yes -- you have 'never taken sides in the war" -- just that you promote the WESTERN MSM ''assad and russians did it' without a shred of actual direct proof....
Syria
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yes -- you have 'never taken sides in the war" -- just that you promote the WESTERN MSM ''assad and russians did it' without a shred of actual direct proof....
no -- there is no proof of ''ssad starting the slaughtering"
THAT is what the WESTERN MSM used to START the campaign ''that assad must go"
SO TYPICAL of american western and allies tactics -- just LIKE THEY DID WITH SERBIA, adn everywhere else.
the protests in syria were indeed peaceful protests AGAINST GOVERNEMNT CORRUPTIONS -- which were HIJACKED by planted saboteurs by the westerners and allies who THEN provoked action by the governemnt resulting in the INTENDED violent and therefore 'confusing" results
JUST LIKE ALL THE WESTERN AND ALLIES promoted '''democracy revolutions"\
AND THEN say ''the government is slaughtering scivilians" to justify the
''no fly zones, sanctions etc. etc. etc.
nd we all know the REST.
except THE RUSSIANS STEPPED IN to prevent the repeat of a LIBYA. even if - by this time the IMPORTED SALAFISTS had already over=rnun syria -- in the TYPICAL TERRORIST BY PROXY operation of the USA and its ''allies|".
brokenshoelace
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Like I said, I live in the Middle East. Hardly an area dominated by the Western media. So take your redundant narrative elsewhere.
brokenshoelace
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Are you fucking kidding me?
Have you actually read anything about the Assad regime ever and all their killings throughout the years dating back to way before the civil war?
brokenshoelace
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I literally provided you with a full list of massacres committed in Syria, many of which have been confirmed and attributed to the Assad regime by everyone, not just the Western media. Look back in the thread, or inform yourself, but I'm not going to do your ignorance a favor and research for you. Scroll up and you'll find it in this thread.
This guy is seriously trying to argue that the government forces have not killed civilians. You do know there are literally hundreds (yes, hundreds) of videos online showing Assad forces killing civilians and torturing them, right? What a tool...
this is the same thing as MERKEL now claiming that ''russia is going to interfere in our elections" becuse SHE'S in trouble...
absolutely without proof because ''it's all state secrets' shhhhh...but ''just believe us" ...
same as obama, hillary and the ENTIRE western medai saying 'putin is INTERFEREING IN OUR ELETIONS -- hacked our elections and DNC, to elect DONALD TRUMP who is a PUTIN KREMLIN STOOGE".
and suddenly have nothing to say about it -- the DAY AFTER the elections -- it is now consigned to the memory black hole, along with its PURE FICTIONS...
WHILE OF COURSE THE USA-PLANTED AND INFLUENCED
''5th column" high officials and politicans INSIDE russia who have been operating under 'LAWS" actually written BY american officials as soon as the USSR COLLAPSED in the 1990's -- WHICH binds the russian people nd they are trying to REMOVE from their necks --
re actually existing in russia who UNDERMINE their OWN sovereignty inservice to the USA Dollar and ''economic policies' such as ''privatizing all russian assets" ...
and == a good thing that FINALLY PUTIN , AFTER carefully showing the russian PEOPLE what these TRAITORS hae done to KEEP their country SUPPRESSED in its true sovereignty and PROSPERITY independent of the american/western ''teachers" that invaded their country in the 1990's --
-- he is now PURGING russia of not JUST corruption -- very very seriously in fact -- not even HIS 'close friends" are immune...if they are found to be corrupt..
but most importantly -- has sent a signal to the ''ATLANTICIST" -- ''integrationists with the west" TRAITORS of russia who are willing to sell out their countrya nd people to the US-ANGL0-led western ''global order" --
in order to be ''accepted" as 'equals' by BEING TRAITORS -
THAT THEY ARE NOT SAFE OR ABOVE RUSSIAN SOVEREIGNTY and independence.
roflmaoo..
he has begun by firing one of the ORIGINAL COLLABORATORS since the early 1990's of ''privatizing" russia to american/western management and corporations that nearly destroyed the russian nation to slice it up into ''smaller manageable pieces" as has always been the WET DREAM of
the ''atlantic" nations since at least 600 years ago...lol...
and which -- becuse the RUSSIAN PEOPLE ALWAYS founde a way to come around -- and around a PATRIOTIC leader such as putin -- cross their own internal quarrels -- to KICK OUT any foreign invaders -- is the REASON THAT
TO WESTERNERS -- ''putin must go"
JUST LIKE ASSAD ''must go" -or ''rouhani and ahmedinejad" or ''chavez' or 'castro" or whomever must go whE
have COMMITTED THE GREATEST SIN against western american led imperialism...
THEY REFUSED TO BOW!!
lol.
absolutely without proof because ''it's all state secrets' shhhhh...but ''just believe us" ...
same as obama, hillary and the ENTIRE western medai saying 'putin is INTERFEREING IN OUR ELETIONS -- hacked our elections and DNC, to elect DONALD TRUMP who is a PUTIN KREMLIN STOOGE".
and suddenly have nothing to say about it -- the DAY AFTER the elections -- it is now consigned to the memory black hole, along with its PURE FICTIONS...
WHILE OF COURSE THE USA-PLANTED AND INFLUENCED
''5th column" high officials and politicans INSIDE russia who have been operating under 'LAWS" actually written BY american officials as soon as the USSR COLLAPSED in the 1990's -- WHICH binds the russian people nd they are trying to REMOVE from their necks --
re actually existing in russia who UNDERMINE their OWN sovereignty inservice to the USA Dollar and ''economic policies' such as ''privatizing all russian assets" ...
and == a good thing that FINALLY PUTIN , AFTER carefully showing the russian PEOPLE what these TRAITORS hae done to KEEP their country SUPPRESSED in its true sovereignty and PROSPERITY independent of the american/western ''teachers" that invaded their country in the 1990's --
-- he is now PURGING russia of not JUST corruption -- very very seriously in fact -- not even HIS 'close friends" are immune...if they are found to be corrupt..
but most importantly -- has sent a signal to the ''ATLANTICIST" -- ''integrationists with the west" TRAITORS of russia who are willing to sell out their countrya nd people to the US-ANGL0-led western ''global order" --
in order to be ''accepted" as 'equals' by BEING TRAITORS -
THAT THEY ARE NOT SAFE OR ABOVE RUSSIAN SOVEREIGNTY and independence.
roflmaoo..
he has begun by firing one of the ORIGINAL COLLABORATORS since the early 1990's of ''privatizing" russia to american/western management and corporations that nearly destroyed the russian nation to slice it up into ''smaller manageable pieces" as has always been the WET DREAM of
the ''atlantic" nations since at least 600 years ago...lol...
and which -- becuse the RUSSIAN PEOPLE ALWAYS founde a way to come around -- and around a PATRIOTIC leader such as putin -- cross their own internal quarrels -- to KICK OUT any foreign invaders -- is the REASON THAT
TO WESTERNERS -- ''putin must go"
JUST LIKE ASSAD ''must go" -or ''rouhani and ahmedinejad" or ''chavez' or 'castro" or whomever must go whE
have COMMITTED THE GREATEST SIN against western american led imperialism...
THEY REFUSED TO BOW!!
lol.
oh - di follow news -- BOTH from THE MIDDLE EAST - including YOUR LEBANON and elsewhere -- and it is QUITE CLEAR -- YOU LOVE THE 'ASSAD MUST GO" MEME.
in any case -- whine all you want about assad -- he's STAYING -- AND THERE AINT' A DAMN THING YOU can do about it whose country only managed to eledt a president after 70 tries.........and had it NOT been for ASSAD keeping syria intact to some extent YOU'D be swimming in blood in the sea from the
ISLAMIC STATE IN the LEVANT -- which is YOUR country ain't it1???
lol
brokenshoelace
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What's funny is the main reason Assad and his troops turned the war around in around 2012 is due to the intervention of his allies, Hezbollah. You know, a terrorist organization.
And that is why teddy is an uninformed idiot.
And that is why teddy is an uninformed idiot.
As far as I know not all countries in the world have Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organizations. Isn't that true?? And why does it matter? The USA had KLA on a terrorist list but they helped them anyway.
Do you think insulting other posters strengthens your position in the matter?
Well I was sarcastic about collateral damage and you didn't get it. I can't take killing easily so that is the reason I will always be against the armed aggression, violent protests, etc. But when it is unavoidable like in many cases (usually because 1 side refuses to negotiate) then you have to take sides with one of them. Does that mean that that side is always heroic and right? Of course not, but lesser of the two evils is sometimes the only option.
brokenshoelace
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No, but I do think calling a poster who literally said that "Brokenshoelace supports terrorism" an idiot strengthen my position, given that he's so uninformed that he's not aware Assad's main ally is a terrorist organization.
And that's why it matters. Teddy is out here spreading all sorts of nonsense while being extremely misinformed himself.
Well I guess you'd like to maintain the neutral position, which is far but very difficult in these circumstances. There are 2 sides here and you have to admit that handling of the situation by west does not help resolve the issue nor they have the interests of ordinary citizens first and foremost. So who are the main players that oppose Assad regime, what their goals are and where their funding and arms come from? This has gone on for a long time now so they must have some serious backing. I don't think we are extremely misinformed, but I welcome any clarification.
brokenshoelace
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I think I strongly implied that I fully believe the US' handling of the whole area has been purposely botched. Not sure how many times I need to reiterate that their foreign policy has been a disaster.
ah....brokenshoelace of course dislikes assad that is clear enough...while making SHORT mention of US AND ''ALLIES" (LIKE THOSE BROKENSHOELACE PERHAPS LIKES TO COMPORT WITH?) -- DESTROYED SYRIA ''in order to save her from assad" -- which reminds us of
the notorious VIETNAM war -- and destruction of the ''hated communists who killed their own people" -- SO TYPICAL of the KIND OF REASONING BROKENSHOELACE MOUTHS STRAIGHT FROM WASHINGTON....
examples:
'PUTIN is hitler of our times -- he is equal to ISIL AND ZIKA VIRUS as a threat to humanity -- the DICTATORIAL, AUTHORITARIAN russian czar who doesn't share our DEMOCRATIC VALUES" ...yes -- try todestabilize russia then...
"MILOSEVIC AND THOSE DARNED SERBIANS COMMIT SUCH ATROCITIES AND MASS MURDER AND GENOCIDE -- they must be controlled"...
''Fidel castro massacres his own people -- no freedom there at al!!! sanctions, sanctions sanctions"
same tune everywhere -- and to ''save the country -- we had to destroy it".
as the vietnam war americans used to say -- yup -- and brokenshoelace shares the same thinking.
== but never mind ................
INTERNATIONAL LAWS -- REGARDLESS of what brokenshoelace thinks or says about assad ''regime" -- IT'S A LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT DEAR...not a REGIME -- if you want REGIME -- look at WASHINGTON AND YOUR OWN LEBANON...or the SAUDI QATARIS -- or better yet -- BRUSSELS unelected REGIME...heck we might as well look at KIEV'S FASCISTS AND NAZIS ''recognized" by the likes of brokenshoelace's
''BAD DICTATORS MUST GO" WESTERNIZERS...
BUT NEVER MIND THAT ,, TOO...
-------------------
FACTS RIGHT NOW -- ALEPPO TERRORISTS ARE ENCIRCLED AND TRAPPED -- 50,000 CIVILIANS have run to the government controlled rest of aleppo as it was -- for safety food, medicine and housing -- which the WESTERN ''HUMANITARIANS" never gave a dman about --
not ''even a crumb of bread, or a pill of medicine or a single warm blanket" as russia, iran, syria kept bringing ALL the time that the WEST AND BROKENSHOELACE never talks of THEM...
WHITE HELMETS are exposed as nothing more than TERRORISTS changing costumes to show how ''humanitarian" they are -- but never mind that.
in the remaining 5 percent of aleppo - 10 square kilometres -- are likely the most rabid HEAD CHOPPERS and ''freedom fighters against the bad, bad, bad, bad assad regime" --
and likely among them THEIR INSTRCTORS FROM CIA, UK, MOSSD, whatever UNLESS THEY managed to get smuggled out AMONG THE OTHER SALAFISTS WHO gave up -- upon recognizing their BLOOD LETTING IS OVER or DIE ....
meanwhile -- USA INTENDS TO SEND 200 ADDITIONAL special ops to 'join the other 300 we already have on the ground?" INSIDE SYRIA - A SOVEREIGN COUNTRY that did NOT invite them?
well -- they are going to have to meet hundreds of CHECHEN FIERCE WARRIORS that haveCLEANED OUT SOUTHERN RUSSIA OF THESE same wahhabists spread by the CIA --
S0 -- BITE YOUR NAILS BROKENSHOELACE -- YOUR -- YES -- YOUR -- WESTERN MASTERS -- AINT' GOT A DOG or a slice of syria as they WANTED.
AND THAT IS WHAT MATTERS!!
ROFLMAO!!!
===================
but for the CORRECT SEQUENCES OF EVENTS -- PRESENTING FINE IRISH WRITER DANIELLE RYAN (there are plenty others just as amazing and NOT according to what brokenshoelace's FALSE NEWS wants to portray) ...
==========================
rt.com
Game over for the US in Syria
Danielle Ryan is an Irish freelance writer, journalist and media analyst. She has lived and traveled extensively in the US, Germany, Russia and Hungary. Her byline has appeared at RT, The Nation, Rethinking Russia, The BRICS Post, New Eastern Outlook, Global Independent Analytics and many others. She also works on copywriting and editing projects. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook or at her website www.danielleryan.net.
With Aleppo on the brink of liberation from US-supported 'moderate' jihadi rebels, Barack Obama’s White House is in damage control mode — but it’s about time they admit it’s game over.
After major advances by Syrian forces into rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Washington suddenly came to the Russians with a plan last weekend. The US would do its best to get the rebels out of eastern Aleppo and any remaining would be designated as terrorists and thus become legitimate targets for Syrian forces.
The proposal floated around for three whole days before Washington retracted it to reportedly work on some new ideas.
At the rate the Obama administration moves with regard to Syria, you’d think there was no urgency attached at all. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has repeatedly aired his exasperation during breaks in talks that go on for hours longer than necessary, while his counterpart John Kerry seemingly checks with all and sundry in Washington before saying yes or no to anything.
The fact that the White House can’t seem to stick to one plan for more than three days — this isn’t the first time they’ve retracted their own proposals — indicates not only their desperation as the clock runs out on Obama’s presidency, but also highlights a general incoherence and total lack of clarity or consistency that has characterized the America’s Syria “strategy†for years.
Read more
But while the US side has been trying to decide which way is up, the war hasn’t waited for Obama’s foreign policy circle to all start singing from the same hymn sheet. The latest victories for the Russian-supported Syrian army are proving decisive and it’s predicted that government forces may have complete control of Aleppo within days. That certainly won’t be the end of the war, but it may be a step in the right direction in terms of weakening the Islamist opposition.
A different war
Western media, predictably, is painting the liberation of Aleppo from radical Islamist rebels as “the fall of Aleppo†or the “collapse†of Aleppo, as though Bashar Assad’s secular Syrian army driving out jihadi militants is a bad thing.
But what can be expected from such a duplicitous bunch? Their insincerity and shaky commitment to caring about things like diplomacy and human rights has been on display for some time, although perhaps never more so than in their reaction to the rebel shelling of a Russian military hospital earlier this week.
The op-eds and editorials condemning disgraceful war crimes and the murder of medical professionals were nowhere to be found. Why could that be? Well of course, the hospital was Russian and was hit by shelling from US-supported militants, so the heartfelt outrage and respect for the medical profession miraculously came to an abrupt halt. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a bland statement as though nothing significant had happened.
Then there was the feigned disgust at the decision by Russia and China to block a UN Security Council draft resolution for a ceasefire in Aleppo.
Headlines screamed that the international baddies were preventing a ceasefire, the implication being that the peace-loving rebels were simply trying their best to stop the bloodshed. In reality, of course, while it might sound nice, a ceasefire at this point would have been used by the rebels as an opportunity to regroup and recover and ultimately would have prolonged fighting in the city.
Remember, these “moderate†rebels are people that the US has supported financially and militarily, but who they can neither identify nor locate most of them time — and who they certainly can’t control. They are groups who fight alongside Al Qaeda-affiliated forces and who stand accused of beheading a child and putting women in cages to be used as human shields.
But again, no major Western editorial boards found time this week to condemn US support for these lunatics or the policies Washington has implemented to prolong the war while Obama tries to find a way to salvage his foreign policy legacy.
Memory lane
While Western governments condemn Russian action in Syria and shed crocodile tears over the US’s failed diplomatic efforts, it’s worth skipping back a few years to remind ourselves of Washington’s role in provoking this war.
Read more
The fact is, the US promoted civil unrest in Syria. They pushed it. They encouraged it. They spent years encouraging division and sowing the seeds of instability in ways that could only have resulted in the outbreak of violence. Syria was simply another piece in the puzzle of Washington’s geopolitical master plan; another opportunity for control and influence in the region. Assad was a leader that didn’t play ball the way Washington liked, so he had to go. If an uprising wasn’t going to happen fast enough organically, they would happily help it along.
Skeptical? Just take a look at documents released by WikiLeaks that prove in black and white how determined the US was to spark unrest in the Middle Eastern country from as early as 2006. One cable listed a number of steps the US could take to weaken Assad and strengthen the opposition against him. Some of the suggestions included encouraging rumors of external plotting to weaken the government, discouraging FDI to hurt the economy and highlighting the failures of some of the country's reform efforts.
The cable also admitted that “anti-regime Syrian Islamists†were a threat to Assad’s power. Fast forward to the present day and these “anti-regime Syrian Islamists†are Washington’s “moderate†rebel friends. It makes for a truly sickening read in light of what has happened in that country.
It’s clear that the US government was encouraging an anti-Assad uprising for years. It's also clear that they were unsure what the consequences of their actions would be, but that they didn't seem to care. Now they’ve got the instability they wanted and it hasn’t gone their way, so naturally, everyone else is to blame and we’re supposed to believe hearts are breaking in Washington for the children of Aleppo.
Spare us.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
the notorious VIETNAM war -- and destruction of the ''hated communists who killed their own people" -- SO TYPICAL of the KIND OF REASONING BROKENSHOELACE MOUTHS STRAIGHT FROM WASHINGTON....
examples:
'PUTIN is hitler of our times -- he is equal to ISIL AND ZIKA VIRUS as a threat to humanity -- the DICTATORIAL, AUTHORITARIAN russian czar who doesn't share our DEMOCRATIC VALUES" ...yes -- try todestabilize russia then...
"MILOSEVIC AND THOSE DARNED SERBIANS COMMIT SUCH ATROCITIES AND MASS MURDER AND GENOCIDE -- they must be controlled"...
''Fidel castro massacres his own people -- no freedom there at al!!! sanctions, sanctions sanctions"
same tune everywhere -- and to ''save the country -- we had to destroy it".
as the vietnam war americans used to say -- yup -- and brokenshoelace shares the same thinking.
== but never mind ................
INTERNATIONAL LAWS -- REGARDLESS of what brokenshoelace thinks or says about assad ''regime" -- IT'S A LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT DEAR...not a REGIME -- if you want REGIME -- look at WASHINGTON AND YOUR OWN LEBANON...or the SAUDI QATARIS -- or better yet -- BRUSSELS unelected REGIME...heck we might as well look at KIEV'S FASCISTS AND NAZIS ''recognized" by the likes of brokenshoelace's
''BAD DICTATORS MUST GO" WESTERNIZERS...
BUT NEVER MIND THAT ,, TOO...
-------------------
FACTS RIGHT NOW -- ALEPPO TERRORISTS ARE ENCIRCLED AND TRAPPED -- 50,000 CIVILIANS have run to the government controlled rest of aleppo as it was -- for safety food, medicine and housing -- which the WESTERN ''HUMANITARIANS" never gave a dman about --
not ''even a crumb of bread, or a pill of medicine or a single warm blanket" as russia, iran, syria kept bringing ALL the time that the WEST AND BROKENSHOELACE never talks of THEM...
WHITE HELMETS are exposed as nothing more than TERRORISTS changing costumes to show how ''humanitarian" they are -- but never mind that.
in the remaining 5 percent of aleppo - 10 square kilometres -- are likely the most rabid HEAD CHOPPERS and ''freedom fighters against the bad, bad, bad, bad assad regime" --
and likely among them THEIR INSTRCTORS FROM CIA, UK, MOSSD, whatever UNLESS THEY managed to get smuggled out AMONG THE OTHER SALAFISTS WHO gave up -- upon recognizing their BLOOD LETTING IS OVER or DIE ....
meanwhile -- USA INTENDS TO SEND 200 ADDITIONAL special ops to 'join the other 300 we already have on the ground?" INSIDE SYRIA - A SOVEREIGN COUNTRY that did NOT invite them?
well -- they are going to have to meet hundreds of CHECHEN FIERCE WARRIORS that haveCLEANED OUT SOUTHERN RUSSIA OF THESE same wahhabists spread by the CIA --
S0 -- BITE YOUR NAILS BROKENSHOELACE -- YOUR -- YES -- YOUR -- WESTERN MASTERS -- AINT' GOT A DOG or a slice of syria as they WANTED.
AND THAT IS WHAT MATTERS!!
ROFLMAO!!!
===================
but for the CORRECT SEQUENCES OF EVENTS -- PRESENTING FINE IRISH WRITER DANIELLE RYAN (there are plenty others just as amazing and NOT according to what brokenshoelace's FALSE NEWS wants to portray) ...
==========================
rt.com
Game over for the US in Syria
Danielle Ryan is an Irish freelance writer, journalist and media analyst. She has lived and traveled extensively in the US, Germany, Russia and Hungary. Her byline has appeared at RT, The Nation, Rethinking Russia, The BRICS Post, New Eastern Outlook, Global Independent Analytics and many others. She also works on copywriting and editing projects. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook or at her website www.danielleryan.net.
With Aleppo on the brink of liberation from US-supported 'moderate' jihadi rebels, Barack Obama’s White House is in damage control mode — but it’s about time they admit it’s game over.
After major advances by Syrian forces into rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Washington suddenly came to the Russians with a plan last weekend. The US would do its best to get the rebels out of eastern Aleppo and any remaining would be designated as terrorists and thus become legitimate targets for Syrian forces.
The proposal floated around for three whole days before Washington retracted it to reportedly work on some new ideas.
At the rate the Obama administration moves with regard to Syria, you’d think there was no urgency attached at all. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has repeatedly aired his exasperation during breaks in talks that go on for hours longer than necessary, while his counterpart John Kerry seemingly checks with all and sundry in Washington before saying yes or no to anything.
The fact that the White House can’t seem to stick to one plan for more than three days — this isn’t the first time they’ve retracted their own proposals — indicates not only their desperation as the clock runs out on Obama’s presidency, but also highlights a general incoherence and total lack of clarity or consistency that has characterized the America’s Syria “strategy†for years.
Read more
But while the US side has been trying to decide which way is up, the war hasn’t waited for Obama’s foreign policy circle to all start singing from the same hymn sheet. The latest victories for the Russian-supported Syrian army are proving decisive and it’s predicted that government forces may have complete control of Aleppo within days. That certainly won’t be the end of the war, but it may be a step in the right direction in terms of weakening the Islamist opposition.
A different war
Western media, predictably, is painting the liberation of Aleppo from radical Islamist rebels as “the fall of Aleppo†or the “collapse†of Aleppo, as though Bashar Assad’s secular Syrian army driving out jihadi militants is a bad thing.
But what can be expected from such a duplicitous bunch? Their insincerity and shaky commitment to caring about things like diplomacy and human rights has been on display for some time, although perhaps never more so than in their reaction to the rebel shelling of a Russian military hospital earlier this week.
The op-eds and editorials condemning disgraceful war crimes and the murder of medical professionals were nowhere to be found. Why could that be? Well of course, the hospital was Russian and was hit by shelling from US-supported militants, so the heartfelt outrage and respect for the medical profession miraculously came to an abrupt halt. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a bland statement as though nothing significant had happened.
Then there was the feigned disgust at the decision by Russia and China to block a UN Security Council draft resolution for a ceasefire in Aleppo.
Headlines screamed that the international baddies were preventing a ceasefire, the implication being that the peace-loving rebels were simply trying their best to stop the bloodshed. In reality, of course, while it might sound nice, a ceasefire at this point would have been used by the rebels as an opportunity to regroup and recover and ultimately would have prolonged fighting in the city.
Remember, these “moderate†rebels are people that the US has supported financially and militarily, but who they can neither identify nor locate most of them time — and who they certainly can’t control. They are groups who fight alongside Al Qaeda-affiliated forces and who stand accused of beheading a child and putting women in cages to be used as human shields.
But again, no major Western editorial boards found time this week to condemn US support for these lunatics or the policies Washington has implemented to prolong the war while Obama tries to find a way to salvage his foreign policy legacy.
Memory lane
While Western governments condemn Russian action in Syria and shed crocodile tears over the US’s failed diplomatic efforts, it’s worth skipping back a few years to remind ourselves of Washington’s role in provoking this war.
Read more
The fact is, the US promoted civil unrest in Syria. They pushed it. They encouraged it. They spent years encouraging division and sowing the seeds of instability in ways that could only have resulted in the outbreak of violence. Syria was simply another piece in the puzzle of Washington’s geopolitical master plan; another opportunity for control and influence in the region. Assad was a leader that didn’t play ball the way Washington liked, so he had to go. If an uprising wasn’t going to happen fast enough organically, they would happily help it along.
Skeptical? Just take a look at documents released by WikiLeaks that prove in black and white how determined the US was to spark unrest in the Middle Eastern country from as early as 2006. One cable listed a number of steps the US could take to weaken Assad and strengthen the opposition against him. Some of the suggestions included encouraging rumors of external plotting to weaken the government, discouraging FDI to hurt the economy and highlighting the failures of some of the country's reform efforts.
The cable also admitted that “anti-regime Syrian Islamists†were a threat to Assad’s power. Fast forward to the present day and these “anti-regime Syrian Islamists†are Washington’s “moderate†rebel friends. It makes for a truly sickening read in light of what has happened in that country.
It’s clear that the US government was encouraging an anti-Assad uprising for years. It's also clear that they were unsure what the consequences of their actions would be, but that they didn't seem to care. Now they’ve got the instability they wanted and it hasn’t gone their way, so naturally, everyone else is to blame and we’re supposed to believe hearts are breaking in Washington for the children of Aleppo.
Spare us.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
ooo weee -- unless PUTIN privately may have ALLOWED kerry or the incoming trump presidency some FACE-SAVING -- IF the HIGH-POTENTIAL CIA operatives TRAPPED in aleppo with their TERRORIST foot soldiers --
are still alive --- we MIGHT yet see these roaches CAPTURED by the syrian army and russians and chechens who know HOW to find them and DEAL WITH THEM for the BASTARDS that they are -- ILLEGALLY - like all the rest of the terrorists from outside imported by the WEST AND ALLIES -- AND THE AMERICAN ''special ops" in syria and be DISPLAYED for all the world to see!!
MY personal guess has been like this:
BEFORE the russians came to change the game upon request by PRESIDENT assad -- of the LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT of sovereign syria --
in 2015 september --
the wet dream of the west and its allies saudi arabia, turkey and qatar -- and perhaps LEBANON? LOL -- waiting all to CARVE UP syria like it was their cake -- was almost completed by THEIR TERRORISTS for them ...
tehy might have been SO CERTAIN about it -- just like theway they did wiht LIBYA, IRAQ , AFGHANISTAN, YUGOSLAVIA, SERBIA, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, UKRAINE...etc. etc. etc..
that they might as well have decidced to MAKE OFFICE of their operatives RIGHT INSIDE the most important commercial city of syria -- ALEPPO itself...
AND there they are -- TRAPPED -- roflmao...
i suspect that WHAT KERRY keeps knocking and ringing up MOSCOW'S doors and phones about to ''have a ceasefire -- uh -- 3 days, uh -- 5 days, uh 7 days"
is to PRESERVE what is left of their TERRORISTS TO DO THE KILLING ANOTHER DAY ELSEWHERE!! -- AND/OR to try and EXTRACT their operatives without consequences to the WESTERN REPUTATION...
roflmao...but putin and lavrov AND assad being the GENTLEMEN that they ARE -- might just ALLOW a ''quiet exit" -- EVEN AS THE AMERICANS INSIST THAT THEY LAND NEW TROOPS TO ''bring the fight to ISIL IN RAQQA"
hoping to get a piece of syria -- STILL -- ROFLMAO!!
are still alive --- we MIGHT yet see these roaches CAPTURED by the syrian army and russians and chechens who know HOW to find them and DEAL WITH THEM for the BASTARDS that they are -- ILLEGALLY - like all the rest of the terrorists from outside imported by the WEST AND ALLIES -- AND THE AMERICAN ''special ops" in syria and be DISPLAYED for all the world to see!!
MY personal guess has been like this:
BEFORE the russians came to change the game upon request by PRESIDENT assad -- of the LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT of sovereign syria --
in 2015 september --
the wet dream of the west and its allies saudi arabia, turkey and qatar -- and perhaps LEBANON? LOL -- waiting all to CARVE UP syria like it was their cake -- was almost completed by THEIR TERRORISTS for them ...
tehy might have been SO CERTAIN about it -- just like theway they did wiht LIBYA, IRAQ , AFGHANISTAN, YUGOSLAVIA, SERBIA, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, UKRAINE...etc. etc. etc..
that they might as well have decidced to MAKE OFFICE of their operatives RIGHT INSIDE the most important commercial city of syria -- ALEPPO itself...
AND there they are -- TRAPPED -- roflmao...
i suspect that WHAT KERRY keeps knocking and ringing up MOSCOW'S doors and phones about to ''have a ceasefire -- uh -- 3 days, uh -- 5 days, uh 7 days"
is to PRESERVE what is left of their TERRORISTS TO DO THE KILLING ANOTHER DAY ELSEWHERE!! -- AND/OR to try and EXTRACT their operatives without consequences to the WESTERN REPUTATION...
roflmao...but putin and lavrov AND assad being the GENTLEMEN that they ARE -- might just ALLOW a ''quiet exit" -- EVEN AS THE AMERICANS INSIST THAT THEY LAND NEW TROOPS TO ''bring the fight to ISIL IN RAQQA"
hoping to get a piece of syria -- STILL -- ROFLMAO!!
WHAT BROKENSHOELACE -- who somehow keeps tracking on ''assad regime killing his own people" (the usual western meme to justify ''regime change" that produces terrorists BY bringing terrorists) --
is that certain LEBANESE BILLIONAIARES (sorry that i forgot where i found their writeups -- but man -- re they RICH with lots of connections TO the terrorist funding!! 2 are billionaire ''ladies" too, whew) -- are TERRORIST SUPPORTERS -- NO LESS than the saudis.
but nevermind -- just read about LEBANON as a HAVEN OF TERRORISTS of the isil and daesh and al qaeda variety -- yup
-=======================
meforum.org
Why Lebanon's Sunnis Support ISIS: Dateline
Hilal Khashan
Most Mailed
by Thomas von der Osten-Sacken and Thomas Uwer
by Hilal Khashan
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2015 (view PDF)
http://www.meforum.org/5316/lebanon-sunnis-isis
A pro-ISIS rally last year in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city. Some Salafi sheikhs have pledged allegiance to ISIS, including Abu Sayyaf al-Ansari and Ahmad Asir.
The claim by a recent public opinion poll that only 1 percent of adult Lebanese Sunnis are supportive of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)[1] must be taken with a large pinch of salt since "there is a vast gulf between how people say they behave and how they actually behave."[2] In fact, since Lebanese Sunnis are willing to support whoever can defeat their enemies and restore their pride, many of them find ISIS appealing for quite a few reasons: They have an aversion to Shiites and feel estranged from the Lebanese state while harboring nostalgia for the caliphate. Many admire power in any form, and others have a predisposition to anomic terrorism.
Aversion to Shiites
The rise to preeminence of Lebanese Shiites began after the Amal movement evicted the Lebanese army from the southern suburbs of Beirut in February 1984. A year later, Hezbollah made its debut and formed a militia to fight the Israel Defense Forces and its Southern Lebanese Army surrogate.
After a long period of Shiite ascendance, the prominence of Rafiq Hariri (left) revived Sunni political hopes in Lebanon, but his assassination in February 2005 crushed expectations. In May 2008, Hezbollah stormed mostly Sunni west Beirut and liquidated the militia of the Future Movement, headed by Hariri's son Saad (right).
The Sunnis thus lost political prerogatives that had accrued to them from the 1943 National Covenant with the Maronites. Having already lost the support of the Palestine Liberation Organization due to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Sunnis suddenly found themselves giving way to a new Shiite contender that enjoyed strong regional support.
The appearance of Rafiq Hariri on the political scene in 1992 revived Sunni hopes, but his assassination in February 2005 put a damper on their expectations. In May 2008, Hezbollah stormed mostly Sunni west Beirut and, in a matter of hours, liquidated the militia of the Future Trend movement, headed by Hariri's son Saad. So after a long period of Shiite ascendance, the Sunni street rejoiced when an ISIS offensive rapidly seized Mosul and a large swath of Iraqi territory in June 2014. As a neighborhood leader in Tripoli put it: "Iraq witnessed a Sunni triumph against Shiite oppression. Forcing Tripoli's Sunnis to denounce ISIS amounts to coercing them to exercise political self-suppression."[3] The truth of the matter is that "hatred for Iran and Hezbollah has made every Lebanese Sunni heartily supportive of ISIS, even if its brutal methods will eventually affect them adversely."[4]
Estrangement from the Lebanese State
When Hezbollah shattered the main Sunni leadership, the Lebanese army watched but decided not to interfere. Weak Sunni leadership, both clerical and political, created a vacuum and caused the sect to drift apart and turn to radical Islamic leaders. One such leader was Salafi sheikh Ahmad al-Asir, whose movement had enjoyed the support and loyalty of hundreds of Sidon's families. They were routed from the city by the Lebanese army and Hezbollah in June 2013. Going underground after the debacle, Asir transferred allegiance from an-Nusra's Abu Muhammad Julani to ISIS's Abu Bakr Baghdadi.[5] This defection also underscored the eclipse of the Sunni clerical institution Dar al-Fatwa, which in recent years had been the subject of financial scandals and political weakness. The decimation of the office of the Sunni prime minister, to whom Dar al-Fatwa reports, rendered it rudderless, and it lost its traditional role maintaining the cohesion of the Sunni community.
Some government officials privately admit that ISIS has established itself in Lebanese Sunni areas, including Beirut.
In addition, some government officials privately admit that ISIS has established itself in Lebanese Sunni areas, including Beirut,[6] and there are examples to support this belief. Government-salaried Sunni clerics in Sidon, the hometown of former prime minister Saad Hariri, were impelled to react angrily to the spate of pro-ISIS wall graffiti in that city and warned that unless the trend was arrested, "Sidon would become a fertile land for breeding terrorism."[7] The Lebanese army frequently implements large-scale security measures in Sidon, despite insisting that "there is no fostering environment for ISIS in the city."[8]
In Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city and its most important Sunni hub, Future Trend parliamentary deputies continue to refuse to admit publicly that ISIS is present in the city, but their denials have failed to hide "the existence of a radical Islamic environment in the city."[9] Several attacks on Lebanese army patrols and pro-Hariri activists in Tripoli succeeded in preventing formation of Iraqi-type awakening councils.[10] But the city is fully controlled by the army, internal security forces, and military intelligence. ISIS supporters are mainly located in its at-Tibbane neighborhood and are well known to the authorities, which choose to ignore them.[11] Pro-ISIS rallies outside mosques are commonplace in Tripoli after Friday prayers.[12] The twin explosions in January 2015 that rocked Tripoli's Alawite Jabal Muhsin sector were ordered by ISIS operatives in Rumye prison in the hills overlooking Beirut. It was only then that the embarrassed Interior Ministry decided to dismantle ISIS's operations room in the prison's Block-B.[13] Even a cursory look at the situation leads to the conclusion that "ISIS does not need to come to Tripoli. It is already there."[14] Dealing with the threat posed by ISIS is probably why the Interior and Justice portfolios in Tammam Salam's cabinet were given to Future Trend figures.
Rising Sunni anger and ISIS's successes do not bode well for Lebanese political stability.
But despite its anti-Sunni orientation, the army is careful not to get embroiled in confessional politics. Mindful that it disintegrated twice (in 1976 and in 1984) when it unabashedly took sides, the army command is obviously not interested in a third upheaval and seems to be keenly aware that Sunni approval of ISIS is a function of public distrust of the state machinery, including the military. Even though several Sunni soldiers have defected to an-Nusra and ISIS, the army command dismissed these as isolated cases.[15]
Local observers note that the "seed of ISIS terror is found in every depressed area of Lebanon."[16] Support for ISIS grows as Sunnis lament the sad state of their coreligionists in Iraq and Syria, comparing it to their own situation as Iranian-backed Hezbollah continues to exercise hegemony over Lebanese politics. Rising Sunni anger and ISIS's successes do not bode well for Lebanese political stability.[17]
Pining for the Caliphate
Unlike Shiites, who believe that the caliphate usurped the rights to the succession of Muhammad's household, Sunnis have viewed the caliph as their legitimate leader for thirteen centuries. Yearning for a resurrection, the caliphate continued to live on after its 1924 abrogation by Turkey's Kemal Atatürk as Sunnis "view it as the state of Muslim glory and justice."[18] Its reestablishment, for example, was the raison d'être of Hassan Banna's Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928. Lebanese Sunnis also find the neo-Ottoman policies of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party appealing and are particularly fond of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[19]
Obsession with the caliphate has not spared Sunnis from delusional thinking. Arab fondness for Hitler is well documented, at times to the point of asserting that the tyrant viewed Islam and its culture with favor.[20] As Daniel Pipes points out: "Nazis portrayed Islam as an ally and, accordingly, called for its revival while urging Muslims to act piously and emulate Muhammad."[21] It is also not rare for some Arabs to argue that Napoleon converted to Islam and sought to create a great Muslim empire.[22] In June 2014, ISIS's Baghdadi announced the formation of the Islamic State and designated himself caliph. Given his extreme bloodletting, even against fellow jihadists, the announcement did not generate wide approval. However, the sight of cruising motorists in Sunni areas blowing their horns—the Lebanese tradition of expressing happiness—after Baghdadi's announcement sent a muted message of approval. The issuance of the Islamic State's passport was another cause for pride. It is difficult for Sunnis to disavow the inscription on IS's passport that reads, "We will deploy armies for the holder of this passport, if harmed."[23]
Admiration for ISIS Power
Shakir Wahiyib is one of the chief executioners for ISIS and one of the few willing to bare his face during executions. ISIS resorts to such ruthless tactics without regard to human cost. The group's rationale considers the use of power, as gross and as graphic as possible, as requisite to the subjugation of enemies. A flag vendor in Tripoli explained the popularity of ISIS: "People ... like whoever is strong."
Islam literally means submission to legitimate religious authority: "Believers, obey God, His Messenger, and those charged with authority among you."[24] This imperative may well dispose believers to revere power and display intolerance for dissenting voices. Using Bin Laden's famous strong-horse metaphor, Lee Smith argues that the "Sunnis have been a bloc of force that has never known accommodation or compromise, but has rather compelled everyone else to submit to its worldview."[25] Because of the central role of the caliph in enforcing the Shari'a and spreading the faith to all corners of the globe, the "Sunni figure has often been the able statesman, the hero of conquests, or the victory-maker."[26] In a study on Lebanese college students' reaction to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, 82 percent of Sunni respondents chose Saddam Hussein as their preferred political leader. When U.S. president George Bush initiated Operation Desert Shield to prepare for the liberation of Kuwait, Hussein ordered the apprehension of several hundred Western nationals to deter U.S.-led military action. In response to a question on this, 98 percent of Lebanese Sunnis "thought the Iraqis were justified in taking Western hostages."[27] Even Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez's "anti-Israeli pronouncements enamored him to an Arab public hungry for a charismatic leader in the mold of Nasser."[28]
ISIS is no exception to the customary approach of Muslim power projected through strong leadership. If anything, it has exaggerated the use of coercion and carried it to new heights. ISIS adopted Abi Bakr Naji's gruesome publication titled The Management of Savagery[29] as a means to apply Sayyid Qutb's treatise Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones).[30] The rationale is that only extreme terror can help construct the Islamic state on the ashes of degenerate apostate regimes. The use of awesome power, as gross and as graphic as possible, is requisite to the subjugation of enemies. As the jihadist sheikh Hussein bin Mahmud once said, "Let them [our enemies] find ruthlessness in you."[31]
ISIS has had success in recruiting from a pool of alienated and radicalized Muslims as well as impoverished individuals. The Lebanese executioner Abu Asma al-Australi (above) abandoned his wrestling career to join the ISIS jihad. ISIS also succeeded in recruiting at least two Lebanese Christians from Tripoli to its ranks.
In its war in Syria and Iraq, ISIS resorts to ruthless tactics without regard to human cost. To win the battle for Tabaqa airbase in northeastern Syria, eventually overrun in August 2014, ISIS did not mind losing twice as many militants as government troops.[32] What matters more for ISIS was to strip Iraqi and Syrian soldiers to their underwear and march them to their humiliating death in order to project invincible power. Kobani is another example of ISIS's efforts to achieve spectacular triumphs regardless of the cost. ISIS lost more than one thousand fighters before admitting that it had been driven out of the town by coalition airstrikes, even as it promised it would return to attack.[33] It avenged its defeat by burning a captured Jordanian pilot to death and parading Kurdish Peshmerga prisoners of war in metal cages.[34]
Like most Muslims, Lebanese Sunnis see themselves as the victims of centuries of backwardness, marginalization, and defeat. They tend to favor any signs, however elusive, that signal reversing Sunni weakness. A flag vendor in Tripoli explained the popularity of ISIS: "[P]eople ... like whoever is strong."[35] Poor, angry and marginalized teenagers in Tripoli want "great victories."[36] Even though public display of support for ISIS in Lebanon is punishable by law, "any young man in Tripoli, if asked, would confess how much he admired its power."[37] When confronted with the brutality and viciousness of ISIS, its supporters often lean on the Qur'an to justify their position: "Muhammad ... and those with him are firm of heart against the non-believers, compassionate among themselves."[38]
A Destination for the Alienated
There are reasons other than piety for Lebanese to join ISIS and other radical religious movements. Hezbollah fighters searching the bodies of Sunni militants in Syria often report finding spoons and personal memos about their scheduled lunches in heaven with the Prophet, as well as their first rendezvous with the promised seventy-two virgins.[39] But maladapted immigrants in the West also turn to militancy, and troubled individuals desperate for emotional freedom seek shelter in the crowd to avoid responsibility while indulging in abominable actions. Even scores of Muslim women in the West chose to join ISIS after Baghdadi declared the formation of the Islamic State. "Socially isolated and depressed ... [m]any of them suffer from a lack of purpose in their daily lives."[40]
Just as alienation can affect individuals from different walks of life, joining ISIS has appealed to recruits from a broad socioeconomic spectrum. Thus, Muhammad Emwazi, the British-educated butcher of ISIS, came from a well-to-do family in London[41] as did Egyptian soccer referee Mahmud Ghandur, who chose to abandon his promising career to join ISIS.[42] The Lebanese executioner called Abu Musab al-Australi abandoned his wrestling career and the comfort of Australia to answer the call of jihad and to mentor his 7-year-old child in the art of beheading.[43] The pool of alienated and radicalized youth did not just include maladjusted Muslim immigrants in the West or rising stars feeling empty inside and searching for meaning, but also poor persons saddled with the problems of poverty and crime. ISIS also succeeded in recruiting at least two Lebanese Christians from Tripoli to its ranks. The clichéd rationalization for their metamorphosis stresses ISIS's taking advantage of the city's "poor financial conditions to recruit them."[44]
More Trouble in the Making
What is happening in Syria and Iraq is a religious war with ethnic overtones. As a microcosm of the region's religious and ethnic conflicts, it is difficult to imagine how Lebanon can be spared. The return of Saad Hariri to Lebanon to initiate dialog with Hezbollah, after years of self-exile, is linked to soaring Sunni extremism and Saudi determination to reverse it.[45] The eventual curtailment of ISIS's presence in Syria and Iraq will take time, and it is unlikely that the group will be completely eliminated. But Lebanon already presents some of its hardened members with a convenient sanctuary since "it is an established fact that Arsal and Ain al-Hilwa Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon are sanctuaries for ISIS and other radical Islamic movements."[46]
Syria and Iraq are experiencing a religious war with ethnic overtones; it is difficult to imagine how Lebanon can be spared.
Furthermore, while there are no accurate figures about the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, this group is thought to exceed one million persons. Among them, thousands of Islamist militants masquerade as refugees. Lebanon's tenuous security situation largely depends on the whim of regional countries patronizing its antagonistic sects. In view of the spread of sectarian conflict in the region—and in the event it becomes permeable to its external environment—these refugees might well become Lebanon's Trojan horse.
Arabs missed their chance for religious reform in the nineteenth century, but the developments of the past few years suggest they are confronting the old problem. Lebanon is not exempt. When pressed to issue an anti-ISIS statement, Muhammad al-Juzu, a prominent Sunni Lebanese cleric, said only that "Hezbollah was a more difficult problem than ISIS."[47]
In view of the increasing sectarian tone of Hezbollah's military intervention, not only in Syria but also Iraq and Yemen, one can expect Lebanese Sunnis to support its ISIS nemesis, however ephemerally. And while it is difficult to know the extent of this support, it is plausible to believe that it exceeds single digit levels.
Hilal Khashan is a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut.
[1] David Pollock, "Isis Has Almost No Popular Support in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Lebanon," Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, D.C., Oct. 14, 2014.
[2] Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (New York: Harper Perennial, 2011), p. 7.
[3] An-Nahar (Beirut), June 27, 2014.
[4] Liban Space (Beirut), Oct. 14, 2014.
[5] El-Badil (Cairo), Feb. 1, 2015.
[6] El-Marada (Beirut), July 3, 2014.
[7] National News Agency (Beirut), Oct. 7, 2014.
[8] Al-Balad (Beirut), Oct. 8, 2014.
[9] Elnashra (Beirut), June 28, 2014.
[10] Al-Akhbar (Beirut), Sept. 25, 2014.
[11] As-Safir (Beirut), Dec. 3, 2013.
[12] Al-Hiwar TV (London), Sept. 19, 2014.
[13] Alankabout (Leb.), Jan.13, 2015.
[14] An-Nahar, June 27, 2014.
[15] The Daily Star (Beirut), Oct. 11, 2014.
[16] Al-Afkar (Beirut), June 20, 2014.
[17] The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21, 2014.
[18] Al-Anba (Kuwait), Aug. 2, 2014.
[19] Ad-Diyar (Beirut), Oct. 14, 2014.
[20] Nahr al-Barid and al-Baddawi refugee camps' website, accessed Feb. 27, 2015.
[21] Daniel Pipes, review of Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World by Jeffrey Herf, Commentary, Apr. 2010.
[22] Al-Ahram (Cairo), May 29, 2006.
[23] Al-Arabiya (Dubai), July 5, 2014.
[24] Qur. 4:59.
[25] Lee Smith, The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations (New York: Doubleday, 2010), pp. 5-6.
[26] Hossam Tammam, "On Difference and Understanding: Al-Husayn, the Shiite Martyr, the Sunni Hero," [27] Hilal Khashan, "The Revival of Pan-Arabism," Orbis, Winter 1991, p. 110-2.
[28] Ali Younes, "From Hero to Villain: The Arab World's Infatuation with Hugo Chavez Arc," Foreign Policy in Focus (Washington, D.C.), Mar. 15, 2013.
[29] Abu Bakr Naji, The Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage through which the Umma Will Pass, trans. William McCants (Cambridge: John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University, 2006).
[30] Sayyid Qutb, Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Cairo: n.p., 1964).
[31] "Senior al-Qaeda Sheikh," Special Dispatch, no. 1635, The Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington, D.C., June 27, 2007.
[32] The Independent (London), Sept. 9, 2014.
[33] Ibid., Jan. 31, 2015.
[34] The Daily Mail (London), Feb. 23, 2015.
[35] The Daily Star, July 18, 2014.
[36] The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21, 2014.
[37] Al-Arabiya, Sept. 9, 2014.
[38] Qur. 48: 29.
[39] [40] Siamak Nooraei, "Jihadi Motives: Why Do Western Women Join the Islamic State?" Foreign Policy Journal, Jan. 16, 2015.
[41] Al-Arabiya.net (Dubai), Feb. 27, 2015.
[42] Lebanon 24 News (Beirut), Feb. 27, 2015.
[43] An-Nahar, Feb. 19, 2015.
[44] Naharnet (Beirut), Feb. 26, 2015.
[45] Raphael Lefevre, "Tackling Sunni Radicalization in Lebanon," Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut, Dec. 24, 2014.
[46] Al-Binaa (Beirut), Jan. 17, 2015.
[47] An-Nahar, June 18, 2014.
Related Topics: Lebanon, Radical Islam, Syria | Hilal Khashan | Summer 2015 MEQ receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free mef mailing list This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.
is that certain LEBANESE BILLIONAIARES (sorry that i forgot where i found their writeups -- but man -- re they RICH with lots of connections TO the terrorist funding!! 2 are billionaire ''ladies" too, whew) -- are TERRORIST SUPPORTERS -- NO LESS than the saudis.
but nevermind -- just read about LEBANON as a HAVEN OF TERRORISTS of the isil and daesh and al qaeda variety -- yup
-=======================
meforum.org
Why Lebanon's Sunnis Support ISIS: Dateline
Hilal Khashan
Most Mailed
by Thomas von der Osten-Sacken and Thomas Uwer
by Hilal Khashan
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2015 (view PDF)
http://www.meforum.org/5316/lebanon-sunnis-isis
A pro-ISIS rally last year in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city. Some Salafi sheikhs have pledged allegiance to ISIS, including Abu Sayyaf al-Ansari and Ahmad Asir.
The claim by a recent public opinion poll that only 1 percent of adult Lebanese Sunnis are supportive of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)[1] must be taken with a large pinch of salt since "there is a vast gulf between how people say they behave and how they actually behave."[2] In fact, since Lebanese Sunnis are willing to support whoever can defeat their enemies and restore their pride, many of them find ISIS appealing for quite a few reasons: They have an aversion to Shiites and feel estranged from the Lebanese state while harboring nostalgia for the caliphate. Many admire power in any form, and others have a predisposition to anomic terrorism.
Aversion to Shiites
The rise to preeminence of Lebanese Shiites began after the Amal movement evicted the Lebanese army from the southern suburbs of Beirut in February 1984. A year later, Hezbollah made its debut and formed a militia to fight the Israel Defense Forces and its Southern Lebanese Army surrogate.
After a long period of Shiite ascendance, the prominence of Rafiq Hariri (left) revived Sunni political hopes in Lebanon, but his assassination in February 2005 crushed expectations. In May 2008, Hezbollah stormed mostly Sunni west Beirut and liquidated the militia of the Future Movement, headed by Hariri's son Saad (right).
The Sunnis thus lost political prerogatives that had accrued to them from the 1943 National Covenant with the Maronites. Having already lost the support of the Palestine Liberation Organization due to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Sunnis suddenly found themselves giving way to a new Shiite contender that enjoyed strong regional support.
The appearance of Rafiq Hariri on the political scene in 1992 revived Sunni hopes, but his assassination in February 2005 put a damper on their expectations. In May 2008, Hezbollah stormed mostly Sunni west Beirut and, in a matter of hours, liquidated the militia of the Future Trend movement, headed by Hariri's son Saad. So after a long period of Shiite ascendance, the Sunni street rejoiced when an ISIS offensive rapidly seized Mosul and a large swath of Iraqi territory in June 2014. As a neighborhood leader in Tripoli put it: "Iraq witnessed a Sunni triumph against Shiite oppression. Forcing Tripoli's Sunnis to denounce ISIS amounts to coercing them to exercise political self-suppression."[3] The truth of the matter is that "hatred for Iran and Hezbollah has made every Lebanese Sunni heartily supportive of ISIS, even if its brutal methods will eventually affect them adversely."[4]
Estrangement from the Lebanese State
When Hezbollah shattered the main Sunni leadership, the Lebanese army watched but decided not to interfere. Weak Sunni leadership, both clerical and political, created a vacuum and caused the sect to drift apart and turn to radical Islamic leaders. One such leader was Salafi sheikh Ahmad al-Asir, whose movement had enjoyed the support and loyalty of hundreds of Sidon's families. They were routed from the city by the Lebanese army and Hezbollah in June 2013. Going underground after the debacle, Asir transferred allegiance from an-Nusra's Abu Muhammad Julani to ISIS's Abu Bakr Baghdadi.[5] This defection also underscored the eclipse of the Sunni clerical institution Dar al-Fatwa, which in recent years had been the subject of financial scandals and political weakness. The decimation of the office of the Sunni prime minister, to whom Dar al-Fatwa reports, rendered it rudderless, and it lost its traditional role maintaining the cohesion of the Sunni community.
Some government officials privately admit that ISIS has established itself in Lebanese Sunni areas, including Beirut.
In addition, some government officials privately admit that ISIS has established itself in Lebanese Sunni areas, including Beirut,[6] and there are examples to support this belief. Government-salaried Sunni clerics in Sidon, the hometown of former prime minister Saad Hariri, were impelled to react angrily to the spate of pro-ISIS wall graffiti in that city and warned that unless the trend was arrested, "Sidon would become a fertile land for breeding terrorism."[7] The Lebanese army frequently implements large-scale security measures in Sidon, despite insisting that "there is no fostering environment for ISIS in the city."[8]
In Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city and its most important Sunni hub, Future Trend parliamentary deputies continue to refuse to admit publicly that ISIS is present in the city, but their denials have failed to hide "the existence of a radical Islamic environment in the city."[9] Several attacks on Lebanese army patrols and pro-Hariri activists in Tripoli succeeded in preventing formation of Iraqi-type awakening councils.[10] But the city is fully controlled by the army, internal security forces, and military intelligence. ISIS supporters are mainly located in its at-Tibbane neighborhood and are well known to the authorities, which choose to ignore them.[11] Pro-ISIS rallies outside mosques are commonplace in Tripoli after Friday prayers.[12] The twin explosions in January 2015 that rocked Tripoli's Alawite Jabal Muhsin sector were ordered by ISIS operatives in Rumye prison in the hills overlooking Beirut. It was only then that the embarrassed Interior Ministry decided to dismantle ISIS's operations room in the prison's Block-B.[13] Even a cursory look at the situation leads to the conclusion that "ISIS does not need to come to Tripoli. It is already there."[14] Dealing with the threat posed by ISIS is probably why the Interior and Justice portfolios in Tammam Salam's cabinet were given to Future Trend figures.
Rising Sunni anger and ISIS's successes do not bode well for Lebanese political stability.
But despite its anti-Sunni orientation, the army is careful not to get embroiled in confessional politics. Mindful that it disintegrated twice (in 1976 and in 1984) when it unabashedly took sides, the army command is obviously not interested in a third upheaval and seems to be keenly aware that Sunni approval of ISIS is a function of public distrust of the state machinery, including the military. Even though several Sunni soldiers have defected to an-Nusra and ISIS, the army command dismissed these as isolated cases.[15]
Local observers note that the "seed of ISIS terror is found in every depressed area of Lebanon."[16] Support for ISIS grows as Sunnis lament the sad state of their coreligionists in Iraq and Syria, comparing it to their own situation as Iranian-backed Hezbollah continues to exercise hegemony over Lebanese politics. Rising Sunni anger and ISIS's successes do not bode well for Lebanese political stability.[17]
Pining for the Caliphate
Unlike Shiites, who believe that the caliphate usurped the rights to the succession of Muhammad's household, Sunnis have viewed the caliph as their legitimate leader for thirteen centuries. Yearning for a resurrection, the caliphate continued to live on after its 1924 abrogation by Turkey's Kemal Atatürk as Sunnis "view it as the state of Muslim glory and justice."[18] Its reestablishment, for example, was the raison d'être of Hassan Banna's Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928. Lebanese Sunnis also find the neo-Ottoman policies of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party appealing and are particularly fond of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[19]
Obsession with the caliphate has not spared Sunnis from delusional thinking. Arab fondness for Hitler is well documented, at times to the point of asserting that the tyrant viewed Islam and its culture with favor.[20] As Daniel Pipes points out: "Nazis portrayed Islam as an ally and, accordingly, called for its revival while urging Muslims to act piously and emulate Muhammad."[21] It is also not rare for some Arabs to argue that Napoleon converted to Islam and sought to create a great Muslim empire.[22] In June 2014, ISIS's Baghdadi announced the formation of the Islamic State and designated himself caliph. Given his extreme bloodletting, even against fellow jihadists, the announcement did not generate wide approval. However, the sight of cruising motorists in Sunni areas blowing their horns—the Lebanese tradition of expressing happiness—after Baghdadi's announcement sent a muted message of approval. The issuance of the Islamic State's passport was another cause for pride. It is difficult for Sunnis to disavow the inscription on IS's passport that reads, "We will deploy armies for the holder of this passport, if harmed."[23]
Admiration for ISIS Power
Shakir Wahiyib is one of the chief executioners for ISIS and one of the few willing to bare his face during executions. ISIS resorts to such ruthless tactics without regard to human cost. The group's rationale considers the use of power, as gross and as graphic as possible, as requisite to the subjugation of enemies. A flag vendor in Tripoli explained the popularity of ISIS: "People ... like whoever is strong."
Islam literally means submission to legitimate religious authority: "Believers, obey God, His Messenger, and those charged with authority among you."[24] This imperative may well dispose believers to revere power and display intolerance for dissenting voices. Using Bin Laden's famous strong-horse metaphor, Lee Smith argues that the "Sunnis have been a bloc of force that has never known accommodation or compromise, but has rather compelled everyone else to submit to its worldview."[25] Because of the central role of the caliph in enforcing the Shari'a and spreading the faith to all corners of the globe, the "Sunni figure has often been the able statesman, the hero of conquests, or the victory-maker."[26] In a study on Lebanese college students' reaction to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, 82 percent of Sunni respondents chose Saddam Hussein as their preferred political leader. When U.S. president George Bush initiated Operation Desert Shield to prepare for the liberation of Kuwait, Hussein ordered the apprehension of several hundred Western nationals to deter U.S.-led military action. In response to a question on this, 98 percent of Lebanese Sunnis "thought the Iraqis were justified in taking Western hostages."[27] Even Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez's "anti-Israeli pronouncements enamored him to an Arab public hungry for a charismatic leader in the mold of Nasser."[28]
ISIS is no exception to the customary approach of Muslim power projected through strong leadership. If anything, it has exaggerated the use of coercion and carried it to new heights. ISIS adopted Abi Bakr Naji's gruesome publication titled The Management of Savagery[29] as a means to apply Sayyid Qutb's treatise Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones).[30] The rationale is that only extreme terror can help construct the Islamic state on the ashes of degenerate apostate regimes. The use of awesome power, as gross and as graphic as possible, is requisite to the subjugation of enemies. As the jihadist sheikh Hussein bin Mahmud once said, "Let them [our enemies] find ruthlessness in you."[31]
ISIS has had success in recruiting from a pool of alienated and radicalized Muslims as well as impoverished individuals. The Lebanese executioner Abu Asma al-Australi (above) abandoned his wrestling career to join the ISIS jihad. ISIS also succeeded in recruiting at least two Lebanese Christians from Tripoli to its ranks.
In its war in Syria and Iraq, ISIS resorts to ruthless tactics without regard to human cost. To win the battle for Tabaqa airbase in northeastern Syria, eventually overrun in August 2014, ISIS did not mind losing twice as many militants as government troops.[32] What matters more for ISIS was to strip Iraqi and Syrian soldiers to their underwear and march them to their humiliating death in order to project invincible power. Kobani is another example of ISIS's efforts to achieve spectacular triumphs regardless of the cost. ISIS lost more than one thousand fighters before admitting that it had been driven out of the town by coalition airstrikes, even as it promised it would return to attack.[33] It avenged its defeat by burning a captured Jordanian pilot to death and parading Kurdish Peshmerga prisoners of war in metal cages.[34]
Like most Muslims, Lebanese Sunnis see themselves as the victims of centuries of backwardness, marginalization, and defeat. They tend to favor any signs, however elusive, that signal reversing Sunni weakness. A flag vendor in Tripoli explained the popularity of ISIS: "[P]eople ... like whoever is strong."[35] Poor, angry and marginalized teenagers in Tripoli want "great victories."[36] Even though public display of support for ISIS in Lebanon is punishable by law, "any young man in Tripoli, if asked, would confess how much he admired its power."[37] When confronted with the brutality and viciousness of ISIS, its supporters often lean on the Qur'an to justify their position: "Muhammad ... and those with him are firm of heart against the non-believers, compassionate among themselves."[38]
A Destination for the Alienated
There are reasons other than piety for Lebanese to join ISIS and other radical religious movements. Hezbollah fighters searching the bodies of Sunni militants in Syria often report finding spoons and personal memos about their scheduled lunches in heaven with the Prophet, as well as their first rendezvous with the promised seventy-two virgins.[39] But maladapted immigrants in the West also turn to militancy, and troubled individuals desperate for emotional freedom seek shelter in the crowd to avoid responsibility while indulging in abominable actions. Even scores of Muslim women in the West chose to join ISIS after Baghdadi declared the formation of the Islamic State. "Socially isolated and depressed ... [m]any of them suffer from a lack of purpose in their daily lives."[40]
Just as alienation can affect individuals from different walks of life, joining ISIS has appealed to recruits from a broad socioeconomic spectrum. Thus, Muhammad Emwazi, the British-educated butcher of ISIS, came from a well-to-do family in London[41] as did Egyptian soccer referee Mahmud Ghandur, who chose to abandon his promising career to join ISIS.[42] The Lebanese executioner called Abu Musab al-Australi abandoned his wrestling career and the comfort of Australia to answer the call of jihad and to mentor his 7-year-old child in the art of beheading.[43] The pool of alienated and radicalized youth did not just include maladjusted Muslim immigrants in the West or rising stars feeling empty inside and searching for meaning, but also poor persons saddled with the problems of poverty and crime. ISIS also succeeded in recruiting at least two Lebanese Christians from Tripoli to its ranks. The clichéd rationalization for their metamorphosis stresses ISIS's taking advantage of the city's "poor financial conditions to recruit them."[44]
More Trouble in the Making
What is happening in Syria and Iraq is a religious war with ethnic overtones. As a microcosm of the region's religious and ethnic conflicts, it is difficult to imagine how Lebanon can be spared. The return of Saad Hariri to Lebanon to initiate dialog with Hezbollah, after years of self-exile, is linked to soaring Sunni extremism and Saudi determination to reverse it.[45] The eventual curtailment of ISIS's presence in Syria and Iraq will take time, and it is unlikely that the group will be completely eliminated. But Lebanon already presents some of its hardened members with a convenient sanctuary since "it is an established fact that Arsal and Ain al-Hilwa Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon are sanctuaries for ISIS and other radical Islamic movements."[46]
Syria and Iraq are experiencing a religious war with ethnic overtones; it is difficult to imagine how Lebanon can be spared.
Furthermore, while there are no accurate figures about the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, this group is thought to exceed one million persons. Among them, thousands of Islamist militants masquerade as refugees. Lebanon's tenuous security situation largely depends on the whim of regional countries patronizing its antagonistic sects. In view of the spread of sectarian conflict in the region—and in the event it becomes permeable to its external environment—these refugees might well become Lebanon's Trojan horse.
