Supporters of Hassan Nasrallah (portrait), the head of Lebanon's militant Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah raise their fists as they watch him giving a televised address in Beirut (AFP Photo)

 Mainstream media fail to mention that key anti-government forces in Syria swore to kill all the Shiite Muslims and to march straight into Lebanon after Syria.

Hezbollah is also a Target of the Syrian Conflict

Most reports about this failed to recognize the nature of the rocket attacks. The rocket strikes were more than a mere warning from the anti-government forces inside Syria, in fact they were part of a steady stream of escalation that deliberately aimed at expanding the war into Lebanon and spreading the fires of sedition. Attacks were being conducted in areas inhabited by Hezbollah supporters much earlier and before Hezbollah even intervened in Syria. Whether it is done intentionally or unintentionally, this type of reporting conceals the fact that Hezbollah intervened in Syria mainly to protect itself and Lebanon’s diverse population, and it fails to identify who the real perpetrators of the violence are. The mainstream media in places like the US and UK also fails to mention that key divisions of the anti-government forces inside Syria have sworn to kill all the Shiite Muslims they get their hands on, and to march straight into Lebanon after Syria. 

Syrians and Lebanese wave Syria's former independence flag which has been adopted by the rebels forces fighting agianst Syrian pro-government forces in Syria, and the green Sunni Muslim Jamaa Islamiya flag as they gather in the main sports stadium in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on June 9, 2013 in solidarity with the Syrian central city of Qusayr which fell to government forces, aided by Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters, earlier in the week. (AFP Photo)

 From the beginning of the Syrian conflict Hezbollah agreed that the Syrian people should have the democratic freedoms that Hezbollah itself enjoys in Lebanon and it has agreed that Syria is in need of political reforms. Its entry into the Syrian conflict is aimed at preventing the takfiri death squads that have amassed in Syria from marching against Lebanon and committing the same type of crimes in the towns and homes of the Lebanese people they have been committing against the Syrian people. Because the takfiris have announced that they will purge the Levant of the Shiite Muslims and all others that they do not accept, the conflict was unavoidable. Rather than wait, Hezbollah chose to act in a war that the anti-government forces in Syria deliberately initiated against Hezbollah through a stream of assaults on the Shiites living on the Lebanese-Syrian border. As a preview of what is in store for the Shiites, after their defeat in Qusayr, the anti-government militias marched into Hatla and massacred many of its residents, including old people and young children who all had their throats slit. One video of the massacre titled “The storming and cleansing of Hatla” surfaced with the man filming it stating that all the Shia Muslims would suffer the same fate. What happened in Hatla, including stories about vicious rapes and mutilations, has only strengthened the support in Lebanon for Hezbollah’s intervention.

Hezbollah is protecting Lebanon and the Levant’s minority groups

On July 14, Nasrallah went on Lebanese television to say that Hezbollah was fighting to defend both the people of Lebanon and Syria from the abominations of “an American, Israeli and takfiri project to destroy not only Syria but the entire region.” Speaking on Al-Manar, he told his supporters and allies that the entire world had gone to Syria to fight in one way or another using their money or shipping weapons or through media warfare. It was only natural for Hezbollah as one of the main targets of the war to get involved. He added that the Lebanese government had unfortunately failed to protect the 30,000 Lebanese Christians and Muslims that have been attacked by the Syrian anti-government forces on their borders. Hezbollah acted to protect them. Nasrallah’s sentiments are widely shared inside and outside Lebanon.  According to Mohsen Saleh, a professor of political philosophy at the Lebanese University and an expert on Hezbollah, the threat of “takfirism” is now working to terminate all diversity in the region in league with Israel and the US. The Muslim Brotherhood is tied to this project too, but “it is now collapsing and in a state of decay” according to Saleh. “The Brotherhood came into power a hundred years too late,” he told me. While visiting him at his office, he explained that all of Lebanon’s different communities are afraid of the takfiris as they have witnessed their crimes in Syria. This is why the Maronite Catholic Church and the multitude of Christian denominations in Lebanon are increasingly standing behind Hezbollah. He confidently said that all of Lebanon’s different sects will improve their relations with Hezbollah due to the mutual threat they all face. When I asked Saleh about Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate, who is linked to Hezbollah’s rivals in Lebanon, he pointed out that Tamman Saeb Salam is not a puppet. In a discreet gesture of support distinguishing him from the Hariri camp, Tamman has said that Hezbollah will remain a resistance group no matter what happens due to its intervention in Syria.

Sunni Muslim gunmen roam the streets and block roads with burning tires, expressing their solidarity with Salafist leader Ahmad al-Assir in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, June 23, 2013. (Reuters)

 The Druze community, which is the Lebanese group that is the most vulnerable to a takfiri attack on the country, is reconsidering its relationship with Hezbollah. The Druze community is also unhappy about the statements of Walid Jumblatt, its prime chieftain, which have been supportive of anti-government activities in Syria. Trying to please his Saudi paymaster in Riyadh, Jumblatt has gone as far as to say that he personally supports the Saudi-backed Jubhat Al-Nusra. Well aware of the dangers to their community, the Druze of Syria have shunned Jumblatt and continued to support the Syrian government. Russian officials have also supported Hezbollah’s stance, Moscow views Hezbollah’s position as one that aims to protect the different people of Lebanon and Syria. Moscow does not want the takfiri brigades to enter the North Caucasus or to attack any of its sister-republics and allies in Central Asia. As opposed to the United States and its allies, Russian foreign policy in the Middle East openly promotes diversity and the protection of Christians and minority groups.

