Yesterday morning, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria for Russia. That’s a smart choice. Unfortunately from the point of view of politics and justice. If he stays Syria’s new government could solve the country’s refugee crisis overnight by announcing a lottery giving any resident free entry. The winner will participate in the decision and sentencing of the president who was impeached for his crimes. Syrians over the past 13 years, I suspect that most of the 6 million people he sent into exile will return within days. or a few hours for a chance to win big prizes
The rebels that ousted Assad have declared the end of his regime. Meanwhile, it remains vague about the nature of the regime that will follow. Might it be dirtier than the one you just replaced? I regret that Syrians are too familiar with their own disgusting history to rule out the possibility. But the answer must begin with a description of Assad’s crimes. They go back to the early days of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father. who brutally cracked down on dissent from 1971 until his death in 2000, his main rivals were Sunni Islamist groups. Dissatisfied with Hafez’s rule of the Alawite minority, in 1982 the elder Assad destroyed the city of Hama. And to this day, it is not known how tens of thousands of people were buried and left to rot in the rubble. His firstborn son, Bassel, left the world he ruled in a car accident that resulted in his death in 1994. Bashar London trained eye doctor must inherit the position from his father
When Bashar faced the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, his father’s genes came into play. Some of the rebels are jihadists. (More on that in a moment.) But Assad has unleashed his ill will on the entire world. And if there is anything to use violence against non-jihadists; It only wants freedom from Assad and his cronies. Civil war in Syria until last week It is a tedious process in which the Assad regime bombs, kills, and threatens Syrians into fleeing the country or surrendering to him. The most brutal weapon of this process was the barrel bomb. It is a traditional air-dropped weapon that Assad has used to destroy large numbers of civilians. to punish them for rebellion in their region His air force dropped these bombs nonchalantly. As a boy drops a firecracker into an anthill silo
On the contrary The latest behavior of Syria’s newly conquered rebels appears reassuringly civilized: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group most immediately responsible for Assad’s overthrow. Announced Victory is not a license to destroy state institutions. or trigger a wave of revenge against Alawis in general every day. Heeding this advice would be a rebuke to Assad’s supporters. who insist that the alternative to their rule is Islamic State-style mass murder. and the establishment of a bloodthirsty version of Sharia law. If the rebels support this merciful beginning, and adhere to the law and practice tolerance and equal rights for women, Alawis, Christians, Kurds, Druze, and other groups. They deserve an apology from everyone who delayed their victory. Including Western politicians. They deserve the Nobel Prize.
Unfortunately, there is good reason to suspect that the new Syria will resemble this bubble-gum-and-horse utopia. HTS is led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani on Friday. Jolani give Interview with CNN and sounds like a statesman. But he is the former leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, a Syrian al-Qaeda group that serves as the slightly less evil twin of ISIS. Jabhat al-Nusra was once a jihadi organization. Salafis, like ISIS, mean that they follow a literal reading of Islamic texts according to the Sunni tradition. There is a tendency to treat non-Salafi Muslims with hostility. and it is considered necessary to promote this vision of Islam. through violence
The best that can be said about Nusra in its early days is that, unlike ISIS, it did not consider theological differences that led to outright death. ISIS killed Shiites where they found them. he The delay was only long enough for the media team to set up cameras and lighting to capture the holy bloodshed for a worldwide audience. Nusra placed much less emphasis on theology. Yet it was still brutally carried out. It openly executes people; it kidnaps; It tortured Theo Padnos, who was a hostage by Nusra between 2012 and 2014, writing in his memoirs: Nusra commissioned children to torture him. He was locked in a cell with 25 captured soldiers and pilots from the Assad regime. And he told me in an email that Nusra treated all Alawis cruelly. Not because they serve Assad. But it is because of their religion alone. That it did so with less urgency than ISIS does little to Nusra’s credit.
In 2016, Jolani separated from al-Qaeda, however, mainly due to a desire to be independent of the establishment. rather than arguing on principle with the mass murderer he was proud to serve for so many years. “We thank al-Qaeda commanders,” he said in statement Announcement of decision “Their lofty stance on the benefits of jihad will be recorded in the annals of history.” Eight years have passed since then. Reliable journalists and analysts documented Jolani’s escape from jihadism. Nusra is already fighting the Islamic State group. dismantle Al-Qaeda’s presence in its territory Last year, France24 journalist Wassim Nasr discussed his recent conversation with Jolani in interview with West Point CTC Sentinel– He said in Idlib. Jolani’s Stronghold He saw unrelated men and women interacting in public. It is considered a serious offense in a society run by strict Salafis. The church is being rebuilt. Christians are invited to return to their communities, Nasr believes, Jolani and his group “No longer committed to something meaningful. international jihad– Nasr arrived in Idlib expecting to see a heavily militarized society. Instead, HTS’s leaders told him of global jihad. “It only brings destruction and failure,” and the only jihadist group Jolani intends to pursue is within the country. to resist Assad and Russia
I believe in repentance. And I believe that jihad is self-defeat. As Jolani suggests But no one is free from only collective ideology. And it is reasonable to ask Jolani to explain his denial in more detail. (I would also ask the many Assadists in Syria and elsewhere who will try to restore their reputation right now. (For all of the government’s crimes, it is beyond repudiation.) If I were held accountable for an organization that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered people, I don’t expect anyone to give me credit for my reversal until I was willing to forgive those who were wronged. Tortured at my command by elementary school children with livestock produce according to my knowledge Jolani never sent that Hallmark card.
In Edmund Burke’s treatise on the French Revolution He suggests that some forms of freedom are not worth the cost. I “seriously congratulate the madman who has escaped the protective restraint and purifying darkness of his cell to be rehabilitated to Enjoy the light and freedom?” he asked, in the gray daylight of Syria’s first day of freedom. The citizens of this country seem to behave like unbridled lunatics. But like good people who are traumatized and have values that are worthy of their freedom. which was even helped by jihadists in the past. The images of Syrians gaining freedom are as moving as they are. with pictures of Germans after the Berlin Wall came down
After the fall of Hosni Mubarak, ordinary Egyptians Cans of paint have been brought from home to Tahrir Square to re-mark a street edge that has been shattered by years of government neglect. and was crushed by tanks and bricks during protests. Never before have I seen such heartfelt civic pride among Egyptians. (And I often think of that scene. When an incompetent Islamist government and then the restoration of tyranny. (It broke those hearts soon after.) Newly freed Syrians are now escaping a much longer and worse nightmare. Images on social media show hope and unity. So far Syria has had fascism for 50 years and there will one day be the opposite. If more of these days and times can be combined together. Maybe a month and dare to hope for even one year The resistance of the past decade has been worth it.
