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Charles Lister Profile picture
@Charles_Lister
Jun 8, 2022 • 9 tweets • 15 min read • Read on X
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"I've been asking a simple, but important question.. What is the administration's strategy on #Syria?" -- @SenatorMenendez

"I remain concerned this administration has accepted #Assad's rule as a foregone conclusion." -- @SenatorRisch

SFRC hearing, now.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch "I was shocked to see Bashar al-#Assad welcomed as any other Head of State by the #UAE."

- @SafiraLeaf, Assistant Secretary of State for #MiddleEast.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch @SafiraLeaf "I will make the #Syria crisis & applying pressure on the #Assad regime, a priority in the administration."

- @SafiraLeaf, Assistant Secretary of State for #MiddleEast.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch @SafiraLeaf "The #Captagon trade is something associated with the #Assad family.. the Saudis, Jordanians are deeply concerned about this toxic trade."

- @SafiraLeaf, Ass. SecState for #MiddleEast.

Several "U.S. agencies" are already engaged in combating the trade, financing, smuggling etc.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch @SafiraLeaf "We have not seen any change to #Russia's deployment in #Syria, or to its posture in defending #Assad's regime."

- @dstroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense #MiddleEast.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch @SafiraLeaf @dstroul "How many more times does a witness to war crimes need to sit in front of you and describe the horrors of the #Assad regime?"

- The #GraveDigger speaks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch @SafiraLeaf @dstroul "Twice a week, 3 or 4 pickup trucks with 30-40 civilian bodies who'd been executed in Sednaya Prison, arrived for disposal in the most inhumane way.”

- The #GraveDigger speaks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch @SafiraLeaf @dstroul In his SFRC testimony, the #GraveDigger says mass graves are still being dug by #Assad's regime today -- some of those involved "recently escaped" #Syria.

Americans were among those murdered, and Europeans, journalists & aid workers.
@SenatorMenendez @SenatorRisch @SafiraLeaf @dstroul "I buried so many children tortured to death & I remember them all."

“I buried a mother still holding her infant to her breast as their lifeless bodies were thrown in the trench.”

The #GraveDigger testifies to SFRC on #Assad's mass murder of civilian detainees.

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More from @Charles_Lister

Charles Lister Profile picture
May 2
What's happening in #Syria's #Druze-majority governorate of #Suwayda?

A 🧵:
Last night, almost all of #Suwayda's #Druze religious, civil & military leaders agreed a deal w. #Damascus to begin a gradual integration of #Syria's Interior Ministry, by folding #Druze militias into the "Public Security" force -- & later, more into the Defense Ministry.
This morning, that deal began moving -- with ~700 #Druze militiamen fast-tracked into a #Suwayda-specific Public Security force responsible for security in the (a) capital & (b) border areas. ~1,300 more men are in process to join too.
Read 9 tweets
Charles Lister Profile picture
Apr 30
Amid hostilities in #Sahnaya, let's get one thing straight -- this is *not* a "gov't vs. Druze" conflict. By any means.

#Syria's Druze are extremely divided -- especially the clerics.

And more than any other actor, #Israel is preying on that division.
While some #Druze clerics (like Hijri) appear determined to hold hard against #Damascus, others (like Hinawi & Jarbou) seem determined to find a middle ground compromise.

Then there's Druze in #Israel (working with the IDF) & in #Lebanon (backing #Damascus). Image
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The most powerful #Druze militias (Rijal al-Karama, Ahrar al-Jabal etc) -- HQ'd in #Suwayda -- have signed a framework security agreement with #Damascus & work jointly with the Interior Ministry. They worked together to end fighting in #Jaramana & same overnight in Sahnaya. Image
Read 9 tweets
Charles Lister Profile picture
Apr 15
When it comes to reports of a US military withdrawal from #Syria, there are many moving parts in play, but it's clearly coming.

The US military's decisive shift in posture & priorities post-#Assad offered the clearest evidence. A 🧵: Image
Since #Assad fell in Dec 2024, the US military has established relations with #Damascus & proactively facilitated & pushed talks between the #SDF & #Syria's new gov't.

For CENTCOM: the #SDF *must* integrate into the new #Syria.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/20/syr…
The March 10 framework agreement signed by #Syria President Ahmed al-Sharaa & #SDF leader Mazloum Abdi was a direct result of US mediation -- and from March 6, of *intense* pressure on the #SDF (by @CENTCOM's Gen Kurilla & @CJTFOIR's MG Leahy). Image
Read 8 tweets
Charles Lister Profile picture
Apr 1
For years, #Syria's crisis was a complex geopolitical battleground, involving #Russia, #Iran, #USA, #Turkey, #Israel & more.

With #Assad out, a dangerous geopolitical face-off is intensifying -- between #Turkey & #Israel. A 🧵:
Since #Assad fell 4 months ago, #Israel has launched ~750 airstrikes & 100+ ground incursions into #Syria, seeking to cripple #Syria militarily -- while demanding a complete demilitarization of the south.

See my latest on this: foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/27/isr…
With the #HTS-led military victory in #Syria, #Turkey -- in theory -- has the most to gain, and to a large extent, it's moved methodically to establish its influence.

But for now, the transitional gov't in #Damascus wants to balance its regional relations.
Read 9 tweets
Charles Lister Profile picture
Mar 9
The information space around #Syria has collapsed into a toxic pot of vitriol, wild misinformation and... some facts.

Large numbers of people are tragically dead, but the circumstances & context are far more complex than is being widely conveyed. A 🧵:
In the lead-up to Thursday night, pro-#Assad gunmen had launched 46 attacks on interim gov't forces in 6/14 of #Syria's governorates -- but what happened Thursday night was a whole other level.

3 days later, more than 400 gov't forces are confirmed as dead.
Almost all of those 400 gov't forces were locally-deployed -- many killed by summary execution, burned to death & buried alive.

In the 1st night of fighting, pro-#Assad gunmen also launched attacks on rival villages -- some Sunni, others Alawite.
Read 9 tweets
Charles Lister Profile picture
Mar 8
Suffice to say, the chance of #Syria being granted any sanctions relief by the #Trump admin is now effectively zero.

#Assad loyalists knew exactly what they wanted -- an extension of the long-standing "#Assad or we burn the country" motto.
#Assad fell in an #HTS-led military campaign that demonstrated extraordinary & unprecedented self-restraint -- and in the aftermath, calls for 'reconciliation' & recovery kept a lid on a long-standing boiling pot of anger & grudges.
After a decade+ of pro-#Assad sectarian massacres, 82,000 barrel bombs, starvation sieges, 340+ chemical weapons attacks, industrialized torture & 130k disappeared -- the simmering fury & thirst for revenge was restrained only by the prospect of a new start.
Read 5 tweets

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