Ahmad Deeb

We have published a 9,000-word report on events in Iran and the Middle East over the past week. The killing of Ayatollah Khamenei on February 28, 2026, and the six-day US-Israeli air campaign that followed, represent the culmination of a strategic trajectory that began with October 7, 2023, and accelerated through the systematic dismantlement of Iran's proxy architecture across Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. Iran's air defences have collapsed, its navy is destroyed, its missile stockpiles are rapidly depleting, and its retaliatory strikes on nine countries have drawn the Gulf states into a war they refused to join. The economic shockwave, from Hormuz closure to the halt of Qatari LNG production, is reverberating globally. Yet the deeper contest is strategic: Israel seeks state collapse in Iran, applying centrifugal force to fracture the country along ethnic lines in an environment where reconstruction of a destroyed state has become near-impossible; the Gulf monarchies are discovering that the US-Israeli security architecture does not serve their interests; Türkiye faces dual threats from a disintegrating Iran and an Israel already framing it as the next adversary; and China watches as American military assets drain from the Indo-Pacific. Read more on Vizier via the link below:

Very sad to see these scenes, once in Syria, currently in Gaza, and now in Iran. Civilians everywhere paying the price for the games of a few mad men and dreams of empire.

Israel Blasts Open Pandora's Box in Syria How Israel has transformed a local conflict in Suwayda into widespread sectarian violence. vizier.report/p/israel-pando…

Timeline is flooded with pictures of babies and children who died of starvation in Gaza and there are still people who claim it is a farce. And Israelis who totally ignore the hunger in Gaza talk about Suwayda and say “humanity lost its common values…” I can’t anymore

Investigative analysis by one of the premier platforms countering disinformation in Syria: a video of a hospital massacre in Suwayda circulating earlier this week was conducted by Druze militias against government soldiers and civilians who were trapped inside. The circulating claim was that these were Druze civilians killed by the govt. False.

Preliminary stats indicate presence of approx 300,000 active accounts spreading disinfo on Syria on META & X, distributed across 4 main countries. The content takes various forms, with some appearing to support the state but actually focusing on promoting divisive rhetoric.

Very obvious at this point that the Syrian liberal/activist class was in it for the motions, not out of genuine asabiya towards their oppressed people. They don’t protest because there’s injustice. They protest because they’re wired to engage in boilerplate NGO/liberal human rights complex agitation, and they don’t know anything else. Even if the people win and get a state of their own, warts and all, these people will turn against them and agitate with all their might. This is of course why in the end Syria was not liberated by them but by the people they hate. It was never about actually achieving victory. It was about the pathological need to engage in Instagrammable college student protestor kayfabe — but forever. And this is why, no matter what political situation emerges, they will never be happy, will always agitate, and will always be resented and rejected by the people.

The Middle East Is far more complicated than you think. The West isn’t the only bad actor. Because of its geography, strategic straits, and vast oil reserves, the region is a global prize. Even if the West pulled back, Russia would seek its share, and China might follow. Everything is exploited: minorities, tribal feuds, even the Palestinian cause. The Arab world is majority Sunni, with small minorities like the Shia and Druze. Iran represents one of those minorities and pursues its own ambitions, often using the same tactics as colonial powers, and at times, even more brutally. If the Arabs (the Sunni majority) were to gain true liberation, it would threaten the interests of all these players. That’s why Iran collaborated with its enemy, the U.S in Iraq, and now openly aligns with Israel in Syria by weaponizing its state media and the outlets it funds. And who can blame them? All of Iran’s militias combined, including the IRGC, were humiliated by a small Syrian faction Other players, like the West, simply back one against another depending on their shifting interests. For now, the West holds the most control, primarily through the Arab regimes it backs and protects. If you think only in binary terms, you’ll never understand what’s really happening, or who the real aggressor is. You might even end up siding with the oppressor against the victim, especially when nearly every major player runs massive propaganda machines and controls proxies on the ground.

#Israel's intervention in #Suwayda on July 14 turned hostilities from a localized conflict into a zero sum game perceived by many to be central to defining #Syria's future. And it gave Hikmat al-Hijri the confidence to revoke 4 ceasefires in 5 days, fueling further escalation.

Translation: This is not an exaggeration. Everyone who follows me knows I always convey the reality exactly as it is. If aid does not arrive within 48 hours, starting with baby formula and flour, prepare for what may become the largest mass-death atrocity in history. We have been living in famine for many weeks. We are all suffering from severe malnutrition. Our bodies are too weak to endure two full days without any food. Our frames are already emaciated. It has been over a year and a half of deprivation, and more than two months of near-starvation, during which we’ve survived on the bare minimum of bread with no other nutrients. Now, there is absolutely nothing left to eat. Nothing, literally nothing. I personally feel dangerously frail. I have money, but today I searched everywhere and found nothing to buy. As for the children, begin preparing their shrouds. Tell the world: #GazaIsStarving and is going through the harshest phase of this war.

Monday inshallah. Or you can just listen to your favorite Internet activist whose greatest contribution is to speak over Syrians.

