Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Olesya Orlenko
[REGNUM] The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral on April 19, 2019, was one of the most shocking events of the year for the entire world. The fear of losing the famous architectural monument, which is not just a symbol of France, but has invaluable universal, historical and cultural significance, caused a storm of emotions.
French President Emmanuel Macron solemnly promised that the cathedral would be restored in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite everything, he kept his word. But the ceremony to return the masterpiece to the public was perceived as a fiasco for the French president instead of a triumph.
"THEY TOOK IT TO HEART"
The fire in the cathedral started in the evening, around 7:15 p.m. The nearby streets were filled with onlookers - tourists and Parisians, the firefighters worked until 4 a.m. Social networks were full of comments.
Many, including Donald Trump, criticized the firefighters' actions. Experts of varying levels of expertise offered theories about the cause of the fire, suspecting, among others, atheists, "leftists" and migrants.
However, as time has passed, experts agree that the fire was extinguished correctly, taking into account that it was necessary not only to eliminate the flames, but also to save the building from even greater destruction.
A government agency was quickly created to coordinate the restoration of the monument. The restoration work was carried out in several stages. Until 2021, the task was to preserve the structure and strengthen the walls. Then, for more than three years, the actual restoration of the cathedral's appearance was carried out.
After much debate, it was decided to return the building to the appearance it had received after its restoration in the 19th century, when it was led by the famous architect and art historian Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. The restoration of Notre Dame's interior is planned to be completed in 2027.
The unfortunate fire brought to light an internal problem related to the state's attitude to historical heritage. The cost of restoration work at Notre Dame Cathedral has already exceeded 700 million euros. They were made possible by organizing a collection of donations for the restoration of the monument.
To date, people from almost all over the world have already transferred 843 million euros. About half of this amount was given by representatives of French big business.
For example, the owner of the LVMH group, Bernard Arnault, who, according to him, took this tragedy to heart when he saw his 17-year-old daughter watching the fire in tears on live television.
Meanwhile, the budget for maintaining all monuments in the country, including churches, museums, secular historical buildings, etc., was only 326 million euros in 2019. And, apparently, the situation has not changed for the better now.
In 2024, a number of architectural monuments in France had to be closed to tourists because it was simply unsafe. The country has about five thousand churches classified as national heritage sites that are in a state of disrepair.
The authorities tried to repeat the Notre Dame experience and announce a collection for the maintenance of other cultural sites, hoping to receive 200 million euros. However, this topic did not find a response in the souls of people, so it was not possible to collect even 17 million.
Rachida Dati, who recently headed the Ministry of Culture, proposed transferring some of the funds sent to Notre Dame Cathedral to finance urgent work elsewhere.
But this idea met with a wave of disapproval, particularly from the Catholic clergy.
"SPLENDOR AND MISERY"
But the cathedral in Paris was lucky, and on December 7, its grand opening ceremony took place. The whole world was watching the event.
For many, the event was more important than the recent Olympic Games. Not to mention that the event itself received far more positive reviews than the scandalous opening of the summer sports competitions.
Representatives of the political elite of other countries came to the capital of France. In particular, the elected US President Donald Trump, for whom this visit was the first foreign trip after winning the election.
But the inexorable world press is in no hurry to describe what happened in rosy tones. And analysts see a large number of facts that darken the solemn mood.
Journalists note that the event was marked not only by the presence of important guests, but also by the absence of two iconic figures. Firstly, the Pope, who refused to attend the opening despite Macron's personal invitation, but is planning to visit Corsica on December 15.
The Pontiff explained his refusal by his reluctance to draw attention to himself, which on this day should be addressed only to the council.
However, behind the scenes, it is assumed that he rather does not want his person to be used as an argument in the rhetoric on the Ukrainian issue in the context of Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit.
The second absent guest is the current Prime Minister of France. Absent because there is still no one in that position.
Emmanuel Macron positions the restoration of Notre Dame as a symbol of France, capable even in a difficult situation of mobilizing resources and talents to save its heritage. But the world media wrote more about his kind of servility to the American president.
The Germans wrote that for Trump, Macron is “just an unpopular president in an ungovernable country on a continent drifting at sea.” The Italian La Stampa calls the ceremony “glitz and misery,” when “Paris shines again, but the nightmare of the crisis remains.” And the Spanish El Pais even dubbed the whole event “Macron’s requiem.”
And indeed, this time many are noticing the harsh reality that even such a truly grandiose event as the resurrection from the ashes of Notre Dame Cathedral cannot overshadow.
