When is a terrorist a rebel ?

One possibility is that there will be elections. The Syrian people might vote for an Islamist. If that does happen I hope the West will give them a chance. In Egypt the people elected Morsi. I always felt that if we had given him a chance Egypt might still be a democracy today. Instead it is as bad now in Egypt as it was under Mubarak. The West don't care so much as long as he is pro Western.

At least Morsi didn't gun down protestors like Mubarak and Al Sisi.

A friend of my DF did time in Palestine after the war (he was stationed there having signed up in 1944). I remember him saying he was being shot at by "Ben Gurions mob" as he reflected on the way the world works when DBG came to the UK as Israels PM.

"Funny old world" were his exact words.

Well exactly. My brain cell can count past the number 2. Which is quite useful in this situation.

It's not surprising that SharonEllis is confused seeing as how you have misrepresented the situation. There were three Jewish armed groups and two main Palestine armed groups.

The Haganah developed into the IDF. They did bomb the Semiramis hotel, not to kill civilians but because they thought it was a headquarters of Palestinian armed forces. Irgun and Stern Gang were more into killing civilians.

The PLO didn't exist at that time.

Or you could answer rather than being abusive?

I think it’s complicated, the SNA that is aligned with HTS is currently attacking kurds. I’m happy for the Syrian people to be free of Assad and I genuinely hope that Jolani has had a damascene conversion. He is ethnically syrian but grew up elsewhere. I do wonder if spending time in Syria has caused a fit of patriotism and acceptance of the fact that nation states are more important than pan regional non state actors like al-qaeda. A lot of the current strories coming out of rebels looting etc are the directly backed by Turkish groups and grouos of jihadis. Think HTS has started arresting anyone found to be breaking the law basically.

I sincerely hope he has changed because the alternative will be dire. But yes he still has a ten million bounty on his head and HTS is still considered to be an offshoot of al-qaeda. He has committed atrocities as have his group and the groups he’s aligned with. The problem here is there are so many different rebel groups with different aims and ideologies that the designation “rebel” covers all of them. I wish the media were much more specific.

I can’t say I can be supportive of a group like HTS. As with Gaza, Israel and Lebanon, my sympathies lie firmly with civilians.

To quote Blackadder "who's got the family braincell today"?

Wondering what you mean @Daftasabroom?

Yes, could be Iran or Russia. Or maybe the UAE. What worries me though is that he might go to the west of Syria where the Alawites are in a majority. He could turn up in Tartus where there is a big Russian naval base.

If the rebels try to move westwards they could come up against increased resistance from Alawites. If the Alawites are backed by Russian warplanes then the fighting could go on for a long time.

However, it seems that the Assad regime, the Russians and the Iranians have no desire to fight. It seems they have given up.

I don't know what will happen to the million Alawites in Syria. It is possible that they will try to flee as did so many Sunni Syrians a few years ago. Many will want to come to Europe, but in parts of Europe (Germany, Sweden) there are many Sunni Syrians who will be hostile to them.

So far the alawites and anyone pro- Assad has more or less been spared if they stand down. Isis are just mental, HTS have tried to re-brand as being a more moderate group in comparison and I think they have shown that in this take over but perhaps it is too soon to tell.

Daesh meaning IS yes.

Although now they target each other as the smaller groups vie for control and power it wasn't always that way.

The predecessor group of HTS and their current leader who has been with them since their inception did have ties and connections to the original Daesh leader Baghdadi.
Both entities fought against the SDF and Coalition Partners.
It's only been since the fall of the caliphate and death of Baghdadi that HTS has targeted Daesh.

Via funding from Turkey, which wants to defeat Iran and is using the weakness of Hezbollah to tighten its grip on power via the "rebel" militias it controls. Like the ones you describe as "not Hamas". Indeed, they're not, they're an offshoot of ISIS, those cuddly teddy bears. None of these people are good, but I guess it's possible they might stabilise society in Syria before they start locking women up in their houses.

Against Iranian aligned militia groups.

Iran have approx 316,500 aligned fighters in various groups spread between Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen with the sole aim of "death to Israel, death to the west"

Approximately 26,500 fighters in Syria alone.
That would be like having 1/3 of the British Army deployed all at once.

https://www.cfr.org/article/irans-regional-armed-network

I wouldn't be surprised if the UK reverse their decision over time of labelling HTS as a proscribed group if they become the chosen leaders.

Daesh meaning Isis? If so then no, Isis and HTS are enemies.

Yes, there are celebrations but there's also concern. It is a precarious situation but personally I am glad to see the back of Assad.

Why are Israel carrying out airstrikes in Damascus? Does anyone know

Yes and no.

The UK and Coalition partners supported the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces), essentially the Kurds, who still have a foothold and control of the Eastern part of Syria.

HTS has not been one of the supported groups because of their links to and support of Daesh.
HTS have fought against the SDF and Coalition partners.

Isn't the people in Syria or Syrians and their reaction a big part of this?

I just heard a report from Trafalgar Sq about celebrations re the fall of the regime.

The same across the country, and likely there too

What do the people want? I hope and see the term cautious optimism that it may be better, closer to a democracy

I believe all of that is covered under the word 'Anyone' in my post.

Bit confused. Who were the 2 terrorist groups operating in 1946? What's Hamas got to do with it, given they weren't founded till the 80s?

Quite, in 1946 there were two groups of terrorists operating in the British mandate in Palestine. In 1948 one group became (eventually) the IDF. The other group are still designated terrorists by much if the world.

(Hamas are despicable BTW)

So perhaps you don't use the word terrorist to describe the group that "wins".

That's not the case for many people.

There are different approaches, different ways in which people try to make a difference, dependent upon circumstances.

What do you mean by this? Are you not aware of all of the work that has been done to try and support Palestinians over the years? There are tons of charities that have working in the Palestinian territories for years. Are you saying that those charities, who lots of us have supported, have only supported Palestinians through the suffering that Israel have caused them and not Hamas?

I think you are confusing matters. A lot of people say that it is pointless to protest against Hamas because our governments don't support Hamas, they can't sanction them, they cant restrict trade with them, they can't stop selling weapons to them because they don't do all of that already. That is separate to supporting Palestinians which if course lots of people have done for years.

Thanks, I have lots of existing links with organisations supporting Syrian refugees.