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Source: https://english.aawsat.com/opinion/5088769-syria-enemies-masquerading-friends
Syria: Enemies Masquerading as Friends
(Asharq Al-Awsat-UK) Amir Taheri - The force that overthrew the Syrian regime - Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - claimed it had distanced itself from jihadism. Nevertheless, the use of the label "Levant" (Sham) raises a question mark. Using that medieval term instead of the word Syria, which jihadists have always regarded as alien because it was put in use under the French mandate, HTS and its backers implicitly deny the existence of a Syrian nation-state. Those who deny the existence of the Syrian nation cannot masquerade as advocates of stability in the Middle East. The writer was executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979.