Despite denials by the Libyan Government of National Unity and the Syrian Interim Government, the presence of Syrian National Army (SNA) fighters in this Arab-African country can be considered confirmed. The SNA fighters themselves did not hide their presence in Libya by posing for the camera. It is obvious how and when the SNA fighters arrived there — the flight of a group of Turkish planes to Libya was recorded by numerous observers. Of course, against the backdrop of Assad’s forces advancing on Syria’s Idlib, such a public move could not help but cause confusion among many, starting with the Syrians themselves — what kind of Syrian National Army is going to Libya, essentially as a Turkish PMC, at a time when it is needed to defend the remnants of a free Syria?
Yes, it is impossible not to agree that this all looks extremely dubious in terms of public image. And overall, as many commentators have already noted, while only the Turkish military operations «Euphrates Shield», «Olive Branch» and «Source of Peace» turned out to be the last lifeline for anti-Assad Syrians, their political positioning for the Syrians themselves was rather weak. The extremely dismissive attitude of the Turkish leadership towards its Syrian subordinates, although it corresponds to the real situation of the latter’s total dependence on them, weakens Turkey’s political position in Syria itself, in the form of its ability to oppose Assad with something that could look like a genuine Syrian national alternative.
On the other hand, there is a certain irony in the current situation. After all, among those who criticize the SNA fighters for neglecting the Syrian revolution and going to Libya today, there are many for whom the Syrian revolution itself was initially nothing more than a cover for solving their global ideological and group tasks. Many of them have long refused to accept even the green-white-black national flag of the Syrian revolution, attacking such symbolism and positioning as nationalism and declaring that the flag should be purely Islamic, just like the goals — not limited to one country. The result of the activities of such forces is that the Syrian revolution has lost its national character and has now turned into a slogan and symbol along with its green-white-black flag.
But here’s the paradoxical part — in solving tasks that go beyond the Syrian territory and are related to the pan-Islamic geopolitical agenda, it is not those who advocate global Islamic jihad who are participating in Libya, but rather those who have recognized the flag and goals of the Syrian national revolution. And those who are criticizing it today and contributing to the downfall of this Syrian revolution are no longer able to think about global tasks and are only concerned with fighting for the remains of their own group’s territory.
From this point of view, it can be said that what the forces dreamed of, which saw a liberated Syria without Assad as a platform for solving transnational Islamic tasks, has in a sense been realized. Only not under the leadership of a global jihadist group, but under the leadership of a president and a party that have established their power over a successful nation-state — Turkey.
A paradox worthy of serious consideration…