In interview with ToI, a Free Syrian Army officer expresses hope for friendly relations with Jewish state, warns of Iranian militias propping up Assad: ‘They will come for Israel, too’
The commander interviewed by The Times of Israel participated in the recent seizure of Aleppo and his troops are now fighting government forces, Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in the area, and pushing south.
The rebel leader, in his early 60s, agreed to be interviewed by phone on condition of anonymity and spoke of the objectives of the ongoing campaign, his vision for the future of Syria and relations with Israel, and the role the Jewish state can play, in his view, in support of the rebels.
I wonder if all the people in the other thread downvoting me for saying that no matter who won between Assad’s regime and the rebels, everyone else in Syria loses still feel that these rebels are “the good guys?”
Assad is 100% a super bad. But the rebels are ex Al Qaeda and ISIS.
The US and Israel will support whichever group fights against their enemy.
Assad was supplying Iranian weapons to Hezbollah through Syria. And instead of fighting Israel these rebels used the opportunity to backstab the people who were fighting Israel because Assad was weakened.
In the short term this would be a win. But in the long term Israel is planning to take over Syria and not stopping Israel now will prove an incredibly stupid mistake.
Previously there was Saddam Hussein at the Sunni side who was growing too powerful. Thus the US and Israel supported the Shia’s. Now it is the other way around.
The US and Israel keeps switching sides to support the weakest party until they all kill eachother. Then they steal their land.
Dude, they’re literally asking for a genocidal regime’s help and you’re turning this around and making it about who the U.S. and Israel supports.
Weak.
Who are you taking about right now?
The rebels? The ones literally asking Israel for help?
This would be like if the Chechens during their 1940s revolt asked Nazi Germany for help and you turned it around and talked about how the Nazis would support either the Soviets or the Chechens depending on which was better for them.
That’s not the point, the point would be asking the Nazis for help.
And in this case, the regime that is now running Syria is asking the Nazis for help.
That is just indefensible.
Of course I agree with that. That is why this is a very bittersweet liberation of Syria. If it even will be a liberation at that.
There’s no sweetness. One murderous regime is replacing another murderous regime and the rest of the Syrians lose either way. There is no victory here that should be celebrated. It’s just Stalin replacing Hitler in East Germany. Everyone else who lived there lost.
There is no victory here that should be celebrated. It’s just Stalin replacing Hitler in East Germany. Everyone else who lived there lost.
You’re talking as if there was ever a point in human history that wasn’t like this. This is geopolitics. This is humanity. Yes, it sucks. However, there is a version of “sweetness” here, but this is the bittersweet kind. Its the periods of general peace between the hot wars of destruction and revolution where humanity has the chance to lurches forward a bit.
If the end of the Syrian civil war means a few decades where people in Syria can generally live in peace without bombs or artillery falling on their homes and their families, thats a win. That may be as good as it gets, but its a win.
I wish people in general stopped looking for good guys and bad guys. My maxim as I grow older and weary is everyone is awful, unless proven otherwise. Or, in other words, it’s all geopolitics and a complex web of conflicting interests. Combating factions choose their alliances less on principle and more on what serves their long term goals and immediate tactical aims. In the meantime we are fed whatever narrative paints one or the other side “good” and depending on our politics and possible stake in a conflict convince ourselves that we are “on the right side of history”. But history is largely written by the victor and in hindsight it is always easier to say what was good or bad. In the heat of the moment, when lives, money, and land are at stake, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I think you are highly oversimplifying the situation.
The rapid fall of the Assad regime means the end of the Syrian civil war, which is a good thing. Syria has been plagued by war for more than a decade now, perhaps some peace will finally settle and the millions of Syrian refugees will finally return to their homes. As for what happens after, it remains to be seen. The rebels are no monolith, they contain everything from Turkish backed mercenaries, jihadists to mostly secular Syrian anti-Assad nationalists.
Those who simply assume that the rebels are wholly “good” are no doubt naive, but there is certainly hope that the more reasonable elements of the movement will prevail and institute a more free society, perhaps by cooperating with the Kurdish autonomous zone in the east. If that happens however, or something else like a taliban-esque islamist theocratic tyranny is instituted instead remains to be seen.
