Supporters Of Syrian Regime: By Letting Israel Attack Inside Syria, Russia Abets The Aggression Against Syria

MEMRI

On August 25, 2022, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that the Israeli air force had attacked targets near the cities of Hama and Tartous in the northwest of the country. According to the Saudi Al-Arabiya channel and the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, affiliated with the Syrian opposition, the attack targeted a military research facility in the town of Masyaf in the western Hama Governorate, which is operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and a facility for the production and storage of Iranian missiles. According to the reports, the strikes caused extensive fires and explosions were heard for many hours.

The images of the fires in Masyaf, along with Israeli media reports that, a few days prior to the airstrike, Russia had removed a battery of S300 aerial defense missiles from the area (apparently for reasons having to do with the war in Ukraine), elicited responses from many Syrians on social media, who expressed criticism and anger at Russia. The critics, among them Syrian field commanders and figures close to the Assad regime, as well as Syrian citizens who support the regime, slammed Russia for greenlighting the Israeli attacks, and some even accused it of betraying its Syrian ally.

Fires in the aftermath of the attack in Masyaf (Source: Facebook, August 25, 2022)

It should be noted that criticism of this sort has been heard from regime supporters in the past.

This report presents some of the criticism against Russia expressed by Syrians on social media.

Prominent Syrian Businessman: Israel Is Attacking With Russian Consent

Some Syrian regime supporters claimed that there is cooperation between Russia and Israel in the context of the Israeli airstrikes. The head of Syria’s Federation of Chambers of Industry, Fares Al-Shehabi, who has spoken in the past about Russia’s failure to respond to the Israeli operations, wrote following the attack on Hama and Tartous that Russia consents to these attacks. He tweeted on August 26: “Russia-Israel relations are much deeper than we think. The Syrian-Russian alliance and cooperation agreements will not change this, nor will a few  declarations of solidarity with Russia [made by Syrians] on public media! Israel will continue to attack [Syria] with Russian acquiescence, until we ourselves draw the line!”

Commander Of Assad Militia To Russia: We Need Deeds, Not Declarations And Condemnations

Jihad Barakat, the commander of the Syrian regime’s Maghawir Al-Ba’th militia, who is married to the cousin of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, wrote on Facebook, hinting at Russia: “[Our dear] allies, we do not need declarations, we need actions.” Commenting on his own post, he wrote: “We have had enough condemnations.”

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MEMRI TV Clip No. 9792

Syrian Opposition Figure Asaad Al-Zubi: Hizbullah Refuses To Return Chemical WMDs, Missiles, Tanks, And Weapons Given To It By The Syrian Regime

Syrian opposition figure Asaad Al-Zubi said in an August 26, 2022 interview on Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) that Hizbullah refuses to return weapons given to it by the Syrian regime. He said that the Syrian regime transferred chemical WMDs to Lebanon, in order to hide them from foreign inspectors, but Hizbullah will not return them to Syria. In addition, Al-Zubi added that Hizbullah received shoulder-fired-missiles and anti-tank missiles as well as modern tanks and has no intention of ever returning them, despite demands from the Syrian regime, which needs them desperately. For more information about Al-Zubi, who had defected from the Syrian air force during the civil war, see MEMRI TV Clip No 3567.

Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV

Asaad Al-Zubi: “[Hizbullah] says that they returned ten T-55 or T-52 tanks [to Syria]. These tanks were scrapped, even in all the countries that delt with the former Soviet Union.

“But Hizbullah kept all the modern weapons that it took [from the Syrian army], including shoulder-fired missiles – and among those modern anti-tank missiles – and most importantly, 400 tons of chemical WMDs. When inspectors came to Syria to search [for chemical weapons], the [Syrian] regime transferred 400 tons [of chemical weapons] to a region in Jabal Sannin [in Lebanon], to hide [the chemical weapons] with Hizbullah.

“Today, Hizbullah is refusing to return [the chemical weapons] to the [Syrian] regime. Furthermore, 11 sites were established for Hizbullah in the Western Qalamoun region [in Syria]. I even sent a map to the OPCQ so that they know that these sites belong to Hizbullah, and that sarin gas is produced there.

[…]

“The [Syrian] regime is demanding that the weapons be returned because it has nothing left. The regime used to have about 4,500 tanks. Today it has no more than 1,500. Today, the regime has no weapons, and no soldiers. It receives help from Iranian militias, as soldiers. But what about weapons? Weapons are costly. It is well known that countries no longer sell T-55 tanks for 10,000 dollars, now there are T-72s and T-90s, and so [the Syrian regime] needs any weapon that it can get, especially the weapons that Hizbullah took from the Republican Guard and the 4th Division, because they have the most modern weapons in Syria. These weapons were given to Hizbullah on condition that they would be returned to Syria. However, Hizbullah did not give them back and it never will.”

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