BULAT OKUDZHAVAOur Tenth Amphibious Battalion Victory Day

Translated by  John Catalinotto 

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (1924-1997) was a Soviet singer-songwriter of Georgian origin, one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author's song" (avtorskaya pesnya). He wrote some 200 songs, a mixture of Russian poetry and folk traditions and the French chansonnier style, represented by such Okudzhava contemporaries as Georges Brassens.
Although his songs were never overtly political (in contrast to those of his fellow bards), the freshness and independence of Okudzhava's art represented a subtle challenge to the Soviet cultural authorities, who for many years refused to give official sanction to his songs.

   

 

The birds aren't singing here,

The trees aren't growing
And only we, shoulder to shoulder
Are growing here in the earth.
The earth lit up is spinning,
Smoke covers  our homeland.
And thus, we need a victory,
One for all. We're ready to pay any price!

(Chorus) A fiery death awaits us
Yet that can't stop us.
Cast doubt away
Journey into night
Separately
Our tenth
Amphibious Batallion.
Our tenth
Amphibious battalion.

As soon as the battle ceases
Another order comes
The postman will go crazy
Looking for us.
Let red rockets fly,
Fire off the machine guns.
And thus, we need a victory,
One for all. We're ready to pay any price!

(Chorus) A fiery death awaits us
Yet that can't stop us.
Cast doubt away
Journey into night
Separately
Our tenth
Amphibious Batallion.
Our tenth
Amphibious battalion.

From Kursk and Orel
The war has brought us
Up to the doors of our enemy.
That's how it is, brother…
Someday we'll remember it
And we won't believe it ourselves,
But now we need a victory,
One for all. We're ready to pay any price!

(Chorus) A fiery death awaits us
Yet that can't stop us.
Cast doubt away
Journey into night
Separately
Our tenth
Amphibious Batallion.
Our tenth
Amphibious battalion.

Min. 36:00

HAYTHAM MANNAManifesto against jihadist fascism

Haytham Manna, 3/4/2025
Original: بيان ضد الفاشية الجهادية
Translated by Tlaxcala

This is the first chapter of a forthcoming book

The “Military Operations Command” led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham entered Damascus on December 8, 2024 at the end of the least significant military battle in its history in terms of material and human losses. It was clear that Hamas and Hezbollah’s loss of their battles in Gaza and Lebanon and Trump’s success in the US presidential election had created a new regional and international situation in which Assad Jr. no longer had a place. Erdogan and Fidan decided to put an end to the idea of a sovereign Syrian state by installing the most extremist, fanatical and alien faction of Syrian society in power over all Syrians. The masked men entered the Syrian capital to “liberate” the country from the tyranny and corruption of a family that had turned Syria into a slave farm. On the day of the victory wedding “celebration”, most Syrians didn’t stop at the sight of the bride, Syria, being raped in broad daylight.

Beard trimming, by Hassan Bleibel

- On December 8, 2024, elite forces made up mainly of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham took control of key points in Damascus: the House of Radio and Television, the Central Bank, the city’s main traffic circles, the presidential palace and the main police stations. They set up checkpoints. Most of these men were masked and wore outfits with the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham logo.

- A campaign of liquidation and bloodletting of non-Sunni state institutions soon began, and the term “al-Fulol” (residues, remnants of the old regime) became the key word for the enemies of the new authority in this group’s conception of the conflict in Syria, namely a struggle against “an Alawite regime that jurists have unanimously described as apostate”. The first decision was to apply Ibn Taymiyyah’s fatwa to the letter: “It is not permissible for anyone to help them remain in the ranks of soldiers and servants, and it is not permissible for anyone to remain silent about carrying out what God and His Messenger have ordered.”

- The transfer of power took place very quickly: the HTS  government in Idlib was transferred in its entirety to Damascus to restructure state institutions throughout the country according to the “successful Idlib model” (Hakan Fidan). In Syria’s smallest province, 11 prisons had been built to control security! With the organization and installation of “jihadist immigrants” in the homes of half the province’s inhabitants, who became refugees and displaced persons, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham succeeded in controlling the security situation.

- The Military Operations Command has secured the living conditions of its militiamen in the confiscated homes of officers and non-commissioned officers, and the command has issued a ruling that members of the deposed regime’s army and police should remain in their homes and then be summoned individually to decide their fate. We received a non-exhaustive list of the names of 13,000 soldiers and officers held in inhuman conditions in eight prisons* .

- From the outset, attacks on Alawites as such began randomly and irregularly, but systematically due to the need to exclude anyone belonging to this sect from public educational, health, livelihood, military and security institutions, in accordance with Ibn Taymiyyah’s fatwa. The new security forces have encouraged what they call “private law”, which means that a Sunni citizen who has been wronged or who has lost a martyr in his family can assert his rights with the nearest Alawite neighbor to his home or neighborhood. At checkpoints manned by the new authorities, it has become not uncommon to be asked, “Are you Alawite or Sunni?” There were provocations against Christians in their neighborhoods, which were limited after European reactions.

- Public sector workers’ files were collected. The decision to dismiss over 28% of civil servants has been taken, a figure confirmed by the relevant ministries.

- Employees of the security services, the police and the Syrian army were summoned, arrested and prosecuted, with or without settlement. During the first month, the salaries of public sector employees in various sectors were not paid.

