Communist Party of Greece (KKE)
The intervention in Syria and the domination of the jihadists is another link in the chain of the dangerous developments for the peoples that the imperialist powers of the USA, the EU, NATO, Turkey and Israel are carrying out in the wider Middle East region. It is a continuation of the ongoing massacre of the Palestinian people, the attacks on the Lebanese people and the targeting of Iran.
From the beginning, in 2011, the KKE has taken a consistent and firm position on the developments in Syria, exposing the dangerous changes that followed the so-called Arab Spring to the detriment of the peoples. Today, the same reactionary forces, “rebranded” by the NATO member state of Turkey, are dubbed “rebels” and presented by the bourgeois media as the “liberators” of the Syrian people. The same propaganda about “the restoration of democracy" is being repeated, which was the pretext of the imperialists for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc., and which today has turned the Middle East into a region in flames.
The KKE has made it clear that despite ideological and political differences with the bourgeois Syrian regime and the criticism of its policies, it condemns the plans of the USA, Israel and Turkey, which constitute interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.
The Syrian people are now paying the price of the capitalist path of development, the struggle between the imperialist powers for raw materials, pipelines and transport routes, military bases, geopolitical footholds and market shares.
The situation that is currently taking shape in Syria not only will not end the suffering of the peoples of the region, but also carries the risk of new imperialist wars and possible border changes, with new rounds of bloody conflicts and new waves of refugees.
The New Democracy government has welcomed the overthrow of Assad, i.e. the collapse of the country by the jihadists with the support of Turkey, Israel and the USA, and bears a great responsibility. It has welcomed the intervention of these forces in a foreign country, with all that this implies, in order not to disrupt the NATO line and the "peaceful waters" policy with Turkey. The hypocrisy of the government and the other pro-NATO parties is beyond all limits, because on the one hand they denounce 'revisionism' and on the other hand they legitimize it. This attitude is part of the dangerous policy of the government and the other pro-NATO parties, which are dragging the country into military adventurism in Ukraine, the Middle East and other regions of the world, where the interests of the capitalists of the Euro-Atlantic axis are at stake against the competing interests of the Eurasian axis that is being formed.
The KKE stands by the people and the communists of Syria and stresses that the struggle against the social impasses of poverty, the impoverishment of the peoples, the imperialist interventions and wars, in order to be effective, must target the system of capitalist exploitation and the monopolies that give rise to and reproduce these impasses.
Tudeh Party of Iran
On the morning of 18 Azar [Sunday 8 December], the world's media reported the fall of the Ba'athist government led by Bashar al-Assad in Syria, as their top news story, 11 days on from the launch of the offensive in that country by the takfiri terrorist forces of "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" [HTS].
The news of the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government, roundly welcomed by the imperialist countries, marks a completely new phase and re-drawing of the political landscape in the Middle East. This event, which was orchestrated with the clear and direct intervention of the military forces of Turkey and Israel with the backing of the imperialist countries, should be seen as part and parcel of the strategy of US imperialism to expand its hegemony over the Middle East region.
According to reports in the international media, last week, after the escalation in attacks by terrorist groups affiliated with HTS and the fall of major cities in northern Syria, the governments of Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran decided to withdraw their military forces, diplomatic missions, as well as citizens from the country.
The "Euronews" network reported: "Sergey Lavrov announced that the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, and Iran, agreed at their meeting in Doha, the capital of Qatar, that the 'hostilities' in Syria must be ended immediately. Mr. Lavrov emphasised that Moscow wishes to witness dialogue between the Syrian government and what it considers to be the 'legitimate opposition' in Syria. He reiterated that the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham remains a 'terrorist' organisation, regardless of any claims about a change in its stance. Lavrov stressed that it is 'unacceptable' to allow 'terrorist groups' to take control of Syrian territory."
In its first reaction to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated: "The determination of the fate of Syria, as well as any decision-making regarding its future, is solely the responsibility of the people of this country, free from any destructive interference or external imposition."
According to world news agencies, Bashar al-Assad, along with some of his advisers, left Damascus international airport for Russia in the early hours of Sunday 8 December. And in a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry it was announced that the Syrian president departed having resigned his post following negotiations with a number of "participants in the armed conflict [in the Syrian Arab Republic]" and his issuing of orders for a peaceful transfer of power. The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasised that it was not involved in the negotiations, but that it maintains contact with "all Syrian opposition groups".
The capture of Damascus, Syria's capital, not only ended more than five decades of Assad family rule in Syria, but also marked the effective end of the Ba'ath Party's existence [or that of organised Ba'athism] in the Middle East. The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, 21 years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, is one of the most significant political developments in the Middle East with profound and far-reaching consequences for the region. Progressive opposition forces in Syria have highlighted that over the past 13 years, Syria has been subjected to cycles of continuous violence and destruction across the country, which have stalled the implementation of agreements as well as the establishing of "de-escalation zones". This had led to a near-total "freezing" of the conflict by mid-2019. Subsequently, a phase of economic erosion began, driven both internally and externally, exacerbated by international sanctions as well as the brutal neoliberal economic policies and fierce domestic repression imposed by the Syrian government.
With the fall of the ruling regime in Syria in the wake of Israel's continued bloody attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, the Middle East region has been plunged deeper into a profound multifaceted crisis. The departure of Bashar al-Assad from Syria and the handover of power to terrorist forces - which operated within the framework of ISIS-affiliated forces until 2013 and then under the command of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri until 2016 - could initiate a series of developments aligned with the strategic interests of the US, Israel, and Turkey. It is notable that the Turkish government has officially supported the forces affiliated with HTS, while the Israeli media has also alluded to specific understandings and mutual interests between the Netanyahu government and HTS.
The Tudeh Party of Iran is deeply concerned about the consequences of the events of the past few days in Syria, which could lead to greater instability and a potentially catastrophic regional war with very real global implications. We believe that the developments in Syria have not occurred in a vacuum or removed from the series of developments that stemmed from the events of 15 Mehr 1403 [7 October 2023], including the severe defeat of the regional policies of the Islamic Republic in Iran [and manifest degrading of its capabilities] along with that imposed on its affiliated forces in Gaza and Lebanon. The reality is that the direct involvement of states such as Israel and Turkey in the current developments has not only worsened the security situation in the region but could also have broader repercussions. The Syrian people demand the realisation of national sovereignty, democracy, and social justice - demands that an extremely reactionary-jihadi and terrorist force neither has the intention nor capacity to achieve or work towards.
The Tudeh Party of Iran supports all responsible and principled international calls for a comprehensive political solution to resolve the Syrian crisis. We also endorse the call of the progressive forces of the region for the immediate implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, in which the solution to the Syrian crisis is based on the vital interests of the Syrian people, and we reaffirm our longstanding and steadfast opposition to any intervention by foreign forces.
Developments in Syria do not lend themselves to euphoria and celebration. On the contrary, they are a cause for serious concern and do not bode well for the people of Syria or for the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region. They bear the risk of new bloody conflicts, devastation and more refugees. They bring to the fore extreme fundamentalist forces. They strengthen the two occupying powers in our region, Turkey and Israel. They are paving the way for the dismemberment of Syria.
AKEL underlines that the international community must not accept the plans for the dismemberment of Syria but must defend the territorial integrity and unity of the country as a sovereign and independent state, where the people of Syria themselves will freely decide their future, away from foreign interference. The position of the Republic of Cyprus must be guided by international law, the UN Charter and the UN Security Council Resolutions.
The whole of humanity should be concerned by the developments in Syria because the outcome of the so-called "Arab Spring" and Western military interventions to "export democracy" is well known. In the case of Syria too, existing issues of democratic freedoms and human rights were instrumentalised by the West in order to destabilise the country while at the same time, extreme obscurantist forces were dubbed "liberators" and "democrats".
This makes it clear how nightmarish the scenario of Syria becoming a "new Iraq" or a "new Libya" is.
