by Fabio Bosco
On February 6, the Assadist militia self-named “Military Council for the Liberation of Syria” launched a coordinated military action against the security forces of the interim government, executing 16 soldiers in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous.
The interim government sent reinforcements to suppress the Assadists, and several allied militias joined them. The fighting intensified on February 7, and degenerated into a succession of sectarian massacres against the Alawite population.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “the death toll has been rising since the militias moved in to support the security forces and the Defense Ministry formations. The total death toll as of Saturday evening had reached 1,018 people, including 745 civilians who were killed in cold blood in sectarian massacres. In addition, 125 members of the Defense Ministry’s Security Forces and allied forces (including at least 93 Syrians) and 148 armed men from the remnants of the former regime and its supporters on the coast were killed.” A day later, the death toll rose to 1,083 civilians, 231 members of the Security Forces and 250 Assadists.
The Observatory’s director, Rami Abdelrahman, said that the sectarian massacres were committed by both the security forces and allied militias, in particular the al-Amshat militia “which played the largest role in carrying out massacres and looting operations in the city of Jableh and its surroundings.” The al-Amshat militia works in conjunction with the so-called “Syrian National Army,” a militia linked to the Turkish regime that focuses on fighting the “Syrian Defense Forces” (SDF), a militia led by the Kurdish PYD party and supported by the United States.
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa sought to distance himself from the massacres by stating that all those who committed atrocities against civilians will be held accountable.
Fight Back Against the Counterrevolution and Punish Atrocities
The massacres of Alawite civilians are contrary to the goals of the revolution and must be punished in an exemplary manner, with the arrest of those responsible, whether they are members of the defense forces / “allied” militias, or Assadists.
At the same time, the armed provocations of former Assadist officers must be combated, and they must be arrested and tried for their past and present crimes.
The provocations on March 6 were led by high-ranking members of the Assad dictatorship, such as former general Gaith Dalah (a member of the special forces of the Fourth Division led by Maher al-Assad) and Suheil al-Hassan, commander of the infamous Tiger Forces (Quwwat al-Nimr), trained by Russian forces, both of whom were extensively involved in the atrocities of the former regime against the population.
The delay in the arrest of all high-ranking officers of the dictatorship, and their trial for crimes against the Syrian people, paves the way for the reorganization of the counterrevolution and its armed provocations.
Israeli advance poses other challenges
“Take note: We will not allow HTS forces or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus. (…) We demand the full demilitarisation of southern Syria from troops of the new Syrian regime in the Quneitra, Daraa and Sweida provinces.”
Thus, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on February 23 his intention to impose the demilitarisation of south-west Syria, an area that Israeli forces have partially occupied since 1967.
After interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa condemned Israeli threats and military aggression at the closing of the National Dialogue Conference on the February 25, Israel bombarded 3 areas in the south of the country.
These military aggressions are part of the Israeli plan to divide Syria into three countries, with the formation of a Druze state in the south and a Kurdish state in the northeast of the country. Israel does not have the strength to carry out this plan alone. To this end, it is pressuring Trump to keep American troops in Syria (in addition to keeping sanctions in place), negotiating with Putin to keep the two military bases in Syria, and lobbying the European Union to maintain sanctions against Syria.
The majority of the Druze population has rejected the Israeli plan. This is no coincidence. In 1967, Israel illegally seized part of the Golan Heights and for decades sought to co-opt the local Syrian population, mostly Druze, by offering them Israeli citizenship. However, only 6,000 out of the 29,000 Syrian inhabitants accepted it and were transformed into Israeli citizens of a lower category within the racist Zionist society, below the Jewish population (which is also stratified, with Jews of European origin – Ashkenazi – at the top, followed by Jews of Sephardic origin, and then Jews of African origin). In addition, they must enlist in the Israeli military and participate in the ongoing atrocities against the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples in the region.
However, Israel found in the Kurdish PYD party a partner for the plan to partition Syria. The deputy foreign minister of the AANES, Ilham Ahmed, declared that “Israel is part of the democratic solution”. The leader of the SDF Mazloum Abdi, in an interview with the BBC, when asked about Israel, stated that “we welcome anyone in the world who can help support our rights and protect our achievements,” saying “let me give a general answer. We welcome support from anyone.”
Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011, the PYD’s policy has been one of “neutrality”, working to prevent the Kurdish population, who have always seen Assad as their enemy, from joining the revolution. This policy was aided by the position of the Syrian National Council, which brought together the opposition forces, of denying the Kurds’ right to self-determination. After the fight to defend Kobani (Ayn al-Arab), the PYD allied itself with U.S. imperialism under the pretext of fighting Daesh (an organization that calls itself the Islamic State). This alliance allowed the SDF militias to take over a large territory in northeastern Syria, far beyond the territories in which the Kurdish population constitutes the majority, known as Rojava (Western Kurdistan). Today, the SDF controls around 27% of Syrian territory, including much of the country’s oil, gas, and electricity production.
