Restoring Syria, Stabilizing the Middle East

"[Syria is at a] turning point [as is the rest of the Middle East]."

"If we can now all come together to support the Syrian people and the Syrian government in actually taking charge, and building a prosperous stable secure Syria, that will impact all of the region."

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia 

 

"[Gulf countries see an opportunity to] reshape the regional order, [as Syrians devote  themselves to rebuilding lives for themselves out of the rubble of 14 years of civil war]."

"[We still have Yemen that's in trouble -- Sudan, Libya -- but for one time in many years, one story is not one of blood and war and destruction and that's where we want to go."

"A healthy region means a healthy Gulf."

Bader Al-Saif assistant professor of history, Kuwait University 

Ahmed al-Shara and his delegation welcomed in the UAE  Stimson

 

While now-ousted Alawite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was still barrel-bombing and chemical weapons-spraying majority Sunni Syrians, the Arab League which had banished him from their midst, did a U-turn and welcomed him back to be seated amongst them as a member in good standing. This, while Assad continued his loyalty to the Islamic Republic of Iran which sponsored Syria's persecution of its defiant majority Sunni population, when Russia had entered the civil war to aerially bombard Sunni strongholds in Syria.

 

The sectarian violence that internally displaced millions of Syrians, with millions more becoming refugees reflected traditional violent antipathy between the two major branches of Islam, Sunni and Shia. While Iran established its two-pronged 'axis of resistance' by cultivating, training and arming proxy militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza for its long-range aspiration of Shi'ite conquest of the Middle East, its plans also included the destruction of the sole non-Muslim state in the region, the Jewish state of Israel.

 

When Hamas took agency to invade southern Israel with thousands of its terrorist operatives to launch a massive bloodbath among Israeli farming communities near the Gaza border, deliberately and with detailed planning to impose a horrendous savagery of mass rape, mutilation, and widespread carnage that saw entire families burned to death in their  homes -- children, the elderly, women and foreign farm workers violently abducted to serve as hostages, an unprepared Israel while mourning its losses responded by invading Gaza to root out and destroy the Palestinian terror groups to completely neutralize their functionality.

 

Iran's related terror proxies attacked Israel in defence of Hamas; Hezbollah on the northern border, and the Houthis from Yemen. Shia militias in Iraq, and Assad's Syrian forces as well as the Islamic Republican Guard Corps al Quds division driving Iran to send missiles into Israel posed a pincer threat to the Jewish state. The Israeli military fought them all, and decimated both Hezbollah and Hamas, targeting their leaders, their command posts and their weapons caches, leaving them utterly diminished as organized fighting forces. 

 

The Israeli aerial bombardment of Iran neutralized many of the terror state's primary political, scientific and military figures, targeted military bases destroying missile production sites, and bombing the country's nuclear sites and facilities with the intention of destroying its capacity to further enrich uranium to weapons-grade state. Israel, in the course of several years militarily responding to the Hamas imposition of conflict was able to dismantle and neutralize the rabid threat of Islamist terrorism cultivated by Iran.

 

An opportunity that was grasped by a coalition of Syrian 'rebels' comprised of Syrian Islamist groups that were themselves terrorists, events leading to Bashar al-Assad fleeing to Russia for haven, and a former terrorist linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL, Ahmed al Sharaa, ensconced as Syria's new president, seeking to present as a moderate, a reformer, to take Syria into a new direction and restore it as a fulcrum of the Middle East, taking its place among the other nations with full accreditation. 

"I am 'ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start'." 

"It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful." 

"I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance. It's not going to be easy anyway, so gives them a good strong chance. And, it was my honour to do so."

"We made a speech last night, and that was the thing that got the biggest applause from the room."

U.S. President Donald Trump at Gulf Cooperation Council

In this photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace, Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, left, shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump in Riyadh. (Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace/The Associated Press)

 

Saudi Arabia and Qatar paid off Syria's $15.5 million World Bank debt, a pittance for them, but enabling Syria to be once more eligible for grants to fund reconstruction. The Mediterranean port of Tartus in Syria once handed to Russia as a naval base, is now to be developed by D World owned by the gulf emirate of Dubai. Once an integral part of Tehran's 'crescent of influence' along with Iraq and Lebanon, Syria is now poised to return to the Sunni Islam majority world of the Middle East. 

 

The hostility between the Sunni states and Iran, fearing that the Islamic Republic's brand of Islam could penetrate their own minority Shia populations with its  revolutionary ideology zeal leading to mass instability is being put to rest. As is the fear that Iran could succeed in its conquest aspirations to become the premier influence in the region. Iran's interference in Saudi Arabia, bombing its oil fields, its missiles shot at Qatar to hit American bases there, signed its influence death-warrant.

 

And now that the Arab majority Sunni Muslim states recognize Israel's critical role in vanquishing the aspirations of the Persian Shi'ites, and greater cooperation leading to normalization between them with Israel through membership in the Abraham Accords has been accepted, their mission to restore relations within the Arab League and to establish opportunities for economic development and political stability has sprung into action.  

 

In this photo provided by the Saudi Ministry of Media, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, left, during his arrival at the royal palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (Saudi Ministry of Media via AP)

 

"Death to Canada, Death to Israel, Death to the United States"

"Decisions to place an entity on the terrorist listing are made based on the advice of our security and intelligence services, who are continuously assessing entities for possible listing."

"With respect to Samidoun Palestinian Solidarity Network, the Government of Canada is examining the evidentiary record available and considering all options."

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc spokesperson

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks in the House of Commons in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Marking the first anniversary of the Palestinian terrorists' hideously savage attack on Israeli civilians -- from infants to the elderly, women and girls to border-station soldiers, when thousands of Palestinian terrorists stormed farming villages and the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel, with no lack of evidence given the videos taken and proudly distributed by Hamas terrorists on social media of sadistic horrors being perpetrated -- Samidoun, a 'charitable' organization with status in Canada organized a protest marked for its vindictive hatred against not only Israel and Jews, but Canada itself.

Videos circulating online show a masked woman leading a crowd of hundreds at the Vancouver Art Gallery leading chants of "death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel", showing Canadian flags being burned and trodden upon. "We've seen what happens when these groups aren't taken seriously", said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. He has promised that if his party is elected in the next general election, as Prime Minister, he would outlaw the group and place them on Canada's terrorist list alongside Hamas and Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which he adds Samidoun is a front for.

Anti-Israel protesters burn a Canadian flag outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday, October 7, 2024. Photo by @MelissaLantsman/x.com

Public Safety Canada defines the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as an "Islamist communist group" for which establishing a Palestinian state and "the destruction of Israel" is their reason for existence. It further notes that this was the first of the Palestinian groups to form "suicide squads". Samidoun, posing as a charitable group, has been given charitable status by Revenue Canada despite Jewish community groups pointing out the obvious, that it shills for the PFLP.

 

Through its chapters established across Canada, Samidoun gains attention through its public statements and the actions taken by its supporters, championing Hamas and the attack of last October in southern Israel. Charlotte Kates, the group's international coordinator, delivered a speech directly following the October 7 pogrom in which she praised the attack as "heroic and brave". She was arrested and directed that she must not participate in rallies or protests.

 

Outside the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre highlighted her comments, mentioning she had appeared on Iranian television to repeat her statements in support of terrorism against Israel. Following which she visited Tehran where she was applauded and awarded a 'human rights' recognition award. Her very words and sentiments are in direct quotation of the Islamic Republic of Iran whose proxy militias include Hamas, Hezbollah and the Yemen Houthis; all of whom, in her opinion are 'heroes'.

 

Samidoun, Mr. Poilievre said to reporters, is prohibited in Germany, and acts as "a front for an already banned terrorist group", in reference to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Samidoun website identifies as a network of "organizers and activists working to build solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for freedom". It isn't that long ago that one of the Liberal government's scandals hit the front pages when it was revealed it had signed a contract with Khaled Barakat, a director of Samidoun, and Kates's husband, whom Israel's secret service identifies as a senior figure in the PFLP. Hired by Heritage Canada to lead discussion groups on human rights.

Mr. Poilievre challenged the government of Justin Trudeau to list Samidoun for what it is: a terrorist entity. Listed, a group's assets become frozen and it then becomes a crime for anyone to assist them in their mission. He then accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of doing precisely nothing in the face of flourishing hatred directed against the Canadian Jewish community by organizations such as Samidoun. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, he pointed out, had refused to condemn phrases such as "from the river to the sea", despite their obvious intents.

The slogan has a readily defined purpose, referring to the destruction of Israel, thus freeing up Israel's ancestral geography to be entirely taken over by the Palestinians who themselves have made it clear they have no intention whatever of suing for a two-state solution; their solution is one state, and it is all Palestinian. The phrase "from the river to the sea", claims supporters of Palestine, is nothing other than a call for freedom for the Palestinians.

Protestors wave Palestine flags outside Queen’s Park during demonstration. (OTR/Laviza Syed).