The Most On Point Expose Of Syria's War That You NEED To See!

Right, so as you research news stories for content and shuffle through various media stories and of course social media, every now and again you happen across an absolute gem, be it an article, a speech or in this case a video clip which basically nails on points you might have been trying to get across for some time to less success arguably, after all, you can read up on and research and write, but that never can compare to the words of people who have lived through horrendous situations and this is one such example. Where I’ve been covering the situation in Syria over the last few days, from the advances of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS, to the final fall of the Assad regime, regular comments cropping up on these videos have been along the lines of what is happening in Syria now, as being a repeat of Libya, with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and for all the cheering and celebrating that is witnessed in Syria right now with the fall of Assad, the warnings coming from elsewhere ought to be heeded and none have been put as well that I’ve seen, as this Libyan chap here has done.
Right, so he was quite an animated guy wasn’t he? It’s a clip I happened across on social media, it had been shared by journalist Patrick Henningsen amongst a great deal of others, I don’t know who he is, I’d love to know, but he made some emphatic, passionate and informed points that are inarguable, how can you argue with him, when he lived through it, and is witnessing everything that happened in Libya following the fall of Gaddafi now happening in Syria following the fall of Assad to HTS? Incidentally, the translation text there I think meant Al-Qaeda, rather than Al-Jazeera, A news outlet wasn’t responsible for bringing down Gaddafi after all, but there we are.
All the celebrations held in Syria were also held by Libya and by and large how both regimes fell are a mirror image of each other. Both Libya and Syria were in a period of civil war. Western backed rebel groups did the dirty work. It began with the fall of one city followed by another. In Syria it was Aleppo, then Hama, then Homs, then Damascus. In Libya it was Benghazi, then Sirte, Misrata, Khoms and finally Tripoli. Where it took from February through until August to get to Libya’s capital, it took just 11 days for HTS to take down Damascus and exile Assad. Where the Syrian army saw commanders quit and soldiers desert, so did Gaddafi see similarly, up until he was finally caught up with himself in October and subsequently killed.
The US, the UK, NATO, allied to those who had formed the Libyan National Transitional Council, rebel forces as they were once again called, took over and formed an interim government before holding elections in 2012. It is at this point what is expected to happen in Syria too.
All of this was cause for celebration by the people who had lived under the governance that had been in power for decades. 53 years of the Assad family in Syria’s case, 33 years of Gaddafi, people cheered in the streets, finally democracy had come was the belief, but as Libya learned to it’s cost, that wasn’t what happened.
The trouble with warmongering western nations is they never stick around for the clean up or the restoration of democracy. All of sudden, that is to those left behind.
The 2012 elections established the General National Congress in Libya who replaced that temporary National Transitional Council, so all well and good thusfar, but the problem came when those elected to power at this point decided they quite liked it and wanted to stay there.
The General National Congress was itself only given an 18 month long remit, a duly elected body to oversee the transition of Libya from Gaddafi’s fiefdom to a democratic state, but they felt they were doing such a great job, they didn’t want to step down and public protests then erupted, people rightfully fearing that they’d just swapped one regime for another now.
Then, throw Al-Qaeda into the mix. Just as Hayat Tahrir al Sham, HTS are a splinter group or evolved group out of Syria’s branch of AL-Qaeda, in Libya they had Ansar al-Sharia, an Al-Qaeda affiliate who advocated for Sharia law to be implanted across Libya and with a destabilised government overstepping it’s remit and creating further division, the ground was set for Al-Qaeda to exploit that.
This lot were against any democratic elections following Gaddafi’s death as they were seen to them to be un-Islamic and under the rule of the National Transitional Council and subsequently the General National Congress, these Al-Qaeda remnants went on a rampage around Libya, destroying shrines, taking over parts of Benghazi, even introducing their own Islamic police to enforce their version of Sharia law. By 2014, they’d ended up on the proscription list of both the US and the UK.
Libya today is an absolute mess. It is still plagued by disorder, it has become a major exit point for migrants to escape to cross into Europe, and they’re the lucky ones if they get that far, because many of them are captured and end up sold into slavery. There are allegedly open air slave markets in the capital Tripoli, and hundreds of people are reputedly sold into slavery every week. Amnesty International wrote on the situation in Libya in 2023. Here’s an excerpt of that report:
‘Militias, armed groups and security forces across Libya intensified their suppression of dissent, and attacks on civil society. Thousands of people remained arbitrarily detained in conditions violating the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment, while hundreds of peaceful protesters, activists, journalists and others were arrested solely because of the peaceful exercise of their human rights. Militias and armed groups killed and wounded civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure during intensified armed hostilities. Armed groups forced thousands of people out of their homes, including in reprisal for their alleged affiliation or to appropriate their lands. Amid pervasive impunity and ongoing funding and integration of abusive militias and armed groups in state institutions, calls for accountability grew in the aftermath of the staggering loss of life, destruction and forced displacement in the wake of Storm Daniel. Discrimination and violence against women and girls remained pervasive. LGBTI individuals continued to be subjected to arbitrary arrests, unjust prosecution and other abuse. Ethnic minorities continued to face discrimination and barriers to accessing health, education and other services. Refugees and migrants, including those intercepted at sea by EU-backed coastguards and armed groups, were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, extortion and forced labour; thousands were forcibly expelled without due process.’
Now turn to the situation in Syria and appreciate the points made of the man in the video and that he’s already been where the people of Syria are now. Libya is currently split three ways according to him, three factions vying for power because those who destabilised the country didn’t stick around to fix it.
Where Al-Qaeda gained ground, grew to prominence because of infighting in Libya, they’re starting from a position of power in Syria, they are in control right now, are they going to form a government or push for elections? Will they be fair elections? Will Sharia law follow as Ansar al-Sharia have attempted to impose and have done so in pockets and indeed is there going to be any kind of democracy formed there following all of this? History of terrorist takeovers would indicate that that is somewhat wishful thinking, yet there are still people calling for the proscription of HTS to be lifted, when proscription ended up being implemented where it came to Ansar al-Sharia, yet both they and HTS are cut from absolutely the same cloth. Don’t take my word for it, you’ve literally had it spelt out to you by a guy who lived through it and is getting déjà vu from watching Syria right now.
I made the analogy that Israel, by aiding HTS in Syria laid down with Al Qaeda dogs in Syria and now by associating with such a terrorist groups, they now have fleas, though of course than analogy really only adds to Israel’s image, terrorists as they are in their own right, with their genocide in Gaza and their invasion of Lebanon, now followed by an invasion of Syria. That they’ve managed to make their already poor reputation even worse is quite the achievement, but things could get a lot worse yet. Get all the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch, please also hit like, share and subscribe if you are appreciating the content and haven’t already done so and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.