But even with his help, Macron will not be able to earn the glory of a creator, since not long before this he plunged the country into a crisis that is still far from resolved.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Federal Security Service (FSB) Directorate for the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has declassified documents containing evidence of mass murders of civilians by the Nazis in the territory of Donbass in the period 1941–1943.The FSB press service informed Regnum News Agency about this on November 10.
"From the first days of the treacherous invasion of the fascist invaders into the territory of Donbass, the occupiers created punitive bodies that were engaged in the extermination of communists, Soviet activists, partisans and civilians. Active participants in the punitive activities carried out by the fascist occupiers were Dinkel Alexander Gustavovich and Ponomarev Ivan Andreevich," the special service said in a statement.
It is noted that Dinkel headed and directed the punitive activities of the police in the occupied territories of Donbass, giving orders to Ponomarev and other subordinates to arrest and subsequently shoot Soviet citizens. In addition, Dinkel, the FSB noted, personally participated in crimes.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on November 1, the FSB published archival documents on the identification and capture of Ukrainian nationalist, SS man and executioner Vasily Malazhensky, who was a member of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists - a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) and who operated in Volyn and Yugoslavia.
On September 24, the FSB released archival documents about the bloody crimes committed by Poles in the village of Skopov in March 1945.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Oleg Tyurin
[REGNUM] Less than a year ago, there were battles in Avdeevka, and now there is a large construction site here. Volunteer repairmen, gathered by the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, are working in the liberated suburb of Donetsk.
We meet the volunteers in one of the Donbass towns - here the volunteers live and rest, returning from Avdeevka. The most ordinary private house, inside - an atmosphere of coziness and warmth. It smells of freshly cooked borscht.
"The initiative to start the project came from the head of the Synodal Department for Charity of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Panteleimon. On March 8, 2023, the first team of builders arrived in Mariupol and began repairing the roofs. In total, 265 roofs and 43 interior work objects were restored - they worked on the "interior" during the winter: they restored ceilings, doors, walls, inserted windows, did electrical work and plumbing," foreman Anton told Regnum.
Previously, the man worked as a stage technician at the Moscow Philharmonic, with which he traveled all over Russia. He liked the job, and the man did not plan to quit it, but when he learned last September that volunteers were needed in Donbass, he went to Mariupol. And he stayed to restore destroyed houses.
Anton says he doesn’t feel like going home yet.
"I learned everything on the spot. Sometimes people come who have never even held a hammer in their hands. We teach everything, show everything, and then the guys come back for a second or third time. There are few professional builders here," the agency's interlocutor continues.
Volunteers arrived in ruined Avdeevka in October. The administration set the task of helping prepare the city for the approaching frost. They started working immediately: the local administration asked to urgently close the heating circuit of the temporary accommodation point for local residents. They repaired the walls, installed windows and laid a new roof, turning the concrete box into a cozy place to live for people who had lost everything.
"In addition to the temporary housing repairs, in a month and a half we have repaired 17 roofs of private houses, and three more are in the works. We work closely with the administration: it selects houses [to be repaired], the selection criteria are the housing of people who need help, the disabled and pensioners who live there or plan to return to them," says Anton
Currently, out of a population of more than 40,000, only 600 people remain in Avdeevka, for whom 250 houses are planned to be prepared in the near future. More than a hundred volunteers came to Avdeevka to help, including people of various professions and construction experience. There was even a cosmonaut.
"The most unusual person who has passed through our project is a Hero of Russia, a cosmonaut. Moreover, he arrived without saying who he was, they "identified" him by chance. A very modest person, he asked very much not to mention his name in the press. Writers, an artist, a GITIS graduate also came, and now we have a teacher from Moscow State University working for us... Everyone builds, except for the builders," the foreman laughs.
"It's more interesting to work here"
The aid project united people of different ages, professions and even religions. Despite the fact that the volunteering was organized by the Russian Orthodox Church, the doors are open to everyone - both atheists and representatives of other faiths.
There is only one condition: to sincerely want to help people in trouble.
"We are all united by the desire to help. Some come to see [what is happening in Donbass] - and this is also important when you live in an ordinary world where no one talks about war and nothing is heard. Many people's perception of the world changes when they see real people who survived the war," Anton explains.
His words are confirmed by one of the few construction specialists who is currently working on the project. Igor Nikolaev has worked as a carpenter in a monastery on the Solovetsky Islands for the last 11 years, and two weeks ago he came to help in Donbass.