Syria is on full speed. Very hard to track what is happening in the country. Only today before evening: - New Syrian constitutional declaration was accepted. - An 8-person committee between the Syrian government and the SDF was established - Syrian government began recruiting Druze from Suwayda - Israel repeated its threat against Damascus and conducted an airstrike next to Damascus - Fact-finding committee on violations against Alawites have already listed some witnesses and potential suspects - Ghassan Elias Al Sayed Ahmed was appointed as the new governor of Deir Ezzour - SDF carries put an arrest campaign against Syrian IDP returnees - Regime remnants conducted a failed ambush against Syrian Security Forces - The European Parliament allows the use of frozen assets of the Assad regime to support Syria - Canada appoints ambassador to Syria and eases sanctions - Qatar to declare a big project to supply Syria with gas and electricity following an agreement with the US

Ahmad al-Shar'a's speech tonight, which was about 5 minutes translated below, including the original video: -"To the sons of the proud Syrian people, I stand before you today with a heart full of hope and determination, addressing my words to all Syrian men and women, to those living in displacement camps, to the displaced and refugees, to the wounded and injured, to the families of the martyrs and the missing, to the revolutionary activists who have dedicated their lives to the struggle for a free Syria." -"I stand before you today after fifty-four days of our liberation, the liberation of Syria from the shackles of a criminal regime that has oppressed us for decades. Fifty-four days have passed since the end of fifty-four years of the darkest forms of tyrannical rule in the history of Syria and the entire world." -"Syria was liberated thanks to God first, and then thanks to every person who struggled at home and abroad, every person who sacrificed his soul and blood, his home and money, his security and safety." -"Syria was liberated with the martyrs, the detainees, the tortured, the missing, and all their bereaved mothers and grieving families. Because of their sacrifices and the sacrifices of all of you, I stand here today to open together a new chapter in the history of our beloved country." -"This victory was launched from the throats of the demonstrators and the chants of the protesters in the squares and fields. It was launched from the fingers of Hamza al-Khatib and the chants of the demonstrations, and the groans of the detainees and tortured in the basements of Tadmur, Sednaya, and the Palestine Branch. It continued with the sacrifices of the revolutionaries who liberated the land of Syria, despite years of suffering from missiles, barrels, and chemical weapons. They did not bend or break." -"Brothers and sisters, I assumed responsibility for the country yesterday, after intensive consultations with legal experts to ensure the political process proceeds within legal norms and in a way that gives it the necessary legitimacy." -"From here, I address you today in my capacity as President of Syria in this fateful period, asking God to grant us all success in advancing our country and overcoming the challenges we face. This will not happen except through the solidarity of everyone, people and leadership." -"I speak to you today not as a ruler, but as a servant of our wounded homeland, striving with all my strength and will to achieve Syria’s unity and renaissance, all of us bearing in mind that this is a transitional phase, and it is part of a political process that requires the real participation of all Syrian men and women, at home and abroad, to build their future in freedom and dignity, without exclusion or marginalization." -"We will work to form a comprehensive transitional government that expresses the diversity of Syria, its men, women, and youth, and that will undertake the work of building the institutions of the new Syria until we reach the stage of free and fair elections." -"Based on my mandate for my current duties and the decision to dissolve the People’s Assembly, I will announce a preparatory committee to select a small legislative council to fill this void in the transitional phase." -"We will announce in the coming days the preparatory committee for the National Dialogue Conference, which will be a direct platform for deliberations, consultations and listening to various points of view on our upcoming political program." -"After completing these steps, we will announce the constitutional declaration to be the legal reference for the transitional phase." -"In the coming period, we will focus on setting our priorities within the following: 1. Achieving civil peace and pursuing the criminals who shed Syrian blood and committed massacres and crimes against us, whether they hid inside the country or fled abroad, through true transitional justice. 2. Completing the unity of Syrian lands; all of Syria, and imposing its sovereignty under one authority and on one land. 3. Building strong state institutions based on efficiency and justice, free of corruption, favoritism, and bribery. 4. Establishing the foundations of a strong economy that restores Syria’s regional and international standing, provides real, decent job opportunities, improves living conditions, and restores lost basic services." -"O sons of free Syria, building the homeland is our collective responsibility, and this is an invitation to all Syrians to participate in building a new homeland, ruled by justice and consultation" -"Together, we will build the Syria of the future, the Syria of the beacon of knowledge and progress, and the haven of security and stability, the Syria of prosperity, progress and flourishing, the Syria that extends its hand with peace and respect, so that its people may return to a dear, generous, prosperous, safe, and secure homeland, God willing."

Historic: a Palestinian refugee in Syria, Ghiath Diab, was just appointed Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources; the first in Syria's history. This is a great decision! Lebanon should do the same instead of keeping Palestinian refugees there in constant deprivation; banned from working in over 75 professions, barred from owning property, & confined to miserable refugee camps, all under the pretext of "keeping the Palestinian refugee issue alive." The Palestinian refugee question will not die if Palestinian refugees in Arab countries get treated humanely & provided with their most basic rights until a solution to the conflict & the refugee issue is reached once day.

Tomorrow 2pm EST with @hahellyer inshallah. Register at event.levantine.press for streaming link.

Habibi…

Syrian Muhajir Muhammed, who is studying in Turkey, hugged his Ansar classmates and said goodbye before returning to his country.

Man if the Hijaz Railway is revived, could you imagine!!!!

Countless stories coming out of Syrians crying and overjoyed from the humane treatment they’re receiving for the first time in their own country.

Hilarious