Students at a vigil speak to a Syrian TV reporter following the missile attack on Damascus Uni that killed 15 students, March 2013 (Syrian TV, 29/3/13)

Sheikh Ramadan al-Buti, the highly-regarded Islamic scholar and Imam of Omayyad Mosque, Damascus, who was killed along with 50 or so of his students in a suicide bombing during a prayer session and lesson in a Damascus mosque.

The following is a talk prepared by Nina Haidar and Susan Dirgham.  It was presented to the Unitarian Church in Melbourne on 14 April and also to a Rotary group in Melbourne on 15 April.  It was written with great respect for the people of Syria and with a focus on the need for a search for the truth in war in order for there to be peace.

*******************************************************************************

THE HUMAN STORY – SYRIA

The first thing to say about the story of Syria is that it is a human story, so it involves all the human qualities and motivations evident since the beginning of history, such as greed, revenge, hate, envy, treachery, fear…. but also loyalty, heroism, nobility, compassion, faith and love.  The Syrian people are displaying heaps of those last qualities. But there is nothing black and white about people, about politics, especially not about war, though William Hague, John McCain, some in our government and the media want us to think otherwise.

Syria has experienced invasions and war for millennia and so the people of Syria have perhaps inherited a better understanding of invasion and treachery than most people, as well as found the strength to overcome them. Their heroes are noble figures such as Saladin, who defeated the Crusaders, and who displayed courage and chivalry on the battlefield, according to even the accounts of Christians of the time. In the 21^st century Saladin is still revered in Syria, where he is buried.

And another hero for many, who is remembered and honoured in Syria still, is St Paul who according to early accounts had his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, and who walked down streets that still exist in Damascus.  The very roots of Christianity are in Syria.  Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, is still used in some church services in Syria, and is retained by the people in some villages near Damascus.

There is also a story that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) viewed Damascus from the mountain road; it appeared as an enchanting oasis on the horizon. The prophet decided not to enter the city and is supposed to have said, “Man should only enter Paradise once”.

Syrians share a love and reverence for their homeland and together they can embrace a fortitude that enables them to survive and recover even stronger than before.

I speak about Syrians, but if you have been paying attention to the mainstream news on Syria, you might be thinking in terms of Sunnis, Shias, Alawis, Christians, terrorists, Shabiha, Assad loyalists, jihadists etc etc. That fragmented Syria is not the Syria I know; it is not the Syria, which is fighting so tenaciously to survive. It fights to stop a war that is aimed at bringing Syria to its knees.

Syria is fighting to resist imperial power and the dictates of its super-rich Gulf neighbours.  It is also fighting to maintain its place in the Middle East, as a strong, independent voice.

It is a war funded by states that do not respect the soul or history of Syria, as all they seem to understand is the power of obscene wealth, extremist ideology and the power of the gun.

The Syria as it is often described and presented in the western media is a manufactured Syria, one that is being created so the real Syria can be torn apart.

That tearing apart of Syria would be stopped, if we knew, and respected Syrians, as we respect ourselves.  We must listen to Syrians, imagine their fears, know their courage, and understand their story. The war in Syria has been sponsored from the beginning by outside powers. Fatwas against the Syrian government had been issued from Qatar and Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the crisis there. The war could not have begun if there had not been so many lies, so much rhetoric, if extremism had been condemned, if fighters and weapons had not been able to cross borders and if diplomacy and investigations had been insisted on by strong voices in the West.

SECULAR SYRIA

Syria has about the same population as Australia, and, like Australia, it is a secular society. Because it has a very diverse population it must be secular to guarantee social cohesion and equality among the different religious and ethnic groups.

The most holy days for Muslims and Christians are national holidays, so Christmas and Easter are holidays for all Syrians as is Eid.  The call to prayer in Syria can be heard as church bells toll.

That diversity is cherished in Syria.  And Syrians have good reason to have a sense of pride in their country. Uniting 23 million people with different creeds and ethnic backgrounds around one flag is a huge achievement.

WOMEN

It has probably been noted by most of you that Syrian women have been virtually ignored by our media. This is because the situation of women in Syria cannot be used to justify a NATO war against Syria as it was in Afghanistan.

