Heartbreaking scenes from the village of Al-Jadidah in western #Idlib today, as #Russia airstrikes hit a farm, killing 7 civilians, 5 of them children under 10.
We’re in the 12th year of #Syria’s crisis & this continues to happen — with total impunity.
Enough now.
Note -- the village of al-Jadidah, #Idlib is still home to a long-standing, small Christian community.
Several Christian notables joined the delegation meeting #HTS leader Jolani earlier this week.
Already some speculation that #Russia's massacre today was a response to that.
Warning - this is hard to see, but it must be seen. No more disinterest.
#Russia killed 4 children & 3 adult civilians this morning in #Idlib. Parents are now mourning.
Syrians never got air defenses or heavy weaponry - they just sit there, defenseless.
It's been nearly 7yrs since #Russia's military intervention in #Syria & in that time, it's killed ~7,000 civilians, including ~2,050 children.
And believe it or not, **not a single sanction** has been placed on #Russia as a result.
Not a single one.
Shame on the world. Shame.
When the @UN provided #Russia with the coordinates of dozens of hospitals in NW #Syria in a "deconfliction" arrangement, #Moscow used the coordinates to launch a campaign of precision airstrikes, methodically destroying hospitals, one by one.
The result?
Not a single sanction.
@UN On April 4, 2017, #Assad forces loaded munitions with Sarin gas onto jets at Shayrat AB -- and dropped them on Khan Sheikhoun, killing 89 civilians & injuring 500+.
NEW - #Syria’s interim gov’t GSS has captured senior #ISIS commander Abu al-Harith al-Iraqi in a targeted raid.
His capture is linked to US intel sharing with #Damascus. Abu al-Harith has been behind a string of high-profile #ISIS plots in #Syria. A 🧵:
When in #Damascus, I was told of 8 #ISIS plots that had been foiled by #Syria’s Interior Ministry GSS force since Jan 1, 2025 — all tied directly or indirectly to U.S. intel tip-offs.
There’s an ongoing [US-#HTS] exchange on #ISIS.
Abu al-Harith was the planner & facilitator of the #ISIS plot to massacre Shia Muslims in #Damascus’ Sayyida Zeinab foiled in January by #Syria’s GSS, per a US intel tip-off.
He also coordinated the April ‘24 assassination of Abu Mariya al-Qahtani.
I just left #Syria after an extraordinary trip — one that until recently I never thought I’d make again. From #Aleppo, to #Idlib, #Latakia, #Tartus, #Salamiya, #Suwayda & #Damascus.
So many takeaways, but most of all: it's free & everyone is overjoyed. A 🧵:
In #SNA-held areas of northern #Aleppo, towns had emptied, as IDPs have steadily returned home since #Assad's fall on Dec 8.
Checkpoints remained, but #Damascus forces (formerly #HTS) had begun to arrive. Authorities were transitioning to central control.
As in #SNA areas, #Idlib showed signs of service provision, maintenance & civil order that was lacking in formerly #Assad-run areas. Cleaner streets, orderly road & traffic management, *much* more electricity & more advanced/resourced commercial activity.
NEW -- #Trump's global aid freeze has cut the salaries paid to many of the prison & camp guards responsible for securing 9,500 #ISIS militants & ~40,000 associated women/kids in northeast #Syria.
Many are no longer turning up for work.
For years, @CENTCOM has warned that #ISIS's "army in waiting" & its potential "next generation" lie in prisons & camps in NE #Syria.
The threat posed by a mass breakout cannot be understated, as #ISIS was already resurgent in 2024: syriaweekly.com/p/in-2024-isis…
@CENTCOM Did #Trump realize that "cutting aid" would mean opening a door for 1,000s of #ISIS militants to potentially be broken out in #Syria?
Of course not -- but that's the consequence of brash, ill-thought out actions intended for headlines, not policy.
The amount of disinformation doing the rounds on #Syria these days is stunning -- some is organized & by design, but much more is the result of simple ignorance.
To make matters worse, *very* few appear capable of distinguishing fact from fiction. A 🧵:
Multiple videos have went near-viral in recent days purporting to show #HTS abuses directed against #Syria's minorities -- but they've been a combination of old footage &/or incidents by #Assad's regime, often in entirely different locations than labeled too.
Social media is full of accounts that specialize in viral content -- and they've flooded the online space with misleading & often wholly inaccurate content on #Syria.
Many on the right in #Europe & the US have jumped on this, sowing yet more misinformation.
2 weeks before #Assad fell, I wrote that the US mustn't leave #Syria, as the D-#ISIS mission is far from over & the practical cost of staying is wholly affordable.
It's still *vital* we stay, but conditions have changed -- a 🧵:
In 2024, #ISIS has *tripled* its operational tempo in #Syria compared to 2023, while expanding its geographic reach, increasing recruitment & attack scale & sophistication.
The fall of #Assad has made the U.S operating environment *much* more complicated -- with our #SDF partners facing a potentially existential challenge from #Turkey, the #SNA & the surge in revolutionary sentiment across #Syria.