This is well worth reading ... puts thing into a whole different perspective!! Nicholas J. Evancik This is the opinion of the "Free Syrian Army" (anti Assad rebels)in the main coastal city of Latakia "Nowhere is that truer than in Bayt Swalkha, where Alawites and Sunnis lived side by side in peace. For decades, the orthodox Sunnis did not seem to mind that a Shi’ite offshoot that composed only 12% of the population ruled the country. But rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) do, and they have descended on the province like wolves in search of prey. Marwan Sidqi scrounged through the rubble of what was once his house. The 61-year-old Sunni carpenter lost everything when regime forces bombed FSA positions in the city. On a chilly day he was rummaging for his tools but could only seem to find charred stones. “We lived so well before,” he explained. “We will never have that again.” Sidqi reminisced about better days when he would invite his Alawite neighbors to smoke water pipes and sip sweet tea. “Politics was never for us,” he said. “We only wanted to have good lives.” That good life has been destroyed like the buildings around him by the FSA. Since the group is mostly composed of fighters from rural areas in neighboring provinces, they never appreciated the mosaic that prevailed in Latakia. Instead, they have injected the conflict with a sectarian element that has people here angry. “Their agendas have ruined us,” complains 72-year-old Hamid Suleiman in the village of Salma a dozen kilometers away. “These groups come in and bring their hatred.” "Throughout Latakia, the FSA’s exploits have left the population sour. In the Christian village of Jdida in the eastern part of the province, the rare remaining resident has nothing but scorn for the rebels. “Everything was good before they came,” Boutrous Aziz, 64, said in the deserted village. “We don’t need the changes they want. We have peace. We have a good life.” Like most of the villages in the region, Jdida looks like the set from Saving Private Ryan. The houses are gone, replaced by mounds of stones. Cars have been stripped bare. Shop windows are shattered, their contents ransacked. Pools of dried blood are everywhere. Despite the carnage, Aziz prefers to remember more prosperous days. “We had good lives with quiet. Maybe we can get that back.” But with sectarian hatred on the rise, it is doubtful his nostalgic paradise will ever be rebuilt." These people are talking of good life under Assad, and the terrors created by the rebels. nationalpost/m/wp/news/world/israel-middle-east/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost/2013/02/20/their-agendas-have-ruined-us-religious-tolerance-the-latest-casualty-of-syrian-conflict
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 00:35:11 +0000
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