BREAKING! Prisoners of the notorious Saydnaya prison have been freed in Syria by rebel forces. Saydnaya was the site of a yet untold number of perhaps hundreds of thousands of tortured and executed prisoners. X vid at link

X ^ | 12/7/2024 | X

[know.your.why]

BREAKING! Prisoners of the notorious Saydnaya prison have been freed in Syria by rebel forces. Saydnaya was the site of a yet untold number of perhaps hundreds of thousands of tortured and executed prisoners.

[calljack]

All he can see is the bottom of their feet.

[TheBattman]

Definitely.

[TheBattman]

All sides in the Syria conflict are bad. It is a case of picking your poison. Assad was a semi-secular Islamic government (dictatorship, not that unlike Saddam Hussein). he was relatively tolerant of Christianity.

These “rebels” are extreme radical Islamists.

Syria just sucks right now.

[TheBattman]

Therein lies the confusion. Assad was somewhat secular - yet Iran has been a staunch ally. Iran usually supports extreme Islamists, which is what the rebels are... so its awfully confusing.

[know.your.why]

So this means the refugees can return home from Europe....right?

Yes! It does, and they are also allowed to take their street-corner smoke and candy stores back with them. /s

[srmanuel]

It’s true, it remains to be seen what this group of Rebel in Syria will do in terms of violence, we do know from history that anytime competing groups especially in the Middle East get together it doesn’t end in negotiated peace and tranquility, it ends with one site eliminating the other in a long bloody civil war.

Remember when ISIS was first formed, it rampaged across Iraq and parts of Syria in record time, its violence was well documented, now imagine that same group in control of an entire country like Syria...

I doubt people will be living in harmony in that area.

[dfwgator]

Syria has been Disneyland for terrorists for decades.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

Iran usually supports extreme Islamists, which is what the rebels are... so its awfully confusing.

The Sunni/Shia split in Islam is similar to the Catholic/Orthodox split in Christianity.

Iran supports Hezbollah because they are Shia and Hezbollah recognizes Iran's Ayatollah as Islam's supreme leader.

The Houthis are also Shia, whom Iran supports, but they don't recognize the Ayatollah.

Al Qaeda/ISIS/HTS are all Sunni groups and don't have affiliation with Iran.

[wardaddy]

Worse than Assad for non fundies that much is sure

[Krosan]

I have read that Hezbollah has always been just an IRGC branch in Lebanon. They got a chance to brand themselves as a native organization during Israel’s invasion in 1982, but that was just propaganda and did not change the reality.

[Mr. Blond]

Everyone locked in a prison is innocent, somehow.

[deport]

HELP NEEDED if you can

[GOPJ]

The fact that Damascus is now free of the Assad regime, without bloodshed, is very important, because it may signal that there is a path forward without bloodshed, without the country plunging into civil war.

So Damascus wasn't as loyal to Assad as people thought? Or they have dogs in many fights?

[GOPJ]

In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2024

[grobdriver]

I have no idea whether this is good, bad, or a different level of bad.

I compare this situation to Iraq in 2003.

Saddam the strongman is out - but is what replaced him any better? Worse, I'd say.

Assaud's was a secular state - now I fear the replacement is another expansion of Islam.

[TheBattman]

Yes, I know about the denomination-like division in Islam. but that really is a bit misleading in this case. Assad is/was a brutal dictator. Yet the very rebel forces the US and many in the West have supported are FAR more radical - of the worst terrorist kind.

The whole Shia/Sunni split is rather strange - as mentioned - and is not unsurprising, that Hezbollah, Hamas, islamic Jihad... all are supported by Iran... but they are all to one degree or another, radical Islamists. Assad is/was just a megalomaniac just like his father was (and brother who died in a car crash opening the door to Al Bashir taking the throne). But the Assad family has long been very secular - which generally ticks the Ayatollah and his mullah’s off...

so yeah... its a strange mix. But none are good and none will EVER be genuinely trustworthy or “friends” with us.