Quote of the Day
The conflict in Syria is taking on an increasingly sectarian character. The ruling regime is made up mainly of Alawites, a branch of Shia Islam; the opposition consists largely of Sunni Muslims. Syria’s Christians, who make up 10 per cent of the population, largely back Assad because they fear for their future in a potentially more Islamicised Syria. Some Christians have reported being burned out of their homes by ‘Arabs from different countries’ who ‘accuse Christians of blasphemy’. By intervening into this conflict on one side, legitimising it and arming it, Western actors are deepening the ethnic divide and inflaming the violence. Through severely isolating Assad’s regime, they have left it with nothing to lose, freer now than ever before to lash out violently against its political and ethnic enemies; and in boosting and militarising the FSA, they have given sanction to its various franchised sectarian and religious elements, too, nurturing increasingly depraved acts of supposedly ‘libertarory’ violence across Syria.
Tags: Politics, Religion Society
August 13th, 2012 at 5:16 pm
In hoc signo vinces†
Why is the U.K. taxpayer funding and providing material aid to what are de facto terrorists indulging in the sectarian slaughter of Syrian civilians of all faiths. Military communications know-how and body armour are not humanitarian aid.
This is not our fight KEEP OUT or risk your sons and daughters to the possibility of a wider conflict.