"It's hard to say what I experienced - it was very difficult. And the people are good-natured and friendly, I'm surprised they didn't become embittered. They feed the children at the facilities, they are ready to help everyone," says the interlocutor of IA Regnum.
The local houses have one characteristic feature, the carpenter notes: the chimneys are not on the roof slope, but on the ridge.
"Why is that? I still haven't received an answer to this question, " he says. "But it makes work more interesting this way."
Nikolaev is sure that this is definitely not the last time he comes to Avdeevka, because the volunteers have a lot of work to do.
Another builder working today for the benefit of Avdeevka residents is Vitaly Kovrov. Before retiring, he worked at a military plant, building submarines in Severodvinsk. Today, he is one of the old-timers, working for more than 10 months - first he restored Mariupol, now he is rebuilding the Donetsk suburb.
"Avdeevka is much more destroyed [than Mariupol]. It's hard to watch, and the locals have already recovered from the shock - they need to live on. They are cheerful and smiling, and when everything is built, they thank us with tears," Vitaly shares.
Builders note that they are rewarded for their selfless help - and in the most unexpected way. Sometimes solutions are found to problems that previously seemed insoluble.
"We had a case: a guy came, a refugee from Kherson, worked for a long time, he had no documents - no passport, no registration, plus it was unknown where his relatives lived. Somehow, miraculously, he found a family, and now he was able to get documents and will soon go to them," says Anton.
THE TEN YEAR ROAD HOME
Another amazing story was shared by a correspondent of one of the federal media outlets, Yulia Andrienko. She was born in Avdeevka and came to make a report about volunteers. This is her first return to the city, which she had to leave 10 years ago at the risk of her life.
In 2014, Yulia worked as a correspondent in Donetsk. Maidan broke out, and life was literally divided into "before" and "after". In May, the girl helped organize a referendum on the independence of Donbass in Avdeevka. And when the Ukrainian Armed Forces entered the city, she was forced to leave her home and move to Donetsk with her family.
At that time, Andrienko could not even imagine that she would only return home ten years later, with the help of a volunteer project of the Russian Orthodox Church.
"The editor sent me [information about the project] and said: listen, this is an interesting 'test case'. Avdeevka is, of course, destroyed, but I am happy that I came here at all. Ten years... Even in my dreams it was out of reach - I was walking [down the street], and it seemed to me that I would be taken prisoner.
But I was even able to go into my apartment, take out an album with my black-and-white school photos and a box of Christmas tree decorations. Our stormtroopers who liberated the city accompanied me. It... brought tears to my eyes," the woman does not hide.
Seeing the state of her hometown, Andriyenko herself became a volunteer. Having swapped her pen and laptop for a ladle and an apron, she works in the communal kitchen. The woman believes that this is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Avdeevka.
"I am not a great connoisseur of cooking, but I take master classes, learn to cook in conditions of lack of water on an industrial scale. Water is given after two o'clock in the afternoon, and the guys need to be fed three times a day. Our builders are some kind of superhumans for me. I traveled with them from Moscow: one runs a large IT company, three children and a successful life, but he left everything and came here," Yulia continues in an interview with IA Regnum.
She does not hide the fact that at first she did not recognize her hometown: it is radically different from the Avdeevka that the journalist left in 2014. Destroyed houses, a school razed to the ground, where she once held a referendum... The woman did not even get into her apartment right away.
“I didn’t even cry when I saw her: the apartment had no windows, no doors, and the guys [who accompanied her] said: ‘Sorry, but we won’t let you in first, we don’t know what surprises the Ukrainian Armed Forces have left behind,’” the woman recalls.
For now, the work continues. The enemy has not yet been driven far away, it is impossible to begin large-scale restoration work with a large number of builders - it is dangerous. But Avdeevka is alive, the city is being restored and finding itself.
"We will continue to restore Avdeevka, we continue to work in Mariupol. And then, I think, we will go further and restore other destroyed cities," says foreman Anton.
[Tablet] As the dust settles from the 2024 presidential election, a new administration makes its way to Washington where it will find the same federal bureaucracy, four years older, four years more deeply entrenched, impassively waiting for the new reformers to expend their energy for change like a large ocean wave breaking on an unyielding rocky shoreline.
