Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
On Sunday last week, Damascus fell to Salafi terrorists and other imperialist-aligned forces. Regardless of the flaws of the ousted government, this is a horrible situation for the Syrian proletariat as well as for the people of Palestine, Lebanon and others. We can only hope for the perseverance of the Syrian workers and the remaining anti-colonial resistance.
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— 🇮🇷 🇮🇷 🇸🇾 Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC 'Khatam al-Anbiyaa' Headquarters: 'Bashar al-Assad did not request Iranian help – in fact he actively prevented us from coming and helping'
General Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy commander of Khatam al-Anbiyaa HQ:
– Bashar al-Assad said to one of our (Iranian) officials in a meeting: 'My soldiers have truly become either smugglers or thieves, they only defend those who offer them bribes and privileges. They could not defend me, and when I wanted to protect at least Damascus, I realized that they were not able to protect Damascus either.'
– Bashar al-Assad did not allow us (the IRGC) to go help the Syrian Arab Army, although he asked us for assistance in the past, but this time he not only did not ask, but he was worried about us arriving, and said that 'if you come, Israel will probably attack us'.
– Turkey is a part of NATO, and we should not see or accept the presence of this country and its influence anywhere outside of America and Europe. Turkey is a part of them, and with this attitude, it serves America. America is active behind the scenes.
– It seems that the factions present in Syria will clash with each other based on their own different interests. Maybe separating Syria is Turkey's desire, because they have been coveting a part of Syria for a long time.
@Middle_East_Spectator
Sad...
Iran is unfortunately not painting the right picture.
Most of Iran's military help withdrew from Syria months before this happened, especially after the large attacks by Israel against Iran in Syria, like the embassy attack.
Although I don't have confirmation or evidence, but I rly doubt Assad would refuse Iran help. I could believe that he maybe didn't request it though, but still unsure.
Pezeshkian has been aiming for normalizing and de-escalation with the West, and we're seeing the effects of that.
It is true that Assad was also seeking to normalize with Arab states such as UAE and Saudi in attempt to break the suffocating sanctions. This may have made Iran more weary of support, but ultimately they were doing the same thing.