Revolutionary socialists oppose the dictatorship of the Arab-socialist Ba'ath Party, but cannot give political support to these sectarian rebels. The Free Syrian Army is made up of former soldiers and young people. Many of these young people don't have military discipline and with a gun, they are more then just a freedom fighter. They have power over life and death, this power can be abused and abused it has been.
The Islamists of the Al-Nusra Front have shown that they willing to kill secular Syrians and all who oppose their quest for a Islamic Emirate of Syria. Even the leadership of the FSA has no control over the 10.000 Al-Nusra Fighters. Next to Al-Nusra there are members of the Syrian Islamic Liberation Army. A smaller Islamic group that fights to establish a Islamic Syria. The rise of these radical Muslims has turned Syria into a sectarian civil war.
During the first year of the uprising, the main battle forces were the Syrian Armed Forces ( SAF ) and the secular Free Syrian Army. But on January 21 of 2012, the Al-Nusra Front was formed by Islamic fundamentalists who wanted to impose strict Sharia rule in Syria. These fighters of Al-Nusra soon behaved like Taliban terrorists. Killing civilian Al-Assad supporters and intimidating other rebels who oppose them!
Fighters from Al-Nusra are mostly angry young Syrians who's hatred for Bashar Al-Assad has made them blind. Hate is now a driving force for many Islamists, after been forced to live in a secular dictatorship for more then 40 years. The main suppliers for the Islamists come from anti-secular Islamic kingdoms like Saudi-Arabia and Qatar. There is a sectarian reason why they support the Al-Nusra rebels. The ruling tribe of Bashar Al-Assad is made up of Shia Muslims. Most Islamic nations are populated by Sunni Muslims. Only the Islamic Republic of Iran has a dominated Shia Muslim population. The Sunni Islamic regimes in Saudi-Arabia and Qatar would love to destroy a secular regime ruled by Shia Muslims!
On march 18 of 2013, the USA has said that they will no longer oppose the selling of western guns to Syrian rebels. Meanwhile the SAF is still supplied by Russian made weapons. Russia and Iran have supported the Al-Assad regime for many years. Russia needs a stable regime in Syria, because the Russian Navy is using Syrian bases for its fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Alawites are the tribe of Bashar Al-Assad and the ruling force in Syria since 1971. Hafez Al-Assad was a Alawite and his son Bashar also follows the Alawite Shia Islamic faith. Since the Syrian civil war became more brutal so did the Syrian Alawite dominated government. Every day the SAF is killing rebels, woman, children and innocent people. Meanwhile the Islamic Al-Nusra Front is doing the same thing. Car bombs are killing many innocent people. Even the secular FSA has turned to terrorist actions as the civil war is becoming more bloody.
Bashar Al-Assad claims that all rebels are terrorists But he is forgetting that he made these people terrorists. His government started with the killings in 2011 and it is his SAF that is killing more then 50 people every day. In acts of revenge the Al-Nusra Front and FSA, launch terrorist attacks against members of the Alawite tribe and all who oppose their ''Syrian Revolution''.
2,5 million Syrians are Christians. Many of them support the Alawite dominated government out of fear for the Islamists. Because Syrian State Television makes not effort in hiding the crimes of the Islamists. At the same time the state tv is not telling the crimes of the SAF and the secret police. Syrians who support the government get a picture of a brutal rebel army fighting against a reformed Syrian secular government!
Yet the rebel media is slow in telling the true either. Some rebels love to film their crimes and posting them on you-tube. There are enough short movies about executions carried out by Al-Nusra and FSA fighters. For the Syrian State Television this is great propaganda and they use it in many of their shows. Because of that, many state journalists are now a target for rebels who would gladly kill them!
Propaganda is a great tool in the Syrian civil war and both sides use it. For the Syrian rebels, you-tube is a popular media station. Also the western media and Al-Jazeera have a pro-rebel view on the conflict. On the other side of the conflict, the Syrian State Television is forced to use internet too, as the Arab League has banned all Syrian state networks from broadcasting using Arab television networks. The Russian network RT has been a pro-government network since the start of the conflict. RT is showing most crimes of the rebels and keeps more silent about the government crimes. The same thing can be said about the pro-rebel networks like Al-Jazeera, who tell you stories about Syrian government crimes against Syrians, yet they keep a little silent about the terrorist attacks by rebels!
With the USA now selling weapons to Syrian rebels and Russia keeps supplying the Syrian government. This civil war is far from over. Revolutionary socialists have only one solution to the war. No support to dictator Bashar Al-Assad and no support to the Al-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army. Syrians must unite against the dictatorial government and the sectarian rebels. There must be no hate against Alawites and Shia Muslims. Supporters of the Syrian government are not that pro-Assad as the rebel media think their are. Most supporters of the Syrian government want reforms and even democracy. They only fear the chaos and the Islamic rebels.
The task must be to build alliances for mutual protection and security of all threatened neighborhoods and anyone who refuses to be drawn into this sectarian civil war, irrespective of all religious and ethnic boundaries. Alongside this, working people need their own independent movement against both Bashar Al-Assad, sectarian forces and imperialism!
The situation on march 18 of 2013
Blue circles say that it is unknown who owns the town/city
Green circles belong to the Syrian government
Brown circles belong to the Syrian rebels
