Alissa AzarDec 5, 2024

It’s actually mind numbing seeing people in the west cheer on HTS while people back home are terrified about what the future holds.

Seeing more freed prisoners is a beautiful sight that brought tears to my eyes. But the feeling is compounded with fear and anxiety. mercenaries (mostly non Syrian) made their way through Hama overnight. They announced on social media that they’re heading to Homs next, stating “your time has come” in an online post encouraging people to join them.

Syria is a very diverse country. But Homs in particular is veryyyy diverse. Many minorities live in Homs. The population has many ethnoreligious communities. Many Druze, Shia, Alawi’i, and Sunni live in Homs. Wadi Al Nasara, which means “valley of Christians” is where my family is from which is also in Homs. It has a large population of indigenous Syriac and orthodox Christians.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already fled their homes out of fear. The conditions were already really bad. Over 7 million Syrians are displaced within the country. At least 70% of the country is in need of humanitarian aid. Over 90% of the population lives below the poverty line.

This is not good.

Show threadAlissa Azar

Assad is very bad, but what's really important in this very moment is realizing that HTS and similar groups are DETRIMENTAL to the entire fabric of our being. Not only for Syrians, but for ALL of us. Our brothers and sisters in Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Iran... our Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian and Yezidi brothers and sisters... we will all bleed. The road to total destruction and colonization will be greatly expedited for all of us.

If your solidarity ends at being anti western imperialism or anti America, you are reducing a complex situation to fit your own narrative which is a disservice to the lived experiences of hundreds of thousands of people.

Dec 5, 2024 at 7:59pmWeb
Show threadGrah am Jan zDec 5, 2024
@alissaazar I'm a complete idiot watching this unfold. Beyond ousting assad, what are the goals of HTS? Could you please recommend me something to read?
Show threadAlissa AzarDec 5, 2024

@gardengnome666 I can write something or share my last post I made that has some info about them. Otherwise give me a bit and I can share some reading material.

The thing with Syria is it’s very complex. There’s a lot of personal bias (not inherently bad) and also propaganda. So the ability to sift through bias and propaganda and kind of triangulate the truth is very important. For example, most of the good literature I read that exposes HTS for what they are, is very much so Assad-aligned media or pro Assad in some way. A lot of the literature out there that is anti Assad and has great information on things his regime has done to people is very pro HTS and similar groups and ignores the voices and experiences of the minorities in the country. There is a lot of nuance and a lot of propaganda.

Show threadAlissa AzarDec 5, 2024

@gardengnome666

Here’s a reply I made that links sources for info that I like to use:
https://kolektiva.social/@alissaazar/113585566469390017

This post has someeee information but it’s still a TLDR:
https://kolektiva.social/@alissaazar/113585040730858799

For what it’s worth I do think SDF/Rojava media do a good job of it. They use some terms I’m not a fan of and we should be mindful how we use the term “jihad” but they have good info. Same with AJ

Alissa Azar (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] I like Al Jazeera. Here’s some other sources of info too. As always, practice critical thinking regardless of the source and take into account personal biases (which is not an inherently bad thing at all) This one is good for chronological updates as they happen. Each update links to the source of information (which is all over the place, from hezbollah aligned media, YPG/SDF aligned media, regime media, etc) https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2024/2-december-06-fajralhurriya-operations-room-announces-the The following are affiliated with SDF: https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria https://hawarnews.com/en/ https://medyanews.net/ https://sdf-press.com/en/2024/12/statement-on-recent-developments-in-syria/ https://rojavainformationcenter.org/ar/%d9%85%d8%b1%d9%83%d8%b2-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%88%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%a7 This one is Al Mayadeen, which is Hezbollah aligned media: https://english.almayadeen.net/ YPG/YPJ & groups like HTS are also all active on telegram. I like those for footage and live updates otg but important to note sometime people on the ground have less info than those who aren’t about specifics when there’s so much going on and happening so fast so again just always using critical thinking is important.

kolektiva.social
Show threadGabriel PettierDec 5, 2024

@alissaazar i was also very concerned at first, and i'm still quite anxious, but i must say some videos i saw of people preaching against sectarianism and for inclusivity, not just across different muslim faiths, but reaching to christians and others, emerging a few days ago, gave me some hope that the coalition is not going to be dominated by extremists.

I really hope that materialize, but it's just that, hope, there is reasons to be worried for sure.

Show threadAlissa AzarDec 5, 2024
@tshirtman I hope so too. But Christians have already been targeted by them in Aleppo. Same with Kurds. Sunni women were also complaining about the ones who forced them to wear a hijab. Of course the actions of a few don’t speak for all but it’s inexcusable and I still don’t trust them. But I will be very happy if I’m wrong.
Show threadLukefromDCDec 7, 2024
@alissaazar Here's a useful analogy: compare Trump to Assad and Vance to the commanders of Daesh and similar groups.