NOVANEWS
Here is the NYT openly reporting that the Jordan Muslim Brotherhood as well as Al Qaeda are taking part in the Syrian conflict by sending in “jihadists.” Also reporting the words of an arms trader: “Five months ago I was told that the Syrian brothers are in need of weapons” – this in an uprising we’ve been told for months on end is “mostly” non-violent or “mostly” unarmed. Or skip the qualifiers, entirely unarmed. The paper is also reporting that according to “unidentified American officials” the Aleppo bombing, which opposition informants were quick to blame on the Assad government, was the work of Al Qaeda.
Some still seem to be under the impression that the Free Syrian Army is an adjunct of the Zapatistas. For them, I recommend the materialist imperialists of the NYT:
In Jordan, the influential Muslim Brotherhood issued a call to arms of its own, calling it a duty for Muslims everywhere to oppose Mr. Assad’s government in Syria in a holy war, using any means necessary. “Supporting the Syrian people and Free Syrian Army is a duty, as they are facing the injustice and oppression of the regime,” the group said on its Web site.
Do leftists or kindred freedom fighters accept the support of those calling for a “holy war”? I don’t think so, nor do they carry out public hangings.
Against those going on about the disgusting and murderous Russian veto, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov said today that “In other words, it is necessary to agree to something like a cease-fire, but the tragedy is that the armed groups that are confronting the forces of the regime are not subordinate to anyone and are not under control.” The armed forces of the Syrian government won’t agree to a cease-fire until the terrorist mujahedeen also agree to withdraw from the fray. The problem is that they there’s no one to whom they necessarily answer. Funding is a separate issue, coming from Gulf Cooperation Council states and also as the archives will doubtless show in 30 years, the United States.
It won’t be enough to take down the Assad government, merely enough to further militarize the uprising. As Patrick Cockburn notes, “Untrained militias and Syrian army deserters cannot stop armoured columns. Most probably insurgent leaders know this and their real intention is to do enough militarily to provide political cover for creeping international intervention on their side. This might be sold as a Nato-protected safe haven for insurgents and refugees in north-west Syria, but in fact would be a declaration of war.”
Prince Saud of Saudi Arabia, which is probably sending in arms – some will cavil at my “probably,” insisting that we have documentary evidence before accusing the reactionary Saudi Kingdom of doing something nasty in the region – said that “The lack of commitment of the Syrian government is obvious…What Syria is witnessing is not racist, nor sectarian, nor guerrilla war, but a mass purge without any humanitarian considerations.” As opposed to in the area near Qatif, in eastern Saudi Arabia, where the crackdown continues and the Saudi mukhabarat have killed several protesters over the last week as they broke up a non-violent protest there.
Technorati Tags: Al Qaeda, Assad, FSA, Muslim Brotherhood, Syria
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