- Al-Sharaa issued a decree granting the highest ranks in the “New Army” (composed in part of foreign jihadists, mainly from Central Asia: Uighurs, Uzbeks, Turkestanis and others) to 49 Syrians and non-Syrians, who became generals, brigadiers and colonels with a note and paper signed by him. A week later, the construction of the new army units, led by Jordanian-Turkish-Egyptian jihadists, was completed. Thousands of dissident officers, despite belonging to the Sunni sect, were not recalled, and the opinion on this had long ago been clearly expressed by Anas Khattab, who was appointed Director of General Intelligence and then Minister of the Interior: “It is not permissible to join groups and armies that belong to the doctrine of patriotism, because they are heretical groups, and their fight is not waged for God, but for the homeland, and whoever is killed for the homeland cannot be called a martyr, because martyrdom is a purely religious status, not a human medal of honor that people submit to their erroneous philosophies and ideas” (Anas Khattab, Ruling on Affiliation with Patriotic Groups and Armies).

- It became clear that the new team wanted to monopolize control of the intelligence services, internal security and the army before tackling any other issue. As a result, Sunni affiliation, religious upbringing and a willingness to defend “true Islam” became conditions of employment in the police and security services.

- Since the establishment of the first de facto government in Idlib, the HTS ‘s aim has been total control of trade unions, collective action and the various forms of civil society. The seven governments in Idlib have confiscated the most important projects born of civil and popular initiatives and placed them under their control. So far, it seems clear that the process of transferring this dystopian model to Damascus is well underway.

- On January 29, 2025, the “Victory Conference” was held, which, based on the principle that those who “liberate” decide, dissolved the army, security and police institutions, as well as negotiating bodies, parties and trade union groups... In its first and final session, the Victory Military Conference is given the powers of ahl al hal wa al aqed أهل الحل والعقد , “the people of the solution and the contract” and appoints Ahmad al-haraa as President of the Republic, with the power to form a constitutional council, approve constitutional principles and form a transitional government.

- On March 6, a small group of former military personnel take security personnel hostage. Ahmed al-Sharaa declares general mobilization against the rebels, calls for jihad are launched in many mosques and all latent sectarian instincts are mobilized. Some fifteen armed factions, mainly made up of foreign jihadists, stormed the Syrian coastal area (Sahel), chanting “Death to the Alawites”.

- Over the next four days, 25 massacres were documented, 811 videos were verified, and 2,246 victims were identified. We also have a list of 2,100 missing Alawite civilians. 42 victims of other religious affiliations have also been recorded, killed for their solidarity with the civilians or for trying to hide them. In addition, almost 30,000 people are still displaced or refugees in northern Lebanon.

- The Sahel is on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, with 97% of the population living below the poverty line, over 10,000 documented cases of illegal arrests and forced disappearances, and a wave of mass layoffs of around 2,000 civil servants in the health and education sectors.

- On March 12, 2025, the Syrian presidency announced, in a presidential decree issued by Ahmad al-Sharaa* , the formation of a National Security Council composed exclusively of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham officials. This council, made up of a group of people whose hands are stained with Syrian blood, is tasked with coordinating and managing the country’s policies.

- We are approaching the end of the fourth month since HTS entered Damascus, and no political decisions have been taken regarding the catastrophic economic situation in which all the inhabitants of HTS-controlled areas live.

- A puppet transition government was appointed by the President on March 30, 2025, for an indefinite period. In this government, by way of thanks, al-Joulani plans to appoint an Al Jazeera employee as Minister of Culture and an intern from the Doha Institute headed by Azmi Bishara as Minister of Education.

- The Grand Mufti of the Republic and the Fatwa Council were appointed by a majority known for its jihadist ideological “purity” and for considering it a religious duty to cleanse the country of misguided sects, secularists, democrats and patriots. According to Sheikh Nabulsi, one of his tasks is to monitor laws and legislation and their compatibility with Sharia law.

Much of the worn-out and tired political class is still talking about the new prince’s new clothes, the discovery of his brilliant potential that had remained buried for 14 years, and his young team that will restore the Levant to its Umayyad glory, while the new authority is erecting all the pillars for the construction of a sectarian totalitarian authority that lives by stoking hate speech between different segments of society and displaying racism and religious discrimination in all its new structures.

For truth and history’s sake, the new rulers have not veiled their opinions and positions, but have been more open and clear in their vision of state-building. When we raised the need for a new Syrian national army a few years ago, the first person to respond was “General” Anas Khattab, Commander of General Intelligence and current Minister of the Interior, who shamelessly replied in his essay entitled “Ruling on affiliation to patriotic groups and armies”:

“Islam bases loyalty and disloyalty on religion, fighting in the name of religion and promoting its word.

The sons of the same homeland are loyal to each other, whatever their religion, for the Muslim is the brother of the Christian, the brother of the Jew, the brother of the atheist, the brother of the apostate, there is no difference between them, and none is favored over the other, for they are all sons of the same homeland.

Islam clearly and explicitly states that {believers are brothers}, {believing men and women are brothers to each other}, and {the Muslim is the brother of the Muslim}.

Patriotism makes members of the same nation equal in rights and duties - regardless of their different religions, so that a Christian, a Jew, an atheist and an apostate have the same rights as a Muslim!

For example, in patriotism, it’s a general right for all citizens - whatever their religion - even if they’re atheists or apostates, whereas in Islam, it’s only allowed for Muslims, and it’s only allowed for those who are only Muslims”.

He added: “Patriotism is a philosophical doctrine that contradicts the religion of Islam, so it is not permissible to believe in it and affiliate with it, whether in truth or to deceive the enemy, although the judgment is not the same in both cases, for the former is governed by disbelief, and the latter by prohibition.”

Khattab clearly states that he will not build a Syrian national military institution, as this would mean equality between Muslims and non-Muslims, predetermining the color, sect and creed of the new army.

Yesterday, the inhabitants of the border town of Nawa faced, shirtless, the Israeli aggression, which has not ceased since December 8, 2024. 9 martyrs fell in this confrontation with the Israeli enemy...

