Thread by @Syria_Irl

The Irish Syria Solidarity Movement 'has called on @sinnfeinireland to clarify its position on Syria after social media posts from its two of its TDs emerged questioning whether President Assad gassed his own citizens'

thetimes.co.uk/article/sinn-f…

We are very concerned that SF Foreign Affairs spokesperson has a track record of characterising opposition to Assad as 'terrorists' since 2012, before ISIS was even in Syria, & casting doubt on Assad CW attacks. This is not one thoughtless tweet. We seek clarification from SF

We can find a number of occasions where @johnbradysf objects to US & Turkey actions in Syria, but none that refer to Assad/Russia campaign of bombing of hospitals, schools, markets or to starvation sieges by Assad/Iran/Hezbollah or 100,000+ disappeared, tortured, killed by Assad

If there are such posts by @JohnBradysf condemning the war of annihilation by Assad, his use of disappearance, torture & execution which UN named as a 'policy of Extermination' or other atrocities by Assad & allies, we will be glad & relieved to have them brought to our attention

'Irish Syria Solidarity Movement: “This is the most documented conflict in history. There has been documentation from the very early stages, inc film & video. We’d like some clarity from Sinn Féin about their understanding of what’s happening in Syria”

thetimes.co.uk/article/sinn-f…

Assad use of chemical weapons on hundreds of occasions has been documented & verified. Mr Brady has never commented on these attacks to our knowledge, except to cast doubt on them. This aids & abets the Assad regime in continuing these attacks.

'A report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international watchdog, this year found that the Syrian air force was responsible for dropping sarin over the town of Ltamenah in Syria in March 2017'

@_BrianMahon_
thetimes.co.uk/article/sinn-f…

@_BrianMahon_
'A report from UN in 2018 stated chlorine was probably used in an attack on a town held by Syrian rebels in northwest. A report from Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin compiled a list of 345 attacks involving chemical weapons, all but a handful by the regime'

Assad has carried out hundreds of chemical weapons attacks against civilians. This is a terrorist weapon, extremely effective, in pursuit of his aim of forced displacement of millions of Syrians seen as disloyal, & their replacement with loyalists from within Syria & from Iran

To remain silent in the face of Assad's atrocities is to support them. To characterise the peaceful protesters & activists who protested in 2011 & ever since against a then 40 year repressive brutal hereditary regime as 'terrorists' is promoting the narrative of that regime

Unfortunately many on the left who oppose US actions across the world remain silent about or even actively support brutal tyrants who are perceived as opposed to the US. This is especially true of the actions of the Assad regime, russia and Iran in Syria

The Assad regime imposed itself on Syria by coup 50 years ago & has ruled by repression, disappearance & massacre ever since. In 2011 Syrians protested, seeking justice & freedom. Assad responded with brutal force, including the torture & murder of children.

Supremely courageous Syrians have continued to resist, & also resist extremists from ISIS, AQ, HTS etc. They have been met with annihilation by Assad, & have been abandoned by some of the western left, vilified as 'terrorists' when they risk & give their lives fighting terrorism

It is important to understand that the displacement of 13m Syrians is not a side effect of war, it is the deliberate aim of the Assad regime & allies. Russia & Iran have strategic territorial aims in Syria which they have achieved - ports, military bases.......

..... Assad uses blanket bombing, starvation siege, disappearance & torture, chemical weapons attacks to displace millions whose property he then seizes. Those forced to flee are replaced with loyalists & Iranian settlers

Important also that to a large extent this is a class war. Towns & areas of cities obliterated by Assad are predominantly those inhabited by working class & migrated rural poor eg East Aleppo. This is at its core a war for power by a tyrannical elite against ordinary people

While many international forces are engaged in Syria pursuing their own agendas, this started as a peaceful revolution by Syrians against tyranny. Over 90% of civilian casualties are by Assad & Russia. The very existence of the Syrian revolution is denied by the western left.

We ask @sinnfeinireland to clarify their position on Syria

Do they acknowledge & condemn Assad, Russia bombing of hospitals, schools, market places, families, refugee camps?

Do they acknowledge & condemn the hundreds of chemical weapons attacks against civilians by Assad....

We ask @sinnfeinireland @johnbradysf to clarify

Do they support the demands of Syrians for freedom & justice?

Do they acknowledge & condemn the use by the Assad regime of starvation siege against civilians?

Do they acknowledge & condemn the campaign of forced displacement?

Do they acknowledge the detention, disappearance, torture, rape & murder of well over a hundred thousand Syrians including children, activists, doctors, humanitarian workers, ordinary citizens by Assad?

Do they join with us in demanding immediate release of all those still alive

@sinnfeinireland

To our knowledge @SeanCroweTD has never distanced himself from the notorious Assad mouthpiece Agnes Maryam with whom he was photographed in 2012 on her visit to the Dáil

irishtimes.com/news/nun-on-ir…

Wonderful Fr Paolo Dall’Oglio, now disappeared by ISIS 'described Agnes Mariam as “an instrument” of Assad’s regime 'consistent in spreading the lies of the regime & promoting it through the power of her religious persona. She knows how to cover up the brutality of the regime”

We have seen @sinnfeinireland condemn US bombing of an empty airfield in retaliation for an Assad chemical weapons attack. We have seen Deputy Crowe concern re Turkish actions. We have not seen the concern & condemnation we would expect of the thousands of Assad regime atrocities

Despite his retraction we remain concerned that @Browne4Dail is chairing the public petitions committee, given his sharing of an egregious meme denying Assad chemical weapons attacks. The work of that committee involves important foreign policy questions as well as domestic ones

We suggest @sinnfeinireland parliamentarians inform themselves abt history of Syria under 50 yr Assad tyranny & in particular the events of last decade of slaughter. We suggest award winning documentary by Irish @EsperanzaDocs 'Syria the Impossible Revolution' as a starting point

A blinkered outdated & simplistic so called 'anti imperialist' ideology of the left sees many of those who

Genuinely care about homelessness - supporting Assad regime that has made 13 million Syrians homeless, stolen their property & made it impossible for them ever to return...

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Sees many who genuinely care about refugees - support the regime that has forced 6 million Syrians to seek refuge, & retains, tortures & kills any who dare to return......

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Many who genuinely care about Palestine - support a regime that has disappeared, tortured, murdered, bombed, starved and forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians....

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Many who genuinely see themselves as on the side of the poor & working class - supporting an elite billionaire looting regime that is waging an actual military war of extermination against the poor & working class of Syria.......

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In @sinnfeinireland those who honour the memory of detainees & those who died in detention in Northern Ireland - are mute on the hundreds of thousands of activists disappeared, tortured, raped & murdered by the Assad regime both now & for the past 50 years.....

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Those who genuinely oppose US imperialism & that of its allies - denying or actively supporting the imperialism of Russia & Iran in Syria, staying silent on the war crimes & crimes against humanity they perpetrate in pursuit of their imperialist ambitions......

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Genuine committed activists for change - slandering fellow activists in Syria, calling them ISIS & al Qaeda, denying their very existence, the very narrative promoted by Assad & which supports what the UN called a policy of Extermination in his prisons & death camps....

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Those who see themselves as genuinely supporting revolution against tyrants, whether as pacifists or advocates of 'armed struggle' - becoming supporters of one of the most brutal counter revolutions ever perpetrated....

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Those who genuinely abhor abuse of children - supporting a regime that imprisons, tortures, mutilates, kills, bombs, gases, starves, medically deprives, forces to live in the open, bombs as they live in tents - millions of Syrian children.....