Latest news with #BasharAl-Assad
Shafaq News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Israel arrests Hamas suspects in Southwest Syria
Shafaq News/ Israeli troops arrested several Hamas operatives in southwestern Syria, the Israeli military announced on Thursday. Carried out overnight, the raid targeted the town of Beit Jinn, about 50 kilometers southwest of Damascus, where Hamas members were allegedly planning attacks on Israeli troops in Syria, according to the military. Firearms and ammunition were seized, and the suspects were transferred to Israel for interrogation. Hamas has yet to comment on the incident. Syria's Interior Ministry rejected Israel's claims, stating that those arrested were civilians from the area. A ministry spokesperson told Reuters that seven people were detained and one person was killed by Israeli fire. Tel Aviv has warned that Damascus could serve as a base for Hamas-style attacks, referring to the October 7 assault, since which Israel has killed more than 54,981 Palestinians—mostly women and children. Following the collapse of Bashar Al-Assad's regime on December 8, 2024, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes, destroying missile depots, radar systems, and chemical weapons facilities, citing concerns about alleged security threats emanating from Syria under its new government. Israeli forces have also launched ground incursions into southern Syria, seizing the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, a move seen as a violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Troops have also fortified positions on Mount Hermon, signaling a push for long-term control.
France 24
10-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
🌟The Bright Side: Ancient tomb complex discovered as Syria clears war rubble
A contractor digging into the earth where the rubble of a destroyed house had been cleared away in northern Syria stumbled across a surprise: the remains of an underground Byzantine tomb complex believed to be more than 1,500 years old. The discovery emerged last month in the town of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province, which is strategically located on the route between the cities of Aleppo and Damascus. The community became a touchpoint in the nearly 14-year Syrian civil war that ended with the fall of former president Bashar Al-Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December. Assad's forces seized the area back from opposition control in 2020. Houses were looted and demolished. Aerial images of the area show many houses still standing but without roofs. Now residents are beginning to return and rebuild. In the course of a reconstruction project, stone openings were uncovered indicating the presence of ancient graves. Residents notified the directorate of antiquities, which dispatched a specialised team to inspect and secure the site. Aboveground, it's a residential neighborhood with rows of cinder-block buildings, many of them damaged in the war. Next to one of those buildings, a pit leads down to the openings of two burial chambers, each containing six stone tombs. The sign of the cross is etched into the top of one stone column. 'Based on the presence of the cross and the pottery and glass pieces that were found, this tomb dates back to the Byzantine era,' said Hassan al-Ismail, director of antiquities in Idlib. He noted that the discovery adds to an already rich collection of archeological sites in the area. Idlib "has a third of the monuments of Syria, containing 800 archaeological sites in addition to an ancient city,' al-Ismail said.
Scottish Sun
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Inside Syria's ‘human slaughterhouse' prisons where sick guards threw ‘execution parties' & floors were carpet of bodies
IT was one of the most fearsome regimes in the Middle East, ruling Syria with an iron grip and 'disappearing' hundreds of thousands of people during the country's brutal civil war. But President Bashar Al-Assad's dramatic toppling in December last year exposed the true horrors of his 'human slaughterhouse' prisons. 15 Rebels swarmed the now-empty prisons after the collapse of the Assad regime Credit: Getty 15 Saydnaya Prison near Damascus was the most notorious prison in the country Credit: Getty 15 The Assad regime collapsed in December 2024. Pictured: a former inmate demonstrates how he was forced to line up naked for a medical check before being taken to a solitary confinement cell at the basement of Saydnaya Credit: Reuters Here detainees were fed from buckets and tortured day and night by sadistic guards who often assassinated them and threw sick 'execution parties' - before disposing of the dead in mass graves. Now a harrowing new BBC documentary, on tonight, delves into what really went on in jails that let Assad keep his grip on power for so long - and hears not only from the inmates detained in them, but the people who ran them. 'When the prisoners heard my name, they would tremble,' said Hussam, a military policeman who worked in the notorious Saydnaya Prison. 