“The de-emphasis on the war of movement stems from two sources. One is the overall illegalization and subsequent delegitimization of antisystemic armed violence, in contrast to the lionization of US-backed anti-state violence: notably, the Syrian opposition has been accepted by US Middle East studies. Another is the broader de-politicization of the Palestinian cause, turning it into a set of de-territorialized rights, sheared from the national movement as the agent to achieve and defend those rights” – Max Ajl
The events in Syria have occupied the news cycle for the last few weeks and while these events are no doubt important—the Arab region being the main theatre of imperialist kinetic warfare and thus the national question remaining crucial—it seems that in the corporate media and even in some left-wing independent media, Palestine has been obscured from view. The holocaust in Gaza continues, with daily massacres committed by the Zionist entity. Resistance continues daily as well. The defeatism on the left is both ideologically the incorrect position and a sickness that spreads like wildfire if left unchecked. So, because Palestine is at the heart of the national question in the Arab-Iranian region, the events in Syria must be analyzed through this lens. How do we make sense of Hamas’ congratulatory message to the people of Syria? How can we understand both the PFLP and DFLP’s warnings regarding Israeli land grabs in the Golan and beyond? Who are the new “rebel leaders” in Syria and what is their relationship to the Zionist entity and their NATO backers?
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is the force behind the advances on Hama, Homs, and the eventual capture of Damascus. While it is politically irresponsible to reduce the Syrian opposition to HTS and other Al-Qaeda and Daesh splinters, the reality on the ground is that this is the armed group that has taken state power. We must operate from this reality as our launching point for analysis. In an interview with a high-ranking HTS official, a reporter from DropSite News was stunned that the official refused to criticize “Israel” or even comment on the fact that “Israel” has conducted over 300 bombings of strategic Syrian military sites. There are multiple possible readings of this response. On the one hand, HTS members and their allies have been happy to do interviews on Israeli TV and praise the Zionists for helping them against their “main enemies” Iran and Hezbollah. On the other hand, it makes sense for a government to attempt to restore civic life after years of war. Most serious analysts are partial to the first reading. HTS is a Takfiri movement, a sectarian organization, concerned with its own narrow and sclerotic interpretation of Islam, which excludes minorities, women, and other Muslims from governance and social life.
Martyr Fathi Shiqaqi of PIJ knew that “the persistence of the Zionist entity means the failure of all [Islamic] renaissance projects.” Thus, it is clear that due to the HTS ideology, they are not presenting “a serious endeavor to build an integrated and coherent strategy for the contemporary Islamic renaissance’s project.” Instead, they are a useful tool of the West, denigrating Islam and the Syrian nation. Meanwhile, the US and their European vassals are scrambling to take HTS off their “terrorist lists”. So what of al-Assad? What about the Resistance?
Former President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia; the combination of the American Caesar sanctions, corruption, and bribery in the Syrian Arab Army ended al-Assad’s mandate in the eyes of the Syrian people. Ansar Allah and Hezbollah apparently pleaded with al-Assad to open up a front on the Golan Heights against the Zionists, which he refused. This was likely due to the weakness of the SAA as well as the fragility of the Syrian state in its fractured form. Within the last few days, the Zionists have destroyed quite literally every defensive battery in Syria, and they have advanced well beyond the UN buffer zone, now occupying the hills overlooking Damascus at a distance of only 25 kilometers. So where does this leave the Axis of Resistance and the patriotic political forces in Gaza and the rest of Palestine?
While these are no doubt dark days, the war for the liberation of Palestine and the region is far from over. How have the Palestinian factions responded to the Syrian crisis and what are the prospects for the continuation of the struggle with the Syrian conduit disabled? Hamas congratulated the Syrian people and said that they “respect the will, the independence, and the political choices of the people of Syria.” This response seems like the reasonable and diplomatic approach that a group like Hamas would take, given that they straddle the line between being the government in Gaza and the tip of the spear of armed Resistance. PIJ, whose history of non-interference in the affairs of their neighbors has granted them many friends, took a similar position. The PFLP is active on the Resistance front. On December 11, they celebrated their 57th anniversary and have not ceased their military operations against the Zionist colonial army.
Many analysts, even respected communists and anti-imperialists, have been peddling a defeatist line regarding Hezbollah as well. Pointing–correctly–to the fact that a good portion of Hezbollah’s missile program in Syria has been crippled, and the martyrdom of key leaders, these analysts have cast Hezbollah aside as a spent force. This faulty analysis was also fueled by defeatist sentiments regarding the ceasefire agreement that preceded the Syrian crisis. None of these analysts have considered Hezbollah’s infantry and special forces who did not allow the Zionists to advance past Khiam village and caused numerous casualties among the Zionist shock troops prior to forcing “Israel” into the ceasefire. The Zionists achieved far less, in more days, than in 2006 when they were also defeated. The settlers are not returning to the north of occupied Palestine because the Zionist government cannot guarantee their safety. On the opposite end of the colonial entity, the port of Eilat is bankrupt and inoperable due to the heroic and brotherly Ansar Allah’s operations. Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, in a recent speech, praised Yemen’s “active involvement in supporting the Palestinian cause, including joint operations between Yemeni and Iraqi Resistance forces targeting Israeli interests.”
Iran disengaged its forces from Syria during the crisis, prompting backlash from voices usually sympathetic to Iran and the Axis of Resistance. The idea that Iran betrayed al-Assad and instead favors a takfiri, anti-Shia terrorist organization on their doorstep is clouded judgment at best and ludicrous at worst. Iran is still in open conflict with the Zionist entity and remains a key element of the strategic depth of the Axis of Resistance. This strategic depth, referred to as the popular cradle in the Palestinian political lexicon “nests Hamas and Palestine as far afield as Tunisia,” according to Max Ajl.
To conclude, the situation in Syria brings with it a black cloud and the black flag of ISIS. It is certainly a strategic setback for Resistance forces. Yet, it is important that we don’t lose the woods for the trees. Al-Assad lost the mandate of his people, as well as the Resistance. It is politically irresponsible and incorrect line to say that the al-Assad government was the “backbone” of the Resistance. For the last decade, the Zionists have bombed the Resistance roads crisscrossing Syria, and yet Hezbollah and the Gaza Resistance have weapons manufacturing capabilities in their own locales. The same goes for Yemen and obviously Iran. We must agitate against the HTS-led ‘provisional government’ while also understanding that the Resistance is not broken or beaten. To peddle a defeatist line is reactionary and allows the Zionists to gloat and drive harder toward manufacturing sectarian hatred. We mustn’t forget that over the last years, and especially the last 14 months, the Axis of Resistance has been an exemplary force in destroying the Zionist-driven fitna (sedition). Sunni Hamas and PIJ, Zaydi Ansar Allah, Twelver Shia Iran and Hezbollah, and the Marxist PFLP and DFLP are all working in concert to remove the Zionist colony from our region.