A Tribute to the Syrian Arab Army

Father Dave here, and I’m still grieving the collapse of Syria, and the ascendency of one-time Al Qaeda leader, Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, to the country’s leadership.

I’ve been fearing for my many Syrian friends. I’ve been praying for their safety – perhaps most of all for my dear brother, Dr Hassoun, formerly the former Grand Mufti of Syria. I’ve also been feeling that someone should be paying tribute to the Syrian Arab Army – to all the young men and women who laid down their lives over a period of about 12 years, trying to prevent what eventually happened.

Yes, I’m talking about the ‘Assad regime forces’, which is how people on the other side of the world tended to talk about them, but through my nine trips to Syria between 2013 and 2019, I met a lot of Syrian soldiers, and I grew to have an enormous respect for the Syrian Arab Army.

I was given a full Syrian Army uniform on my last trip, and I still wear it with pride. It came from Douma, which was where then President Assad allegedly gassed his own people. Of course, if you talk to the people of Douma, they’ll tell you that nothing like that happened there, but that was the story we were sold, and that story became the rationale for a retaliatory strike that killed at least one pour soul. The story I remember best from Douma though was the one that came from the guy who gave me my uniform, and it’s a story I still find it hard to believe.

This guy lived with his family near the centre of Douma and, apparently, he heard noise in the street one morning, peeked out his front window, and saw the black SUV’s of Jabhat Al Nusra. These people drove black SUV’s, wore black hats, and had machine-guns mounted on the back of their vehicles. This guy says that he, like the other men in his street, locked their doors and fetched their guns.

He says that they’re not getting their guns in the hope of fighting these guys off. They know that they are completely outgunned. They will fight nonetheless, he says, and, if need be, they will shoot their own children before they let these people take them!

I still find that hard to believe, but these people had heard what these terrorists had done to children in neighbouring villages – the rape of babies, the sex-slavery of young girls. Maybe the reports were exaggerated, but I can appreciate that you’d rather give your children a quick and dignified exit from this world than allow things like that to happen to them.

Anyway, there’s more noise outside, they peek out and see the colours of the Syrian Arab Army. Everything is going to be OK. The kids will be at school tomorrow. And that’s what the colours of the Syrian Arab Army came to mean to me. They meant life

I remember the first Syrian soldier that I ever had a serious conversation with. That was back in 2013. He was a young man, in his late twenties, and he was bouncing his baby daughter on his knee.  He’d been discharged from the army as he was carrying three bullet wounds.

He said to me, “the first time I killed someone I threw up. I didn’t know how to handle it, but then I realised that the only thing between my daughter and these people was me, and after that I killed hundreds of them.”

He said that foreigners like me were easy targets because we weren’t respected by the commanders. We’d be the first ones chosen to have bombs strapped to us. They’d say, “see you in Heaven” and tell you to go blow a hole through a wall. He said, “these people were easy targets”.

As I say, I did nine tours of Syria during the period of the fighting there. I saw some terrible things, but met a lot of wonderful people, many of whom were soldiers.

Indeed, while, on some of those trips we spent most of our time boxing with the Syrian Olympic Team, even then, after our training sessions finished, the Syrian boys would pick up their guns and go back to work. They were all soldiers, not because any of them had set out to have careers in the military, but because each of them had chosen to put their bodies between the terrorists and their families.

One other memory that sticks with me was when we visited the ancient Christian village of Sednaya in 2015. Sednaya is one of only two villages in the world where Aramaic is still spoken – the original language of Jesus. It’s a Christian village, and when we arrived, they were starting a church service that we attended. At the front of the church, there was a table covered with religious icons that looked like they were to be distributed as gifts. I remember thinking, “I hope these aren’t for us”.

I was part of an internation peace delegation on that trip, led by some well-known activists, and we were getting far too much credit just for showing up. As it turned out, the presents weren’t for us. They were presented by the Bishop and by the local Islamic Sheikh, standing side by side, to the families of those who had lost children in the fighting over the last month. There were around 20 of these gifts handed out!

The Christian villages in Syria were always uniformly committed to supporting the government and preserving their country from the terrorists. The number of young Christians who had laid down their lives for their families was horrifically high.

I have so many more stories I could tell but I’ll stop here for now, except to point out that the terrorists that these people died to protect their families from are the people who are now running the country.