'I beat them with all my strength. I showed them no mercy at all.' With the dictator gone, outsiders were free to explore the labyrinth of concrete corridors that only a few months before were filled with the echoing screams of gaunt prisoners. The floors were littered with files and photographs of detainees - some partially burnt in an attempt to cover up the crimes - just part of the meticulous records kept by the state of everyone who passed through the prison walls, their names replaced by a number. Families of the missing and imprisoned are seen in the documentary desperately crawling over rubble hunting for a trace of their loved ones - or at least the truth about what happened to them. Since 2000, dictator Bashar Al-Assad presided over a Syria where dissent was crushed and human rights abuses were rife. Crucial to his hold on power were his security services, who showed little mercy to prisoners accused of threatening the regime. 'As security officers we had the right to kill as we please. We wouldn't be held accountable,' said Colonel Zain, a former Air Force Intelligence officer interviewed on the documentary. Assad torture victims reveal horror of 'burned bodies' & forgetting their names – amid hunt for tyrant's thugs '[Our] mission, like any other agency, was to protect the ruling regime. You have unlimited authority." To them, these were terrorists - and death was the least they deserved. In 2011, protests in Tunisia turned into a call for better human rights across the Middle East and North Africa, a movement called the Arab spring. But when those protests swept into the squares of Syria's capital, Damascus, they were met with a fierce crackdown. Instead of toppling Assad, the country was plunged into a brutal civil war as different factions wrestled for control. During the 13 years of fighting, more than one million people were detained by the regime. Street kidnappings 15 A new BBC documentary tells the story of those who were locked up by Assad - and the officers administering the brutal torture Credit: EPA 15 The floors are littered with the belongings of former inmates Credit: Getty 15 A giant iron press was allegedly used to crush and torture prisoners Credit: Getty Shadi Haroun was one of the first organising protests back in 2011, along with his brother Hadi. After dodging shots from snipers on rooftops, he was bundled into a car and taken to what looked like an ordinary house in the suburbs of Damascus. But this was no home. It was an interrogation centre - and Shadi was to get his first taste of the Assad regime's determination to stamp him out. 'The soldier told me to open my mouth,' Shadi recalled. 'He put his gun inside, and said: 'You're going to get tortured to death. So why don't I make it easier and put you to rest?'' Soon after he was transferred to Mezzeh Air Force Intelligence base, one of the regime's most notorious detention sites. Like all those who opposed Assad, Shadi was deemed a terrorist - with torture their chosen method of extracting a confession. 'He called the investigator and said to him, 'This man, flay him and break his bones. Kill him, do whatever you want, but I need his confession on my desk',' said Shadi. This man, flay him and break his bones. Kill him, do whatever you want, but I need his confession on my desk Security official 'He told me to lie down. They handcuffed my hands behind my back, and then cuffed my feet and joined my hands and feet together. 'They wrapped me in a blanket, like being inside a pipe. I was sweating and the smell of blood was very strong. I stayed wrapped like that for about a week." Eventually Shadi was released. Undeterred, he began organising protests again, more determined than ever to bring down the regime. Carpet of bodies 15 Thousands still don't know the whereabouts of their imprisoned family members - be they dead or alive Credit: Reuters 15 Hundreds swarmed the now-open prisons, pleading for any sign of their loved ones Credit: Getty 15 Saydnaya was particular well-known for its inhuman conditions and human rights abuses that went on inside Credit: AFP Within nine months of the protests, thousands had been arrested, many bundled off the streets like Shadi and taken to secretive locations where they were tortured until they 'confessed'. At least 3,000 had already been killed. Syria's security forces had a network of spies and informants across the country that tracked people like Shadi's every move. 'You could find informants wherever you go,' said Sergeant Omar, an officer in the Air Force Intelligence. 'They could be a taxi driver, they could be a plumber, a mobile phone shop owner, a guy selling cigarettes. 'People were living in fear. This is why we'd say, 'the walls have ears'.' It wasn't long before soldiers pulled up to the house Shadi and his brother were hiding in. Arrested once again, they were taken to the notorious Air Force Intelligence branch in Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus. Those who entered would walk over the bodies of the detainees - you couldn't see the floor Colonel Zain Colonel Zain was second in command at the time. 'The place I worked in was very famous for its bloody practices and the number of detainees held there,' he said. 