Here we go again.
Cast your mind back to the end of the 1990s and the (first) Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The mainstream media went into overdrive about ‘the plight of Afghan women!’ It was all part of the softening up to get the public on side for what turned out to be decades of Forever War: 20 years of Western blood and treasure flushed away on a futile attempt to turn desert savages into a ‘progressive’ left utopia.
They’re at it again, now that Syria has fallen to yet another swivel-eyed tribe of foaming Muslim barbarians.
Ahmed al-Shara, the former al-Qaeda commander who led rebels in overthrowing Bashar al-Assad’s regime [have] heightened concerns about what the new Islamist leadership intends for the country […]
Shara, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, and his group of disciplined fighters, now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have sought to persuade Syrians and the international community that they have changed. A senior member of his group told the Syrian fact-checking group Taakad that the execution footage that resurfaced this week “reflected a phase we have surpassed”.
Women’s rights campaigners remain wary, and not just of the group. In the city of Homs, which has become divided along sectarian lines between the majority Sunnis and Assad’s Alawi minority, one rights group cancelled a protest for women’s rights after pressure from residents.
Well, sorry, but, whoop-de-doo. This is just a Tuesday in the mediaeval shithole that we call ‘the Middle East’. Call me callous, but I’m just beyond giving a rat’s arse any more. As we saw in Afghanistan, if we let ourselves get suckered into trying to help these Islamic theocracies, they’ll fight us tooth and nail. Well, fine: have it your way. You want Islam, you got it.
Just don’t bring it here. Syria is none of our business, so don’t let’s hear the same fatuous drivel from the ‘human rights’ ninnies about allowing these inbred primitives to swarm our shores. We’ve already seen enough of how that works out.
Israel frankly has the right idea: the instant these low-IQ, goat-herding zealots show signs of exporting their savagery outside their own borders, bomb them to dust from the air and go home. Frankly, a few tons of bombs can only improve the place.
Even better, poking a stick in the nest gets the ants fighting each other and leaving the rest of us alone.
Iranian forces have largely withdrawn from Syria following the Assad regime’s December collapse, according to US, European and Arab officials, in a significant blow to Tehran’s strategy for projecting power in the Middle East.
There are two key facts to bear in mind about Iran: firstly, Iran is a very, very old civilisation and doesn’t forget. It may not be the Persian empires any more but, as modern history shows, it’s still a pivotal power.
Secondly, Iran is perhaps the only significant Shia power. Almost all of the world’s Muslims are Sunni. This schism is crucial when it comes to the scramble for hegemony in the Islamic world. Sunni Saudia Arabia has its own ambitions, but more importantly, Turkey increasingly sees itself as the heir to the Ottoman Caliphate. Syria was a keystone in Iran’s efforts to establish a contiguous ‘Shia crescent’ across the Middle East.
The Iranian withdrawal marks the demise of a years-long effort in which Tehran used Syria as a hub in its broader regional strategy of partnering with regimes and allied militias to spread influence and wage proxy war against the US and Israel. Iranian-backed armed groups in Syria have launched attacks on US forces and aided in attacks on Israel. Members of Iran’s elite Quds Force have now fled to Iran and the militia groups have disbanded, a senior US official said.
The Islamic Republic spent billions of dollars and sent thousands of military personnel and allied fighters to Syria after the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Syria was Iran’s main state ally in the Middle East and a critical land bridge to Hezbollah – the most powerful militia in Tehran’s self-labelled “axis of resistance” alliance.
Iran, already reeling from Israeli air strikes on its assets and partners in the region, began withdrawing personnel during the dramatic 11-day collapse of the Assad regime’s military late last year.
Echoing the kind of humiliation the US suffered in Vietnam and then Afghanistan, Iran was forced to scramble to evacuate its fighters as its puppet state collapsed. Like the Biden administration, the fleeing Iranians left behind masses of military gear and weapons. Some was captured by the victorious rebels, but much was also destroyed by Israel.
In the days following Assad’s ouster, the road from Damascus to Beirut was littered with destroyed military vehicles including tanks and mobile rocket launchers. Most of the vehicles were pointed in the direction of the Lebanese border, suggesting a hasty attempt to pull military hardware from the country […]
Asked if the Iranians were completely out of Syria, the State Department’s top Middle East official, Barbara Leaf, said Monday, “Pretty much, yes … It’s extraordinary.” Leaf, the US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said that Syria was now hostile terrain for Iran. “Which is not to say they will not try to reinsert themselves, but very hostile terrain,” she said.
Having fought the Iranian-backed Assad for years, the new regime is unlikely to be friendly to Tehran for a while. In fact, Ahmed al-Sharaa has said the swift defeat of Assad has “set the Iranian project in the region back by 40 years”.
Most importantly, Syria was the land link between Iran and its proxies in Lebanon. Hezbollah are now cut off, by land, from their paymasters in Tehran.
The recent events come as Iran itself is increasingly vulnerable. The Israeli air strikes in October destroyed Iran’s most advanced strategic air defences and significantly damaged its missile production facilities, leaving it badly exposed to future attacks. And Iran used up some of its arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles after launching two attacks on Israel last year, one in April and the other in October.
Meanwhile, unrest in Tehran is growing over a worsening economic crisis and soaring inflation. And the incoming Trump administration in the US will likely tighten harsh sanctions in a renewed maximum pressure campaign.
Even the cloud of Islamic in-fighting have a silver lining, after all. All the West has to do is sit back and enjoy – and maybe throw in the occasional airstrike, if necessary. But a new Forever War? Forget it.
