Syria Falls To Turkey-backed Militants. Is Iran Next?

Originally publised on Dec 8, 2024.
John Whitbeck writes: "As everyone now knows, the Assad regime has disintegrated, with its unpaid and unmotivated military forces, like those of the American-trained Afghan National Army, seeing no reason to fight or die to sustain it and, accordingly, simply shedding their uniforms and melting away.

However, while most of the Syrian people could agree on what they were against, it is unlikely that they, the "terrorist" (or soon-to-be "former terrorist") HTS Islamists and all the various foreign players deeply involved in Syria will rapidly agree on what they are for and how they envision the country's future.

Some of the potential sources of concern are cited in the report transmitted below.

Most problematic is the control of more than a quarter of Syria's territory (including its principal oil and agricultural resources) by a Kurdish group deemed by Turkiye to be an affiliate of the PKK (hence, for Turkiye, "terrorists") and supported by the United States (including by some 900 American military personnel currently on the ground).

Might NATO allies Turkiye and the United States find themselves supporting different sides in battles for control of northeastern Syria?

Or will history repeat itself yet again as Kurds, having been used by a foreign power to serve its own interests, are abandoned to their fate when they are no longer deemed useful?

One must wish the long-suffering Syrian people the best, but it remains to be seen whether this stunningly "successful" regime-change operation will prove more successful in producing peace and prosperity than have the prior ones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya."

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