Erdogan hails fall of Assad: ‘Authentic revolution crowned with success’

The Turkish president vowed to defend Syria from any attack after over 300 Israeli airstrikes targeted the country in the past two days  

News Desk - The Cradle

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised on 10 December the “authentic revolution” in Syria, which led to the ultimate fall of president Bashar al-Assad’s government and the storming of Damascus by extremist militants. 

“The Syrian people carried out an authentic revolution and crowned it with success. We will not allow anyone to divide Syrian lands and turn them into conflict zones again. We will support Syria by all means to revive it as soon as possible,” the Turkish president stated. 

“Turkiye has sacrificed a lot until the situation in Syria reached this success. We protected the Syrian people and helped them for years because of our love for them, they are our brothers … We will do what is necessary for the Syrian people to reach safety and peace,” he said. 

Erdogan acknowledged that “there are extremist groups with racist ideology that are supported by major countries to attack Syria and Palestine, and this is unacceptable,” adding that “any person or entity that tries to attack Syria will find the Syrian people in front of them, and we will stand by the Syrian people,” coming after hundreds of Israeli airstrikes across Syria. 

Turkish-backed extremists – led by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Ankara’s Syrian National Army (SNA) proxy force – stormed Damascus and took control of the city on Sunday. The fall of the capital came less than two weeks after the extremist organizations launched a massive assault against Syria, which saw government troops repeatedly withdraw from key cities as the militants advanced. 

Assad has been granted political asylum in Russia’s capital, Moscow. The sudden events have sent shockwaves across the region.

Erdogan’s comments come as HTS, formerly known as the Nusra Front, has established a transitional authority under the caretaker premiership of Mohammad al-Bashir, who previously headed the Idlib-based Salvation Government in north Syria, which served as HTS’s base of operations before the Turkish-backed assault that started on 27 November.

HTS and the SNA have received significant Turkish support over the years. The SNA was formed by Ankara in 2017 and incorporated scores of ISIS militants and other extremist factions into its ranks. HTS assumed its current name that year following its second Qatari-sponsored rebranding, which saw it cut ties with Al-Qaeda in an attempt to legitimize itself. 

Turkiye played a massive role in the start of the US-backed war on Syria in 2011 – opening its border to tens of thousands of extremist fighters from across the globe, as well as funding and arming extremist factions.

As thousands of people are being released from Syria’s harsh and brutal prison system, thousands more remain locked up in HTS-run jails in northern Syria. 

Israel has invaded Syria and expanded its occupation from the Golan Heights into the Syrian part of Mount Hermon and further into the south of the country, reaching the outskirts of the capital on Tuesday. Israeli jets have carried out at least 300 airstrikes on Syria since Assad’s fall, destroying the Syrian army fleet and numerous other military and intelligence sites across the country. 

Neither Turkiye nor Syria’s new rulers have condemned the attacks.