'We would pack 400 detainees in a room that was eight by ten metres. Those who entered would walk over the bodies of the detainees - you couldn't see the floor.' Shadi returned to Harasta with the documentary crew and showed them round the bare walls that once imprisoned him. 'The temperature was around 40 degrees, because it was so crowded,' said Shadi. 'We saw strange cases of disease amongst prisoners, I think due to oxygen deficiency because of overcrowding. These psychotic episodes soon turned into physical symptoms.' 'Torture parties' 15 Prisoners were executed with a noose around their neck Credit: Getty 15 Piles of clothing now litter the floors where once inmates were tortured for hours on end Credit: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett 15 Prison guards relished in administering beatings Credit: Getty Inside is a changing room, where inmates were stripped, and solitary confinement cells where prisoners would spend months, or even years, locked up. In a neighbouring room, Shadi is reminded of when he was chained up with his brother before being interrogated from pipes on the ceiling. 'We were taken there and hung by our handcuffs from the pipes,' he said. 'It was unbearable - for almost 72 hours, three days, in the same position, without food or drink.' Colonel Zain recalled: 'The interrogation room was right underneath my office. 'Everyone heard the screams. Everyone knew how the interrogations were conducted.' Four months into their detention, a truck pulled up that was normally used to transport meat and they were moved to Saydnaya, a prison with a reputation for brutality that preceded anywhere else in the country. Brainwashed guards treated prisoners like animals, subjecting detainees to continuous beatings. 'We were tortured for hours, and stopped keeping track of time,' recalled Hadi. 'If someone cried during a beating, the beating would get worse." Torture them, don't let them sleep at night. Throw them a party… put them in a grave if you want to, bury them alive Intelligence officer Putting his arms up against a door, Shadi said: "They'd bring a cable and suspend us like this. This is the 'Ghost Method'. "They'd pull us up and we'd be on our toes - you'd last 30 minutes then you'd pass out." Up to 13,000 prisoners were executed here alone in the first four years of the civil war, according to Amnesty. 'I beat them with all my strength,' said Hussam, a military policeman. 'Our superiors would say, 'Torture them, don't let them sleep at night. Throw them a party… put them in a grave if you want to, bury them alive'. 'When they'd call me to go and torture them, the prisoners would go back to their cells bloody and exhausted.' 'Execution parties' 15 Compartments uncovered in the prisons were filled with shoes belonging to executed prisoners Credit: Getty 15 Bodies of the dead were taken to military hospitals where their deaths were recorded as 'heart and respiratory failure' Credit: Getty Occasionally a prisoner would be dragged out of their cell, finally receiving a respite from the torture. But they were on their way to a secret trial - and death was the usual sentence. 'On Wednesday mornings, we'd have an 'execution party'," Hussam recalled. 'Our role during executions was to place the rope on the prisoner - only an officer could push the chair. 'One time, the chair was pushed, but after 22 minutes he didn't die. So I grabbed him and pulled him downwards, so another guard who was bigger and stronger said, 'Go I will do it.' 'Before he died he said one thing: 'I'm going to tell God what you did'.' The bodies of the dead - be it from execution, torture, or disease - were then taken to military hospitals where their deaths were registered. 'Most of the bodies suffered acute weight loss, resembling a skeleton,' said Kamal, an army nurse. 'Most of them suffered from skin lesions and rashes due to lack of hygiene - and most of them had torture marks." He added: 'It was forbidden to record the cause of death as torture. Even those killed from gunshots were recorded as heart and respiratory failure.' All the decision makers who had a role in oppressing the Syrian people escaped, and are now in hiding Shadi With the bodies piling up, mass graves were the only solution. At least 130 grave sites have been found across Syria so far - but dozens more are believed to be out there, known only to those who dug them out. There is little hope of identification for the thousands dumped there. Many of the guards and officers defected from Assad's regime, joining the rebels or fleeing the country. By 2019, the rebellion had largely been suppressed. Shadi and his brother were released at last, fleeing to exile in Turkey. Then, in December this year, rebel forces overwhelmed Damascus and Assad fled the country and claimed asylum in Russia. With the collapse of the regime, Shadi set to work helping others locate their missing friends and family. But for many there is little hope of ever finding out what really happened to them. 'Everyone, the detainees, and families of the missing, should keep talking about this,' he said. 'All the decision makers who had a role in oppressing the Syrian people escaped, and are now in hiding. 'They've left everybody to pick up the pieces - to deal with what they left behind.' Surviving Syria's Prisons airs tonight on BBC Two at 9pm.
