The ISIS State Next Door

How Western Blindness Is Fueling a Regional Inferno

For the past few months, I haven’t for a moment believed that the step the U.S. took toward legitimizing the ISIS regime in Syria was anything less than a catastrophe in waiting. I have written frequently about the threat that handing a state to these terrorists would pose to religious minorities, other states in the region, and to Israel.

Today, as we stand in shock watching the massacre this terrorist regime is committing against the Druze, I can only see things getting worse if the U.S. and other Western nations don’t take the necessary steps to reverse this catastrophic decision. Over the past week, Sunnis in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq have been calling to join the terrorists against the Druze and Israel. Yes, these are still only calls that haven’t yet materialized, but with the passage of time, allegiance to this Islamic state in the region will grow, and different Sunni factions in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and even Egypt will form and operate as proxies.

This unfolding tragedy was not unpredictable, it was avoidable. Below are some of the posts I’ve shared over the past few months on X warning precisely of this outcome.

March 7

“I just hung up the phone with a Syrian friend from the minorities. His exact words? ‘Thank God for Israel.’
When Israel wiped out weapons depots in Syria on December 9, the usual crowd rushed to condemn it.
Israel knows that when jihadists say they’ll wipe out their enemies and establish a caliphate by force, they mean it.
And if these lunatics ever got their hands on chemical weapons, does anyone really think they’d hesitate to use them?
So yeah, my friend is right. Thank God for Israel. And a lot of people need to shut up and say the same.”

March 9

“After Hafez al-Assad seized power in Syria in 1970, the Sunni Muslim majority outright rejected him.
He wasn’t Sunni. He was an Alawite, a sect that Sunnis consider outside of Islam.
According to Syria’s constitution, only a Muslim could be president, and the Sunni Muslims declared that Hafez al‑Assad was an infidel, unfit to rule.
To secure his legitimacy, Assad turned to Imam Musa al‑Sadr, a powerful Shiite cleric in Lebanon, who in 1973 issued a fatwa declaring that Alawites were part of Shiite Islam.
But this didn’t pacify Syria’s Sunni Muslims.
From the mid‑1970s, the Muslim Brotherhood escalated their jihad against the Alawite regime to restore Sunni dominance over Syria.

Their campaign of terror included assassinations of key figures in Assad’s government:

• April 16, 1977: Muhammad al‑Khatib, head of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, was assassinated.

• June 25, 1979: Aleppo Artillery School Massacre—over 80 Alawite cadets killed.

• August 1980: Brotherhood attempted to kill Hafez al‑Assad with a grenade.

By 1982, Assad had enough. The Muslim Brotherhood’s insurgency had turned Hama into a jihadist stronghold.
On February 2, 1982, the Syrian Army, led by Rifaat al‑Assad, launched an all‑out assault.
The battle lasted 27 days, reducing the city to rubble. Estimates range from 10,000 to 40,000 dead; the Brotherhood was wiped out.

For the next three decades, Assad ruled with an iron fist, relying on Alawite loyalists—knowing that any loosening would invite jihadist resurgence.
In 2011, the Arab Spring ignited in Syria. Sunni Islamists seized the moment, calling for jihad not against dictatorship—but against Alawite rule.
The goal was never democracy—it was Sunni Islamic governance led by jihadists like Al‑Sharaa. This is religious war, plain and simple.”

March 12

“ISIS stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Obama preferred using ISIL for some reason.
The “Levant” includes not just Syria and Iraq, but also Lebanon, Jordan, and all of Israel—land jihadists see as occupied Islamic territory.
The new Syrian president was the leader of ISIS in Syria. He hasn’t abandoned his jihadist convictions—he just swapped fatigues for a suit and a Hublot watch.
The mission remains the same: establish the Islamic Caliphate across the region.

Here’s what’s coming next:

• Northern Lebanon and Iraq’s Anbar Province will be first targets.

• Jordan will be destabilized, with insurgencies aiming to overthrow the monarchy.

• They will offer Hamas an alternative to Iran—aligning Palestinian jihad under their control.

This isn’t a random power shift—it’s a calculated move toward full regional domination.
The Middle East is on the brink of total chaos.
The only thing that can prevent it is an alliance between minorities—Christians, Druze, Alawites, Yazidis, Kurds—and even Hezbollah and Israel.”

