Protests In Suweida Reminiscent Of 2011 - Who Is Behind Them?

Brandon Turbeville

BrandonTurbeville.com

October 24, 2023

Twelve years after the initiation of the Western backed destabilization in Syria, it appears the Western intelligence and military apparatus is once again attempting to stir up a "popular" revolution against the government of Bashar al-Assad. This time, however, not only do they continue to use their proxy fighters in the form of terrorists and Kurdish fanatics, they are also attempting to use the domestic population to further fracture Syrian society. 

Having suffered through over a dozen years of horrific warfare that saw their country largely destroyed and an almost unimaginable loss of life, Syrians were then saddled with American (and thus Western) sanctions that have brought the entire Syrian economy to a halt, causing as much suffering as the war itself at least in terms of living standards for the average Syrian. 

With the frontlines largely quiet except for daily shelling and occasional airstrikes, Syrians are forced to reckon with the fact that, even with the guns silent, their lives will not return to normal or to any sense of normalcy. Basic necessities like electricity, fuel, medical care, and food are are scarce and have been scarce for some time. Certainly, they have been scarce long enough for the words of their government to "hold on just a little longer" to start feeling hollow. Indeed, starving Syrians have begun to look at Syrian government officials whose lives do continue on as normal with the resentful eyes of the hungry that only someone with an empty belly can truly understand. 

This resentment is what Western powers are attempting to take advantage of. 

I myself saw the beginnings signs of the coming "2nd Revolution" when I was last in Syria and have long worried that Western powers would eventually find fertile ground for such a catastrophe. Such feelings are only natural after all and any failing of the Syrian government will of course be exploited to the utmost degree by Western powers. Unfortunately for the Assad government, it's options are slim and decidedly radical if implemented, a tall order for any country broken from a decade of war that it is still continuing to fight. 

With all that being said, it is still unclear as to just what is happening on the ground in Syria. While some assume that the rumblings of revolt against the Syrian government are nothing more than a new attempt by Western powers to further weaken the country and the government's rule, others suggest that they are firmly an expression of frustration by Syrians. While both explanations are plausible, it is also possible that they are a mixture of the two. 

Vanessa Beeley, who has long been a fantastic source of information and reporting on Syria and who currently lives there, discussed this issue last month in her report for UK Column entitled "Western Intelligence agencies recycle the 2011 "Revolution" in southern Syria with Israel playing an instrumental role." In this report, she wrote that "Syrians, despite the hardships they are enduring remain opposed to further sectarian division. Only a small minority backed by Israel and the US, UK and EU, financed by Qatar (reported) are allowing their grievances to be hijacked by the West and are welcoming terrorists into their midst again."

Beeley suggests that this new expression of revolt is actually a destabilization campaign created by the American, British, and French intelligence agencies with the goal of destabilizing the south of the country specifically. 

The protests and revolt in question were taking place in Suweida Governate, a largely Druze area. 

Her evidence supported her perspective is as follows:

1.) In May-July of 2023, there were meetings in Paris between the French and British intelligence agencies and the head of the Syrian Brigade Party. The SBP is a derivative of the terrorist Free Syrian Army. 

2.) Qatari funding of $30 million to make moves against the Syrian government. $200k of which was given to the leadership of the Brigade in Suweida to provide water tanks, medical assistance, etc. to compensate for the inability of the Syrian government to provide essential services and functions due to Western sanctions. 

3.) The Federalist Project by these agencies to increase sectarian dissent and increase calls for autonomy amongst sects, religions, ethnicities, etc. 

4.) To establish border crossings to "facilitate" "humanitarian aid" but will essentially be used to import fighters and weapons into Syria from Jordan.

5.) 16,000 Druze trainees at al-Tanf U.S. base, 3,500 of which are prepared to replace Syrian state security forces. 

6.) 7,500 terrorists from Turkish occupied territory in the north will be deployed to the border with Jordan to control the border crossings. 

7.) Moves to achieve international recognition of the Federalist Movement from France, UK, and US and they will ask for international protection, i.e. a No Fly Zone. 

8.) French, UK, and US intelligence will provide communication networks, logistics, and surveillance technology to the movement/fighters. Joint operations will be used to establish the movement on the border with Jordan. 