The plan put into effect by the US imperialism and the reactionary forces in the region about 15 years ago in order for the disintegration of Syria has succeeded as of yesterday. The jihadist forces mobilised by the USA, Israel, Britain and the AKP government overthrew the Syrian government in a short period of one week.
Peace and stability will not come to Syria as they claim. On the contrary, in Syria, where massacres, occupations, looting and plundering, endless conflicts have been taking place for years, the era of barbarism will be opened as the last remaining point that restrained all these, even if only a little, has been eliminated.
The winner of this picture is Israel for the time being. It has been proved once again that the Israeli issue is not a matter of religion. Jihadist groups and Israel have seized Syria by working in great harmony. The AKP government is the element that ensures this harmony.
Israel's victory is the victory of US imperialism.
All the ‘winners’ in Syria today are allies of the US and Israel. Maybe there will be bloody clashes between the ‘winners’, maybe the ‘harmony’ witnessed in the field for a week will be established by the US.
However, US ‘peace’ is always bloody, always prone to new conflicts. Peace, stability and tranquility in Syria can only be established when imperialism and the jihadists are defeated.
A resistance against imperialism and Zionism will certainly emerge in Syria. That this resistance acts without relying on other international powers, with a revolutionary perspective, defending secularism and being unifying, depends to some extent on the developments in Turkey.
In Syria, Israel and the USA have won a temporary victory using the jihadists.
Israel, the USA and jihadism must be defeated in Turkey.
We appeal to all our citizens. This is not a game. If we care about our country and our future, we need to talk about how to stand up and get rid of this barbarism and do the necessary.
What is happening in Syria is proof of what sectarianism, religionism, nationalism and relying on foreign powers can lead to.
Turkey must change if it is to continue to exist. There can be no unity in a country where exploitation, inequality and injustice are rife.
After the developments in Syria, it is essential to restrain the excitement of the Neo-Ottomanist circles who dream of ‘expansion’. This Neo-Ottomanist approach not only means attempting to cover up exploitation, inequality and injustice with conquestism, but also leads to the enactment of a plan that will lead to the disintegration of Turkey.
Our country and our citizens are facing a great test.
Either we will defeat the exploitative, religious, Americanist mentality that has brought our country to the brink of the cliff, or we will tumble into that cliff.
We trust ourselves, our people and humanity.
The pleasure of the pro-Israel actors will be incomplete.
New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN)
Developments in Syria have led to the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.Jihadist groups are taking the helm in Damascus, something that would not have succeeded without the help of the U.S., Turkey, Israel, and other imperialist powers.What is now being presented as a “liberation” is the beginning of a new chapter in the destabilization and looting of Syria and a further escalation of the contradictions in the Middle East.
The Syrian civil war, ongoing for more than 13 years, has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. US imperialism plays an important role in it. For years, the U.S. has been trying to get Assad out of the way in an effort to bring Syrian resources and market under the control of their own monopolies and away from the sphere of influence of Russia and Iran.
The same goes for the Turkish government, with its expansionist agenda and fight against Kurdish groups. Money, resources and weapons were not shunned to support jihadist “opposition,” such as the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Turkish AKP politicians can hardly hide their joy now that their investments have finally paid off. We recall that in 2018 the Netherlands gave financial aid to the terrorist movement Jabhat al-Shamiya.They used that money to buy, among other things, pickups like the vehicles we saw the jihadists drive into Damascus today.
Israel, which has occupied Syrian territory in the Golan Heights for decades, is also the cynical winner of this outcome. While massacring the Palestinian people in the name of fighting “terrorism” and “jihadism,” the murderous Israeli regime is not averse to harmonious cooperation with jihadists in Syria to achieve its goals. Right now, the Israeli army is already carrying out attacks and is in the process of occupying more Syrian territory.
Dutch bourgeois politicians are also cheering the “liberation” of Syria by the “rebels,” as the jihadists are now called. In reality, this imperialist intervention results in the further destabilization and looting of Syria, and is far from a “liberation” of the Syrian people.
