On Saturday, 10 October 2026, the statue of Saladin was removed from its historic position in front of the Citadel of Damascus and relocated in the less prominent October War Panorama Square.
A lot of a nation’s legacy survives through the visualisation of that legacy across the country. That visualisation takes shape through monuments, historical sites, forts, architectural styles, and the places that have come to represent particular periods of a nation’s history. In the case of Syria, what we are witnessing is the abduction of monuments and their drastic removal as part of a systematic and deliberate decision aimed at the liquidation of the Arab identity and not just the Syrian identity.
Take the Saladin statue in Damascus and the Martyrs' Monument in Aleppo's Saadallah al-Jabiri Square. These are not simply monuments occupying public spaces. They are part of the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who, over multiple generations, have passed by them, gathered around them, and formed memories in their presence. They have also kept alive the stories of the individuals, struggles, and battles they commemorate. Some of these stories are grounded in historical accounts, others have been shaped by myths, controversies, and conflicting interpretations of history. But it is precisely through this accumulation of memories and stories, passed down from one generation to another, that these historical figures and the causes they represented continue to occupy a place in the consciousness of a population. Their identities, their struggles, their political positions, regional alliances, and the revolutions they led remain present not only in history books, but in the everyday surroundings of a society, shaping its morals, its understanding of history, its vision, and ultimately its collective identity.
When these disappear, the impact is not instantaneous. If a statue disappears today, people won’t lose that memory tomorrow. But the generations to come will have no depth of understanding of the complexities faced by the individuals represented in those statues, the circumstances in which their positions altered history, or the contradictions that shaped their historical roles.
Ultimately, these once-revered symbols become lost not just in memory and affinity, but even in the historical narrative itself, opening the door for, in this case, the US-led bloc to rewrite history in a way that strips Damascus of its symbolism as a first line of defence against the Crusaders, and its memorial for those who paid the ultimate price to uphold the Arab identity and land in the face of colonial projects. Once stripped, the plan, I believe, is to rewrite history into subjugation through chaos, lack of identity, and ultimately ideology, making way for occupation to be upheld without difficulty.
But time will show that destroying a legacy of a thousand years will appear to succeed only until a new one emerges. However, some historic monuments and artefacts will undoubtedly be destroyed forever at the hands of mercenaries of the imperialist war.
Regional social media accounts have posted a video of Takfiri elements in Damascus saying that the statue of Yusuf Al Azma, a prominent Syrian national Resistance hero against the French occupation — who commanded the Battle of Maysalun in 1920 — will face the same fate as the other Syrian resistance symbols.
“They realize at last that change does not mean reform, that change does not mean improvement.” — Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
Imperialist damage to indigenous peoples in the 21st century is gathering momentum — whether Jolani’s mercenaries in Syria, the Saudi bloc in Yemen, or the Zionist genocidaires in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. This long-term project to destroy the history of counter-colonialist struggle and resistance is now an accelerated one. It involves systemic erasure, genocide, and psychological stripping of a national identity of the nations that are still standing against the predation of Empire.
It is a war waged against vibrant and diverse cultures that have survived historical campaigns to dehumanise and disenfranchise them. History and heritage is being fragmented, communities are being turned against one another in order to sustain the imposed power structures on behalf of the Zionist-Expansionist bloc.
Statues have been dislodged or destroyed, and not only in the physical world. Images of archaeological artefacts and statues in school textbooks have been altered to conform with the Takfiri ideology. Instead of one unified curriculum, the multiple sects that make up Syria’s societal fabric are being targeted individually. As noted by Syria Justice Archive:
Salafists in the Jolani Government Rewrite History in School Curricula, Giving a New Name to the Fatimid State, Sparking Anger Among Syria's Ismaili Community
Amendments in the circulating version of the history textbook for first-year secondary school (literary track) for the 2025–2026 academic year have sparked controversy and concern among members of the Ismaili community, particularly in the city of Salamiyah, after the term ‘Fatimids’ was replaced with "Ubaydids," and passages were added describing the origins and beliefs of the founder of the Fatimid state (the state that followed the Ismaili doctrine and was established in 909 CE) using language describing him as ‘Majus (historical term for Zoroastrians)’ which is considered a form of declaring Ismailis and their beliefs as infidels.
The Ministry of Re-Education made a series of amendments to Syrian curricula without referring them to Parliament or any other oversight committee. Images of women were removed and replaced with niqab-wearing women. They deleted topics related to democracy or citizenship. They have blatantly and significantly distorted Syrian history, removing criticism of the Ottoman occupation. National figures from Syrian history such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Sultan Pasha Al Atrash, the Druze leader of the Syrian Revolution, have been deleted from reading matter. Historical figures who spoke out against occupation and tyranny have also been erased. None of this would happen without the approval of the hostile Intelligence Agencies controlling policy in Damascus.
Other prominent analysts have described the Turkification of Syria. Sameh Asker describes the abolishment of the term ‘Ottoman occupation’ and replacement with the term ‘Ottoman administration, and the period of Ottoman rule’. Asker writes:
A collective cancellation of terms related to Arab nationalism and the removal of everything linking Syria to the Arab nation [..] What’s happening is a systematic Turkification of the Syrian state—meaning the cultural annexation of the Syrian entity to the Turkish state in stages, which could be a prelude to political annexation, turning Syria into part of Turkey in the future.
The commemoration of the 1973 October War against ‘Israel’ and the martyrs that were honoured every year on 6 October was abolished in 2025 by the Jolani regime. It was removed from the calendar by the Zionist-aligned quisling regime in Damascus that has watched passively as the Zionist militia have invaded and occupied Southern Syria, kidnapping, killing civilians, destroying agricultural land, and advancing to the outskirts of Damascus itself. The heroism of the Syrian Arab Army forces, Air Defence, and Air Force personnel that fought alone against ‘Israel’ after Egypt unexpectedly ceased fighting is being written out of Syrian history by those who have opened the roads for Zionist expansion.
Not only is the noble history of these Syrian Arab Army units being disfigured and eradicated; Jolani is also running a campaign to eliminate surviving Syrian Air Defence and Air Force personnel, pilots, missile technology experts, and scientists. The targeting of these specific officers and experts increased after the meeting between Takfiri Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani and the head of Mossad, in Jordan, in August. According to the family of one of the arrested officers:
The detainees were officers who held sensitive positions in the field of scientific missile research and development, and whose names were present in the scientific facilities that Israeli forces stormed in the famous landing in Masyaf in the Hama countryside in September 2024, prior to the fall of Damascus.
Palestinian resistance factions operating from Syrian territory under the Assad Presidencies have also been under attack by the Jolani regime and militias since December 2024. Palestinians have been reclassified as foreign refugees rather than Syrian-Palestinian residents which threatens to undermine decades of social and legal recognition. Palestinian groups have been dissolved, disarmed, and restricted from conducting any political activity. Palestinian leadership has been targeted; some have been deported or detained. Groups have been forced to reform into ‘civil’ organisations. An estimated 40 per cent of the remaining 438,000 Palestinian ‘refugees’ are internally displaced, facing starvation and a lack of legal clarity over their future in Syria and the region.
This article does not cover all the ongoing eradication of Syrian identity and history. It represents only a small percentage of the Jolani-led controlled demolition of what Syria represented to the region and to the Resistance Axis.