There are times when my natural cynicism rises to the top, and there's nothing I can do to control it.
That often happens when it concerns those of radical Islamic persuasion and the useful tools of the Western world. That over-educated, elitist faction of diplomats and know-it-alls populating a healthy segment of our ruling bureaucracy - many of them powerful and unelected. The very ones who kept bending over to accommodate slaughtering Jihadi savages with a long track record of monstrous deeds and a trail of brutalized bodies behind them, as long as said fanatics would occasionally be beaten into a moment of submission and, needing time to rearm and recuperate, would make murmuring noises at the mewling idiots about meeting them somewhere cushy and maybe toke a hash pipe or two together.
Talk peace when Jihadis always mean pieces.
But our glad-handing, disgracefully grateful, useful tools would always swallow the bait hook, line, and stinker. Invariably, they wind up trudging off the field like Charlie Brown after Lucy yanked the football when the boys in burqas went gleefully back to slaughtering, all rested and rearmed.
Gi-tar Man Antony 'Winken' Blinken was one such accomplished tool. Often brought to tears in the service of the demented sack of carbon he pretended to consult before acting in his capacity as Secretary of State, it often seemed like there was nothing Binken loved more than trying to make a Jihadi happy.
From repeatedly coddling Hamas after that order of butchers cut their way through Israeli settlements on October 7, to his 'Be nice now' attitude towards the Taliban during the Biden administration's ignominious and disgraceful withdrawal...
Coward Blinken admits Taliban has FULL control.
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) August 23, 2021
This is now a hostage situation.
The LARGEST & WORSE ever in America. pic.twitter.com/TpyHmWE5Dl
...his deer-in-the-headlights, weepy-eyed mug has been the poster child for everything wrong with how progressives handle Islamic terrorist groups.
That natural cynicism I was referring to was pinging like a gong in December when Turkish-backed rebels - an Al-Qaeda/Taliban hybrid (neat, huh?) - suddenly swarmed over Syria.
Over the weekend some amazing things happened under the radar in Syria.
Turkish-backed Islamic rebels, who have been causing the Assad regime no end of heartburn for years now (since freedom protests in 2011, basically), decided to goose their game and went rolling through the countryside. Bashar al-Assad's forces - with the reported assistance of the Russians and Iranians - are doing what they can to hold on, but for some reason, this time, the rebels seem to have the wind at their back.
...The balance in the stalemate started changing last week, when the Islamist-led rebel alliance in the northwest launched its offensive. Over the weekend, HTS and allied factions took control of Aleppo city for the first time since the civil war started more than a decade ago, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitoring group's director Rami Abdel Rahman.
And really, to be perfectly honest, there are no 'liberating heros' in this army sweeping through the towns into the larger cities.
It's like a Turkish funded Taliban/Al-Qaeda hybrid coming in.
Within a week, this delightful group of primordial Orcs had taken Syria, causing Bashar al-Assad and his lovely wife to vamoose off to Moscow to save their Vogue posing skins.
On the downfall of the Assad regime, Blinken had words to share, and I shared my utter horror at them.
...TELL ME HE DIDN'T SAY THAT
Their complete inability to grasp any given situation was on display again yesterday as our diffident and generally incompetent Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, wandered out to a podium to mumble a few words on the state of the insurgency that had just conquered Syria.
I don't know what I was expecting from this misbegotten spore off the old White House mushroom, but it most assuredly wasn't what came out of this idiot's mouth.
TELL ME HE DIDN'T SAY THAT
This take is going to age badly
— Not Simo Häyhä (@h2av8tor) December 10, 2024
...And just how swell DO you think that's going to be in a fundamentalist ISLAMIC regime? Of course, Blinken helped engineer the Taliban's return, and Afghanistan is now a veritable paradise. So much better than it was.
Does Blinken not know these barbarians already have a track record?
Does Blinken not know they were already scooping up women on their way in?
I don't think Blinken cared, even if he did know, because his tiny brain was feverishly working out how to stay afloat long enough to hand this mess to Trump.
In a VIP post the next day - 11 December 2024 - I put together an extensive background list of everything I could find on Mohammed Al Jolani, the new guy. Blinken's great hope for Syria.
...My whole premise was based on the fact that, yes, the Assads were monsters, but so are the Islamic fanatics who are coming in right behind them. Led, as they are, by a fellow - Mohammed Al Jolani (sp -Joulani, -Jawlani, etc) who has cut his teeth with the very worst of the worst, from al-Qaeda to ISIS and al-Nusra, etc. All before starting his own little terrorist group, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is now in possession of most of Syria.
I documented all his extensive terrorism links - including the still active Director of National Intelligence link declaring HTS a terrorist organization - and had a chunk of a Federalist piece detailing some of the atrocities his groups were notorious for committing.
I would say I had pretty firmly resourced my skepticism over Blinken's naivete about Syria's future being rosy now that the Assads had been vanquished with hard facts about who the new boss and his minions were, track-record-wise.
The only thing I was missing yesterday was a really strong visual (not including blood or a hanging body) that al-Jolani was a hard-core Islamic terrorist.
Today, I have one, courtesy of our very own State Department.
Syria's 'diversity-friendly' Jihadis, they were dubbed.
ERMAGERD
What progressive, uber-liberal wasn't going to swoon over that?
I mean, al-Jolani even SAID THE MAGIC WORDS!!!!
...As his fighters advanced into Aleppo, Jolani put out a series of statements intended to allay fears among the population, segments of which are aligned with the Assad regime. Fighters should not “scare children,” he said, while HTS channels eagerly broadcast clips of Christians in the city going about their business as normal. Afram Ma’lui, the Archbishop of Aleppo, promised that services would be unaffected by the takeover. On Tuesday, with regime forces fully ejected from the city, Jolani put out a second statement declaring “diversity is a strength,” a phrase more redolent of Western HR departments than jihadist warlords.
Western governments, and especially the Biden administration, were like, WE LOVE THIS GUY!!!
Useful virtue-signaling media tools flocked to Syria to find that special 'Weee! Syria is FREE!' moment that would go viral for them.
"Syria is free."
— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) December 11, 2024
Extraordinary moment as @clarissaward and her team witness a Syrian prisoner freed from a secret prison in Damascus.
Left alone for days without food, water or light, the man was unaware Bashar al-Assad's regime had fallen. pic.twitter.com/ZAnGiBlLON
They couldn't suck up to any lone robed and bearded dude fast enough in order to plant the new and improved Syria narrative.
As al-Jolani was as woke as they, CNN made sure his pronouns were included in the chyron for their interview.
CNN put a Salafi Jihadist’s gender pronouns on the screen 🤣 pic.twitter.com/mMiqKKk1KU
— Daddy Milagro (@cupidgeneral) December 10, 2024
Raving, murderous, Islamic lunatic, girlfriends?
Definitely a 'him.'
Oh, how wonderful 'liberation' was.
I said:
...Anyone can talk the pretty talk, especially if they're the quick study the fellow seems to be.
What direction he goes in when he starts walking is what matters.
His face is still on that poster, and his buddies are all still on the terrorist list.
I'd love to be wrong.
Well...
Tragically for Syria, I wasn't wrong. Not remotely.
Everyone who was anyone knew the woke-spewing, suit-wearing terrorist was full of bull.
“That’s the naive Western way of thinking.”
— Stephen Doyle (@GaiusCa1igu1a) March 7, 2025
No my friend, that the naivety of our out of touch, duplicitous, self serving political classes in the West.
And right this second, his diversity boys are out doing what Islamic Jihadis do best - rounding up locals, slaughtering them in the streets, dragging bodies behind trucks, and doing the most horrific things imaginable to the women of communities like the Alawites.
The ghastly videos are a dime a dozen on X at the moment and so horrific that I could hardly find any to share.
This is al-Jolani's HTS opening fire on Alawite homes in Homs.
This isn’t Gaza.
— Kosher🎗🧡 (@koshercockney) March 7, 2025
This isn’t Judea and Samaria.
This is Syria. Last night.
Arabs murdering others Arabs, depending on what type of Arab they are.
Why isn’t this all over mainstream media?
Oh right yeah, because they can’t twist it and blame the Jews.
pic.twitter.com/wGgf2eFtgA
DIVERSITY IS A STRENGTH
Bodies. Piles of bodies.
North western Syria
— Cheryl E 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🎗️ (@CherylWroteIt) March 7, 2025
Piles of dead bodies in multiple places in the palatinate cities of Latakia and Tartus.
