The Lebanese Communist Party: The will of the Syrian people opens a new page full of hope, and we stand alongside the leftist, progressive and democratic forces in Syria in confronting the dangers facing Syria and the region.

Bashar al-Assad departed after his regime failed on the national, economic, and social fronts, as well as on the issue of general democratic freedoms. This weakened and exhausted Syria, creating fertile ground for extremism under the shadow of imperialist and Zionist ambitions and projects. This opened the door for the popular uprising to turn into a civil war and external interventions, all of which led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, the displacement of millions, and the perpetration of heinous crimes by most parties to the bloody conflict on both sides. At the forefront of these were extremist fundamentalist and terrorist groups that excelled in various forms of killing, torture, and persecution, alongside the now-defunct regime of repression and authoritarianism.

The Syrian people have endured deep and profound suffering over these long years, shared by our Lebanese people and their national forces. The communists and progressives bore a significant share of these wounds and pains. Today, the Syrian people experience a mix of hope for a better future, based on internal political solutions to Syria's problems, the building of a just democratic national state for all its children, regardless of affiliations, economic development, reconstruction, and the return of refugees to their homes, alongside caution and fear of chaos, the renewal of other forms of conflict and fighting, or the encroachment and tyranny of extremist forces in light of the dangers and external ambitions behind them.

The foremost of these dangers threatening Syria today is represented by the Zionist enemy's ambitions, as it intensifies its aggressive strikes to destroy all the state's capabilities, especially those of the Syrian army, by expanding its control around the Golan and seeking to nullify the 1974 ceasefire agreement. It strives diligently to expand and impose its control over large parts of southern Syria. Additionally, it obstructs the peaceful transition of power and prevents the return of normal life to Syria by targeting state institutions to disrupt their services to citizens and spread chaos.

This necessitates placing the issue of liberating the Golan from Israeli occupation and restoring sovereignty over it at the forefront of Syria's national priorities. Similarly, Turkish ambitions in the north, with Turkey's attempt to establish a security buffer zone spanning thousands of kilometers, its direct military intervention in Kurdish-majority areas, and its aspirations to impose political influence on governance in Syria, present an existential challenge to the future and progress of the Syrian people. Furthermore, the American project in the region, including in Syria, continues to actively work towards sedition, fragmentation, and division through various tools. The United States maintains military bases and active forces on the ground in most areas of eastern and southern Syria.

The process of comprehensive and radical change in the regime—politically, economically, and socially—and the building of a sovereign and just state is far more complex than merely the departure of a president and the arrival of another. This requires coordination, integration, and unity among the various spectrums of national, democratic, secular, progressive, and communist forces in Syria to form a significant polarity that contributes to reshaping and drawing the political future of the country, away from sectarian quota systems and foreign dominance projects over Syrian national decision-making.

On the Lebanese level, instead of adopting a policy of burying heads in the sand and self-distancing, the government must immediately take action to address some critical issues, foremost among them creating the proper conditions for the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland once the security concern is alleviated. The government must also secure the northern and eastern borders, noting the deployment of the Lebanese army in anticipation of any future negative developments. It must utilize all available diplomatic power to follow up on the issue of missing Lebanese individuals in Syrian prisons, whom the governments of both countries falsely claimed were nonexistent, only for it to now be revealed that many of them are indeed detained in the collapsing regime’s prisons. This is a sensitive humanitarian issue affecting hundreds of Lebanese families.

In light of all this, the will of the Syrian people has opened a new page full of hope toward achieving a political solution as quickly as possible, to close the painful chapter of the past and open a new one capable of realizing and guaranteeing their aspirations, sacrifices, and great national and historical legacy. The Syrian people have the right to determine their own destiny without external interventions. We reaffirm our support for the forces of the left, progress, and democracy in Syria in their struggle to achieve complete freedom for the Syrian people, social justice, reconstruction, the return of displaced persons, strengthening national unity, restoring sovereignty over the entire Syrian national territory, and building the best cooperative and complementary fraternal relations between our two countries.

The Lebanese Communist Party
Political Bureau
December 10, 2024