Syria: Islamists gaining ground

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Friday July 27, 2012 20:34 by Yassamine Mathe

Yassamine Mather writes on the Sunni Islamist fundamentalist onslaught in Syria. An attack funded and backed by Imperialism. She analyses what has brought Syria to this situation and exposes the massacres carried out by the fundamentalists. Full text at link.

It may only be a matter of time before the Assad regime in Syria collapses and Sunni Islamist fundamentalists backed by the US/UK, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and others are in power in Damascus. If that happens, the Shia states of Iran and occupied Iraq, which have backed Bashar al-Assad, would have lost a close ally. ...

Non-Arab Iran remains Assad’s main ally, but Assad’s downfall would create an upheaval that would shift the balance of power in the region in favour of Iran’s enemies: the Sunni Gulf states (the main supporters of the Syrian opposition). Tehran’s Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, now the most powerful military and political force in Lebanon, would also be weakened. ...

According to Robert Fisk, Saudi Arabia and Qatar make no secret of the funds and weapons they are running into Turkey and Lebanon for the opposition.2 One of the two organisations that claimed responsibility for last week’s Damascus bombing is the Salafist Liwa Islam (the Islam Brigade). This group has already forbidden alcohol where it has gained a foothold. Sections of the western media, eager for Assad’s downfall, seem to be completely deaf and blind to the religious fanatic tendencies and political charlatanism of many of the forces.

While travelling in the region of Homs, a German journalist, Alfred Hackensberger, heard horrifying stories about the conduct of the rebels. He was told that in the city of Qusayr not only were Christians expelled from the town, but anyone who refused to enrol their children in the Free Syrian Army had been shot. Hackensberger repeats the story he had heard about an armed group stopping a bus: “The passengers were divided into two groups: on the one side, Sunnis; on the other, Alawis … the insurgents then proceeded to decapitate the nine Alawi passengers.”3 ...