Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
If we do not hit our goal we will be forced to close the site.

Current status: https://keepboardsalive.com/

Annual subs are best for most impact. If you are still undecided on going Ad Free - you can also donate using the Paypal Donate option. All contribution helps. Thank you.

The End of Assad? Syrian Rebels enter the outskirts of Aleppo for the first time since 2016

1282931333437

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,636 ✭✭✭brickster69


    Israel has the right to defend itself in other words.

    "Israel's move in the buffer zone in Syria is logical and consistent with the right to self-defense," - Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor.

    "if you get on the wrong train, get off at the nearest station, the longer it takes you to get off, the more expensive the return trip will be."



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,166 ✭✭✭jmreire


    A very good article. And aside from refusing to take Palestine refugees because of the lack of right or return, it also mentions the security issues Egypt and Jordan have, refusing to take Palestinian refugees because of the risks of Jihadi's causing trouble, not only in Egypt or Jordan, but by attacking Israel from Egyptian or Jordanian territory. Demolishing the long-standing peace agreements that exist between these countries. So, as it stands, no Palestinian Refugees for either Egypt or Jordan.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,812 ✭✭✭greenpilot


    This is so surreal for me, personally, to see the monumental changes that have taken place across Syria, particularly in Aleppo and Damascus. I was in both cities and at various sites across the country, into Jordan, in both 2009 and 2010 and left exactly one week before the Arab Spring from the airport in Damascus.

    I don't know if any of you have ever lived in this part of the world, but I found a marked difference in attitudes between those in Syria and Jordan, with the Syrian people being the most amicable. For a region and country that has, throughout history, witnessed such tumultuous strife, war and tribulations right through the Crusades to modern times.

    I still remember standing on top of that great Crusader fortification, Krak de Chavaliers, which stood the test of time from 1100 when it was built, to when the first Russian barrel-bombs tried, but failed, to breach the walls. Of course, its in a terrible state now, particularly inside the walls, as many of the rooms were used as ammo dumps, but greatly saddens me how easily hallmarks of a civilisation can be destroyed. The same goes for that great Mosque in Aleppo, sitting in the courtyard, listening to the running water while writing a letter, only to see it utterly destroyeda few years later.

    There is one statue that has withstood every onslaught, including the onslaught of traffic and people leaning on it and crawling over it through the decades. It stands at one end of the great Bazaar, where piles of turmeric and Cumin are sold by people from all across the middle east, where one Palestinian young buck, with a GAA Jersey shouted Conas a ta tu!, upon hearing our accents. ( of course we know where he learned that!). The statue in question is that of the great Salahadin, sitting on his horse, sword up in the air, and at the horses feet, the twisted, cowering bodies of the crusaders.

    I still keep the keycards to the accommodation we held in Damascus in my wallet and every now and then, I take them out to remind me of what was.

    I was a blow-in. I can only imagine how those Syrians who still live there feel right now amid even more uncertainty.

    But you know what? At least the Russians are gone.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,290 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    They must be looking forward to a Kabul-Damascus twinning ceremony and getting their signage ready for the big day.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,158 ✭✭✭✭Francie Barrett


    You didn't predict sh1t.

    The statement I made is objectively correct.



  • Advertisement
  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 21,774 Mod ✭✭✭✭Leg End Reject


    Mod: @end of the road, please back up your claim of genocide or move on from this point. If it occurred it will be regarded as genocide now, how an event was viewed in the past has no relevance.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,980 ✭✭✭buried


    Would have loved to visit the sites you are on about, I've heard estimates that there was about 7 million tourists a year that visited Syria before the "arab spring"

    Bullet The Blue Shirts



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,566 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    an article explaining what exactly happened during the nakba https://imeu.org/article/quick-facts-the-palestinian-nakba
    definitions of genocide https://www.un.org/en/genocide-prevention/definition
    what is explained in the first article fits numbers 1, 2, and 3.
    the whole point was to destroy their homes and way of life and to force them from their lands, via death and destruction, killing and all else with the intent to expell them from their lands at best and eliminate a large number of them.

    so yes i'm happy beyond reasonable doubt that genocide fits here.