The entire history of the republic has taken place against the backdrop of steady expansion in the scope and concentration of power at the federal level. Once a new federal agency is put in place, to alleviate one or another societal alleged need or political expedient, removing it becomes a Sisyphean task. Good luck getting rid of the Department of Education. Over time, the old physical swamp at the center of Washington, D.C., has been replaced by a bureaucratic swamp—the marshland was drained, to be succeeded by an archipelago of imposing granite and concrete buildings, housing an alphabet soup of government entities: FBI, FTC, FRB, HUD, IRS, ITC, and so on. As more and more power flowed from the states to the central government, the capital became encased in ever-expanding rings of deep blue congressional districts peopled by equally expanding legions of government workers. The growth of the federal government is thus matched by the suburban sprawl that spreads every year farther into the countryside.
As power and control accumulates in Washington, tax revenue and other resources flow out of the rest of the country and into Washington like stuff being sucked into a black hole—even economically depressed areas are taxed to "feed the feds," driving up real estate prices and congesting the roadways in the nation’s capital.
While too many new presidents have embraced this process, Reagan sought to reverse it, only to slow the sprawl for a few years. Is the lesson, then, that Washington will continue to expand at the expense of the rest of the country? Is this process unstoppable? It needn’t be. While striking a balance between the attributions of the federal and state governments is complicated, controlling the physical location of government activity is much more straightforward.
Let’s disperse the government agencies away from the gridlocked highways and overpriced real estate of the Washington, D.C., area to the economically depressed regions of the country they serve, recycling the federal budget back to the economy from which it came.
#7
First close the FBI, or make it back to what its charter originally was. There is no real constitutional right for the feds to police the people, its a states rights issue. Policing the people by order of the president is not supposed to be allowed.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/11/2024 13:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
They could move the FBI to that town across the strait from Siberia— so they can keep an eye on it, at least clear days. ;-)
There's a little island way out at the very end of the Aleutian chain... About 100 miles from Russia... It desperately needs about 7,000 FBI agents from the Washington D.C. office...
Might take some time... I don't think the airfield can handle anything over a Cessna.
#9
Crazy Fool...
AP went out there once to check on it's sewer system. It couldn'd handle 7000 FBI agents.
There are really only 2 buildings of any size on that island. One contains the school. The other everybody lives in.
AP refused to bid on a contract for that sewer system.
#12
In Washington there are the FBI headquarters and the Washington FBI field office. I believe they are separate buildings.
A high school classmate was stationed at the field office. He is sickened by what the FBI has become. He blames it on the idiots at the headquarters.
[PJMedia] I wrote not long ago about the consequences in Germany after Reunification when the Stasi records weren't successfully destroyed and the German people got hold of them. I suspect that recollection has a lot to do with why so many entrenched bureaucrats are so opposed to Gabbard, Ratcliffe, Hegseth, and Patel.
I have to admit I'm looking forward to the side-effects of a bunch of Trump's picks getting into the Cabinet and doing something similar with the Epstein passenger lists, the other 30,000 hours of the tapes from the Capitol "insurrection," and the records of the extensive wiretapping and surveillance of Trump and the Trump campaign.
The Assad records, assuming they become public and I strongly suspect they will, may be 100 times worse than any of these, and comparable to the records of the Nazi Sicherheitsdienst and the death camps.
Bashir Assad's murderous dictatorial regime has, we're certain, killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians with everything from simple guns and bombs to chemical weapons. They've also collaborated with Iran to supply Hamas and Hezbollah with weapons and safe harbor. (The Wikipedia article, at this moment, looks pretty reliable — and very depressing — if you want a summary.)
Consider some of what we can be pretty certain is in those records: Who in Russia is going to be implicated? Who in Iran? What about connections to the Ba'athist movements in Iraq, and the records from the Syrian occupation of Lebanon?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Artemy Sharapov
[REGNUM] The flags flying over the Syrian embassies in Istanbul, Stockholm, Yerevan, and Moscow are being changed — a visible symbol of the fact that “power has changed.” The flag of the armed opposition that took control of the country was already the state flag — until 1958.
In a sense, time has turned back in Syria to the times before the rise to power of the secular Arab socialists, from whose ranks emerged the Assad “dynasty” that ruled the country from 1970 to 2024.
In order to understand the rapidly unfolding events now (after all, after 13 long years of civil war, the situation has changed dramatically in just 12 days), it is necessary to at least briefly glance at the recent history of Syria.
