IWL-FI Statement
Long Live the Victory of the Syrian Revolution! No Trust in the HTS! People’s Councils Must Be Formed To Rule the country! Out with Foreign Troops!
On December 8, the Assad dictatorship was overthrown by a democratic and popular revolution. The two main pillars of the regime, the army and the 18 repression and torture centers (called mukhabarat in Arabic), were dissolved, and the dictator and the main military leaders fled the country.
The dictatorship lost its social base by maintaining a totalitarian regime and subjecting 90% of the population to poverty. Since 2011, more than half a million Syrians have been killed by the dictatorship and around 200,000 are missing in the regime’s vast carceral network, which has 400 detention, torture and extermination centers. At the same time, its main backers, Russia and Iran, were not in a position to provide the same support they have provided over the past ten years in massacring the country’s population. The revolution combined military action by militias formed in Idlib province, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which began on November 27, with around 20,000 fighters. They were met with a popular uprising in the south of the country and in greater Damascus, which began engaging in experiments in self-organisation at the beginning of the revolution.
During the march to Damascus, thousands of political prisoners were released from prison, an extremely popular action that signalled the revolution’s commitment to the democratic freedoms crushed by the Assad regime. Another democratic measure was to respect the so-called confessional “minorities”: Christians of various trends, Alawites and the Druze. Upon arriving in the capital, the leader of HTS, Mohammad al-Joulani, promised free elections within 18 months and appointed Al-Bashir as prime minister of a transitional government. Al-Bashir is an engineer, member of HTS and head of the national salvation government in Idlib province. Al-Bashir has stated that he will create a government based on a market economy, integrated into the world market. He has also stated that he will appoint a group to prepare the country’s new constitution.
In addition, HTS has sought to normalize relations with imperialist countries and regional powers to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid and attract capital for the reconstruction of the country on a capitalist basis.
The issue of around the punishment of the generals and torturers was the first crisis between the population and the transitional government. The population is very dissatisfied that the main generals and torturers have escaped the country, which forced Al-Joulani to commit to arresting and punishing all of them.
The impact of the revolution on the regional and world order
The revolution has had a major impact on the regional and world order. The revolution has directly affected the interests of Russian imperialism and the Iranian regime but also affected the interests of Israel, the Gulf monarchies, and the U.S., E.U. and Chinese imperialisms.
Russia has lost an ally and depends on military bases in the country for its military operations in Africa (Libya, Sudan, and French-speaking countries). Its defeat in Syria has encouraged the Ukrainian resistance in the fight against Russian aggression. Putin is currently negotiating with HTS to maintain his bases in Hmeimim and Tartous, an unpopular agreement that is in HTS’s interest. Iranian forces have had to flee the country and are hated by the Syrian population.
The State of Israel has lost its most secure border. For 50 years, the Assad dynasty has prevented any action against Israeli forces in Golan Heights. Maintaining Assad’s dictatorship was strategic for the Zionists, since Assad was distancing himself from the Iranian regime and Hezbollah in order to get closer to the Gulf monarchies and ease economic sanctions.
After the fall of Assad, the Israeli media claims that more than 80% of Syria’s weapons, ships, missiles, planes and other military supplies have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes. Israel has advanced into Syrian territory and bombed 800 Syrian military and intelligence targets.
Once again, we see how Israel is carrying out the invasion of a sovereign country with the approval of Western powers, an action which was denounced by UN representatives. Furthermore, it took control of the demilitarized zone established in 1974. It also took control of another section of the Golan Heights, in particular the strategic Mount Hermon, which indicates Israel’s intention to advance its strategic hegemony in the region.
Contrary to what sectors of the reformist and/or Stalinist left claim, the Syrian revolution strengthened the Palestinian resistance by putting an end to a regime that imprisoned and eliminated Palestinians. Around 670 Palestinians were freed from Sednaya prison, 67 from Hamas alone, including a leader of the al-Qassam brigades. In addition, the Assad regime secured the border with the Zionists. The Syrian revolution serves as an example for other peoples of the Arab world. An eventual new wave of Arab revolutions that overthrows the Arab regimes allied with Israel will create the conditions for a victory for the Palestinian resistance against Israel. The road to Al-Quds (Jerusalem) begins in Damascus, Cairo, Beirut and Amman.
The Gulf monarchies, with the exception of Qatar, were committed to integrating the Assad regime into the Arab League. With its fall, they are seeking rapprochement with HTS. Their main concern is to prevent a new wave of democratic revolutions in the Arab world.
For ten years, U.S. imperialism has been invested in an alliance with the SDF militia led by the Kurdish PYD party to control 27% of Syrian territory in the north-east of the country. The SDF has maintained a tacit non-aggression agreement with the Assad dictatorship. This territory contains fertile land and oil and gas wells. This presence provides the U.S. with a position of strength in any discussion about the future of Syria. In addition, they fear a new wave of democratic revolutions that would threaten the Arab regimes – almost all of their allies.
Chinese imperialism plans to integrate Syria into the BRI (the “new silk road”) and therefore into the Chinese economy. These plans will have to be reviewed and negotiated with the transitional government.
The EU, for its part, acted swiftly to suspend, with immediate effect, all asylum applications from Syrian refugees. We demand that no Syrian refugee be forcibly deported to Syria. It is the right of refugees in Europe to decide whether or not to return to Syria and we will continue to fight for the recognition of their labour, political and social rights in Europe.
The Turkish Regime Wants to Impose its Agenda Against the Revolution
The Turkish regime is the regional power that most benefited from Assad’s fall. Erdogan gave the green light to HTS’s advance into rural areas of Aleppo province, although he neither expected nor supported the capture of Aleppo and Hama cities. After the capture of Hama, he supported HTS’s advance towards the Syrian capital.
