Joseph S. Laughon
The Syrian civil war has shifted into a new phase, one that was unthinkable just a few short days ago. The rebels, largely led by the former al-Qaeda affiliate Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and their leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, have conducted a lightning offensive through major cities, eventually taking the capital of Damascus on December 8th. The Assad regime, which had ruled Syria for over 53 years, suddenly collapsed as Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow.
Suddenly, HTS have gone from ruling a besieged enclave to the kingmakers of a new Syria. Al-Jolani insists that his organization has changed, promising to protect human rights and minority communities. American policymakers should not be credulous. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s record, the consistent trend of deception in jihadism and western naïveté demands extreme suspicion until proven otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment