On today's episode of Crossfire we tell you about a chilling new warning from Syria's Uygur Muslims. The group who had a lot to do with the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime has bow vowed to come after China.
China has raised serious concerns about the ongoing conflict in Syria, focusing on the potential dangers posed by terrorist groups and their activities. Syria’s new government received a significant warning about the dangers of supporting terrorism,
The announcement followed Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's remarks on Sunday in his meeting with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Commander Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, promising Türkiye's support in rebuilding Syria's infrastructure, restructuring its institutions, and returning displaced Syrians.
Bashar al-Assad was an ally of both Iran and Russia, Beijing's key partners. Here is how his fall is being seen in China.
A top Chinese envoy has warned Damascus's new government not to support terrorism as a Syria-based Islamic militant group sent messages to Muslims in China's Xinjiang region, urging them to wage attacks.
China’s leadership is not happy about the fall of Assad. But compared to Russia and Iran, Beijing had far less at stake.
However, with the downfall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and the catastrophic loss of Hamas and Hezbollah during its war against Israel, Tehran faces mounting geopolitical threats with splintered regional proxies.
With a new administration in Damascus, China is revaluating its relationship with Syria and increasingly focused on rise of Islamists' threats.
Facing the loss of its sole Arab ally and much of its sphere of influence, Tehran might seek to capitalize on the opening initiated by China to mend ties with the Arab states.
The TIP has been based in Syria for more than a decade, with its members fleeing to the Middle East to escape China’s severe oppression of the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim minority group. Its fighters joined Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the rebel offensive, in a thrust out of the north-west of Syria.
While Assad's regional policies were in semblance with China’s when it came to supporting the Palestinians, defying US policy and shoring up ties with Iran, it was Bashar’s cronyism, his mishandling of the war and the economy that made him less of a strategic asset for Beijing.