Contribution of the Communist Revolutionary Party of France

Dear Comrades,

The Revolutionary Communist Party of France would first like to thank our TKP comrades for hosting and organizing this important conference, in view of the very recent developments in Syria, which are of interest to the entire Middle East.

The « Al-Aqsa Floods » operation unleashed by Palestinian forces in October 2023 has intensified and broke down some of the region's long-standing inter-imperialist contradictions. the consequences of these contradictions on the various national bourgeoisies, as well as on the Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian workers, are decisive in foreseeing the possible future of the region's peoples. In order to understand these contradictions, their resolutions and consequences, we believe it is first important to return to their socio-economic foundations. On this basis, we will look at the international forces and their interests within the world system of imperialist states, in order to define the present situation.

One of the major issues is the exclusive economic zones of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. The Mediterranean coasts of each of these three countries are of great importance for the circulation of capital. Hmeimim and Tartus Russian operated military bases are among the only ones for the Russian bourgeoisie, allied with Bashar Al-Assad's regime, to access the Mediterranean Sea. The raw materials in the broader area are also of prime importance, with hydrocarbon deposits discovered in Gaza in 1999, amounting to almost 1.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Added to the maritime question is the key issue of oil traffic in the region. The Middle East, and Syria in particular, is criss-crossed by three major pipelines. The first runs from Iran to Syria via Iraq, supported by the Russian and Iranian bourgeoisie, the second from Qatar to Turkey via Syria, mainly supported by the USA and Turkey, and the third from south to north via Egypt, Israel and Syria.

Finally, a third important issue in the region is the various competing inter-imperialist projects to open up large export corridors for capital and goods from South Asia to Europe. The economic corridor linking India to Europe, passing through the port of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates and crossing Saudi Arabia to end up in Israel via the port of Haifa, is a key issue for a number of European and American national bourgeoisies. The corridor is seen by these bourgeoisies as a competing project to China's “one belt one road” project. Strengthening its ties with emerging Eurasian inter-imperialist alliances, the Iranian bourgeoisie has joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2023, and BRICS in 2024, alongside Egypt and other middle eastern countries. On the transport routes issue, we should note the Israeli project for a canal to rival the Suez Canal for the key passage of the Red Sea, now at the heart of inter-imperialist confrontations via the Houthis in Yemen. This rival canal, known as the Ben Gourion Canal, would link the Mediterranean and the Red Sea under Israeli control, again at the advantage of certain inter-imperialist alliances over others.

By October 2023, inter-imperialist contradictions were already tearing Syria apart. Our Party has repeatedly denounced the involvement of the French bourgeoisie in the dismemberment of the country for all the issues mentioned before, and also for its rich oil resources in the north-east and in the Idlib region. On the Palestinian side, the Abraham Accords dealt a further blow to the struggle of the Palestinian people, bringing Saudi Arabia and Israel closer together to secure their interests in the region and in the Syrian and Lebanese territories occupied by the Israeli state. Thus, in October 2023, it was the Israeli and American bourgeoisies and their allies who seemed to be taking the upper hand in the region's contradictions, and particularly on the three central issues mentioned above. Finally, let's not forget the central issue of the outflow of capital over-accumulated by the war, with this accumulation growing in 2023, as rapacious reconstruction plans following wars are also opportunities for immense profits for the various monopolies. The reconstruction of Gaza and Syria will therefore be added to Ukraine in the agenda of the various national financial capitals to open up new markets.

And yet, during this broad confrontation within the world imperialist system, it's worth noting that internal contradictions were becoming apparent in each of the blocks, aspects of which are decisive for understanding current developments in the region.

As far as Eurasian alliances are concerned, the Iranian, Lebanese, Russian and Chinese bourgeoisies are far from forming a supposedly homogeneous “anti-imperialist axis” fighting for the interests of the peoples. The inter-imperialist war in Ukraine necessitated a concentration of the Russian bourgeoisie's military resources there, relatively neglecting a Syrian state already heavily dismantled and plagued by endemic corruption. The time for Russian bombers to retake Aleppo is long gone, as Russian military forces have gradually disengaged from Syrian territory.

On the side of Western inter-imperialist alliances, it is also crucial to note the interests of the Turkish bourgeoisie, seeking to expand its zone of influence in Syria, sometimes at the expense of the interests of its European bourgeois allies.

Today, after more than a year of war in Gaza, the working peoples of the world have witnessed a rapid and accelerated development of these contradictions and stakes, due to Israeli military offensives using the pretext of the “right to defend oneself” to force the hand on the various alliance games.

The genocide in Palestine, and the inter-imperialist war in Ukraine, are all manifestations of the crisis of global imperialism, with immense repercussions for the peoples of the Middle East. The recent developments in the Syrian civil war are a key issue.

HTS ( Hayt Tahir Al Sham), the self-proclaimed winner of the Syrian situation, is a jihadist organization derived from al-Qaeda, formerly known as the Al-Nosra Front; it has managed to maintain its position of power in Idlib, north-western Syria, for years. It is currently collaborating with other armed groups, some of which are ideologically similar, notably the “Syrian National Army”, actively supported by Turkey and controlling a large part of northern Syria, including some strategically key cities such as Afrin.

Various national bourgeoisies involved in the civil war have endorsed the Jihadists as genuine freedom fighters, with the American bourgeoisie at the forefront. Of course, the positions of other bourgeoisie, such as the French, have always been accompanied by caution, to judge the new policy in Syria on its merits, which we translate as judging according to the contracts that will be signed, particularly in a country that was once a French colony and is now in the process of being rebuilt.

Let's not be surprised, and remember that French imperialism has always known how to lean on Islamist groups against others in order to defend its interests. Let's remember, for example, the French policy of leaning on Al Nosra against Daech, with Fabius, then Foreign Minister, declaring: “Al Nosra is doing a good job”.

In Syria, the jihadist rebels are openly supported by Turkey, but are also apparently allied with Israel, which has supported their offensive with air strikes on Syrian military targets. Israel even went so far as to take advantage of the situation to continue annexing territories with vital water ressources around the Golan Heights, and to massively destroy the already severely weakened military capabilities of the Syrian state to protect their recent annexions.

The balance of power within world imperialism has thus tactically enabled the Turkish, Israeli and American bourgeoisies and their allies in Syria to strengthen their efforts to deal with the Syrian question.

Neither side in the Syrian civil war represents the interests of the working class or Syria's various minorities. Rebel jihadists backed by France, the USA or Israel will never be allies of the working class, and neither was the now overthrown Syrian government. The justified protests that took place in 2010 and 2011, condemning poverty, privatization, corruption and repression, were not pure inventions of other bourgeois states, but legitimate demands. The relative alliance of the Syrian state with the Russian state, in the inter-imperialist contradictions, is by no means a guarantee of an orientation more favorable to the interests of the Syrian people.

However, those who wish to separate the “bad rebels” from the “good rebels” must face the facts: the Kurdish-led areas of the north-east, which collaborate with the United States, are part of the bloody dismemberment of the country and can offer no other prospect than that of a reversal of alliances in favour of one bourgeoisie rather than another in the near or distant future.

So, whatever the outcome of the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad, none of the forces present will be able to offer Syrian workers a political perspective.

Only the Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese people, and their proletariats, are entitled to choose the future of their nations, and to ensure their independence and the satisfaction of their people's needs, it is in the socialist revolution that they will find the only alternative capable of ensuring the self-determination of the Syrian people in the face of all imperialist aggression.