March 13

“This isn’t prophecy. This is analysis rooted in theological and historical realities.
The new regime in Syria isn’t just another government—it’s the long-awaited Islamic Caliphate that jihadists have dreamed of since 1924. And it won’t stop at Syria’s borders.

Sunni movements in Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan will push to be annexed into this new Caliphate, fueling a sectarian inferno across the region.
Sunnis in Lebanon and Iraq will inevitably clash with Shia forces.
With Turkish backing, Syria will invade northern Lebanon and Iraq’s Anbar under the banner of “protecting Sunnis.”
Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy is in danger.
The Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist factions will brand the monarchy illegitimate and move to overthrow it.

This is the trajectory of an Islamic empire in the making.
The only way to stop it is a ironclad alliance between the Middle East’s minorities and Israel.
Because if they don’t, they will be crushed—one by one.”

April 7

“Syria is the rebirth of the promised Caliphate, a dream 102 years in the making.”

April 8

“Turkey wants to establish a joint defense treaty with the Islamic government in Syria, including setting up military bases in central Syria and supplying the Syrian regime with air defense systems, most of which are American and Russian-made.
If this happens, it will become the greatest threat to Israeli national security—greater even than Iran.
Arabs will eventually realize that Turkish hegemony poses a serious threat to them too, directly challenging Saudi Arabia’s role in the Sunni world.
Turkey is an imperial beast, dreaming of resurrecting the nightmares and disgraces of history once again.”

April 17

“The recent arrest of a Muslim Brotherhood terrorist cell in Jordan, trained and equipped in Lebanon, confirms that northern Lebanon is already being used as a staging ground.
What Hezbollah is to Iran, this new Sunni formation may soon be to ISIS-led Syria.
Northern Lebanon—with its underdeveloped economy, neglected Sunni communities, and political vacuum—is fertile ground for a Sunni Hezbollah to take shape.
Al‑Sharaa hasn’t changed his expansionist ideology—he’s just wearing a suit now. At some point, he will seek to expand into Sunni regions of northern Lebanon and Anbar in Iraq.

Lebanon can no longer afford to play passive victim caught between foreign powers. It must make a definitive geopolitical choice now:

• Disarm Hezbollah completely.

• Formally align with the West and Abraham Accords camp, including a comprehensive peace treaty with Israel.

Peace with Israel is Lebanon’s only ticket to a strategic alliance that can secure borders, dismantle militias, and attract protection and investment.”

April 26

“Syria just sent a letter to the U.S. claiming it has complied with the conditions for lifting sanctions.
But the real danger is not the image Syria exports to the West—it’s the ideological infrastructure it is quietly building.

In the near future:

• Israel will face a greater Hamas to its north.

• Lebanon will face a greater Hezbollah to its east.

• Iraq will see a greater ISIS resurrected to its west.

Sunni populations in Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon, after decades of indoctrination by the Muslim Brotherhood, will increasingly align themselves with an ISIS‑style regime in Syria.

The future of the region is dark.
The West and secular Arab regimes are making a catastrophic bet that a former ISIS leader’s personal transformation is enough. They’re betting on a lie.”

April 30

“Just as I grew up being taught that Jews are the enemies of Allah, I was also taught that the Druze are animals who deserve death.
This is mainstream indoctrination in the Muslim world.

What’s happening to the Druze in southern Syria today is the same hatred that has targeted the Jewish state for 77 years. It’s religious hatred—plain and simple.

They always find a justification:

• “Israel is a colonial state.”

• “The Druze insulted Muhammad.”

Look at the Christians in Iraq, the Yazidis.
Tomorrow it will be you in Europe and North America—they’ll find a reason.

Israel is protecting the Druze today—because no one else will.
Israel tried to protect Lebanon’s Christians in 1982, but they chose to appease Muslims and stood against Israel.

Thank God for Israel. Without it, darkness would have swallowed the region whole.”

May 8

“You might think that Western leaders must have a plan for Syria, that they wouldn’t just hand over a country to al-Qaeda 2.0, that al‑Julani must be ‘their guy,’ some asset to stabilize the region and bring peace.
None of that matters.

Even if al‑Julani is the next Eli Cohen, even if he’s a deep‑cover operative, the damage is already done.

Millions of Syrians are now living under pure Islamic rule, enforced by men shaped by ISIS and al‑Qaeda’s worldview.
Every classroom, every mosque, every media outlet now shapes minds around jihad, martyrdom, Sharia law, and hatred of the West.

