State of Affairs in Syria

This Week the Focus will be on an long ongoing crisis in the Middle East that has been the focus of many for the past two years, this concerns the Syrian Civil War between forces loyal to the Government and Rebels calling themselves the Syrian National Coalition , what started out as a simple protest at the height of the Arab Spring has now engulfed both Syria and it’s neighbours in an ongoing conflict with heavy casualties on both sides, so far it seems that neither side is any closer to winning and so the violence and bloodshed continues.

                      

Initially I was fully in support of the cause of the rebellion and what was then perceived as a group of freedom fighters who wished to liberated from the tyrannical regime of President Basahar Al Assad ( or at least this is what some would have us believe), recent events however has left me to question as to whether overthrowing Assad is a good idea after all, sure he’s corrupt but is the SNC any better, the same as Assad or are they worse than him?. It took  me a long while to see the true face of the rebels presenting themselves as a small band of guerrillas struggling against oppression but their true nature is far more sinister  as it now public knowledge that these same rebels are allied with  several extremist terrorist groups most notable Al Qaeda.

                                                          

It is often said that if one has to choose between two evils then choose the lesser in this case letting Assad remain in power seems like a far less dangerous option than allowing the rebels to take control, while true that  Assad can be described as a dictator but the rebels are far worse than he could ever be as their connection to Islamic Fundamentalist groups make them  a dangerous threat to the peace and security of the country and indeed the region, already in areas where they have majority control there have been incidents of extreme violence against all those who do not conform to their religious views which is cause for concern especially for Christians living in the area, at least Assad never tried to curtail freedom of religion as a matter of fact the constitution of Syria protects religious freedom.

               

This is by no means to be taken as an attack against all Muslims, just the extremist ones after all Assad and many in his regime are Muslims themselves but they are not in the business of imposing Sharia law like the rebels, if they are allowed to take control, Syria will soon resemble post 1979-Iran ruled by Allatoyahs, where all women would be required to wrap themselves in black from head to toe  or legalizing so called “Honour Killings” . Some would argue that not all within the SNC are Islamic fanatics or associated with Al Qaeda, this might very well be true but it only points to another issue of contention, the rebels are clearly not united under one banner, sure they all hate Assad and want him at very least gone (if not dead), but after that what next? How are they going to pick up the pieces with so much infighting? Clearly they don’t have what it takes to lead a country if they can’t even sort out their internal differences and get their act together.

                      

I’m also equally concerned about the reaction of International Community particularly western countries who seem to be lining up in support of the rebellion completely ignoring all the dangers therein, have they all forgotten the war on terror already? Or do they simply think that Al Qaeda is no longer a threat with Bin Laden dead  and as for Israel, they would do well not too belligerent towards Assad, should Syria fall into the hand of the rebels, they will present a far greater threat of Israeli National Security, I’ll be the first to admit President Assad is no friend of Israel but like I said before choose the lesser to two evils and as for the West, supporting the rise  another IslamicTheocracy under  will most certainly not be in their best interest, apparently Russian President Putin is one of the few that does sense the danger coming and decides that he would be better served supporting the regime.

Let me wrap by saying that I am by no means a supporter of the Assad Regime indeed I would feel much better to see the back of him, but putting the SNC in charge when they are known to associate with terrorist is most definitely not the solution. The task to remove Assad is a noble one but not like this, not while the wolves are at the door waiting to come in, Assad gone is a desirable  objective  but in doing so, the people of Syria must take care that do not find themselves out of the frying pan and into the fire.