PART
III- The Al Qaeda Insurgency in Syria: Recruiting Jihadists To Wage
NATO’s Humanitarian Wars
By Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, September 2nd, 2011
What triggered the crisis in Syria?
It
was not the result of internal political cleavages, but rather the consequence
of a deliberate plan by the US-NATO alliance to trigger social chaos, to
discredit the Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad and ultimately destabilize
Syria as a Nation State.
Since the middle of March 2011, Islamist armed groups covertly supported by Western
and Israeli intelligence have conducted terrorist attacks on government
buildings and acts of arson. Amply documented, trained gunmen and snipers have
targeted the police, the armed forces as well as unarmed civilians.
The objective of this armed insurrection is to trigger
the response of the police and armed forces, including the deployment of tanks
and armored vehicles with a view to eventually justifying a “humanitarian”
military intervention, under NATO’s “responsibility to protect” mandate.
The Nature of the Syrian Political System
There is certainly cause for social unrest and mass protest in Syria:
unemployment has increased in recent years, social conditions have
deteriorated, particularly since the adoption in 2006 of sweeping economic
reforms under IMF guidance. The later include austerity measures, a freeze on
wages, the deregulation of the financial system, trade reform and privatization
(IMF Syrian Arab Republic — IMF Article IV Consultation Mission’s Concluding
Statement, http://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2006/051406.htm, 2006).
Moreover, there are serious divisions within the government and the
military. The populist policy framework of the Baath party has largely been
eroded. A faction within the ruling political establishment has embraced the
neoliberal agenda. In turn, the adoption of IMF “economic medicine” has served
to enrich the ruling economic elite. Pro-US factions have also developed within
the upper echelons of the Syrian military and intelligence.
But the “pro-democracy” movement integrated by Islamists and supported by
NATO and the “international community” did not emanate from the mainstay of
Syrian civil society. The protests largely
dominated by Islamists represent a very small fraction of Syrian public
opinion. They are of a
sectarian nature. They do not address the broader issues of social inequality,
civil rights and unemployment. The majority of Syria’s population
(including the opponents of the Al Assad government) does not support the
“protest movement” which is characterized by an armed insurgency. In fact quite
the opposite.
Ironically, despite its authoritarian nature, there is considerable popular
support for the government of President Bashar Al Assad, which is confirmed by
the large pro-government rallies.
Syria constitutes the only (remaining) independent
secular state in the Arab world. Its populist, anti-Imperialist and secular
base is inherited from the dominant Baath party, which integrates Muslims,
Christians and Druze. It supports the struggle of the Palestinian people.
The objective of the US-NATO alliance is to ultimately
displace and destroy the Syrian secular State, displace or co-opt the national
economic elites and eventually replace the Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad
with an Arab sheikdom, a pro-US Islamic republic or a compliant pro-US
“democracy”.
The role of the US-NATO- Israel military alliance in
triggering an armed insurrection is not addressed by the Western media.
Moreover, several “progressive voices” have accepted the “NATO consensus” at
face value: “a peaceful protest” which is being “violently repressed by the
Syrian police and armed forces”.
The Insurgency is integrated by Terrorists
Al Jazeera, the Israeli and Lebanese press confirm that “the protesters”
had burned the headquarters of the Baath Party and the court house in Daraa in
mid-March, while at the same time claiming that the demonstrations were
“peaceful”. Terrorists have infiltrated the civilian protest movement. Similar
acts of arson were carried out in late July in Hama. Public buildings including
the Court House and the Agricultural Bank were set on fire.
This insurgency is directed against the secular State. Its ultimate object
is political destabilization and regime change. The hit squads of armed gunmen
are involved in terrorist acts directed against both Syrian forces and
civilians.
Civilians who support the government are the object of threats and
intimidation. Pro-government civilians are also the object of targeted
assassination by armed gunmen: In Karak, a village near Dara’a, Salafis forced
villagers to join anti-government protests and remove photos of President Assad
from their homes. Witnesses reported that a young Muslim man who refused to
remove a photo was found hanged on his front porch the next morning.
“People want to go out and peacefully ask for certain
changes, but Muslim Salafi groups are sneaking in with their goal, which is not
to make changes for the betterment of Syria, but to take over the country with
their agenda,” (International Christian Concern (ICC), May 4, 2011, emphasis
added).
In late July, terrorists attacked a train travelling between Aleppo and
Damascus: “The train was carrying 480 passengers… The terrorists dismantled the
rails which caused the accident… The leading carriage was burnt… Other
carriages were derailed and turned over onto their sides… (quoted in Terrorists
attacked a train traveling from Aleppo to Damascus – YouTube, Truth Syria).
Most of the passengers on the train “were children, women and patients who were
traveling to undergo surgeries” (Saboteurs Target a Train Traveling from Aleppo
to Damascus, Driver Martyred – Local – jpnews-sy.com, July 24, 2011).
The Recruitment of Mujahideen: NATO and Turkey
This insurgency in Syria has similar features to that of Libya: it is
integrated by paramilitary brigades affiliated to Al Qaeda. Recent developments
point to a full-fledged armed insurgency, integrated by Islamist “freedom
fighters” supported, trained and equipped by NATO and Turkey’s High Command.
According to Israeli intelligence sources: NATO
headquarters in Brussels and the Turkish high command are meanwhile drawing up
plans for their first military step in Syria, which is to arm the rebels with
weapons for combating the tanks and helicopters spearheading the Assad regime’s
crackdown on dissent. Instead of repeating the Libyan model of
air strikes, NATO strategists are thinking more in terms of pouring large
quantities of anti-tank and anti-air rockets, mortars and heavy machine guns
into the protest centers for beating back the government armored forces (DEBKAfile, NATO to give rebels
anti-tank weapons, August 14, 2011).
A NATO-led intervention is on the drawing board. According to military and
intelligence sources, NATO, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been discussing “the
form this intervention would take”.
Shift in Turkey’s Military Command Structure
In late July, the Commander in Chief of the Army and head of Turkey’s Joint
Chiefs of Staff, General Isik Kosaner, resigned together with the commanders of
the Navy and Air Force. General Kosaner represented a broadly secular stance
within the Armed Forces. General Necdet Ozel has been appointed as his
replacement as commander of the Army and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
These developments are of crucial importance. They point
to a shift within Turkey’s military high command in favor of the Muslim
Brotherhood including enhanced support to the armed insurrection in Northern
Syria.
Military sources also confirm that Syrian rebels “have
been training in the use of the new weapons with Turkish military officers at
makeshift installations in Turkish bases near the Syrian border” (DEBKAfile, NATO to give rebels anti-tank weapons, August 14, 2011).
The delivery of weapons to the rebels is to be
implemented “overland, namely through Turkey and under Turkish army
protection….Alternatively, the arms would be trucked into Syria under Turkish
military guard and transferred to rebel leaders at pre-arranged rendez-vous”
(Ibid).
These various developments point towards the possibility of the direct
involvement of Turkish troops in the conflict, which could potentially lead to
a broader process of military confrontation between Syria and Turkey, as well
as the direct involvement of Turkish troops inside Syria.
A ground war involving Turkish troops would involve sending troops into
Northern Syria and “carving out a military pocket from which Syria’s rebels
would be supplied with military, logistic and medical aid” (Assad may opt for
war to escape Russian, Arab, European ultimatums,
http://www.debka.com/article/21255/ Debkafile, August 31, 2011).
As in the case of Libya, financial support is being
channeled to the Syrian rebel forces by Saudi Arabia. “Ankara and Riyadh will
provide the anti-Assad movements with large quantities of weapons and funds to
be smuggled in from outside Syria” (Ibid). The deployment of Saudi and GCC troops is also contemplated in Southern
Syria in coordination with Turkey (Ibid).
Recruiting Thousands of Jihadists
NATO and the Turkish High command, also contemplate the
development of a jihad involving the recruitment of thousands of “freedom
fighters”, reminiscent of the enlistment of Mujahideen to wage the CIA’s jihad
(holy war) in the heyday of the Soviet-Afghan war: Also discussed in Brussels and Ankara, our sources report, is a campaign to
enlist thousands of Muslim volunteers in Middle East countries and the Muslim
world to fight alongside the Syrian rebels. The Turkish army would house these
volunteers, train them and secure their passage into Syria (Ibid).
This recruitment of Mujahideen to fight NATO’s humanitarian wars (including
Libay and Syria) is well underway. Some 1500
jihadists from Afghanistan trained by the CIA were dispatched to fight with the
“pro-democracy” rebels under the helm of “former” Libya Islamic Fighting Group
(LIFG) Commander Abdel Hakim Belhadj: “Most of the men have been
recruited from Afghanistan. They are Uzbeks, Persians and Hazaras. According to
the footage, these men attired in the Uzbek-style of shalwar and Hazara-Uzbek
Kurta were found fighting in
Libyan cities” (The Nation, Pakistan, The Libyan model of rebel forces
integrated by the Islamic brigades together with NATO Special Forces is slated
to be applied in Syria, where Islamist fighters supported by Western and
Israeli intelligence have already been deployed).
The Triggering of Factional Divisions within Syrian Society
Syria is a secular state where Muslims and Christian have shared a common
heritage from the early Christian period and have lived together for centuries.
Covert support is channeled to the jihadist fighters, who in turn are
responsible for acts of sectarian violence directed against Alawite, Christians
and Druze. In early May, as part of the anti-government “protest movement”, armed
gunmen were reported to have attacked Christian homes in Daraa in Southern
Syria: In
a Christian village outside of Dara’a, in southern Syria, eye witnesses
reported that twenty masked men on motorcycles opened fire on a Christian home
while shouting malicious remarks against Christians in the street. According to
another ICC source in Syria, churches received threatening letters during the
Easter holidays telling them to join Salafi protestors or leave.
Last week in Duma, a suburb of Damascus, Salafis chanted, “Alawites to the
grave and Christians to Beirut!” according to an ICC source and Tayyar.org, a
Lebanese news agency. Christians in Syria are concerned that the agenda of many
hard-line Islamists in Syria, including the Salafis, is to take over the
government and kick Christians out of the country. “If Muslim Salafis gain
political influence, they will make sure that there will be no trace of
Christianity in Syria,” a Syrian Christian leader told ICC. “We want to
improve life and rights in Syria under this president, but we do not want
terrorism. Christians will be first to pay the price of terrorism. … What
Christians are asking for is the realization that when changes are happening,
it should happen not under certain agendas or for certain people, but for the
people of Syria in a peaceful way under the current government.” Aidan Clay,
ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “Unlike in Egypt, where
Christians predominantly supported the revolution that removed President Hosni
Mubarak from power, Syrian Christians have desired peace while demanding
greater freedoms under the current government. Christians anticipate that only
chaos and bloodshed will follow if Salafi demands are met. We urge the U.S.
government to act wisely and carefully when developing policies that have deep
political ramifications for Syria’s minorities by not indirectly supporting a
foothold to be used by Salafis to carry out their radical agenda” (Syrian
Christians Threatened by Salafi Protestors, Persecution News, International Christian Concern (ICC), May 4, 2011)
The attacks on Christians in Syria are reminiscent of the death squadron
killings directed against Chaldean Christians in Iraq.