Syrian women enjoy basically the same opportunities in regard to education and career as western women.  At universities, there would be as many women as men, and the classes are mixed.  There is none of the segregation you have in the Gulf countries. It should also be noted that there are no religious police in Syria. Syrian women have the freedom to dress as they choose.  It is a woman’s choice to cover if she is Muslim. So a mother may choose to wear a hijab and her daughter chooses not to. Pre-war, it was never unusual to see young women walking alone in the street without fear, and to see young unmarried couples holding hands.  These basic rights and social freedoms which help determine a good life are threatened by this war.

IMAGES AND DISTORTIONS OF WAR

Instead of seeing images of Syrian women in the streets of Damascus; what dominates our media are images of armed men, whom some western journalists call ‘revolutionaries’. The fact that the strongest fighting force in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, is affiliated with Al-Qaeda was hardly mentioned.  The fact that because of this so called revolution, Syrians have experienced horrific suicide bombings like those experienced by Australians in Bali was hardly mentioned. Some Western journalists choose to enter Syria illegally to embed with Islamist militias, while others such as Alex Thomson for Channel 4, who report from Damascus, have another story to tell.  Thomson’s latest report concerns the deliberate targeting of foreign and local journalists by so-called freedom fighters, and the irony of this.

So some western reporters present the point of view of the militias, but not the views of women in the streets of Aleppo or Damascus after a terror attack.  Is this because we are not meant to hear women in hijabs curse Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or America?

The standard narrative presented by the media is that it is a civil war between the Alawi minority and the oppressed Sunni majority. So it doesn’t help the selling of this war if we see Sunni, Christian, Alawi and Shia women yelling out their opposition to NATO and Gulf states. Furthermore, it doesn’t help the selling of this war if we are told that the Minister for Defence, and other key ministers such as the Foreign minister, the information minister and the minister for interior affairs are Sunni, and the majority of officers and soldiers are Sunni. For people in Syria, they are Syrian, so there is no conversation about their background, just a conversation about their performance.

RELIGION AND POLITICS

Religion of any sort when combined with politics can create a deadly mix, which explains the determination of most Syrians to keep their country secular. This was critical to Syria’s successful emergence as a modern state. Because it is such a diverse society, religion could be used to tear the society apart, which is what the enemies of Syria aim to do.  Religion can be used to justify the most shocking crimes.  For example, in December 2011 Ammar Baloush a Damascus university medical student killed two classmates and wounded three others during an exam. All his victims belonged to minorities. Baloush now fights with a rebel group.

Other states in the Middle East such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar rely on religion to maintain power.  As always, religion (or tribal loyalties) can be used to divide and conquer. Here we are not talking about the religion at the heart of Judaism or Islam, which are religions essentially of love and peace.  But we are talking about interpretations of these religions. Forces with money and power distort their original, pure messages.

But we mustn’t pretend that the West doesn’t have a dominant religion. American exceptionalism: the belief that the US – and by extension for many, the West – is best and has an almost God-given right to police the world almost equates to a religion.  Other imperial powers, such as the Roman Empire would have had a similar ‘religion’.  This is Hillary Clinton’s and John McCain’s faith.  It is still not clear if it is President Obama’s.

As I have mentioned, the countries which are funding and supporting the armed groups in Syria depend on religion for their survival.  The Saudi family depend on the Wahhabi school of Islam and Salafism, while the family in power in Qatar depends on the Muslim Brotherhood. These were not schools of Islam introduced by the Prophet Mohammad.  Just as US exceptionalism didn’t exist 300 years ago, neither did these interpretations of Islam.

The war in Syria is not a Sunni versus Shia war.  It’s a proxy war being waged on the ground between representatives of extremist branches of Islam (sponsored by countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia) and ‘moderate’ Muslims, in other words mainstream Muslims together with Christians and other faiths.

Young men (and a few women) are being incited to commit the most heinous crimes by extremist clerics. There is torture, beheadings, mutilations, the gouging out of eyes, the cutting off of genitals, the rape of women and children, even girls as young as four, as well as many other atrocities.

The so called revolution sanctions these atrocities.  Sheikh Adnan Arour, an infamous cleric who is based in Saudi Arabia is regularly on satellite TV encouraging his followers to kill people who oppose the revolution. For example in 2011, he encouraged the targeting of minorities, particularly members of the Alawi community who do not support the revolution. He said their bodies would be minced and fed to the dogs. It’s this kind of incitement to violence which leads his followers to commit such atrocities. Late last year, there was a report in The Australian of a young Christian man who was beheaded and his body fed to dogs.

Based in Qatar is Egyptian Sheikh Qaradawi, the most prominent cleric in the Middle East, and a friend, reputedly, of the Qatari royal family. In 2011 Qaradawi stated that if it was necessary to kill a third of the Syrian population to topple the ‘heretical’ regime, then so be it.  More recently, he has said on Al-Jazeera that it is OK to kill civilians and religious scholars who support the regime.  But civilians have been killed by Islamism extremists since the beginning of the revolution. Almost two years ago, on 17 April 2011, three children were killed in Homs by armed men. They were targeted presumably because they were in a car with an off-duty army officer.  We know that in campaigns of terror the normal rules of war are ignored.

So Qatar and Saudi Arabia by funding and arming militias and supporting extremist clerics are hugely committed to the destruction of the secular Syrian State and to the killing of millions of people in the process. We in Australia must ask ourselves, do we condone or condemn calls for genocide.

FOREIGN FIGHTERS

The war against Syria is attracting thousands of jihadists and mercenaries from countries such as Tunisia, Libya, Britain, Belgium, Somalia, Iraq, Chechnya and even Australia. Many of them support an Islamic caliphate.  That means they are dreaming of a utopia in which Islam is the state religion. The Islamic utopia planned for the world is another version of other utopias that have claimed millions of victims.

Those leaving Australia for jihad or a so called ‘revolution’ in Syria are going not only because extremist clerics urge them to go.  There are credible reports that Qatar pays recruiters $3,000 for every person they recruit to travel to Syria to support the militias in their fight against the Syrian State. So that is one other tragic element of this war: there are foreigners going to Syria believing they are going there to save Syrians from a heretical secular regime, while people in Syria curse them for their part in the war against them and their country.

The foreign powers that want them to keep streaming into Syria to fight their proxy war have to create reasons for them to go. So massacres are being committed, lies are being told.  Extreme shock and horror has to be created to motivate people to leave their family in Australia to fight in a country most do not have family ties with and have never visited.

War is always a terrible terrible mess built on lies, death and destruction.

Fighters may also be going to Syria because of the stories of Syrian expatriates who falsify events and distort the history of Syria. Perhaps they do this because they are stuck in an old Syria and they are reliving old fights, remembering their old wounds and bitter defeats. Or perhaps they have family loyalties to a father or an uncle that was victimised or killed in Syria many decades ago and while most people in Syria have moved on, they are stuck in a past that distorts the present.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

The mainstream media as well as institutions such as Amnesty International and even the United Nations have encouraged the view that Syrians need to be saved from the president. “Assad has to go” is even a mantra on the lips of people who wouldn’t know where Syria is.

Like Chinese whispers, reports on Syria are often based on reports, on Syria, based on reports by people who have never entered Syria and who have only interviewed supporters of the armed opposition. They are not based on the reality of Syria.  People assume they are getting the truth when they access Al-Jazeera, not realizing this media outlet is owned by the emir of Qatar, and is very much a player in the propaganda war. Syrian TV is censored by the Arab League and some Western governments so they can continue to distort the reality on the ground and the voices of Syrians.

It is 10 years since the beginning of the war in Iraq and we are now awake to the lies and distortions presented to us in order for that war to occur.  The same thing is happening now; otherwise the war in Syria couldn’t occur.

OIL AND GAS

Another key element of the war relates to resources.  Questions not being asked include: who is going to exploit the huge gas reserves recently discovered off the coast of Syria?  Who is going to dominate the European gas market?  Will it be the US, Britain and France with support from Turkey and Gulf allies – Saudi Arabia and Qatar?  Or will it be Russia together with Iran and Syria, and China in the background?  Will this be America’s century or Russia’s and China’s? If this were a James Bond movie, we might be on the side of the West, MI6 and the CIA.  But it is not a movie and millions of people’s lives are at stake.  Our values are at stake here too.

Some leaders, such as William Hague, may think they are protecting the economies of their countries by pursuing a war in Syria, by playing with truth and by condoning terror.  But in what ways can anyone’s interests be enhanced by the destruction of a society and by the murder of millions of people?  In what ways can the interests of the world be enhanced by the encouragement of ignorance, conformity, and extremism, as well as the sponsorship of terror?

Are Western governments defending the values we cherish most as humans or the interests of huge corporations?  If they are presenting the interests of corporations that lack a moral compass, where will this take humanity?

CONCLUSION

There are many Australians who are connected to the some of the tens of thousands killed in Syria.

