I think calling it a US/Israeli coup makes it sound like a deliberate and well executed plan instead of the sloppy rapidly evolving shitshow it is.
to me, it seems like no one expected HTS to be so successful this past month or for the SAA to disintegrate like it did, and the ties between HTS and the west are mostly just forming now post-hoc. the US has prevented the SAA from launching an offensive into the Iblid pocket before, but that doesn’t require developing ties with HTS. the Idlib rebels/HTS are only in that area because of Bashar al-Assad’s rebel relocation policy in the late 2010s, so the West had no direct hand in creating it. and even up until this past month, that one instance of Trump threatening the SAA over Idlib was the closest way in which the West and HTS had ever worked together.
There is a ton of signaling from the victorious rebels that they seek to work together with the US and Israel now that they are behind the steering wheel. the reason they’re signaling so loudly isn’t because they’re just super duper excited to talk about their existing ties with the US and Israel, but because they want to secure their gains and win some legitimacy and friends in the world— they are desperate for Israel and the US to take them up on it, because otherwise they’re on their own up against the entire Iranian bloc.
tl;dr the rebels are being loudly pro israel not because they have existing ties, but precisely because they lack any ties to anyone and want to make it clear which ‘side’ they’re on in the region
For anyone unfamiliar with the leader of the Tiger Forces, Suheil al-Hasan is the most respected and successful general to survive the civil war (RIP Issam Zahreddin). He has a perfectly groomed beard that almost looks painted on because its so dark, and he surrounds himself with a Praetorian Guard of cute twinks who he is frequently pictured getting rather handsy with. A friend of mine once said that Suheil looks like the kind of guy who would be cast as the main character in a movie about his own life
Important context— Taganrog sits on the shore of the Sea of Azov, between Russian Azov and Ukraining Mariupol. this strike is closer to the (pre-war) Ukrainian border than the first one
the average Syrian doesn't look at this situation through the eyes of a (presumably Western) poster on a bear geometry forum, they look at this through the eyes of the average Syrian. they've got desires and ideologies of their own, beyond 'increasing Iranian power projection in West Asia'
Come on now, the Polish People’s Republic wasn’t as heavy-handed and violent towards critics as the Ba’athists were— what comes next isn’t exactly good, given that jihadis uninterested in Palestine have conquered Damascus, but a lot of Syrians are feeling good today. there is a moment of catharsis here that has been bought with a decade and a half’s worth of blood. people are gonna feel some typa way about it.
people on here get tunnel vision on Syria due to it being part of the Axis of Resistance, and in many cases due to not knowing the history of the conflict/country
there are reasons that so many people were willing to rise up against the Ba’athists over the past decade and a half, guys, and those reasons aren’t all foreign interference.
there's not gonna be any fighting for the Presidential Palace; Jolani will make a stern face, cross his arms, and then hold his hands out. Assad will give him the keys while staring at his own shoes
The humbled ophthalmologist shakily put his glasses back on his prematurely wrinkled face, shocked at the words he thinks he heard being hurled at him. Adjusting the volume on his hearing aid, he asked the strange men around him with trepidation, "Apologies gentlemen, I must have misheard....who must go...?"
i worry that behind closed doors, leadership of NATO and the Russian Federation have each already concluded that the other has committed to war, and so they have to do the same.
Remember; when the U.N. was established, world war 2 had just ended. The US was the only industrial economy not totally ravaged by bombing and firefights. It was also the only country at the time with nuclear weapons.
That is the context that the liberal world order was born out of-- everyone in the mosh pit had beaten the shit out of each other, but then the US stands up, shrugs it all off, and pulls out an uzi.
the packaging on my grey-market estrogen is all in turkish— iirc many brands of estradiol are manufactured in Turkey. i wonder how this will affect the DIY hormone market globally
I think calling it a US/Israeli coup makes it sound like a deliberate and well executed plan instead of the sloppy rapidly evolving shitshow it is.
to me, it seems like no one expected HTS to be so successful this past month or for the SAA to disintegrate like it did, and the ties between HTS and the west are mostly just forming now post-hoc. the US has prevented the SAA from launching an offensive into the Iblid pocket before, but that doesn’t require developing ties with HTS. the Idlib rebels/HTS are only in that area because of Bashar al-Assad’s rebel relocation policy in the late 2010s, so the West had no direct hand in creating it. and even up until this past month, that one instance of Trump threatening the SAA over Idlib was the closest way in which the West and HTS had ever worked together.
There is a ton of signaling from the victorious rebels that they seek to work together with the US and Israel now that they are behind the steering wheel. the reason they’re signaling so loudly isn’t because they’re just super duper excited to talk about their existing ties with the US and Israel, but because they want to secure their gains and win some legitimacy and friends in the world— they are desperate for Israel and the US to take them up on it, because otherwise they’re on their own up against the entire Iranian bloc.
tl;dr the rebels are being loudly pro israel not because they have existing ties, but precisely because they lack any ties to anyone and want to make it clear which ‘side’ they’re on in the region