The Turkish regime took advantage of the HTS offensive to seize the strategic cities of Tel al-Rifaat and Manbij through its allied militias – the National Army (Jaish al-Watani) – expelling the SDF militias and causing thousands of Kurdish families to flee from territories now controlled by the National Army. This seizure is meant to occupy the entire border strip and militarily prevent the formation of any autonomous Kurdish authority in Rojava. This action run counter to the objectives of the revolution to end both sectarian or national oppression and the presence of foreign troops.
The Turkish regime has become the main bridge between the transitional government and imperialism, and hopes to exploit the reconstruction of Syria to the benefit of Turkish capital.
The shares of Turkish construction and cement companies rose after the announcement of Assad’s fall, showing that several Turkish companies hope to play a strategic role in the reconstruction.
Finally, the Turkish regime, following the example of the Europeans, plans to send some of the 3 million Syrian refugees back to Syria.
No Trust in HTS! Promote independent people’s councils and workers’ organizations!
The Syrian revolution has already achieved very important democratic freedoms, such as the release of thousands of political prisoners, the initial return of refugees to their homes, and freedom of expression.
HTS played a negative role in the early days of the Syrian revolution by trying to turn the democratic revolution into a sectarian war. After 2016, it started to rule the Idlib province on a capitalist basis, co-opting and/or repressing other forces, without free elections.
The preservation of the freedoms already achieved depends on the independent organization of the working class and the poor in popular councils, labor unions, student associations, human rights and women’s rights organizations, among others.
These organizations must fight for people’s demands, starting with the formation of popular courts to impose punishments on generals and torturers; and for the formation of human rights commissions to investigate all military archives and the 18 repression and torture centers (mukhabarat).
It is also necessary to fight for free elections for a National Constituent Assembly within three months, meant to draft a new constitution and assume power, establishing the subordination of all militias to the people’s councils.
The transitional government proposes to rebuild the economy on a capitalist basis, attracting foreign capital, which will place the country’s wealth in the hands of a handful of Syrian millionaires associated with foreign companies. Our proposal is to nationalize the assets of millionaires, such as Rami Makhlouf, and to place large companies under workers’ control to meet the needs of the people. In addition, an agrarian reform policy is necessary to expand the production of cheap food for the entire population.
Revolution and Counter-revolution in the Middle East
The Syrian issue has long gone beyond the problem of dictatorship. Today, Syria is one of the areas of international and regional dispute and this country faces a real danger of destruction and division under the interventions of various world and regional powers seeking to create a new status quo or consolidate their position in the region. It is clear that great powers such as the U.S. and Russia, as well as regional powers such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey, want to carry out their projects in a way that will only result in heavier oppression, exploitation, bloody violence and sectarian conflicts for the people of the region.
The only way to avoid this danger is to invest in a new wave of revolutions throughout the region.
Palestine is at the center of world attention. The State of Israel is carrying out a genocide in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, through ethnic cleansing (expelling the Palestinian population from their homes and lands) and daily massacres.
The statement by Al-Joulani (Ahmed al-Sharaa), leader of the HTS militia, that he will comply with the ceasefire agreement in the Golan Heights, signed by Syrian dictator Hafez el-Assad in 1974, and that he will not allow Syria to become a platform for attacks against Israel is unacceptable, not only because the Palestinian people and the Syrian people are brothers in the struggle against imperialism and oppression.
What is unacceptable is that it points to a strategy of rebuilding Syria in alliance with the U.S., European, Russian and Chinese imperialisms, and in alliance with the Gulf monarchies and the Turkish regime, and in “peace” with Israel. This strategy will lead Syria to its division and subjugation to imperialist interests.
In order to defend the interests of the Syrian workers in terms of freedom and social justice, it is necessary to build alliances with the oppressed Arab peoples, first and foremost, the Palestinian people.
We demand that Al-Joulani speak out against the Israeli aggression against Syria and Lebanon, for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Golan Heights, and to express unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people, bringing an end to the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank and for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea. This is the least that Al-Joulani should do.
There is still the issue of the Kurds. The Kurds are an oppressed nationality and represent 10% of the country’s population. At the moment, the militias of the National Army, allied with the Turkish regime, are expelling the militias of the Kurdish SDF and besieging Rojava. Al-Joulani and the transitional government of HTS have remained silent. It is necessary to demand the withdrawal of Turkish troops from all Syrian territory and an end to the attacks of the National Army. It is necessary to guarantee the right to self-determination for the Kurdish people in Rojava, so that they can decide their future democratically, without interference from the Turkish regime and with full freedom of party affiliation. Of course it is not by allying themselves with the U.S., as their political-military leadership, the PYD/SDF, does, that the Kurds will achieve their right to self-determination as a people.
The withdrawal of all foreign troops (Israel, the United States and Turkey) and the resumption of Russian military bases on the coast are decisive for the future of Syria and for the liberation of the entire region.
To expel the imperialist forces from the country and the region, it is necessary to call for a new wave of revolutions against the Arab dictatorships, all of which are allied with imperialism.
The situation in the Middle East demands that each advance be followed by another. There is no possible peace with imperialism, Israel, or any reactionary regimes.
Building a revolutionary party
To fulfill the goals of the revolution, we need a new revolutionary party, completely different from HTS, that is, a workers’, socialist and internationalist party.
The three factions of the Syrian Communist Party (Youssef, Bakdash and Jamil), which were the main left-wing parties, have betrayed the revolution by allying themselves with the Assad dictatorship since 1974, and are despised by the Syrian working people.
The new revolutionary party will have to be built in the heat of the revolution to influence workers’ self-organization and fight for workers’ power, towards a socialist Syria as part of a federation of socialist Arab countries.
