Syria’s Foreign Rebels Demand Islamic State
Rebels Say Democracy Out of the Question for Post-Assad Syria
From the moment the first defectors from the Syrian military took up arms against the Assad regime, rebels have couched their fight as an extension of pro-democracy protests that erupted across Syria. But as the rebellion is increasingly composed of foreign fighters, many religiously motivated, their agenda has changed.
Far from Western assumptions that removing Assad and installing the rebels would mean a “Free Syria,” the Islamist rebels are demanding an Islamist state, with a harsh brand of Sharia law and Sunni clergy given positions of significant power. Democracy, let alone a secular state that respects religious minorities is for them out of the question.
This shouldn’t be surprising. After all, the rebellion has changed dramatically from the days when military defectors were the rank-and-file soldiers. It is now a sectarian civil war, and despite US efforts to sequester the al-Nusra Front from the rest of the rebellion, it seems the fighters have more in common with the al-Qaeda-backed rebel group than the Western nations that continue to support them.
This is a long-term concern, as many of these fighters are pledging to continue the fight against whoever replaces Assad if they don’t get their way. Much as with Libya, the current civil war could set the stage for another one.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
- Karzai Govt Wants US to End Village Militia Training - January 14th, 2013
- West African Army Chiefs Approve Escalation of Mali War - January 14th, 2013
- Terror Alert in France as Mali Invasion Escalates - January 14th, 2013
- Eight Children Among 45 Slain as Syria Pounds Damascus Suburbs - January 14th, 2013
- Panetta: US Pledges to Aid French Invasion of Mali - January 14th, 2013
mlnw
January 14th, 2013 at 9:52 pm
This one must be laid at the doorstep of Hillary Clinton and her cronies in this project, Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Jeffrey Feltman and Amb. Robert Ford. Working with jihadists was nothing new for the Clintons- it has been reported that Hillary's husband's Administration cultivated and helped train jihadists through hundreds of madrassas set up in the mid to late 1990s throughout the Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Balkans, and did so with the help of our proxy, Turkey, using a Turkish imam front man, Fethullah Gulen and U.S. CIA trainers. Now the U.S. is experiencing blowback. We've already felt the jihadist consequences from our dealings with bin Laden (if not in 9/11- since his involvement was always questioned by experts, even if the government, including Obama cashed in big time on his name and his death- but for the Cole attack and the embassy bombings in East Africa) What foolishness. Now it is becoming clear to everyone that the big loser has not only been "human rights" for the Syrian people, but also "democracy" whatever that was ever intended to mean, and in the very words of whom? those whom we supported to overthrow Qadaafi in Libya, purportedly to bring it "democracy". So, who are the bobos with egg on their face and blood on their hands? maybe Hillary and her cronies? And what has become of their foreign policy of conflict and chaos? Hopefully, one day they will all be held to account for it.
Marcy B
January 15th, 2013 at 1:11 am
Wow! Have you ever…
Ditz seem genuinely shocked to finally learn some inconvenient facts about our "freedom fighters", defending "democracy, western values and humanity" (whatever) against Sauron´s evil forces in Syria.
For a non-american, from a real legitimate country not built upon the bones of it´s genocided natives with a history, culture and traditions of it´s own however, the most shocking is the black & white mind of these restless maniacs, still running around the world killing, building fort´s and reservations
Oso Politico
January 15th, 2013 at 2:11 am
What a surprise!