We must not forget the families and communities behind every victim. They all deserve the truth.  Peace can come to Syria but it can’t be lasting unless everyone’s grief is respected.  Most importantly, what mustn’t be forgotten is the value of peace.

April 2013

Susan Dirgham and Nina Haidar,

Members of AMRIS

http://australiansforreconciliationinsyria.wordpress.com/

REFERENCES:

In regard to understanding events in Syria, it is impossible to present a definitive reference list.  However, it is hoped this very incomplete list below can encourage further research.  Few journalists working for the mainstream media have the power, the resources, the time to investigate Syria and present a full, honest picture of events there. It is necessary, therefore, if there is to be a committed push for peace in Syria and the region that others research Syria.

******************************************************************************

Alex Thomson’s blog: http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/

Video interview with Ammar Baloush, who killed 2 medical students on 27 December 2011 at Damascus University and later joined the ‘rebels’:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oVA3QtdaFY

Images of Syrian women: http://vimeo.com/56420545

Images of Syrians before the crisis: http://vimeo.com/61723401

ABC report on the speaking of Aramaic in Syria:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy38UQ9EQ6o

Video of Sheikh Adnan Arour declaring what can happen to people who do not support ‘us’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3lhyT3602Y

Sheikh Qaradawi justifying the killing of civilians and (religious) scholars who support the Syria government: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yexixuNzuaY&feature=endscreen

Speech by Grand Mufti of Syria in October 2011 after the assassination of his son and his son’s history professor (the Mufti refers to Qaradawi’s condoning the killing of 1/3 of the Syrian population if it leads to the toppling of the regime):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj0QmykxMQs

Article: “Moderate ‘Shami’ Islam vs Wahhabism: Shiek Mohamad Saeed Ramadan Al Bouti Finally Pays for his Anti-Salafism Stances”  http://www.syria-tribune.com/e/index.php/by-syria-tribune/64-bouti

On Qatar and its wealth and what it does with it: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/arab-league-summit-showcases-qatars-swagger

A video interview with analyst Aisling Byrne about the media war being waged against Syria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8azATW25nj0

Alastair Crooke, “Straining Credibility” refers to the information war: http://www.conflictsforum.org/2012/syria-straining-credulity/

Documentary: Manufacturing Dissent, produced by journalists Lizzie Phelan and Mostafa Afzalzadeh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwv7JXgPxLI

VIDEO OF INTERVIEWS, RALLIES OF SUPPORTERS OF al-Nusra and al-Qaeda in Syria

Support shown for an Islamic Caliphate, the killing of Christians and Alawis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8hoVo_Fiu4&feature=player_embedded  

Amnesty International’s silence in response to reports of the killing of civilians by Islamist militias in April 2011:

http://socratesandsyria.com/uncle-of-syrian-australian-killed-by-terrorists-in-april-2011-amnesty-international-silence/

Reference to the murders of three young teenagers in Homs on 17 April 2011:  http://pool.abc.net.au/media/syria-questions-must-be-asked-and-answered

This site presents investigations into massacres and killings in Syria: http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

John Rosenthal’s analysis of the Houla massacre contradicts initial claims by commentators and governments in the West: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/302998/houla-massacre-redux-john-rosenthal

ASIO tracks young Australians in Syria:  http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3737450.htm

GAS:

It is difficult (impossible?) to find any serious analysis in the Western mainstream media in regard to the geopolitical and economic reasons for the war against Syria.  However, these are links to articles on the Internet by European analysts:

William Engdahl:  “The bizarre conflict over Cyprus and Greece, as well as Syria, have more than a little to do with the new gas wars geopolitical”  http://rt.com/op-edge/cyprus-emerging-gas-wars-151/

Christof Lehmann: “The dynamics of the crisis in Syria”

http://nsnbc.me/2013/02/27/the-dynamics-of-the-crisis-in-syria-conflict-versus-conflict-resolution-66/

Robert Fisk’s respectful interview with Osama Bin Laden in 1993 refers to the recruiting of foreign fighters for the war in Afghanistan:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html

THE ABC ON SYRIA

There are ABC radio and television interviewers who show some independence in their approach to Syria and make serious attempts to look at the war in Syria in an objective, in-depth way.  However, there does seem to be an ABC editorial approach to Syria which is extremely biased and not at all in-depth.  This is represented on the ABC online Syria news page, unlike virtually all other country news pages, there are thumbnail links to articles on this.

