Damascus falls to corporate jihadis

Alameen Templeton

Damascus has fallen to Washington’s “corporate jihadis”, Haya Tahrir al-Shams, in a stunning turnaround that saw Bashar al-Assad fleeing the country Sunday even as Turkey, Russia and Iran were meeting to discuss how they were going to salvage some wins from the Syrian collapse.
A major pillar restraining Israel’s hand in wider Arabia has now been removed, significantly weakening Hezbollah in Lebanon and ushering into power former Al-Qaeda brands that could now feasibly claim victory in America’s “War on Terror”.
Hezbollah withdrew all its forces from Syria, meaning its entire manpower strength is now concentrated in Lebanon alone.
Corporate rebranding
Certainly, the last 13 years of civil war have witnessed a dramatic turnaround in the marketing of Al-Qaeda-ISIS branding in the western media as they have transformed from evil bogeyman to “tame jihadis” in neocon thinking.
Others might say the CIA and (significant actors in) Al-Qaeda have always been on the same side. Others mutter Mossad members probably outnumber any other faction in HTS.
But corporate jihad’s big moment appears to have arrived and it remains to be seen how a band of mainly foreign actors will settle down to ruling a stranger’s country, or if they’ll be given the chance.
It’s biggest challenge may come from within its own ranks – fighting over territory was already breaking out between different factions, some thinly disguised Al-Qaeda diehards, during the mercenaries’ rapid advances last week.
Reuters described the HTS conquest as a “seismic moment” for Arabia that “also dealt a major blow to the influence of Russia and Iran in Syria in the heart of the region “.
Funeral arrangements
Apparently, Al-Assad had read the writing on the wall and simply fled. His routed army was retreating in panic and his “allies” were discussing his funeral arrangements under the now-dead Astana Accord.
“The rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments. Thousands of people in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom” from a half century of Assad family rule,” Reuters reports.
The HTS takeover signals the end to Russia’s presence in the port of Tartus and the end of days when Hezbollah could always rely on support from Lebanon’s Syrian side.
Iran’s hand is significantly weakened and leaves it and Russia with a shrinking band of support, with Teheran now only able to operate with limited freedom in Iraq and Yemen.
Looters were seen strolling unchallenged from the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace carrying furniture and other pilfered memorabilia.
Point of no return
Leading rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani said they had passed the point of no-return.
“The future is ours,” he said in a statement read on Syria’s state TV moments after his forces took over Damascus.
The pace of events stunned Arab capitals, firing concerns about a new wave of instability in a region already in turmoil.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Assad’s fall was a direct result of blows that Israel has dealt to Iran and its ally Hezbollah.
French President Emmanuel Macron said “the barbaric state has fallen” while America said it was keeping its 900 troops in the country.
Syria’s long civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule which was then hijacked by Washington’s corporate jihadis, turned cities to rubble and killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Syria for Syrians
Turkey’s role throughout has remained murky, as it found itself cooperating with to the United States on one hand and with Russia via the Astana agreement on the other.
Iran said Syria’s future should be left in Syria’s hands, in an apparent dig at the mercenary front’s foreign makeup.
Is HTS in control? While many have assumed as much, western media seemed to be taking pains yesterday not to describe it as such.
Reuters suggests a resurgence of Islamic State “which imposed a reign of terror in large swathes of Syria and Iraq and directed external operations during its prime” could become problematic.
That is true, but Washington has always displayed a remarkable absence of morality or conscience when it comes to jettisoning inconvenient allies, as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Ghadaffi can attest.