    I'm very highly educated. I know words, i have the best words, nobody has better words then me.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,662 ✭✭✭✭markodaly


    And in another shocking development, a minority Jewish population didn't want to be ruled over by another ethnicity or group, they wanted self-determination. It was the Arabs who wanted subjection. The Jewish population didn't want to rule over Muslims.

    Also, Jews have lived in the Southern Levant for thousands of years. Many of them are not or were not 'foreigners' They comprised approx 40% of the population.

    Do you place any blame at all towards the Arab leadership? They come across are obtuse, arrogant and foolish.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,662 ✭✭✭✭markodaly


    What is this horse manure?

    Honestly, is that the best you can do?

    1948 wasn't deemed a Genocide by anyone, but in your head, it was, so it was a Genocide!

    Honestly, I don't even know what to say about this fantastical bunch of lies.

    Your posts are falling like dominos as your lies get exposed.



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,270 ✭✭✭✭Tony EH


    Egypt, etc, don't want to give the Israeli's any excuses, whether that's Jihadi's making their way to Egyptian soil or Israel using the absence of Palestinians as an excuse to quicken up their greater Israel project. And they didn't lick it off the stones either. They've had, literally, decades of illegal Israeli behaviour to back up their concerns.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,217 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    Announcing the implementation of sharia law and morality police. Done in an open and reasonable manner, conciliatory but it is sharia law and morality police.

    The stick is the norm in sharia, the blade is the norm, it certainly doesn't sound promising.

    I remain convinced though that he is smart enough know that the unfettered brutality of Islam fully implemented will see rebellion but a version stricter than Arabia might be tolerated and Survive. A sunni Iran but without the shia moderation.

    Golani is a very capable man, possibly exceptionally so, one of those people who are made by events in to more than most could be.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,166 ✭✭✭jmreire


    And decades of experience with Palestinian jihad too!

    Egypt has had several conflicts and interactions with Palestinian militants over the years. One notable instance was during the 1970s and 1980s when Egypt was involved in various military operations against Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip. This was part of Egypt's broader efforts to maintain control over the region and address security concerns. There were lots of problems with Yassar Arafat's PLO, he was also involved in conflict with the Jordanian Government as well. So, both Egypt and Jordan have good reason to treat any relationship with Palestine with great care.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,166 ✭✭✭jmreire


    I

    Yes to all of the points you made, lived there for more than 3 years. Incredible country and people, and as for the buildings themselves… Damascus reputed to be the oldest inhabited city in the world at 10'000 years. Strange when you are walking through the Bazaar in the old City, and think how many have walked before you,,to drink coffee in a 400-year-old coffee shop, just in front of the massive City Gates in the great wall. In Aleppo, amongst all the old buildings, to see the St. John Bosco University, and of course the souks and Bazaars.

    Great pity what has happened to Syria and its people…they deserve much better than this, and I hope that they get it.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 12,421 ✭✭✭✭AbusesToilets


    They could have had self determination in a secular state, instead they wanted to take land that wasn't theirs and set up an apartheid state where everyone who wasn't a Jew was an inferior. The hundreds of thousands of European Jews who came to Palestine weren't natives, they were colonists. You can try and whitewash history all you want, but the facts are clear as to what happened. The UN abetted the establishment of European colony in Palestine and enabled the ethnic cleansing of the native Arab population by the Zionists. Much as they continue to do today.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,812 ✭✭✭greenpilot


    True. Mind you, I wasn't a tourist, but there were many French tourists in particular. Damascus is/was quite like Paris in places, due to the French Colonial influence. I made quite a few dollars selling stashes of brandy to desperate tourists on pilgrims who were at their wits end towards the end of their trips...lol. I used to meet them at the shopping centre ( now bombed) up the street from the Arjann Apartments at the Queens Centre ( also bombed) in Damascus. $35 a pop. ;)



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,147 ✭✭✭✭Dohnjoe


    "We know that when things do go South (which is quite likely) that certain Assad supporters will be leaping to claim "egg on the face" of anyone who supported his downfall."

