the_kaz
Active Member
Thanks for the replies and the messages of sympathy to my friends and family in Syria! I'm sure they'll all be appreciative when I let them know that people all over the world actually care, despite what their politics may be. Sorry I only just replied to this after a few days of silence. I've had other things on my mind and not been visiting Morrissey-Solo as much as I normally do.
Like with any complex situation, the people of Syria aren't homogenous in their views of what's going on and what should be done. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority just want to get on with their lives and have things go back to normal. From what I can gather, it seems pretty much split across the middle with who supports Assad and who supports the rebels. Those who support Assad aren't necessarily doing so right now because they're fans of his repressive regime, and many of them initially supported the anti-government protests sweeping the country, although many Syrians (having been through years of indoctrination) do legitimately support the government in all areas. But because of the growing influence of Saudi and Qatari financed Islamists, many people who would have otherwise been passionately anti-government now see supporting Assad as the only way to prevent their country from being taken over by hardline Muslims, or possibly getting split up. Therefore, people from minority religions (such as Christians, Druze and various non-Sunni forms of Islam) count themselves among Assad's most ardent supporters, even if they were passionately against him before the protests turned ugly. But then you have the other 50% of the population, the vast majority of whom are not hardline Muslims at all, who believe that the Islamist faction of the opposition is a small element which is giving the entire movement a bad reputation. Those people no doubt believe that they would fight to the bitter end to ensure that Syria doesn't become an Islamist state, should it seem like a legitimate concern after Assad falls.
Like with any complex situation, the people of Syria aren't homogenous in their views of what's going on and what should be done. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority just want to get on with their lives and have things go back to normal. From what I can gather, it seems pretty much split across the middle with who supports Assad and who supports the rebels. Those who support Assad aren't necessarily doing so right now because they're fans of his repressive regime, and many of them initially supported the anti-government protests sweeping the country, although many Syrians (having been through years of indoctrination) do legitimately support the government in all areas. But because of the growing influence of Saudi and Qatari financed Islamists, many people who would have otherwise been passionately anti-government now see supporting Assad as the only way to prevent their country from being taken over by hardline Muslims, or possibly getting split up. Therefore, people from minority religions (such as Christians, Druze and various non-Sunni forms of Islam) count themselves among Assad's most ardent supporters, even if they were passionately against him before the protests turned ugly. But then you have the other 50% of the population, the vast majority of whom are not hardline Muslims at all, who believe that the Islamist faction of the opposition is a small element which is giving the entire movement a bad reputation. Those people no doubt believe that they would fight to the bitter end to ensure that Syria doesn't become an Islamist state, should it seem like a legitimate concern after Assad falls.
