Marko Attila Hoare
BY Marko Attila Hoare
Not his actual words, “I’d prefer Assad to win.” — but that is the only conclusion to be derived from Boris Johnson’s suggestion that arming the Syrian opposition would lead to British weapons in the hands of “Al Qaeda-affiliated thugs”.
With 93,000 of Syria’s citizens dead, a kill rate in the country higher than in post-invasion Iraq, and one of the world’s most murderous and tyrannical regimes poised to win a historic victory thanks to Western inaction, London’s mayor can only fret about hypothetical dangers.
It is the West’s failure militarily to support the Syrian National Coalition and its principal military counterpart, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), that is strengthening the hand of Al Qaeda in Syria.
The SNC is formally committed to the establishment of a “democratic and pluralistic civil state” and is recognised by Britain, the US, the EU and the Arab League as legitimately representing the Syrian people.
Yet demoralised by their shortage of arms, soldiers of the FSA have been defecting to the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat Al Nusra militia, which is, according to some sources, the best-equipped rebel force in Syria.
The double-headed monster traditionally oppressing the Arab world — brutal dictatorships in power and opposition channelled into Islamist extremism and terrorism; the very combination that spawned Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks in the first place — looks set to be resuscitated in Syria, as Johnson and other conservatives do their best to undermine Western support for the only viable alternative.
Johnson suggests that instead of arming the resistance, the solution lies in a “total ceasefire”. Similarly, Ed Miliband argues that “we all support the idea that we should focus on the peace conference and making the peace conference in Geneva happen …
But the problem is the government has put its energy into the lifting of the arms embargo, not into the peace conference.”
The crowning irony is that the fixation of Johnson et al on Sunni extremism is blinding them to the far-greater Islamist menace facing Syria: The Shia extremism promoted by Iran and embodied in its proxy, Hezbollah.
The latter is an organisation whose military wing the UK and others designate as terrorist, and whose founding manifesto calls for “holy war” and “Islamic government”. It was probably the perpetrator of a bomb attack in Bulgaria last year that killed five Israelis and one Bulgarian, though it denies any involvement.
Hezbollah and Iran are promoting sectarian hatred against Sunnis in Syria while continuing to stoke their long-running confrontation with Israel. The consequences for regional peace and stability of a victory for Iran and Hezbollah are not something that Johnson and Miliband are apparently giving much thought.
The West’s inaction in the face of the pending Ba’athist and Shia Islamist victory amounts to a colossal failure of leadership.
THE GUARDIAN
BY Marko Attila Hoare
Not his actual words, “I’d prefer Assad to win.” — but that is the only conclusion to be derived from Boris Johnson’s suggestion that arming the Syrian opposition would lead to British weapons in the hands of “Al Qaeda-affiliated thugs”.
With 93,000 of Syria’s citizens dead, a kill rate in the country higher than in post-invasion Iraq, and one of the world’s most murderous and tyrannical regimes poised to win a historic victory thanks to Western inaction, London’s mayor can only fret about hypothetical dangers.
It is the West’s failure militarily to support the Syrian National Coalition and its principal military counterpart, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), that is strengthening the hand of Al Qaeda in Syria.
The SNC is formally committed to the establishment of a “democratic and pluralistic civil state” and is recognised by Britain, the US, the EU and the Arab League as legitimately representing the Syrian people.
Yet demoralised by their shortage of arms, soldiers of the FSA have been defecting to the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat Al Nusra militia, which is, according to some sources, the best-equipped rebel force in Syria.
The double-headed monster traditionally oppressing the Arab world — brutal dictatorships in power and opposition channelled into Islamist extremism and terrorism; the very combination that spawned Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks in the first place — looks set to be resuscitated in Syria, as Johnson and other conservatives do their best to undermine Western support for the only viable alternative.
Johnson suggests that instead of arming the resistance, the solution lies in a “total ceasefire”. Similarly, Ed Miliband argues that “we all support the idea that we should focus on the peace conference and making the peace conference in Geneva happen …
But the problem is the government has put its energy into the lifting of the arms embargo, not into the peace conference.”
The crowning irony is that the fixation of Johnson et al on Sunni extremism is blinding them to the far-greater Islamist menace facing Syria: The Shia extremism promoted by Iran and embodied in its proxy, Hezbollah.
The latter is an organisation whose military wing the UK and others designate as terrorist, and whose founding manifesto calls for “holy war” and “Islamic government”. It was probably the perpetrator of a bomb attack in Bulgaria last year that killed five Israelis and one Bulgarian, though it denies any involvement.
Hezbollah and Iran are promoting sectarian hatred against Sunnis in Syria while continuing to stoke their long-running confrontation with Israel. The consequences for regional peace and stability of a victory for Iran and Hezbollah are not something that Johnson and Miliband are apparently giving much thought.
The West’s inaction in the face of the pending Ba’athist and Shia Islamist victory amounts to a colossal failure of leadership.
THE GUARDIAN
