Idlib liberated!

[PreachersWife2004]

I'm curious...was the university in Kenya "liberated" as well?

147 killed in Kenya school attack, officials say - CNN.com

 

[Douger]

God have mercy and deliver the people of Idlib and all of Syria.

 

[Senator Cheese]

Maybe Homeland Security should liberate LBAM from her oppression in the US and send her to Idlib so that she can rejoice with her brothers of faith.

 

[Oafman]

LBAM, you know you're allowed to simultaneously hate both the Assad regime and the Islamists? You should - they both deserve it.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

lol, people are deluding themselves...it's amusing. If you don't know much about the situation in Syria, it's easy enough to search it. The people whose tweets I posted are good places to start. You'll see that the people of Idlib are happy to be out of Assad's control though they do rightfully fear the regime's attacks against the city in retaliation (since it lost control of Idlib, it hit a hospital and used barrel bombs, some containing chemical weapons). You'll also find some pro-opposition who are not the biggest fans of JaN still consider this liberation to be good news, for the most part.

Syrians in Idlib singing (note what it says on the wall):

[youtube]JNqd-HXcnUg[/youtube]

The bottom hashtag translates to Idlib Free:

https://instagram.com/p/056xgiiSpl/

In another town:

https://twitter.com/RaedFares4/status/581802376685830144

God have mercy and deliver the people of Idlib and all of Syria.

Ameen.

LBAM, you know you're allowed to simultaneously hate both the Assad regime and the Islamists? You should - they both deserve it.

What/who are "Islamists"?

 

[Senator Cheese]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAkYZjDfCdY

Wow, it's like history is repeating itself! =D
Look at all those cheering Germans, cherishing the fact that this little Austrian disposed the despotic Weimar Republic!

Seriously, LBAM, when are you planning to emigrate to fight for your brothers in Syria? I mean, trolling on a Christian Forum is one thing, but actually doing Allah's work is a whole 'nother. Don't you think Allah is tired of seeing you waste away infront of a PC when you could be out supporting the new government in Idlib? You could drop by in Gaza, too, or Raqqa.

Allah doesn't like girls who talk, Allah likes girls who do.

 

[Cearbhall]

A Muslim on a Christian board cheering for the fact that Al-Qaeda offshoots captured a town.

#religionofpeace

Or you could actually listen to people who know more about the situation than you do and realize that the area was under worse leadership before, rather than seeing what you want to see. Our ideal form of government (democracy and peaceful change of leadership) is not accessible to every society as of yet. You should be grateful that you don't have to think of this as a step in the right direction.

 

[Senator Cheese]

Or you could actually listen to people who know more about the situation than you do and realize that the area was under worse leadership before, rather than seeing what you want to see. Our ideal form of government (democracy and peaceful change of leadership) is not accessible to every society as of yet. You should be grateful that you don't have to think of this as a step in the right direction.

Assad is a tyrant, but one that provided minorities with equal rights and one that didn't cater to fascist groups willing to wage international Jihad.
Al-Qaeda may be a version of "tyranny of the majority", a group that actively promotes attacks in the United States and elsewhere, a group that takes a steaming dump on minority rights and gladly seeks to eradicate homosexuality and atheism without batting an eye.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

Soon after the rebels liberated Idlib City, they also gained control of the Nassib Border Crossing ("largest crossing into Jordan"). Now they have liberated Jisr al-Shughour.

"BEIRUT (AP) — Hard-line Syrian rebel groups seized a strategic town Saturday in northwestern Syria, sending government troops fleeing after intense clashes that have seen the opposition take nearly all of a crucial province...

...The offensive, which rebels have called the "Battle of Victory," comes less than a month after the provincial capital, also called Idlib, fell to the opposition."

Syrian Town Jisr Al-Shughour Seized By Rebels In Major Blow To Assad

May God keep blessing the Syrian people with different forms of victory.

 

[sdmsanjose]

LoveBeingMuslim
I am still trying to get more educated on this Syrian issue. I gather that the Rebels are fighting the Syrian Government (Assad) but how many factions of the rebels are there? Which ones are much better than the Syrian Government and which ones are as bad or worse? What faction is winning?