Yes, I know they’ve changed their name twice since they were Al Qaeda, in an attempt to distance themselves from Osama Bin Laden, whom Americans are never going to think of as a friend. They’ve also changed the name of Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa to the far more palatable, Al Jolani (‘Al’ for short). CNN has also published an interview with Al where he’s said that all those atrocities that he committed were when he was a younger man, and that we all do silly things when we are young. Those weren’t his exact words, perhaps, but that was the message.

So, what happens now? I don’t know. As I say, I fear for my many Syrian friends. Reports are filtering through of atrocities being committed against Christians and Alawites and other minority groups, and against former military people, of course. Perhaps those pulling Al Jolani’s strings are going to ensure that some level of human-rights is maintained in the new Syria, but as for Jolani and his team, I don’t think the leopard every really changes his spots.

I pray for the welfare of my many Syrian friends as I do not know what comes next, but regardless of what the future holds, I believe  that it’s only right that we pay tribute to the many, many young men and women of the Syrian Arab Army who, over twelve long years, sacrificed their lives and their livelihoods – not to benefit any political party or to uphold any particular ideology – but to protect their families.

To the Syrian Arab Army, Respect!

Father Dave, January 2025

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Syria’s Catastrophic Transition!

A big thank you to David Macilwain for his ongoing commitment to the people of Syria and for the insight he shares in this article. Read the full article and more from David Macilwain here.

So now that the rabid dogs are on the loose, and all the leaders and followers who couldn’t or wouldn’t visit Damascus are rushing in for a slice of her cake, and Allah forbid – standing on the top of Mount Hermon gloating over the Zionists’ latest purchase, what is the way forward? Is such a way even possible, when those proselytisers for ‘democracy’ and ‘inclusiveness’ have just smashed to pieces all their shallow pretences?

Nothing can ever be the same now, even if they were to somehow stop the genocide in Gaza, because ‘Israel’ and its backers are determined it never will be. They have just succeeded in executing the fastest regime change operation in history without resistance and practically without criticism in the West – a monumental achievement that has “grasped victory from the jaws of defeat”. As ‘Israel’ faced its day of judgement from the people whose land it occupies and exploits, and having made itself a global pariah state with its unprecendented butchery and obliteration of life in Gaza, it seemed to many that the Zionist project was finished; it was only a question of how the end would come.

Yet there is light beyond this terrible dark tunnel we are plunged into, in the strength of the ongoing resistance and the possibility of truth. Never before has such a conspiracy of nations and ‘information’ networks succeeded in deceiving so many people into allowing and supporting the triumph of evil over justice and truth. At the same time there is incredible nonchalance and apparent lack of understanding of what has just occurred, seen in the context of the fourteen years of war since the launching of the ‘Arab Spring’.

Summarising what actually has occurred in the last two weeks and the last twenty years in Syria – which was always THE prime target of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the focus of neo-con plans to create the ‘Salafist Principality’ in Syria that we now have, a discussion with two veterans of the conflict gives excellent guidance, along with shocking revelations of the truth. Those who think that an unelected and unrepresentative ‘government’ formed from the chiefs of the fundamentalist group that controlled Idlib ‘with an Iron Fist’ will somehow change its spots, are living in cloud-cuckoo land. It is as likely as that ‘Israel’ would decide after all to give equal rights to the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, give them free access to all parts of Palestine, and equal representation in a bi-lingual Knesset. The appearance of Saudi Sheik Muhaysini celebrating his entry into the Ummayad mosque the day after Jolani’s arrival surely sent a shiver down the spine of many Syrians.

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The Hypcrisy of Blaming Assad!

Our discussion on The Sunday Eucharist often focuses on Syria and Palestine. As Karl Barth taught, theology is best done with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

Join us every Sunday at midday (Sydney time) on n TheSundayEucharist.com… or on Facebook, YouTubeTwitterLinkedInInstagram orFaithia.

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Prayers for Syria – the Webinar

On Dec 11, 2024, I was joined by Maram Susli (Syrian Girl) and Dr Tim Anderson (author of “The Dirty War on Syria”). We did our best to make sense of what had just happened in Syria, and this despite severe technical difficulties that suggested we were being hacked.

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A Sad Day for Syria

The following is the official statement of “Hands Off Syria“, Sydney (hereafter ‘HOS‘), dated Monday, December 9th, 2024

Hands Off Syria

Today is a sad day for the supporters of Syria, however, it is much worse for the people of Syria, as, unfortunately, dark days await.

HOS, Sydney, calls on international humanitarian organisations to demand safe corridors and passages for all those wishing to leave the country. These organisations must also demand that the people in Syria are treated with dignity and humanely, and that safety and security is restored immediately. The UN must call for the restoration of democratic processes, an that a democratic elected government is in place in the near future.

