TEHRAN, (MNA) – Turkish civil society organizations will hold a demonstration in Istanbul on January 1 to show solidarity with Palestine, where Israel continues its brutal attacks.
The National Will Platform, comprising 308 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), will gather under the theme of stopping the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to walk from historic peninsula mosques after early morning prayers to converge at the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn, to protest, Anadolu news agency reported.
Ibrahim Besinci, head of an NGO, said Israeli attacks continuing in Gaza for 15 months are “exterminating” people in front of the world.
"Remaining silent to this ruthless oppression clearly contradicts human dignity. Palestine should be a concern not just for one race or religion, but for all humanity," he said.
The Israeli army has killed over 45,500 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
While most of the structures in the enclave have been destroyed, making it uninhabitable, Israel has also imposed a stifling blockade, leaving the territory’s 2.3 million population on the verge of famine.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
Alwaght- Syria developments have provided a proper opportunity for resurgence and power gain of ISIS terrorist group in Iraq, raising worries about activities of this takfiri group.
Over the past few days Iraqi officials have expressed their concerns about reports about ISIS restoring its power and possibly its leaders escaping the prisons in eastern Syria.
Mahmoud al-Hayani, an official at the Badr Organization of Iraq, announced on Monday that ISIS members have changed their methods and are recruiting terrorists from Iraq online.
Al-Hayani added that ISIS graffiti and flags were seen in Fallujah a few days ago, and security forces arrested terrorist elements in connection with these moves. “There are serious concerns about the rise of ISIS sleeper cells,” al-Hayani added.
Ahmed al-Musawi, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, confirmed that “ISIS’s military aspect has ended, but its sleeper cells are still present in certain areas that it has chosen as safe havens and starting points for its fresh activities.”
ISIS is still present in Iraq, and its members are estimated between 3,000 and 5,000, the majority of whom are Iraqis. Given that Iraq has faced a wave of political and security challenges in recent years, this issue paves the way for this Takfiri group to rise again.
According to Iraqi experts, ISIS elements operate linearly in the form of separate groups and are mostly concentrated in desert areas, especially in the Al-Jazira region in the north and west of Anbar province and in areas between Nineveh and Salahuddin, especially in the valleys and caves of the Hamrin Mountains that connect the four provinces, as well as the Makhoul Mountains in the southeast of Nineveh.
These activities pose a serious threat to the stability of Iraq, prompting the security forces to adopt various strategies to confront this terrorist group, one of the pillars of which is carrying out preventive operations to thwart ISIS plans using accurate intelligence penetration.
Government measures to counter ISIS
The Iraqis, who have not forgotten the bitter experience of the ISIS seizure of their territory from 2014 to 2017, are not surprised by this terrorist group this time and are trying to nip its actions in the bud before it starts its rejuvenated campaign to destabilize the country again.
In this regard, the Iraqi security forces, with the participation of the air force, conducted a heliborne operation in the Al-Rutba desert in western Anbar on Sunday.
This operation was carried out after receiving detailed information about the existence of secret tunnels of the ISIS terrorist organization and the storage of weapons and explosives inside them. During the operation, at least 9 ISIS hideouts were discovered and destroyed.
The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) announced on Monday that it killed 7 ISIS terrorist fighters in the border areas between the provinces of Salahuddin, Kirkuk and Diyala.
The CTS held that in this operation, it destroyed 22 terrorist shelters and 5 tunnels and seized large amounts of explosives and suicide belts.
After receiving detailed information about the presence of ISIS elements in the Hamrin Mountains, security and military forces launched a large-scale operation, during which they clashed with ISIS terrorist elements. According to the announcement of this Iraqi military and security institution, its soldier named Mahdi Hamed forces in Kirkuk province was killed in these clashes, according to officials of the service.
The recent operations were just part of dozens of operations carried out in the past year to neutralize ISIS threats.
Sabah al-Numan, the official spokesman for the CTS, emphasized in an interview with Al-Hurra news on Monday: “The agency carried out about 341 security operations in 2024, during which 84 ISIS members were killed and more than 100 others were arrested. 260 ISIS headquarters and guesthouses were also destroyed in various regions, including Anbar.”