LBM, why is Assad so hated; what specifically did he do to his people?

 

[Armoured]

Idilib was not liberated, but taken over by Al-Qaeda.

I pray the Syrian government can restore peace and that the Syrian Arab Army will have victory over the Al-Qaeda terrorists.

Oh, so we're PRO Assad now?

OK. Sure. Why not. "We have always been at war with Eastasia".

 

[PreachersWife2004]

Oh, so we're PRO Assad now?

OK. Sure. Why not. "We have always been at war with Eastasia".

Not necessarily pro-Assad, but sometimes one man's tyranny is better than another man's tyranny.

 

[Douger]

Oh, so we're PRO Assad now?

OK. Sure. Why not. "We have always been at war with Eastasia".

I think Creech has always been pro Assad.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

LoveBeingMuslim
I am still trying to get more educated on this Syrian issue.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about the situation in Syria. Truly.

I am not an expert on it by any means but I'll be happy to help as much as I can.

I gather that the Rebels are fighting the Syrian Government (Assad) but how many factions of the rebels are there? Which ones are much better than the Syrian Government and which ones are as bad or worse? What faction is winning?

Oh, there are many factions and I couldn't even begin to name them. Fortunately, there is this wiki page. I wouldn't be surprised if there were even more groups. No group on that list is as bad as or worse than Assad's regime. Not even ISIS (though I don't consider them rebels anymore) simply because they have not left the carnage Assad has....not to that degree at least. But their actions show they are just as brutal.

The factions are not fighting against one another for the most part and I don't tend to look at individual factions to see which one is gaining momentum vs. the other ones. Their focus is, as a whole, defeating Assad's regime and its allies and generally let one another be (or coordinate/cooperate with one another which I hope to see a lot more of). I'm obviously not including ISIS in this paragraph since they are fighting against the other rebels.

LBM, why is Assad so hated; what specifically did he do to his people?

Thank you for asking this question as it made me do some research so I could give a proper answer and, in doing so, I found a book published in 2007 that I look forward to reading. I'm a few dozen pages in and I think it might help you too:

Kalamullah.Com | Just Five Minutes Nine Years in the Prisons of Syria | Heba Dabbagh

The translator of Heba's book into English gave this historical background which I think is important in understanding the situation today:

In 1963, the Baath party took power in Syria. They ignited trouble by slowly weeding out non-Baath factions of the army, including Sunnis, who made up the majority of the Syrian population. Hafiz Al-Assad of the Baath party gained the presidency in 1970. President Al-Assad further alienated the multitude of sects by putting together a government of Alawis, the religious sect he belonged to, and personal friends. This pushing aside of the Sunni majority and other factions who desired to have a voice in the governing of their country aroused feelings of anger and resentment that soon led to the desire to overthrow the government.

Certain groups from within the myriad of oppositionists considered revolution and armed resistance as the best means to end Hafiz Al-Assad's dictatorship and exclusive government. As those opposition groups watched their government destroy the democratic process, forbid the forming of political parties and terrorize its own people through martial law, military court and cold blooded murder, they grew certain that an armed resistance was the only way to make their voices heard; so they began to take action.

The government reacted to the threat of opposition by instituting the complete eradication of the armed faction of the resistance movement. This cleansing began with the persecution and execution of the armed resistance, but quickly expanded to include non-militant factions, until identities blurred and no family felt safe from government persecution, imprisonment and murder. The government's wrath, executed largely by the Mukhabarat, the notorious secret service agents, spread terror throughout the country. Often, a friendly conversation or a mere cup of tea with an oppositionist landed people in jail. In addition, the Mukhabarat commonly took hostages in place of "wanted criminals". Soon, the prisons of Syria filled with members of the resistance movement, as well as innocent men, women and children whose only crime was being related to or casually associating with someone from the resistance movement.

The Syrian government acted under a veil of darkness, with the international community turning a blind eye to the atrocities and human rights violations. Fueled by a systematically ingrained fear, the Syrian people learned to never speak of their government's crimes. As a result, the shocking stories of mass imprisonments and slaughter, including the 1980 Hama massacre, which according to some reports took the lives of 25,000 people, remained a muffled cry. Human rights organizations estimated that during this period of turmoil, the Syrian government killed tens of thousands of men and women and imprisoned tens of thousands more.

Although many political prisoners have been released over the years, Mukhabarat agents continue to show up at people's door steps and take them away, with no regard for due process or basic human rights. Until today, few Syrians dare to speak out against the crimes of their government, for they have learned well the consequences of such boldness.

Bayan Khatib (Just Five Minutes: Nine Years In the Prisons of Syria, pp. 9-10)

This book was published before the current revolution. Here is a relatively recent interview of Heba's (the author):

"My name is Heba Al-Dabbagh, I was born in 1959 in the city of Hama, Syria. I was 18 years old when the first revolution sparked in the late 70s and early 80s. The uprising was a natural outcome of the conflict between the national Islamic movement and the sectarian regime that portrays itself to be a secular one. When the conflict intensified the regime started mercilessly killing and oppressing anyone who had anything to do with Islam. Whether you were part of the conflicting sides or just a religious person, as long as you appeared religious you were automatically targeted by the intelligence services. I was not an exception, I suffered terrible suffering in those times and was wrongly imprisoned for nearly 10 years from 1980 to 1989."

Interview: Heba Al-Dabbagh Speaks To CAGE | CAGE

Article from 2011:

"The 1982 massacre is regarded as the single bloodiest assault by an Arab ruler against his own people in modern times and remains a pivotal event in Syrian history."

Unfortunately, journalists were not allowed in to document Hafez al-Assad's atrocities:

"noting that the city is sealed off by military units and that there are no eyewitness accounts."

1982: Syria's President Hafez al-Assad crushes rebellion in Hama | From the Guardian | theguardian.com

The few pictures we have of the aftermath of the massacre:

In Pictures: The 1982 Hama Massacre - Al Jazeera English

30 Years Later, Photos Emerge From Killings In Syria : NPR

Will continue in next post.

 

[LoveBeingAMuslimah]

^So that was about Hafez al-Assad, the previous dictator who committed genocide in Syria. It is his son, Bashar al-Assad, who is committing the current genocide. He came into power in 2000 after his father died, but like the excerpt from the book above states, continued the policy of arresting people for no reason ("Assad's Syria is a country that crushes political dissent, closely controls the media and routinely jails critics of the regime."). So there was obviously still hatred towards the regime and the tipping point came after the revolutions in the Arab countries began and the regime arrested boys between the ages of 10-14 for anti-regime graffiti and took them without notifying their parents. The regime responded to the peaceful protests with violence.

From March 2011:

"Military troops opened fire during protests in the southern part of Syria on Friday and killed peaceful demonstrators, according to witnesses and news reports, hurtling the strategically important nation along the same trajectory that has altered the landscape of power across the Arab world. "

"Human rights groups said that since protests began seven days ago in the south, 38 people had been killed by government forces — and it appeared that many more were killed on Friday."

Syrian Troops Open Fire on Protesters in Several Cities

From April 2011:

"Protests in Syria turned violent Sunday night when security forces shot at demonstrators in two towns, killing at least 13 people and detaining many more, activists said."

13 killed as protests continue despite Assad's pledges to lift Syria's emergency rule - The Washington Post

From August 2011:

Once again, it seems an Assad is trying to make an example of the defiant, religiously conservative Syrian city of Hama. Some three decades after his father and predecessor Hafez Assad ruthlessly crushed an Islamist uprising in the city in 1982 — leaving at least 10,000 dead and imposing a fear of rebellion so formidable that it was only recently cracked — President Bashar Assad's tanks stormed into Hama at dawn on Sunday, July 31, killing dozens and wounding hundreds.

Syria: Assad Sends Tanks to Hama, Killing Protesters - TIME

Now Assad keeps using chemical weapons (in the past few weeks alone there have been numerous reports of various chemical attacks) and barrel bombs against the Sunnis, which has mainly killed non-combatants. So far, at least 220,000 Sunni Syrians have died.

 

[sdmsanjose]

LovebeingMuslim
Thank you for addressing each question with third party references!

LBM, why is Assad so hated; what specifically did he do to his people?

Posted by LBM
In 1963, the Baath party took power in Syria. They ignited trouble by slowly weeding out non-Baath factions of the army, including Sunnis, who made up the majority of the Syrian population. Hafiz Al-Assad of the Baath party gained the presidency in 1970. President Al-Assad further alienated the multitude of sects by putting together a government of Alawis, the religious sect he belonged to, and personal friends. This pushing aside of the Sunni majority and other factions who desired to have a voice in the governing of their country aroused feelings of anger and resentment that soon led to the desire to overthrow the government.

It seems that the oppression by the Baath political party and the added friction of adding the religious sect of Alawis (Shia roots) has ignited a revolution. Furthermore, the fact that the Alawis only represent 12 percent of the Syrian Population just adds fuel to the fire.


The Alawites, also known as Alawis (ʿAlawīyyah Arabic: علوية&#8206, are a religious group, centered in Syria, who follow a branch of the Twelver school of Shia Islam but with syncretistic elements.. Today, Alawites represent 12 percent of the Syrian population and are a significant minority in Turkey and northern Lebanon.

Ba'athism calls for unification of the Arab world into a single state
The party was founded on 7 April 1947 as the Arab Ba'ath Party by Michel Aflaq (a Christian), Salah al-Din al-Bitar (a Sunni Muslim) and the followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi (an atheist) in Damascus, Syria, leading to the establishment of the Syrian Regional Branch.[1]

Posted by LBM
The government's wrath, executed largely by the Mukhabarat, the notorious secret service agents, spread terror throughout the country. Often, a friendly conversation or a mere cup of tea with an oppositionist landed people in jail. In addition, the Mukhabarat commonly took hostages in place of "wanted criminals

The Mukhabarat look like the SS of the Nazi party!

Posted by LBM
From March 2011:
"Military troops opened fire during protests in the southern part of Syria on Friday and killed peaceful demonstrators

This happened in South Africa and the United States in the 1960s. The long term results in America were that the Civil Rights Act was put into law and the USA was force to withdraw from Viet Nam in defeat and the president (LBJ) refused to run for a second term as president. In South Africa the Black South Africans gained rights and the political power with Mandela becoming President.

Military troops that open fire on the protesting citizens usually wind up losing if the protesters are in the majority and if they unify and go about their protesting in an effective manner.

Now Assad keeps using chemical weapons (in the past few weeks alone there have been numerous reports of various chemical attacks) and barrel bombs against the Sunnis, which has mainly killed non-combatants. So far, at least 220,000 Sunni Syrians have died.

In a recent 60-Minutes program Assad stated that the majority of Syrians are with him. When the interviewer asked him what proof he had Assad said that he lives among the Syrians and that he can tell because of his connection to the Syrian people. That sounded very weak to me!

LBM, based upon what you have posted I can only conclude that eventually the Assad regime will fall and I do not think it will take many years to fall.
I know that our President Obama has let his desire be known and that desire is for Assad to step down. The USA Has got involved in the Syrian conflict to a small degree by air strikes. It is my understanding that the air strikes were to stop the slaughter of innocent women and children and the strike was against ISIS. Is that Correct?


The Syrian conflict is very confusing to me and I would have to read up for the rest of the year to get a good picture and that is just too much reading for me. I feel very bad for the innocent people of Syria that are getting caught in this struggle that is coming from both sides. It does appear that the Assad regime is responsible for the chemical attack that was shown on the TV program 60-Minutes.


At this time it is my opinion that the American Public is very isolationist especially about Mid-East conflicts. I think that the wars in that area for the last 25 years have made the majority of the American people sick of war. I think that the election of a part-black, anti-war vote in Iraq war #1 for TWO terms tells us that America is sick of war for now.

I think that the situation in Iraq/Syria is very serious for those people and the whole region but the problem will have to be solved by those people without a significant military presence by the USA. I hope that the Islamic countries in that region get together and stop the killing of innocent men, women and especially children!


Thank you again LBM for your responses. Since it is very hard for me to understand the situations in that region and that I am one that is sick of the USA getting involved in wars that do not involve us, I do not know if I am going to spend a lot more time going in depth on this issue. I will continue to read your posts as you seem to be very interested in this issue and are motivated to post references. I will also read all others that have references.

 

[Vylo]

unfortunately I dont think this bodes well for Syria.

When AL queda is your better option, good luck.

 

[Senator Cheese]

LovebeingMuslim
Thank you for addressing each question with third party references!


Thank you again LBM for your responses. Since it is very hard for me to understand the situations in that region and that I am one that is sick of the USA getting involved in wars that do not involve us, I do not know if I am going to spend a lot more time going in depth on this issue. I will continue to read your posts as you seem to be very interested in this issue and are motivated to post references. I will also read all others that have references.
[/COLOR]

After reading your post, I admire the fact that you're actively seeking to get information on the subject. As you rightly stated, the civil war in Syria is a mess of different factions and different interests.
While I, too, enjoy reading LBAMs refreshingly different opinions and concepts when it comes to Middle East politics, I implore you to read up on the situation from other, less partisan sources. Wikipedia, though discouraged in the academic field, is a powerful source to get a very basic and fundamental view of the conflict.

The reason that I'm saying this is because LBAM has outed herself as a supporter of Al-Qaeda associated factions before - and as such, I believe her credibility on the subject is more than tainted.
Al-Nusra, for example - that is the group she is praising in this thread - is the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, the same terror group that has killed more than 3,000 Americans on 9/11 and basically kicked off the military invasions that you and I both criticise.

 

[sdmsanjose]

BY SC
After reading your post, I admire the fact that you're actively seeking to get information on the subject. As you rightly stated, the civil war in Syria is a mess of different factions and different interests.

While I, too, enjoy reading LBAMs refreshingly different opinions and concepts when it comes to Middle East politics, I implore you to read up on the situation from other, less partisan sources. Wikipedia, though discouraged in the academic field, is a powerful source to get a very basic and fundamental view of the conflict.

The reason that I'm saying this is because LBAM has outed herself as a supporter of Al-Qaeda associated factions before - and as such, I believe her credibility on the subject is more than tainted.
Al-Nusra, for example - that is the group she is praising in this thread - is the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, the same terror group that has killed more than 3,000 Americans on 9/11 and basically kicked off the military invasions that you and I both criticise.

LBAM’s third party resources (Washington Post and TIME) are the main reason that I read her posts.

As far as AL-Nusra, I have used your recommendation and read Wikipedia’s information on this faction.

The group announced its formation on 23 January 2012, during the Syrian Civil War.[42] Since then, it has been described as both "the most aggressive and successful"[43] and "one of the most effective rebel forces" in Syria,[44] and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations,[45] Australia,[46] Canada, New Zealand,[47] Russia,[48] the United Kingdom,[49] the United States,[50] and Turkey.

in a statement issued on 9 March 2015, the group reaffirmed its allegiance to al-Qaeda and denied plans to break away from it.[

The al-Nusra Front aims to overthrow the Assad government and replace it with a Sunni Islamic state. Although the group is affiliated with al-Qaeda, it does not emphasise Western targets or global jihad, focusing instead on the "near enemy" of the Syrian state.[
al-Nusra Front - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LBAM,
is it true that you support Al-Nusra?
If yes, why do you support them?

 

[Oafman]

unfortunately I dont think this bodes well for Syria.

When AL queda is your better option, good luck.

That's the real value this thread. Without realising it, LBAM does illustrate just how awful the situation is for the Syrian people. Because there is nobody to cheer. No hope for Syrians to not live under brutal oppression and bigotry.