SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: The US and allies spent billions of dollars arming an insurgency that they knew was dominated by Al Qaeda -- and that carried out atrocities like in Latakia.

https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1865845528375779613

Aaron Maté

No country is a monolith. Syrians are celebrating the fall of a repressive, authoritarian government. Other Syrians, particularly from minority groups, are now living in fear of/fleeing from the sectarian insurgents taking its place. The "rebel" leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is the founding leader of Al Qaeda in Syria, al-Nusra, and a former deputy to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Jolani now claims that this was just a "phase", but he's never apologized for the atrocities committed under his watch. This includes August 2013 massacres in Alawite areas of Latakia, which saw "the systematic killing of entire families," an Amnesty International investigation found. As one veteran NYT correspondent reported, the insurgents were devoted to "sectarian mass murder." The same global compassion for Syrians who suffered under Assad should also extend to those Syrians now fearing new atrocities. That's especially the case for those of us whose governments have contributed to Syria's suffering. The US and allies spent billions of dollars arming an insurgency that they knew was dominated by Al Qaeda -- and that carried out atrocities like in Latakia. The US military has occupied a large swath of northeastern Syria, stealing its oil and wheat. The US has also imposed crippling sanctions that, as Trump-Biden officials boast about, "crushed" Syria's economy, "deny reconstruction", and have "exacerbated fuel and food shortages for everyday Syrians." From arming insurgents, occupying oil/wheat fields, to imposing sanctions that hurt everyday Syrians, the aim of this regime change campaign was to cause enough misery in Syria so that its government imploded and its place in the axis of resistance was severed. After years of war, pillage, and economic strangulation that has finally happened. While one authoritarian system has collapsed, another one has succeeded.