Syria has never wavered its support for Palestine and the liberation of the occupied territories. Syria has been the central pillar of the Resistance while it has been continuously bombed by Israel, with the support of the US. There are reports that in the last couple of days Israel has bombed and destroyed every major military institution, and that has invaded Syria via Quneitra.

Today Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), successor to Jahbat al Nusra, the al Qaeda terrorist group, listed as a terrorist organisation by the UNSC has taken Syria. Ten of thousands of mercenaries, criminals and terrorists have over run the country, in just over a week. Vanessa Beeley, well known journalist living in Syria, as she managed to escape states “[c]haos rules, looting, thuggery and thieving… Going through the border was a mash of gunfire, infighting and looting from every single shop and market. Terrorists on motorcycles, gunslingers and criminals… Early morning Israel was destroying #Syria Air Defence with bunker buster bombs…” (V. Beeley on X, 09/12/2024). There are already videos on social media depicting the terrorists beheading soldiers, setting fire to buildings. We understand that hospitals are being flooded with wounded people.

Dr Tim Anderson writes: According to Palestinian journalist in Washington Saeed Rikat, the HTS attack was coordinated by the Biden administration with Türkiye and Israel and “came as a result of American-Israeli emergency plan” as part of “an American vision” for the second day of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, “especially in light of the failure of the Israelis to achieve a decisive victory” against Hezbollah and that this is “an effort to inflict a defeat on Iran and its allies in the region” such as the Syrian Army which regained control of Aleppo eight years ago (Dr Tim Anderson, 8/12/2024, Centre for Hegemonic Studies: Genocide rewarded: US backed al Qaeda takeover of Syria follows Israeli retreat from Lebanon – Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies ).

HOS, Sydney, expect the UN to discuss Syria’s situation this week, and expect that international humanitarian organisations get immediately into action, so the suffering of the people of Syria is limited, the wounded are treated, the dead buried, and order is restored.

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Boxers for Peace in Syria

These light-hearted snippets from my TED Talk of 2019 recount stories from our trip to Syria earlier that year. I yearn to get back to Damascus to see my many friends, yet I know the situation there is worse than it has ever been since the violence started there more than a dozen years ago. The US-imposed sanctions continue to cripple the country and make it impossible for people to rebuild their homes and their lives. Meanwhile the US continues to steal Syrian oil and bleed the land of its resources.

Father Dave

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Israel continues to attack Syria with impunity

with Vanessa Beeley (R) and my daughter, Imogen (L) in Damascus in 2019

with Vanessa Beeley (R) and my daughter, Imogen (L) in Damascus in 2019

It staggers belief – the way the Israeli government continues to stage violent assaults on Syria – and all such attacks go unreported in mainline Western media. Israel and its allies continue to kick the Syrian people while they are down, yet, should Syria be able to strike back at some point, it will doubtless be reported as an ‘unprovoked attack’. Thank you, Vanessa Beeley, for continuing to shine a light into this darkness. Read her full article here. Father Dave

Israel violates Syrian airspace on a criminal assassination mission

At approximately 00.20 on the 3rd of June 2024 Israel again violated Syrian airspace to target sites in the vicinity of Aleppo, northern Syria. The Israeli jets entered Syrian air-space via Jordan and the illegal U.S. military base at Al Tanf on the border between Syria and Jordan.

The Israeli warplanes flew at very low altitude to avoid Syrian radar detection and approached the south-eastern countryside of Aleppo where they fired thirteen missiles targeting six locations in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

Needless to say there have been simultaneous intense attacks on southern Idlib and western Aleppo by the NATO/Zionist backed terrorist groups.

One area targeted was a civilian copper-smelting facility in Hayyan north of Aleppo.

The aggression led to the martyrdom of 17 soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army and allied forces including another senior IRGC advisor – Haj Saeed Abyar:

read Vanessa’s full update here

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Is the US finally getting out of Syria?

I’m pasting below an extract from Mk Bhadrakumar’s article in The Cradle,  “‘Swarming’ the US in West Asia, until it folds.” It’s the most encouraging analysis of the state in Syria that I’ve read for some years. Bhadrakumar sees US influence collapsing across the region and believes that exiting the region as quickly as possible will be crucial to Biden’s campaign for reelection later this year.  

It would have been gratifying if the US had stopped stealing Syrian oil and left because they realised it was the right thing to do. Even so, America’s departure will lead to much joy and thanksgiving across Syria and around the Arab world, regardless of what moviates them.

