Let’s Get Serious About Syria

It’s the harshest blow anyone has delivered to Iran, or to Russia since they were driven from Afghanistan.

Here’s one thing that can never be underestimated: the good that inured to the world when the brutal Assad Crime Family regime came to an end a week ago. For fifty four bloody years, Syria was ruled by Hafez al-Assad “Half-Ass” in my book) followed by his son, Bashar al Assad (“Bash-Ass.”) Half-Ass and Bash-Ass remained in power because of Russian and Iranian military aid and troops, and billions of dollars earned producing a deadly amphetamine they distributed within their fellow Arab countries.

The end of this Middle Eastern Mafia rule was a total surprise to Western intelligence, and it was accomplished by an unlikely coalition of resistance, led by Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS), a group once affiliated with Al Qaeda, but when they ruled parts of Northern Syria, did not impose anything close to a strict Islamist government. They and their leaders claim to have renounced terorism and Islamist extremism. The group is still designated a terrorist group by the US and EU, and there is a multi-million dollar reward for their leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani. Julani renounced terrorism and Islamist extremism years ago, though that does not make him a Western-style democrat. While there are reportedly some of the old guard remaining in the group, the evidence appears to show the group and their leaders have evolved.