Line Lauridsen interviews Mark Taliano on the West’s Deliberate Destruction of Syria
Line Lauridsen, Team-Free21DK, interviews author and researcher, Mark Taliano, the Centre for Research on Globalization (Global Research) on the West’s Deliberate Destruction of Syria.
Mark Taliano identifies the culprits responsible for the catastrophe that has befallen Syria. He cites Western evidence such as the DIA 2012 document, “Operation Timber Sycamore”, evidence from Jeffrey Sachs and more to deflate the Big Lie of the War on Terror and to demonstrate that ISIS and al Qaeda are and were proxies for Empire in Syria and beyond.
He discusses illegal imperial occupations and the illegal Caesar sanctions which, along with the terrorism and bombings, weakened the Syrian state over time.
The bitter fruit of Empire’s Regime Change war against Syria is the current al Qaeda/HTS unelected junta, the genocide against Alawites and minorities, and the further balkanization of this previously sovereign, pluralist country.
Correction: The title of the book by Mark Taliano is “Voices from Syria”, not “Voices of Syria” (ed.).
Edited transcript:
Line Lauridsen: I am Line and this is Free21Denmark and today we have a guest Mark Taliano. You are a Research Associate of the Center for Research and Globalization and you are the author of the book “Voices from Syria“
Mark Taliano: Yes
Line Lauridsen: You have a website where you publish a lots of articles and in your articles you often claim that the new Syrian government is installed by Western interests?
Mark Taliano: Okay… So, the west has been supporting al-Qaeda for decades. Okay?
The War on Terror is a big lie:
The West supports the terrorists. They are proxies to destroy prey countries. That’s the unvarnished truth. But that is backed up by Western sources – I could read you the sources – I have them here if you’re interested? So the West has been supporting al-Qaeda and ISIS all along in Syria. That is the opposition. And now the opposition is posing as a government. It’s an obscenity really. It’s an obscenity.
They weren’t elected: It’s an al-Qaeda Junta.
But this is what Empire wants because it seeks to destroy countries to advance interests of certain segments of their population. Certainly not the whole population. If Syria is destroyed – as it is – if it’s balkanized – as it is – then it’s easy for transnational capital and transnational corporations to come in and further the plunder. And it’s also now that (Syria, ed.) does not have a standing army, you’ll notice al-Qaeda is not defending against the Zionists. Why? Because they’re on the same side. They have been all along.
So they do not have an army to defend against Empire, so now Empire can do basically as it pleases there.
And one of the next things that it seeks to do – apart from Israeli expansion – which is happening as well as Israeli genocide of Palestinians which is happening.
The destruction of Syria makes that genocide easier.
The destruction of Syria weakens the resistance. There is hardly there’s no resistance in Syria – well very little resistance now – and horror upon horrors this al-Qaeda regime and the al-Qaeda gangs and so on are committing a catastrophic genocide right now against Alawites and minorities including Christians, including some Sunnis.
Now, when I was in Syria it was deeply moving because the government was pluralistic. It accepted and in fact embraced different religious minorities including Christians. I went to Maaloula which was a Christian largely Christian area and the shrine of Saint Takla and there the Empire’s proxies destroyed for the sake of destroying everything there. But it was defended by the Syrian army and by Hezbollah.
Line Lauridsen: But when were you in Syria last time?
Mark Taliano: The most recent time I think I said is 2019. But I was also there in 2018 and I was there when Trump bombed us. I was there in 2016.
So now I am horrified to see that what was Syria, the essence of Syria, It had an elected government that protected minorities, that essence is being destroyed by foreigners from the international community the Persian Gulf, the Gulf monarchies from al-Qaeda from countries throughout the world are there and destroying what was Syria including its people and imposing sectarianism and extremism.
The root of this Wahhabism is Saudi Arabia – not Syria – and it’s supported by Zionism and it’s supported by Washington.
But they’ve done it… this they’re do it in Yemen right now. They support al-Qaeda there. They did it in Libya: The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. These so-called jihadist and Jeffrey Sachs (and others) make this very clear: The Empire has been running these so-called jihadist for decades. They brought jihadist called Mujahedeen into Afghanistan and they destroyed Afghanistan. They did that to bring the Soviets in but it was a secular government that (was progressive, ed.) you know women were advanced and were they were educated and they were integrated into society and they were not persecuted as they are now.
Line Lauridsen: Since the Syrian government was installed and elected and established and has been so old, it has really deep roots, do you have some thoughts on how they managed this well?
Mark Taliano: Okay, a NATO survey[1] came out years ago I don’t have it on hand, but it demonstrated the extreme popularity of the Assad government. And it was an elected government and it was extraordinarily popular.
The al-Qaeda posing as a government now was not elected by anybody. And Assad he was highly educated. He was an eye doctor. He still is. I think a lot of Syrians now feel betrayed because he disappeared. I don’t know exactly what happened to him, so I don’t like to mindread but I think they feel betrayed, but they’re also scapegoating Assad for what Empire has done. Empire likes to disassociate itself from the crimes that it commits. Empire imposed “Caesar sanctions”[2], unilateral coercive measures, which destroyed the economy and they were illegal.