Arabs missed their chance for religious reform in the nineteenth century, but the developments of the past few years suggest they are confronting the old problem. Lebanon is not exempt. When pressed to issue an anti-ISIS statement, Muhammad al-Juzu, a prominent Sunni Lebanese cleric, said only that "Hezbollah was a more difficult problem than ISIS."[47]
In view of the increasing sectarian tone of Hezbollah's military intervention, not only in Syria but also Iraq and Yemen, one can expect Lebanese Sunnis to support its ISIS nemesis, however ephemerally. And while it is difficult to know the extent of this support, it is plausible to believe that it exceeds single digit levels.
Hilal Khashan is a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut.
[1] David Pollock, "Isis Has Almost No Popular Support in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Lebanon," Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, D.C., Oct. 14, 2014.
[2] Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (New York: Harper Perennial, 2011), p. 7.
[3] An-Nahar (Beirut), June 27, 2014.
[4] Liban Space (Beirut), Oct. 14, 2014.
[5] El-Badil (Cairo), Feb. 1, 2015.
[6] El-Marada (Beirut), July 3, 2014.
[7] National News Agency (Beirut), Oct. 7, 2014.
[8] Al-Balad (Beirut), Oct. 8, 2014.
[9] Elnashra (Beirut), June 28, 2014.
[10] Al-Akhbar (Beirut), Sept. 25, 2014.
[11] As-Safir (Beirut), Dec. 3, 2013.
[12] Al-Hiwar TV (London), Sept. 19, 2014.
[13] Alankabout (Leb.), Jan.13, 2015.
[14] An-Nahar, June 27, 2014.
[15] The Daily Star (Beirut), Oct. 11, 2014.
[16] Al-Afkar (Beirut), June 20, 2014.
[17] The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21, 2014.
[18] Al-Anba (Kuwait), Aug. 2, 2014.
[19] Ad-Diyar (Beirut), Oct. 14, 2014.
[20] Nahr al-Barid and al-Baddawi refugee camps' website, accessed Feb. 27, 2015.
[21] Daniel Pipes, review of Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World by Jeffrey Herf, Commentary, Apr. 2010.
[22] Al-Ahram (Cairo), May 29, 2006.
[23] Al-Arabiya (Dubai), July 5, 2014.
[24] Qur. 4:59.
[25] Lee Smith, The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations (New York: Doubleday, 2010), pp. 5-6.
[26] Hossam Tammam, "On Difference and Understanding: Al-Husayn, the Shiite Martyr, the Sunni Hero," [27] Hilal Khashan, "The Revival of Pan-Arabism," Orbis, Winter 1991, p. 110-2.
[28] Ali Younes, "From Hero to Villain: The Arab World's Infatuation with Hugo Chavez Arc," Foreign Policy in Focus (Washington, D.C.), Mar. 15, 2013.
[29] Abu Bakr Naji, The Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage through which the Umma Will Pass, trans. William McCants (Cambridge: John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University, 2006).
[30] Sayyid Qutb, Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Cairo: n.p., 1964).
[31] "Senior al-Qaeda Sheikh," Special Dispatch, no. 1635, The Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington, D.C., June 27, 2007.
[32] The Independent (London), Sept. 9, 2014.
[33] Ibid., Jan. 31, 2015.
[34] The Daily Mail (London), Feb. 23, 2015.
[35] The Daily Star, July 18, 2014.
[36] The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21, 2014.
[37] Al-Arabiya, Sept. 9, 2014.
[38] Qur. 48: 29.
[39] [40] Siamak Nooraei, "Jihadi Motives: Why Do Western Women Join the Islamic State?" Foreign Policy Journal, Jan. 16, 2015.
[41] Al-Arabiya.net (Dubai), Feb. 27, 2015.
[42] Lebanon 24 News (Beirut), Feb. 27, 2015.
[43] An-Nahar, Feb. 19, 2015.
[44] Naharnet (Beirut), Feb. 26, 2015.
[45] Raphael Lefevre, "Tackling Sunni Radicalization in Lebanon," Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut, Dec. 24, 2014.
[46] Al-Binaa (Beirut), Jan. 17, 2015.
[47] An-Nahar, June 18, 2014.
Related Topics: Lebanon, Radical Islam, Syria | Hilal Khashan | Summer 2015 MEQ receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free mef mailing list This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.
THE TRUTH OF WESTERN LIES ABOUT SYRIA'S ''civil war" (it's not -- it's an INVASION of terrorists sponsored, funded, armed, trained , collected and radicalized by the WEST .USA in the lead -- helped by the western ''media" and their ''middle east allies" and other vassal countries)
and the TRUTH about ''ASSAD killing his own people"...
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and the TRUTH about ''ASSAD killing his own people"...
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SYRIA -- LIBYA, IRAQ, YEMEN, AFGHANISTAN, GEORGIA, CHECHNYA, UKRAINE, SERBIA, VENEZUELA, RUSSIA, USSR, CUBA, VIETNAM
currently in asia ''THE BAD, BAD, BAD NEW KING OF THAILAND"...
''THE BAD, BAD, BAD DUTERTE OF PHILIPPINES"...
oooo weeeee -- it's the same pattern by the USA, UK, THEIR MEDIA, THE WEST AND THEIR ''ALLIES"...
currently in asia ''THE BAD, BAD, BAD NEW KING OF THAILAND"...
''THE BAD, BAD, BAD DUTERTE OF PHILIPPINES"...
oooo weeeee -- it's the same pattern by the USA, UK, THEIR MEDIA, THE WEST AND THEIR ''ALLIES"...
I see Kerry is urging Russia and the Syrian government to urgently implement a ceasefire at Aleppo... I don't recall him doing the same when Aleppo fell to the rebels the first time... or considering a ceasefire as an option in the "liberation" of Mosul.
glad you pointed THAT out..i MISSED that critical point, frankly...
what with with so much flak and lies and double games from these regime change terrorist sponsors
-- not to mention the now-serial ''calls for ceasefire" in which USA and co/ FAIL to bring in a single ''gread crumb, or medicine pill or warm blanket" whenever russia and syria created SEVERAL corridors - including STOPPING all air sorties and Syrian army movement for an ENTIRE month of october...
they suddenly do these calls again? just last week kerry called for yet another vienna or bern conference -- lavrov says (and i understand manyrussians or getting impatient WITH lavrov for being too accommodating) - because the USA had a 'proposal"
lavrov, again -- says "OK --but better have real steps taken" - less than a day goes and kerry withdraws it -- can comes up with another proposal - after wasting lavrov's time in HOURS of discussion -- then ''let me check with wshington on how to answer that point" -- etc etc...and suddenly they withdraw it again after 3 days -- and then now or yesterday saturday ANOTHER meeting requested -- whatever....and finally he comes out k kerry -- publicly admitting FOR THE FIRST TIME though timidly and not completely:
"ISIL MAY -- MAY -- '' HAVE held hostage "some" CIVILIANS...as russian airborne video CONSTANTLY monitors movement - and shows THOUSANDS of civilians running or driving out and through the exct corridors the russians and syria have provided all the while whenever the civilians get a chance to flee -- OFTEN WITH protection cover by syrian army and NOW the REAL stories from the formerly trapped civilians are coming out -- showing the USA LIED -. EVERYTHING.
and where DO these civilians who ASSAD is supposed to be ''intentionally killing?" run TO?
why -- to government areas of course -- for food, water, medicine, housing, now the children also getting some normality of going to classes as syria is already NOT WAITING for all the terrorists to give up but already busy putting things back for its citizens..YEA -- and assad is supposedly MASSACRING his own people...yea .............because they are just waiting for free health care, free education, housing, medicine, food, and water...............that has been their system that the USA has tried to destroy...........ya...
MY suspicion (as some of syrians i know personally) is:
the AMERICANS were SO CERTAIN since 2011 THAT like IRAQ AND LIBYA - syria was going to be theirs -- in their LIST OF ''SEVEN MIDDLE EAST NATIONS " to ''reform" --THAT they - after introducing the TERRORIST they gathered through their other allies INTO syria like a proxy army --
they then - EARLY ON -- SET UP SHOP inside the most important city l ALEPPO itself - whcih is perfectly situated to control events from ...and THEY
these CIA and other foreign operatives as 'instructors" (who likely coordinated the attack -- so PRECISE -- on a MOVABLE clinic tent of the russians last week) are TRAPPED in that very same small area...and even if we DON'T or never see them presented once russia and syria GET them -- if they stay alive, that is - or THEIR terrorists have not TURNED on THEM in frustration and fear --
KERRY is desperate to save face -- and likely the real and only remaining game HE has is to ask russia to at least ''let the CIA" etc be 'safely and anonymously extracted".
I'D NOT EVEN BE SURPRISED if it is RUSSIAN SPETSNAZ or russian CHECHEN WARRIORS who have appeared in syria - finally allowed by putin - who are muslims and speak the languages AND ARE FEARED be these terrorists -- that will have to SAVE these CIA's asses after what they've done to syria.
i mean -- kerry -- practically the ''friend" of lavrov as veteran diplomats -- has nothing else to offer...since they'/ve been trapped in THEIR own web of lies and deceit..nd the russians NEVER moved an INCH in their consistency.
REGIME CHANGE projects of the USA - from now on ''Will have to stop"
as PUTIN TOLD the world at the UN -- SEPTEMBER 26 2015 -- after giving a THRASHING to the USA empire and its vassals on ''don't you now at least realize what you have done?"
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