The author of this article, Ambassador MK Bhadrakumar, was a career diplomat for three decades in the Indian Foreign Service with multi-year assignments in the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. 

Father Dave

Iran’s patience has run out over the US military presence in Syria and Iraq following the revival of ISIS with American support. Interestingly, Israel no longer abides by its “de-confliction” mechanism with Russia in Syria. Clearly, there is close US-Israeli cooperation in Syria and Iraq at the intelligence and operational level, which goes against Russian and Iranian interests. Needless to say, the backdrop of the imminent upgrade of the Russia-Iran strategic partnership also needs to be factored in here.

These developments are a vintage illustration of defensive deterrence. The Axis of Resistance turns out to be the principal instrument of peace for the issues of security that entangle the US and Iran. Clearly, there isn’t any method or any reasonable hope of convergence to this process, but, fortunately, the appearance of chaos in West Asia is deceiving.

Beyond the distractions of partisan argument and diplomatic ritual, one can detect the outlines of a practical solution to the Syrian stalemate that addresses the inherent security interests of the US and Iran that are embedded within an outer ring of US-China concord over the situation in West Asia.

Russia may seem an outlier for the present, but there is something in it for everyone, as the pullout of US troops opens the pathway to a Syrian settlement, which remains a top priority for Moscow and for Putin personally.

read Bhadrakumarfull’s full article here

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Why Syria?

It was great to catch up with Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer while I was in the UK in September 2023. We did the interview in a pub – The Titanic – in Southhampton.

Having made nine trips to Syria during the fighting, Stephen wanted to know how I got involved in the first place for, indeed, prior to my first trip in 2013, I wasn’t even sure where Syria was on the map! I now think of Damascus as a second home and have been given an honorary Syrian name – Abouna Abdullah.

God works in mysterious ways.

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The Criminal War on SYRIA Continues

A press release from the Syria Support Movement – 12th September, 2023

Syria in Crisis

photo by Denning Isles (iammordechai.com…)

The war on Syria is no longer front-page news, but it has never ended. Currently, the United States and its allies are placing enormous pressure on the Syrian people in an effort to topple the Syrian government. The goal is not just to replace Bashar Assad with a President more conciliatory to western goals, but rather to break the country
into small semi-autonomous states so it can never again be a centre of resistance to Israeli and U.S. domination.

The latest efforts involve a western media campaign promoting and exaggerating unrest in southern Syria. In 2011, heavily armed U.S. backed terrorists flooded the country, committing murder and mayhem across the nation. After a decade of vicious warfare, the Republic of Syria survived under the governance of the elected President, Bashar al Assad, and an elected Parliament.

Today, the fighting in Syria has largely ended, but the country suffers under onerous sanctions that make it impossible to engage in international trade or receive international aid. In the last five years, the Syrian Pound has gone from 500 to 13,000 SY Pounds per US dollar. A once self sufficient economy, Syria cannot repair factories damaged by terrorism and earthquakes; cannot replace stolen equipment; can no longer manufacture pharmaceuticals or process food.

Meanwhile, the province of Idlib continues as a terrorist enclave under Turkish protection. Turkey occupies other border areas while Israel bombs Syrian territories almost weekly. Recently Israel attacked the Aleppo international airport to disrupt an international conference focused on rebuilding Syria. On top of all these crimes,
the US has military bases and forces protecting a secessionist army and controlling nearly one third of Syria where the majority of Syrian oil and wheat come from.

While Syrians starve, aid pours into the terrorist held area in Idlib and Syrian oil wealth goes to support U.S. proxies. While Syrians go without energy for lights and heat, automobile fuel and cooking, the richest country in the world sells their gas and oil for profit. A once thriving semi-socialist state, Syria has had to cut subsidies for
food and energy and cannot pay a living wage or support the numerous veterans from the war. The Syrian health care system, once the best in the Arab world, is struggling to continue as they cannot import parts or software needed to operate hospital machinery and equipment.

Following the massive earthquake earlier this year, SSM (and other global charities) found the only way to provide aid was to hand carry resources and money into the country. We continue to support the legitimate government of Syria located in Damascus and are currently engaged in modest humanitarian projects to alleviate the suffering of ordinary Syrians as a result of 12 years of US regime change activities.

End the U.S. Occupation of Syria and Disband the U.S. SDF proxy army!
End all Sanctions and Unilateral Coercive Measures against Syria!
Hands off Syria!!!

Check out the aid work of the Syria Support Movement here.

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