RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/islam/meet-syrias-moderate-jihadi/

When “rebels” booted out Assad and took over Syria I surveyed a couple of people. Both, having listened to the news, probably the ABC News, indicated that they were suspending judgment on the outcome. One of the two is gay. I said to him ‘they are jihadis’. He was not convinced. I don’t know why but many, perhaps most, Westerners are naïve when it comes to Islam. Thus the metamorphosis of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the terrorist leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – which evolved out of Al Qaeda – is given some unmerited benefit of the doubt. This is probably down to all that misconceived talk of moderate Muslims; and you might recall “the religion of peace” had a run before it tested the credulity of even useful idiots.

The new top guy in Syria, al-Jolani, has swapped his nom de guerre for his birth name Ahmed al-Shara. He dresses in a suit rather than fatigues. He is every bit the model of the moderate Islamic gentleman. All part of the makeover. Antony Blinken is ready to be wooed, though we can safely bank on Netanyahu to remain locked and loaded. Penny Wong will undoubtedly and happily take any position which most harms Israel. If recent history is a guide, Tony Burke will be keen on rushing tourist-visa applications to disaffected Syrian Muslims.

To a small extent, this piece is a cautionary tale for Mr Shara. Feign being moderate too effectively and a fundamentalist henchman might well take your head. However, mainly it is a cautionary tale for those in the West whose optimism about Islam outruns their realism.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/12/another_islamic_terror_attack_on_a_european_christmas_market.html

This is becoming an ugly Christmas tradition, with the real question being whether Europeans will continue to put up with this madness.

Since the early 2000s, whenever there was a terrorist attack, a meme circulated showing a South Park newscaster saying some variation of “…and it’s Islam.” The point, of course, was that no matter how the media tried to hide it, the greater likelihood was that the attacker was Muslim.

What’s interesting about today’s mass terror attack on a German Christmas market is that the German authorities immediately announced that it was an Islamic terrorist attack. Maybe Europeans are finally realizing that the viper they’ve nursed at their bosom needs to be expelled.

A little background is helpful to understand today’s attack:

After WWII, Germany and Japan were completely flattened. However, this time, the Allies had learned their lesson. They were not going to let Germany become an economic basket case, out of which another Hitler could rise. America, the last great nation standing at war’s end, worked to rebuild both Germany and Japan as modern, democratic, free nations. In both cases, America was aided by the fact that these countries had cultures that were built around meticulous hard work.

As well as rebuilding its former enemies, America instituted the “Pax Americana,” which saw it spearhead the Cold War against communism and generally exert itself around the world to put out fires. This Pax Americana created a global economic boom unlike any seen before in history.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-834020?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–

The collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime, Iran’s longstanding ally in Syria, has sparked debate among observers. Some argue that Iran’s loss of faith in Assad contributed to his downfall. Yet, this view ignores the strategic logic underpinning the Islamic Republic’s alliance with Assad and its involvement in Syria. For the Islamists in Iran, Syria was not merely an ally; it was the Islamic Republic’s “strategic depth,”  its “golden ring of resistance,” and even considered “more valuable than Iran’s Khuzestan Province.” Abandoning Assad would have meant abandoning Iran’s broader ambition of dominating the Middle East, a project reliant on Assad’s continued rule in Syria.

After seizing power in 1979, the Khomeinists aimed to export their Islamic Revolution and dominate the Middle East, despite limited resources. They adopted the low-cost strategy of creating proxy groups in countries with significant Shiite populations. They created a network of 19 terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as 16 other terror groups in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. They called this network, “the axis of resistance.”

Regime leaders recognized that sustaining the axis of resistance required incorporating Syria into the alliance as a vital conduit for transferring arms and resources to their proxies, particularly Hezbollah. They reached out to Hafez Assad, the Syrian dictator, father of Bashar, and he readily embraced the opportunity. Although Hafez Assad famously described Syria as the “beating heart of Arabism,” his economically struggling nation stood to benefit from alignment with the oil-rich regime in Tehran. Furthermore, as an Alawite leader – a minority sect within a predominantly Sunni population – Hafez Assad found it more pragmatic to collaborate with his unpopular Shiite neighbor. 

Syria became central to Iran’s regional strategy, offering a land corridor to Beirut and safe havens for Hezbollah’s training and weapons. This land corridor enabled the movement of personnel, arms, and supplies to reach Hezbollah, significantly enhancing Iran’s capacity to project power and maintain influence across the Levant.

Syria was even regarded as Iran’s “35th province.” Hujjat al-Islam Mahdi Taeb, the head of the Ammar Strategic Base – an organization established to promote “soft war tools” – and an adviser to the supreme leader, declared that Syria’s strategic importance exceeds that of Khuzestan province in southern Iran. 

Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei’s foreign policy aide, asserted that “Syria is a golden ring of resistance to Zionism. Iran supports it, because if Syria falls and its government collapses… the axis of resistance will collapse.”

QASSEM SOLEIMANI, the former head of the IRGC-Quds Force, called Syria “Iran’s strategic depth.”