100.000 Syrians have died since Bashar Al-Assad ordered his troops to shoot at unarmed demonstrators. The killing of his own people triggered defections from soldiers who opposed killing innocent civilians. Out of these defectors came the Free Syrian Army ( FSA ). Although some young Syrians joined its ranks most of its fighters were former soldiers. By 2012, radical Muslims with money from Saudi-Arabia, created Islamic combat group. A ruthless and cruel group is the Al-Nusra Front. These fundamentalist Muslims want to create an Islamic Emirate of Syria, must like the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under Taliban rule ( 1996-2001 ). Al-Nusra does not care about civilians, they murder anyone who is not supporting their Islamic theocracy. Like the Afghan Mujaheddin, they want to destroy the secular nature of Syria and replace it with an theocracy that favors Sunni Islam!
This civil war is no longer about freedom and dictatorship. Although it started as a popular uprising it degenerated into a civil war, which turned more sectarian every day. The criminal Al-Assad regime is using a secular mask to fight the rebels. Claiming that the government is secular and fighter for a none-theocratic Syria. Meanwhile Shia Islamic forces are joining Bashar Al-Aassad to fight the Sunni Islamic rebels. The civil war is now a sectarian Islamic conflict between Shia Muslims loyal to Bashar Al-Assad and Sunni Muslims who have always been oppressed by the Syrian government!
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been an ally of Syria since the start of the civil war. Like the tribe of Al-Assad, the government of Iran is Shia Islamic. This is why the Islamic world is not really supportive of the theocracy in Tehran. Because 2/3 of all Muslims are Sunni Islamic, only in Iran, Azerbaijan en parts of Iraq do Shia Muslims they make up the majority of religious people. Not only the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is active in Syria, the Shia Islamic party called Hezbollah is sending its militia to aid Al-Assad. Hezbollah means Party of God, they are a fundamentalist right-wing party, that wants to create a Shia Islamic theocracy in Lebanon. Although the militia's of Hezbollah entred Syria to fight for Al-Assad, it is reported that the party suffered many casualties. By October 2013, Hezbollah moved 1.200 troops out of Syria!
Sunni Islamic rebels sometimes behaved very cruel and downright evil. On You-Tube they posted video's about the capture and killing of government soldiers. But not only government soldiers are murdered, innocent civilians like truck drivers are halted and shot in the face by these reactionary criminals. A You-Tube video shows a group of Islamic rebels halting a convoy of three empty trucks. The drivers are forced out of their vehicles and seem to talk with the commander of the group. After a few minutes the men are forced to lay on the ground and then get shot by the Islamic rebels. This is only one story of the killings carried out by reactionary forces in Syria!
Some Muslim teenagers from Europe have joined the Islamic rebels in Syria. These young teens have been indoctrinated into fighting for Jihad against the Syrian government. Many Muslim boys face racial hated and discrimination from none-Islamic Europeans. They feel isolated and ''not wanted'' in Europa. Because of their isolation, many search for comfort inside their religion. This is how they are recruited into fighting for Jihad in Syria. Norwegian police thinks that at least 40 young Norwegian Muslims, have joined the Islamic rebels in fighting the Al-Assad regime!
But Bashar Al-Assad and his Syrian Armed Forces are not less cruel. They however do not film their cruelty and killings. Unlike the Islamic rebels, the SAF likes to keep their crimes a secret. Syrian State Television is only broadcasting the crimes of the rebels, which is made easy thanks to You-Tube were the reactionaries posted their crimes for all to see. Also because the Islamic rebels are paid by Saudi-Arabia, the Syrian government can use its old anti-imperialist rhetoric. Because the western world has declared that the Syrian National Council is the only legitimate government. Many leftists have embraced the lies of Bashar Al-Assad because his government used to be against the western world. But after the death of Hafez Al-Assad, his youngest son turned towards capitalism and deregulations. Capitalist reforms led to poverty as many Syrians could not work under market demands. It is this poverty that also fuels the uprising!
Revolutionary socialists oppose western intervention. We think that NATO nations only serve the needs of the international ruling class. This why they did not attack Syria, unlike Libya were they rushed to aid the Libyan rebels in their fight against Muammar Gaddafi. Now after two years, Libya remains a failed state. Armed militia's kidnap ministers and government officials to enforce their demands. Frustration is growing in Libya because of the chaos and poverty. This is the result of the 2011 NATO intervention!
If someone asks us what is the side we choose, the answer is simple: that of the working class and poor masses! The role of socialists is to support the creation of independent organizations of the working class and poor, their self-control and defence, fight against the Al-Assad brutal dictatorship, but without having any illusions in the ruling class and western imperialism or in the Islamic rebels, who have nothing to offer to the working class, except more death and misery!
What we say:
No to imperialist intervention! Withdraw of all the foreign troops from Syria and the region!
Against all oppression, the people should democratically decide their own destiny!
For the building of united defence committees, to defend the workers and the poor against sectarian attacks from both sides.
For a Revolutionary Constituent Assembly in Syria!
Implementation of democratic and nationality rights for all, acknowledging the right of self-determination of the Kurdish people.
For the building of independent trade unions
Build a worker’s party, with a programme that fights for land rights and socialist programme of public ownership and workers’ control of the key sectors of the economy
For a democratic and socialist confederation of the Middle East and North Africa.
Islamic rebel forces as of November 2013
The Islamic Front has united most Islamic rebels!
