Collage of Benjamin Netanyahu and Al-Qaeda fighters in Syria. Photo: Al-Mayadeen.
By Joe Ghanem – November 29, 2024
The war is not over yet, but one of the most violent and criminal campaigns in modern history has been forcibly halted by the brave Lebanese resistance fighters in south Lebanon. The US empire, the entire West, and some Arab regimes stood behind “Israeli” tools of destruction and brutality, yet they were unable to advance a single step or remain in their positions for even a few minutes. An epic has truly unfolded—one that continues to unfold in these hours, visible in scenes of people from the South, Bekaa, and Beirut suburbs returning to their land and what remains of their homes, with heads held high and standing tall.
The “Israeli” war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, in his impotent speech delivered just before announcing the truce on the northern Palestine front, did not forget to clearly threaten Syria (and President Bashar al-Assad personally), vowing more attacks and crimes against Syria and its people due to their material support (supply lines) for the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon.
The Zionist war criminal had barely finished speaking when “Israeli” airstrikes struck all the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, including targeting General Security buildings and customs headquarters on both sides, as well as medical points recently established by the Syrian State to receive and care for displaced Lebanese people.
The assault led to six martyrs, two military personnel and four civilians, and several wounded on both Syrian and Lebanese sides, including children, women and Syrian Red Crescent workers, along with major material damage that led to the closure of all the targeted border crossings. The assault primarily targeted the crossings of al-Dabousiya, Jousiyeh, and Qamar Bridge in rural Homs, and Al-Arida crossing in rural Tartous, in addition to border points in the aforementioned countryside areas and rural Damascus, and Bekaa on the Lebanese side. This came after “Israeli” sources claimed to have targeted weapons-laden trucks crossing the border from the Syrian side. A few hours earlier, “Israeli” missiles had targeted Syrian Arab Army installations in western Homs, under the same pretext of stopping resistance supply lines.
The goal of definitively destroying the resistance in Gaza and Lebanon sits at the top of the current agenda for the axis of aggression stretching from Washington to “Tel Aviv,” but the goal of dismembering the axis of resistance, and thus causing its complete collapse, is its long-term objective. Therefore, Syria will be the most prominent battlefield where the axis of aggression will try to achieve this goal in the near future. This is without overlooking the fact that attacks on Syria have not stopped since the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, and the pace of the attacks has steadily increased over the past months.
The most prominent elements of the hostile plan to achieve that goal, alongside continuing and expected escalating “Israeli” attacks, includes supporting and mobilizing terrorist factions that control parts of Syrian territory in the north and desert regions especially, and activating dormant and ready terrorist cells in southern Syria. Synchronized and coordinated attacks between the “Israeli” enemy and these terrorist factions have already occurred during past months. Days before announcing the truce on the Lebanese front, and simultaneously with an Israeli attack on rural Homs, groups from the terrorist organization ISIS attacked Syrian Arab Army positions in the desert.
What is particularly noteworthy here is that just hours after the “Israeli” prime minister’s pre-truce speech threatening Syria with more attacks, large terrorist groups belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Al-Qaeda) led by Abu Mohammed al-Julani, along with other factions and participation from the so-called “Syrian National Army” formed by Turkey, launched a major attack in the early hours of November 27—the most violent since 2020. This occurred on the western Aleppo countryside fronts, targeting the villages of Qabtan al-Jabal, Sheikh Aqil, Basartoun, Bala, and Salloum, and nearby military points. Turkish-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham publicly announced a “large-scale operation” against Syrian Arab Army positions in rural Aleppo.
Also noteworthy is that these factions’ media began announcing control over Hezbollah positions in western rural Aleppo and the fall of martyrs and prisoners from Hezbollah, which is certainly untrue, as the Islamic Resistance of Lebanon has no positions in those areas. However, this clearly aligns with the “Israeli” narrative and provides new proof of the opposition’s “unity of battlefields” between the enemy and its tools internally and in the region generally.
The reality is that the violent attacks that began in the pre-dawn hours resulted in several martyrs and wounded among the army forces stationed there, as well as among residents of the targeted villages. However, the Syrian Arab Army quickly regained the initiative, as its launchers and warplanes began bombing all supply lines of these factions and groups in rural Aleppo, Idlib, and across the Al-Ghab Plain, targeting terrorist gatherings in several areas.
The Syrian Arab Army’s artillery and missile units also began targeting all terrorist positions in those areas, and the joint Syrian and Russian air force continues to conduct combat missions until now, launching raids on various positions on the Aleppo, Idlib and rural Hama fronts, with Syrian warplanes recorded flying at low altitude over Idlib, without any intervention from the occupying Turkish forces present in those areas—which certainly has its implications. The Syrian air force continues launching raids with drone squadrons in western rural Aleppo and eastern rural Idlib.
This battle is considered one of the most violent and intense battles that have occurred in the last four years on Syria’s northern fronts. The armed terrorist factions began it with statements promising their supporters that they would reach Aleppo, but the reality on the ground at this moment indicates a new disaster for these groups that answered the call of the enemy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opened a new “Israeli” battle on Syrian territory. Reports from the field indicate hundreds of these faction members killed, wounded or captured, destruction of many of their positions, military points and ammunition depots, and cutting of their supply routes, while the Syrian military response continues with great force and is not stopping.
This battle has important implications at this specific juncture. First, it comes directly after the truce on the southern Lebanon front, which came as an explicit and clear announcement of the Zionist entity’s inability to achieve any goal in its battle with the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon.
Why Israel Targets Syria: The Geopolitical Stakes of Damascus’s Support for the Resistance
Second, it comes after the bombing and targeting of all crossings and passages between Syria and Lebanon, and the exhaustion of all attempts to prevent the crucial military communication between Damascus and the resistance in Lebanon (a matter whose strategic importance the enemy understands better than anyone, though now is not the appropriate time for either Syria or the resistance to discuss its specific details).
Third, it comes after Netanyahu’s threat to escalate confrontation with the Syrian state and “make it pay the price” for supporting and supplying the Lebanese resistance. Accordingly, while many discussions and talks are taking place about the feasibility, stability or continuity of the “unity of battlefields” within the resistance axis, the enemy has proved that it also has its “unified battlefields”—not only through military, political, financial and economic support, and continuous supply lines at all these levels through dozens of countries in the world and region, without which this enemy could not have withstood the war on Gaza for even one month, let alone embarking on the northern battle with the Lebanese resistance. Rather, the unified military aggression battlefields from Palestine to Syria’s north and desert have now confirmed they are completely linked to the Zionist regime, and that moving those arms, simultaneously with continuous attacks from the enemy itself, is actually happening and likely to develop and escalate in several fields.
Therefore, the resistance axis should be ready to fight and confront on these emerging fronts, with Syria being first and perhaps most violent and dangerous, before Yemen and Iraq’s turns come.
The enemy’s plan to isolate each front separately and persist in destroying it and attempting to disable it has become clear and unambiguous. The resistance must address anything that may help the occupation entity achieve those goals, and the resistance axis’s conflict management plans must align with the severity of those goals and ongoing realities.
A key development here is the stance taken by Turkish occupation forces, who have thus far remained mere observers as these groups suffer heavy losses on the battlefront, with their positions, warehouses and headquarters coming under attack. This passive position by Turkey appears to align with broader Turkish-Russian arrangements to reshape the political and military landscape in northern Syria.
What is expected here is that this battle will lead to escalation from the Syrian-Russian side, reaching the liberation of the M4 international highway, something previously agreed upon between the Russian and Turkish sides but not implemented until now. However, the moment appears ripe for this shift, as these ill-fated northern proxies launched their attack at the behest of the Zionist entity. Their failed offensive may serve as the catalyst for liberating and reopening this strategic highway, potentially setting in motion more significant developments across the northern region of Syria.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/DZ/SC