The NCPN expresses its solidarity with the people of Syria, who for more than a decade have been suffering from a terrible civil war resulting in many deaths, wounded and millions of refugees. In particular, we express our solidarity with the communists of Syria. The Syrian working class and other oppressed sections of the population are facing a difficult period, but only they can eventually free their country from imperialism and jihadism.
Solidarity with the people of Syria!
Like many others, we were surprised by the speed of the collapse of the Syrian army and the speed with which the rebels in Syria were able to seize power in the country, but unlike many others, we neither mourn the collapse of the regime nor celebrate the victory of the rebels.
The former Syrian government led by Bashar Al-Assad never represented the interests of the people and could never do so. Assad's government was never anything other than the government of the national bourgeoisie and as such it represented nothing but parts of the interests of the Syrian bourgeoisie vis-à-vis both competitors and the working people of Syria. We recognize no community of interests between the workers and capital and we are therefore convinced that there cannot be a bourgeois government or administration which can at the same time represent the interests of the workers. The fight against Assad and the national bourgeoisie was a necessity.
On the other hand, we see how the jihadist rebels have now taken power in the formerly secular Syria. It does not bode well for either the country's women or ethnic and religious minorities. It is a dark reaction that is now sweeping the country and even bourgeois observers do not believe in any democratic development. In the end, in other words, it may be that the people exchanged a secular dictatorship for a religious one, which does not change the fact that both were and are the dictatorship of capital over the working masses.
Behind this struggle are of course also the bigger players. In the immediate area there is Turkey, which has kept the rebels under arms for several years, and Israel, which has armed them. Iran and Hezbollah, for their part, have supported the previous government together with Russia, while the US and the EU have attached themselves to both the Kurds and the rebels. For them, the fight in Syria is part of a bigger fight, where the imperialist blocs are forming and where they are constantly trying to beat their competitors. In this struggle, no side hesitates to sacrifice the people.
As communists, we do not choose any other side than that of the working people, and their interests are not represented by either the former government or the rebels. We are fighting for socialism, which stands in opposition to all the different expressions that the dictatorship of capital takes, be it secular or religious.
In this difficult period, we therefore stand in solidarity with the working Syrian people, who are facing great trials, and the Syrian communists.
The Workers Party of Ireland expresses grave concerns at the recent developments in Syria and the Middle East. These developments take place within the context of increasing imperialist aggression in the region and Israel’s genocidal, aggressive and expansionist policies which in addition to its murderous attacks in Palestine and Lebanon now involve massive military intervention in Syria. The dangerous role of Turkey, which despite its rhetoric actively engages in cooperation with the Zionist regime in Israel, further poses a major threat to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Syria.
The EU, NATO, the UK and the US together with the bourgeois media in these countries which have previously designated these groups which have taken control in Syria as “terrorist” now welcome their role.
The people of Syria who have suffered years of aggression and war now confront an unstable and dangerous road ahead under the jihadist forces mobilised by the USA, Israel, Britain and the AKP government in Turkey as part of the plan hatched by imperialism in the region and the position of the murderous state of Israel has been strengthened with the real prospect of propelling the region into further and bloody sectarian slaughter and war and disaster for the peoples of the area.
A secure and safe world can never be created by imperialism which has ravaged, divided and d destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya to the detriment of their peoples and workers who are always the losers.
The Workers Party of Ireland expresses its solidarity with the people, workers and the communists of Syria.
Imperialist war is no solution! Capitalism can never serve the interests of humanity and peace!
After 13 years of strenuous resistance to the military interference and heavy economic sanctions of Atlantic and Zionist imperialism, the government of the Syrian Arab Republic had to give in: President Bashar al-Assad was able to avoid unnecessary bloodbaths by responsibly arranging for the least violent transition of power possible in the face of overwhelming opposition forces.
The conquest of Damascus by the Islamist terrorist group Hayat
Tahir al-Sham (HTS) also means the end of the experience of a
multi-confessional and multi-ethnic State governed by a secular
government with a socialist orientation and with the participation of
various secular and progressive political forces (including communists
and trade unionists) that for decades represented a key ally of the
peoples in the resistance against imperialism, starting from the
Palestinian to the Venezuelan.