To be clear, the information above comes from Syria media, presumably having received their information from Syrian intelligence sources. 

In her report to the UK Column, Beeley shares a number of photographs which back up her claims and the information shared by Syrian media. 

1.)  Recent protests in Suweida city. Photo shows Balaclava clad "militants" holding rifles. It is not clear whether or not they are Druze militia members, FSA fighters, or other militants. 

2.) Photos of protesters holding signs calling for autonomy. 

3.) Lack of Syrian national flag in any of the protests. 

4.) Blogs describing the protests in ways such as "Syria: Negotiations Between Assad And Druze In Southern Syria Have Failed; Demonstrations Expected Tomorrow." Reminiscent of how "protests" were described in Daraa in 2011. 

Blog goes on to say:

According to Syrian media, talks between the Assad regime and Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, the spiritual leader of the Druze in Suweida (southern Syria), aimed at pacifying the situation after over a week of continuous protests, have proven unsuccessful. 

All attention is now on the planned demonstrations set to take place tomorrow, on their scale, and their potential to stimulate anti-Assad sentiment not only within Sweida and Daraa districts in southern Syria, but also beyond. 

5.) Blogs like Abu Ali Express (which Beeley associates with Israel as the blog has an Israeli flag on the blogs home page) apparently promoting the protests. 

5.) Megaphone News Twitter page reporting "The Syrian city of #Sweida witnessed the largest anti-#assad protests since strikes and demonstrations began four days ago. Suwayda24 reported that activists confirmed that the internet connection was weak and they were having trouble uploading and sharing photos and videos. It is also reported that several protesters headed to the #Damascus-Sweida road to prevent Russian forces from coming into the city, after learning that the latter might come to bring food aid." This, of course, would make little sense if the issue is the lack of essentials. Beeley suggests that the real reason is to paralyze the Governor of Suweida Governate and to pose as the real saviors of the region themselves. 

6.) Daraa activist Nedal Al-Amari (actually in Daraa) posting on Twitter "For the 5 consecutive day, we continue until the regime falls and the Nazi Russia is expelled from our land. Glory to Great Syria. 

7.) Video from Suweida posted by Suwayda24 channel of the protests. A protester leading a chant saying "We are one people. Syrians are one people." Beeley points out that there are no Syrian flags present. However, there is a Druze flag and a Free Syrian Army flag. She also adds that there are no women at this protest. 

"Former terrorists are actually mingling with these Suweida protesters," Beeley says, also pointing out that the videos are zoomed in, which she suggests is done to make the protests look bigger than they are, a common technique used by Western countries to make their destabilization efforts look more popular than they are for propaganda purposes. Beeley says that video zoomed out shows that the protests are actually quite small. 

8.) Suwayda24 has cooperated and collaborated in the past with Western media organizations like the BBC in order to promote the theory that Syria is essentially a narco state headed by Bashar al-Assad, a theory promoted by Western media and terrorists in Syria. 

9.) Reuters and AP (and other Western, GCC, and Israeli media outlets) picking up stories from Suwayda24 and using its photos in the same pattern as in 2011 and in color revolutions in other countries such as Ukraine. Pro-"opposition" "activists" promoting the Suweida protests as well. 

10.) Attempts by terrorist supporters to claim that protests are spreading, despite evidence to the contrary. 

While the protests themselves largely seem to have fizzled out, it still remains unclear as to what was truly behind them. However, the points made by Beeley certainly lend credence to the argument that very real complaints against the Syrian government were quickly hijacked and exploited by agencies and groups who wish to see the Syrian government destroyed and the country broken apart. We will simply have to continue to analyze the situation for more information. 

Watch Beeley's video for yourself here:

Brandon Turbeville is a journalist and author. He is the author of fourteen books, including Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President, and Resisting The Empire: The Plan To Destroy Syria And How The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome as The War Continues Vol. 1 and 2. Turbeville has published over 2500 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, civil liberties and, most notably, geopolitics and the Syrian crisis. He has also released a book of poetry, Dance, Amputee. Brandon also hosted a radio show for three years which was called Truth on The Tracks.  His website is BrandonTurbeville.com. You can contact him through his website.