We don’t know whether Abu Qasra, Khattab, Al-Sharaa and Atoun will praise the Hauran martyrs by referring to them as such, are they not the ones who said over and over again for 14 years: “Whoever is killed for the homeland cannot be called a martyr, because martyrdom is a purely religious status, not a human medal of honor that people submit to their mistaken philosophies and ideas”...

Day after day, it becomes clear to Syrian men and women that the HTS model that prevails today does not work, and that the infernal idea with which Syrians are intimidated and lured: “Us or the deluge” will turn into a curse for its owners...

Human societies are familiar with the phenomenon of individual suicide, but they have never agreed, even under the domination of the worst forms of tyranny, to commit collective suicide for the benefit of their oppressors.

Notes

*“Sectarian cleansing as a policy of governance,” Report by the Human Rights and Humanitarian Monitoring Committee (Syria), April 24, 2025

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

HAYTHAM MANNA Syria: The Law of the Jungle

 Haytham Manna , 4/5/2025
Original : شريعة الغاب

Translated by Tlaxcala

Below is Chapter 3 of the forthcoming book “Manifesto Against Jihadist Fascism”. [chapter 1 chapter 2 ]

When we read a “message on the judgment of music” from the new Minister of Interior of Damascus, Anas Khattab, we realize that our problem in Syria today is not about returning to “the law of God,” but about triumphantly returning to the law of the jungle. Indeed, from the creator of the terms “Sunni jihad” and “cult of jihad,” we read:

“The musical instruments are the cause of earthquakes, transformations, and tremors... This consensus has been reported by Al-Qurtubi, Ibn Rajab, Ibn Salah, Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, and others... And the Sheikh of Islam Ibn Taymiyya, may God have mercy on him, said: “Whoever practices these amusements for a religious purpose and to draw closer to God, there is no doubt about his misguidance and ignorance.” “As for the one who does it for pleasure and entertainment, the schools of the four imams agree that all musical instruments are prohibited, for it has been established in Sahih al-Bukhari and elsewhere that the Prophet, peace be upon him, informed that there would be among his community those who would make permissible silk, alcohol, and musical instruments, and he mentioned that they would be transformed into monkeys and pigs.” “Musical instruments are amusements, as mentioned by the people of the language; the plural of instrument (ma'azifah) is the tool with which one plays: that is, with which one makes noise, and none of the followers of the imams has disputed the prohibition of musical instruments”...

I thank God that my believing mother, who was diligent in praying, fasting, performing pilgrimage, and giving zakat, played the lute for us when we returned from visiting my imprisoned father*, to lighten our sorrow, and that she taught mathematics and natural sciences to more than one generation. She left us before seeing and hearing what we see and read today, coming from those whom Hassan Aboud, the founder of the Ahrar al-Sham movement in Syria, called “newcomers, children of youth, devoid of wisdom, without knowledge of religion or legitimate politics.”

“Urgent - Cleaning in Progress”: Al-Jazeera, Al-Joulani’s Washing Machine

Drawing by Adnan al-Mahakri, Yemen

The problem with the takfiris is not limited to their rejection of music, thought, and poetry, nor to their consideration of any cultural disagreement as a danger to ‘’ahl al-sunnah, “the people of the sunnah." It goes beyond that, touching on their overall vision of man, Islam, political systems, and human groups. They odiously repeat a famous verse attributed to Imam Al-Shafi'i:

“All knowledge outside of the Quran is a distraction... Except for the teaching of hadiths and religious jurisprudence.”

“Knowledge is what contains the narrative ‘We have heard’... Everything else is merely suggestions from demons.” 

Regarding political systems, there are constant criticisms of Muslim reformers such as:

“We have seen them permit democracy in the name of consultation... They lie!

Before that, they permitted socialism...

And they allowed legislation outside of Allah and the creation of political parties under the pretext of applying sharia... They claim!

And they permitted a woman and a Christian to govern Muslims...

And they forbade rebellion against the ruler without what Allah has revealed...

And they considered secularists, communists, liberals, socialists, and others to be believing Muslims!

And they regarded Christians as brothers of Muslims...

And they allowed the American occupation of Afghanistan!!!

And some of them permitted attending the mass of infidel Christians and congratulating them on the appointment of their popes!!

And some of them allowed men to shave their beards...

And some of them allowed women to wear pants...

And other innovations and misguidances that they spread among Muslims as certainties in the religion of Islam... And Allah is sufficient for us, and He is our best protector.”

 

What is Sunni Jihad?

Anas Khattab responds: “Jihad, in addition to being an act of worship, is also one of the individual's activities in life. The history of humanity and its contemporary reality testify that human beings must fight others, regardless of the reason or motivation for that fight...! Islam has come to orient this fight and classify it among acts of worship.” 

For the takfiris, the destiny of man is to fight others, and this “other” can be fabricated as needed. It is called "Nusayri" in Syria, "Christian" or "Shia n other countries, and "misguided sects" elsewhere. The concept expands and contracts according to needs, and it only takes a European caricaturist or a carefully prepared falsified recording of a person purportedly belonging to the Druze unitarian sect to ignite war. The people are easily mobilized, and historians often have enough examples to cite. Those whose rights to knowledge, work, and culture have been trampled mobilize to defend "the religion," "the Prophet," and "the dogma." They move like wolves towards their kind to liberate themselves from those their claws can reach, in support of God and His Prophet.

