Bombardments over Idlib… Bombardments over Darat Izza… Bombardments over Abzemo… Bombardments over Ariha… Is it important to mention the names of the deceased? Should we say; Mariam, a year and a half old, has died? What difference does it make if we mentioned that her father was killed with her? Can we say that her brother has been detained for eight years? Or should we just say that eight people were killed in the bombing of Darat Izza, two in Abzemo, and it’s still unknown whether the missile hit the school in Idlib or not?
Perhaps we should overlook what is happening in Idlib, as its news has become tedious. Besides, the people of Idlib – along with the western countryside of Aleppo province – are all terrorists, according to some intellectuals. We should thus conspire with their murderers, they say, since they are responsible for the destruction of beautiful Syria. The Islamic factions scattered throughout like mushrooms are supported by Israel – as Assad and his aides claim – and thus, some call for their extermination, young and old alike.
If we are to normalize relations with Assad, then let’s help him get rid of this so-called terrorist human block. But these Assadist missiles do not fall on terrorist factions; Assad has not fired a single bullet at the Jolani group. The missiles only target civilians; they are the supportive environment for terrorism. When a commercial area in Darat Izza gets destroyed, it economically tightens the noose on terrorist factions. When a school in Idlib is demolished, it eliminates potential terrorists.
Assad or Burn the Country
The slogan raised by the Assad army since the beginning of the Syrian revolution is still effective to this day. Assad has managed to strangle Syria with the claws lent to him by forces he brought in to help him kill his people and maintain his seat of power.
His rockets’ fire still pours lava on civilians in what is called the "liberated areas," which never truly benefitted from such a designation. They moved from Assad’s rule to the rule of armed factions, finally settling with Jolani, who appointed himself the absolute ruler of Idlib, like "Abu Amsha" was appointed ruler in the Aleppo countryside. The liberated areas have been split amongst Assad’s men, whom he released from his prisons as part of a calculated plan to assassinate the Syrian revolution.
Idlib lives in absolute chaos. The decision was taken at the very beginning of the Syrian revolution to relocate everyone who rebelled against Assad, demanding freedom and dignity, to Idlib province. Green buses transported all the militants from Ghouta, Daraa, Homs, and Hama towards Idlib.
Since then, the U.S. Secretary of State declared that the holocaust would be in Idlib. Russia threatened to use nuclear weapons on Idlib one day. Before all that, in 2013, the regime adopted a policy to transfer Al-Nusra Front militants from Daraa to Idlib in an operation supposedly secret – but after the convoy passed through more than fifty-eight checkpoints, secrecy was no longer an option. It was exposed by true witnesses on the ground, and overlooked by global news agencies, which also ignored the entire revolution, describing it as a civil war.
What's Happening in Idlib?
Nothing new; the daily holocaust has been ongoing since 2011, but its pace increased after the massacre committed by regime loyalists in the military college in Homs, which they blamed on the armed factions in Idlib. This sparked a ferocious revenge campaign and reignited calls to burn Idlib down, despite the fact that it was the military security branch that attacked the college, as Bashar al-Assad's closest associates have confirmed! Some officers and members were arrested on these charges.
And when the war on Gaza flared up, accusations renewed of the armed factions in Idlib receiving Israeli support. Assad and his allies seek revenge on Idlib as a response to Israel, which indulges in bombing specific sites in Syria daily, especially airports, solely to keep the supporters of the resistance axis convinced that Assad and his associates are against Israel, after the great betrayal suffered by the Palestinians in Gaza has become clear to the world.
Oppression and Terror
Despite its repetition to the point of normalization, what happens is unbearable for humans and unacceptable.
No schools are left, nor are there bakeries for bread, commercial markets, or hospitals. Those who get killed are exclusively civilians, and if the regime ever learns to pray, it should be thankful daily for the factions guarding its borders and throne better than Assad's father's army guarded Israel's borders.
What happens in Idlib? Simply put, they die from the daily bombing of Assad and his officials. Its inhabitants experience forced internal displacement. They protest for Gaza as travel is forbidden for them, as is migration except to heaven. They are also denied treatment in neighboring countries.
Intelligence agencies from regional and international states have managed to create a sector resembling the Gaza Strip. And tomorrow, after years of siege – if they rebel – their fate will be like Gaza’s. But this time, without international mobilization to justify them.
Someday, some president or a UN official might lecture about the extermination after the fact, borrowing words from Bashar al-Assad about Gaza: (Peace processes and other details and rights, as vital as they are, are not the priority in this critical moment, knowing that discussing them won’t bear fruit or be of use; because there is no partner, no sponsor, no reference, and no law. Because a right cannot be reclaimed when the criminal has become the judge, and the thief the ruler, and this is the state of the West today).
Everyone will listen and applaud!