Kuwait Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Syria agrees to help locate missing Americans: US envoy
DAMASCUS: Syria's new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the country, a US envoy said on Sunday, in another sign of thawing bilateral ties. The announcement came a day after the United States formally lifted sanctions on Syria, ending more than a decade of diplomatic freeze. Relations have steadily improved since former president Bashar Al-Assad was overthrown last December. 'The new Syrian government has agreed to assist the USA in locating and returning USA citizens or their remains,' US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack wrote on X, describing it as a 'powerful step forward'. 'The families of Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz, and Kayla Mueller must have closure,' he added, referring to American citizens who had gone missing or been killed during Syria's devastating civil war that erupted in 2011. Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse, The Washington Post, and other outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012. Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American psychotherapist, was believed to have died after being detained under the Assad government in 2017. Mueller was an aid worker kidnapped by the Islamic State group, which announced her death in February 2015, saying she was killed in a Jordanian air strike, a claim disputed by US authorities. 'President (Donald) Trump has made it clear that bringing home USA citizens or honoring, with dignity, their remains is a major priority everywhere,' said Barrack, who also serves as the US ambassador to Turkey. 'The new Syrian Government will aid us in this commitment,' he added. Americans killed by IS A Syrian source aware of the talks between the two countries told AFP there were 11 other names on Washington's list, all of them Syrian-Americans. The source added that a Qatari delegation began this month, at Washington's request, a search mission for the remains of American hostages killed by IS. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said that 'the Qatari delegation is still searching in Aleppo province for the bodies of American citizens executed by IS'. Two US journalists, James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, were videotaped in 2014 being beheaded by a militant who spoke on camera with a British accent. El Shafee Elsheikh, a jihadist from London, was found guilty in 2022 of hostage-taking and conspiracy to murder US citizens — Foley and Sotloff, as well as aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. The formal lifting of US sanctions also coincided with Syria's new authorities reshuffling their interior ministry to include fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling, as they seek to improve ties with the West. The lifting of sanctions paves the way for reconstruction efforts in the war-torn country, where authorities are relying on foreign assistance to help foot the enormous cost of rebuilding. The sanctions relief is on condition that Syria does not provide a safe haven for terrorist organizations and ensures security for religious and ethnic minorities, the US Treasury Department said. Trump shook hands with Syria's jihadist-turned-interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa earlier this month during a visit to Saudi Arabia. Al-Sharaa in Turkey Barrack's statement comes a day after he met Al-Sharaa, in Istanbul, during his third visit to Turkey since the fall of Al-Assad. The Syrian presidency said on Sunday that Al-Sharaa and his accompanying delegation met with Turkish officials in Ankara, including Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and financial officials. Yilmaz said in a statement that they discussed 'deepening our economic cooperation in the new period', adding that his country will 'continue to provide all kinds of support to the Syrian people in their peace, development and reconstruction process'. As part of Syria's efforts to strengthen its institutions, the interior ministry appointed new security chiefs in 12 provinces on Sunday. It did not say how the chiefs were chosen nor did it share much information about them, but the list includes former security officials in Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Al-Sharaa-led group that spearheaded the December offensive. The new authorities faced criticism when military appointments in December included six foreign fighters. After meeting Al-Sharaa in Riyadh this month, US President Donald Trump demanded that 'foreign terrorists' leave Syria. Damascus had previously told Washington in a letter that it would 'freeze the promotions of foreign fighters' and form a committee to review previous promotions, according to a Syrian source with knowledge of the letter. The source requested anonymity as they were not allowed to brief the media on the topic. — AFP
Memri
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Memri
Qatar Incites Renewal Of Arab Spring, Hopes For Fall Of 'Tyrannical' Arab Regimes, Especially Egyptian Regime
In the recent months, and especially since the downfall of the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, the Qatari press, both Qatar-based and London-based, has published articles and cartoons encouraging the renewed outbreak of protests and uprising like those of the Arab Spring, but even more intensive and violent, that would lead to the collapse of the Arab regimes, in particular the regime of Egypt. The articles claim that the factors that led to the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2010 – including dire economic and social conditions, injustice, inequality and tyranny – still hold in most of the Arab countries and have even increased. These factors are therefore bound to provoke another wave of the Arab Spring, even more forceful than the previous one, which will topple the 'tyrannical regimes' in the Arab countries. The articles claim further that the fall of the Assad regime has sparked new hope in the hearts of the peoples and serves as a lesson to the tyrants who think that "they own the country and the people' and believe themselves to be 'exempt from accountability and punishment.' The resurgence of the Arab Spring, they say, is 'inevitable' and will be like a "raging flood' that will 'sweep [the tyrants] away into the trashcan of history.' The articles hint especially at the need to overthrow the Egyptian regime, by making suggestive references to 'Pharaohs,' to Tahrir Square (the name of the Cairo square that was the epicenter of the protests against the Mubarak regimes in 2011), to 'tyrannical military regimes,' hinting at the regime of Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, and to the deteriorating economic situation.[1] Similar messages were conveyed on social media by journalists, public-opinion shapers and others in Qatar. Cartoon in Qatari daily: "The new Arab Spring" is reemerging from the grave (Al-Watan, Qatar, December 11, 2024) In this context it is important to note that the Qatari regime, which encouraged and fanned the flames of the Arab Spring protests that began in 2010, especially by means of its Al-Jazeera Network, is itself highly despotic, and even abolished parliamentary elections in the country recently.[2] This report presents the discourse in Qatar on the hope for a resurgence of the Arab Spring after the downfall of the Assad regime in Syria. Articles In Qatari Press: The New Arab Spring, Which Is Imminent, Will Be More Violent Than The Previous One And Will Topple The Tyrants As mentioned, since the fall of the Assad regime, the Qatari press, both within the country and outside it, has published many articles claiming that the causes of the Arab Spring are still in place and predicting that the fall of the Assad regime would reignite the Arab Spring in additional Arab countries and lead to the ouster of their 'tyrannical regimes.' Qatari Economist: The Factors That Caused The Arab Spring Have Only Grown Stronger; It Will Re-erupt In Full Force And Sweep The Tyrants Into The Trashcan Of History In an article titled 'The Pharoah Family and the Arab Spring – Is the [Arab] Spring Dead?', published in two Qatari dailies – Al-Arabi Al-Jadid and Al-Sharq – in early March 2025, Qatari economist Khalid Bin Rashed Al-Khater wrote that the factors that led to the Arab Spring are still in place, and have in fact intensified, and are therefore likely to cause a new Arab Spring, more violent than the previous one. He wrote: 'Whoever thinks the Arab Spring is over is mistaken and should think again. The proof is what transpired in Syria; the causes of the [Arab] Spring are still there and we await the next location… 'The causes of the next [Arab] Spring are valid, and when the conditions are ripe and the circumstances are fitting, [we will discover] that what we have seen of it was not the end but the beginning, and its first wave, which may be followed by waves unlike those that came before, each more powerful than the last, like rain that pours down relentlessly and [gives rise to] stronger plants and a better and more glorious spring. Whoever thinks that the Arab Spring was buried alive by the military oppression or the plots hatched with the West and the East is mistaken. On the contrary, the oppression is [just] a test, a preparation, a price that must be paid and a phase that must be experienced in advance of what is to come… Will the price be high and the change be difficult? Or will the lesson of the Syrian experience be learned, making [the trials] less difficult and easier to swallow?... 'What occurred in Syria is a lesson for the tyrants, but the Pharoah mentality is immutable… The Pharoah family seems to suffer from a particular syndrome – the Pharoah Syndrome or mental blindness, also called a 'disconnect from reality' – which tyrants contract sooner or later, as exemplified by Pharoah, Nimrod [a tyrant mentioned in the Bible and the Quran], [Muammar] Gaddafi, Bashar [Al-Assad] and others who cleave to their throne and only death can remove them from it. These are people whose arrogance and vanity cause them mental blindness and who think that they own the country and the people… and that they are exempt from accountability and punishment… 'The members of the Pharoah family are numerous. Oh how numerous they are in our time… [When I say Pharoah] the reference is clearly not just to Pharoah of Moses's time, for there are many pharaohs and tyrants like him [today], some of whom may have spilled more blood than he did, sowed devastation and destruction and tyrannized the Muslims. But it is Pharoah who represents them and he is their role model and their leader… Every despot who rules tyrannically and sows devastation and destruction everywhere, like Pharoah did, is a member of the Pharoah dynasty … 'The Arab Spring is not dead and shouldn't be dead, because the reasons