Short / dull #Thread on Knowledge Production on Syria: beyond the profound relief Syrians feel after the dictator ran away without a word, we found ourselves, and will keep finding ourselves for some time to come, reconstructing events and understandings of what transpired before and since November 27. But we keep falling into the fallacy of making discoveries fit our narratives. This is at some level unavoidable but can be mitigated if we can keep a few precursors in mind, especially during the first two weeks after November 27. 1/7 First, let us be clear: what we do not known about yet regarding the background to the HTS mobilization (beyond Turkish involvement) and the cowardly fleeing of Bashar is as important or even more important than what we have witnessed so far in Syria. We do not know exactly who (else) knew what and when and what trade-offs/understandings were forged/signaled. Only reports that have yet to be confirmed. We are beginning to learn about deals and trade-offs between the United States and Turkey. But not sufficiently. 2/7

Notes/Thread on the "Days After," with focus on Israel’s destruction of Syria’s defense capabilities and its implications: There is no mincing of words regarding the (realistically temporary) relief that pervaded Syria for the past couple of days. But as we discover what we expected regarding the infinitely atrocious/inhumane prisons of the regime, the effective unprecedented defanging and destruction of the Syrian state’s defense and intelligence capabilities by Israel as of today will have reverberations for decades to come. This is the Janus-faced context of the Ba`thist regime collapse that will become more evident by the day, if not hour, starting, well, yesterday. Thread 1/9 Israel quickly mobilized to occupy Syrian land in the south of the country as a “permanent” "sterile defense zone" according to PM Netanyahu, with continuing advances that occupied rural towns in Syria, less than 15-18 Km south of Damascus. Further, in the absence of any deterrence and potentially under international cover Israel arguably launched the largest and most intense air campaign ever against an Arab state in the past couple of days, with 300+ air raids that destroyed 250+ military targets (bases and installations) according to Israeli sources, also confirmed widely. Israel also destroyed Syria’s entire Naval fleet and (nearly) all military airports and jet-fighters. 2/9

Quick Notes/Thread on Syria angles: What explains the stark polar reactions we are observing everywhere in the wake of the Syrian regime’s collapse? It is as though people are watching different realities, or approaching reality from singular angles. I’ll try to unpack here though I treated this phenomenon extensively elsewhere 12 years prior, and since. [warning: this is not fun reading] 1/7 Deeper inquiry aside, what we are and have been witnessing in Syria since the eruption of the uprising in March 2011 revolves in a significant way around what I called back in 2012 “the political economy of pain,” i.e., how some observers, Syrians or otherwise, prioritize opposing local authoritarianism and others prioritize opposing Imperialism, and the pain they both cause. This translated into closed workshops that we will revive publicly soon. In most cases, neither is oblivious to the other argument, but the other angle somehow vanishes in much of one’s commentary/analysis/position. This is as close as can be of an explainer to the immeasurable rift we are witnessing, not least for people living in Syria. There are other considerations/angles to be sure. 2/7

Quick Thread: Many, notably among supporters of the resistance axis, are lamenting that the timing of this surge/advance benefits Israel as it pursues its Genocide uninterrupted, and therefore could have been orchestrated, or signaled, by the US, etc., with the power of initiative by Turkey, without which none of this could have been possible, leading the way for its own purposes. 1/5 While all this might be true to some extent--smart and demonstrably effective, isn't it?--this functional thinking which should have been anticipated precisely to preserve the axis, elides that all this has been made so easily possible by the Syrian regime's continued repression, corruption, and de-development to preserve itself (starting decades before the uprising), not the axis, or the majority of the Syrian people. This, of course, notwithstanding the criminal US sanctions and the horrible regional and international actors that intervened in Syria during the past (almost) 14 years. 2/5

THREAD 1/7 This is an important but thoroughly politicized conversation because it allows us to understand and point out the inconsistencies in the speakers’ comments about the difference between anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, and anti-Judaism, even if assuming good faith;

https://twitter.com/SxarletRed/status/1800526900625870996

2/7 The speakers want to have their cake and eat it too. They do this by stretching definitions of some terms to include things that do not belong to them and by constricting certain definitions to mean only one thing, when they actually are patently broader in nature;