Remember how the Iraqi army was crushed by the US. And now remember how the Syrian army — backed by Russia, Iran, its proxies, and many others — was crushed by a bunch of "jihadists" from the Idlib groups. Doesn't really add up, does it.
When ISIS showed up in Syria, everyone fighting there united against it. All forces were thrown at it. After the "defeat" of ISIS in 2017 and 2019, the Syrian state only had a couple of enemies left: CIA-bought mujahideen and the Kurds. The Syrian government did attack them, there were clashes, shelling, even some advances — but they never launched a major offensive aimed at total destruction. Didn't even try to fully step into that Idlib snake pit.
Why? Two reasons.
First, the leaders of that Idlib snake pit had already been bought by the CIA back in 2016–2017.
Second — and this is the real reason — Idlib wasn't just some terrorist nest. It was a proxy battleground for Turkey and the US. If Assad had launched a full-scale offensive to wipe out Idlib, he would have been attacking Turkish and American proxies directly. And you know what happens to leaders who do that? No negotiations. No safe passage. Just the Saddam Hussein treatment. Assad understood that perfectly. So he sat there, took small bites, and hoped for the best.
Then came the opposition offensive in 2024. Damascus in three days. All weapons handed over. Assad regime soldiers hiding in the deserts, sometimes fighting back (while government officials sit cozy in their offices). Huge numbers of prisoners — who were later released. Why did it happen so fast? Because the US, Israel, and Turkey gave him a choice: either Syria gets turned to dust and Assad himself gets hanged, or they give him safe passage and the army just surrenders. Assad picked the second option. Then people celebrated the "revolution."
And right after that, Israel started bombing Syria, setting up terrorist cells (the Druze autonomy in Suwayda), and grabbing territory — none of which happened under Assad. People's poverty was justified with "just hold on." And those who saw themselves as jihadists fed their audiences: "hold on, Sharia is coming."
Now it's 2026. Women in Damascus doing yoga in public, celebrating New Year, the Vatican opened an embassy. And in power — the former head of Al-Qaeda in Syria. Strange, right? Why kill Al-Baghdadi but not Al-Jolani? Because he fucking sold out, plain and simple. But he kept feeding his followers promises of Sharia.
Mass purges of foreign volunteers right now. Recently they killed Mustafa al-Rusi — the guy who fought in red armbands against the Russian military. They killed him because you can't suck up to Israel, the US, and Turkey, run training drills with NATO, and keep "jihadists" in your army at the same time.
When the Kurds started integrating into the Syrian state, they went on a "safari on children" in Raqqa. But that didn't stop their "democratic" entry into revolutionary Syria. And everyone who used to cheer for this Syria is now silent. Some have gotten weirdly into religion — probably so they don't get killed. Raids on Uzbeks — nothing successful so far.
So here's where I'm going with this: the big regional powers just divided Syria among themselves. That's what the Assadists were blocking. And by the way, the Assadists are still in the new Syrian government. How inconvenient.
Another successful CIA project. And ISIS was destroyed because it was getting in the way of their plans for the region.
Same thing is happening in Mali right now, but that's another story.
That's the best I could do. Drop a comment and let me know what you think about this theory.
P.S. The text was translated and slightly edited by AI. The original was written in Russian.