FOUR IN ONE
The word "Syria" ("Suriyya" in Arabic) is ancient, but the state with this name is only 78 years old. Until the end of World War I, this part of the Levant, that is, the Eastern Mediterranean, belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The Turks drew the borders of the provinces (vilayets) based on the convenience of governance, without regard for the diversity of ethnic groups and religions. Present-day Syria, Lebanon and the southern part of Turkey proper were divided between the vilayets of Damascus, Aleppo, Beirut and Deir ez-Zor.
When the Entente defeated Germany and its allies (including the Ottoman Empire) in 1918, the victorious powers divided up the Turkish Sultan's possessions. France — formally, under a League of Nations mandate — got the territories of modern Syria, Lebanon, and the Turkish province of Hatay. All of this was called Greater Syria.
Syrian centenarians – there are almost a quarter of a million of them in the country – can remember the times when the French assembled the country and drew its borders as they saw fit. Initially, the Mandatory authorities divided their possessions into six “states” along ethnic lines.
Thus, in the north, the state of Aleppo was allocated to the Kurds, Sunni Arabs, Turks and their relatives, the Turkomans. On the Mediterranean coast (in the present-day province of Latakia, where the Russian Khmeimim base and the Tartus base are now located) there was the Alawite state. It was intended for the compactly living Alawite religious community, whose religion is so different from orthodox Islam that many Sunnis and Shiites do not consider them to be true believers, as well as for Shiites and Christians.
Another unorthodox community, the Druze, living in southern Syria, was given the state of Jabal Druze. The Sunnis and Shiites of the southwest were given the state of Damascus. Finally, Greater Syria included what is now Lebanon.
But in 1926, the French separated Lebanon (which was distinguished by its high ethno-religious diversity, even by Middle Eastern standards) into a separate mandated territory. The Hatay region, after long interethnic clashes and complaints to the League of Nations, was given to the Turks (Syria, however, did not recognize Turkey's sovereignty over this territory until 2005).
And from the remaining lands, the French authorities, for the sake of convenience of governance, cobbled together a country that had never existed before. In one territory there were Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Alawites, Ismailis, Christian Arabs, Armenians, Druze, Kurds, Turkomans and Assyrians.
There is nothing special about this, however: the British authorities created the never-existent state of Iraq on the same principle. When leaving, the Europeans sought to ensure that their former colonies would always have ethnic and confessional tensions that would periodically “explode” into wars. And, it must be admitted, they succeeded.
ONE COUNTRY, TWO STARS, MANY REVOLUTIONS
Since gaining independence in 1947, Syria (like Iraq) has experienced a series of military coups, uprisings and has intervened in several wars with Israel.
The optimal way to keep ethnic groups, confessions, clans and influence groups in line (and to keep the interests of these warring groups in balance) was an army dictatorship. However, this type of government was traditionally unstable for the Middle East. Between 1946 and 1956, the country saw 20 governments and 4 constitutions.
In 1958–1961, the country lost its independence, becoming part of the United Arab Republic (UAR) for a time, the brainchild of the ambitious Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. At that time, instead of the previous green-white-black flag, Syria adopted the black-white-red pan-Arab flag of the UAR with two green stars (the two stars originally symbolized the two "union republics", Egypt and Syria). In 1961, another coup took place in Syria, this time against Nasser. The country left the UAR, but the flag remained.
In 1963, the military changed power again. Now the country is "ruled" by the regional branch of the Baath Party - the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (in the same year, Baath comes to power in Iraq). The word "Arab" was added to the name "Syrian Republic", which is unlikely to be to the taste of non-Arab ethnic groups, primarily the Kurds inhabiting the northeast of the country.
Three years later, in 1970, another coup takes place, this time within the Baathist leadership, and the leader of the country is the former commander of the Air Force, a native of the influential Alawite clan, Hafez al-Assad.
LIONS ON THE THRONE
The father and grandfather of the presidents of Syria, Ali Suleiman, the leader of a mountain clan in Latakia, changed his former nickname al-Wahsh (the savage) to a more harmonious one and one corresponding to his social status back in the 1920s: al-Assad (the lion).
Hafez al-Assad, who held the presidency from 1971 until his death in 2000, was called "the Sacred One" ("al-Muqaddas") and "the Immortal Leader." His son and successor, Bashar al-Assad, was titled a little more modestly upon ascending to the "throne" - "the Hope of the People."
It is hardly possible to reproach the Assads for a cult of personality: this was typical of Middle Eastern secular regimes - Baathist Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Egypt from Nasser to Hosni Mubarak, the Libyan Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi, etc.
