The protest movement in Syria over the past five months has largely been thought of in terms of government versus demonstrators, with regime forces killing well over 1,000 pro-democracy protesters and the only backlash being the occasional attack on security forces.
The situation took on a whole new demonstration of sectarianism over the weekend, however, with at least 30 people slain, including Assad advocates in Homs who were found killed and mutilated.
The reports surrounding the Homs bodies, who were Shi’ite, sparked retaliatory attacks on both sides throughout the weekend, with bodies from assorted religious sects being dumped across the city.
The pro-democracy protests in Syria have, as in Bahrain, always had a religious slant to them, with the large majority of the population (in Syria’s case Sunnis) feeling disenfranchised by a ruling elite from a separate sect which has kept them carefully out of key positions.
That was expected as the minority in ruling since 50 years in Syrian i.e. Alaviten a minority of no significance and the 99% majority is being crushed and the ruling elite from Alaviten in Syria. All the generals etc. belong to these sect.
Divide and conquer again. Iraq, Libya, now Syria – this is the West's playbook. Is anyone really surprised? Pay off one side, arm the other, throw in a liberal dose of propaganda.
What I would like to know is: What do they have against these secular Arab dictatorships that keep a lid on religious fundamentalists??
I guess once they have the Fundies in place then the scare mongering about the Caliphate looks more likely, as well as 'the arc of instability', and any other vague reason given to justify more war and meddling.
Why do you assume that there must always be some hidden western conspiracy? Are Arabs not capable of forming their own internal grievances the way everyone else is?
Your confusion stems from the fact that Syria is by no means a Western puppet regime: it was pro-Soviet during the cold war and has always been anti-Israel.
You get so mixed up over this is because you assume that if a regime is “anti-imperialist” of secular then it MUST be virtuous and benign, when in reality Syria is a brutal sectarian tyranny where a small ethnic minority rules the majority (who are now getting upset over the arrangement).
The only way you can cling to the “Syrians are good guys” narrative – in the face of all the gruesome evidence – is if you dismiss the whole thing as a western plot. Juvenile nonsense.
For those who think sectarian strife is new to Syria, Sunni militants waged a terrorist war against the Baath party from 1976-82. Thousands killed.