There is a thumbnail link to an article about the First Lady of Syria which is dated March 21 2012.  The writer is anonymous but he or she or they have a clear point of view:  “For ordinary Syrians, Ms Assad is now a hate figure.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-20/asma-al-assad-profile/3900816

There is another thumbnail link on the ABC homepage: “Timeline: Syria and the Assads”, which is dated 9 March 2012. (Ben Atherton is the author.)  The timeline is very simplistic and biased; its main purpose seems to be to damn the “Assad regime”, not to present a fair and objective view of Syrian history, nor to update readers on events in Syria and the main players in the crisis.  For example, there is no mention of suicide bombs, of the role of Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the conflict, of foreign jihadists crossing into Syria from Turkey, of the chilling chant heard at demonstrations since March 2011 (“Send Christians to Beirut; Send Alawis to their grave”), of the calls of extremist clerics to target civilians who do not support the ‘revolution’, of the role of groups affiliated with al-Qaeda.  There is no reference at all to what reliable observers such as Mother Agnes Mariam describe as the hijacking of the reform movement by Islamist extremists.  Instead of a reference to an academic text such as Patrick Seale’s “Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East”, the writer relies on Wikipedia and mainstream media, and the only recent image included is one which promotes the point of view of the armed opposition.  The ABC timeline effectively promotes war against the “Assad regime”, which millions in Syria would view as war against their secular society and them.  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-09/syria-and-the-assads-timeline/3876706

Asma Al-Asad, First Lady of Syria with mothers of ‘martyrs’ (Syrian TV, March 2103)

The relative of a victim of a car bomb.

People in the street after deaths and destruction caused by a car bomb (Syrian TV, April 2012)

The president attends end of Ramadan Eid service in mosque with Mufti of Syria, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, and the Minister for Religious Affairs, other Sunni government ministers. (Syrian TV, August 2012)

Newsreader on Syrian TV; image of a leader of Lebanese Salafists calling for a jihad against Syria, early 2012 (note: image of jihadist added to original image)

Emir of Qatar (on the right) (Image taken from Syrian TV)

Whirling Dervish, Damascus 2009

Young women at a restaurant in the old city, Damascus. 2010.

What you may not know about Syria:

The peaceful movement for reform in Syria has been hijacked by extremists and the violence of a ‘third force’.  Massacres have been organized by this force and blamed on the government before critical meetings in the UN.

Qatar, which hosts a US naval base, wants to undercut the price of Russian natural gas in Europe (which is facing an economic crisis); to do this, it must be able to pipe it across Syria very cheaply.

The Annan Peace Plan and Geneva Statement which detail pathways for a political solution have been agreed to in writing but not in practice by countries which include the U.S., the UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey.

Extremist clerics have issued fatwas against Syria.  Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, a cleric based in Qatar with a Muslim Brotherhood background, declared on Al-Jazeera last year, “It is OK to kill 1/3 of the Syrian population if it leads to the toppling of the heretical regime”. Sheik Adnan Arour has said on a Saudi satellite channel that those who support the ‘regime’ can be killed and their bodies chopped up and fed to the dogs.

Numerous Moratorium size rallies supporting peaceful reform have been held across Syria, but rarely reported in the west. Terror bombs keep people away from such rallies today.

Historic reforms have been instituted in Syria. Various political parties are represented in the government. The constitution forbids parties to be based on religion or tribe.  The president can only serve two terms.

Christian and Muslim festivals are public holidays in Syria. The Islam practiced in Syria has roots in the Sufi tradition.

Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabism dominates, and Qatar, which supports the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafism, have aggressive stands on secular politics in the ME. Most ‘rebels’ in Syria are Wahhabi, Salafi, and/or MB extremists.  They earn salaries, with funds coming from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Turkish PM’s party, and through Saad Hariri in Lebanon.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Homs, Aleppo and Idlib, cities close to the border, have been forced from their homes by ‘rebels’, many of them foreign fighters from Libya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Britain, France, even Australia (as reported in the media). Imams and priests who publicly support peace, professors, teachers, specialists, doctors, journalists, relatives of politicians, public servants, and children have been brutally killed.

Hospitals, ambulances, churches, mosques, schools, souqs, factories, pipe lines and utilities, and ancient sites are being destroyed; communities impoverished, and men are being forced into joining the FSA (on a salary) or are killed.

The war against Syria is an ‘information and humanitarian’ war, well-illustrated by the story of Sari Souad.  Sari was shot in the street in Homs in 2011. His mother relates how men rushed to pick up the critically wounded boy. She chased them. They took Sari into a house and laid him on the floor, then took video footage of Sari’s mother screaming over the body and promptly sent it to Al-Jazeera; the AJ report claimed Sari had been shot by soldiers.  In fact, Sari’s mother explained there had been no soldiers in the area; that was the problem.  AL and the “Syrian Observatory of Human Rights”, an unregistered body run by a Syrian expatriate in the UK, are widely quoted in the western media.

Syrian Australians have reported the killings of innocent civilians by ‘rebels’ to Amnesty, but AI refused to report the cases. The director of Amnesty US is Suzanne Nossel, a former US State Department official.  Robert Ford, ex-US ambassador to Syria who has been accused of organizing death squads, was a guest at an Amnesty conference.

Syrian satellite channels have been censored by the U.S. and the Arab League (dominated by Saudi Arabia and Qatar).

Amnesty, the UN and western media have relied very much on the claims of ‘rebels’ or refugees who support the armed opposition.  Yet, western reporters have been granted Syrian visas.

*****************************************************************************

References to be added.

It is unusual to encounter in the western media rigorous questioning of people who support the overthrow of the Syrian government.  This could simply be because the situation in Syria is too complex for the producers of programs to get their heads around all the issues and events happening there.  They are resource and time poor. Or it could be that one narrative has been accepted and this narrative will not be challenged.

This page is to encourage more critical questioning of guests who are invited to speak about Syria.

*************************************************************************

The list of questions below are ones Amy Goodman from “Democracy Now” could have asked an anonymous female Syrian ‘activist’ interviewed by DM.

DEMOCRACY NOW

Syrian Activist in Hiding: “We’re Not Looking for Intervention, We’re Looking for Support”

19 July 2012

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/19/syrian_activist_in_hiding_were_not 

QUESTIONS  

THE ARMED AND UNARMED OPPOSITION

• You support the armed ‘opposition’.  What can you tell us about the unarmed ‘opposition’ in Syria?

• What were the main political parties that have stood against the Baath Party in the recent elections?

• In what circumstances would you be willing to work with the unarmed opposition?

• We heard that the son of the leader of one of the main political parties was assassinated just one day before the election.  Who do you think killed him and why?

• A member of the Communist Party is a minister in the new government.  What ministry does he have? Is the Syrian Communist Party aligned with any other communist party in the world?

• What are the different support bases and platforms of the armed and unarmed opposition?

• What motivates people to support the unarmed opposition rather than the armed opposition?

THE BOMBING (THE KILLING OF THE DEFENSE MINISTER AND OTHERS ON 18 JULY 2012)

• You say a lot of people are ‘glad’ about the bombing.  Who is glad and why?

• The Defense Minister was a Christian Syrian.  What has been the response of the Christian community to his killing?

• Another minister killed was a member of the Sunni community.  Is the Sunni community very divided about his killing?

• Syria is a secular country, so was the religion of those killed relevant to many people?

• If the FSA and other armed fighters kill more leaders and soldiers it could seriously undermine Syria’s defense capabilities.  Does it concern you that it could make it very difficult for Syria to successfully defend itself from, for example, an attack from Israel?

• There are signs that the Syrian army is still strong and united.  To topple the government it would be necessary to kill tens of thousands of loyal soldiers.  What belief or ideology can justify such large scale killing?  If the army is destroyed, Syria could become a terrorist stronghold; bloody fighting could continue for decades. Is this a concern for you?

ABDEL JABAR AL-AKAEDI, THE FSA, AND THE CRIMINAL REGIME

• The leader of the FSA, Abdel Al-Akaedi, describes the Syrian government as a ‘criminal regime’.  There are groups which are affiliated with Al-Qaeda fighting alongside the FSA. Moreover, the armed opposition has been accused of committing crimes against humanity, as has the Syrian government. Therefore, if the FSA did topple the Syrian government, how could it ensure it would not replace the government with a regime even more criminal than the current one?

• Abdel Al-Akaedi thanks God for the killing of the ministers.  Since the beginning of the Arab Spring in Syria, clerics have issued fatwas against the Syrian government. Also, in most videos showing the rebels fighting, you hear the rebels call out “Allahu Akbar”.   Syria is a secular country.  Is the fight against it predominantly a religious one?

• If it is not a religious fight, do you think the fatwas of extremist clerics and Al-Qaeda’s involvement should be condemned?

• Are you worried about extremist views dominating the armed opposition because that could lead to the killing of many innocent people based on their religious background?

• What is the ideology which incites ‘rebel’ fighters to kill soldiers and supporters of the government?

THE INFORMATION MINISTER

• The Information Minister accuses Arab and Western countries of being responsible for the bombing which led to the death of the Minister for Defense and others.  It has been public knowledge that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have funded and armed fighters for some time, and the U.S. is apparently giving assistance.   What other countries are involved in supporting the ‘rebel’ fighters?

• After 9/11, the U.S. ‘punished’ Iraq and Afghanistan and hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions displaced.  The Syrian Information Minister talks about countries which supply bullets to the rebels being ‘punished’.  Do you think Syria will try to do what the U.S. has done to Iraq and Afghanistan?

• Some Syrians believe that the U.S. works with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to support the armed opposition because the U.S. wants to punish Syria for resisting it.  Could that be true?

• Has Saudi Arabia and Qatar got any reason to ‘punish’ Syria?  They are the only Wahhabi states in the world.  Could they want to ‘punish’ Syria for being secular?

• It is said that Qatar wanted to pipe natural gas through Syria very cheaply and the president wouldn’t accept this.  Could Qatar be trying to ‘punish’ Syria for not agreeing to their offer?

THE PEOPLE AND THE VIOLENCE

• Tens of thousands of Syrians have been forced to leave their homes because of the fighting between soldiers and ‘rebel’ fighters.  Syria used to be considered a very safe country by travellers, but now there must be widespread fear in the country.  How long do you think it will be before it will be safe to travel or walk the streets again?

• There are reports that the Christian community in Homs has been particularly affected.  Have ‘rebels’ forced Christians to flee their homes in Homs as reported, and if so why?

• One of the earliest chants at demonstrations was, “Send Christians to Beirut, Send Alawis to their graves”.  Who is going to protect the millions of Christians and Alawis in Syria against the violence of those who support this chant? And who will support and protect the millions of other Syrians, the majority, who do not condone sectarian violence, who support secular Syria?

• You say over 300 people were martyred in the recent fighting.  Does that include the soldiers killed in the fighting?

• Are soldiers killed while defending Syria considered to be martyrs?

• Damascus and Aleppo are the two most populous cities in Syria.  They have not supported the armed opposition; in fact, the cities were hardly affected by the fighting until recently.  Why haven’t they come out in support of the ‘revolution’?

• If millions of people in the two major cities don’t back the armed opposition and want peaceful reform instead, how is the fighting against the government going to play out?  Will it mean a lot of killing in those cities?

THE MEDIA – WHO TO TRUST

• You say you don’t watch Syrian television.  Many satellite television stations from across the Middle East are available to people in Syria, so what do you choose to watch?

• Are there any Syrian journalists you trust?

• There are many female journalists in Syria.  What other countries in the Middle East have so many female presenters and interviewers?

• Three Syrian journalists were assassinated some weeks ago in their office.  Who do you think was responsible for their killing?  Why were they targeted?  What was your response to their killing?

• There have been serious efforts to prevent the broadcasting of Syrian TV.  Who has been behind these efforts to censor Syrian TV channels and why?  Who does their censorship benefit?

• Do you think the main media outlets in other countries reflect the foreign policy of the governments of those countries? Would you agree with the following:

• Al-Jazeera presents the foreign policy of Qatar
• Alarabiya presents the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia
• The BBC presents the foreign policy of Britain
• CNN presents the foreign policy of the U.S?

• Since April 2011, quite a few reporters have apparently resigned from Al-Jazeera in protest against its reporting of the Arab Spring, particularly its reporting of events in Syria and Bahrain.  Has Al-Jazeera taken a partisan stand on Syria and become a participant in the crisis?

• What is Qatar’s position on Syria?

• The emir of Qatar has expressed opposition to the Syrian government and committed a lot of money to the rebel cause.  Do you think he could influence Al-Jazeera’s reporting of the crisis in Syria?  Would he lose face if the rebels didn’t win?

MASSACRES

• Do you expect the government to crack down more heavily on rebel fighters now because of the bombing?  You say you anticipate massacres.  Why?  What sort of massacres do you anticipate?

• Investigations suggest that anti-government fighters were responsible for the massacre in Al-Houla.  This is because those killed were supporters of the government.  Al-Qaeda has a presence in Syria.  Do you believe that fighters linked to Al-Qaeda were responsible for the massacre at Al Houla?

