Tal Kalakh is under attack by the regime. Or so it seems. This time, they seem to have done a little homework and prepped the media for their deeds.
Hezbollah’s station, al Manar, and other pro-regime voices have been broadcasting claims that the wicked 'salafiyen' have established an 'Islamic emirate' in Tel Kalikh and have started enforcing Wahhabi law … so of course, it is natural that the brave heroes of Maher’s army are rushing in to defend Syria from the menace …
They don’t mention that Tel Kalikh is a town hard on the Lebanese border that is over 2/3rds Alawi in population. So, if we were to believe them, the 10,000 or so generally less well armed and poorer Sunnis are terrorizing the peaceful Alawi population ...
Right.
That is simply absurd. If anything, it sounds much closer to an excuse for an Alawi led massacre/ethnic cleansing pf the minority; thousands of Sunnis have already fled into Lebanon …
Smell test: let’s set aside whether or not the vast majority of Sunnis desire a Taliban government and whether or not we really require the blood of an Alawi child for making our matzoh, let’s concentrate on logic.
Assume your goal is to set up a Wahhabi/Taliban style Islamic Emirate of Syria. Where would you start? In an Alawi majority town? Really???
Wouldn’t you be way more likely to try somewhere where you had potential supporters? Say a Sunni majority – or all Sunni – town, somewhere like in the Euphrates Valley?
So, simple logic says: this is propaganda or the salafi rebels are the world’s dumbest rebels who hope only to win.
My guess: a fake to justify a preemptory massacre of Sunnis. That is stupid and short-sighted, dear Alawi friends … people remember stuff like this!
So, shame on you! And shame also on al Manar and these fellow travellers in the west repeating regime propaganda …
I'm honestly more than a bit mystified as to how people like “Franklin Lamb” (who has a nice bit of fiction/regime propaganda out (either that or he is reporting from an alternate reality) about the glories of Dear Leader) justify themselves. They claim to be supporters of Palestine and Lebanon and so forth (hi IAC!) but, in my opinion, they are first and foremost anti Jewish and not pro Arab (there is a crucial difference there, between them that hate and them that love) and now carry water for the regime and its propaganda line of 'we must support Assad because he confronts Israel!' That, of course, presumes that all Syrian Sunnis are closet fans of Netanyahu and democracy would mean we’d forget the Palestinians to make sense. Really? Really? Are they really that dumb??
al Manar ... well, they do have their sectarian games inside Lebanon to play and those are more important for them so at least they are rational (though again if the issue were really confronting Israel for them, wouldn't they _want_ majority rule in Syria?)
I don’t understand that …
And in hopeful news … Al Jazeera reports that Assad has named a team to negotiate with the opposition: both VPs, Farouk al-Sharaa and Najah al-Attar, and Bouthaina Shaaban. So, let’s dialogue ladies and Farouk!
7 comments:
I think you're very right that people like Lamb and others who are still supporting Assad are first and foremost anti-Jewish/Israeli and not pro-Arab/Palestinians. Even if a majority rule in Syria means that Syria suddenly becomes friendly with Israel (it won't), this doesn't justify keeping millions of Syrians under the rule of Bashar.
I think Hizbollah (and its station al-Manar) support Assad because he's been very good to them. His father always kept them at bay but Bashar embraced them closer and made it much easier for them to transfer weapons via Syria and even gave them Syrian weapons (like the 220 mm rocket that landed in Haifa during the 2nd Lebanon War, killing eight civilians). On top of the gratitude/loyalty to Bashar they're also honestly worried that a democratic Syria wouldn't want to continue to be a pariah state and would put an end to the illegal transfer of weapons to Hizbollah. The fact that this majority rule will be Sunni and that Sunnis in Lebanon are anti-Hizbollah and the target of Hizbollah weapons (as in May 2008) surely gives Hizbollah a reason to worry.
As for Lamb, I don't think he's anti-Jewish so much as anti-American. There are a lot of very good reasons to be critical of US policy in the Mideast, and even more to be critical of Israel, but there's a certain type of commentator here who escalates this criticism into blind support of every anti-US government out there. Besides Mr. Lamb, you can also look at Ramsey Clark, Michael Parenti, and William Blum for examples of this.
as a Lebanese i am very ashamed of Hezbollah and their pro-Syrian regime stance.... Hezbollah has now completely derailed from their true principles as champions of the underdog and have now become supporters of the very kind of oppression that they so vehemently claim to be fighting against.
I have discovered your blog a few days ago and I am amazed by your courage in reporting what is going on in Syria. Assad (Father and son) have since 1973 been Israel's best practical allies, which is why Israel refrains from giving its approval to the US to encourage regime change in Syria. The Assad regime's wars against Israel have always been benign and through proxies such as Hizbollah and Hamas, while the brunt of the subsequent destruction happened in Lebanon and Gaza. No wonder Hizbollah is wary of the Assad regime crumbling as they would be in a tough spot getting the necessary weapons supply line, if a democratic Syrian regime at peace with its neighbors sees the light in Syria. Let's hope you and your people can make that dream come true and that the bloodshed, torture and detention will be a thing of the past once Assad and his croonies leave.
To alwaysdoublestandard…
Your absolutely right about Israel and Syria being the best practical allies-after all hasn't the Golan border been the quietest since 73?
Unfortunately all the rest of Syria's neighbors are also alarmed at the prospect of the regime falling…I hope the resistance can prevail…
Its unfortunate that Baath ideology of arab nationalism and secularism gets corrupted by which ever strong man can torture,murder and fight his way to the top -witness Saddam in Iraq along with Assad- when both countries could be shinning examples of modern democratic arab states.
I would suggest Amina is painfully close to a spot on analysis here.
Assigning credibility to those who would defend the tyrants of the immediate vicinity is absurd. As one pundit remarked on another but similar matter, 'that is tantamount to a whore opining on family values'.
As for Franklin Lamb, there isn't much to say about a man who claims a high pedigree yet chooses deliberate anonymity. His position a credible observer is further challenged by his deliberate use of fabricated quotes. He is further undermined by his claim to reject antisemitism while at the same time pointing to remarks (not always accurate) of Jewish extremists while ignoring far more incendiary and plentiful racism, bigotry and hate emanating from other sources in the region.
Why does this all this matter? Because in a region where reality is often brushed aside in favor of absurd conspiracy theories. Deliberate campaigns of misinformation are regular fare, designed to empower the tyrants and render the population helpless.
When all is said and done, this is what the Arab Spring addresses first and foremost.
Hopefully, those in the streets will be successful.
Some very good analysis followed by some incisive commentary. Thanks so much all of you for articulating some of the puzzles and one-way mirrors in the funhouse of unreliable or biased reporting and punditry.
Post a Comment