On November 30th Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a major attack on Aleppo. In a matter of days they were able to capture Damascus and the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is reported to have fled to Moscow.

Syria has been entangled in a civil war since 2011, however since 2020 the war has been in a phase of relative stalemate between the four major players; The Syrian Government, Islamic State, Syrian Democratic Forces and HTS with their aligned rebel groups. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly Al-Nursa Front, was formed after a split with the jihadist terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Upon merging with several other groups they united under the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Last week, HTS was able to launch an aggressive advance from their base in North-West Syria, resulting in the capturing of major cities such as Aleppo, Homs and finally, Damascus. The collapse of the Assad government in Syria has wide-reaching consequences for the Middle-East and the inter-imperialist struggle for dominance in the region between the USA, Russia, Turkey, Israel and the gulf monarchies.

For many years Syria has been the theatre of a complex inter-imperialist conflict involving many players, all with divergent interests. As a result, the many so called “rebel” groups are backed by various states in an effort to exert influence in Syria. The Assad government has been a long-time political-military ally of Russia and Iran, much to the frustration of the United States. Russia has aided the Assad government in their fight against Islamic State and has signed $1.6 Billion dollar contracts for the extraction of hydrocarbon deposits in the Syrian EEZ.. The Russian capitalist class has profited from the civil war through the sale of arms to the Syrian Government, which was valued at $238 million in 2013. It is also important to mention the only Russian Naval base outside Russian territory is in Syria. This is to say that capitalist Russia has a political and economic interest in supporting the Assad government, not out of a sense of an “anti-imperialist” duty but instead to enrich its own monopolies and protect its own capitalist class’ interests.

The Jihadists in Syria have the backing of the Turkish, Israeli and American Bourgeoisie. Turkey occupies parts of Northern Syria and has for many years. The Turkish capitalist class has supported Jihadists, at times including IS, against the Assad government and Russia as well as occasionally initiating military operations against Russia itself. This is all with the aim of accelerating its climb up the ranks of the imperialist pyramid and to further its so-called “neo-ottomanist” ambitions. The USA and Israel have similarly offered support to rebel groups in Syria, with the notable inclusion of the USA’s cooperation with the SDF, which have facilitated access to oil reserves in Northern Syria. Nehanyahu has stated that the fall of the Assad government resulted in the “collapse” of the 1974 disengagement agreement. Israel had troops readied at the border of the Golan Heights before the fall of Damascus to Jihadist forces and has since began to capture more Syrian territory, further expanding their illegal occupation

While the recognition of Syria as an imperialist chessboard in which various capitalist players are involved is fundamental to our analysis, this is not done in an attempt to equate all sides inthe conflict. Nor do we think that there is a “correct” side in the conflict. This is to say that we recognise the unique danger this situation presents for the working class in Syria.

The takeover of a large area of Syria by jihadist forces and the administration of Sharia Law in certain cities such as Aleppo has already begun and constitutes a serious setback for the lives of the Syrian people, particularly for the women and religious minorities (Christians and Alawites). The seizure of power by reactionary terrorist forces and the instability created by the fall of the Syrian government creates opportunities for the USA, Turkey and Israel to further their imperialist plans, and has created even more precarious conditions for the working class to find a way out of this crisis.

The entrenching of religious divisions, and promoting of religious doctrine in general, makes the creation of unity based on a common class interest a difficult problem for Syrian communists. We express our solidarity with the working class of Syria in the face of such reactionary forces. The crisis in Syria is a result of the conflict which is born from the imperialist system. The only way out for the Syrian people is to unite in the struggle for workers' power and socialism.

HANDS OFF SYRIA

LONG LIVE PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM