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Invasion and Occupation of Syria Poses Challenge to Country’s Sovereignty under HTS 

By Iqbal Jassat 

The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and the installation of an interim government led by Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), has been dominating global news. 

Not only has the lightning takeover of Damascus been welcomed and celebrated by Syrians of all walks of life, particularly the millions of refugees who are able to return home, but also by political adversaries of Bashar Al Assad. 

Among the cheerleaders are the settler colonial regime’s notorious Polish war criminal Mileikowsky, known as Benjamin Netanyahu, and America’s lame-duck enabler of the genocide in Gaza, Joe Biden.

As if on cue, while celebratory fireworks lit up the skyline in Damascus, the Zionist regime added its own nightmarish glows via thunderous bombing sprees. 

Media reports reveal that in 48 hours, close to 500 military strikes by Israel were recorded. These blatant attacks are claimed to have destroyed as much as 80 percent of the country’s military capabilities.

A Syrian activist group Voice of the Capital, said the bombing campaign was the most violent in Damascus in 15 years. 

In addition to targeting airfields, drones, fighter jets, missiles, tanks and anti-aircraft batteries, the Zionist apartheid regime also struck and destroyed Syria’s harbour and naval fleets. 

Meeting no resistance since the fall of Al-Assad’s regime, Israel moved with speed to illegally expand its illegal occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights. It did so by seizing a UN-supervised demilitarised “buffer zone” and captured the strategic Jabal al-Shaik mountain top – Mount Hermon. 

The ease with which it invaded Syrian territories and bombed at will, has raised justifiable concerns among many skeptics as to whether Israel had obtained a “green light” from HTS prior to the devastation it caused. 

Netanyahu after all has reason to share in Syria’s celebration. Along with Biden’s jubilation, the two share inhumane characteristics as genocidaires, responsible for the scorched-earth policies in Gaza. 

Neither of them will dare to mention that the US-led dirty war to impose regime-change in Syria commenced in 2011. 

Accounts of that period reminds us that capitalizing on legitimate anti-government protests that erupted as part of the Arab Spring, the US “partnered with Israel, Gulf monarchies, Turkey, and other NATO states to wage a regime change campaign targeting Assad”. 

Codenamed Timber Sycamore, the CIA-led operation proved to be “one of the costliest covert action programs in the history of the C.I.A.,” reported the New York Times in 2017.

According to a 2015 Washington Post report quoting US officials, the CIA armed and trained nearly 10,000 insurgents, spending “roughly $100,000 per year for every anti-Assad rebel who has gone through the program”. 

Against the background of external interference and manipulation, one would be naive to believe that regime-change was not on the agenda. 

Assad’s collapse has been marked by two contradictory trends: one of course is the emergence of the promise of a paradigm shift from a dynasty to democracy. 

The other is the military invasion and occupation of large tracts of Syrian lands by Netanyahu’s expansionist colonial regime. 

As for the latter the threat to Syria’s territorial integrity emanates from Jewish settlers operating hand-in-glove with Israel’s rightwing regime. 

Latest reports reveal that the Nachala movement led by Danielle Weiss, who has been spearheading efforts in recent months to resettle Gaza, expressed a similar sentiment in  post on Facebook: “Whoever still thinks it’s possible to leave our fate in the hands of a foreign actor – forsakes Israel’s security!” it said. 

The brazen in-your-face land grab or theft is commonly treated as a criminal offence in most democracies, except Israel. 

The Netanyahu regime and all previous ones since 1948, made it official policy in line with its colonialism. 

In the case of the Golan Heights plans to officially steal more land, occupy it militarily and expand Jewish settlements, was approved in the wake of the formation of Syria’s new interim administration. 

The war criminal’s bold announcement makes it clear that the Zionist regime earns its status as not only a pariah state but also a serial violator of international laws including the Geneva Convention:

“Strengthening the Golan is strengthening the State of Israel, and it is especially important at this time. We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom, and settle in it.” 

To whom was Netanyahu’s message directed? To the United Nations,the EU, the AU, the Arab world, and particularly to HTS. 

As much as it challenges HTS, it also poses a number of tests foremost is whether the liberation of Syria will require ousting Israel, the US and Turkey from every inch of the country’s soil. 

Thus far Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has not said much apart from some remarks in an interview with Syrian TV that Israel has “no more excuses” to conduct airstrikes, and that recent attacks on Syrian soil have crossed red lines. 

Its a huge test indeed that will define the future of Syria in the post-Assad era. 

Iqbal Jassat

Executive Member

Media Review Network

Johannesburg

South Africa

 

Iqbal Jassat
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