There is an opinion that the years of the Assad family in power were a dictatorship of the Alawite religious community, to which Hafez and his son Bashar belonged. According to a slightly more complex version, the Assads relied on a coalition of ethno-religious minorities: Alawites, Shiites, Druze, Christians, etc.
In fact, a regime was created in the country that was in many ways similar to Saddam's government: a group of authoritative military men in power, united by common interests with a division of spheres of influence.
ON THE BRINK OF SPRING
And it was this system that largely allowed the Syrian government to successfully repel the first onslaught of Islamists – the Muslim Brotherhood* uprising of 1976–1982. The storming of the city of Hama, which was commanded by the president’s younger brother Rifaat al-Assad, was considered a model for restoring order (it was this battle that pacified the radical jihadists for a long time).
Syria's loss of the Yom Kippur War with Israel did not shake the regime's position. Especially since the Assads waged a successful proxy war with the same Israel in Lebanon.
Compared to Saddam Hussein’s regime, which essentially fell victim to its own foreign policy adventures, the Assad “dynasty” demonstrated stability. But Soviet specialists who worked in the country in the 1970s and 1980s recalled that the situation was consistently unsettled. Explosions and shootouts “somewhere on the outskirts” were commonplace, and even family members of civilian specialists were trained in case of a terrorist attack.
The stability gained at such a high price allowed the country's economy to develop until the crisis caused by the US invasion of neighboring Iraq in 2001 erupted. The constant influx of refugees and the growth of radical sentiments in the region could not help but affect Syria.
At the same time, discontent grew among a part of Syrian society and the army, who had been removed from key positions. The political opposition demanded democratic reforms (essentially, a redistribution of power and property), while the Islamists demanded the introduction of Sharia law.
Therefore, the wave of unrest throughout the Arab world (the so-called Arab Spring) and the fall of governments in Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia in 2011–2012 and the outbreak of war in Libya could not but lead to similar events in Syria.
BEGINNING OF HALF-LIFE
In 2011, protests began across the country, quickly escalating into fighting. Some of the armed forces broke away from government control, forming the Free Syrian Army (FSA). They were joined by local Islamist militias known as the Islamic Front and a number of other groups.
The country, first assembled by the French and then by the Damascus military regimes, began to fall apart at the seams. A number of regions in the north, near the border with Turkey (where the Turkmen tribes live), and in the south, in the regions adjacent to Jordan and Israel, where the Druze live, have left the government's control.
At the same time, in the northwest, in areas of ethnic Kurdish residence, a local administration and armed structures were created that were equally hostile to the government in Damascus and the opposition.
By the beginning of 2012, the revolution and “democratization” were forgotten – a full-scale civil war broke out in the country.
WAR OF THE ENCLAVES
Unlike traditional wars, where the sides are divided by a front line and strive to break through it, the map of the war in Syria quickly took shape into a bizarre mosaic of several colors.
After the authorities managed to suppress the opposition and Islamists in most major cities, they were pushed out to the outskirts, where they strengthened their positions. For example, in Aleppo, the armed opposition retained part of the central districts of the city and the northwestern outskirts, in Homs – the northern districts of the city and the suburb of al-Rastan, in the vicinity of Damascus – entire oases of dozens of settlements, closely adjacent to the city quarters. In one of these enclaves – Eastern Ghouta, there were up to ten thousand armed people.
On the other hand, the successful opposition offensive led to the capture of large territories in the provinces of Raqqa, Idlib and Hama. But even here there remained enclaves that remained loyal to the government. First of all, areas inhabited by religious minorities.
For example, the cities of Fua and Kafariya in Idlib province; Nubl and Zahraa in Aleppo province have been fighting in complete encirclement for several years. The reason is simple: Shiites live here, “heretics” from the point of view of the militants who consider themselves devout Sunnis.
The history of the city of Deir ez-Zor stands apart, its garrison, together with local militia units, was able to withstand several years of siege and wait for help to arrive. Several airbases also remained completely surrounded, the garrison of which did not surrender and continued to resist. The Tabqa, Abu Duhur and Menang airfields were eventually taken by storm, and their garrison was killed.
However, the garrison of the Kweires air base, consisting mainly of cadet pilots, was able to repel attacks for several years and eventually received outside help. Such tenacity and sometimes, without exaggeration, heroism seem even more incredible against the backdrop of the events of 2024, when the army simply refused to participate in military operations.