Empire imposed “Timber Sycamore”[3] which funneled billions and other programs which funneled billions into the hands of terrorists. All of that’s illegal. Empire occupied – and still does – resource-rich areas[4] of Syria and steals the oil and ships it out, and now Turkey is there also. So imperialists are vying for power in the carcass of Syria now. Turkey is illegally occupying, Washington which is leading from behind is illegally occupying and has been for a long time, Zionists are very close to Damascus. All of this is according to plan. None of this is a mistake. Part of this ties in with the “Greater Israel Project”[5]. But I mean the documentation is very clear. I just give you one example this is from a leaked Pentagon report[6]. Anyone can see this:
Photo: Screenshot (quotes highlighted) of the leaked Pentagon report (see also [6]): the leaked Pentagon report
It says: “The Salifist, the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.” They’re not even making a mistake about it. This is the opposition AQI, al-Qaeda. The West… Listen to this: “The West Gulf countries and Turkey support the opposition.” That’s al-Qaeda. “While Russia China and Iran support “the regime””. Well it was an elected government – that is what it was – so there’s all sorts of documentation here. “Jake Sullivan see last item AQ is on our side in Syria.”[7]
Photo: Screenshot (quote highlighted) of Jake Sullivans mail to Hillary Clinton (see also [7]):Jake Sullivans mail to Hillary Clinton
And then there’s Wesley Clark: “We’re going to take out seven countries in 5 years”[8].
So none of this was a secret. But as Jeffrey Sachs notes how many times did the New York Times mention “Operation Timber Sycamore”[9] which was one of the ways in which they funneled cash and weapons and arms and so onto the terrorists? About three times in maybe 11 years.
So the mainstream, the legacy media is actually complicit in war crime. In war crimes which is in the sense that it’s war propaganda.
And without this war propaganda these wars would not be happening.
But a lot of the arms came from Libya after the destruction of Libya which was intentional. They came from the Libyan armouries[10]. They came from other spots. They came from “Timber Sycamore”. I hope I have something here. Anyway you had another question?
Oh, can I just read you this blurb I found on the internet about “Timber Sycamore”? Okay, just so I don’t forget, it wrong says: ““Operation Timber Sycamore”[11] is the code name of a covert operation officially authorized by Obama in June 2013 to train and equip anti-Assad rebellion, but which actually started in October 2011 when the CIA was operating via Britain’s M16”. MI5, sorry. “To avoid having to notify Congress that it was arming the (Quote on Quote) rebels in Syria. Originally the CIA and MI6 set up a rebel arms supply networkin Syria from Libya.” They raided the Libya stockpiles as one benefit of destroying Libya. A plan that involved the Saudi, Qatari and Turkish and so on.
So all this is public but the mainstream press hides it. They hide it and they keep it secret. They pretend it doesn’t exist. And so the wars keep on continuing you know and they support al-Qaeda in Yemen right now. Yemen is not doing anything wrong. They are abiding by international law to try to stop the genocide of Palestinians by the western support of the Zionists.
Line Lauridsen: Yes. But this genocide happening on Alawites right now in Syria. Do you think the public in Syria knows about it?
Mark Taliano: Some people living on the coast, they can’t leave their houses. They’re afraid. Internet has been cut off. I’ve seen some disgusting photos people losing their – you know being beheaded. I think maybe about 30.000 have been slaughtered. We’re talking innocent civilians. They (the terrorists, ed.) go into homes. They slaughter the people and they steal the homes. They steal the properties. Why? They want to change the population and they want to steal the properties. And that’s part of the imperial plan of balkanization. Eva Bartlett[12] who’s a very reliable source and Dan Kovalik, they’re putting the numbers at around 30.000, maybe even higher.
This is a genocide, and the West supports it.
Line Lauridsen: Yes, do you have some personal sources reporting to you from Syria directly, also?
Yes and I don’t I’m not going to use their names because they aren’t necessarily safe. I have a source living in that area, this person was forced because – presumably because of their religious designation – forced out of their job, can’t leave their home, cannot go to the Russian air base to find safety and refuge because if there’s checkpoints apparently so if this person were to be stopped he or she would risk being beheaded. It’s that bad?!
Yes, but does the rest of Syria know this? I don’t know because the West controls the media. You see, remember with all these USAID leaks they show how much of the media is controlled in Ukraine by USAID? By the West most of it. The similar scenario has devolved in Syria where the west and the al-Qaeda extremist sources control the media. So does everyone in Syria know what’s happening? That I do not know. I do not know.
Line Lauridsen: All right. But Mark since I know you are short on time I think we should call it here. But thank you a lot for your thoughts.
Mark Taliano: Thank you very much.
Line Lauridsen: Yes, maybe talk to you another day again.
Mark Taliano: Okay. Thank you. Yes. Bye bye.
Sources:
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/ “Timber Sycamore”.
[12] https://marktanliano.net Eva Bartlett: “Genocide in Syria “And the World is Quiet”. 02.03.2025.
Licence: Mark Taliano/Free21Denmark CC BY-NC 4.0
First published on Free21Denmark.org 08.04.2025. Recording and videoediting: Line Lauridsen. Transcript and editing: Mark Taliano.
The authors mentioned in each case are responsible for the content of the individual articles. The content of the articles and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editors or the publisher.