Unlike Hezbollah, the US Does Not Give a Damn about Arab Christians

Dr. Naji Hayek, a Lebanese Christian, sums it all up by stating: “Hezbollah is fighting for us, for me!”  He made the statement after we watched Michel Aoun live on Orange TV declaring that he supported Hezbollah after fighting erupted in the Lebanese city of Sidon. If the takfiris make inroads into Lebanon, he assured me that he would pick up his gun and fight too. Hayek, a surgeon, a professor at the Lebanese American University, and an advisor to Michel Aoun - the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, the largest Christian political party in Lebanon—helped draft the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act and used to submit intelligence reports about Syrian activities in Lebanon to the US Senate. He was once a member of Lebanon’s National Liberal Party and a close friend of Samir Geagea, the Christian warlord extraordinaire allied to the US and Saudi Arabia. Hayek was even injured while fighting against the Syrians for Michel Aoun.

A man carries a placard bearing the portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, during a gathering to celebrate the capture of the city of Qusayr by Syrian pro-government forces, in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, on June 6, 2013. (AFP Photo)

Things have changes since then and new alliances have formed. Syria is an enemy no longer and Samir Geagea is no longer a friend. Hayek told me bitterly that the US has never hesitated to manipulate and then drop the Christians in Lebanon. He even showed me a heated email exchange between him and Jeffrey Feltman, while Feltman was serving as a US assistant-secretary in the US  State Department, where Feltman in reference to Hezbollah accused the Free Patriotic Movement of being aligned with “evil.” In retrospect, Hayek realizes that the US had different motives when the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act was drafted. Furiously, he talked about “the twenty-five year old kids working at the Lebanon Desk in the [US] State Department with [Bachelor of Arts] in history” that are disconnected from reality in the Middle East which he has had to deal with.

“I am not a fan of Bashar Al-Assad, but I support him one hundred percent, because the alternative in Syria is an extremist government,” Hayek emphasized. Should the Syrian government fall, Hayek’s fear was that the corrupt Hariri family and the March 14 Alliance would invite a Muslim Brotherhood government in Damascus to invade and occupy Lebanon. As a key interlocutor between Michel Aoun and the United States, he explained to me that the Hariri family had no problem with the Syrian presence in Lebanon and in fact they were opposed to a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and would obstruct his work in the United States. He explained that the reason for this was that the Hariris used the Syrian military to enforce their hegemony in Lebanon. “Hariri corrupted the Syrians,” he explained. The Hariri clan would bribe all the high ranking Syrian officers in Lebanon by paying them millions of dollars. The problems between the Hariris and Syria began when Bashar Al-Assad wanted to put an end to corruption in Syria and refused to let the Hariris continue with their game.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

A protester holds the Turkish flag in front of a riot police line near Taksim Square in Istanbul June 22, 2013 (Reuters / Marko Djurica)

After dispersing a crowd commemorating the victims of police brutality with tear gas and rubber bullets, police swept the side streets of Istanbul with water cannons to prevent people from gathering again. Similar cleansing could be witnessed in Ankara.

Meanwhile in the streets of the Turkish capital of Ankara, police sprayed tear gas and water to break up hundreds of protesters who were planning to march to the city's main square. Ankara riot police have been patrolling the streets in such a manner over the last week, with RT’s Tom Barton having experienced himself how it feels to be suddenly attacked by water cannon.

Protesters run as the riot police fire water cannon at Taksim Square in Istanbul June 22, 2013 (Reuters / Marko Djurica)

Turkish riot police fired water cannons and tear gas to clear Istanbul's Taksim Square from thousands of protesters, who returned to the site after PM Tayyip Erdogan blamed the massive protests on Turkey’s “enemies from abroad”. The protestors gathered in the square holding carnations and Turkish national flags in their hands, with no political banners on display. The police didn’t let the people return to Gezi Park, which has been cordoned off since last week. The crowd condemned the closure of the park, chanting: "Open park belonging to the public." After warning the people to disperse, the riot police used water cannons to quell the demonstration. The crowd quickly scattered, with the protesters shouting: "Police, don't betray your people!" Stand-offs continued in side streets with Twitter reports of further water cannoning and even teargassing. Water cannon trucks were then parked at several entry points to Taksim to prevent the demonstrators from regrouping. 

Riot police fire a water cannon at Taksim Square in Istanbul June 22, 2013 (Reuters / Marko Djurica)

 Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, took part in the pro-governmental ‘Respect for National Will’ rally in the Black Sea port city of Samsun. In his speech, he touched upon the Gezi Park protests, saying that the whole action was masterminded by the enemies of Turkey from abroad. 

 "I am asking you. Who is the winner at the end of the protests going on for three weeks now?” Erdogan is cited as saying by the local Anadolu news agency. “I will tell you. The winners are the 'interest rate lobbies' as well as Turkey's enemies. Who has lost? Turkey's economy, tourism, and international strength and the image of Turkey." The prime minister said that the anti-government rallies currently taking place across Brazil are part of the same global conspiracy, which Turkey suffered from. 

Turkish protesters clash with Turkish riot policemen on Taksim square in Istanbul on June 22, 2013 (AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic)

 "It was the same game being played on Brazil, and same symbols, same banners, and the same international media. They are doing their best to achieve in Brazil what they could not achieve in Turkey," he said. Erdogan also denied accusations that the police have been using excessive force against the Taksim protesters during the weeks of unrest. "It is a betrayal to show Turkish police as pro-violence in the international media. The police are ours and they are doing their duty," the PM stressed. The Taksim square has been the cradle of protests since May 31 after the police used force to remove a group of environmentalists opposing the government’s plans to develop Gezi Park. But the rally quickly transformed into show of dissent against the government and Erdogan, who opponents call an authoritarian leader, pushing for the Islamisation of Turkey and meddling in peoples’ everyday lives.

A protestor wears a gas mask during clashes with police near Taksim Square in Istanbul June 22, 2013 (Reuters / Marko Djurica)

Protesters run as riot police fire teargas at Taksim Square in Istanbul June 22, 2013 (Reuters / Marko Djurica)

A protester jumps over a fire as he runs from riot police on a street near Taksim Square in Istanbul June 22, 2013 (Reuters / Marko Djurica)

Demonstrators face riot police during one of the many protests around Brazil's major cities in Belo Horizonte June 17, 2013.(Reuters / Pedro Vilela)

Brazil has entered a second week of mass protests, with hundreds of thousands turning out in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia and elsewhere. Unrest left at least 100 injured and resulted in over 250 arrests on Monday. 

00:23 GMT: Protesters in the city of Fortaleza broke through a police line and entered the Palace of Abolition, the seat of government of Ceará state.

00:06 GMT: At least 28 people have been injured in clashes with police in Rio de Janeiro. Most of the wounded were hit by rubber bullets, pepper spray and stones, officials at the Souza Aguiar hospital said.

Friday, June 21

23:47 GMT: In the city of Porto Alegre military police used a helicopter and tear gas to disperse protesters that approached the headquarters of RBS Group, a media conglomerate that publishes numerous newspapers along with radio and television stations.

23:20 GMT: 

meanwhile in Brasilia.... pic.twitter.com/8Qz1xqr0r1
— David Ferreira (@Igualitarista) June 20, 2013

23:13 GMT: Riot police in the capital Brasilia have prevented a group of protesters from breaking through the police cordon towards the Congress.

Students shout slogans during a protest of what is now called the 'Tropical Spring' against corruption and price hikes, at National Congress in Brasilia, on June 20, 2013.(AFP Photo / Evaristo SA)

 More than 20,000 are rallying in front of the Congress in the capital, Brasilia. Some 3,500 police officers were deployed to the area to respond, with clashes erupting after a group of protesters reportedly started throwing Molotov cocktails and attempted to break through the police cordon. Officers responded with tear gas.

Riot policemen stand guard as thousands of students shout slogans during a protest of what is now called the 'Tropical Spring' against corruption and price hikes, at National Congress in Brasilia, on June 20, 2013.(AFP Photo / Evaristo SA)

22:45 GMT: Police fired large rounds of tear gas against protesters in the city of Campinas in Sao Paulo state in a confrontation adjacent to government buildings. A Globo TV correspondent reported a tense situation as demonstrators faced off against riot gear-clad officer

@MarceloTas Protesto em Campinas/SP ;) pic.twitter.com/Nkn8BdEoaA
— andreza (@andreza_c_lopes) June 20, 2013

22:03 GMT: Police in Rio de Janeiro have already resorted to tear gas early Thursday evening to disperse a crowd making its way to city hall. Plumes of smoke could be seen on video broadcast by local TV. 

Authorities in Brazil's cultural capital expect as many as a million protesters to converge on the city, despite recent announcements by state governments to scrap plans to increase public transportation costs. Protesters intended to march on Maracana Stadium just as a Confederations cup football game was to kick off.

A PICTURE IS WORTH MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS MANISFETACION BRAZIL pic.twitter.com/xnveDODLGN
— Patrícia Mendes (@pattychokito) June 20, 2013

21:32 GMT: A huge demonstration is currently taking place in the Candelaria neighborhood of downtown Rio de Janeiro. At least 300,000 people have marched towards town hall, according to estimates by the police, who expect as many as a million protesters to gather later in the day.

19:36 GMT: Rio de Janeiro authorities have ramped up police strength with an estimated 8,000 officers to be deployed to handle the demonstration the city’s center and security for the Spanish and Tahiti football teams. Some 1,200 riot police, armed with teargas and rubber bullets, will remain in barracks unless the protest turns violent. The increase comes after the authorities admitted they underestimated the scale of Monday's march, when only 150 officers were on duty to withstand a crowd of more than 100,000.

