The August 2023 Druze Anti-Assad Protests

With all eyes on Gaza and Southern Lebanon, there are other questions to consider. The US is still seething over its failure to oust Assad in Syria and it would seem US policy is to make the Syrian economy scream – once the policy of the US toward Allende's Chile.

 

Already ailing and impoverished, sections of the country remain in ruins – some of these ruins are due to American air strikes in its war with ISIS. Cities like Raqqa were flattened, and US forces still occupy eastern portions of the country – effectively controlling the oil and thus prohibiting Assad from using the funds to rebuild his country. And then finally with the February 2023 earthquake, the US has blocked efforts to give Syria aid or financing to rebuild.

At the end of August, the Druze of al-Swaida began to protest and this was significant because the numerous minority groups (including Christians) supported Assad throughout the civil war out of fear of a Sunni Islamist regime. And yet now the Druze are upset? Why? It would seem that it's mostly related to economics. The society has always been authoritarian – it's the only way the contrived country of Syria can hope to exist. They're used to a heavy hand and yet they've reached a breaking point.

Western media wants to present this as democratically motivated protests and as such it's given something of an ideological gloss. It was especially noteworthy to me that The Atlantic Council, the premier think-tank connected to NATO issued a statement or paper about it. They're quite keen (it would seem) on these Druze protests and their meaning – or should we say potential.

As someone else put it – like gangsters, so often they create problems in order to 'solve' them. It's an old trick that takes on an especially sinister meaning in the realm of geopolitics.

Break the economy which inevitably leads to protest – feed the protest and then create a situation that 'demands' international intervention.

The Far Right and Pro-Israel lobby in the United States as well as significant elements within the Israeli Establishment want regime change in Syria. This is connected to a larger anti-Iran project that is embraced by both of these groups. And let's just say they were less than happy with Biden's seeming acquiescence to Syrian peace under Assad early this year. And yet it has been revealed that much of that was obviously just rhetoric as the US has maintained strong anti-Assad policies. They have continued the sanctions and the US still occupies Syrian territory.

The Druze protests continued into September and we all know what happened in Israel the first week of October. As the Gaza War continues to reverberate across the region, and as the US is already launching strikes in Syria – couched in anti-Iranian terms, there are many pieces and components to keep an eye on. It's interesting how the strikes are presented as defensive or retaliatory. If Chinese troops occupied Louisiana and then launched attacks into neighbouring states, would anyone accept such labels and narratives? I don't think so. It would be viewed as aggression and more aggression.

One hopes the Druze leadership will remember the cynical lessons of the Lebanese Civil War and the ugly realities of US regime change operations in Iraq and Libya – and how these led to not just to al-Zarqawi's AQI but ISIS and the nightmare in Syria. The Druze faced a particularly brutal ISIS attack in 2018.

Before they take money or advice from the Americans (or Israelis) or rest on promises of protection they would do well to revisit these chapters and reflect on them. The lesson is clear – stay out of it. Assad may be something of a devil but he's the devil they know. They would also do well to listen to the Iraqis – once so glad to see Saddam gone, within a couple of years they viewed his rule (even under sanctions) as something preferable to the chaos that was unleashed by the 2003 US invasion.

I do not doubt that American intelligence (or some proxy) is at work on the ground in Syria and reaching out to groups like the Druze or some of the Christian sects. The Alawites would be almost an impossibility as they remain devoted to Assad. Money is probably being spread around. The protests may have been spontaneous and genuine but that doesn't mean that some might try to exploit them.