The security forces, especially the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), are trying to obliterate all the cells and remnants of the ISIS and fill the security gaps in areas prone to insecurity.
Ahmed Fawaz al-Wutaifi, a representative of the Iraqi State of Law parliamentary coalition, stressed that the security forces and the PMF are ready to respond to any aggression against Iraqi sovereignty.
“Some countries have been involved in the developments related to Syria. Iraq's position is clear and it is protecting its borders shared with Syria. Iraq's borders are completely secure and no one can penetrate them. Security forces have taken all necessary measures to counter any border violations."
Distrust in assurances of Syria armed groups
The push by the Iraqi security forces to deter ISIS after assumption of power by the opposition in Syria has been stepped up. This is because some of the armed groups active in Syria have once cooperated with ISIS, it is likely that the ruling Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani paves the way for resurgence of ISIS.
For this reason, the Iraqi security delegation headed by the country's intelligence chief recently visited Damascus to remind the new Syrian rulers of Iraq's security red lines.
However, the visit, instructed by Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, has faced criticism at home.
According to Shafaq News, Yasser Watut, a member of the Parliament's Security and Defense Commission, stated on Monday that the trip to Damascus of the Iraqi delegation headed by Hamid al-Shatri was to serve national security, but its results are still uncertain.
"We do not know what Al-Sharaa's response was to the important points raised regarding Iraq's national security," he said using the original name of al-Jolani.
He added: "This ambiguity will lead us to submit an official request to host Hamid Al-Shatri in the parliament in order to know the details of this visit, the issues raised during it, and Al-Sharaa's responses. It is impossible to remain in this ambiguity without knowing the outcome of this important trip."
This comes as leaders of the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF) in Iraq and political analysts believe that Baghdad officials need to be conservative about interaction with al-Jolani and the HTS as the new rulers of Syria are yet to adopt an approach on the security of the Syria-Iraq borders.
Since al-Jolani at the beginning of the Syrian war was one of ISIS leaders and had a legal case in Iraq, Iraqi parliamentarians still look at the HTS with doubt.
In the viewpoint of Iraqi observers, there will be a reconciliation between ISIS and the HTS factions, and thus there will be an official terrorist force in Iraq's neighborhood with a different name, posing a serious threat to the security of this country.
This concern of Iraqis increases as in the past three weeks they have seen that, contrary to al-Jolani's promises commitment to laws, the groups under his command have proven that there is no change in the thoughts and ideology of them, and for this reason, Iraqis cannot trust the leaders of the HTS until the political and security situation in Syria becomes clearer.
Ahmed al-Musawi believes that the current situation in Syria may give ISIS an ego boost in Iraq, and although Baghdad has substantial strength and is capable of confronting any threat, the danger from the Syrian factions still stands.
Is ISIS threat serious?
Although ISIS activities in Syria have not amounted yet to a level of a security threat, given the group's record of seizure of Iraqi territory, if the Iraqi security forces procrastinate, it is not unlikely Iraq meets again the bitter days of ISIS rise.
Iraqi military expert Abdul Razaq al-Jubouri told Al-Hurra that "the threat from this organization is currently minor and under control, but if the situation in eastern Syria worsens under certain scenarios, especially if ISIS elements who are in the prisons of the Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria are released, they may go to the desert to rebuild their power, which will be a serious threat and will provoke ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq that are seeking revenge against the central government."
"Another factor that contributes to ISIS's resurgence is the exploitation of this terrorist group by some foreign actors to undermine Iraqi security. Accordingly, some parties, due to their political interests, do not allow the formation of a professional and powerful army for Iraq to permanently get rid of terrorist groups," added the military expert.
Iraq needs international help to counter terrorist groups that pose serious threes also to the international peace and security. However, during ISIS activities from 2014 to 2017, the US,despite its showy anti-terror coalition, was backing ISIS against Iraqi forces and when ISIS leaders were encircled, the American helicopters carried them to safety. There are even report of the US forces airdropping weapons to ISIS terrorists.
Alla al-Nashoo, an Iraqi security expert, commented on the broken ranks and organizational weaknesses of ISIS in an interview with Eram News, saying that ISIS has ended as a street and field force and cannot carry out any qualitative and preventive operations that would change the balance of power in its favor, because most of its bases and growth centers have been destroyed and its forces lack morale and have been shaken from within.
