RELIGIOUS Extremism In Syria Gifts Israel A Big Win!

Right, so whilst Israel are now expanding even further into southern Syria, having now declared the three southern governates of Quneitra, Daraa and Suwayda off limits to Syria’s own military, a story I covered in a video yesterday, the question I asked then was where was Syria’s de facto unelected President Ahmed Al Sharaa in all of this? Followers of Israeli and Syrian politics in recent months will I’m sure be well aware of Al Sharaa’s desire to form an alliance with Israel, but as the land seizures, the invasion, the construction of new roads and outposts by the IDF have continued, he has come in for I think deserved condemnation for seemingly sitting on his hands whilst the people of the country he purports to now represent, implore him to do something.
Well, he has been doing something, it just doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Israel. No, it appears Al Sharaa’s priorities centre around religious extremism and the ongoing attacks on the people of Syria and the latest example, involving the seizure of a Shia mosque, should cause consternation to many who have feared that an Al Sharaa led government would see his hardline brand of Islam pushed out across the country, but how much country will be left if he keeps ignoring Israel?
Right, so with Benjamin Netanyahu having decreed that the Syrian military is not welcome now in three of Syria’s own governates, people living in those areas are now saying to Ahmed Al Sharaa to get his act together and deal with Israel or they are going to, the scenes of protest in that short clip there, from Busra Al-Sham in Daraa governate attesting to that, the chant you heard translating as ‘Netanyahu you pig, Syria is not for division.’ Yeah, take that you swine!
Well Netanyahu has not only called for Quneitra, where he has built 7 illegal military outposts, Daraa and Suwayda off limits to Syria’s own military, but ordered the areas demilitarised completely, except of course for his own IDF occupiers and this is what has elicited some to protest and others to take a different tack.
For example there are the various tribes that live in southern Syria who issued a unified statement following Netanyahu’s de facto annexation of the area, which came out whilst these protests were going on, which The Cradle picked up on in this following excerpt:
‘“We, the sons of the clans of southern Syria, follow with full awareness and responsibility the aggressive statements issued by … Netanyahu, which target the unity of Syria, its land and people, and seek to spread discord among its components,” the statement read.
It also rejected “any form of Zionist interference in Syrian affairs” and affirmed “absolute loyalty to the unified Syrian state,” calling for “national solidarity among all components” of the Syrian people.
The statement stressed “full Syrian sovereignty over all its territories, including the occupied Golan, and considering the Israeli occupation of Arab lands an illegal act that will not be changed by the passage of time.”
“We, in the tribes of southern Syria, affirm that the attempts of Netanyahu and his ilk to incite sedition will not pass, and that we are an integral part of a unified Syria, rejecting any external agenda aimed at undermining our unity. We will remain faithful to our land, adhering to our national decision, and defending our Syrian identity with all our strength,” the tribes added.’
Another statement pushing back at Netanyahu came from the Druze who live in Suwayda, as well as also living in the Golan Heights, so these guys know a thing or two already about living under Israeli occupation and as such in Syria they have created the Suwayda Military Council – far from demilitarising, they’re doing the opposite, building a local militia essentially, hoping to gain recognition of the Syrian army and operate in a similar autonomous manner as the Kurds do in northern Syria, because they do not wish to live under Israeli occupation as their Golan counterparts do, they know there is no living under Israeli occupation, there is only suffering under it.
But what of their apparent leader Al Sharaa then? I asked where he was yesterday, his people effectively taking a stand when he’s nowhere to be seen, but it seems he might have quite different priorities to worrying about Israel still, even as the effectively seize yet more Syrian territory:
‘HTS-led Religious Endowment forces stormed the shrine of Sayyeda Zaynab, closed it, took control of all its administrative offices, and expelled its workers.
Yesterday, the transitional Syrian government terminated the appointment of Sheikh Adham al-Khatib, banned him from leading congregational prayers, took over Al-Mustafa Mosque, humiliated worshippers in the Sidi Miqdad area in the countryside of Damascus, and annexed the mosque to the Ministry of Religious Endowment, despite it being privately owned.
They also removed pictures of scholars and insulted Shia religious symbols, saying "put the photos next to the shoes."’