15:00 GMT: Leaders in two of Brazil's largest cities reversed hikes in bus and subway fares that fueled the protests. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro both stepped down. "This will represent a big sacrifice and we will have to reduce investments in other areas," said the Mayor of Sao Paulo, Mayor Fernando Haddad. However, protests are still planned for Thursday in both cities. Protest organizers have called for demonstrations as people continue to express discontent with broader-scale corruption. Their frustrations are intensified by high taxes and poor public services.  

12:05 GMT: Brazilian football legend Pele has called upon the protesters to leave the streets and focus on football, as Brazil is currently hosting the Confederations Cup, the country’s main tournament before next year’s FIFA World Cup. "Let's forget all this commotion happening in Brazil, all these protests, and let's remember how the Brazilian squad is our country and our blood," Pele was quoted as saying by TV network O Globo. Social media users were less than thrilled by the comments, with many suggesting that the wealthy sporting great simply has no idea how ordinary Brazilians live.

00:30 GMT: In a video posted online, an on-duty riot police officer is described by Brazilian television as having been dismissed from his post by a superior after refusing to comply with orders. The superior is clearly agitated after the second officer hesitates after being asked to use a police vehicle to block protesters’ path, and he removes his weapon and dismisses him.

Thursday, June 20

22:30 GMT: A video of Brazilian police officers sitting down with demonstrators in Sao Paulo during the mass protest earlier this week has gone viral. 

21:25 GMT: The cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are to roll back transport fare hikes in response to the widespread demonstrations, according to officials cited both by AFP and Reuters. The day prior several smaller municipalities had made similar announcements, though today’s news is significant as Sao Paulo is the country’s largest city, with some eleven million residents. Together with Rio, it had been the focal point the mass protests this week and last week. Starting next Monday, fares for metro, train and buses will be reverted back to $1.50 from $1.60, says Sao Paulo State Governor Geraldo Alckmin. In Rio, bus fares will go back to $1.37 from the recently announced $1.47, according to mayor Eduardo Paes.

Demonstrators in Fortaleza display a banner with a message in solidarity with law enforcement before being fired upon with tear gas on June 19, 2013 (http://lualencastro.wordpress.com/)

19:30 GMT: Hackers replaced a Brazil World Cup Website (http://copaemcuiaba.com.br) with a popular Youtube video that urges people not to come to the country to watch the World Cup, as well as a montage of alleged police brutality at the protests. The unknown hackers also edited the title of the website with “Nao Venha Pata a Copa No Brasil. Do not come to Brasil for the world cup.” That is a sentiment that has made its way onto signs and chants used by demonstrators throughout Brazil, who see the link between the vast sums spent on preparations for the World Cup and the inability of the state to provide better social benefits as a symptom of corruption.

16:48 GMT: At least two demonstrators are reported to be injured in clashes with police near the stadium in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza on Wednesday. At least 30,000 protesters threw stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. One person suffered an eye injury and another was taken away on a stretcher. The protesters were marching against government spending on the World Cup and the Olympics. Brazil was to play a Confederations Cup match with Mexico later in the stadium, which went on as scheduled after protests were dispersed. During the protest at Fortaleza demonstrators carried banners reading "a teacher is worth more than Neymar," a reference to one of Brazil's star players slated to appear in Wednesday’s game.

06:50 GMT: The Brazilian government to deploy National Public Security Force in five cities hosting the FIFA football tournament in an effort to contain the ongoing protests across the country.

05:01 GMT: Hundreds of Brazilians living in Canada took to the streets on Tuesday in Vancouver to show their support for the wave of protests in Brazil.

05:00 GMT: Protests continue in Brazil, with 50,000 people flooding Cathedral Square and other main streets in Sao Paulo on Tuesday night. Many expressed their discontent with the entire government, chanting ''No parties!''

04:52 GMT: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff tries to defuse tensions in a televised speech by praising the protesters, saying that the demonstrations were legitimate and that the government was committed to social change.

02:50 GMT: Sao Paulo continued to be the focal point of protests on Tuesday night, with smaller demonstrations seen in the thousands in Rio de Janeiro as well as Belo Horizonte and smaller cities around the country. In the country’s largest city there were reports of looting and vandalism inflicted on several bank branches. Local media meanwhile had sporadic reports of individuals in Sao Paulo hauling electronics and home appliances out of shattered store fronts, as well as stealing watches, jewelry and mobile phones. Aside from a tense moment when demonstrators attempted to breach city hall, however, the situation seemed more subdued than the day prior. Some fifty individuals were reportedly arrested in that city while police continued to comb through downtown.

01:30 GMT: Police are attempting to disperse tens of thousands of protesters converged on Avenida Paulista, the main drag in Sao Paulo, using tear gas. In Rio, 7,500 members of the armed forces are on standby to be deployed if the protests cannot be contained.

Riot polce take positions during a protest in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 18, 2013. (AFP Photo / Daniel Guimaraens)

Wednesday, June 19 

23:20 GMT: Minas Gerais governor Antonio Anastasia requested the support of Brazil’s National Security Force (national guard) to help contain ongoing protests in the regional capital of Belo Horizonte. According to a spokesperson, 150 federal police had arrived to the city. The city, like many others throughout Brazil, is in its third day of demonstrations. On Monday, military police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as protesters attempted to break a blockade.

Students try to break down a door of the City Hall building in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 18, 2013. (AFP Photo / Miguel Schincariol)

 23:00 GMT: There have been reports of some property damage. Demonstrators attacked a Banco Itaú branch and destroyed several ATM machines, though there was no indication of looting, according to Folha de S.Paulo. There were other reports of stores being vandalized, though they appeared to be isolated events. 

21:50 GMT: In response to protests, several municipalities in Brazil have announced plans to lower public transportation fares. The cities of Porto Alegre, Cuiaba, Recife and Joao Pessoa all say they will reduce bus fare by 2 cents to 5 cents. Meanwhile, the mayor of Sao Paulo, Fernando Haddad, said he might also be willing to consider such a reduction.  

21:35 GMT: In an address from the presidential palace on Tuesday, president Rousseff expressed sympathy with the demonstrators.  

"These voices need to be heard," Rousseff said. "My government is listening to these voices for change. My government is committed to social transformation," she added.

A vandalized press car from TV Record burns during a student demonstration in front of the City Hall in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 18, 2013. (AFP Photo / Miguel Schincariol)

21:10 GMT: Demonstrators have completely overtaken Avenida Paulista, one of São Paulo's major arteries. Municipal police reportedly used pepper spray to thwart a smaller subset described as "radical" which tried to storm city hall. Other groups of demonstrators reportedly chanted for peaceful protest and against any vandalism (lower video).

20:02 GMT: Some ten thousand demonstrators are already gathered in downtown São Paulo, with a large portion of the group marching towards city hall. No major clashes have so far been reported and the crowd appeared peaceful despite large numbers.

13:02 GMT: The demonstrations were initially triggered by a 10-cent hike in bus fare, bringing the price to the equivalent of $1.60, and fueled by 6.5 percent inflation, as well as other economic problems. Afterwards, the people started taking to the streets to protest against government corruption and income inequality, as well as in outrage over the police’s harsh response to protesters last week.

12:40 GMT: Military Police (MP) in Sao Paulo are keeping a close watch on the area occupied by the protesters.

12:32 GMT: About 50 protesters spent the early hours of Tuesday in front of Bandeirantes Palace, where the government of Sao Paulo is headquartered. The Palace is situated in Morumbi, in the south of the state capital. The situation remained tense throughout the night.  

02:00 GMT Central Sao Paulo was filled with protesters last night. Here, a resident captures the bustling scene on video.

Tuesday, June 18

Syrian demonstrators shout slogans during an anti-regime protest in the centre of Idlib in northwestern Syria.(AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic)

We don’t know what will come out of Geneva II, the US and Russian backed conference for a political solution to the Syrian crisis. But it is forcing rhetorical and diplomatic conversions upon those taking the road to Damascus. In mid-May the Arab League made a surprising declaration. Two months after handing Syria’s seat at Doha to the opposition, League Chief Nabil el-‘Arabi explained that Syria’s seat was in fact vacant, that the opposition was in Doha at the invitation of Qatar, and that having failed to form a government, it was barred from attending League meetings. Then Turkey. Erdogan’s fiery anti-Assad rhetoric, even accusing the Syrian regime of the Reyhanli attacks, gave way to reports rebels were arrested with Sarin gas in Turkey. In a country ranked low on press freedom, the absence of neither government confirmation nor refutation speaks volumes. Before the sarin story broke, the usually tight-lipped FM Davutoglu treated journalists to a session of bizarre intimate confessions on how he formed his judgement on Syria and Assad, as if he were coming to terms with the past, before the next leap of faith. In Arabia, there was no soul searching. Patrons of the now discredited Syrian National Coalition turned. Qatar, smarting from its failure to engineer and broadcast Assad’s fall over its very own private TV channel, ceded its place to Saudi Arabia. The change of guard was reflected in the changing composition of the SNC, not easy as the SNC agrees only on one thing: wrestling power from Assad, and nothing else. 

Rebels fighters prepare to fire a portable canon against an adjacent Syrian government-held building during fighting.(AFP Photo / Zac Baillie)

Syrian Revolution’s false premises

The Syrian opposition’s problem is not the absence of alternatives to toppling Assad.  It is the abundance of alternatives and their sponsors that retards them. On one hand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey’s intervention scenarios took the shape of “invisible armies” of extremists, disgruntled young men brainwashed by their imams, recruited from Syria and abroad and sent to fight against Bashar el-Assad. Qatar, driven by Libyan‘success’ euphoria was followed by Saudi Arabia in to leading the Syrian revolution. Muslim Brotherhood cadres close to Qatar were so certain of toppling Assad that (before Erdogan cut ties with Assad in May 2011) they declared in Istanbul that Assad was not going to follow through on reforms and that Syrian protests would continue. On the other hand, the U.S. cadre of pundits, politicians and leaders found itself stymied. They typically seek regime change through two complementary scenarios: achieving a state of revolution via compliant media and social media, which manufactures consent and lays the ground for intervention. UNSC resolutions on Syria repeatedly stumbled on Chinese and Russian vetoes, excluding UN-sanctioned intervention. Syria’s strong air defence, as well as the ‘no boots on the ground’ pledge kept America at bay. Washington was left to lead from behind, endorsing and backing a Qatari scenario increasingly appearing as a first stage intervention whose only goal was to create chaos and give America’s and Israel’s hawks time to ponder options for a large scale intervention, while Syria burns.

