Take a moment to read this tweet:
“The cruel Assad dictatorship has collapsed. This historic change in the region offers opportunities but is not without risks. Europe is ready to support safeguarding national unity and rebuilding a Syrian state that protects all minorities. We are engaging with European and regional leaders and monitoring developments.”
Now try to come to terms with the fact that the person who posted this on X is Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President: The head of the EU is hailing the jihadists’ victory in Syria.
Of course, Assad is certainly no angel. In his two decades in power, the former ruler of Damascus has had a dire track record of illiberal practices and violent oppression. But, to see a dictator go and be happy about it is one thing. To rejoice at the victory of head-chopping Islamists is another.
Von der Leyen sees “opportunities” in this “historic change”. She seems to completely disregard the fact that the organisations that have stormed the Syrian capital after a blitz military campaign that has left the world in awe are direct descendants of the most ghastly criminals of the Islamic State.
Let us take a closer look at who these factions are.
The Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which has led the assault on the Syrian government’s forces and taken control of Damascus, was formed under its current name in 2017. Before that, its present backbone and leadership constituted the core of the Jabhat al Nusra. And Al Nusra was nothing short of Al Qaeda’s regional branch in Syria.
Yes, those are the exact same people who beheaded or executed their captives and hostages in the most perverted and gruesome manners conceivable. Those are the very beasts who took pride in systematically raping “infidel” women, selling them as sex-slaves and treating them like animals.
As for the so called Syrian National Army (SNA), formerly known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), or also known in the past as the Turkish Backed Syrian Army (TBSA), which also plays a major part in the anti-Assad alliance, it is a group that has had ties with the Islamic State, with which it has fought side by side against the YPG, Syria’s Kurdish forces.
And while the SNA is closely associated with Turkey, to which it relies for training, funding, equipment and guidance, as it adheres to a neo-Ottoman ideology, some of its factions like Ahrar al-Sham have a clear Islamist identity boasting goals such as their wish to “establish an Islamic state governed by the Sharia law”.
Back to the HTS, where the Sharia is the only law, although it has lately tried to rebrand itself with the help of international legacy media, it remains a terrorist group. In fact, it is officially designated as a terrorist organization by the UN, the US and Turkey, amongst others.
It is terrorists, therefore, that von der Leyen believes can form a state which “supports all minorities”. It is the supporters of the establishment of a Caliphate, who the top EU official trusts with rebuilding Syria.
It is of course understandable that EU diplomacy is satisfied to see Russia and Iran take a serious geopolitical blow. Assad’s Syria has practically been a protectorate of Moscow and Tehran. Losing their foothold in the heart of the Middle East deprives the West’s adversaries of considerable strategic depth.
Still, for the EU to issue statements of support to jihadists, Islamist extremists and terrorists is simply unacceptable. The union has been founded upon principles and values. It is supposed to be a global beacon of liberty and humanitarian integrity – one that does not compromise its core beliefs in the cynical context of international power games.
Unfortunately, all this proves to be the case only in theory. In practice, the EU has been reduced to a sorry follower of regional and global developments and a passive receiver of historical decisions made by others. Having said that, it could at least spare itself the role of the Islamist terrorists’ cheerleader.
Von der Leyen has just turned the EU into a cheerleader for Islamist terrorism