Is Syria forgotten !!!

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Re: Is Syria forgotten !!!

If Syria is close to your heart then you should be wishing for death and destruction of its people. Looking at Assad’s alternatives, majority of Syrians, including Sunnis, support Assad.

If Assad’s government falls today then it will be replaced only with a takfiri government which will continue the civil war fighting among themselves.

So again, if you hold Syria to your heart then don’t follow your Shaykh because he is making you wish for death and destruction for people there.

Syria: As the bombs fall, the people of Damascus rally round Bashar al-Assad - Telegraph

	 				 		 			 			 						[http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02133/Peter-Oborne-bylin_2133400j.jpg](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/peter-oborne/) 					
			 							By [Peter Oborne](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/peter-oborne/)
				 					
	6:40AM BST 17 Apr

The West may oppose Assad’s regime, but on the streets of the capital the people fear a greater evil

Over the past few days, I have talked to shopkeepers, students, soldiers, doctors, a dentist, MPs and government ministers (including the minister for tourism, who must have the most thankless job in the world). On the basis of these conversations, I would judge not just that support for the regime is holding up, but that President Assad could very well win a popular election, even if carried out on a free and fair basis.
Over the past few days, I have talked to shopkeepers, students, soldiers, doctors, a dentist, MPs and government ministers (including the minister for tourism, who must have the most thankless job in the world). On the basis of these conversations, I would judge not just that support for the regime is holding up, but that President Assad could very well win a popular election, even if carried out on a free and fair basis.

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**All of Syria is not under the Syrian government. So all of the news from Syria can not be from the regime.
**
There are many incidences where Western/Saudi supporters of rebels have concocted stories to malign the government.
For example, the chemical attack on which Saudis were counting to suck America in war, was later found to have been orchestrated by Saudis themselves.

What does your Shaykh say about that?

*
Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack. *

Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside of a tunnel used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.”

Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.

Abdel-Moneim said his son and the others died during the chemical weapons attack. That same day, the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked to al-Qaida, announced that it would similarly attack civilians in the Assad regime’s heartland of Latakia on Syria’s western coast, in purported retaliation.

“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”

“When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,” she warned. She, like other Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.

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It is not surprising that someone like bao bihari would play a sectarian card and lie about the nature of the conflict. This is the same narrative being used by sectarian dictators sitting in countries like Wahhabi Occupied Hejaz.
They constantly lie to make it look like no Sunnis support Assad.

The Syrian army they hate also consists mostly of Sunnis. Assad has no chance to succeed if Sunnis in army rebel against him. But obviously they know what is best for them than some Saudi Shaykh playing sectarian card, provoking people based on “holy” lies.

Sunnis fill rebel ranks, but also prop up Assad regime
** Many Sunnis are backing the dictatorship to preserve their livelihoods, or believe the uprising is doomed or ruthless.**

Sunni Muslims make up 70% of Syria’s 25 million people and it is they who fill the ranks of the rebellion against Assad’s minority Alawite regime, considered apostates by Sunni clerics. Yet one reason why Assad remains in power despite being outnumbered by a rival sect is that many Sunnis are on his side, and their support is aiding his survival, say analysts and rebels.

Some Sunnis say they are repulsed by the anti-regime revolutionaries, some of whom are imported al-Qaeda terrorists. Others occupy privileged positions in Syrian society and do not want to abandon their livelihoods. Some believe the uprising is doomed to fail and do not wish to go down with it.

The rebel Free Syrian Army, specifically the aligned Jabhet Al Nusra fighters, are “nothing more than lunatics who kill everyone who disagrees with them,” Tarabishi says, while noting that the Assad regime is a secular one that tolerates diversity.

“President Assad is surely better than the political vacuum, religious hegemony, brutal, sectarian domination which would occasion on his downfall,” she says. “I believe anybody who took the time to monitor, absorb, and analyze the situation, especially given the recent deterioration on the ground, would logically stick to and support the government.”

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Peace khoji

This is just for you … You can hear what my Shaykh says yourself …

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

Older video

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I am not interested in giving him a listen. Please elaborate on any significant point he raised here, and we can discuss that.
Yes, I know that atrocities have been committed by Assad's army as well.

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When the kidnapping and interrogations and imprisonment started
My Shaykh started by private dialogues with other scholars
He sensed people were going to rise in to a civil war
To stop that he called for reform from the government. They didn't listen ... Killings increased.
They called him in to sign a document swearing that he would not speak for protest
He was reluctant but his friend asked him to sign it or they would not let him leave
After this he spoke out against the government designated Grand Mufti for blasphemy on RasoolAllah (SAW) and asked him to apologise.
Then as people were getting more shirty he called for peaceful protest, but that meant he would be sought out so he was made to leave by his closer companions.
People started protesting peacefully, but the regime came down heavy handed
This created the Free Syrian Army ... At first my Shaykh tried to rally support for them in the way of aid and media assistance. He went to various places like UK and others to seek out arms to be given to the FSA so they could defend themselves and take over as the people wanted.
The Western powers procrastinated ... Meanwhile Assad was strengthening his ties with Iran and Russia.
War broke out
My Shaykh called for Assad to step down ... Why? To minimise bloodshed and stop the war.
The Ikhwani infiltrated the FSA and later other groups came on the scene like Jabhat-al-Nusra the regime have since been going in to towns and witch hunting dissenters and set their media up to mock large support for them
What little influence the scholars had in the FSA was pushed out by foreign pressure ... The Ikhwanis from within Syria first selected My Shaykh to assume a seat on the council, but that was blocked ... Also my Shaykh prepared a charter for a new movement.
.... They also have a lot of people in fear ... All this because the true Syrian people had no financially strong support. All aid coming from the richer Muslims countries started to fuel people with other agendas ... Such as setting up an Islamic state ... My Shaykh says the state of Syria is already Islamic 80% of the existing legislation is compatible with Shari'ah ... He wants it to return to that point and for Assad to step down and for people to be free to voice dissent ... He wants fair elections too.
His mission is different to the political Jihadists ... He has no interest in politics and is doing nothing for himself or for his own brand of Islam ... Rather he calls for a pluralistic representation of all people and would urge policies be made to protect all groups of people.
He also says Assad is on a course to prepare an Alawite state ... And that is an injustice on the Syrian majority ...

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US is not arming Al-Qaeda but mujahedeen, they will only become Al-Qaeda when they stick one to US.

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I read the article. Apparently, this strategy by the US to supply such limited weapons to the rebels is at the persuasion of Saudis. It is a test-run to see if these weapons fall at the hands of more extreme elements.
In my opinion, this test-run does not mean much. Even if these weapons do not fall in wrong hands, it still does not mean that it won’t happen in future when more sophisticated weapons are supplied to rebels.

One thing is for sure. If rebels win, the West should say good bye to any prospect of a secular country. Even if Qaeda disappears from Syria by some magic, the FSA itself will put up an extremist dictatorial government.
Because any new Syrian regime propped up with Saudi support can NOT be a democracy. Case in point: Fervent opposition of democratic Ikhwan government by Saudis in Egypt.

** A democratic Islamic government is a major threat to the Saudi model of governance.**

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The supply of weapons to the rebels would now be quite difficult to manage. There was a time window when this was a good idea - this is when the FSA were not infiltrated. Now the scene is that there are several up to 20 different rebel groups in Syria ... controlling the weapons is going to be difficult.

The current focus should be to prevent an arms flow from Russia and Iran into Syria and to root out the radical elements from the other side.

My Shaykh is confident that the Syrian people on the whole will not tolerate radical elements so the risk of there being something as such in place is minimal. However the best time to have done something about this problem was in early 2012 ... now it is too late to do it without making a mess.

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You have rightly mentioned that there are around 20 or more rebel groups who are trying to vest power. If you stop weapons going to the government isnt it a recipe for increasing the madness. The rebel group became 20 since they could not come to a single point agenda. If the central power is weakened the alternative would be these 20 or rebel groups fighting each other which would be a disaster.

I do not like myself for saying this, but at this point in time, I feel the best bet for Syria would be status quo and for Assad to continue in power till an amicable solution is reached. Otherwise it would go the Iraq or the Afghanistan way where people would fight each other for a pie.

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Presidential elections are set for June 3rd and if history is anything to go by, Assad will get another term in office. But this election will have almost no national or international recognition, except Russia :)

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Peace HeadStrong

All the while you say this the government has not stopped turning on the people of Syria ... They are rooting out any dissent no matter how mild ... They are killing indiscriminately anyone who does not support them ... You are right 60 years of oppression are better than 60 days of anarchy ... Unfortunately it is naive and a huge underestimate to think the Syrian regime is simply going to return as they were ... They will continue this anarchy to the end.

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Who are the people running in opposition?

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There is no candidate running for the job at the moment. Assad's rivals say that he will allow neither a genuine candidate nor a fair election. They believe Assad himself will put up a dummy candidate to lend some credence to the election.

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You can't have elections when a dictator is in power ...

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True. Syrian situation isn't conducive to elections.

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So what is the solution to this stalemate? The Saudis will sponsor the rebels but not commit their own troops even though they wanted western powers to intervene. The war will just drag out and more Syrians will die.

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Saudis could be made irrelevant if the US and Russia come to a point of agreement over settling the issue. Assad will find it hard to stay on if Russia withdraws its supoort. But how do you wheedle Putin into either withdrawing support to Assad or finding some other solutions remains a big question.

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What is the alternative.. 20 armed rebel groups fighting for the pie. Syria was relatively calm before this uprising began and our only hope for some semblance of normalcy would be Assad and not these 20 groups which might splinter again to another 30 or 40 if Assad falls.