US Sanctions Pave the Way for Al-Qaeda Takeover of Aleppo

The whole of Aleppo has fallen to Al-Qaeda virtually without resistance on just the 4th day of its surprise offensive. The Syrian army also fled the strategic town of Saraqib and the M5 highway it took through heavy fighting in its last offensive in 2020. (Last report also has the Abu al-Duhur airbase as lost which means total collapse.)

Actually that last 2019-2020 Syrian-Russian offensive was about to dismantle the Al-Qaeda rebels in Idlib for good, but they were saved by Erdogan who poured in Turkish regulars and unleashed heavy drone-bombing of the Syrian army. Putin bombed the Turks in turn, killing at least 34, but ultimately allowed Turkey to save and preserve the Al-Qaeda enclave.

It seems that since then Erdogan has continued to develop his Islamist clients while Damascus was resting on its laurels.

I’m sure that when a retrospective of the current battle is done it will reveal that the Syrian army committed some practical mistakes that resulted in the disaster, such as growing complacent, demobilizing too many people, manning the front too lightly, underestimating the enemy, and allowing itself to be caught by surprise.

That Russia is tied up in Ukraine, Hezbollah has been decimated by Israel, and Iran is also tangled up with Tel Aviv are also important factors. (The rebs also likely got some small measure of support from Ukraine.)

However, I think that long-time Syria observer Professor Joshua Landis (pro-opposition) is right to point to US sanctions as a major factor as well. Aleppo was fully recaptured in 2016 and the war was essentially won and done by 2020. Normally what would follow in such a situation is the peace dividend and a post-war boom. A return to some base level of prosperity.

Instead, as the US saw its Islamist battering rams against Assad rolled back and defeated it gradually upped sanctions against the victorious Syrians, crowned by the suffocating 2019 “Caesar Act” introduced by Trump. This has meant that wartime levels of poverty have continued and the population which hasn’t known normalcy since 2011 remains exhausted and jaded.

Another factor is that the majority of the country’s oil is under the control of the Kurds and the United States.

This means that the Sunni majority hasn’t profited much from Assad’s victory. He was able to prevail in the war, but not able to give them anything like the material existence they knew before 2011.

So while especially the urban Sunnis aren’t rooting for Al-Qaeda, they also aren’t eager to risk life and limb for the sanctioned government and the bleak existence life under it portends.

So I guess what remains is to congratulate all supporters of the American Empire out there. If you’re a good American who supports the policies of the American government go and pour yourself some Bud Light or some fine wine and celebrate Al-Qaeda taking over a major Middle Eastern metropolis. Those not ready to fully prostrate themselves before Washington and Tel Aviv have been shown a lesson once more, and bin Ladenites prove a most useful battering ram yet again.

Mohamed al-Jolani, the Saudi-born ISIS and Al-Qaeda emir, who made his bones fighting Americans in Iraq as part of Zarqawi’s “Al-Qaeda in Iraq” head-choppers and truck bombers, now in control of a city of 2 million courtesy of NATO Turkey and DC’s economic strangulation of a rare non-Islamist ME government. What a fine American accomplishment.

Through joint efforts, Obama, Trump, and Biden have shown the hazard and the futility of trying to roll back the Empire’s head-choppers without permission. Russia loses once again and AIPAC gets the partitioned Syria it wants. And really, that is all that is necessary for America to have an objectively good day, right? Long live Al-Qaeda, that eclectic band of Middle Easterners equally beloved by the American government and the people.

No worries, Jolani supports girl schools, here’s one in Idlib: