Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 09:42 AM Feb 2012

Al-Zawahri calls on AQ and Jihadists to join the Syrian Sunni uprising

Last edited Sun Feb 12, 2012, 12:20 PM - Edit history (15)

Okay folks, it's now official - we're allies (again) with Al-Qaeda in yet another religious war in the Mideast/Persian Gulf.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/us-syria-zawarhi-idUSTRE81B05320120212

Al Qaeda leader backs Syrian revolt against Assad

By Martina Fuchs

DUBAI | Sun Feb 12, 2012 2:05am EST

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a video recording posted on the Internet on Sunday, urged Syrians not to rely on the West or Arab governments in their uprising to topple President Bashar al-Assad. In the eight-minute video, entitled "Onwards, Lions of Syria" and posted on an Islamist website, the Egyptian-born Zawahri also urged Muslims in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan to come to the aid of Syrian rebels confronting Assad's forces.

"Wounded Syria still bleeds day after day, while the butcher, son of the butcher Bashar bin Hafiz (Hafez al-Assad), is not deterred to stop," Zawahri, wearing his white turban and seated against a green curtain, said.

"But the resistance of our people in Syria despite all the pain, sacrifice and bloodshed escalates and grows," he added.

Zawahri took command of al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces in a raid in Pakistan last May.


Also, yesterday, came news that the fighting in Syria between Sunnis and Shi'ia has spilled over into neighboring Lebanon. See,
http://news.ph.msn.com/top-stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5872590

The Saudis and their allies of convenience in the region are again pushing the U.S. into yet another round of an ongoing and expanding religious war against Shi'ia Iran and its regional allies.

Holy wars aren't something that most Americans understand very well. This isn't just about pro-democracy demonstrators versus bad dictators. Scratch the surface, and one sees the uprising against Assad is rooted in ancient religious difference and clan-based blood vendettas that go back centuries.

***

The ruling Syrian Ba'ath Party is predominantly Alawite, a Shi'ia sect, and the civil war continues the "long campaign of terror" by the Sunnis in the 1970s and 1980s against the Assad regime. That bloody revolt, which ended in the 1982 massacre of Sunni rebels in the city of Hama, had its origins in centuries of religious clashes and the many years the Shi'ia minority were a persecuted minority in Syria until a 1964 coup brought the Ba'ath Party, led by the Assad family, into power. See,

#
Terrorism in Syria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Syria Cached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
From 1976 to 1982, Sunni Islamists fought the Ba'ath Party-controlled government of Syria in what has been called "long campaign of terror". Islamists attacked ...
#
Hama massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre Cached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
From 1976 to 1982, Sunni Islamists fought the Ba'ath Party-controlled government of Syria in what has been called "long campaign of terror". In 1979 the ...
#
Islamic uprising in Syria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_uprising_in_Syria
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
The uprising was aimed against the authority of the Ba'ath Party-controlled government of Syria, in what has been called "long campaign of terror". During the ...
#

That's the context most of the western media and the pro-regime change propagandists aren't giving the public. Most coverage is entirely one-sided and fails to provide any historical context that might explain why the Syrians are killing each other. The escalating civil war in Syria is essentially part of an expanding regional religious war, and the west is being pushed into the middle of it by powerful, wealthy interests and a massive propaganda blitz. Enemy of my enemy . . . this stuff goes back millenia, and we're being played into taking sides, yet again.

***

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Al-Zawahri calls on AQ an...