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One Year Ago – Syrian Uprising Raises The Specter Of Sectarian War
(NPR) Jan. 4, 2012 – For the past 10 months, Syrians have taken to the streets in large numbers to oppose a repressive regime that has not hesitated to use force. The United Nations estimates more than 5,000 Syrians have died, and it is far from clear how the uprising will play out. President Bashar Assad’s regime blames the revolt on Islamist militants and casts the uprising as a threat to Syria’s minorities, including Assad’s fellow Alawites and the country’s Christians.
“The (al-Assad) regime has really portrayed itself, branded itself, as the protector of minorities. It’s not just the Alawites, the Shiites. … I am surprised that the Christians, most of the Christians I talked to, they are as supportive of (al-Assad) as the Alawites. They say: ‘Look, what will happen to us? Look what happened to the Christians in Iraq.’
The reality is, this is not a sectarian conflict. This is an essentially political conflict. The uprising is real and genuine. Millions of Syrians basically would like to have serious change in Syria. But also the reality is that Syria is deeply divided, not just the opposition.”
“One of the major features of the Arab uprisings is the emergence of ultraconservative Salafi groups,” says Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East specialist at the London School of Economics, contacted in Paris. “They are extremely hyper, extremely anti-American, extremely blinded by the sunshine of the open political atmosphere. The Salafis now are the wild card in Arab and Muslim politics, in Libya, in Egypt, in Tunisia, in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia. In Syria, they are … becoming a major factor in the [antiregime] equation.”
Director for the Middle East Center (MEC) at the London School of Economics speaks to Al Jazeera about execution videos
Fawaz Gerges said there have been multiple alarming reports from Human Rights organisations but that they allow these crimes to undermine the moral case of the opposition and of many Syrians in the eyes of the international community.
Gerges said that there are rogue elements in many schools of the armed groups is no control, no command no central unity and that there is tremendous need for a unified command and control. Citing that there are more than 100 armed groups, with no centralised authority, he said that it is not only Americans, but the opposition that are concerned that these extremist element trying to hijack Syrian uprising.
The Syrian Uprising of 2011: Why the Assad Regime is likely to Survive to 2013
Obama calls on Syria’s Assad to step aside
(Al Jazeera) Aug. 18, 2011- In a written statement, President Barack Obama said: “The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way … For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”
Obama said the US “cannot and will not impose this transition upon Syria” but will support “an effort to bring about a Syria that is democratic, just, and inclusive for all Syrians. We will support this outcome by pressuring President Assad to get out of the way of this transition”.
- US State Declares Syrian Al-Nusra Front a terror group
- Cheney Reasserts That Iraqi Insurgency Entered Its ‘Last Throes’ In May 2005
One of many diaries about the developing ugly civil war in Syria – Push by Saudi Clerics for an Islamic State in Al-Sham (Syria) and Clinton Fallen Ill – US Promotion of Middle-East Peace In Turmoil.