• There have been reports of assassinations of civilians, even children by anti-government fighters.  For example, in June a professor, her two children and her parents were killed in their home.  How do you control fighters who kill innocent civilians in this way?

• Sari Saoud was a young boy killed in Homs last year.  His mother claims he was killed by anti-government forces.  It appears that people responsible for his death wanted to use it as anti-government propaganda.  How commonly have children been killed in Syria for propaganda reasons?

• What is the response of Syrians when they hear stories about anti-government rebels killing innocent children and trying to blame the army and government for the deaths?

SUPPORT FROM COUNTRIES OR FROM THE ‘PEOPLE’

• The armed opposition has relied a lot on Saudi Arabia and Qatar for funds and arms.  You say you do not want to rely on any countries.  Would you like the UN Security Council to condemn countries which are supplying rebel fighters with weapons and funds?

• Who will provide fighters with arms if you don’t rely on these countries?

• You say you want support from the ‘people’.  What people would be willing to support the killing of soldiers and police as well as government supporters in Syria?

• What will you say to people to persuade them to donate to the efforts to violently overthrow the Syrian government?

• You say you don’t trust governments or politicians. Does that mean you are an anarchist?  Are there anarchists among the fighters?

• You criticize both Kofi Annan and Hillary Clinton.  Why?

• Kofi Annan didn’t attend the ‘Friends of Syria’ meeting, but Hillary Clinton did.  Does that suggest Clinton is a better ‘friend’ of Syria than Annan?

• Some of the members of “Friends of Syria” have been former colonizers of Syria, for example Turkey and France; some have tried to interfere in Syrian affairs before, for example, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.  Is there any country the Syrian people have reason to trust?

• What is your opinion of the Annan peace plan?  For it to be successful, there needs to be intense pressure on the countries funding the rebel fighters so the smuggling of weapons can stop and the fighting can stop.  Which countries would be willing to pressure Saudi Arabia and Qatar, for example, to stop their arming of the rebels?

• People normally cherish peace because they want to feel safe going about their everyday business.  When do you think children in Syria can play in the street again without fear?

• If the FSA and other fighters are not willing to negotiate now with the government, when do you think they will be willing to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict?

• What is your vision of a ‘good’ government which could replace the current Syrian government?

• Syria is virtually the only secular government in the Middle East.  What are the advantages and disadvantages to its being a secular government?

• Do you know any inspirational leaders who could lead and unite all the Syrian people behind them?

• You say the ‘Syrian street’ has become suspicious of the calls for intervention.  Of all the people and countries which help fund and arm the rebels, who does the ‘street’ trust?

• Al-Qaeda is involved in the fighting in Syria. Why hasn’t the U.S. been more vocal in its condemnation of Al-Qaeda’s involvement, do you think?  How supportive is the ‘Syrian street’ of this?

HEROES AND FIGHTERS – WHO ARE THEY?

• You say there have been heroes on the street.  Do you think there are heroes among the Syrian soldiers?

• What do you feel for all those mothers and wives whose sons and husbands are in the army?  Do you think most of them believe their loved ones are defending their country?

• Do you think the families of soldiers have mixed loyalties?  Do the families of the rebel fighters have mixed loyalties?

• There have been reports of young soldiers being abducted by the FSA and being forced to fight with them otherwise they would be killed.  This way of recruiting fighters could be very counter-productive, couldn’t it?

• For many people in Hama, Father Basil Nasser was a hero.  He was killed in the street when he was giving aid to someone who had been shot.  It is said Father Nasser was killed by armed men, not soldiers, but at some rallies of the opposition, Father Nasser’s photo is carried by members of the opposition to give the impression he was killed by soldiers.  How can we learn the truth about his killing?

• There were many huge pro-government rallies last year and early this year.  However, there are very few rallies now.  Is this because people have been intimidated and are now afraid to show their support for the government?

• Tens of thousands of Christian Syrians have been forced to flee Homs.  There are reports of some being killed by snipers.  Were there any heroes who tried to prevent the violence against them? How can we know who is killing whom in Syria?

• You say you don’t want people to come into your ‘poor’ country.  But there are reports of fighters from Libya, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon fighting in Syria.  Why makes them interested in your cause?  What unites you all?

WOMEN

• Are there many women like you who support the armed opposition?

• Syrian women are reputed to have more rights and freedom than almost all ME women.  What can women in Syria gain from the violence and the overthrow of the secular government?