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Justin James's avatar

“postcolonial Syria has been a major check on US/Israel’s ambitions, as Patrick O’Higgins documented in his article “Gunning for Damascus”, and has paid a heavy price”-Pro-Resistance Westerners, including me, need to re-evaluate how they define victory. The conditions are not the same as for empires, e.g. unconditional surrenders, body counts, conquest. Prof. Podur’s article here shows that the enormous sacrifices of the resistance have not been in vain. I’m no expert on Central or South American history, but it just seems like the situation in West Asia is definitely bad but could be worse. Imagine being Cuban or Salvadoran or Guarani, to go back a few centuries…

This isn’t the most relevant information, but here’s just one example of Syrian help that I just came across: “Hezbollah has been able to utilize support from Syria in its escalation-counterescalation warfare with the Israeli military. For example, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) noticed in the early 1990s that Hezbollah forces had begun to use remotely detonated explosive devices in southern Lebanon. Guerrillas would plant these bombs along the roads and detonate them as IDF patrols drove by. In response, the IDF began to detonate the bombs early, using the same radio frequency as Hezbollah. Rather than give up the tactic, Hezbollah went back to Syria to obtain a weapons upgrade. The result was a remote-detonated bomb with scrambling devices as well as a bomb detonated by a computer that provided multiple-frequency transmissions” (Rabasa, Angel, et al “Hezbollah and Hamas” Beyond Al-Qaeda: Part 2, The Outer Rings of the Terrorist Universe, RAND Corporation, 2006, p. 13)

Rand Corporation…the enemy knows the importance of Syria, so it’s beyond annoying when anti-Assad people don’t get it and yet claim to support resistance. Thanks for your work and also stating that point in your podcasts.

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Sarah's avatar

Thanks for this crucial analysis.

Syria also helped Iran during the Iran-Iraq war - if I remember correctly, the only state to do so (arguably, frenemy Israel helped with arms too) when the US/Europe/Gulf states had piled on the side of Iraq. Iran was so isolated and backed in a corner that it sent 14-year-olds to run through minefields to clear them. Robert Fisk describes how both Iranian and Iraqi adult male soldiers were traumatized by that in "The Great War for Civilization."

You never forget the hand that helped when you were that desperate. All those claims of chemical weapons being used by Assad against civilians in the 2010s, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif going around, repeatedly explaining that Iran would never help any entity that used chemical weapons because Iranians suffered Iraq's chemical weapons attacks and it remains a visceral red line. That White Helmet stories were propaganda to serve the dismantling of Syria. That the West glossed over the crimes of its bloodsoaked ruthless dictator allies as it screamed about Assad's dictatorship.

There are some who think Iran's new reformist government is trying to curry favour and make deals with the West - I don't think those analysts have been paying attention. It's the same people who are back in power, and they will give no more benefit of the doubt. The fact is, the Axis of Resistance faces an incredibly complicated balancing act. Few Arab regimes want the Axis to succeed as it will thoroughly discredit them that a coalition undergirded by a Shi'a, non-Arab state stepped in and supported Palestinians where they did not. And unfortunately, many in the region, including internally, can be bought, so the betrayals are and will continue to be many.

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