Amjad Yousef, the Syrian intelligence officer responsible for the massacre in the Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus in 2013, has been arrested by Syria's new authorities. In the massacres, Assadist soldiers & intelligence personnel executed at least 288 Syrians & Palestinians newlinesmag.com/reportage/ho…

President a-Sharaa is getting a lot of criticism from Salafis in Syria for attending this opening of a basketball court with women dancing. The same radicals also criticized him recently for wishing Christians happy Eastern on X & previously for joining the global anti-ISIS coalition. While a-Sharaa and his top lieutenants are deeply pragmatic and seek to maximize power above all else, the lower ranks of the new state are filled with Salafis, who want to see the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria. a-Sharaa cannot satisfy both his hardcore base and the international community and has clearly chosen the latter. However, the lower ranks have influence over the lives of Syrians, through repressive decisions banning stand-up shows, makeup at the office in the public sector, or sale of alcohol. And worse yet, the indiscipline and sectarian radicalization of the ranks of the security services was on full display during the Alawi and Druze massacres. The radicalism of a-Sharaa's base served him while in Idlib, as it kept fighters and bureaucrats committed to a cause that seemed lost owing to their strong faith, but it is now causing him a myriad of problems.