Bilal Abdul Kareem Journalist
Disclaimer: The following article will probably be looked at as a promotion of terrorism and terrorists because the author is Muslim. For additional results, please look at the following text as if the author is non Muslim if the narrative disturbs you.
A chlorine gas attack by Bashar Assad in Idlib, the second attack in recent days, has left 6 residents in the town of Saraqeb dead and many more rushed to local hospitals. Haunting videos have surfaced of doctors attempting to revive children and others affected by the attack.
United States ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said: ““We need an attribution mechanism so we know precisely who carried out these attacks. All the evidence shows that they come from helicopters - only the Assad regime has helicopters.” There have been numerous chemical attacks on the Syrian people by Bashar Assad since the revolution began. Numerous. After watching the video of the aftermath of the attack, Power said, “If there was a dry eye in the room, I didn’t see it.”
Let’s assume that her empathy for the suffering people is genuine, and to be honest, I do believe it is real. After all, watching people writhe in agony and die on the floor of a packed hospital is not fun. However, other realities come to surface. No one is coming to help the Syrian people. Period. Emotions will not force the Iranian, Russian, Chinese, and Hizbollah backed government of Bashar Assad from power. This is the stark reality. All of the meetings of the “Friends of Syria”(remember them?) and the outpouring of emotions from governments around the world did not amount to true intervention. Actually, it is only because ISIS beheaded some westerners and decided to post it on TV did the West intervene. Subsequently, when they did intervene they left Assad alone and went after ISIS only. That said a lot about how much their “emotions” govern their moral compass.
Using all of this as a backdrop, let us look at what Mujahideen forces are doing in the region. They have cleansed huge swaths of territory of the forces of Bashar Assad. In those non ISIS territories Christians have not been terrorized, nor have there been punishments for women not covering their faces, nor have there been reports of minority groups being forced out. There are widespread reports of aid being distributed, fighters (both foreign and local) forming front lines to stop any incursion of Bashar’s army from reprisal attacks upon the civilian population and more. Why don’t these Islamic groups garner an infinitesimal micro fraction of the media coverage that the lunatics of ISIS get? Simple. Their actions don’t fit the desired narrative. These are the very groups that are frowned upon by westerners and those outside of the region. To be clear I am talking about Jabha Nusra, Ahrar Asham, and other than them (notice ISIS is not mentioned here, more on that later). While it is true that Jabha Nusra is a part of Al Qaida there is no proof or even allegations that they have participated in any attacks or plans of attacks outside of the Syrian conflict. I am also speaking about the numerous foreigners who went to Syria to fight the tyranny of Assad. Those same foreigners who are demonized in the media for realizing that huge gatherings of western powers in five star hotels with political figures (SNC to be exact) who have no power in the actual Syrian territories, will not force Assad from power. They realize that it was bullets and muscle that forced Bashar out of much of the northern territories and not emotional statements from the likes of western diplomats. Do some of those fighters, both local and foreign carry out atrocities? Yes. However whenever you have more than 100,000 fighters anywhere in the world, there will always be those bad apples. The key question is: Are these atrocities the policies of those groups? I would say absolutely not.
ISIS’s atrocities are a part of their group policy and they will tell you that. They advertise their ugliness on youtube so there will be no misunderstandings. However most of the other groups have been putting their lives on the line to achieve what others have only talked about; the removal of the murderous regime of Bashar Assad. So it should be clear why they fight. It should also be clear why they don’t care if the west gives their blessings or not. Nor do the foreign fighters care if their respective governments sanction their going to Syria to fight or not. That’s like telling Americans that they shouldn’t fight after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941.
Some out there will say that those Islamic groups are not fighting for democratic principles. To that I would say the world’s democracies have failed the Syrian people and watched as hundreds of thousands of them have died needlessly. Russia, considered a democracy, has been supplying the regime with the bombs it is using to kill Syrians. China, considered to be the 2nd largest democracy, has been supplying Assad with all the political cover it has needed on the international stage. Hence, China was added to Assad’s 2014 inaugural speech as being of the nations that has “helped” his regime. Iran, also considered a democracy (of sorts), has been the biggest supporter of the killing in Syria. The UN, which is supposed to be the champion of Democracy, itself is NOT A DEMOCRACY. The US, UK, France, China, and Russia all have the authority to veto any resolution the entire world adopts. This means that Assad can go on killing as long as the Russians need to maintain the only military base they have in the middle east, which is in Syrian territory, and therefore any planetary backed resolutions will meet with Russian veto power. As long as the Chinese want to continue their global cold war games with the US, Assad will have their support as well. So I ask you: Where are the Syrian people in all this???
Foreign fighters are the vast minority of fighters in Syria. Most western governments don’t want to talk about that. While they have a strong presence, the major force of this war are the Syrians themselves. Foreigners going to fight in the ranks of ISIS is a bad idea. It is also a criminal offense both from an Islamic standpoint and from a legal one. However, no one can say with a straight face that they can’t understand why Islamic fighters fight, unless they are being disingenuous not only with the questioner but to themselves as well. Just think back to Rwanda in 1994. While the world powers had some meetings and discussions, the Hutu were busy slaughtering almost a million helpless Rwandans in a genocide that was not hidden from anyone with a TV. Do you think that Rwandans would have turned down a Jabha Nusra intervention in April of 1994? Maybe the powers that be are content to see more massacres, albeit with heavy hearts (maybe), but don’t act surprised when Islamic fighters are not willing to bear witness to the slaughter of their brethren without trying to stop it.