Safa al-Assam, another Iraqi security expert, told Al-Hurra that Iraq has the power for effectively fighting ISIS and neutralizing its plots, especially that the various types of security services in this country have gained a lot of experience in fighting ISIS and dismantling its nuclei and are now adopting advanced military strategies in the fight against ISIS. But in order to close the case of this terrorist group once and for all, Iraq needs regional and international supports, among them financial assistance."
Despite ISIS underground activities and push for reorganization, the powerful PMF as the guarantor of the country's security will not allow terrorists to seize territory anew, and even if Syrian armed rebels provide them logistics, terrorists will not make gains.
TEHRAN, (MNA) – The head of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist regime, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani stated that HTS could not cut off its relations with major countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani stated that Syria cannot cut off relations with a major country in the region like Iran, adding that ties between Damascus and Tehran must be based on diplomatic principles, mutual respect for the sovereignty of the two countries, and non-interference in internal affairs.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya, he said, “I believe that Iran’s role in the region must be positive and understandable.”
Al Jolani claimed that Iran needs to reconsider its policies currently.
Terrorists, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, announced on December 8 that they had fully captured the Syrian capital and confirmed the fall of the Assad government.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier underlined that Iran is closely monitoring the developments in Syria and its approach will depend on the policy militant groups in the Arab country adopt toward the Islamic Republic.
The Russian president has said Russia actually won in Syria because the jihadist threat is apparently ended, which was Moscow’s goal all along. But he ignored what he’d previously said was the West’s role in that conflict, writes Joe Lauria.
Putin at 4 hr. Moscow press conference on Thursday. (Kremlin)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s goal to defeat jihadism in Syria had actually succeeded because the rebranded al-Qaeda force that seized power on Dec. 8 has put its extremist past behind it.
Putin said this in answer to a Western journalist at a Moscow news conference(video) on Thursday:
“Those who pay your salary would like to present the current developments in Syria as Russia’s defeat. I assure you that this is not the case, and here is why. We came to Syria ten years ago to prevent the creation of a terrorist enclave there, like the one that we saw in some other countries, for example, Afghanistan. We have achieved that goal, by and large.
Even the groups that were fighting against the Assad regime and the government forces back then have undergone internal changes. It is not surprising that many European countries and the United States are trying to develop relations with them now. Would they be doing this if they were terrorist organisations? This means that they have changed, doesn’t it? So, our goal has been achieved, to a certain degree.”
The remark aligns Putin with Western nations who claim that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — which was al-Nusra Front and before that al-Qaeda in Syria — is no longer a terrorist group and is fit to rule Syria.
This conclusion, after less than 10 days of HTS in power, puts a spin on events that seeks to benefit both Russia and the West. Both sides now need to portray the militants as reformed extremists.
Putin is right to say that at least one of Moscow’s goals in Syria in 2015 was “to prevent the creation of a terrorist enclave there.”
(Other goals appeared to have been to save Russia’s Mediterranean bases in Syria, which they may still do, and to protect gas sales to Europe at the time — now lost to sanctions — against a rival pipeline project through Syria to Europe led by Qatar, which necessitated overthrowing Bashar al-Assad, who opposed it.)
Thursday’s Putin press conference. (Kremlin)
Putin told the U.N. General Assembly from the podium in New York on Sept. 28, 2015 — days before Russia intervened in Syria at the governments’ invitation — that Moscow’s aim was to defeat jihadism there lest it spread, threatening regional and Russian security.
Russia had to that point already fought Western-backed jihadists in a 30-year struggle against encroachment into its sphere of influence by militant Islamism.
The support the U.S. and Gulf Arab nations gave these terrorist groups opened a three-decade Western rift with Russia that began in Afghanistan and ran across the Northern Caucasus to the Balkans and then into Syria.
Russia was opposed to regime change in Syria not only on principle, analysts and diplomats at the U.N. told me in June 2012, but because the likely new regime would be headed by an Islamist government inimical to Russian interests.
In his 2015 U.N. speech, Putin appealed to the U.S. to join Russia in a military campaign against the common enemy of ISIS, al-Qaeda and other jihadists, the way the U.S. and the Soviet Union had fought together against Nazism.