In other words, military operations were conducted on dozens of fronts at once, and the decisive role was often played not by regular armed formations, but by local forces.
DIVERSITY VS. GENOCIDE
The semi-collapse of the Syrian state after 2011 went hand in hand with the internationalization of the conflict. Since 2013, Al-Qaeda* and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant* (ISIS, later the Islamic State*) have been actively involved in the war.
The Wahhabi IS*, which by definition does not recognize existing state borders, included part of the territory of Syria with the cities of Idlib and Raqqa into its “caliphate,” which continued further to the east, capturing part of Iraq.
It is noteworthy that even in a state of simultaneous war on ten fronts throughout the country, the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad has not lost control of the situation.
Over the course of several years of military action, the troops managed to fully or partially hold all major settlements. This was partly possible due to the actions of the armed opposition itself, in whose leadership former politicians and military personnel were often replaced by radicals. Those groups that swore allegiance to the terrorist international directly stated that they were bringing death to representatives of other religious communities: Christians, Shiite Muslims, Alawites and Ismailis. For example, in March 2014, Islamist units stormed the Armenian city of Kessab, carrying out ethnic cleansing in it.
And in this case, the thesis about the “coalition of minorities” opposing the Islamists and situationally supporting Bashar al-Assad is correct.
Thus, a pro-government Druze militia was formed in the province of Suwayda, a Christian militia in the city of Maharda in the province of Hama (later one of the most combat-ready formations of the government forces), and an Ismaili militia from Salamiyah and Masyaf. These formations were created primarily for the survival of their communities. They waged war on the side of the Assad government as long as they considered this government capable of protecting the interests of communities and ethnic groups.
Also on the government's side were representatives of local businesses and/or criminals, who simply did not want to give up their positions to new people and created militia units with their own money. The most famous example of such formations is the "Desert Falcons", financed by the Jaber clan from the Latakia province.
One should also not forget about the loyalty of some army commanders who refused to go over to the opposition for one reason or another. Among them are the commander of the defense of the encircled Deir ez-Zor, General Issam Zahreddine, and the hero of the defense of Aleppo, Suheil Hassan. Therefore, Bashar al-Assad managed to avoid the fate of Gaddafi and retain power, albeit having lost control over part of the country's territories.
But this could not go on forever.
START FROM SCRATCH
With access to almost inexhaustible human, financial and military resources from abroad, the Islamists have organized a series of successful military operations.
Government forces, on the contrary, began to gradually “run out of steam” and give up their positions by the mid-2010s. In the circumstances, the Syrian government turned to foreign military assistance.
Russia's involvement in ending the Syrian conflict since 2015, including support for the government army and other anti-ISIS forces "on the ground" and in the air, has radically changed the course of the long-standing war. Russia's peacekeeping efforts require a separate description. For now, several important points should be noted
The Russian leadership has always supported the Assad government in its fight against terrorism, while emphasizing that intra-Syrian reconciliation, the restoration of the balance of interests of the various communities, faiths and ethnic groups living here is the business of the Syrian people themselves. As President Vladimir Putin noted back in 2015, “we are not going to be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves.”
Moscow has always advocated for the normalization of dialogue between Syria’s political and religious forces and organizations, speaking about the need to conduct the most fruitful negotiations under the auspices of the UN.
Now that the government has collapsed, the danger of the conflict becoming "Somalizatsi" is growing, with a complete collapse of statehood and intercommunal wars. Therefore, now more than ever, dialogue is needed between the constituent parts of Syria, from the Kurds to the Druze and from the Alawites to the Sunnis.
There are multiple everything sects everywhere in the region — Syria isn’t special. As far as I can tell, the descendants of everything mentioned in the Bible are still around, just no longer running things. Hittites and followers of John the Baptist, Samaritans, Sadducee Jews (though they call themselves something else now), even scions of the House of King David.
Anyone who isn’t suspicious that the new rulers aren’t going to impose Sharia Law on unbelievers sooner or later isn’t paying attention. Promising all unbelievers the status and rights of travelling merchants just means they won’t have equal rights under the law as permanent citizens — and as legal transients they’ll likely be forbidden to repair their religious buildings and train replacements for aging clerics, as a start. See the precarious situation of the native Coptic Christians in Egyptian villages in the upper Nile for what that looks like in a merely semi-totalitarian society.
[USNI] The following is the Dec. 9, 2024, Congressional Research Service Insight report, Syria: Regime Change, Transition, and U.S. Policy.
