The opposition fighters have said the campaign was in response to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air force on areas in rebel-held Idlib, and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army.

Opposition sources in touch with Turkish intelligence said Turkey, which supports the rebels, had given a green light to the offensive.

  • atro_city@fedia.io
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    4 days ago

    Syria is such a mess, I’d need multiple hours of research to understand what’s going on there. All I know is that Assad started attack rebels and using nerve gas against civilians around 2015 or so. There have been waves of refugees ever since. Somehow both side are muslim and hate each other bitterly due to some cultural history. But that’s probably also a misrepresentation of what’s going on.

    • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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      4 days ago

      I feel quite anxious trying to make sense of geopolitical events like this, especially given I’m ashamed of how little thought I gave to Palestine before Israel escalated from apartheid to all-out genocide; as you say, this is a ridiculously complex situation, and the snippets we get on the news are ridiculously oversimplified at best, and egregiously biased at worst.

      Syria seems like a far away, foreign land where conflict is the inevitable norm. But it feels like that’s something that I’m meant to think, because it’s politically useful for people like me to think that way. Unfortunately, simply knowing that you’re subject to propaganda is far easier than actually gaining a more full and nuanced understanding of a conflict.

    • small44@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      It started as a genuine attempt to remove Assad the dictator but unfortunately due to big powers interests in the country, it got ruined. Each power is funding certain groups