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This is a shit take. Ahmed al-Sharaa renounced al Qaeda years ago and has demonstrated leadership as a moderate who protects ethnic minorities. He aligned with al Qaeda in Iraq in 2003 against the US invasion that most of us were protesting at home
Cool, so then, why did 1500 people just upvote a picture of a tweet calling him a terrorist, and criticizing the lifting of sanctions against him? Why did only like 40 people downvote it? That's what I'm calling out.
Where were you when in that thread, by the way? Why are you criticizing my take and not that one? Don't tell me you only saw the thread sitting at 7 upvotes and missed the one with 1500.My bad.I have the second most upvoted comment on that post: https://mander.xyz/comment/19100228
My apologies. I tried to control-F and apparently that doesn't work on usernames.
In any case, my take is essentially just, "Hands off Syria." I didn't think we should arm him, I don't think we should sanction him, etc. I don't really think that's a shit take, but it's certainly drawn some criticism over the years.
He's literally cozying up to Israel and the US and ignoring their occupation of/attacks on his lands, which ramped up when he overthrew the previous regime, weakening the country in the midst of extreme Zionist aggression.
I'd also love to know how he's "protecting ethnic minorities" by launching raids against them and threatening to invade them to seize their towns.
has demonstrated leadership as a moderate who protects ethnic minorities
https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2025/05/syria-arrests-pflp-gc-secretary-general/
Next, you'll denounce these sources, which directly shatter that false eurolib, chauvinistic, ahistoric narrative, as "Assad-ist". If you're eager to to engage in Alternate History, do it in a D&D game or something.
Dude he was fighting the Kurds in Manbij and Efrin with Al-Nusra in like 2016. He founded Al-Nusra, an offshoot of Al-Quaeda, in 2012.
https://www.understandingwar.org/report/jabhat-al-nusra-syria
In January 2012, a group called Jabhat al-Nusra announced itself as al-Qaeda’s Syrian franchise, and the following month al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri called for Sunnis from around the region to join a jihad against the regime. Jabhat al-Nusra gained Syrian and foreign recruits as it scored greater battlefield successes than rival opposition groups.
In April 2013, a separate group formed from the remnants of al-Qaeda in Iraq that called itself the Islamic State of Iraq emerged and exceeded even Jabhat al-Nusra in its brutality
https://www.cfr.org/article/syrias-civil-war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ras_al-Ayn_(2012–13)
Who were the "good guys" in the Syrian Civil War? Did you read beyond 2016?
Overall probably the Kurds.
Certainly not the Salafist and jihadists.
Maybe not the guy who was and still to some degree practice sexual slavery in the regions he controls.
Being a "moderate who protects ethnic minorities" by launching raids and threatening to fully invade their towns while ignoring Israels own occupation and bombardments against them.