If Syria Normalizes Ties with Israel, It Is Complicit in Genocide – Analysis

By Robert Inlakesh

Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara’a. (Photo: video grab)

As has always been the case, Palestine is the litmus test, and Damascus has so far failed it dramatically.

Israeli media are now reporting that there are advanced discussions between the leaderships in Damascus and Tel Aviv to reach a normalization agreement, which the Trump administration also suggests could expand to other Arab Nations too. After a failure to extract results from the Iran war, this would be Israel’s ideal victory.

Syrian President, Ahmed al-Shara’a, has openly admitted to negotiating with the Israelis over “security” issues and since the first week of his administration’s seizure of power, ruling members of his government have not only hinted at normalization, but in the case of the new Mayor of Damascus, Maher Marwan, explicitly called for it.

As the months went on, we came to learn that Israel and Syria have been engaged in a series of negotiations, at least one recorded to be direct, and that both delegations shared snacks around a single table. In addition to this, Israeli journalists who were once banned from entering Syrian territory, have been permitted to report from Damascus.

In one case, an Israeli journalist filmed a documentary with the help of Syria’s new security forces, who toured the Israeli military sites, showed him formerly classified documents and the abandoned Iranian embassy.

SANA, Syria’s State-owned news agency, has even opened a Hebrew website. While almost every nation in the region condemned Israel’s recent surprise attack on Iran, Syria remained silent and did not even complain to the United Nations about its airspace being used to launch strikes against the Iranians.

Yet, when Tehran retaliated against the US’s al-Ubeid Airbase in Qatar, Damascus instantly condemned it. Even more incriminating were the reports in Israeli media, including from the Hebrew Channel 12, that Syrian officials had endorsed the use of their airspace to attack Iran.

On Thursday, just about every Israeli media platform reported that talks between Syria and Israel were in an advanced stage. Yediot Aharonot even reported from its sources that the normalization deal on the table would include an official Syrian recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the illegally occupied Golan Heights.

As a reference point, under the previous Syrian leadership of Bashar al-Assad, direct communication and collaboration with Israel was an offense that could carry the death sentence. This is how dramatically the policies have changed in Syria under Ahmed al-Shara’a.

Especially shocking is that the pro-Israeli shift in policy has also occurred while Israel continues to conquer more Syrian lands, occupy key water sources, build military bases, and ethnically cleanse villages in the south.

While local Syrians have faced off against occupying forces with stones and, in a few instances, opened fire on Israeli military convoys, with one group even launching rockets into the Golan Heights, calls for Damascus to fight back have been ignored. In fact, the new Syrian security forces have attempted to seize weapons from Syrians in places like Dara’a and clashed with them.

All of this is relevant to understanding the position of the current administration in Damascus, which has also arrested key Palestinian leaders and suppressed the resistance movements inside the country.

Even members of the ruling party itself, like Shamel al-Ghazi, who had been advocating for capturing occupied Jerusalem in battle, were cracked down upon, along with people raising funds for Gaza.

This makes Syria the most likely candidate to sign on to Donald Trump’s so-called “Abraham Accords”, even more than the likes of Saudi Arabia or Lebanon.

While the current Lebanese leadership is certainly beholden to the United States, Hezbollah and the Amal movement would never accept entertaining the idea of normalization, rather heading to war than allowing such a move to pass.

Riyadh, on the other hand, could possibly sign onto an agreement if it is given “guarantees” of a path towards a Palestinian State, despite continuing to hold onto its policy of normalization for the creation of a Palestinian State. Any discussion of this would necessitate a Gaza ceasefire first, however.

This brings us back to Syria. Which will gain nothing from normalizing ties with Israel but will sacrifice the nation’s very soul. This move would be a gift to Israel that will allow it to save face after failing to achieve its objectives during its “12-day war” with the Islamic Republic.

The new Syria would therefore cease to be Syria any longer, if it signs a normalization deal with Israel that sells the Golan Heights.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made it abundantly clear that he will never allow Syria to possess any significant military power and has worked hard to destroy what remained of its capabilities following the fall of the previous leadership there.

