The Daily Populous Tuesday March 11st, 2025 night edition
Authored by i24news.tv and submitted by NotSoSaneExile

Alawite leaders in Syria appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Save us from the brutal regime, we will welcome you with songs and flowers."

The letter, which was obtained by i24NEWS, was sent to other Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, through contacts in the region and intermediaries between the local population in Syria and Israel.

This comes after a series of massacres by forces loyal to Ahmad al-Sharaa's new regime that took place last weekend against the local population. On Sunday, Israel announced that it will not allow the new Syrian regime to harm the Druze population in the country.

The Alawite minority in Syria was loyal to the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad before he was overthrown by the Syrian rebels, under the leadership of the new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammed al-Julani).

"Following the fall of Assad's regime, and after the massacres that took place in Alawite areas against our people, we call on the Israeli government to provide protection, assistance, and support." The leaders stated that "the world is silent about the massacres happening in Syria," while only the voice of the State of Israel is heard. Furthermore, the Alawite community leaders said, "we reach out to you and will be your most loyal and good friends."

"We are a minority like you in the Middle East," the letter said. "Help us, and if you reach the Syrian coast, which is mostly Alawite, you will be received with songs and flowers."

Several demands were presented in the letter, including:

• The IDF deploys its forces, including the Israel Air Force, to protect the community.

• The Defense Ministry sends warships towards the coast of Syria.

• The Israeli Foreign Ministry raises to the international level the crimes committed against the Druze.

• Israeli media "shed light" on the massacre happening in Syria.

The letter also called to unite "against the Islamic arrogance led by Turkey, help us to separate from this extremist country."

LateralEntry on March 10th, 2025 at 17:05 UTC »

I feel for the Alawites, but it's rich that they're asking Israel for help now. The Alawite dictator Hafez Assad launched a surprise attack on Israel in 1973 trying to wipe Israel out, and tortured captured Israeli soldiers. He and his son Bashar declined to make peace with Israel over their ensuing 50 years of power, and actively supported terrorist groups that killed Israelis. You reap what you sow.

Malthus1 on March 10th, 2025 at 16:41 UTC »

Since this is the geopolitics forum, I’ll give my geopolitical analysis for what it is worth.

What I think we are seeing here is yet more evidence that we are entering into a period in which the Mid-East is split three ways. The old powers are still important, but much less so; America had retreated into Trumpian incoherence and relative isolationism; Russia just got the boot more or less and is focused elsewhere.

The three powers are Türkiye, Iran, and Israel.

The previous round of fighting was all about Iran attempting to pre-empt Israel from forming closer relations with Sunni Arab states, and to assert its own power. It was a disaster for asserting Iran’s power (the “Axis of Resistance” was ruined, maybe for good) but it did set back Arab-Israeli cooperation, at least overt cooperation.

The events in Syria are partly a result of that disaster for Iran - what was holding Assad in power was largely his ability to draw on the military muscle of Hezbollah, which Israel ruined. However, the main beneficiary was Türkiye, whose clients won the civil war.

Now it is a function of such systems that any time a smaller player comes under attack, it searches around for a local power for help. The Alawites had previously looked to Iran for help, but Iran is so beaten they have no help to give. They can’t look to Türkiye for help, because Türkiye is already supporting the factions who are attacking them. There is no use looking to the US or Europe for help.

Therefore, their obvious (and indeed only) move is to look to Israel for help. Probably in vain, as Israel has no intention of intruding on Türkiye’s turf at the moment.

NotSoSaneExile on March 10th, 2025 at 15:53 UTC »

Some crazy reshuffling of alignments are happening in the middle east.

According to i24 News, they got their hands on a letter signed by some Alawite leaders in Syria, who recently suffered a brutal October 7 style massacre (Genocide?) by the new Syrian government forces, murdering at least around 1,000 civilians.

This is the content they shared of the supposed letter:

> "Following the fall of Assad's regime, and after the massacres that took place in Alawite areas against our people, we call on the Israeli government to provide protection, assistance, and support." The leaders stated that "the world is silent about the massacres happening in Syria," while only the voice of the State of Israel is heard. Furthermore, the Alawite community leaders said, "we reach out to you and will be your most loyal and good friends."

> "We are a minority like you in the Middle East," the letter said. "Help us, and if you reach the Syrian coast, which is mostly Alawite, you will be received with songs and flowers."

In my opinion, this whole thing also gives a lot of legitimacy to Israel's actions of taking over the buffer zone between itself and Syria, it's announcement that it would protect the Druze if they would be attacked, and it's bombing of old Assad's heavy and chemical weapons. Instead of letting those fall into the hands of clearly very unpredictable Jihadists.

It also makes anyone who criticized Israel for those actions so fast, and on the other hand completely trust the new Syrian government, a very naive person, to say the least.