Tag Archives: Syria

The Lebanonization Of the SNC?

Posted on by Mustapha

Hanin Ghaddar:

The Syrian National Council is suffering from March 14 syndrome. The obsession with power and media attention ruined their ability to stand up for the people, who are the main reason the revolution still has momentum. Exactly like March 14, the SNC still cannot agree on what kind of state they want after Assad leaves power.

Although I see her point, I’m not sure this is a fair characterization of what ails March 14 and the SNC. These parties don’t have a vision problem: They both envision a democratic country with a level playing field where one party cannot impose its will on the other with weapons and physical violence. The problems they’re facing are execution and the temptations of vanity and power.

Also, it is unfair to compare March 14 to the SNC. When there was an big, obvious injustice committed against the Lebanese (assassination of a prime Minister), the people united and got together in the form of March 14 and faced the threat. When the injustice became more subtle and less visible (Hezbollah’s long-term threat to the Lebanese state), the unity gave way to politics as usual. It is unforgivable that the SNC is behaving now –as the Syrian people is being bombed to smithereens– like March 14 are behaving after a long bout of fatigue and politics-as-usual.

Free Syrian Army… I salute you [Guest Post]

Posted on by Mustapha

Guest contributor Haytham Elkhoja wants to salute the Free Syrian Army (FSA). He explains why in this post.

—–

So I’m following up closely what’s happening in Syria and I can’t stop asking my self how come Syria never used that eminent army of theirs to free the occupied territory in the Golan heights.
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah wants to fool his followers that he’s supporting Syria’s regime because it is fiercely anti-Israeli and pro-resistance … but is it really?

Here are the facts:

  • Syria’s army carried out more military actions against Hezbollah than it ever did against Israel
  • Syria’s army carried out more military actions against the Lebanese army than it ever did against Israel
  • Syria’s army carried out more military actions against the Lebanese war militias than it ever did against Israel
  • Syria’s army carried out more military actions against the Palestinian camps than it ever did against Israel
  • Syria’s army carried out more military actions against its own people in 1982 than it ever did against Israel
  • Syria’s army carried out more military actions against Michel Aoun’s army than it ever did against Israel
  • Syria’s army carried out more military actions against its own people in 2011-2012 than it ever did against Israel

Moreover, Syria’s army carried out more military actions against Lebanese politicians (using their secret service or moukhabarat) than it ever did against Israeli diplomats and politicians
The last time Syria fired a bullet in the Golan was during the Six-Day war in 1967… and what a failure that was.

I was watching a heated discussion last time on Al Jazeera when a spokesman to the Free Syrian Army gave me the goosebumps when he passionately yelled:

“If the Syrian army would have used all that power used in Homs, they would have liberated the Golan height a long time ago” (My translation doesn’t do justice to the authenticity and sincerity of his voice.
The full show can be viewed here. )

To the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian people… I salute you.

Syrian Activists Using Carrier Pigeons to Communicate?

Posted on by Mustapha

Very nice story (French) to share. But I looked at the YouTube video and something felt wrong. I finally realized what it is: It’s really weird to use a cellphone camera to take a video of a message being sent by a carrier pigeon, and then upload that video to YouTube. Why not send the message using a cellphone in the first place?

I’m not saying it’s fake, I’m just wondering. Perhaps the receivers don’t have internet access because they’re being bombarded? But would a pigeon fly into an area that is being shelled?

Hezbollah’s Guide To Fighting Assad’s Army

Posted on by Mustapha

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has managed to resist Israel’s invading army –the region’s most powerful armed force– by successfully deploying guerrilla tactics in what is known as an asymmetric war (where one side is much more powerful than the other).

Bashar el Assad’s powerful Syrian army is waging an equally unbalanced war against the lightly armed Free Syrian Army (FSA). What would Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah advise the FSA to do in order to emerge victorious? Below are some of the tips he would have given the leaders of the FSA had he not decided to side with the forces of aggression:

  • When the enemy is attacking, lay low. The point is to fight the enemy when its guards are down and is least expecting it. So with all the indiscriminate shelling happening today in Syria, the best thing the FSA can do is to wait and conserve its energy.
  • Attack where the enemy is least prepared: The Syrian army is on the offensive in Homs and Zabadani? Attack in Deraa and Aleppo.
  • Keep the propaganda war on: You’re the weak party that is being constantly pummeled by a stronger one. The aim is to lower the morale of your enemy’s soldiers and convince them that they’re fighting an unjust war. It is also to show the world that your enemy is an aggressor.
  • Use your community’s support to your advantage. When the enemy approaches, melt away in the population. Burry your weapons in a safe place and don civilian clothes. The soldier can’t stay around forever. Occupation costs money.
  • Use kidnapping, creative “qualitative operations” and deception. Those generate high publicity and raise the costs of protecting the enemy’s soldiers.
  • Remember that the aim is to wear down the enemy, not to deliver a knockout blow.

And finally, always remember that things may take time, but be confident that in the end you will emerge victorious.

Lebanese Shias Who Support The Syrian Revolution

Posted on by Mustapha

They have formed a Facebook group. In Lebanese code-speak, “Lebanese from the south” is a euphemism for people who live in majority-Shiaa areas that overwhelmingly vote for Hezbollah.

Such initiatives are helpful because, although small, they form symbolic and important stereotype-breakers. Like Egyptian copts who protected Muslim revolutionaries while praying in Cairo and Fadwa Suleiman, the pro-revolution Syrian Alawit celebrity, they are useful counterpoints to people who see the revolutions in purely sectarian lights.

Read more about this group in English here. (Thanks Imad)