This reminds us of the story recounted by Yaqout al-Hamawi in his “Dictionary of Cities”: “The inhabitants of the city were three groups: the Shafi'is, who were the fewest, the Hanafis, who were the most numerous, and the Shiites, who constituted the majority... The rivalry between Sunnis and Shiites intensified, and the Hanafis and Shafi'is united against them. Wars broke out, all victorious for the Shafi'is, despite their small number. But God supported them. The inhabitants of Rustaq, who were Hanafis, came to the city armed and supported their co-religionists, but it brought them nothing, until they were exterminated. These ruined places you see are the places of the Shiites and Hanafis, while the neighborhood known for the Shafi'is remains. And only those who hide their doctrine remain among the Shiites and Hanafis.”[4]

Erdoğan the Puppeteer, by Adnan Al Mahakri

Since the birth of “Jabhat al-Nusra” under the command of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the main slogans they have expressed are: "Democracy is a sin and disbelief," "Christians must be pursued in Beirut, and the Nusayris to their coffins." The jihad in Syria and for Syria is "against the Nusayris and their allies," "against the Nusayri regime and the Shiite militias," and in support of the people of the sunnah. Funds have flowed from all Gulf countries to this group, reaching "wasted" amounts of a billion dollars during its third year, according to Abu Mohammed al-Joulani. This was also an opportunity for Gulf countries to rid themselves of those they had failed to rehabilitate among the Guantanamo detainees and Al-Qaeda prisoners, with the Saudi intelligence director Bandar bin Sultan taking charge of eliminating them in the Syrian furnace. This also provided an opportunity to send Salafists from the Maghreb to the East! However, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the then head of Turkey's MIT (National Intelligence Organization), Hakan Fidan, viewed it as an opportunity to steer "Sunni Islam" and seize Gulf funds. The result was that what they had imagined as a one or two-year stroll turned into a nightmare with the arrival of the largest wave of Syrian refugees onto Turkish soil. Despite this, the Turkish government managed to make substantial economic and geopolitical investments in the Syrian tragedy, and this continues to this day.

Hakan Fidan and Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on December 24, 2025

The opening of Turkish borders to tens of thousands of non-Syrian fighters for jihad completely changed the map of forces opposed to the Syrian dictatorial regime. Democratic voices were marginalized, and mentioning the slogan of the Syrian revolution “The Syrian people are one” became blasphemy and heresy, to the point that words like "people," "freedom," "sovereignty," and "national state" are now fought against and provoke attacks from armed opposition factions. 

With the takeover of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham over a significant part of Idlib province, serious work began to "cleanse" the city of anyone who differed from "Jabhat al-Nusra" in lifestyle and habits... Sanctions were imposed against "deviants and violations," leading to the exile of a third of the population. In some villages, jihadist complexes were established according to the fighters' country of origin, such as for the Uyghurs, Chechens, and Moroccans... Even French individuals settled where those who were expelled or forced to flee had lived. It is ironic that those who fled social reforms in Saudi Arabia brought with them the memories of the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” to Idlib, with generous funding from Wahhabi “charity” organizations in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to propagate the wearing of the niqab, prohibit mixing in restaurants and offices, and prevent the presence of unaccompanied women in shops. 

Additionally, it was also forbidden to sell women's clothing to men and to monitor wedding halls and festive events to prohibit “immoral behaviors,” as well as the public consumption of shisha in streets, shops, and restaurants. They also prohibited exaggerated haircuts and “inappropriate behaviors,” monitoring young girls and boys in educational institutes and public transport.

After the "jurists" and "jihadists" began wearing ties, the euphoria reached several disillusioned individuals who thought that people had forgotten them; however, they began to speak of "Sunni oppression" and sought the merits of those who "liberated and decided." They forgot that a snake changing its skin does not remove the venom from its bites. The attack on the coastal region revealed the instinctual nature of those who became the new power in Damascus. Nawar Jabour describes the tragedy of sectarian cleansing by saying: “The massacres that took place on the coast added a dimension where the Alawites became an explicit enemy, killed and filmed dead, their shops and lands set ablaze, and they were pursued even when fleeing to the forests or valleys. But what was even more cruel was the ritualized murder or inspired killings, where the murderers ensured that the massacres were executed according to what had been religiously prescribed against the 'Nusayris,' which consecrated the religious character of the violence, so that the message was not only directed at the victims, but their very bodies became a political and religious message. The murder was not merely an act of senseless violence; videos circulated documenting celebratory murders, where the goal was not just to physically eliminate the victims, but to boast about destroying their properties and stealing them. An open bragging about the looting of the homes of the slain, with fighters brandishing the belongings of the inhabitants as spoils, illustrating the pride in theft—just as Syrians had previously observed with the soldiers of the fallen regime and the national defence militias. The murdered victims became symbols of the victory of faith, wherein the sacred duty of purification manifested itself on the bodies left dead and abandoned for all to see, solidifying a long-term image that they are politically, religiously, and spiritually rejected.”

To this day, the authority of Ahmad al-Sharaa has not issued any clear decision to put an end to the aggressions affecting the lands, properties, and the right to security of the Alawites as such!

It is difficult to determine who fabricated an audio recording and attributed it to a Syrian from the Druze community, but it is easy to follow the reactions among those who are now officially defined as “undisciplined elements and factions.” With a stroke of genius, and in the name of defending the Prophet Muhammad, the Quranic verse “No one bears the burden of another” was modified in the minds of the crowds (without the “no”), and the Party of Mobilization and Hatred directed itself towards the miniature Syria (Jaramana) to take revenge on its inhabitants in an affair that did not concern them. The number of victims in this collective madness exceeded one hundred, with dozens of detainees and missing persons.

Is it not the party of the three “T’s” (takfir, tahreem, and tafjir, التكفير والتحريم والتفجير) that truly holds power over the security and military authorities today? Can Ahmad Al-Sharaa address criticisms or complaints to those he appointed to the National Security Council, an authority above all? Is there anyone among them, including the new head of intelligence, whose hands are not stained with the blood of Syrians?

Can a reasonable person today believe that the “transitional authority” in Damascus wants to build a Syria for all Syrians? 

Transl. Note

*Yousef Alawdat, a lawyer, was imprisoned for 18 years under the Assad regime. 

Transl. Note
* Yousef Alawdat, a lawyer, was imprisoned for 18 years under the Assad regime

Notes

[1] https://t.ly/NoHFs 

[2] Anas Khattab, ibid, although this passage is plagiarized from several other texts without mentioning the other sources.

[3] https://t.ly/8g1_F  (Sunni jihad and the paths of deviation).

[4] See Yaqout al-Hamawi, Lexicon of Countries, 3/117; also see: The Phenomenon of Fanaticism Throughout Islamic History, Muhammad Amjad Abdul Razzaq al-Bayat, 2018, Dar al-Maymana, Medina.

[5]  https://t.ly/v4Lgr 

[6]  https://t.ly/rNEt1 

[7] https://t.ly/_i1Bg  https://t.ly/rPfmR 

HAYTHAM MANNA The Julanic Statelet* or the putrid secretions of jihadist totalitarianism

*Our translation of Douila al-Julani in Arabic, literally the micro-state of al-Julani

Haytham Manna, 28/4/2025

دويلة الجولاني: أو الإفرازات الرثة للشمولية الجهادي Original

Translated by Tlaxcala

Haytham Manna (Umm El Mayadhin, Daraa, 1951), physician and anthropologist, is a historic activist for the cause of peoples and human rights. Director of the Scandinavian Institute for Human Rights/Haytham Manna Foundation in Geneva and President of the International Movement for Human and Peoples' Rights (IMHPR), he is the author of some sixty books. Below is chapter 2 of his forthcoming book “Manifesto against Jihadi Fascism”. [chapter 1 chapter 3]

 

In their essay entitled "The modern nation-state: between Islamism and secularism", Asia Al-Muhtar and Adnan Harawi offer us a clear and concise synthesis of the concept of the modern nation-state, asserting:

“The legislative systems of the modern nation-state are characterized by complete independence from ideology of any kind. If the secular state aims to separate the political structure from the religious apparatus, then the modern nation-state is an independent state that relies on no source of legislation outside the popular will. As a neutral entity regarding religions, sects, ideologies, individuals and classes, this state seeks to avoid adopting any ideology that might affect its entity and existence, making it an exclusive state that serves one specific group to the detriment of another. This "exclusive service" that the state will seek to provide is based on principles that conflict with the principles of equality of citizenship and is carried out on the basis of a specific religious, ideological or doctrinal reference”.

 In reality, the modern nation-state rests on three fundamental principles: the first is the equality of citizens, the second is the rule of law, and the third is the legitimacy of the people.

This is not the place to talk about the birth and construction of the "modern nation-state", to which we have dedicated a book and several articles [2], but it is necessary to constantly remind ourselves that this birth is the fruit of a long historical process which enabled Europe, for example, to emerge from its sectarian and religious wars, which cost Germany alone, during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the lives of more than seven million inhabitants. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ottoman Empire went out of history and geography only after writing its last pages with the genocide of the Armenians and Assyro-Chaldeans in 1916-1918, and the defeat in the First World War and the signing by Sultan Mehmet VI of the Treaty of Sevres (1920), which left the Caliphate, at the end of its existence, 380,000 km² of its pre-war 1,780,000 km².

In Egypt, the revolution of 1919 marked an important turning point in the struggle for national liberation from the British colonial yoke, victorious in the Second World War. In Damascus, the independence of the Syrian Arab Kingdom was proclaimed on March 8, 1920 by a constituent legislative assembly known as the "General Syrian Conference", which adopted the "Fundamental Statute" that provided for a civil constitutional monarchy, decentralized administration, guaranteed political and economic freedoms, the rights of religious communities, equality between citizens and the holding of free elections to the Council of Representatives by secret ballot in two rounds (article 73). Elections were free and the government had no right to intervene or oppose them (article 77).

The French colonial power could not tolerate the idea of independence, and its forces entered Syria. Three days after the Battle of Maysaloun, the occupying forces occupied Damascus, exiled King Faisal and desolated the kingdom on July 28, 2020.

Emad Hajjaj

After the tragic and grotesque fall of the Ottoman caliphate, no one could speak of a caliphate or an Islamic state according to hereditary, medieval sultanic logic. In several Muslim countries, political and social organizations emerged, calling for the construction of an Islamic state. If Hassan al-Banna is the most famous in the Arabic-speaking world, Abu al-Ala al-Mawdudi occupied center stage in the Islamic world. Abu al-Alaa was a keen observer and connoisseur of the characteristics of the times in which Muslims lived in the Indian peninsula, but also of the rise of totalitarian ideological currents on a global scale - Stalinism in the East, Nazism and Fascism in the West. The imprint of these currents can be clearly seen in al-Mawdudi's definition of the Islamic State:

- "The Islamic state is a state run by a particular party that believes in a particular doctrine. Anyone who accepts Islam can become a member of the party that has been founded to run this state, and those who do not accept it are not allowed to intervene in state affairs and can live within the state's borders as dhimmis."

- "The Islamic State is a totalitarian state that governs all aspects of life." (Al-Mawdudi writes this in English, in addition to Urdu and Arabic).

- God has endowed man with these limits, an independent system and a universal constitution that admits of no change or modification.... If you wish, you can evade it and declare war, as Turkey and Iran have done, but you cannot make the slightest alteration to it, for it is an eternal divine constitution that cannot be changed or modified."[3]

We see in these three points the common family tree of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Khomeinists, the jihadi Salafists, the Srourists (followers of Sheikh Srour from the Daraa region) and the Hizb ut-Tahrir (Liberation Party), for the principles set out by Mawdudi are all to be found there, with a few differences in literary expression or a few uncontested phrases. If the first version of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Syrian model of Dr. Mustafa al-Sibai did not adhere to the logic of the "sacred party", or what Khomeini calls in his book "Islamic Government": "the sacred band", we had to wait for Sayyid Qutb to see a clearer identification between these components.

The rise of "public religion" and the fall of contemporary ideologies have had a considerable impact on the rise, extremism and radicalization of Islamic political movements. The fabrication of the enemy has played a key role in the introduction of takfir (defining the boundaries between believer and disbeliever, between pagan and Islamic society), prohibition (lumping together everything that is forbidden, prohibited and reprehensible) and destruction (considering jihad or sacred violence as the only way to establish God's reign on earth). As Yassin al-Haj Saleh puts it: "In Afghanistan, the enemy was the Soviet Union, then the USA; in Iraq, it was the Americans and their allies in the Shiite organizations; in Syria, the enemy was essentially the revolution"[4].

At Cairo Stadium on June 15, 2013, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was present in person to announce the results of the first enlarged meeting between Salafist "scholars", Muslim Brotherhood "scholars" and leaders of the World Union of Muslim Ulemas, at which it was unanimously decided to declare jihad in Syria. To announce the results of this meeting and proclaim its decision, the participants appointed the Egyptian Sheikh Mohamed Hassan:

"The pure land of Egypt hosted a conference attended by nearly 500 scholars, belonging to more than 70 bodies, organizations and associations. These scholars issued a fatwa and agreed that jihad is a duty of life, wealth and arms, each according to his means. The jihad to defend blood and honor is now an individual duty for the Syrian people and a collective duty for Muslims the world over. This is what we owe to the Lord of heaven and earth" [5].

Since then, the differences between so-called moderate or political Islam and Salafist jihadist theses have disappeared, and "legitimizing" the presence of foreign fighters in Syria was processed through the greatest collective fatwa in contemporary Islamic history. Syrian Muslims, whatever their factions and orientations, are no longer masters of their present and future in the conflict between a corrupt dictatorship and the largest popular movement facing it. The massive arrival of over 120,000 non-Syrian fighters from some sixty countries, with financial, material and logistical facilities that have surpassed anything we have seen in the Afghan experience, has constituted a complete change in the nature, geography and objectives of armed conflict and infighting, as well as in the nature of the state desired for change.

Al-Baghdadi proclaimed the caliphate, seen as the longed-for righteous Islamic State, and conflict within jihadist formations intensified, leading to bloody clashes that are rarely echoed by supporters of the "Islamic Liberation Commission in Syria" (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham). If the great split between the Islamic State in Iraq and the al-Nosra Front has had its share of attention and study, the "Sahwa" has been one of the boldest and most cultured movements among Syrian jihadists, when Hassan Abboud, leader of the Ahrar al-Sham movement, aided by the young Mohammed al-Shami, drafted "The Revolutionary Charter of Honor", one of the most important revisions in the history of "Salafist jihadism" in Syria. This charter clarified the boundaries between the general theses of the Salafist jihadist movement and the Syrian jihadist project for change on essential points, which go beyond the struggle for power and authority to touch on the very conception of the desired state:

"- The political aim of the armed Syrian revolution is to overthrow the regime with all its symbols and pillars and bring it to justice, far from any revenge or settling of scores.

- The revolution militarily targets the Syrian regime, which has exercised terrorism against our people with its regular and irregular military forces and those who support them, such as Iranian mercenaries, Hezbollah and the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, as well as all those who aggress and apostatize our people, such as Daesh. Military action is limited to Syrian territory.

- The overthrow of the regime is a joint undertaking of the various revolutionary forces. Aware of the regional and international dimension of the Syrian crisis, we are open to meeting and cooperating with regional and international actors in solidarity with the Syrian people, in the interests of the revolution.

- Preserving the unity of Syrian territory and preventing any plans for partition by all available means is a non-negotiable revolutionary principle.

- Our revolutionary force relies in its military action on the Syrian element and is convinced of the need for a purely Syrian political and military decision, rejecting any dependence on foreigners.

- The Syrian people aspire to the establishment of a state of justice, law and freedoms, free from pressure and diktats.

- The Syrian revolution is a moral and ethical revolution that aims to establish freedom, justice and security for Syrian society in all its ethnic and religious diversity.

- The Syrian revolution is committed to respecting the human rights preached by our religion."[6]

Clearly, the Syrian "Islamic Front" decided that day to break with what it called the "global jihad" or what the al-Nosra Front called the "Sunni jihad". [7] in Syria. Not surprisingly, forty-five members of its leadership were mass-murdered in the largest attack in fourteen years of revolution and war on Syrian territory, and evidence revealed years later the involvement of the "al-Nosra Front" in collaboration with the Turkish secret service (MIT) in the massacre.

I always dwell on this important document, because it shows and explains the difference between the al-Nosra Front and its offshoots, from the Levant Conquest Front to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and the jihadist factions that have adopted the state of justice, law and freedoms in this pact.

Another major bone of contention between the al-Nosra Front and other Syrian organizations was the adoption by the al-Nosra Front and Daesh of an approach aimed at integrating foreign fighters into organizational structures and positions of responsibility. As the al-Nosra Front was made up of Syrians and foreigners, then joined by some inmates of Sednaya prison, its command and religious leaders remained in the hands of non-Syrians, with a few Syrians. In the early years of its existence, Syrians accounted for over 70% of its membership and held most of the decision-making positions. This became clear when Hassan Abboud declared on Al-Jazeera that he feared the harmful role of foreign jihadists: "We don't need non-Syrian elements, we have enough Syrian fighters, especially as many immigrants have fallen victim to misinformation and their initial support has turned into a curse". He made it a condition of any dialogue with al-Nosra that it disassociate itself from al-Qaeda, stressing that "the decision must be purely Syrian".

The al-Nosra Front responded: "We at the al-Nosra Front categorically and unambiguously reject any minimization or concealment of the role of the immigrant brothers in this blessed jihad. They have played an immense and important role in supporting the people of Syria, in accordance with God's word: {And if they ask you for help in religion, you must help them} We will respond to them only with benevolence and gratitude, for our Lord, the Merciful, has said: {Is good repaid with anything other than good?} We are united with Muslims by religious brotherhood that transcends any territorial or national ties, and our support for Muslims is based on religion and loyalty to it, not on homeland, land and loyalty to it, for Allah, the Almighty, has said: {And why should you not fight in the way of Allah, while men, women, children and infants are oppressed?} And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim, he neither deceives nor betrays him". Let everyone know that the Islamic state we want is a state founded above all on religion, faith and Sharia law, and it is to this that we owe our loyalty and allegiance. For us, a Muslim is not the equal of a disbeliever, as Allah has said: {Will we treat Muslims like criminals?} And the Prophet (pbuh) said: "The strongest bond of faith is to love for Allah and hate for Allah." What harms our migrant brothers harms us, what affects them affects us, and whoever criticizes them criticizes us. O migrants, this land of Syria is vast, settle in it, and Syria's doors will remain wide open to all those who want to support her and do good for her and her people".

The al-Nosra Front has gone from strength to strength, constantly relying on a high percentage of foreign fighters. The words "Syrian" and "Syria" are absent from its publications and leaflets. In its textbooks, schools and the positions of its religious leaders, it has drawn on the most extreme and radical jihadist writings and positions on the Syrian national question. Even in his experience in power in Idlib, clerics and security officials were the real decision-makers in the government, army, security services, religious police and intervention in people's daily lives. When we look at the speeches and writings of the Syrian figures of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, we see that they only repeat and reiterate what was said in Abu Musab al-Suri's (Mustafa Set Mariam Nassar) "Call to Global Islamic Resistance", "Issues of jurisprudence relating to jihad " by Abu Abdallah al-Muhajir (Abu Rahman al-Ali), " Managing barbarism" by Abu Bakr Naji (Mohammed Khalil al-Hakim) and " Jihad and ijtihad " by Abu Qatada al-Filistini. We understand why Hassan Abboud describes them as follows: "Young people with futile dreams, with no knowledge of religion or the Sharia".

GEORGE STEERTHE TRAGEDY OF GUERNICA TOWN DESTROYED IN AIR ATTACK EYE-WITNESS’S ACCOUNT BILBAO, April 27, 1937

This article by George Steer of The Times brought to the world news of the massacre by German pilots of more than 1,000 civilians in the Basque town. The outrage inspired Pablo Picasso’s masterwork, and Steer has now been honoured for the piece.

 

From Our Special Correspondent

BILBAO, April 27 1937

Guernica, the most ancient town of the Basques and the centre of their cultural tradition, was completely destroyed yesterday afternoon by insurgent air raiders. The bombardment of this open town far behind the lines occupied precisely three hours and a quarter, during which a powerful fleet of aeroplanes consisting of three German types, Junkers and Heinkel bombers and Heinkel fighters, did not cease unloading on the town bombs weighing from 1,000lb. downwards and, it is calculated, more than 3,000 two-pounder aluminium incendiary projectiles. The fighters, meanwhile, plunged low from above the centre of the town to machine- gun those of the civilian population who had taken refuge in. the fields.

GERNIKAKO ARBOLA (The Tree of Gernika)
by Jose Maria Iparragirre, 1853 

The whole of Guernica was soon in flames except the historic Casa de Jontas with its rich archives of the Basque race, where the ancient Basque Parliament used to sit. The famous oak of Guernica, the dried old stump of 600 years and the young new shoots of this century, was also untouched. Here the kings of Spain used to take the oath to respect the democratic rights (fueros) of Vizcaya and in return received a promise of allegiance as suzerains with the democratic title of Señor, not Rey Vizcaya. The noble parish, church of Santa Maria was also undamaged except for the beautiful chapter house, which was struck by an incendiary bomb.

At 2 am today when I visited the town the whole of it was a horrible sight, flaming from end to end. The reflection of the flames could be seen in the clouds of smoke above the mountains from 10 miles away. Throughout the night houses were falling until the streets became long heaps of red impenetrable debris.

Many of the civilian survivors took the long trek from Guernica to Bilbao in antique solid-wheeled Basque farmcarts drawn by oxen. Carts piled high with such household possessions as could be saved from the conflagration clogged the roads all night. Other survivors were evacuated in Government lorries, but many were forced to remain round the burning town lying on mattresses or looking for lost relatives and children, while units of the fire brigades and the Basque motorized police under the personal direction of the Minister of the Interior, Señor Monzon, and his wife continued rescue work till dawn.

CHURCH BELL ALARM

In the form of its execution and the scale of the destruction it wrought, no less than in the selection of its objective, the raid on Guernica is unparalleled in military history. Guernica was not a military objective. A factory producing war material lay outside the town and was untouched. So were two barracks some distance from the town. The town lay far behind the lines. The object of the bombardment was seemingly the demoralization of the civil population and the destruction of the cradle of the Basque race. Every fact bears out this appreciation, beginning with the day when the deed was done.

Monday was the customary market day in Guernica for the country round. At 4.30 pm, when the market was full and peasants were still coming in, the church bell rang the alarm for approaching aeroplanes, and the population sought refuge in cellars and in the dugouts pre pared following the bombing of the civilian population of Durango on March 31, which opened General Mola’s offensive in the north. The people are said to have shown a good spirit. A Catholic priest took charge and perfect order was maintained.