The decades-long interference in
Syria's internal affairs by various Western countries has unfortunately
been decisive in irreversibly destabilising the country: in addition to
the constant bombings by Israel, the trade embargo imposed by the
United States and the European Union also had devastating consequences
on Syria's economy, with a heavy deterioration in daily living
conditions for its citizens and workers.
The Syrian Communist
Party, just a few weeks ago, had warned, sadly going unheeded: despite
all possible patriotism, the difficulty of maintaining social cohesion
was undermining the nation's ability to resist. Unfortunately, this was
the case.
Those who are celebrating today by talking about the
fall of a ‘tyrant’ should rather reflect on what will come now, in the
hope that there will not be a similar scenario as in Libya after the EU
and US war intervention. Switzerland's decision to suspend the granting
of asylum for Syrian citizens just now is therefore at least hasty: the
war is not yet over, instability reigns supreme and the new authorities
still depend on a fundamentalist organisation. The guarantee of an
amnesty for all soldiers who have served in the regular army is
certainly positive news, but it is not enough: it must first be verified
in practice!
In order to avoid a global conflict that could
involve many other countries in the Middle East area, also leading to
huge migratory flows towards Europe and Switzerland, it remains
imperative today to work to preserve Syria's territorial integrity and
avoid a definitive ethnic and religious balkanisation of the country. In
this sense, our Party's decades-long criticism of that part of the
European left that has defended to the bitter end (and in an exclusively
ideological manner) Kurdish separatism in Rojava, whose role as
Washington's on-the-ground agent appears today to be very clear and
without excuse, also proves correct.
Facing the structural
fragility of ‘Baathism’, it is presumable that the essence of the
understanding found between the allied countries (Iran and Russia) on
the one hand and Turkey and the Syrian opposition forces on the other is
precisely that of trying to preserve Syrian national unity (already
severely compromised) and obtaining a guarantee for the Russian military
bases present in an attempt to hinder the dangerous expansionism of
both the Zionist regime and the USA. The situation is obviously still in
progress and the balance of power is still unstable. The perspectives,
however, are not already decided!
From the conclusion of the
Syrian experience there are lessons for all peoples who want to
emancipate themselves from imperialism: first and foremost, it is
necessary to defend the national state, without giving in to autonomist
impulses, without ever trusting the blandishments of Atlantic
imperialism and its instruments (such as the International Monetary
Fund), promoting on the contrary republican institutions as a community
element and working to achieve the highest possible degree of
independence and sovereignty. In this phase of the ongoing global
geopolitical and class clash, Syria unfortunately represented the
weakest link in the chain, and Atlantic imperialism seized the
opportunity: this does not detract from the fact that the process
towards multipolarism is historically and economically given, as is the
Western decline.
From the conclusion of the Syrian experience
there are lessons for all peoples who want to emancipate themselves from
imperialism: first and foremost, it is necessary to defend the national
state, without giving in to autonomist impulses, without ever trusting
the blandishments of Atlantic imperialism and its instruments (such as
the International Monetary Fund), promoting on the contrary republican
institutions as a communitarian element and operating to achieve the
highest possible degree of independence and sovereignty. In this phase
of the ongoing global geopolitical and class clash, Syria unfortunately
represented the weakest ring in the chain, and Atlantic imperialism
seized the opportunity: this does not detract from the fact that the
process towards multipolarism is historically and economically given, as
is the Western decline.
A remark must also be made to today's
disappointed anti-imperialist militants: it is a feeling that is humanly
and politically understandable, but a war is always composed of many
battles, and not all of them can be victorious in the same way. On the
contrary, it is time to reorganise, to recalibrate our analysis to the
new phase, not to give in to the current psychological war, and to
strengthen our organised militant commitment, because NATO and the
Zionist Entity are still pushing for a third world war. Our priority as
communists must remain the defence of Swiss neutrality and peace, the
consolidation of multipolarity and solidarity with the anti-colonial
revolutions, starting with the Palestinian one, which certainly did not
end with the fall of Syria.
To be updated...
