By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 13 November 2025
Can Syria’s Future Escape Ahmad al-Shara’s Past?
2 Replies
Tag Archives: Turkistan Islamic Party
How Much Responsibility Does the Syrian State Have for the Alawi Massacres?
Ahmad al-Shara Met Donald Trump, and the Islamic State is Not Pleased
Bashar al-Assad Falls
United Nations Report Finds Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Reduced, But Reviving
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 30 July 2022
Islamic State in Palmyra, December 2016
Al-Qaeda Leader Says America Empowered Iran, Encourages Jihadi Attacks
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 12 September 2019
To mark the eighteenth anniversary of the 9/11 massacre, Al-Qaeda’s Al-Sahab media department released a video, “And They Shall Continue to Fight You”. The video, which ran over a half-hour, featured a speech by the group’s emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri, interspersed with other leadership figures.
Much attention has been given to Dr. Al-Zawahiri encouraging attacks on America, his contention that the U.S. has enabled the spread of Iranian power by providing its vicious sectarian militias in Iraq, Syria, and beyond with direct support as part of the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), and his use of the issue of Palestine. There are some indications Al-Qaeda is looking abroad again with its terrorism campaign, but the primary purpose of re-emphasising the justice of attacks on the West seems to be to meet the ideological challenge from ISIS. Behind the veneer of the “far enemy” rhetoric in this speech, Al-Zawahiri was in fact very defensive—particularly about 9/11, Al-Qaeda’s greatest “success”, where he seems stung by the accusation Al-Qaeda murdered innocents—and “near enemy” (regionally) focused. Even the call to attack America suggested attacks on military installations in the Middle East, rather than in America itself. Such attacks would also avoid the issue of civilian casualties, Al-Zawahiri noted.
An English translation was put out of the video of Al-Zawahiri’s speech and a transcript is reproduced below.
Continue reading
Can the Europeans Help Reach Peace in Syria?
This article was published at The New Turkey
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 27 October 2018
Today in Istanbul, four governments—Turkey, Russia, Germany, and France—are meeting for a summit over Syria, attempting to consolidate the Sochi Agreement signed by Russia and Turkey over Idlib, and re-invigorate the international political process. There is little reason to think that these talks can succeed on either front. Continue reading
A Wave of Assassinations Hits Idlib
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 5 May 2018
Syrians being deported from East Ghuta after the regime conquest, 15 March 2018 // Credit Louai Beshara, Agence France-Presse
There has been an unprecedented wave of assassinations, and assassination attempts, in Idlib, beginning on 26 April and lasting about two days, targeting mainstream, Free Syrian Army-branded rebels, opposition activists, and journalists, as well as Islamist and jihadist insurgents.
A Counterterrorism Policy in Syria That Helps Terrorists
Originally published at The Henry Jackson Society
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on January 5, 2017
Jabhat al-Nusra jihadists wave their flag in Syria (Associated Press picture, source)
In the last week, the American-led Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, whose primary mission is to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State (IS), has apparently conducted two airstrikes against senior members of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS), once known as Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s rebranded presence in Syria. In late 2016, the U.S. began an intensified targeting campaign against al-Qaeda and associated individuals; this appears to be a continuation of that policy, which provides some guidance about Western policy on Syria more broadly. Continue reading
Kyle Orton's Blog 