for it are still alive and have even deepened. The corrupt regimes have increased their corruption and tyranny and the condition of the peoples has deteriorated. At the same time, [the peoples] have become more aware and grown in conviction, and know how to extricate themselves [from tyranny]. And whoever bets on his ability to stop them from doing so when they really want to is like one who futilely stands in the path of a raging flood that will sooner or later will sweep him away into the trashcan of history. There is no way back and no other option for these [tyrants, who must either] enact reforms or step down… 'The fear is that an Arab Spring will arrive, more violent than the previous one, as a natural reaction to: the counter-coups, the regimes' barbaric repression of the [Arab Spring's] first wave, the absence of solutions, the loss of hope, the worsening of the political and economic situation and the forcing of more debt on the state than it can endure – so much so that [the state] has shackled its own sovereignty to the long economic arm of the old Western imperialism and to a policy that pretends to be reform but in fact [only] adds fuel to the fire and makes the bad [situation] even worse. 'According to the literature on political economy, nations rise up when they see that the benefits of rebelling are greater than the benefits of refraining from doing so. The deeper the peoples' plight and despair, the stronger the motives for rebellion and the greater and more promising its anticipated rewards. In any case, the wheel of time does not turn back. There may be a delay or difficulties, and money may play some role or other, but it will not stop [the rebellion] as long as the conditions are present and the circumstances are right… 'The time for everything is inscribed in the Book'[3] and indeed this is the nation of the Quran and it shall not perish…'[4] Cartoon in Qatari daily: 'The despotic regimes' are on the brink of collapse (Al-Watan, Qatar, December 24, 2024) Article In Qatari Daily: Most Of The Despotic Arab Regimes Will Go The Way Of The Assad Regime; This Is Inevitable In his December 25, 2024 column in the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, titled 'The Renewed Waves of the Arab Spring after the Fall of the Regime of the Tyrant Bashar Al-Assad,' columnist Nabil Al-Sahli likewise predicted that Assad's downfall would reignite the Arab Spring and sweep away tyrannical regimes of most Arab countries. He wrote: 'The recent overthrow of the despotic Bashar Al-Assad regime by the Syrian people strongly gives rise to several questions, chiefly: Will the squares of change and freedom[5] in most Arab countries see a second wave of the Arab Spring that will sweep away the despotic military regimes? Especially given that the phenomena of poverty and want, and the absence of justice, dignity and citizen [rights] are still prevalent… 'Those who follow [the events] see that the iron fist of the regimes that have ruled most of the Arab countries for decades is growing heavier. But the gravest thing is that, in the past decade, these countries have begun to rely, extensively and prominently, on sectarian militias and gangs, either local or cross-border ones, at the expense of the state institutions… "Arab and other Third World countries spend more on the military sphere than on economic and social development, infrastructure, job-creation, education, healthcare, scientific research and other areas… Most of the Arab peoples are collapsing under the sword of exile, poverty and want. This is in addition to the rising rates of ignorance and to the growing loss of Arab capital and human capital that goes to Western countries like the U.S. and the countries of Europe. [These countries] have strong and developed economies, whereas the external debt of Arab countries reached more than $1.5 trillion in 2023. All these dreary indications are an earthquake caused by the tyrannical Arab regimes that rule the Arab peoples. As a result, the recent fall of the regime of the tyrant Bashar Al-Assad is bound to be followed by new and wide-ranging waves of Arab Spring, in demand of justice, freedom and dignity, until the tyrannical regimes are overthrown. This is the inevitable future…'[6] Cartoon in Qatari daily: "The fate of dictators throughout history" (Al-Watan, Qatar, January 14, 2025) Qatari Journalist: The Course-Correction Of The Arab Spring Is Starting Again In Syria On December 12, 2024, shortly after the downfall of the Assad regime, Qatari journalist Abdallah Al-Amadi, a columnist for the Al-Sharq daily, wrote that the course-correction of the Arab Spring had begun, and referred to this as 'the return of [the Prophet] Muhammad's army to disseminate justice': '…Significant historical events such as these – the most recent of which was the fall of the Syrian regime – are ultimately a natural result [of the circumstances], even if they exact heavy prices. These are the rules or the norms of clash or struggle between truth and falsehood. The Arab Spring revolutions, which started a decade ago, conformed to these norms. Even if they were met with violent counterrevolutions, and went off track in all the countries where they occurred, we must [still] take the path of truth, which necessarily defeats falsehood and its army. Muhammad's army will surely return to disseminate justice, with Allah's help. It seems that the train of the Arab Spring, which started its journey in Tunisia, continued to Libya, Egypt and Yemen and broke down in Syria, is now starting again, perhaps taking a longer and wider [route]. This is a journey of strengthening and correction. A journey that begins in Syria this time, after the ember of the uprising against injustice, aggression and tyranny was ignited in the blessed land [i.e., in Palestine after the October 7 attack on Israel].'[7] Article In Qatari Daily: Assad's Ouster Will Spark A New Wave Of Revolutions In The Arab World Al-Arabi Al-Jadid columnist Bassel Saleh wrote in a similar vein in a December 18, 2024 column titled "Will Assad's Downfall Restart the Arab Spring?". He argued that this development had breached the dam, allowing "the river of the popular Arab revolution" to complete its journey across the Arab world: "What happened on the night of December 8, 2024, namely the flight of the deposed president Bashar Al-Assad following the collapse of what remained of his regime… took us back to the moment when the regimes were struggling against the momentum of the Arab Spring before the eyes and ears of the entire world… The task that was completed last week [i.e., Assad's ouster]… was the spark that renewed that momentum and took us back in time, specifically to that revolutionary moment just before the regime's forces managed to reverse the equation in their favor and launch their counter-coup, thus declaring the end of the spreading popular Arab revolution. "The ouster of the Assad regime today breaches the impenetrable dam that prevented the river of the popular Arab revolution from completing its journey, both within Syria and across the Arab [world]. So the picture we see today seems [to capture the precise] moment at which the dam burst and the river resumed its natural course. At such a moment the current is so abnormally [strong] that it is impossible to withstand. This moment, which has revived the hope in the hearts of the peoples, may provide a historic opportunity to increase the current, which will naturally become a new revolutionary wave, especially if it produces a spark that returns the Arab peoples to the moment of the [Arab] Spring…"[8] Article In Qatari Daily: The Egyptians Can't Endure The Present Regime For Even One More Day Amid fears that the toppling of the Assad regime would inspire the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to attempt the overthrow of the Egyptian regime, Muhammad Tolba Radwan, a columnist for the Qatari daily Al-Arabi Al-Jadid, wrote under the title "On the Next Revolution in Egypt": "Everyone is talking about revolution, about a protest movement and about deposing the current regime in favor of 'some future or other.' Imagine! [Even] the unknown has become better than the current reality, because it can't [possibly] be worse for anyone, with the possible exception of some people who benefit [from the present state of affairs] – and even they are talking… about the possibility of a revolution. The [regime] loyalists talk about this out of fear; the oppositionists talk about it wanting [to realize it], and the families of the [political] detainees talk about it hoping to see their [loved ones] released… The Egyptians, hostage to the reality of their lives, are [all] talking about this, hoping for salvation… "Can Egypt withstand a revolution today? Perhaps not, but neither can it stand to see the present regime endure for [even one more] day. Its enforced persistence means that Egypt's material and moral reserves are dwindling from day to day, and systematic destruction [continues]… This absurdity must end immediately. Nobody can claim to be a patriot while asking to preserve the current regime. It's one or the other: either Egypt or the current regime. That is the equation right now, which was not created by the enemies of the regime, but by the regime's own conduct, for the present Egyptian regime is its own worst enemy…"[9] Al-Jazeera Presenter: Tyrannical Arab Regimes That Will Not Reconcile With Their Peoples Will Meet A Fate Similar To Assad's On December 9, 2024, the day after the downfall of the Assad regime, Ahmad Mansour, a presenter and producer on the Al-Jazeera network, shared on his X account a picture of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and wrote: "The Al-Aqsa Flood, released by Yahya Al-Sinwar on October 7, 2023, will topple many more statues after that if Bashar Al-Assad, and change the face of the region."[10] In another post, he shared a video of prisoners being released from a Syrian jail and commented: "This is a historic opportunity for the Arab tyrants, who fill their prisons with reformists and dissidents who oppose their corrupt regimes, to voluntarily open the gates of the prisons, release the detainees and reconcile with their people before they meet the same fate as Assad: to be driven out [and wander] the world without shelter or refuge."[11] In a third post he shared photos of Assad regime's Sednaya prison, notorious for the torture and abuses that took place in it, and commented that "the tyrannical Arab regimes have dozens of such prisons, where tens of thousands of reformists and oppositionists are held in conditions no better than those endured by the oppositionists against the sectarian regime in Syria. If the tyrants do not hurry up and correct their mistakes, release the detainees and reconcile with their peoples, their fate will not be much different from that of Assad."[12] One of Mansour's posts * Z. Harel is a research fellow at MEMRI.
