Discussions of the war crimes committed by the many assorted factions in Syria’s ongoing civil war inevitably lead to ugly arguments about which of the many war criminals is worst. The issue is also underscoring the divide between rebel factions.
While almost no one in the civil war is blameless, UN investigators say that the foreign Islamist fighters that have flocked to al-Qaeda’s banner are “committing the worst crimes,” and that the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a secular faction, is at least trying to have its fighters follow international law.
The investigators expressed concern that the stark differences in strategy among the factions would make it hard to get the rebels together for the planned Geneva 2 peace conference, though none of the factions have even agreed to participate, so that’s in many ways academic.
Instead of rebel unity, the more immediate prospect is more war-within-a-war situations erupting, with the FSA and al-Qaeda seemingly headed into open conflict, and al-Qaeda already fighting Kurdish factions.
“… the Free
Syrian Army (FSA), a secular
faction, is at least trying to have
its fighters follow international
law.”
This is a joke, right? The cannibal who was all over You Tube belongs to the FSA.
The worse of them all is those who wanted for this war to start and continue, they are the real war criminals. They are the one that trained and hade these barbarians as their reserves foot solders-mercenaries and sent to Syria, like Saudis, UAE, the USG the EU governments. Is about time for ICC to get busy and start hiring more truly educated and progressive prosecutors, because the list of names in that war criminals getting longer by the day.
Yes, the worst criminals are the countries of the so-called civilized west. If it weren't so tragic, it'd be funny.
FSA following the international law! They may watch RT to see FSA and Al-Qaeda TOGETHER occupying Maaloula! And what attrocities they committed there! And a nun from a nearby monastery told the reporter of what happened in the nearby Alawite village. They beheaded a scores of people, and then took a girl and dismembered her with a saw! Their horrendous crimes are crying to heaven — and the world is silent May be McCain would like to take responsibility for his "secular" FSA. And what difference does it make, since FSA is just as cruel, and there are over 1000 groups all doing whatever they please. When will our leaders get it — arming, training, paying and politically covering up for these organ eaters — need to stop. Help Asad army — that is growing due to a large influx of volunteers among Syrians! Let them crush the psychopaths once and for all. Since the psychos did not take Syria that quickly like they did in Libya, the wold now can see what they do. Unfortunately, Libyan people have been left alone, without a voice, exposed to these animals. Do our leaders have any brain left?
Foreign rebels responsible? What a nonsense. Have a look at the good war reporting on RTV, and see for yourself how the FSA together with the Al-Qaeda groups occupied christian town of Maaloula. And FSA is hardly Syrian, it has almost all of recruits from Bosnia, Kosovo, Caucases, Libya, Iraq. I do not believe that there are ANY Syrians left among the rebels. There is NO WAY TO CLEAN THESE THUGS UP — NO WAY. They have put on internet LONG TIME AGO, a demo of killing rabbits with sarin gas. They have been caught by Turks with sarin! They commited attack with sarin in March this year, and UN inspector Carla Del Ponte, former Hague prosecutor determined after investigation and inteviews with witnesses, that THE REBELS DID IT. Now — we have pretended none of that happened. So they provided us with the RED LINE, painted in blood of innocents. May God help us.
Be careful that obummer and his goons come after you.
Ever since 9/11 our (US) Government has supposedly had a policy and legislative authority to attack Al Qaeda and its affiliates anywhere in the world; and we are told that every Tuesday our President updates his "hit list" of Al Qaeda and other terrorist targets. Apparently our President must have made a deliberate decision not to attack Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria, because we know that at least two Al Qaeda groups (Al Nusra and Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant [Syria]) have been operating openly throughout Syria and have been occupying specific Syrian cities, towns and villages for the past two years. We need to hold our President and Congressional leaders responsible for deliberately giving Al Qaeda and its affiliates a "safe haven" in Syria — and for effectively forming an alliance with Al Qaeda to bring about that "regime change" in Syria which our President and Congressional leaders have been demanding for the past three years.
As US citizens we are also entitled to know what "covert actions" our Government has been conducting in Syria and for how long. Given reports that our Government has recently been conducting "covert actions" in dozens of nations throughout the world, it is likely that our Government's "regime change" demands in Syria for the past three years were preceded by destabilizing "covert actions" which have continued and intensified since the "Arab Spring" and the increasingly violent opposition actions in Syria. We cannot call ourselves a "democracy" so long as we allow our Government secretly to destabilize and/or violently overthrow foreign governments (elected as well as dictatorial) in our name — and then to deny us any knowledge about these aggressive actions against other nations on "national security" grounds.
Jason Ditz, the Free Syrian Army is "secular"? Really. Come on Jason, do your research before writing. The FSA is almost totally dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria.
"…many assorted factions in Syria’s ongoing civil war…"
Jason,
You insist on calling this a civil war so exactly how many "factions" do "civil wars" typically have in your book? Do foreigne nations count? How about foreign mercenaries paid by foreign powers? If foreign powers paid Mexican nationals, Brazillian nationals, Iranian nationals, and Armenian nationals to sneak into the US (say California) and started warring with the government, then have Mexicans, Brazillians, Iranians, and Arnenians (who live in California) join them, is that a civil war in your book?