Analysis: Who's Backing Who As Syria's Civil War Threatens To Spread

[Purveyor]

By Mandy Clark and Paul Nassar, NBC News
News analysis

Syria’s two-year civil war has claimed more than 100,000 lives and sent at least 1.7 million refugees spilling across its borders.

It has already affected neighboring countries, and now threatens to drag in the United States.

What began as a popular movement, demanding the removal of autocratic President Bashar Assad, has become an increasingly sectarian conflict.

About three-quarters of Syria's Muslims are from the Sunni sect. However, the Assad dynasty, which has ruled the country since 1970, is from the minority Alawite sect which is close to Shiite Islam.

The sectarian divide is important because it lies at the root of instability not only within Syria but also in Iraq and other pockets of the Middle East.

ASSAD’S FRIENDS

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http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/28/19679903-analysis-whos-backing-who-as-syrias-civil-war-threatens-to-spread

[RobertEarl]

1. The warmongers are back in action

They are the same who insisted the US invade Iraq.

We had hoped Obama would keep them under control. Looks like he has failed. Many more innocents are now feeling the results of their evil intents.

And again, using religion against religion for their ends. Same as it ever was, eh?

[David__77]

2. Israel would do well to adjust its thinking.

It should not support the Syrian government per se, but should certainly be most concerned with preventing its defeat at the hands of the insurgents - not out of love of Assad, but rather opposition to the insurgents. A victory by the insurgents will set loose a wave of wahhabi extremism in which a 1,000 9/11s would befall Israel.

[John2]

3. That article is

misleading period, if you go by the other sides' claims. They believe the attack on Syrian was a grand scheme hatched by the United States,Israel and NATO for regime change across the Middle East, according to remarks by General Wesley Clark and a resolution introduced by a New York Jewish Congressman, specifically targeting Syria and signed by the Bush Administration. They claimed BUsh held off on it for a year because Syria co-operated with them on the rendition program and the War on Terror.

So I looked it up, and they were right. Congress has a resolution passed in 2003, to overthrow the Syrian regime, along with Iraq, Iran and North Korea. So this is only a continuation by President Obama. I also read a source, that when Obama went on his visit to Netanyahu, that he secretly gave assurances, that the United States will be ready to attack Iran by the end of the year. Syria is just a precursor.

The problem is, the Syrian War is not going as planned. Assad was suppose to be long gone by now. It is backfiring on them and they are getting more desperate. And people in Syria are beginning to turn against the opposition, because of the atrocities committed by them.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar never gave a dam about the Syrian people, Sunni, Alawi or any other groups. They care less for Israel either. Who they care about is Iran, just like they did in the Iranian\Iraq War. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have Shia minorities, that poses a threat to their rules. The Shia minority in Saudi Arabia lives on some of the richest oil reserves in Saudi Arabia and they want more of the wealth from it.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar both have U.S. military bases on their soil to protect the goverments. They are puppets of the U.S. Now that the Shia has come into control of Iraq, Iran is more of a threat to them and the oil fields these Shias live on.

So I'm researching and picking up a lot of information I didn't even know about. For example, the Alawis, use to be Kurds. There are 20 million of them in Turkey. They are a split group, that broke off from the kurds because of a different religious sect, but they are kin. The Kurds are more loyal to the Alawites in Syria.

Christians in Syria support the Assad Regime also. What this article fails to mention is the Top Christian priest in Syria denounce the rebels and their allies. The rebels beheaded a christian monk recently. They helped the Syrian military fight the rebels. Many of those militias are armed civilians.

As far as Lebanon, the article forgot, that it was the Lebanese Army that fought the rebels in Lebanon. They didn't lay a hand on Hezbullah. So Christians are not attacking Hezbullah in Lebanon.

Another fact left out by this article, is Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood was one of the primary supporters calling for the overthrow of Assad. Morsi in fact called for Egyptians to go to Syria and help overthrow Assad. Egypt's military sent a communique to Syria, that they had no plans to invade another Arab country. That was a few days before they gave Morsi an ultimatum. The Western media left that part out.

According to the Syrian side, their military is uncovering more and more information about Israel's and Saudi Arabia's connection with the rebels. For example, they claim that they have discovered chemicals made in Saudi Arabia and Israeli weapons in the possesion of the rebels. They also claimed that they were well aware of Israel's attack on Lakatia, well before it happened from a rebel spy, that was killed by Terrorists. The claim is, what the Israeli's thought they destroyed was never in those facilities in the first place. It was just a set up to expose their involvement with the rebels. You can take it or believe it, but parts of it can be confirmed. Especially the resolution to overthrow the Syrian government.