Syria's Assad Must Go, But Beware The "Saintly" Islamist Opposition

It might not be today, but a day will come when the books of the Syrian revolution will be open and future generations will examine its developments and identify its drawbacks, disadvantages and outright violations and atrocities!

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Summary : The political and military wings of the Syrian opposition are being hijacked by Islamists, writes Hochnek Ossi in Al-Hayat.  While the opposition is fighting a legitimate battle against one of the region’s worst dictators, the rebels are far from saints, and, in many ways, resemble the dictator they seek to replace.  Publisher: Al-Hayat (Pan Arab) Original Title: So that we don’t Perceive the Syrian Revolution as Dogmatic and Holy! Author: Hochnek Ossi First Published: September 3, 2012 Posted on: September 8 2012 Translated by: Sami-Joe Abboud Categories : Syria

Human beings — not angels or demons — are the ones who begin and lead revolutions. Thus, the revolutionary act itself has nothing to do with saintliness! It is true that the Syrian revolution is great and morally justified. It aims to overthrow the most tyrannical regime in the Middle East, one that is backed by regional, sectarian, theocratic and international powers. However, the fact remains that the Syrian rebels are not saints, although some  try to portray them that way, and market them that way.  Saints, they surely are not!

Self-defense against the crimes perpetrated by the Assad regime, the one seeking to sow the seeds of sectarianism and murder based on religious identity, neither legitimizes nor justifies the crimes and violations that the rebels have committed as well.

The Syrian regime is portraying the developments as part of an Arab, regional and international conspiracy organized in collaboration with a Syrian "fifth column" against the Syrian government's opposition and resistance to Western and Israeli hedgemony.   The government therefore deems anyone who participates in the revolution as a devil, a traitor and a mercenary who should be liquidated. Anyone who criticizes the regime's behavior is deemed by this regime as a traitor, agent, conspirator and terrorist!

On the other hand, some "dissidents," the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, believe that anyone who criticizes their behavior, authoritarian mentality and control over every detail of the opposition (with backing from the Turkish government led by the Justice and Development Party [AKP]), and anyone who criticizes the behavior of the rebels and the Free Syrian Army is "with the Syrian regime, and against the revolution!” Extremism has led this Islamist opposition to believe that anyone who criticizes Turkey and its government is "against the revolution and with the Syrian regime!" Such an aggressive stance on any criticism of the Syrian revolution reveals that those seeking to rule the future Syria have extreme authoritarian intentions.

However, this does not mean to suggest that the brutal Assad regime is healthier. In fact, this regime should be overthrown today, not tomorrow. There are currents in the Syrian opposition which have a lot in common with the Assad regime, and it is no exaggeration to refer to them as "those who resemble the Assad regime!” According to a report published by the Al-Kurdiya News website, some members of the Syrian opposition are collaborating with the Turkish regime and some Arab media channels to systematically and persistently demonize the Syrian Kurds!

Meanwhile, some Syrian Kurds are trying to sanctify and dogmatize the Kurdish movement's participation in the Syrian revolution.  They say any criticism of this movement is against the Kurdish interest and only serves Arabist-Islamist currents. These Kurds wonder whether critics of the Kurdish revolutionary movement want the Kurdish cities to be destroyed so that the world believes that the Kurdish people in Syria are engaged in the revolution and also seek to overthrow the regime. Moreover, those Kurds who oppose such criticism are against the arrival of the FSA to Kurdish areas for fear that the Syrian regime would bomb Kurdish cities. "We are capable of protecting our cities," they say.

Consequently, the Syrian Kurds, most of whom are loyal to the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, along with some small Kurdish parties which fall within their orbit, do not allow the formation of secular Kurdish battalions, who could work with the FSA, in a bid to portray the FSA as the army of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist and Jihadist groups.

The truth is that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is supported by the Turkish government, is responsible for the transformation of the FSA into an Islamist army, which sometimes engages into sectarianism. Secular parties, movements, FSA officers and leaders are also responsible for this Islamist transformation, as they allowed the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey to seize the FSA after they completed their takeover of the Syrian National Council (SNC)!

This bitter reality pushes some Syrian Kurds to deal with both the FSA and the SNC with extreme caution! However, this does not by any means justify the negative and provocative behavior adopted by some Kurdish parties, one that is continuously providing Turkey and its scattered followers in the Syrian opposition with pretexts to condemn and complain about the size of the Kurdish participation in the revolution.

What is happening in Syria is by all standards a great revolution.  All revolutions have witnessed violations and crimes, and a day will come when history will open the books of these revolutions so that generations can read them while removed from fanaticism, dogma and the beatifcation of some groups.