/368763/ ) were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. Me: Just because I’m a stickler for accuracy, I have to correct the suggestion that most of the violence and killings “followed” the al-Sharaa’s July 16 withdrawal of Syrian security forces from Suwayda city and was associated with the approach of 50,000 Bedouin fighters; that actually lets the government off the hook. In fact, the majority of killings took place on the two days July 15-16 when government security forces effectively took the side of local Bedouin fighters against the Druze (rather than separating them as was their mandate) in a botched attempt to use the conflict to impose a ‘military solution’ on the Suwayda issue. The later mobilisation of 50,000 tribal fighters from outside Suwayda in solidarity with local Bedouins did not get much past the Suwayda borders when state security forces were “allowed” by the US and Israel to briefly step back in just to stop them. Article: Although Suwayda is still reeling from the clashes, with humanitarian access severely restricted, residents still took to the streets this month to celebrate the anniversary of Assad’s overthrow. At the same time, protests have increasingly featured Israeli flags — an unprecedented phenomenon in Syria. While far from representative of the population as a whole, the imagery reflects mounting frustration. “People have been abandoned,” Daher explained. “No one is caring for or defending them in the south.” Me: I can’t tell whether this confused/confusing amalgam between Druze-majority Suwayda governate and the rest of “the south” (ie Sunni-majority Daraa, Quneitra and southern Damascus provinces) comes from Daher, which seems unlikely, or (much more likely) the author. There were of course celebrations of the overthrow of Assad in Daraa, Quneitra and Damascus (like nearly everywhere in Syria, except where banned in … Rojava), but I’m fairly certain there were none, understandably after July, in Suwayda. On the other hand, waving Israeli flags is entirely a Druze/Suwayda phenomenon – not necessarily a widespread one even there, but certainly only there. Many Druze are thankful for Israeli intervention, an unbelievable fuck-up by the Syrian government; at this stage, Suwayda is essentially self-ruled by its militia, in a region far too tiny to be sustainable, but that precarity suits Israel. In the rest of the south you wouldn’t be caught dead with an Israeli flag. Seems clear to me that the quote from Daher about many people feeling abandoned in the south refers to Daraa and Quneitra, not Suwayda: meaning they are facing the brunt of Israeli aggression. That obviously does not result in them waving Israeli flags, as the paragraph seems to imply. In Suwayda it is the opposite: they want to be abandoned completely by the government, and many want more of Israel. Article: U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly urged ( https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/syria-us-ally-israel-83482cb2 ) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit interference in Syria in order to preserve diplomatic channels with Al-Sharaa’s government. Yet despite periodic expressions of optimism following talks, developments on the ground suggest otherwise: the establishment of new bases, tightened control, and Netanyahu’s highly symbolic visit ( https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20251119-netanyahu-visits-israeli-troops-inside-syrian-buffer-zone-as-tensions-rise ) to Israeli troops stationed inside Syrian territory, a move that drew condemnation from the UN. Me: Trump may have “urged” Israel to “limit” its flagrant, endless, murderous aggression in Syria, but one thing is for sure: as usual, he talks out of both sides of his mouth. While all Arab and Muslim governments, European governments, Russia, China, other governments in the Global South etc have condemned Israel’s year-long aggression against and expanded occupation of Syria, one prominent government alone has not: the US. Yes Trump prefers the Saudi-Turkish position on Syria (lift sanctions, give Sharaa “a chance” since there is obviously no alternative at this moment, because they want to invest and make money) rather than the Israeli position (violently partition Syria, bring down the Sharaa government), he is still having a bob each way. Article: Meanwhile, Syria’s transitional government remains constrained, attempting to comply with U.S. demands for integration into the global market while seeking the aid required to rebuild the country. “The government’s strategy is clear,” Daher said. “It aims to reach a security agreement based on the 1974 disengagement framework, which could eventually lead to a form of normalization with Israel.” For now, he added, the priority is restoring the pre-Dec. 8 border lines — a process likely tied to sanctions relief and future concessions involving the United States, Israel, and Syria. Me: In this case it is Daher who is either being sloppy or straight wrong. Yes, since December 8, the new Syrian government has demanded Israel return to the 1974 disengagement lines, and the only ‘security agreement’ it will make with Israel is such a return to the 1974 ‘security agreement’ signed by Assad Snr and adhered to Assads and Israel for 50 years (of course such a ‘security agreement’, mostly wanted by Trump, will almost certainly not happen, because Israel will only sign one if it allows it to keep what it has taken since December). But president Sharaa and FM Shaibani have endlessly made clear they want nothing to do with ‘normalisation’ with Israel (despite the media-driven charade often relying on second hand hearsay), and that a ‘security agreement’ is not normalisation. True, Daher says “a form of normalisation.” But if that simply means the government agrees that it cannot (for now) attempt to retake the Golan Heights militarily, ie, the same position as the Assad regimes for 50 years, then that means such a “form of normalisation” has already existed the last 50 years. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39930): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39930 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116993246/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
