U.S. Backed Syrian Rebels Massacre Christian Village

Government forces had launched an offensive against the city in April this year, in an attempt to hit the main supply lines of the insurgents.

(DAMASCUS (Free Syrian Press) - On Monday (27 May 2013) Free Syrian Army commandos affiliate, the largest armed force of the Syrian resistance against Assad, massacred the entire population of al-Duvair, a Christian village on the outskirts of Homs, not far from the border with Lebanon. The news was the Syrian news agency Ahlul Bayt, who stressed that the killings did not spare women and children, until the intervention of the Syrian army.

According to the little news coming to the press, the killing of al-Duvair occurred after the end of an intense battle held in the city of al-Qusseir the weekend. During the battle, the Syrian army of Bashar Al-Assad had inflicted heavy casualties on the rebel commando.

Government forces had launched an offensive against the city in April this year, in an attempt to hit the main supply lines of the insurgents. According to news sources, just two weeks ago the Syrian army had conquered the city center.

Although the sources that describe the massacre on Monday are close to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, some have speculated that the operation against the Christian village has been conducted by international terrorist groups affiliated to al-Qaeda. Jabhat al-Nusra Front, arm quaedista who fought Western armies in Iraq, it is certainly present in the guerrilla war against the Syrian Assad and, according to some sources, would control the entire front of the Islamic resistance to the regime of Syrian President. Just last month, Abou Mohamed al-Joulani, head of Jabhat al-Nusra Front has publicly vowed loyalty to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s successor at the head of al-Qaeda.

Meanwhile, the condition of Christians in Syria is becoming more difficult and persecution is rampant with no one able to fight it. He impressed the anonymous interview granted by a priest-monk of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, near the Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo still in the hands of the rebels. To publish the interview was the deacon Giorgij Maximov of the Moscow Patriarchate, publicist pravoslavie.ru on the site.

Speaking of jihadists, Hieromonk Syrian stated that “torture and kill Orthodox priests;’re doing their eyes, broken bones and harvest organs, as they did with the father Thaddei Al-Haddad. They kidnap priests, bishops, Christian women, young and no one knows where these people are and what is happening to them. [...] A few days ago a bus full of women and children were abducted and disappeared into thin air. ” The interview is rather tense and arrives to report the condition of large areas of Syria: “There are whole inhabited areas that have been completely conquered by the insurgents. Are ruled by Emirs new Christians and those who were not able to leave those places are forced to payjizya, a special tax that allows them to remain Christians, and Christian women are forced to cover their face as Muslim ones. ”

More than the inaction Western concerns the support that the United States and other countries are giving Free Syrian Army, the same one who perpetrated the massacre of al-Duvair. The U.S. has clearly stated that they are aware of the presence of armed jihadist organization, adding that in any case they constitute only a part. Meanwhile, many Free Syrian Army leaders have made it clear that they had plans of political platforms based on sharia and a brigade born recently was named in honor of Usama Bin Laden.

These facts do not seem to worry the United States, so much so that Robert Menendez, Democratic Senator, and Bob Corker, Republican, have drafted a proposal that, if passed, would allow the direct sale of weapons to the Syrian rebels. Just last Monday, the same John McCain, former Republican candidate for the White House, paid a visit to Syria, where he met with General Idris Salem, head of the Supreme Military Council Free Syrian Army. On that occasion, McCain has expressed his support to the rebels are equipped with weapons and supported by a U.S. military intervention.

Background - Syrian Rebels Massacre Christian Village

Free Syrian Army massacres christian villagers at duwaina; retaliation for stunning defeat at al-qusayr

While President Obama’s administration weighs overt military aid to Syrian rebels, the true character of the revolution underway in that country is becoming horrifically clear. Numerous press reports are providing details of a massacre perpetrated by the Free Syrian Army that annihilated the entire population of a Christian village.

As the New York Times reported last December, anti-American sentiment has grown among the rebel organizations even as the American government has played a key role in propping up the rebellion. A crucial step in that support was the administration’s decision to give formal recognition to rebel organizations — a step just short of recognizing them as the legitimate government of Syria. But now, those rebels Obama has vehemently supported are now proving that in Syria — as in Egypt several years ago — the rebels may prove worse than the tyrants they struggle to overthrow.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), forces of the Free Syrian Army massacred the village on May 27: “The armed rebels affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) raided the Christian-populated al-Duvair village in Reef (outskirts of) Homs near the border with Lebanon today and massacred all its civilian residents, including women and children. The Syrian army, however, intervened and killed tens of terrorists during heavy clashes which are still going on in al-Duvair village.”

