Syria's Sharaa Government Preps 50,000 Troops
His government's actions tell a different story though, as after spurning Kurdish integration talks last week and refusing to allow any Druze to attend talks on the violence in Druze territory a few days later, the government is preparing a massive offensive against the Kurds.
Seeking to capture the Raqqa and Deir Ezzor Governorates from the Kurdish SDF's control, the military is preparing some 50,000 troops for an offensive. The plan is to mass the troops at the city of Palmyra and sweep into Kurdish-controlled areas.
The SDF has an agreement in principle to integrate into the Syrian military, though it has been slowed by disagreements over the process.
The US has been critical of the SDF for delays, and envoy Tom Barrack has warned the Kurds that federalism 'doesn't work' and they must accept integration.
For the past decade the US has repeatedly backed the SDF against ISIS. Now, it seems they are increasingly aligned with Sharaa, with President Trump praising him as strong and attractive.
The US has also drawn down most of its forces from Kurdish territory, with their last substantial presence now far south at al-Tanf. The offensive against the SDF is expected some time before October, but it reportedly won't happen without a US green light.
Map: the height of the Rojava project prior to fuller Turkish military cross-border intervention of the past years…
That would've been unthinkable in the past, though the administration's current priority of uniting Syria behind the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) may have changed things, and the narrative that the Kurds are delaying the process may lead the US to quietly give Syria the go-ahead to attack their long-standing allies.
Also read: US Ignores Horrific Syrian Govt Massacres Caught On Video As Sharaa Embraced In Amman
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Insider
15 hours ago
- Gulf Insider
Refugees In Austria Accused Of Failing German Courses
A new report by Austria's Public Employment Service (AMS) has sparked controversy after suggesting that some refugees are intentionally failing German language courses to avoid being placed in low-paying jobs. The findings, published in the study 'New Refugees from Syria on the Austrian Labor Market,' highlight a growing challenge for integration policy, with concerns that language training, once seen as the key to employment, is becoming a barrier instead. In the report, one first-hand account from a Syrian woman who studied medicine in her home country and worked as a paediatrician in Turkey, criticized what she sees as a systemic problem: qualified Syrian women being pushed into cleaning jobs without any consideration of their professional skills. She claims that, in response, some refugees purposely fail their language exams to avoid being forced into such low-status work. Central to her complaint is the issue of inadequate wages, which she says often do not even cover basic living expenses, making social benefits a more attractive option. The case study appears to be supported by AMS data, which showed that two-thirds of those granted asylum or subsidiary protection require literacy training, and 44 percent are completely illiterate. As reported by Kosmo, the AMS notes that 30 percent of refugees still have no German-language knowledge even 18 months after registering in Austria. Many spent years in transit countries before arriving, and in some cases, they cannot even read in their native language. In July 2025, the unemployment rate for Syrians in Austria stood at 45.4 percent. Vienna is the epicenter of the problem, with more than half of all unemployed migrants living in the capital. Meanwhile, in other federal states, tens of thousands of low-skilled jobs remain unfilled. The AMS acknowledges that deliberately failing courses to avoid work may occur, but insists this is not a widespread practice. 'There are probably isolated cases, but this does not exist as a perceptible phenomenon,' the agency says. However, it concedes that proving deliberate failure is 'hardly feasible in practice.' Sanctions are only possible if it can be clearly demonstrated that a person intentionally sabotaged their course or exam. The issue is also closely linked to Austria's welfare system. Some migrants may calculate that low-skilled work pays less than the combined value of unemployment benefits and minimum income support. The AMS does not deny that the financial incentive to remain unemployed exists. The Austrian federal government is attempting to reform the system to ensure that work pays more than benefits. Starting in 2026, asylum seekers who skip compulsory language courses or fail the final exam will face cuts to their social welfare payments. In Lower and Upper Austria, such measures are already in place, with reductions of up to 50 percent for those who refuse to participate. Earlier this week, the reality of mass immigration in Austria was laid bare after new figures from the Statistical Yearbook on Migration and Integration found that women from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq living in Austria have an average birth rate almost three times higher than that of Austrian-born women. The new generation with a growing Muslim population is having a profound effect in Austria, particularly in education. In October 2024, federal data revealed that more than three-quarters of students in Vienna's middle schools do not speak German at home, putting pressure on an education system designed for single-language learning. A survey at the same time by the local teachers' union at some of Vienna's 100 compulsory schools revealed not only systematic issues like language barriers, but also extreme incidents, including assaults on teachers, situations where parents of schoolchildren asked a teacher to wear a burqa, and even the presence of mock executions. It has led to teachers leaving their profession — 20 a day on average in 2024 — and other educators speaking out on the 'rapid Islamization' of the Austrian capital. 'Islam is changing our society in ways we do not want,' said longtime principal of a Vienna middle school, Christian Klar, in an interview with Christian magazine Corrigenda last year. Also read: Birth Rate Among Refugee Women In Austria Nearly Triple That Of Native-Born Austrians
