www.kriter.org - why the ...Assad Regime is that BARBARIC?

Religion in Syria, and all the Middle-East, had and still has a huge influence. Up to the 7th century, Syria, and the rest of the Arab world, was divided between the 2 super powers of that time; the Romans and the Persians. In that same century, Islam started from the holy city of Mecca in Arabia and quickly formed a powerful state and spread across the border.
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The Islamic Arab State liberated Syria and the rest of the Arab countries in North Africa from the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire itself survived that impact and retreated to its European territory north of the Mediterranean. The Islamic Arab State also liberated Iraq and the Gulf States from the Persian Empire which was not as lucky as the Roman one; the Arabs continued their march into Persia where they crushed the Empire. Syria, and the rest of the Arab countries, adapted Islam since then. Two important incidents in the history of Islam took place and changed the face of the Islamic World in general, and Syria in particular.

The Shiite factor
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Right after Prophet Mohammed passed away in the 7th century (632 AD), a conflict appeared about who will rule after him. A minority wanted the power to stay in the family of the Prophet as a dynasty starting with his cousin Ali, they were known after that as the Shiites. Whereas the majority voted to give the power to the Prophet’s closest companion with the approval of the rest, and that was what happened, they were known later as the Sunnis. Leaders from both parties were assassinated, each at the hand of the other, and that conflict led to a lot of wars and battles that claimed the lives of millions from both. Unfortunately, that 14 centuries old conflict is still alive today. The Muslims around the World today are about 2,000,000,000, about 90% of them are Sunnis and 10% only are Shiites.
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Shiites at the beginning flourished in Iraq, but they never became a majority there or in any other country at that tim
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And, as I said, they are still a minority among the World Muslims today.

The Allawite factor
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In the 9th century, a Shiite man of Persian origins called Bin Nosier appeared in Iraq and claimed first to be (The Door) to reach their (Imam), or the spiritual leader, but he was denied that by all the Shiite leaders. Then he claimed to be a Prophet, and was denied again, so he finally claimed to be God. Poverty and illiteracy around there helped the man to find believers and followers. He also convinced them that there is no “Day of Judgment”, and if they obey him, their souls will be rewarded by returning after death in new-born human bodies. Bin Nosier and his followers, who are known today as the Allawites, did not notice that having such a religion with such believes in a 12th century conservative country would be suicidal.
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Even though the Allawites split originally from the Shiites of Iraq, but all the Muslims there at that time, mostly the Shiites, condemned and outlawed the new sect right away.
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Therefore, and to save their lives, the Allawites had to run away from Iraq; they moved west to Syria which had no Shiites at that time. They settled in the high mountains north of the Mediterranean and isolated themselves in little and closed societies. They worked in farming and smuggling, but avoided mixing with the locals in fear of being harmed; they lived in poverty, illiteracy and hatred ever after. Syria has always been a conservative country with a Sunni Muslim majority, but the people there managed to co-exist with all new immigrants including the Allawites, and history does not mention any massacre against them in Syria by the Syrians. But the Allawites showed no gratitude or loyalty to their new country; they helped and cooperated with all the foreign armies which invaded Syria since then, from the Mongols in the 10th. century to the French in twentieth century, and did not miss any opportunity to participate in war crimes against the Syrian people. The French and the British imposed a mandate on the Greater Syria after WWI, divided it to four parts where Britain ruled Jordan and Palestine and France ruled Lebanon and what was left of Syria. After WWII, Britain and France withdrew, and the once “one country” has become four since then. By the time France was preparing to leave Syria, some of the Allawite honoraries signed a letter to the French, begging them not to leave. One of those honoraries was the current Assad’s great grandfather.

The Assad Sr. Era
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After Syria got independence from France back in 1946, it suffered 9 military coups in 24 years. The last coup took place in 1970 and was led by an Alliwite General named Hafez Assad, the current Bachar Assad’s father. That year marked the beginning of the bloodiest era of Syria’s modern history. The Syrians today are about 23 million; the Allawites make about 5%. Another 25% of the Syrians belong to other minorities like Kurds, Christians, Armenians, Shiites, Druze and others, whereas about 70% are Arab Sunni Muslims. The Allawite, as I mentioned, do not believe in God as the other religions do. They believe that their God lives in the body of their leader, and when that leader dies, the soul of God transfers to his son or to the next leader. Some of you here may say ‘People are free to believe or not to believe in what they want, so what is the big deal of the Allawits?’ My respond to that is yes, people are free to choose the God they want to worship, but they are not free to kill other people because they want freedom and democracy. The Allawites believe that the orders of Assad, including those of slaughtering or burning his opponents, are the orders of God. That point in particular explains their barbaric practices against the civilians, including children and women, without feeling any guilt. A lot of torture survivors narrated that during the torturing in the security branches, and when the victims ask their interrogators, who are mostly Allawites, to have mercy on them by the name of God, the interrogators then ask the victims: Which God do you mean, yours or ours? Our God, Assad, ordered us not to have any mercy on you. When Assad Sr. came to power in 1970, it was the first time a person from that sect had become the head of state in Syria. Before that date, the Syrians didn’t pay much attention to the sectarian issue. But after that coup, they started questioning the man’s eligibility, as a minority, to rule Syria against the will of the majority. Assad Sr. had a historic chance at that time to build bridges of love and forgiveness between his self-isolated sect and the rest of the Syrians. He lost that chance when he decided to act like a dictator, and dictators usually destroy, not build.
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Therefore he decided that in order for him to stay in power, he had to rule with iron and fire and also to commit massacres to keep the majority, which hates him, under control. The worst one of all took place in 1982, the massacre of the city of Hama, which is also considered the worst in the second half of the last century worldwide; about 50 thousand civilians were brutally killed, mostly slaughtered and burned alive, in days. Suspiciously, both the West and East ignored that barbaric massacre by looking the opposite way
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He also decided to militarize the whole Syria; with keeping all the key jobs in government in the hands of his sect, especially those in the army, security and intelligence
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He kept the closest key positions to himself and his first family members. He also attracted the rich from the Sunni majority and the other minorities to back him in return for helping them in increasing their fortunes. Those ‘Turncoats’ were as criminal as him.

The Assad Jr. Era
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Hafez Assad became sick and passed away in the year 2000. His son, Bachar, a 37 years old eye doctor who had his training in Britain, took over. His fathers’ top officers orchestrated a phony referendum for him where he won about 95% of the vote.
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The Syrians at the beginning were a little bit optimistic with the young new ruler, but they didn’t have to wait too long to discover they were wrong. Shortly after Bachar promised freedom and democracy in the year 2000, he put those who were fooled by his promises in jail. Five years later, Syrians from all classes peacefully requested freedom and democracy again, but he, again, responded the same way, proving that he is no one but his father’s son.

( Slide 18 In that year (2005),
political inmates in Saidnaya’s Military prison clashed with the guards over demands for better treatment. The crisis was settled with a massacre where about 1000 prisoners were murdered in cold blood.

Slide 19Even though the Syrians were the last to join the Arab Spring in 2011, but they did
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Middle school kids from the southern city of Daraa wrote graffiti on their school walls saying ‘Down with Assad’. The kids were arrested and taken to a secret police station where their nails were savagely pulled off by pliers. When their parents asked for their release, the officer in charge, Assad’s cousin, laughed and said to them “You have to forget about those kids, so go and make others”. The very next day, March 15, 2011, hundreds, then thousands, of peaceful demonstrators started to take to the streets, marking the beginning of the revolution
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It was kept peaceful for the first six months, but, even thought, Assad gave his soldiers orders to shoot to kill Slide 22The children were primary targets to force the parents to stop the revolution
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But, soon, a lot of regular army officers and soldiers started to defect and form the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA); it has more than 100 thousand fighters now.
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Both Assads, in a way, trapped most of their fellow Allawites by keeping them in poverty and by not offering them decent education. (
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Instead, they offered them jobs in the army, security and militias so they can use them as killing machines against the people when needed
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The majority of the Allawites still worships Assad and, that is why they are ready to fight for him to the end.
Slide 27As they wrote on the walls, they are ready to burn the whole country and kill everybody else for the sake of Assad’s blessing
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Only a few of the Allawites managed to have higher education and to mix with other cultures, those Allawites rejected silly believes such as Assad is God and some of them are even in the opposition and believe that Assad is a war criminal and should be brought to justice .
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Today, after two years, about 100 thousand Syrian civilians have lost their lives, 200 thousands disappeared with no trace, more than 5 millions became refugees in or outside Syria, and the revolution is still going.
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Let’s now move to the second question and find out who is still supporting that ghoulish regime to keep it alive and why? The Assad supporters Iran
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The Iran which we see today is mainly what was left from the collapse of the Persian Empire in the 7th century at the hand of the new born Islamic Arab state. The Iranians adopted the Sunni Islamic theology along with all the Arab and Non-Arab countries which went under the control of the new state. In the 16th century, the face of Iran and its future changed forever when the Shiite Safawi Dynasty ruled the country. That Dynasty pledged to restore the glory of the Persian Empire that collapsed about 900 years earlier, this time by forcing the Shiite theology into Iran and the neighboring countries. The Safawis gave the Iranians at that time 3 choices; becoming Shiite, leaving the country or being killed. A lot of massacres took place, and Iran, soon after, became a country with a Shiite majority. The Safawies also managed to control more territories outside Iran, like eastern Iraq, the Gulf States and Oman. They did the same with those populations. The reign of that Dynasty lasted about 2 ½ centuries, until it was removed by an invasion from outside. The Sunnis regained power in Iran then, but the majority of the Iranians was already Shiite. Because the Sunnis are considered moderate Muslims, they did not force the Iranian people to switch back to their Sunni theology
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The Shiites came back to power in Iran with Imam Al-Khomeini in 1979 through a bloody revolution; he brought with him the Safawie project to restore the glory of the Persian Empire by forming the so-called The Shiite Crescent from Iran to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
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Therefore, they established in Lebanon in the Eighties a militia called “Hezbullah”, The Party of God, from the Shiite Lebanese. That militia is in control of the political decisions in Lebanon today.
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They also managed to control the whole of Iraq after the USA withdrew 2 years ago. The current Iraqi government is dominated by Shiite Iraqis. The Sunnis are marginalized with no real power, even though they make about 50% of the whole population including the Kurds. The Iranians also established another Shiite militia in Iraq called “Jaish Al Muhdi” The Army of the Savior, to fasten their grip around country. President Bush added Iran to his “Axis of Evil” in the year 2002, and the policy of that country is even more evil now. Even though the Shiites and the Allawites are historical enemies, they agreed to forget their bloody history and work together, so each one can achieve its goal. I believe that if Syria, under an imaginary scenario, falls completely under the control of Shiite Iran, the Allawites in Syria would be the first to be massacred by the Iranians. Iran, for the last 4 decades, has invested billions of dollars in Syria. It is considering it one of its provinces, as an Iranian clergy stated a few days ago. That is why Iran is the main supporters of Assad regime with fighters, arms and money. It ordered its militias in Iraq and Lebanon to go to Syria to prevent the fall of Assad. Russia
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The Russia we see today is what is left from the old Soviet Union; the country president Reagan once called “The Evil Empire”. The evil still rules there, but with a new face. This country was and still is the main arms supplier of Assad’s forces. Both Assads, in return, let the Russians have military bases in Syria; on land and sea. The most important one is the naval base in the city port of Tartous. The Russians lost a major Arab ally lately, which was Kaddafi of Libya, and lost another one 10 years ago, which was Saddam Husain of Iraq. It looks and sounds like they will not give up Assad easily as he is the last Arab leader they can call an ally. The Russian secretary of state, Lavrov, is now also called “The Syrian secretary of state in charge” because he makes more statements on behalf of Syria than his Syrian counterpart. The Russian ambassador to the Security Council twice vetoed resolutions that would stop the crimes of the Assad against the Syrians. China
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Communist China is the second arms supplier to the Assad regime. It was and still is one of the major countries in the world where human lives have no value. So talking about human rights in China would sound like a joke. We all still remember the massacre of 1989 in Tiananmen Square when the regime brought in the tanks and killed thousands of students who were asking for freedom and democracy. China today is not different from that China; it is still a supporter of the most evil regimes in the worlds like those of Iran, Burma and North Korea. It has a lot of economic projects and investments in Syria and it will not give up the Assad regime easily. The Chinese ambassador to the Security Council backed his Russian counterpart in vetoing twice against the resolutions that would stop the crimes of Assad in Syria. Other Supporters
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North Korea, this second member of President Bush’s “Axis of Evil” is also known to sell weapon to Assad, supply him with nuclear technology and help him on the ground. Cuba under the 2 Castors’ and Venezuela under Chavez have been known as Assad’s closest allies and friends in many fields, militarily and financially. Close friends of Assad from those who passed away were Kaddafi of Libya and Milosevic of Serbia. Now, from the friends and allies of Assad, you can tell what kind of regime Syria had for the last 40 years. The Israeli factor
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Israel is located south west of Syria. Some of you may ask: What Israel has to do with Assad? Even it is still officially in a state of war with his regime? As I mentioned before, Israel occupied the Syrian Golan Heights in the war of 1967 when Assad Sr. was the defense minister. He ordered the army to “run away” without a fight. Most of the Syrians believe that Assad Sr. gave the Golan to Israel as a gift, so Israel in return helps him being accepted by the West as the new president of Syria. Slide 39Even though the Golan is just about 1% the size of Syria, it has a great economic and strategic value. It has a huge drinking water reservoir and some of the most fertile lands. The 2 Assads did not make any serious effort or show any serious interest in returning that lost part to the mother land. That is one important reason why the Syrians feel humiliated, and therefore angry with their regime. Israel, from its side as the occupier, does not feel that it had to return the occupied land when the Syrian leaders do not care about it. Israel, on the other hand, knows that if Assad is gone, then the new government wants to discuss with it the arrangements for returning the Golan back, From this perspective, Israel prefers to live next door to a brutal dictator who lets it keep the land than having a democratic government that will ask for its land back. In brief, Israel considers Assad as the “Best Enemy” it can have. If we look carefully into the relation between both, we find out that they fight only by words and threats and only through the media; each one of them serves the interest of the other. Some may ask here: What about the free world? The answer is very clear; the policy of the USA and the European countries can not ignore the interest of Israel in the Middle East. They want to be sure that the regime which will come after Assad will not bother Israel about the Golan. That is why those countries did not interfere in Syria the same way they did in Libya for example. Yes the west is supporting the Syrian revolution, but only in humanitarian supplies to the refugees, economic punishments against Assad, and fiery statements and condemnations in the media. Valuable help to the victims also comes from regional countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Libya.
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Now after 2 years from the beginning of the revolution, the blood bath continues and the Syrian people are still fighting for freedom and democracy to remove that barbaric regime which ruled them for more that 40 years.
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The World society will in the future remember this human massacre with shame because no country came forward to stop it. History will register that the whole world put its interests above hundreds of thousands of innocent human lives. All that it has offered so far were lies and crocodile tears.
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As a Syrian, I felt obligated to help, not just to sit and watch. Therefore I flew to the Syrian-Turkish border last February and met with some of the civilians who became refugees there, and also with some doctors and organizers who are volunteering to help with the humanitarian and medical needs.

*** Tarif Youssef-AghaAn Expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet Member of the ‘Syrian Revolutionary Writers Assembly’http://sites.google.com/site/tarifspoetry

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