Man riding his motorbike past a burnt out Syrian Army tank in Rastan, in the central Homs province.(AFP Photo / Shaam News Network)

But after two years of war, with the Syrian state apparatus still intact, the interventionists in Washington and Tel Aviv opted for a show of ‘force’, sending ‘Bomb -Iran’ McCain on a photo-mission to Syrian rebels who were revealed to be kidnappers of Lebanese citizens. France and Britain, featuring inexperienced leaders atop sinking economies dependant on Gulf investments, enthusiastically endorsed Qatar’s violent scenario. By the end of the first year of the crisis external weapons and fighters were already flowing to Syria , with the help of all countries cited above, and without much coordination. When, in his latest interview with Al-Manar TV, Assad outlined how the Syrian army shifted from defensive to offensive positions only when “Syrians understood developments on the ground”, he meant the popular backlash against the western supported Qatari scenario for Syria: destruction, looting, beheading, kidnappings, sectarianism, terrorist bombings. Syria was compared to Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia while ordinary Syrians  helplessly watched their country being stripped of its dignity by a foreign agenda supported by foreign fighters. At this stage the opposition had no chance left of being ever able to rally the majority of Syrian Sunnis, let alone Syrians at large.

The resilience factor

Throughout the first year of the crisis, from July-Dec 2012, the opposition attempted to engineer defections using Qatari money. Regular stories of high-level army and government defections were rolled out. The reality is none were important or game-changing, nor did they rally popular Syrian support. In the face of abundant scenarios to topple him, Assad and his government focused on one: keeping Syria united and winning the Syrian people. For over two years, the Syrian government and the army acted as one: the Baath stood behind Assad, who stood for the Baath. Reforms were enacted under the bombs, elections were held and a new constitution was approved. The army that everyone expected to disintegrate, was dispatched in a controlled manner, slowly adapting to a changing war terrain; first, in a defensive manner preserving its unity and its morale, then offensive when the destruction of Syria became too much to bear for Syrians.

A Free Syrian Army fighter carrying his weapon, smokes as he stands on the rubble of damaged buildings in Kefr Hamra, Aleppo June 17, 2013. REUTERS/Hamid Khatib

At the same time, the government closed the information gap. Al-Jazeera, having lost credibility during the Libyan war, faced revulsion across the Arab world. Its activist ‘correspondents’ on the ground in Syria delivered news formatted for external consumption, feeding its owner’s propaganda and standing in formation with western govt information machines.  The mainstream news outlets, from Al-Jazeera to CNN to the BBC to the ‘liberal’ press, led by The Guardian - who played on Syria the role New York Times played on Iraq  - all relied on a handful of Syrian activists who manufactured Youtube videos for a wide international audience.  But they created a contrary effect in Syria, where the mainstream media ‘war within’ narrative was exposed as divorced from reality, after Syrians turned to local information channels and saw the “developments on the ground” as they unravelled in Aleppo.

And this is key

The take over of Aleppo by rebels amounted to a national tragedy and was a turning point in the war. The fate of ‘Syria’s beating heart’, burned, pillaged and reduced to rubble, shocked Syrians from all sects, and they understood. The silent majority started to feel threatened by the revolution, increasingly expecting the government and the army to protect them. Syria’s allies, Iran and Hezbollah on the side of the resistance (by which I mean resistance to imperialist proxy politics breeding war and divisions across the Middle East) and Russia, diligently playing its comeback as a power on the regional scene - did not waver. With the support of Syrians, the army went from defensive to offensive, and began accumulating hard fought successes – step by step – while the Qatari scenario; armed groups on the ground and fragmented opposition councils and coalitions, floundered.  Finally, Israel’s air raids on Syria forced the resistance axis’ hand. Targeted by both rebels and Israel, Hezbollah mobilised in response to a two-pronged attempt to ‘choke the resistance’. The Syrian army went on the offensive in Qusair, to the heart of the armed opposition, supported by Hezbollah. That offensive turn wasn’t possible without Syrians developing an understanding of “developments on the ground” and “confidence in victory”. For Hezbollah, who surprised everybody by opening up about their involvement in Qusair, the cost of this involvement, on the Lebanese scene, is to be offset by the benefits of a decisive victory. 

The road to Damascus and Geneva II: resistance and co-existence

Geneva II comes with a major shift in the Syrian crisis timeline. After two years of violence, the revolution is running out of steam. The opposition, faced with defeat, is in disarray as its core assumptions are exposed as falsehoods. There are challenges to regime-change in Syria that should be considered in Geneva II and that should be considered by the opposition, if it attends. The first is the resistance: geo-strategically, Syria is the heart of the resistance which would not let itself be choked and vanquished. There will always be resistance as long as foreign meddling produces injustice after injustice, the most enduring of which is Palestine. The Syrian opposition in exile was doomed from day one because it thought it could belligerently do away with Syria’s allies in the resistance.