The Obama administration arrogantly rejected the proposal out of hand with some American commentators calling it “Russian imperialism.” But it would be odd to invite your adversary to join your imperial adventure.
In fact the United States was in alliance with al-Qaeda and other jihadi groups trying to overthrow al-Assad and did not want to fight them. Putin understood that the U.S. had long supported Islamist extremists.
Putin addressing the 70th U.N. General Assembly in 2015. (U.N. Photo/Kremlin)
He pointed this out at the U.N. in 2015:
“The situation is extremely dangerous. In these circumstances, it is hypocritical and irresponsible to make declarations about the threat of terrorism and at the same time turn a blind eye to the channels used to finance and support terrorists, including revenues from drug trafficking, the illegal oil trade and the arms trade.
It is equally irresponsible to manipulate extremist groups and use them to achieve your political goals, hoping that later you’ll find a way to get rid of them or somehow eliminate them. … the people you are dealing with are cruel but they are not dumb. They are as smart as you are. So, it’s a big question: who’s playing who here? …
Relying on international law, we must join efforts to address the problems that all of us are facing, and create a genuinely broad international coalition against terrorism. Similar to the anti-Hitler coalition, it could unite a broad range of parties willing to stand firm against those who, just like the Nazis, sow evil and hatred of humankind.” [Emphasis added.]
So the question is, have the HTS and lesser extremist groups in Syria actually changed their stripes? Have they really transformed from Jihad to Jefferson?
The U.S., the U.K. and the EU are in the process of dropping HTS’ terrorist designation and the U.S. in lifting the $10 million bounty on its leader’s head.
But it seems too early for Putin to say that the HTS — in nominal charge in Damascus — are no longer terrorists because the West would not be “developing relations” with them “if they were terrorist organisations.” It belies what he knows to be true, that the U.S. has had relationships for decades with some of the most notorious terrorists on the globe to achieve short-term strategic objectives.
Putin may be saying they aren’t terrorists anymore as a way to get out of admitting Russia likely failed in Syria to prevent terrorists from taking over. He did not cite Russian intelligence saying these are reformed killers, but said they must be reformed because otherwise the West would have nothing to do with them, when he knows full well the West has had plenty to do with them when they were openly terrorists.
This may just be Putin trying to find a creative way out of the fact that Assad’s overthrow appears to have been a Russian defeat unless the HTS are truly reformed. And if they are reformed, still very much uncertain, the U.S. and Turkey would have been behind it, not Russia.
A commenter on this article on X suggested Putin was just making fun of the journalist. Perhaps he was employing sarcasm but it was on the record and people take Putin seriously. He was not smirking, as Putin often does.
And if he was ridiculing the reporter and really thinks that HTS are still a bunch of terrorists, then Putin is admitting Russia failed in Syria.
What happens in Syria over the coming months will tell the rest of this story. Will Alawis, Christians and other minorities be left alone to live as they please?
Or will the HTS reanimate as terrorists to go after are these vulnerable peoples? Will the HTS serve the interests of stability in Syria and the region as Putin seems to think?
Or will they revert to what they have long been, especially now that they have power?
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
“Syria is free,” wrote the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) in a post on X, formerly Twitter, shortly after a cluster of militant groups swarmed Damascus on Sunday and overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s government.
“Mission Accomplished. The Syrian Emergency Task Force is proud to announce that the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran have been officially defeated in Syria by the Syrian people on their own and without any outside support from the international community,” the statement read.
In response, an X user took a swipe at the SETF, saying that an al-Qaeda leader with strong ties to the Daesh terrorist group and Western intelligence agencies “is the exact freedom I was hoping for.”
SETF has long been at the forefront of the American “regime change” project in Syria, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a proxy organization of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the foreign spy agency of the US military-industrial complex.
Operating under the guise of “bringing an end to atrocities against Syrian civilians,” this maligned agency has actively pursued Washington’s “regime change” agenda in Syria through crippling sanctions and psychological operations to sway public opinion in the Arab country against its elected government.
Only a day after Assad was ousted from Damascus, SETF Executive Director Mouaz Moustafa met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to discuss the accomplishment of the American “mission.”
Moustafa reportedly also called for greater support from the US government as a reward.
SETF and American dollars
Leaked documents reveal that SETF has received millions of dollars over the years to aggressively further the agenda of the US and its allies in Syria, with funding channeled through USAID.
“Check out SETF's $153,535 grant from USAID, a CIA cutout. It not only earmarks the delivery of aid to Rukhban camp but also covers 'conducting key informant interviews,'” wrote American journalist Max Blumenthal in a post on X, sharing an image of one such receipt.
SETF's grant from USAID
“SETF has been at the forefront of lobbying for the US to wage war on Syria, taking John McCain on his notorious trip in 2013 before he called to bomb Damascus. It played a seminal role in the Caesar sanctions, which have plunged Syrian civilians into poverty, and remain at the center of all regime change activities,” Blumenthal added.
His remarks came in response to Celine Kasem, a SETF employee and one of its lead propagandists against the Assad government, whose activities have been exposed repeatedly in recent years.
David Miller, producer of the Press TV show Palestine Declassified, had in February this year highlighted the manipulative tactics employed by Kasem and her SETF colleagues in Syria.
“@SyrianETF's board includes a member from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an organization that acts as a direct foreign agent of the Zionist entity in the US,” Miller wrote.
“After I won my tribunal, Celine attempted to sabotage my legal fundraiser by inciting British Sunnis into sectarian hysteria over the failed NATO and Zionist regime change campaign in Syria,” he added.
According to Miller, such tactics form part of a “US strategy to undermine support for material resistance to Zionism,” linking SETF’s anti-Syrian government campaign to the Zionist occupation.
In March this year, SETF commemorated the 13th anniversary of the so-called “Syrian Revolution” — a militant campaign against the Damascus government — at a gathering of prominent US Republican leaders, many of whom are vocal lobbyists for the Israeli regime.
SETF Executive Director Mouaz Moustafa speaking at at a gathering of prominent US Republican politicians in March this year
Among the attendees was Stephen Rapp, a key figure in lobbying the International Criminal Court (ICC) against granting Palestine jurisdiction to press war crime charges against Israel.
Since Sunday, following the fall of Assad’s government and the militant takeover of Damascus, SETF agents have been celebrating, crediting it to the Syrian people—the same people who have suffered under crippling US sanctions imposed under the ‘Caesar Act,’ which SETF itself lobbied for.
SETF and the American ‘regime change’ plot
In his book The Management of Savagery, Blumenthal explains that SETF emerged as a pro-insurgency, warmongering lobbying group, funded by the US State Department and a collection of private donors.
For years, the group served as the US Congress' direct link to the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other rebel factions. Its director, Mouaz Moustafa, is a Washington, DC-based activist of Syrian origin.
Before lobbying for a military attack on his home country, Moustafa had been a consultant to the Libyan National Transitional Council during the lead-up to the invasion by the US-led NATO military alliance.
In May 2013, Moustafa approached Senator John McCain, a notorious warmonger in the US Congress, and persuaded him to visit Syria and meet with anti-government militants.
Mordechai Moti Kahana, an Israeli millionaire who coordinated efforts between these militants and the Israeli military through his NGO Amaliah, openly boasted of financing “the opposition group that took Senator John McCain to visit war-torn Syria.”
The SETF's role in linking top US officials with militants was confirmed by McCain himself in his memoir The Restless Wave.
“I went to Turkey at the end of the month after convincing the State Department to let me enter northern Syria for a few hours. The Washington-based Syrian Emergency Task Force had arranged for me to meet with members of FSA units. I went with General Salim Idris, the head of the FSA's Supreme Military Council,” he recalled in his book.
“I don’t know what I had expected, but crossing the border into a war turned out to be a pretty unremarkable experience. General Idris, Brose, two Syrian Emergency Task Force staffers, and I loaded into SUVs and drove less than a mile to a border crossing, where the guards were expecting us.
“They raised the gates, and we crossed into Syria, becoming, for the time being, the highest-ranking US official to visit Syria since the war began. Another short drive took us to the building where FSA commanders from around the country had gathered to meet us.”
After the meetings and the promised joint celebration in Damascus, McCain's PR office released a photo showing the senator posing beside a smiling Moustafa and two grim-looking armed rebels.
Several days later, Lebanese media identified these two men as Abu Ibrahim and Mohammad Nour, both implicated in the kidnapping of eleven Shia pilgrims a year earlier.
SETF's director Mouaz Moustafa (right) with John McCain and two Syrian militants
SETF leadership and American terrorism
In June of the same year, Moustafa arranged another meeting in Syria between FSA rebels and Evan McMullin, a former CIA field officer, and vehemently protested the US State Department’s designation of Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch as a terrorist group.
In 2014, further SETF activities were exposed in the documentary Red Lines, which was ironically intended to showcase the “democratic nature” of the rebels.
Instead, it revealed international arms and rebel smuggling, Takfiri fanatics, looting, war crimes, and McCain, and Moustafa's central role, further exposing America's covert operations in the Arab country.
The documentary detailed Moustafa’s frequent trips from Washington to the Syrian-Turkish border, where he helped smuggle militants into areas they controlled in the city of Homs.
It also captured him discussing a multi-million-dollar shipment of heavy weapons and tanks from an unnamed US company, which was reportedly purchasing military equipment from the Ukrainian military after its war in Donbas.
In other scenes, Moustafa and his associates witnessed FSA militants holding prisoners in a school basement, looting a cement factory, and heard an Ahrar al-Sham official admit that they did not want democracy in Syria.
SETF also lobbied within the US to impose sanctions on Syria and played a crucial role in drafting and passing the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which has driven millions of Syrian civilians into poverty.
In 2016, Moustafa, the head of the White Helmets Raed al-Saleh, and Congressman Eliot Engel, one of the most fervent supporters of the Israeli regime on Capitol Hill, jointly lobbied for expanded sanctions on Syria.
These sanctions targeted the country’s central banking system and blocked the replacement parts for its civilian airliners, which was another big blow to the war-ravaged country.
SETF founder Mouaz Moustafa inside Al Qaeda/HTS controlled Idlib in August 2023, leading a delegation for ultra-Zionist Republican members of Congress
Other ‘regime change’ organizations in Syria
Other similar pseudo-humanitarian organizations that aggressively campaigned for “regime change” in Syria include the UK-funded White Helmets (Syria Civil Defence), Hand in Hand for Syria (HiHFAD), and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), among others.
All of these organizations were regarded as trusted and reliable sources by Western journalists and politicians, despite their direct ties to Syrian militants, the Israeli regime, and Western intelligence agencies.
The so-called White Helmets group was founded by former British Army officer James Le Mesurier and funded by the UK and US governments. It operated in areas held by anti-government forces, providing a constant stream of images and reports of their “lifesaving work.”
The effectiveness of the White Helmets was amplified by a UK-government-funded PR company called ARK, which ran its social media accounts and developed an international communications campaign to promote it. The UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs described their advocacy as “invaluable.”
HiHFAD, also a UK-based group operating in both Syria and Turkey, claimed to be engaged in humanitarian work but actively campaigned for foreign military intervention in Syria.
One of its leading figures, Rola Hallam, was linked to the so-called Syrian National Coalition (SNC) anti-government group through her father, Mousa al-Kurdi.
Its co-founder, Faddy Sahloul, once openly declared that they wanted to topple Assad “no matter what lives it takes, no matter how much catastrophe it causes.”
SOHR, which supposedly focuses on human rights, is actually a one-man operation based in England and funded by the British Foreign Office. It has been widely exposed as a mouthpiece for MI6.
Considering its funding sources, leadership, connections, and methods of operation, SETF undeniably belongs to the same group of organizations.
TEHRAN, (MNA) – The US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of fueling tensions with its unrelenting support for Yemen’s Ansarullah Movement.
Israel has the right to defend itself in the face of Houthi operations, Dorothy Shea announced while addressing the Security Council meeting at the initiative of Israel under the agenda “Threat to International Peace and Security” on Monday local time.
According to a reporter, Shea, while referring to a severe wave of attacks by the Houthis against Israel in December, called on the Council to consider further measures to respond to the growing threats from Yamen and “to hold Iran accountable”.
"We all know well that the Houthis are fully funded by Iran and are receiving the capabilities to carry out these long-range and deadly attacks on Israel, including on civilian infrastructure, as evidenced by the Houthis’ propaganda about using advanced hypersonic missiles," the US deputy UN envoy claimed.
"Iran’s provision of these and other lethal weapons to the Houthis violates the arms embargo that this Council has imposed on the group. It is the responsibility of this Council to take action to address Iran’s flagrant violations of resolutions," she further claimed.
Shea continued by saying that the Council needs to take the necessary steps to strengthen the UN verification and inspection mechanism to ensure that Iran and other actors do not illegally traffic weapons and related materials to the Houthis.
For its part, the United States will not hesitate to protect its forces, regional partners, and international shipping, she said, warning that “the Houthis must cease their reckless and destabilizing behavior”, and this Council must ensure that there are consequences for their actions.
Meanwhile, the British Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, while supporting the Zionist regime during the Security Council session, also accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of helping the Yemeni armed forces for their ongoing anti-Israel operations.
Britain is deeply concerned about the continued missile and drone attacks by the Houthis against Israel and the continued targeting of ships in the Red Sea, Barbara Woodward told the Council.
Alwaght- While after fall of President Bashar al-Assad and rise to power of the armed groups in Syria the Syrians hoped that the security will be protected and there will be no sectarian and political score settling as the militants promised, shortly later the people have sunken into disappointment as a result of actions of the ruling Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).
The international community since the beginning of HTS rule has been doubtful about the promises of the group's leaders about the governance with presence of all Syrian minorities, and now their concerns are materializing.
In recent days, attacks by armed groups on minorities have become a routine. Although the Arab and Western media, by showing the leaders of the HTS in civilian clothes and ties, try to pretend that these people have forsaken their previous policies and approaches and in other words became civilized, the reality on the ground and the systematic brutal methods of assassination, humiliation, looting and burning of private property cannot hide their true colors for a long time.
With the transition of power to HTS-led armed groups with the black record of ideological radicalism and their roots in Al-Qaeda terrorist group and also with resurface of violence and sectarianism of these armed groups, many religious minorities in Syria express their extreme worry about their future.
Alawites, under HTS focus
Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known for his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, appears in front of cameras and promises respect for democracy, rights of the minorities, and holy shrines while his loyalists are doing vise versa. As predicted, the Alawites were the first minority that fell victim to the violence of the armed groups.
In this connection, on Wednesday, a number HTS members raided the shrine of Abu Abdullah al-Hussein bin Hamdan al-Khasibi, the world’s leading Alawites religious authority, and set fire to this sacred Alawite site, killing five servants stationed at the shrine.
Following this criminal act, angry Alawites attacked the Tartous provincial council building, and other protesters also continued their protests in other parts of Syria, such as Damascus and Homs. These were the first Alawite protests against armed groups since the fall of al-Assad.
Following these protests, a media outlet close to the ruling coalition of armed groups published a video stating that the militants were clearing Latakia and Tartus by capturing 100 “pro-Assad forces.”
The HTS forces tortured and humiliated the Alawites by calling them “pigs” and “dogs” and by claiming that they had played a role in the unrest. A protesting Alawite representative said during the demonstration: “We are the second largest religion in Syria and we will not allow religious and racial pressure to be exerted on us and armed men to assault our women.”
Violence against the Christian minority
Crackdown on the minorities was not limited to the Alawites and other religious minorities have protested mistreatment by the HTS armed men. A number of the group's fighters last week burned a Christmas tree in Hama and published its images, outraging the Christian minority.
In order to clear itself, the group claimed that remnants of al-Asssd government were behind the Christmas tree burning, but local residents filmed the incident on their phones and confirmed that those who burned the tree in their city were members of the HTS, Uzbeks, and foreign nationals.
The Christmas tree burning is not the only incident that has become a cause for concern for the Syrian people as a result of the actions of armed groups. Breaking into homes, the seizure of personal property and cars, and scenes of torture and humiliation of Syrian army soldiers are also among the issues that have inflamed worries about the actions of the new rulers.
On the other hand, sectarian clashes and the harassment of girls not wearing hijab since the fall of al-Assad, as well as the shooting of civilians in the streets to spread terror, have caused immense anxiety among the people.