Gulf Insider
a day ago
- Gulf Insider
Syria's Sharaa Government Preps 50,000 Troops
The Islamist Syrian government is trying to give the impression they support peaceful unity in Syria, with President Ahmed al-Sharaa saying he believed Syria should be unified by some sort of understanding instead of by military force, because the Syrian people are tired of war. His government's actions tell a different story though, as after spurning Kurdish integration talks last week and refusing to allow any Druze to attend talks on the violence in Druze territory a few days later, the government is preparing a massive offensive against the Kurds. Seeking to capture the Raqqa and Deir Ezzor Governorates from the Kurdish SDF's control, the military is preparing some 50,000 troops for an offensive. The plan is to mass the troops at the city of Palmyra and sweep into Kurdish-controlled areas. The SDF has an agreement in principle to integrate into the Syrian military, though it has been slowed by disagreements over the process. The US has been critical of the SDF for delays, and envoy Tom Barrack has warned the Kurds that federalism 'doesn't work' and they must accept integration. For the past decade the US has repeatedly backed the SDF against ISIS. Now, it seems they are increasingly aligned with Sharaa, with President Trump praising him as strong and attractive. The US has also drawn down most of its forces from Kurdish territory, with their last substantial presence now far south at al-Tanf. The offensive against the SDF is expected some time before October, but it reportedly won't happen without a US green light. Map: the height of the Rojava project prior to fuller Turkish military cross-border intervention of the past years… That would've been unthinkable in the past, though the administration's current priority of uniting Syria behind the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) may have changed things, and the narrative that the Kurds are delaying the process may lead the US to quietly give Syria the go-ahead to attack their long-standing allies. Also read: US Ignores Horrific Syrian Govt Massacres Caught On Video As Sharaa Embraced In Amman
Gulf Insider
2 days ago
- Gulf Insider
British Army Colonel: Civil War Is Coming
A retired British Army Colonel is warning that he believes a civil war in the country is now inevitable because politicians are unwilling to take meaningful actions to fix societal collapse. Colonel Richard Kemp, who has served on the Joint Intelligence Committee and the Cabinet Office crisis centre COBRA, urges that an alliance 'of the hard left and Islamist extremists' will clash with broadly conservative British people and that it will lead to widespread prolonged unrest. Kemp suggests that 'together with other causes,' these Islamist leftists will 'come together to threaten the cohesion and the culture, the entire culture and political existence of the West.' Kemp, who fought counter insurgency in Northern Ireland, served in the Gulf war, Bosnia, and commanded in Afghanistan, asserts that the agitators are 'fostered by,' and 'funded to a large extent, by our international enemies like Russia, China, Iran, and other countries as well.' In an interview with podcaster Conor Tomlinson, Kemp remarks that politicians in the UK are 'in a state of bewilderment, they're like rabbits in headlights,' and that while they understand how the unrest is being fomented, they are unable or unwilling to put a stop to it. Kemp says of political leaders that their 'horizon is four years,' and 'They want to keep a state of equilibrium for that time, they want to do what they can to make sure they win the next election.' 'They don't want to take the radical sort of action that might be necessary to address these sorts of problems,' the Colonel stresses, highlighting mass migration as one major issue. 'There's only so much that I think people can take of that, and they've been very quiet up until now, the people in the UK have not really raised their voices against this, or in a very limited way only. But the more it develops, and it is going to develop more and more, the more unrest we are going to see,' Kemp emphasises. He adds, 'they have no option. I'm not encouraging or supporting this, but I think the people will feel they have no option than to take action into their own hands rather than rely on political leaders who are doing nothing, in their eyes.' 'I think there is every likelihood, I don't know what the timeframe is, but I would go so far as to not just predict civil unrest, but civil war in the UK in the coming years if this situation continues which I believe it will,' he urges. 'I'd hate to be right on this, but I believe that I know there is no political solution to the situation Britain faces today,' Kemp further declares, adding 'When I say there is no solution, I don't mean there actually isn't a solution, but there is no solution that any of our politicians are willing to take… because they are afraid of doing anything significant.' As we've previously highlighted, these views are shared by London King's College war professor Dr David Betz, who believes the UK is already 'past the tipping point,' for near future civil war. Betz stated earlier this year, 'There isn't anything they can do, it's baked in. We're already past the tipping point, is my estimation… we are past the point at which there is a political offramp. We are past the point at which normal politics is able to solve the problem… almost every plausible way forward from here involves some kind of violence in my view.' Kemp's interviewer Conor Tomlinson notes that Colonel Kemp has never even heard of Professor Betz and arrived at the same conclusion completely independently, Which 'makes his well-informed warnings all the more alarming.' The YouTube version of the interview is also below:
