HTS means the Sell-Out of Syria

In the West, only marginalized media reveal the bloody truth about the foreign-instigated war by terror against Syria

Stefan H. Heuer, M.A.
May 29, 2025

I am far from being a Marxist. Yet I follow the Marxist press in Germany, well, the few remaining, irregularly and in case of research for a topic of interest. The reason is simple: They oblige themselves to an anti-imperialistic approach that makes it possible to produce articles on topics not seen in the corporate mainstream media for decades.

Today, taken from yesterday’s outlet, I read about Syria’s new economic model under the HTS rule.
The article brings up all that has concerned so many patriotic Syrians and anti-imperialistic Westerners since the very beginning of the CIA-designed campaign named Arab Spring in 2011.

Now, 14 years later, Syria, after having been heavily impacted by that bloody war by terror waged against this nation by the most heinous imperialistic monsters of this planet in alliance with the vile and corrupt Arab despots for the sake of Israel and the Wall Street (which, to be fair, in some way is Israel, too), is finally run by the lackeys of Tel Aviv, very much like Turkey, Qatar, al-Saudistan, the EU and the USA. Mission accomplished, you may say.

The most appalling effects of the recent events on the ground in Syria have been described by Arabi Souri (read here: Narcotics in Syria under the CIA’s Al Qaeda HTS and: Surprise: Al Qaeda Controlling Syria wants Peace with Israel!) as well as a Syrian lady (read here: One Hundred Days of the Al Qaeda HTS Julani’s Rule and: Syrian Woman Describes Living under NATO’s Al Qaeda HTS).

The bloodshed, the terror, the plunder, the deprivation of most means of life is a fact that, for very obvious reason, is hidden from the sponsors of the whole play – the western taxpayers – by heartwarming yet false stories made up about a Syrian wonderland that exist only on ‘Farcebook’ and in the corrupt western media owned by the very same plutocracy who had loved to bring so much misery to mankind.

By consuming the Western mainstream media, you usually do not get to know much about the real situation in Syria. This, of course, is not by coincidence but by design. The media whores sell out for money, and reporting the truth does not make much profit.

Thus, I am most grateful to every Western press that prints what reflects reality. I will now present you the translation of the article mentioned above, published by the Marxist German daily newspaper Junge Welt (Young World) on May 28, 2025. The publisher owns all rights to the original publication.

Start of translation:

Neoliberal reorganization
Selling off Syria
Wave of privatization threatens to exacerbate poverty and social inequality. World Bank plays along
By Wiebke Diehl

Just one month after taking power on December 8th, 2024, officials from the terrorist organization Haiat Tahrir Al-Sham (Al Qaeda HTS) led by Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani (real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa) declared that they had “far-reaching plans” to downsize the state authorities and create a “competitive free market economy”. Among other things, thousands of “phantom employees” were to be made redundant.

The privatization of state-owned companies has long been underway, as has the dismissal of a third of employees in the public sector, which is why discontent is growing throughout Syria. Added to this is the abolition of state subsidies for bread, petrol, gas and heating oil. The price of bread alone has increased tenfold since then. Shortly before he left for the World Economic Forum in Davos, “Foreign Minister” Asaad Hassan Al-Shaybani announced to the Financial Times that Syria’s ports and factories, including those in the oil, cotton, and furniture sectors, would also be privatized. Public-law partnerships would be examined “to promote investment in airports, railroads, and roads”.

Bashar al-Assad also introduced neoliberal reforms when he came to power in 2000. The consequences were devastating: the prosperity of the general population fell dramatically, while wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few. The deepening of social inequality was one of the factors that encouraged the protests of spring 2011, which were escalated into a regime change war by the West, the Gulf states, Turkey, and Israel. After 14 years of war and extensive sanctions, Syria is still much weaker today than it was in 2001. Between 2011 and 2024, gross domestic product fell by a third. Prices have risen by 200 percent, and half of the production-related infrastructure is out of order. 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty, 66 percent even in extreme poverty. It is estimated that the reconstruction of the country will cost between 250 and 400 billion US dollars.

The new rulers are not only following the dictates of the West in their policy towards Israel. They are also prepared to sell out the country and the interests of its people economically. The World Bank is already active in Syria, under the guise of technical cooperation. Contacts with the HTS “government” have long since been intensified after Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both of which were involved in promoting the war in Syria, agreed to settle Damascus’ arrears of more than 15.5 million US dollars.

The de facto rulers in Damascus have so far declared that they do not intend to take international loans, but instead want to concentrate on internal “reforms”. However, given the immense costs of reconstruction, this promise is likely to become invalid. There are many indications that World Bank employees are already carrying out preliminary assessments of Syria’s infrastructure, checking asset registers, and even holding confidential meetings with representatives of ministries. Although all of this has so far been carried out under the label of “technical assistance”, in the past, this has often laid the foundations for subsequent loan packages. In most cases, these were linked to neoliberal dictates and “austerity requirements” – and to political constraints such as the “normalization” of relations with Israel.

End of translation.

It should be stated here in conclusion that Syria, as the victim of aggression, has the right to demand reparations in the sense of compensation for the damage caused by war (read here: https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft_articles/9_6_2001.pdf – pdf file).

Source of the original article: https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/500871.neoliberale-neuordnung-ausverkauf-syriens.html.

Stefan H. Heuer, M.A.
Historian, born in 1964, has worked as a lecturer in adult education and, among others,
in Human resources development for a US-American company in Germany.

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