The European Solidarity Front for Syria (ESFS) is a prominent pro-Assad group is affiliated with an Italian fascist organization and its youth movement. ESFS has also enrolled fascist elements from Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and other countries, and sends European delegations of supporters to Syria.
On March 15, 2024, the Telegram channel of the Italian fascist organization in the Trentino Alto Adige region, shared a photo of a group of soldiers and a woman holding an ESFS flag, which appears to have been taken in Syria. Marking 13 years of the ESFS, the channel wrote: "March 15, 2011 - March 15, 2024. Despite the attacks and lies of the Western propaganda in Syria, we immediately knew which side we were on. On the side of a proud people which has been a barrier against terrorism and its henchmen. Praise to the Syrian people! Allah, Sourya, Bashar w bass!"
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A statement with a similar motto, “Syria, Bashar w bass!” [Syria, Syrian president Bashar Assad and the ruling Baath party], was also posted on March 15 on the group’s official Telegram channel. The channel added: “[We have stood] for thirteen years alongside the Syrian people affected by the terrorist attack and the economic embargo [implemented by Western countries]."
The accompanying photo bears the logo of a fascist revolutionary group. It pictures the president of the fascist movement with a Syrian high official. SANA-People’s Assembly Speaker, Hamoudah Sabbagh, received a delegation of the European Front for the Defense of Syria in May 2023 in Damascus, when the photo was probably taken.
Also on March 15, the ESFS posted an image on its Facebook page depicting an individual holding a Syrian flag and in-image text of a quote attributed to Bashar Assad: “Every inch of Syria will be redeemed.” The post marks 13 years since ESFS’s founding and reads:
March 15, 2011-March 15, 2024
ATTACK ON SYRIA
500,000 deaths
100,000 fallen soldiers
2 million wounded and maimed
6.5 million internally displaced people
6 million war refugees
13 years of terrorism
13 years of lies
13 years of resistance
Honor to the Syrian people!
Allah, Sourya, Bashar w bass!
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