The fall of Damascus

The Syrian crisis began quietly in 2009, amid diplomatic handshakes and smiles, when John Kerry met President Assad, who had succeeded his father as Syria's leader, in Damascus. Kerry intended to formalize Washington's ultimatum to the Arab Republic of Syria: Assad was to abandon his traditional Russian allies, the Palestinians, the Iran of the Ayatollahs and then the Hezbollah military political movement that was Tehran's arm in Lebanon and start a new policy favourable to the United States, Europe, Turkey and Israel. In return, he would have remained in power and retained his prestige and grip on the nation, presented to the world by the big Western media as a wise and enlightened president. Otherwise Syria would have been destroyed and partitioned, as had already been predicted and indeed happened with Gaddafi's Libya.

Assad refused the deal and in 2011 the first riots began, masquerading as a struggle for democracy in what was then called the “Arab Spring”. The street clashes (Maidan-style, as later in Kiev and now also in Tbilisi) soon escalated into open warfare between the Damascus government and cutthroat militias under various acronyms. All generically affiliated to al-Qaeda and openly bent on killing with extreme ease, especially when under the influence of the drug called Captagon that was supplied to them in large quantities by the West, along with logistical support, intelligence, weapons and ammunition.

The war had ups and downs and the fate of Assad's Syria seemed to be the worst, but the Iranian intervention, under the leadership of the great General Soleimani (a true champion of humanity) and the subsequent, unexpected and astonishing Russian intervention overturned the defeat that now seemed inevitable. The towns and villages conquered by the militia were liberated and returned under the control of the Syrian government. The horrors carried out by the jihadist militiamen were evident to all but the usual Western press.

Later, the Sochi and Astana talks froze the conflict and gave hope that it would not flare up again. On the contrary: the so-called ‘Astana format’ was considered by some as the diplomatic prototype to solve similar crises and avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

Naive illusion.

It took 14 years to topple Syria in a few days: in the end, its army stopped fighting and new militiamen flooded in from Turkey because the Syrian generals were bought by the West through yet another mighty intelligence operation (sic) and then they ordered their troops to lay down their weapons without resistance. Therefore, neither Iran nor Russia could do anything in time: the field was firmly in Judas' hands.

In retrospect, we can say that the treacherous murder of General Soleimani, carried out on 3 January 2020 on the orders of President Donald Trump, was the first and most significant turning point towards the end of Syria. For Soleimani was not only an outstanding soldier, brave and full of honor, but also an exceptional commander and a logistical genius. Without him, things were never the same again. The loss of Haji Qasem sounded like a tremendous wake-up call but those who heard its mournful sound did not pay enough attention or were unable to act as the situation demanded.

There are of course other reasons as well.

The pandemic madness that we have all experienced, due to an artfully spread viral disease whose cures are being purposely denied to the population of much of the world, allowed the most despicable component of the Anglo-American (in particular) and Western (in general) Deep State to bring to the White House an old demented man who could be easily manipulated. The original plan to reshape Eastern Europe and the Middle East was thus allowed to continue and regain momentum after its simple slowdown due to the first Trump presidency.

The Montreaux Convention, which has regulated the passage of warships through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits since 1936, prevented Russia (at war with Ukraine) from supplying Damascus via the shortest sea route, effectively turning the Black Sea into a lake that is both semi-Russian and semi-American. The Russian Special Military Operation itself quickly turned into a war of attrition against Ukraine (locally) and NATO (globally) and this has, as was natural and inevitable, drained a lot of Russian human and material resources. Now that Syria has fallen, Russia has also lost its naval bases and the Mediterranean has become an American lake from which Moscow is banished, the other NATO members being mere feudal vassals always obedient to Washington's orders.

Then there is Israel. Netanyahu used with cruel cunning the opportunity offered by Hamas's limited attack on 7 October 2023 to unleash the final ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied territories through their organized genocide in response. Hezbollah was in fact the only force in the region that was geographically close enough to counter the Zionist entity without fear of defeat in an open military confrontation. But it was first invalidated with the explosive hacking of the pagers used by its leaders and military officers (an operation carried out by Israeli intelligence) and then decapitated with the complete elimination of its historical leadership with the usual and well-tested bombing that was as intense as it was inhumane.

The subsequent, limited and apparently unsuccessful Israeli invasion of Lebanese territories bordering Israel was the diversion that forced Hezbollah to fight at home, staying close to Israel and inevitably leaving out Syria, which was the real focal point of the issue. Now that Syria has fallen, what remains of Hezbollah finds itself physically isolated from Tehran because there is no longer the supply corridor from which it had always benefited and which General Soleimani had improved. It is therefore only a matter of (little) time before the “Party of God” is finally defeated and Lebanon too dismembered. I would write “the right punishment for certain merchant prostitutes living in Beirut” but it is not only they who will suffer. In fact, rumors of a “Great Israel” that includes present-day Israel, a substantial chunk of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and perhaps a few other states in the region have been appearing on many Telegram channels for some time now: why limit yourself when you are only just winning?

Iraq has not existed as a state for a long time and Iran has lost its main projection in the region. Tehran has been in Washington's sights since the Khomeinist revolution and the US has never hidden its intention to bring it back under its own rule or destroy it. Will there be a deal with the Americans and therefore the Israelis? It would be a betrayal of the ideals of the Islamic revolution, which has certainly improved the living conditions of the Iranian people but which is now struggling to hold its own against the deceptive if captivating allure of the West, so rich in cheeseburgers and Only Fan accounts. Iran's Supreme Guide, the great Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is elderly and it is not certain that his successor will continue his policy.

As for Russia, now more than ever it must win in Ukraine and the victory must be clear and decisive. Vladimir Putin has shown great restraint, common sense and humanity in his dealings with the West, but the West interprets this as weakness and an opportunity to be exploited to achieve ultimate victory: domination over the entire planet.

Russia's victory in Ukraine is therefore crucial: its fate and, by extension, that of the whole of humanity, depends on it.