DISINFO: West uses transition in Syria as a smoke screen to establish presence
SUMMARY
The West uses transition in Syria as a smoke screen to establish its presence. The purpose is to create a window of one or two years in which the Western powers can develop an open master-client relationship with people who yesterday were Al-Qaeda and ISIS. For Western powers, the optics of doing business with gangs and warlords designated as terrorist groups present a problem. This can be got round, however, by pretending to have a 'transition'.
RESPONSE
This disinformation story is an attempt to discredit the actions of Western countries regarding Syria after the fall of dictator Bashar Al Assad. In mid-December 2024, multiple nations showed their willingness to talk or initiated early contacts with the new administration of the country, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS). This included the US, UK, France, Germany and the EU, but also the UN, Turkey, Qatar and Russia itself. Russia publicly admitted ‘direct contacts’ with HTS with the goal of maintaining its military bases in Syria.
These Western contacts aim to prevent chaos in Syria, and contrary to what this disinformation story affirms, concerns about Syria’s new leadership meeting certain political conditions and ensuring a peaceful and inclusive transition that respects minority rights are real. By portraying these actions as cynical self-interested moves to keep control of Syria, this disinformation story aims to promote recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about Western imperialism/colonialism and stoke anti-Western feelings.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that the West has plunged Syria into controlled chaos, that MI6 and the CIA assisted the total destabilisation of Syria to undermine BRICS, that Poland is happy that terrorists have taken over Syria, or that the US and partners are destroying Syria.