    Not too far off and even got the phrase right.

    No one is saying "HTS will make a good government". Being glad a murderous regime has met it's end doesn't mean automatic support for Islamist fighters or whoever made it to Damascus first.

    And to pre-empt other predictable vectors (not specifically aimed at you), no the dictator didn't "keep the peace", he was the chief responsible for this chaos. And secondly dictators don't lack agency.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 371 ✭✭lizzyjane




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 371 ✭✭lizzyjane


    Thats laughably staged from CNN, you cannot shoot a lock off with one bullet. How do people buy this sort of propaganda. The man under the cover looks very healthy for somebody that hasn’t seen sunlight for weeks and doesn’t squint once when brought outdoors.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,368 ✭✭✭Economics101


    So genocide "began the day that Israel was created". So from the beginning Israel was a genocidal state? I suppose that you would therefore deny Israel's right to exist.

    And I came upon this in a thread which is supposed to be about Syria, and which continues to be hijacked by people who no doubt will deny they are anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic. Pull the other one.



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,158 ✭✭✭✭Francie Barrett


    Assad supporter

    There's no point in debating with you, you're a complete fantasist. Don't try to invent arguments with me again.

    Mod Edit: Warned for uncivil posting

    Post edited by Necro on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,158 ✭✭✭✭Francie Barrett


    That is pathetic, no wonder people don't trust the media anymore.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 17,118 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manic Moran


    Iraq was as bad. For a month I passed the Nineveh Walls and the Tomb of Jonah twice a day.

    Some time after I left, ISIS arrived on the scene, and that was the end of thousands of years of architectural existence.

    Never did see the Afghan Bhuddas. Gone before I got there.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,607 ✭✭✭thereiver


    The problem I see is theres likely to be a group of rebel groups that gain power who are Muslim

    Will they respect minority groups .will they respect women's rights or will be they be like the Taliban and crush women's rights completely will the Kurds be attacked or repressed will the isis prisoners be released will Syria become a haven for isis and other terrorists

    The Kurds are supported by America as they are the ones who fight to wipe out isis

    Israel is bombing army bases in order to wipe out Assad's weapons and tanks before they fall into the hands of rebels or isis who will use them against Israel

    No one knows what will happen in the end but turkey and America will have the most influence

    Theres likely the be civil war and random conflict between the Kurds and various rebel groups who have various political views

    I think it's hard to predict the outcome but it's likely to be bad news for women who might hope to have some kind of equal rights and the right to work and education in a new society

    The rebels who have the guns are unlikely to be aware of the following finer points of setting up a democratic voting system that respects all minoritys and religious groups it,ll probably be a government like dubai or the Taliban or somewhere in the middle

    Post edited by thereiver on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,607 ✭✭✭thereiver


    THe Russians seem to be leaving as they need to concentrate on winning the war in Ukraine



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,867 ✭✭✭✭nacho libre


    They got logistics support from Pakistan, but in order to maintain their insurgency in Afghanistan over 20 years against a superpower and eventually take over the country they had to have some support from the local population- especially in southern Afghanistan. It's the same with most insurgencies they could not survive and sustain themselves without support from some sections of the population.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,236 ✭✭✭Jinglejangle69


    Russia is a terrorist state and a blight on the world.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,147 ✭✭✭✭Dohnjoe


    Relax. I haven't seen anyone here (or in the media) singing the praises of HTS. Everyone is cautious of them.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,147 ✭✭✭✭Dohnjoe


    Latest is that they might get to keep their military bases. Not good.



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,411 ✭✭✭j62


    Depends on what Russians have to give up

    Probably Assad and/or his billions he stole



Advertisement