Mr. Hussein seems to have covered all the bases in his piece.
View from abroad: Looking for the good guys in Syria
IRFAN HUSAIN — UPDATED 3 DAYS AGO
LOOKING across Syria’s killing fields, it’s impossible to say who the good guys are anymore. When the anti-Assad protests broke out in 2011, we all cheered the pro-democracy demonstrators, specially after security forces cracked down hard, killing, jailing and torturing thousands.
But it wasn’t long before these moderate activists were elbowed aside by extremists. Soon, armed by the Turks and Saudi Arabia, they became the most effective of the groups fighting Assad. Stories of atrocities committed by even moderates began filtering into the media; but it was the Al-Nusra Front, the Al Qaeda franchise holder, that gained the most fearsome reputation.
Soon, a breakaway group, initially calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), overtook Al-Nusra in sheer barbarism as well as in the scope of its ambition. This became apparent when its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, crowned himself the Caliph of what he dubbed the Islamic State. Its online propaganda machine has posted many videos demonstrating its bloodthirsty nature. All along, these fanatics have maintained covert links with Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, recent reports have surfaced indicating that the Turkish border is open to jihadis joining the battle against the Assad regime.
Continue reading at:
View from abroad: Looking for the good guys in Syria - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
View from abroad: Looking for the good guys in Syria
IRFAN HUSAIN — UPDATED 3 DAYS AGO
LOOKING across Syria’s killing fields, it’s impossible to say who the good guys are anymore. When the anti-Assad protests broke out in 2011, we all cheered the pro-democracy demonstrators, specially after security forces cracked down hard, killing, jailing and torturing thousands.
But it wasn’t long before these moderate activists were elbowed aside by extremists. Soon, armed by the Turks and Saudi Arabia, they became the most effective of the groups fighting Assad. Stories of atrocities committed by even moderates began filtering into the media; but it was the Al-Nusra Front, the Al Qaeda franchise holder, that gained the most fearsome reputation.
Soon, a breakaway group, initially calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), overtook Al-Nusra in sheer barbarism as well as in the scope of its ambition. This became apparent when its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, crowned himself the Caliph of what he dubbed the Islamic State. Its online propaganda machine has posted many videos demonstrating its bloodthirsty nature. All along, these fanatics have maintained covert links with Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, recent reports have surfaced indicating that the Turkish border is open to jihadis joining the battle against the Assad regime.
Continue reading at:
View from abroad: Looking for the good guys in Syria - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