Five minutes later a single German bomber appeared, circled over the town at a low altitude, and then dropped six heavy bombs, apparently aiming for the station. The bombs with a shower of grenades fell on a former institute and on houses and streets surrounding it. The aeroplane then went away. In another five minutes came a second bomber, which threw the same number of bombs into the middle of the town. About a quarter of an hour later three Junkers arrived to continue the work of demolition, and thenceforward the bombing grew in intensity and was continuous, ceasing only with the approach of dusk at 7.45. The whole town of 7,000 inhabitants, plus 3,000 refugees, was slowly and systematically pounded to pieces. Over a radius of five miles round a detail of the raiders’ technique was to bomb separate caserios, or farmhouses. In the night these burned like little candles in the hills. All the villages around were bombed with the same intensity as the town itself, and at Mugica, a little group of houses at the head of the Guernica inlet, the population was machine-gunned for 15 minutes.

RHYTHM OF DEATH

It is impossible to state yet the number of victims. In the Bilbao Press this morning they were reported as "fortunately small," but it is feared that this was an understatement in order not to alarm the large refugee population of Bilbao. In the hospital of Josefinas, which was one of the first places bombed, all the 42 wounded militiamen it sheltered were killed outright. In a street leading downhill from the Casa de Juntas I saw a place where 50 people, nearly all women and children, are said to have been trapped in an air raid refuge under a mass of burning wreckage. Many were killed in the fields, and altogether the deaths may run into hundreds. An elderly priest named Aronategui was killed by a bomb while rescuing children from a burning house.

The tactics of the bombers, which may be of interest to students of the new military science, were as follows: — First, small parties of aeroplanes threw heavy bombs and hand grenades all over the town, choosing area after area in orderly fashion. Next came fighting machines which swooped low to machine-gun those who ran in panic from dugouts, some of which had already been penetrated by 1,000lb bombs, which make a hole 25ft. deep. Many of these people were killed as they ran. A large herd of sheep being brought in to the market was also wiped out. The object of this move was apparently to drive the population under ground again, for next as many as 12 bombers appeared at a time dropping heavy and incendiary bombs upon the ruins. The rhythm of this bombing of an open town was, therefore, a logical one: first, hand grenades and heavy bombs to stampede the population, then machine-gunning to drive them below, next heavy and incendiary bombs to wreck the houses and burn them on top of their victims.

The only counter-measures the Basques could employ, for they do not possess sufficient aeroplanes to face the insurgent fleet, were those provided by the heroism of the Basque clergy. These blessed and prayed for the kneeling crowds—Socialists, Anarchists, and Communists, as well as the declared faithful - in the crumbling dugouts.

When I entered Guernica after midnight houses were crashing on either side, and it was utterly impossible even for firemen to enter the centre of the town. The hospitals of Josefinas and Convento de Santa Clara were glowing heaps of embers, all the churches except that of Santa Maria were destroyed, and the few houses which still stood were doomed. When I revisited Guernica this afternoon most of the town was still burning and new fires had broken out About 30 dead were laid out in a ruined hospital.

A CALL TO BASQUES

The effect here of the bombardment of Guernica, the Basques’ holy city, has been profound and has led President Aguirre to issue the following statement in this morning’s Basque Press:— "The German airmen in the service of the Spanish rebels, have bombarded Guernica, burning the historic town which is held in such veneration by all Basques. They have sought to wound us in the most sensitive of our patriotic sentiments, once more making it entirely clear what Euzkadis may expect of those who do not hesitate to destroy us down to the very sanctuary which records the centuries of our liberty and our democracy.

"Before this outrage all we Basques must react with violence, swearing from the bottom of our hearts to defend the principles’ of our people with unheard of stubbornness and heroism if the case requires it. We cannot hide the gravity of the moment; but victory can never be won by the invader if, raising our spirits to heights of strength and determination, we steel ourselves to his defeat.

"The enemy has advanced in. many parts elsewhere to be driven out of them afterwards. I do not hesitate to affirm that here the same thing will happen. May to-day’s outrage be one spur more to do it with all speed."

 Comments:

Politics: Lies, manipulation and the crucial importance of a free press and truthful accounts of historical events

Guernica exemplifies how the media reported then about the event to counter the propaganda of Franco who tried to put the blame for the destruction of Guernica on the shoulders of the Left in Spain. Had it not been for the eye witness of a journalist from the New York Times, the true story would have never come out and a skeptical world population of the Left would have easily believed Franco’s claim.

Something similar happened in Germany when Hitler put on fire the Reichtstagsgebaeude and then blamed the Left to justify a full scale political crack-down of all opposition.

HF 

 George Steer honoured in Gernika

Gernika, 7 March 2024

 

حول مجازر الساحل السوري About the massacres on the Syrian coast À propos des massacres sur la côte syrienne Sobre las masacres en la costa siria

 التطهير الطائفي كمنهج حكم

حول مجازر الساحل السوري
تقرير لجنة المتابعة الإنسانية وحقوق الإنسان (سوريا)

Human Rights and Humanitarian Monitoring Committee (Syria)
Sectarian cleansing as a policy of governance
About the massacres on the Syrian coast
Report April 22,2025

Le nettoyage sectaire comme politique de gouvernance
À propos des massacres sur la côte syrienne
Rapport de la Commission de suivi des droits humains et de la situation humanitaire (Syrie)
22/04/2025

La limpieza sectaria como política de gobernanza
Sobre las masacres en la costa siria
Informe del Comité de Seguimiento de los Derechos Humanos y la Situación Humanitaria (Siria)
22-04-2025