A Free Syrian Army fighter runs for cover near Nairab military airport in Aleppo June 12, 2013.(Reuters / Hamid Khatib )

 The second challenge is demographic: peaceful co-existence of religions in Syria is key to political stability.  This is true, not only for Syria, but for the whole Levant. Any end to peaceful religious co-existence in the Levant will produce decades of political instability no matter who is in charge. Syrians inside Syria, and the people of the Levant in general, know very well the equation for co-existence.  There are strong indications that the Muslim Brotherhood instigators of the Syrian revolution ignored other sects because they falsely believed the time for their Agenda had come for Syria, not because Syria was ready, but because the so-called Arab Spring had brought Islamists to power in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Al-Jazeera and the infamous Qaradawi framed the revolution in sectarian terms from the beginning; Qaradawi incited Sunnis to topple Assad, a “prisoner of his own religion”  on the Qatari channel, trapping the revolution in sectarian rhetoric. This rhetoric was rejected by Syrians, including the majority of Sunnis, who are used to co-existence.  And it was from this rejected sectarianism that the violence was imposed – against a popular momentum for peaceful change. For a solution to emerge in Geneva II, sectarianism and any pro-western agenda must be rejected in favour of resistance and co-existence, where sects are assured of a future and the resistance is given air to breath. For this reason, the current Saudi-Qatari-US sponsored opposition is irrelevant to the future of a peaceful Syria.  Not only it has no popular basis in the country but it has also failed to recognize that contemporary Syrian society’s core value-system is based on resistance and co-existence.  Whatever appeasement and assurances the opposition offered Syria’s sects and the resistance -  and they were really few -, have been nullified by the company it keeps and by the actions of the armed groups it endorses on the ground. The attempt at rapid and violent regime change in Syria has failed because of them. Geneva II comes at an opportune moment.  Expect more conversions on the road to Damascus.

 Sonia Mansour Robaey for RT

Sonia Mansour Robaey is a neuroscientist who teaches Philosophy and Ethics. She tweets on the Levant at @les_politiques and on Ethics and Philosophy at @SoniaMRobaey

Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of the G8 summit at the Lough Erne resort near Enniskillen in Northern Ireland on June 18, 2013.(AFP Photo / Matt Dunham)

There is no proof that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the G8 summit. Some of the G8 countries share this view, he added. “We do not have any facts of the use of such weapons by the Syrian government. I assure you, that by no means all the G8 members believe that they were used,” Putin said. The Russian President stressed he “never felt isolated” at the summit despite the difference in views, and said the G8 leaders have been seeking a common solution to the Syrian conflict. Supplying arms to the rebels based on unconfirmed reports that chemical weapons were used by the Assad government would further destabilize Syria, Putin warned. Putin urged Western nations not to be hasty in arming the Syrian opposition, saying that such weapons could fall into the wrong hands, or be uncontrollable.

“I call on all our partners to think twice before making such steps. It is a very dangerous stuff,” the Russian president said, pointing to the “horrible” and “tragic” Woolwich murder. There are “loads of such criminals fighting for the [Syrian] opposition, who could commit a brutal murder like this,” he stressed. However, Putin did not rule out Russia signing new arms contracts with the Syrian government. The Russian president stressed that all such contracts comport with international law: “We are supplying arms under legal contracts to the legitimate government. It is the government of the President Assad. And if we are going to make such contracts, then we will deliver.”  Russia and the United States will spearhead the development of a peace plan for Syria, Putin said. The G8 countries have agreed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the US Secretary of State John Kerry will take on “main role and the main burden of responsibility” for working out the principles of the solution to the crisis, he added. Tuesday’s communique by the G8 nations calling for an end to the fighting in Syria represents a “much better outcome” than was expected, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. Harper also apparently changed his view on Russia’s role in Syrian conflict talks, saying there has been “a very significant move on the part of Mr. Putin and the Russians.” 

Blogger Alexei Navalny, Moscow Mayor candidate from the RPR-PARNAS party. (RIA Novosti/Vladimir Astapkovich)

Anti-corruption activist Aleksey Navalny has become a candidate for Moscow mayor’s office. The elections will take place in September and will become the first mayoral elections in the Russian capital in 10 years.

The Central Election Commission confirmed Saturday that Navalny had registered as a mayoral candidate. Navalny has been nominated by the opposition Republican Party of Russia (RPR-Parnas). On Friday, he was chosen as the only candidate from the party with 88 voices out of the party’s 98 Moscow delegates.

As Navalny will be balloting as a party member, he won’t be obliged to collect 73,000 voters’ signatures, but will have to obtain the signatures of 110 municipal deputies of the City of Moscow.

The opposition blogger has become the sixth candidate for Moscow mayor. Among the first five there are several businessmen, lesser-known politicians and a rock musician.