FROM THE REPORT
Rapid offensives by Syrian armed groups opposed to the government of Bashar Al Asad (alt. Assad) forced Asad’s resignation and exile to Russia on December 8, 2024. This inflection point in Syria’s post-2011 civil war marked the end of decades of Asad-family rule.
Advances since late November by anti-Asad groups left much of western Syria (including Damascus and most other major cities,) in the hands of different forces: a coalition led by the U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) coalition, and southern Syria-based armed groups. Groups (including Alawite minorities) with historical ties to the Asad regime maintain a presence in some western coastal areas where Russian air and naval bases are located. Eastern Syria remains largely under the control of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the U.S.-backed Syrian Free Army, both U.S. counterterrorism partners against remnants of the Islamic State (IS/ISIS) that once dominated parts of Syria and Iraq.
Many Syrians are welcoming the end of Asad’s rule and opportunities to reunite families and release long-held prisoners. At the same time, Syrians and outside observers note that considerable political, economic, and security challenges lie ahead.
President Joseph Biden called Asad’s ouster “a fundamental act of justice” and “a moment of historic opportunity.” On December 9, a senior Biden Administration official asserted that U.S. policy helped bring about the weakness of the Asad regime and the “entire Iranian-backed artifice in the region,” and has “completely changed the equation in the Middle East.” President Biden also said the U.S. government would protect U.S. citizens and personnel in Syria along with U.S. regional partners, and would remain vigilant against a possible IS resurgence.
Approximately 900 U.S. military personnel are present in eastern and southern Syria, conducting counterterrorism missions against IS remnants and supporting the SDF’s detention of more than 9,000 IS prisoners and administration of camps for more than 40,000 individuals from formerly IS-held areas. U.S. Central Command conducted dozens of airstrikes against IS targets in central Syria as Asad’s forces withdrew. The United States suspended operations at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus in 2012; the Czech Republic serves as the U.S. protecting power in Syria. President-elect Donald Trump made statements as Asad’s government collapsed, calling for the United States to refrain from involvement in Syria’s conflict.
SITUATION IN SYRIA
As of December 8, some Asad government officials appeared to remain in place and anti-Asad forces appeared to be coordinating with them to attempt to preserve order. Debate among Syrians over Congressional Research Service 3
governance may reflect the diverse interests of Syrian political, ideological, ethnic, and religious groups. While armed Sunni Islamist groups led the final military campaign that ousted Asad, non-Islamist locally-organized armed groups, particularly in southern Syria, participated and may control some strategic areas and resources. Syrians’ demands for accountability and personal grievances may affect security as the transition unfolds.
Outside actors, including Syria’s neighbors, may act to influence Syria’s transitional arrangements and the post-Asad security environment in ways that serve their discrete interests. Turkey supports armed groups in northern Syria that have seized areas near Aleppo from the U.S.-backed SDF since early December. The Turkish government seeks to counter the SDF because of links Kurdish SDF elements have with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK, another FTO).
On December 8, Israel took control of some formerly Syrian military-held areas of the Golan Heights and said it would continue to strike “heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterized Israel’s military as taking a “temporary defensive position,” and expressed his hope that Israel and Syria could have peaceful relations in the future. To date, some Russian military forces have repositioned but reportedly remain in Syria. Iran reportedly evacuated some personnel from Syria.
Asad’s departure may enable additional international humanitarian assistance to Syria. In June 2024, a UN official warned that Syria was “facing its highest levels of humanitarian need since the start of this 13-year crisis,” with 7.2 million people internally displaced and 13 million people (of a population of nearly 24 million) facing “high levels of acute food insecurity.” Nearly five million Syrians are registered as refugees in regional countries. Any return home of displaced Syrians may ease pressures on host communities, but could increase humanitarian and service demands on transitional authorities and create new operational and diplomatic questions for donors.
#1
This may end up worse than the Afghanistan withdrawal for Joe historically.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/11/2024 13:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
things could go horribly wrong
but, there is a lot of potential for a good, or at least a decent, outcome
The Syrian diaspora includes a lot of wealthy people who would like to invest in rebuilding the country. Bringing back the refugees will mean a potential good workforce. A government that is moderate would mean good relations with Jordan, the Saudis and the UAE.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/11/2024 20:15 Comments ||
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#3
worse than the Afghanistan withdrawal for Joe historically.
Is it really possible to be worse for Jotato than it is now? Would he even notice?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