Securitization of society under the ruse of prosecution of elements of previous government
Seeking to tighten its grip on power in Syria, the HTS is seeking to securitize the conditions of the country to nip in the bud any threats to the future of their rule. They actually follow this policy under the ruse of arresting the elements and political and military leaders of al-Assad government. To this end, the HTS established its security organization in the first step to institutionalization.
The security forces launched a major operation in the provinces of Latakia and Tartus on Saturday, claiming to have received reports of the presence of elements affiliated with previous government .
The new security organization announced the arrest of Major General Hussein Juma, the commander of the Hama police in the al-Assad government. The interim government claimed that a number of weapons had been seized from individuals affiliated with previous rule.
In other parts of the country, the operation to purge the remnants of the previous government has been intensified in order to remove the former army forces and pave the way for the formation of the armed forces they favor. The Syrian Operations Directorate said that the deadline for al-Assad loyalists to hand over their arms has ended and anyone defying the order will be considered an outlaw.
As can be seen from the content of some media outlets, elements affiliated with armed groups are trying to pass these people off as remnants of the former regime by creating insecurity in some city squares and publishing videos of it, and thereby securitizing the country and arresting previous army forces.
In the al-Assad government, the Alawites formed the backbone of the army's manpower. In the past decades, the Syrian army has been the protector of Syria's territorial integrity against the Israeli expansionism and Foreign-backed terrorist groups.
Certainly, the elimination of the Alawites from the army will completely weaken Syria's defense capabilities. Therefore, the HTS's actions show that, contrary to its claims of being prepared to defend the Syrian territory, this group is acting more as a proxy group serving interests of Israel and Turkey as main actors of current Syrian developments.
Tahrir al-Sham members usually film these alleged violations themselves and brag about them, which, according to experts, means two things for Syrians: First, al-Jolani has no control over the armed groups and they are now behaving as they wish. And second, the interim government plan is based on a fake plan and is being done solely to deceive the masses and provide regional and international legitimacy to the new regime, and that the policy of suppressing the minorities will be pursued with greater intensity in the future.
New officials in Damascus are trying to assure various minorities that the future government will be for all and without discrimination. But, the actions of armed groups in recent days have proven that thoughts and ideologies of these groups have not changed and if they officially take power, they will rule Syria with salafi and takfiri thoughts.
Consequences of violence against religious minorities
The actions of the rebel groups against religious minorities, especially the Alawites and Christians, come at a time these minorities have deep roots not only in the army but also in the bureaucratic structure, the academic and scientific system of Syria, and also in the art of the country.
These minorities have played a fundamental and indispensable role in the political and bureaucratic structures of the country over the past five decades. Therefore, the HTS's attempt to isolate the minorities will practically disrupt the cycle of governance, bureaucracy, economy, sports, culture, etc, and the crisis of efficiency and legitimacy will become more acute.
Although the Arab and Western countries that previously supported the rebel groups have turned a blind eye to the suppression of the Alawites with the aim of weakening the foundations of the resistance in Syria, if these violence and killings continue and expand, they will not be without cost and consequences for the HTS and its allied groups.
The continuation of this violence will infuriate the minorities across Syria, and as protests intensify, the new government will be built on shaky foundations from the start and will not last long. Some experts even believe that these actions by the HTS may deepen the gap between the Syrian Alawites and Turkey and come costly for the interim government and even Turkey.
On the other hand, experience of the past three years in Afghanistan has shown that the international community sets respect to the rights of minorities and their real participation in the power as the fundamental condition for recognition and even sanctions relief. This approach is also expected to be applied to new Syria rule and therefore the empty and beautiful rhetoric cannot make basis for international community's decision on new Syrian government.
Meanwhile, obvious HTS's laying down arms in the face of foreign occupation along with stepping up internal crackdown is likely to increase possibility of expansion of coalition of resistance nuclei against the new regime in Damascus. As resistance leaders suggest, the Syrian youths will free themselves of the takfiri-minded rebel rule, as the Syrians in Daraa in Quneitra protested against Israeli occupation in the two provinces while new leaders of Damascus have turned a blind eye to the Israeli incursions.