Leading Russian economist Sergey Guriev, a former dean at the New Economic School who fled the country in April, has agreed to write an economic program for mayoral candidate Navalny.

In his keynote speech Navalny maintained that decentralization of public authority is priority task of his program. He also promised to fight inappropriate spending of budget funds and to increase the quality of the municipal health program. In addition, he also promised to further develop housing and communal services and to achieve “the real solution to migration problems.”

Anti-corruption blogger Aleksey Navalny is currently attending court hearings, charged with embezzling state funds. He has pleaded not guilty, claiming the case is “politically motivated.”

The early Moscow mayor elections will take place on September 8, while previously they were set for 2015. Acting Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, appointed to the position by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, resigned on June 5 in order to force an early election, with hopes to return to the post as an elected, not appointed, mayor. President Vladimir Putin accepted his resignation and appointed him interim mayor.

Sobyanin is considered the leading candidate for the election.

The use of chemical weapons by Damascus and Hezbollah involvement in Syria risks derailing a political settlement to the conflict, John Kerry warned. His comments follow reports the CIA is preparing to funnel arms to rebel forces via Jordan and Turkey.

The US State Department issued a statement on Saturday condemning the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad for its lack of commitment to a negotiated settlement after Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with his Iraqi counterpart the previous day.

"The secretary reaffirmed that the United States continues to work aggressively for a political solution with the goal of a second Geneva meeting, but that the use of chemical weapons and increasing involvement of Hezbollah demonstrates the regime's lack of commitment to negotiations and threatens to put a political settlement out of reach," the department said.

The statement further noted it’s appreciation for Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who issued a June 11 statement “discouraging Iraqis from joining the fight in Syria.”

Kerry, who expressed concern over the “increasingly sectarian nature of the Syrian conflict on both sides,” asked Zebari to take “every possible measure to help end the military resupply of the Assad regime and thereby increase the pressure that will be necessary to advance a political solution."

On Thursday, the Obama Administration said it would reverse US policy of not providing lethal aid to rebel fighters after claiming the Syrian government had crossed a red line by allegedly deploying chemical weapons against opposition forces on four separate occasions.

Activists returning to Taksim Square will be considered “supporters or members of a terror group,” Turkey’s EU minister told local media. This comes after police bulldozed the tent camp in Gezi Park in one of the worst nights of violence in Istanbul.

“From now on the state will unfortunately have to consider everyone who remains there a supporter or member of a terror organization,” EU Minister Egemen Gagis said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster AHaber on Saturday night. He requested that all the activists returned to their homes.

“Our prime minister has already assured [activists] about their aim with the protests. The protests from now on will play into the hands of some separatist organizations that want to break the peace and prioritize vandalism and terrorism,” stressed Gagis.

PM Tayyip Erdogan, who has been the target for many of the complaints of the protesters, appeared to take a more compromising approach to the demonstrators on Saturday. He agreed to postpone the reconstruction plans for Gezi Park (located beside Taksim Square) that initially riled activists.

However, later in the evening he announced in a speech to his supporters in the Justice and Development Party (AK) that all the protesters must be “evacuated.”

What followed was reported by many to have been one of the most violent nights since the unrest began two weeks ago. Riot police moved into the Square taking on half an hour to disperse the activists gathered there, using tear gas and carrying riot shields.  

Turkish protesters rally on John F. Kennedy street near the US Embassy in Ankara early on June 16, 2013, calling for the governemt to resign. (AFP Photo)

Clashes then began to erupt at different spots around the city, with activists scuffling with officers. Witnesses claimed they were chased into hotels and accused the police of pelting them with tear gas even there.  

“They excessively use violence and tear gas against medical personnel and injured people, they target doctors who voluntarily support the health units healing the injured,” human rights activist Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci informed RT  from Turkey.

Some protesters ripped up paving slabs and used debris to create makeshift barricades to impede officers.

Meanwhile in Taksim Square bulldozers cleared away all traces of the past two weeks of protest and police took control of the roads leading up to the square. The governor of Istanbul confirmed that 22 people had been taken into custody in connection with the protests and stressed that anti-government gatherings are banned in Taksim Square and the surrounding area.

Protesters have targeted Erdogan with their demonstrations, alleging he has become increasingly authoritarian in his administration of Turkey. In addition, many complain that his party thrusts conservative Islamist values upon a secular state. 

Separately in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday police broke up a number of protesters near the Kizilay Square with water cannons and tear gas.

Officers initially stopped a convoy of mourners as they prepared to lay Ethem Sarisuluk, allegedly shot dead by police in a protest, to rest.

Austin Mackell, a journalist specializing in Middle Eastern affairs, characterized the unrest as an urban phenomenon made up of secular Western Turks who are used to having a strong voice in political matters. He stressed that the rise of a Muslim-orientated government had curtailed their say in government affairs and warned if the protesters did not unify the movement would quickly be extinguished.

“There is a real danger that if the Gezi kids don’t get their act together that what they’re going to do will benefit the generals and the old-school secular authoritarians,” said Mackel to RT.

So far over 700 people have been injured in the upheaval in Turkey and at least five have been killed.