This would also be a reward to the Israelis for their genocide in the Gaza Strip and would thus make Ahmed al-Shara’a’s leadership complicit.

Some supporters of the Syrian government, unable to provide examples of any tangible benefits that will come as a result of normalization, have argued that their people are tired and just want to end all conflicts.

There is no indication that Syria will suddenly bounce back economically in the event of normalization with the Israelis, especially as both Jordan and Egypt continue to sink in this regard.

Sudan, which signalled its willingness to sign the so-called ‘Abraham Accords’, was off of the US’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list, its sanctions were lifted, it had its debts cleared and was even sent relief, yet quickly sunk into a violent civil war; during which the Israelis attempted to play both sides.

Even if this were the case, however, then the argument defeats the stated purpose of the revolution they claimed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham won on their behalf. If the goal was to have a stable country, Syria had no foreign debt, maintained some of the best universities in West Asia and was an overall economically prosperous country prior to 2011. Except, at that time, it had not normalized ties with Israel and was instead supporting the Palestinian resistance.

Therefore, normalization of ties with Israel means total defeat of the Syrian nation. Syria is divided, run by a range of gangs and clans in different areas of the country, has disbanded its army and security forces, replacing them with inexperienced militias – of whom a large portion are sectarian and not tolerant of the nations diverse population – as it capitulates and sacrifices its territory to the region’s top enemy.

Meanwhile, Iran, which the Syrian leadership claims to be the enemy of Sunni Muslims, continues to back the Palestinian resistance. Ahmed al-Shara’a, on the other hand, collaborates with the Israelis who are committing genocide against an almost all Sunni Muslim population in Gaza.

Therefore, under a normalization deal, Syria’s new government is complicit in a Sunni genocide, although nobody phrases it this way because the Palestinian people are being killed for their nationality and ethnicity, not religion.

As has always been the case, Palestine is the litmus test, and Damascus has so far failed it dramatically. While Ahmed al-Shara’a talks about the evils of Iran and his men lament an alleged “Shia conspiracy”, the only two countries that have fought Israel and continued to back the Palestinian resistance have been Yemen and Iran.

All of this is controversial to say, but it is true. For the same reason anti-Imperialists stood against regime change in Iraq, despite the horrors of Saddam Hussein, they stood against regime change in Syria.

A large portion of them hated Bashar al-Assad with a passion, but understood what the agenda was and why Israel had poured money into at least a dozen Syrian opposition groups.

Israel had also been notably armed, while providing medical support and finances to Jabhat al-Nusra since around 2013, and was run by Ahmed al-Shara’a, later becoming Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which rules Damascus today. If Syria normalizes ties with Israel, the anti-imperialists have been vindicated in their stances.

Whether it was the opponents of Muamar Gaddafi in Libya, the opposition to Saddam Hussein, or the opposition to Bashar al-Assad, the story was shockingly similar. It appears as if the region has a short memory and the videos of Iraqis celebrating in the streets of Baghdad, riding the statue of Saddam Hussein and holding up American flags were erased from collective memory.

Today, there are also countless Iranians who support regime change, who endorse the son of the deposed Shah of Iran, claiming that installing a Monarch will bring democracy, women’s rights, and freedom. Many of the Iranian groups working for regime change in Tehran are aided by Israel and their Western allies.

The people who supported/support regime change in their own country have all cited genuine grievances with the governments in charge, but become blinded by their hatred and fall into aiding conspiracies that destroy their countries time and time again.

No matter what you think about any of these governments, the cold, hard facts are that Israel, the UK, the EU, and the United States sought their destruction in order to rob these nations of their sovereignty and military power. Why? Because these governments provided support to the Palestinians or groups resisting Israel and because they threatened Western hegemony.

Normalization between Damascus and Tel Aviv means that hundreds of thousands of people died and a stable nation was destroyed, while every ethnic/religious group turned on each other, all so that Israel could usurp more territory and deal a blow to the Palestinian resistance. There’s no way to sugar coat it.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.