The Fall of the Assad Regime: Terrorism Challenges

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria presents the international community with a range of complex challenges. First and foremost, there’s a significant risk of an ISIS resurgence. Over the past year, there’s been an uptick of ISIS attacks every single month—not only in Iraq but in Syria as well. While the new ISIS caliph stays silent, learning from his predecessors that speaking publicly is likely to lead to his demise, thousands of ISIS fighters remain in camps and prisons run by Syrian Kurds. Therefore, should internal strife break out between the various anti-Assad forces and continue to spill over into Kurdish-controlled areas, the risks of incidents like the Hasaka prison break in 2022 will rise. Reports of fighting between the Turkish-controlled Syrian National Army (SNA) and Kurdish forces under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Manbij, as well as between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces and the SDF in Deir al Zour, are therefore highly concerning. Continued clashes between the various groups is all the more likely since a significant part of Syria’s remaining oil and gas resources are located in areas under Kurdish control, something no power broker in Damascus will likely accept.

Lebanon’s New Dawn – OpEd

After Damascus, Beirut now celebrates a new era with the election of a president, a position that Hezbollah had obstructed, leaving the post vacant since October 2022. This new phase in Lebanon concludes 50 years of regional exploitation of this small country, the second-smallest Arab state in terms of area.

Post-Assad Syria: Challenges, Opportunities, And US Role In Shaping Its Future – Analysis

The unexpected fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8 has put Syria in the spotlight once again. Following over a decade of conflict, the killing of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, the displacement of around half of the country’s population internally or externally, there is a new reality in Syria. While the aftermath of Assad’s fall has gone generally better than expected, the transitional period ahead is one that requires an alert and proactive US approach, rather than a disengaged and passive one.

Le cœur du HeartLand

Les Occidentaux n’ont eu de cesse de considérer le monde entier comme un territoire à conquérir, maîtriser, contrôler ! Moi plutôt qu’un autre ! Supposant ainsi que l’inéluctable nécessité de dominer comme un acte naturel, consubstantiel à l’homme, du fond de la jungle à la géopolitique mondiale.

Vu d’ailleurs (Orient, Sud global), le monde serait une grosse boule dont les éléments se lieraient par des accords commerciaux réglés par des lois internationales ! Vision idéaliste ?

Théorie des étapes, macrohistoire et survie au Kali Yuga

Remplacer les inégalités mondiales et les injustices systémiques par la réciprocité et la mutualité est une condition préalable pour échapper à l’ère du conflit.

Notre époque présente toutes les caractéristiques du Kali Yuga, une ère sombre de matérialisme, d’aliénation, d’injustice et de déclin moral. Mais il y a de l’espoir.

Russian Expert Yevgeny Satanovsky: ‘The War In Syria Has Been Unambiguously Won Not Just By Local Islamists, But By Turkey And Its Ally – The Emirate Of Qatar’

On December 24, 2024, Russian expert Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the Russian think tank Institute of the Middle East, wrote an analysis in the Russian journal “Russia In Global Politics” about the situation in Syria. Satanovsky stated that the war in Syria has been “unambiguously won not just by the local Islamists, but by Turkey and its ally – the Emirate of Qatar.” He then added: “As for the possibility of maintaining the Alawite autonomy in Latakia with Russia’s help… do not get your hopes up.”

Explainer: tracing the history of Sudan’s Janjaweed militia

Former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was finally removed from power after six months of peaceful protest earlier in 2019. The protesters were hopeful for a new beginning but their quest for a civilian government has been shut down by a military council that includes Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, generally called Hemedti, the leader of a paramilitary unit called the Rapid Support Forces that has its roots in the Janjaweed. Tsega Etefa explains who the Janjaweed are and why their presence doesn’t bode well for peace in Sudan.

Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic Cleansing by Government and Militia Forces in Western Sudan

SUMMARY

The government of Sudan is responsible for “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity in Darfur, one of the world’s poorest and most inaccessible regions, on Sudan’s western border with Chad. The Sudanese government and the Arab “Janjaweed” militias it arms and supports have committed numerous attacks on the civilian populations of the African Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. Government forces oversaw and directly participated in massacres, summary executions of civilians-including women and children – burnings of towns and villages, and the forcible depopulation of wide swathes of land long inhabited by the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa. The Janjaweed militias, Muslim like the African groups they attack, have destroyed mosques, killed Muslim religious leaders, and desecrated Qorans belonging to their enemies.