Now as many of you watching this will know, shoes are removed before entering a mosque and the reason for this is because it is treated as a sacred space of clarity and purity of showing reverence and humility before God and shoes are, for obvious reasons, seen as unclean and to be worn in the Mosque is the height of disrespect. By placing the symbols of worship with the shoes therefore is a massive insult and handing the Mosque over, thieving it, given the one in question here was privately owned, to the Ministry of Religious Endowment, now under HTS control is a massive slight to the Shia Islam practiced there.
HTS, being made up of Al Qaeda leftovers as they predominantly are, are Sunni Islam worshippers, but of an extreme form called Salafism and despite Al Sharaa saying he would be respectful of ethnic and religious minorities of which there are many in Syria, his Presidency has been marked by attacks on these minorities instead, from the driving out of Christians to summary executions of Alawites.
Now we have them desecrating the places of worship of fellow Muslims, the main difference between the two when it all comes down to it is who each believe the successor to the Prophet Muhammad was, Sunni’s believe Muhammad named no successor and his companion Abu Bakr became the first Caliph, Shia’s believe Muhammad named his son in law Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor and that he was usurped by Abu Bakr. So it’s all a matter of religious interpretation.
Salafism is a more hardline form of Sunni Islam, restricting teachings to those taught by the first 3 generations of Sunni Islam following on from the Prophet Muhammad, and is therefore more literally interpreting the Qu’ran as well as firmly rejecting Western ideals, seeing such things as deviant, so Al Sharaa making friends with the US goes against the grain here, makes you debate his sincerity in that. There are three strands of Salafism, known as quietist, activist and jihadist, the last advocating violence as the only effective and legitimate form of activism, it is therefore no surprise to understand that this was the religion of Al Qaeda and as such the like of Al Sharaa, who came from Al Qaeda to the Al Nusrah Front and now the Presidency of Syria.
We know he practices this because we have seen how strictly such laws and teachings have been enforced in Idlib Province, which has been under HTS control for some years prior to the fall of Assad and now he’s seizing Shia mosques, it’s not a good look. Combining his US ties and his determined refusal to engage Israel with force, flies in the face of these teachings, but it can’t be ignored either that he has little military clout, so while Israel is busy annexing southern Syria, his religious acolytes in the Ministry of Religious Endowment are attacking religious rivals, the Ministry being responsible for all religious affairs within government, religion and politics I always feel are not a good combination and when you consider their advice to the droughts that have been plaguing Syria in recent months was to conduct rain prayers, it doesn’t feel like effective government policy to me.
And yet, Al Sharaa is still publicly talking about a democratic peaceful transition, he’s been talking up tolerance and inclusivity over the weekend, and you have people like the Alawites and the Druze and the Christians and the Kurds and other groups, of which only a token number were invited anyway, will be looking at this talk, then they’ll be looking at Netanyahu and seeing what he is doing and the fact Al Sharaa has still not said anything about that de facto annexation of southern Syria and then they can look at the attacks happing on Shia Muslims as well and the seizure of the Al-Mustafa Mosque and the desecration of the religious symbols within and wondering if it is Al Sharaa who is stupid, or if he just thinks everyone else is and the Kurdish representation certainly had something to say along those lines as well, a statement they issued reading:
‘Conferences with token representation… are meaningless, worthless, and will not contribute to finding real solutions to the country’s ongoing crisis.’
Syria’s crisis goes beyond religious divides and Netanyahu carving the country up as the economy continues to flatline and the word democracy is becoming an ever bigger joke as time wears on when never mind getting the rule of law operational again, of funding for infrastructure and meeting societal needs, when despite Al Sharaa’s rhetoric, you can’t even worship the way you want to even within Islam without facing persecution. Al Sharaa can talk the talk all he likes, people aren’t blind to what is happening and though there is little media attention on this, there is some and it needs exposing as the more the media try to rehabilitate Al Sharaa, Syria is under Al Qaeda rule now in effect and we’re supposed to celebrate it because a wrong un got deposed. It’s doesn’t work that way when the replacement is as bad and potentially significantly worse. He cannot keep giving Israel a free pass and he cannot expect his own faith’s aggressiveness towards other beliefs to go unnoticed either.
For more on this story, particularly what Netanyahu has actually done in the south of Syria now and why this is such a massive story despite going virtually unreported in the West, do check out my video from yesterday here as your suggested next watch. Please do also hit like, share and subscribe if you haven’t done so already so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new content published daily as well as supporting the channel at the same time which is very much appreciated and I will hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.