Although the United States had opposed the involvement of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in the rebel coalition, it did not express such reservations in December when Obama lavished his praise on the coalition. As the New York Times reported at that time:

But Mr. Obama praised the opposition, known formally as the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, for what he said was its inclusiveness, its openness to various ethnic and religious groups, and its ties to local councils involved in the fighting against Mr. Assad’s security forces.

“At this point we have a well-organized-enough coalition — opposition coalition that is representative — that we can recognize them as the legitimate representative of Syrian people,” he said.…

The United States has played an active role behind the scenes in shaping the opposition, insisting that it be broadened and made more inclusive. But until Mr. Obama’s announcement, the United States had held off on formally recognizing the opposition, asserting that it wanted to use the lure of recognition to encourage the rebel leaders to flesh out their political structure and fill important posts.

Now Obama’s inclusive opposition has allegedly slaughtered the entire population of al-Duvair, which is the type of crime that the U.S. president has previously purported was sufficient reason for the people of Syria to rise up and overthrow their government. And the massacre is hardly an isolated incident; for example, only several weeks ago, rebels attacked the St. Elijah Orthodoxy monastery. As Voice of Russia reported on May 12: “The militants ransacked the cloister, destroyed the sanctuary, blew up the belfry and tore down the statue of St. Prophet Elijah who is equally revered in Syria by both Christians and Muslims, Syria’s SANA news agency reports, quoting the head of the monastery, hegumen Gadir Ibrahim. The hegumen believes the attack to be the work of foreign mercenaries.”

Reports of foreign mercenaries are nothing new in the war against the Assad regime, and the “Syrian” character of the rebellion has been in doubt for some time. As the Independent reported on December 20:

Fighters from as many as 29 countries have filtered into Syria to join a civil war that has split along sectarian lines, increasingly pitting the ruling Alawite community against the majority Sunni Muslims, UN human rights investigators said today.

The deepened sectarian divisions in Syria may diminish prospects for post-conflict reconciliation even if President Bashar al-Assad is toppled. And the influx of foreign fighters raises the risk of the war spilling into neighbouring countries.

“As battles between government forces and anti-government armed groups approach the end of their second year, the conflict has become overtly sectarian in nature,” the investigators led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro said in an updated report.…

Fighters from as many as 29 countries have filtered into Syria to join a civil war that has split along sectarian lines, the UN investigators found. “They come from all over, Europe and America, and especially the neighbouring countries,” said Ms [Karen] Abuzayd.

Even as the American government has expanded its involvement in the war in Syria, the radicalization of the rebel forces has continued. While Syrian rebels perpetrate their own atrocities, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was still insisting “We can identify who these people are. We can help the right people.” As Reuters reported on May 29:

U.S. Senator John McCain said on Wednesday, two days after meeting with rebels in Syria, that he is confident the United States can send weapons to fighters in Syria without the risk they will fall into the wrong hands.

“We can identify who these people are. We can help the right people,” McCain said on CNN’s program “Anderson Cooper 360.” …

Critics of some lawmakers’ push to arm the rebels have expressed concerns that weapons could end up in the hands of militants who might eventually end up using them against the United States or its allies.

But McCain said such radical fighters make up only a small part of the rebels forces.

For example, he said, Syria’s Islamist al-Nusra Front, identified as an alias of al Qaeda in Iraq, accounts for only about 7,000 of the 100,000 fighters battling the government of Assad.

“Every single day, more and more extremists flow in…. “They’re flowing in all the time, these extremists. But they still do not make up a sizeable portion,” the Arizona senator said.

When 7,000 members of an al-Qaeda front are acknowledged to be part of a US-backed coalition, one wonders how McCain and his allies are now defining “small.” And as McCain’s and Obama’s purported “right people” are busy massacring Christians — and others — in an “overtly sectarian” war conducted by foreign mercenaries and religious fanatics, the latest phase in the “perpetual war for perpetual peace” has moved on to the phase where its proponents will soon, once again, be “shocked” by the actions of their allies.