Any protests about these massacres? Condemnations?Thought not. pic.twitter.com/R3n6tqU39s
When the barbaric scumbags don't want to get their hands dirty, they're dropping Assad's munition stores out of his former Army's helicopters on unprotected Druze and Alawite communities.
BREAKING: Islamists in Syria are dropping fire bombs on civilian communities. They are targeting the Christians, Druze, and Alawites of Syria.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 7, 2025
The silence from the media and international community is absolutely disgusting. pic.twitter.com/4SFaKZcEwu
Terrifying.
The scenes from Syria are terrifying.
— Dr. Maalouf (@realMaalouf) March 7, 2025
Islamist forces reportedly have official orders to kill anyone they consider an infidel on sight.
Christians, Druze, Yazidis, and even Alawite Muslims are now all facing genocide.
pic.twitter.com/AxQemyM8wi
As of the end of December 2024, we still had close to 2000 US troops in Syria, with 1100 or so that rotate in for 30 or 90-day deployments.
"[However,] in light of the situation in Syria and the significant interest, we recently learned that those numbers [are] higher, [and that] there are approximately 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria," he continued.
Ryder elaborated by making the distinction that the additional 1,100 personnel are considered "temporary rotational forces" — often in theater for 30 to 90 days — that are deployed to meet the fluid mission requirements of U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility.
Conversely, the other 900 personnel are considered "core" assets who are on longer term deployments that typically last approximately nine to 12 months.
Ryder explained that such fluctuations in numbers of personnel are often quite common, and that the additional forces have been in place since before the Dec. 8 downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
This was written four days ago. Things change like lightning, don't they?
...First, while Syria may no longer be in a state of civil war, it isn't exactly in a state of peace either. There is another smaller-scale war taking place in the northeast between Turkish-backed militias like the Syrian National Army and the U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey, which doesn’t distinguish between Kurdish militant groups and views all of them as terrorists, isn’t shy about bombing their positions in Syria. This continues to cause a mixture of anger and resignation in Washington, which regards the Kurds as their most important partners in the country—and more reliable than the assortment of Arab militias who were more interested in fighting amongst themselves than they were in combatting ISIS.
Next up are the ongoing political disputes inside Syria. Just because Assad is gone doesn't mean the divisions are going to heal smoothly. Syria’s two strongest forces— HTS and the SDF—are now engaging in a metaphorical staring contest that could very well get bloody if their differences aren’t rectified. It escaped nobody’s attention that the SDF was a no-show at the national dialogue in Damascus. In fact, the SDF weren’t even issued an invitation to attend the conference, which suggests that Sharaa and the HTS-led government are not going to tolerate separate spheres of influence inside the country.
...Through it all, the Trump administration’s Syria policy remains undeveloped and unexplained beyond the regular airstrikes it conducts against selected ISIS and Al-Qaeda positions (the latest occurred on February 21). Sharaa no longer has a $10 million bounty on his head, but his group is still labeled a foreign terrorist organization by Washington. The Biden administration, on its way out the door, granted a six-month humanitarian waiver on existing U.S. sanctions, but Trump has halted any further moves to relax those authorities. The European Union is taking the opposite approach, agreeing on February 24 to suspend sanctions on Syria’s energy and transportation sectors while permitting European financial institutions to establish contact with certain Syrian banks.
Eventually, President Trump is going to have to address two basic questions: Does it make sense to keep 2,000 U.S. troops in Eastern Syria on a seemingly permanent mission to destroy ISIS, whose caliphate was already destroyed back in 2019? And is it worth exploring more engagement with the new sheriff in Damascus? Stay tuned for the answers.
This chaos is exposing them to other Al-Qaeda and Iranian-backed bad actors taking advantage of the slaughter to take shots at our kids.
The only thing I can say - and pray - is God help the fools who turn their eyes from their current easy prey to the US troops in the eastern part of the country. This president will handle things very differently than the last.
The US needs to get a plan STAT and get them the hell out of there.
Beege ADDS: Somebody in the press has finally noticed. 'Accused' is a nice word.
I suspect many of us will be looking very much forward to the David French and Douglas Murray essays - as well as all the people who put flags in their handles here - inveighing against the massacres of innocents by Syrian (Al Qaeda) forces against religious minorities. pic.twitter.com/xdz7dAtENC
— Gray Connolly (@GrayConnolly) March 7, 2025
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