In addition, the SDF maintains 20 prisons in which 9,500 Daesh members are held (without any legal due process). Around 40,000 of their family members, mostly women and children, are also being held. These are people who should not be imprisoned for crimes committed by their husbands, fathers and brothers, according to the basic principles of human rights.
Unfortunately, the PYD and its sister organization the PKK have abandoned the fight for a unified and independent Kurdistan and have adopted the defense of “Democratic Confederalism.” In Syria, Democratic Confederalism is nothing more than an authoritarian capitalist administration that represses dissent and allies itself with the U.S. imperialism, which is an enemy of the Arab people in their struggle for self-determination.
U.S. imperialism has its own agenda and demonstrated this when it rejected the decision of the Iraqi Kurdish people for independence. And at any moment, Trump could make a deal with Erdogan and betray the Kurds in Syria, just as he did with the Ukrainians by allying with Putin. Israel also has its own agenda, focused on promoting the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and stealing Arab lands. Neither of them are strategic allies of the Kurdish people.
Now an opportunity has presented itself to trade the alliances with the powerful for alliances with the oppressed peoples, and to fight alongside Arab, Turkish, and Iranian workers for democratic and social rights in each country and, at the same time, for their right to self-determination.
Economy: privatization or planning?
Living conditions in Syria remain very difficult. Whie food prices, except for bread, have fallen, homes have only an average of 2 hours of electricity per day. A third of homes have been destroyed, as have half of schools and hospitals. Oil production has fallen from 400,000 barrels (2011) to 50,000 barrels per day, much of which remains under the control of the SDF militia.
The provisional government has focused on rapprochement with imperialist and regional powers to attract investment in infrastructure and humanitarian aid.
The results have been modest. Heavy U.S. sanctions are preventing foreign investment and economic transactions with the rest of the world. And while the Trump administration suspended some sanctions for six months to allow humanitarian aid to be sent, it kept all others in place. European countries should lift sanctions, as their main concern is creating the conditions that would allow them to deport Syrian refugees.
To make matters worse, the government is applying the neoliberal recipe. It eliminated the subsidy on bread, raising the price by 700% (8 times). And it has already fired or suspended about 250,000 public employees out of a total of 1.3 million workers. Administrative Development Minister Mohammad Al-Skaf says that only about 600,000 public employees are needed, signaling more layoffs. Salaries are low. Many earn as little as $30 a month. And Economy Minister Basil Abdul Hanan announced that 107 state-owned industrial companies will be privatized, and only strategic companies in the energy and transport infrastructure sectors will be kept.
A coalition of unions and workers’ groups is holding protests every Saturday morning in six Syrian cities. They advocate reversing layoffs and oppose privatization. They propose forming joint committees with the government to investigate whether there are ghost workers. So far, the provisional government has not been willing to open negotiations with these workers.
To meet the basic needs of the working class and the poor, it is necessary to build a public works plan to generate cheap food and resume wheat production. Syria was self-sufficient in wheat production, and also exported high-quality wheat. Humanitarian aid must transition from food to the inputs and machinery needed to promote food self-sufficiency.
The expansion of energy production cannot be placed in the hands of the “markets” which, in addition to limiting themselves to producing what is profitable, depend on the ending of U.S. sanctions, which may never happen. A public works plan is needed to generate energy, whether from fossil fuels or renewable sources. This is also the situation with the reconstruction of destroyed neighborhoods and villages.
Constituent Assembly and Workers’ Power
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa limited himself to calling a conference with militia leaders on January 29, and the National Dialogue Conference on February 24 and 25 to endorse his permanence at the head of the government and his policies. He has not incorporated the broader sectors of the Syrian opposition and governs only with his allies. This is not democratic.
Free elections for a constituent assembly must be called to decide on the country’s new constitution. To this end, all non-Assadist political parties must be legalized.
In addition, popular assemblies must be formed in neighborhoods and villages to discuss and decide local policies. The population of the southern cities must discuss a self-defense plan to prevent Israel from taking over the cities.
A revolutionary workers’ party must be formed to defend alternatives in the interests of the workers and the people towards a workers’ government.
P.S.: After this article was written, a major memorandum of understanding was signed between the interim government and the leader of the SDF (Kurdish PYD-led militia) on March 10, and the United Kingdom announced the lifting of some sanctions. That same week, Qatar announced the shipment of natural gas, and the government signed a constitutional decree (a kind of interim constitution lasting up to five years) without a public consultation. The constitutional decree reaffirms Islamic jurisprudence as its reference, establishes that the president must be Muslim, and also establishes democratic rights such as free speech, the right to free organization and peaceful demonstration. The issue of political parties will be subject to separate regulation.
