As Syria’s bloody civil war escalates, the Islamist nature of a number of rebel factions becomes more and more apparent, and the divide between the al-Qaeda linked Salafist rebel blocs and the secular rebel blocs becomes pronounced.
Ahrar al-Sham, one of the Salafist factions fighting in the largest city of Aleppo, has been handing out leaflets to locals in rebel-held portions of the city trying to explain to them the difference between their fighters and the secular factions, which they blamed for the excesses and rebel attacks on civilians.
The group is spurning the label of “thowar,” or revolutionary, which has been adopted by so many others, and instead is insisting they are religious warriors fighting a jihad, religious war, against the Alawite-dominated Assad government.
The sectarian nature of the war has been apparent for some time, as Sunnis flock to the rebel side and various religious minorities fret the survival of their communities and fighters openly talk of setting up a theocracy.
A theocracy, oh goodie! It's the final step in the descent of mankind into insanity.
Boogaboogabooga!
There are a number of factions opposed to the Asad’s dictatorship. For the most part, Western media and its kindred spirits have emphasized the “democratic” elements. Somehow the use of technology has been interpreted as modern and secular. The sectarian nature of the civil war receives less national coverage.
Salafist resistance to the rule of Hafez and Bashar dates from the very beginning of the Asads’ rule. Attempts were made to win over Sunni support–which included selecting Sunnis to hold vic president, head of the army, as well as enlisting Sunni businessmen to mention a few. While this garnered some support, the hard core Islamists were not won over. The decade long rebellion that ended in the bloody taking of Hamah in 1982 only drove them underground.
The struggling Syrian economy and drought provided the spark to the revolt, but it was the America-Saudi and company that fanned the flames. The fall of the dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt were blows to America’s position in the Middle East. Suppression of protestors in Bahrain and the tight control over the populace in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar were accepted so as to avoid additional erosion.
It was we who interpreted the turmoil as the “Arab Spring.” Talk of liberalization and democracy dominated our discussion. Those who gave us the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan asserted that their policies of changing the Mideast to suit our goals was succeeding. NATO’s overt participation in the fall of Gaddafi seemingly reinforced these declarations.
Syria offered another example of the neocon game plan. From minutiae coverage of every event to unquestioned acceptance of all accusations to arming of rebels to calls of intervention to ignoring the plight of minorities, the spin doctors defined the story. While deaths of innocents by Asad’s forces are highlighted, those committed by the rebels receive less attention. While media decry the flight of civilians from government forces, those fleeing the Islamists barely make the news. While covert and overt assistance is given by America-Saudi and their minions, tales of Iranian aid are condemned.
What is transpiring in the Middle East is not the propaganda we are proclaiming. Democracy, liberty, secularism, etc. are not the hallmarks that will emerge from the chaos. We are actively backing the very same elements that gave us 9/11 in order to achieve goals set two decades ago by the neocons. When incidents like the spate of embassy attacks occur, we scramble about trying to provide explanations for the very thing we helped to bring about.
The fall of Asad may remove Tehran’s chess piece from the board and improve our position vis a vis Iran, but it will not produce a democratic-secular-free state. It will emboldened the Salafists. They will return where ever opportunities arise. Our grasp of the Middle East has, is and will continue to be flawed. Just like what happened in Afghanistan thirty years ago, we are going to end up shooting ourselves in the foot.
"the divide between the al-Qaeda linked Salafist rebel blocs and the secular rebel blocs becomes pronounced"
So there are only those two choices? In fact, most Syrians who want to be rid of Assad are neither al-Qaeda linked Salafis nor secular. And if you bothered to get any news from anyone outside Putin TV, you would have seen protests over and over again, all over Syria, where the people shout religious slogans and say they want an Islamic government. That doesn't make them al-Qaeda.
If you watch "Putin TV", as you put it, you will learn something. Your pointing out protests all ove Syria with people demanding Islamic Government is something you would have seen on "Putin TV". Yes, that does not make them Al-Qaeda, I agree. But those people, that is Sunni majority, are the legitimate opposition, the STRONGEST opposition in Syria, They are willing to negotiate political solution to the crisis, and they are NOT in favor of continued mayham. It is the mercenary "revolutionaries" and the Saudi-backed Salafists/Al-Qaeda that are doing all the killing, not the Moslem Brotherhood and other religious groups that are Assad's true opposition. But who gets the support from the West? Only those that do violent acts creating terror among population in hope of getting their compliance. This is to PREVENT someone like Moslem Brotherhood come to power,AND to bring to power obscure organizations sitting in Paris or Washington through political engineering like Libya. . Brotherhood would prefer political turnover, that would bring to power the Sunni majority with the rights guaranteed to the minorities. The West inpired mayham is preventing this very scenario.
Give me a break Um Abdullah, I am sure there are many well meaning fighters with the rebels. But I really want to know, do they want their country back as a pile of rubble? The Baathist regime is cruel and drenched in blood, but your beloved fighters are no angels. They are both destroying their own country.
Then who are you to decide what the Syrian people want? Did you ask most of them?