It’s not about what al‑Julani does in front of a camera—it’s about what millions of Syrian children are taught behind the scenes—in schools, homes, mosques.

By legitimizing ISIS, Western leaders have fueled the next wave of global jihad—and the price will be paid by civilians around the world.”

May 13

“MBS understands full well the threat jihadism poses to the future he envisions for Saudi Arabia.
That’s why it’s baffling that he convinced Trump to lift sanctions on Syria.
I wonder what his plan is to stop the ISIS‑ization process that began in Syria on December 8.
Al‑Sharaa himself can’t control the hundreds of thousands of jihadists reshaping Syria today.”

May 14

“To combat Sunni terrorism, America empowers the Shia.
In turn, Shia Iran arms militias, destabilizes Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, and spreads imperial influence across the region.
When these militias become too powerful, Israel dismantles them.

Then the cycle reverses. The U.S. pivots to the Sunni bloc to counterbalance Iran. That support empowers Sunni-aligned jihad networks—and once again, Israel pays the price.

This cycle continues because Washington misunderstands the problem: you cannot fight Sunni jihad with Shia militias—and you cannot fight Shia terrorism by backing Sunni regimes that fund radical ideologies.
Both Sunni and Shia drink from the same extremist fountain.”

May 15

“The only reason the UAE and Saudi Arabia could build, modernize, and invest in the future is because they embraced the Western secular model—not their own.
Left to their own devices, they would've built Qandahars, not skylines.
Trump assumes Syria under Al‑Sharaa could follow the same path.

That’s delusional. The Gulf states had oil wealth to buy social peace while sidelining Islam.
Syria has no such luxury—and even if Al‑Sharaa is sincere, he doesn’t control the jihadist networks already indoctrinating the next generation.”

May 24

“Let me explain why I am absolutely convinced that the so‑called ‘new Syria,’ regardless of the polished image or the rebranded leadership of the once‑ISIS-linked al‑Julani, is on track to become a future hub for terrorism.

The seeds of Syria’s chaos were sown in the 1970s, when Hafez al‑Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, took power in a Sunni-majority country.

In the eyes of Sunni Muslims, it was intolerable to be ruled by someone they did not consider truly Muslim.

To secure his position, Assad sought legitimacy—not just politically, but religiously. A Shia cleric issued a fatwa declaring Alawites as Muslims to defuse the theological tension. But that wasn’t enough.

Sunni Muslim groups rejected it and responded with violence. Between 1970 and 1978, their opposition escalated, culminating in the massacre of 80 Alawite cadets at the Aleppo artillery school.

Assad responded by consolidating power around fellow Alawites, excluding Sunnis from the security apparatus, and preparing for inevitable revolt.

That revolt came in 1982, when Assad crushed a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama, slaughtering an estimated 25,000 Sunnis and silencing dissent for a generation.

Fast‑forward to 2011. The Syrian ‘uprising’ wasn’t just a protest against dictatorship—it was a jihadist resurrection, funded and armed by Islamic countries looking to reshape Syria into an Islamist stronghold.

From 2011 to 2025, millions of Syrians were governed by jihadist factions: al‑Qaeda affiliates, ISIS remnants, and new militant groups under different names but with the same goal—an Islamic state.

Entire regions were subjected to sharia courts, religious police, and radical indoctrination. A whole generation of children grew up knowing nothing but the language of jihad, raised on martyrdom and holy war.

Tens of thousands of jihadist fighters from ISIS, al‑Qaeda, and other Islamic factions never disappeared—they simply melted into the infrastructure of the new regime. They are now teachers, clerics, administrators, and tribal leaders in the very Syria the West is hoping to ‘stabilize.’

The so‑called new Syria isn’t being rebuilt from the ashes of Assad’s tyranny—it’s being constructed on the ideological foundations of 14 years of jihadist rule.

At some point, the children who grew up chanting takbir in the streets, watching executions in public squares, and learning that Jews, Christians, and ‘apostate’ Muslims are enemies of God, will forget what Julani promised the international community.

When that time comes, Syria won’t just be unstable—it will be explosive.

Because Islamic jihadism was not defeated—it was domesticated, disguised, and allowed to dig deeper roots.

By ignoring the ideology and focusing on surface‑level diplomacy, the West is repeating the same mistake it made with Hamas, with the Taliban, with Iran.”

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