Let me start by saying I don’t know…! I believe no one can claim for absolute certainty to know the truth behind that, because as a Syrian who’s deeply concerned about my home place I wouldn’t want to rule anything out, and I would want these “armed gangs”, should they exist, to be dealt with. Still, and for so many reasons this story looked fishy to me; at least the way it is being presented by the regime. Yet I couldn’t completely rule it out because let’s face it; the possibility is there as Syria has many enemies just like any other country, and the conspiracy theory isn’t imaginary.
Before even getting into that I must mention, out of fairness and honesty, that there were few incidents we heard about where people opposing the regime have used non-peaceful means against security forces and their thugs mostly in defense and fewer times in revenge. But, and with same fairness and honesty, it was rather obvious that these were isolated incidents and not in context with the dominant peaceful protests and peaceful means. That’s really important and all the revolution committees stressed over and over again in all the Syrian cities that they don’t adopt, encourage, nor bless any acts of violence, and it goes without saying that self defense is self defense! And more recently detected army soldiers were working on protecting peaceful and unarmed civilians the best way they can. I may speak of that in greater detail in future blogs.
A theory in question
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| The real armed gangs. |
Now, back to the “armed gangs” issue, and allow me here to rain you with questions which I believe would hold answers within(this will be long so pls bare it with me): Isn’t it a just a little fishy that these “armed gangs” existed right when protesting did? And continued to do so? Let’s assume that this was a plan to frame security forces as the regime assumes, how come after all this time the regime failed and keeps on failing to secure the protests? Wasn’t all pro-regime demonstrations secured? Is that really how “armed gangs” work? Don’t “armed gangs” normally claim responsibility and make demands? And on the same subject, do “armed gangs” normally bury their victims only for the regime to dig the corpses out and claim a mass grave? Why did this phenomenon start to occur straight before army assaults on cities? Let’s take Hama as an example; didn’t the fine citizens of the city demonstrate in great numbers very peacefully for weeks with no trace of “armed gangs”? Wasn’t that claim of non-existence of such gangs supported by the US ambassador and the Swiss journalist who were there? OK, then why did the army enter? And how come all peaceful demonstrations stopped completely or became of lesser numbers after we got rid of those gangs in a certain city? And here’s a big one; how come all traces of distraction, sabotage, and all atrocities which are attributed to “armed gangs” occur only after the army and security invade certain places rather than before? Haven’t we seen enough videos to claim otherwise? Isn’t it safe to claim that since our mighty regime and intelligence couldn’t deal with those gangs after all this time then that’s enough reason for them to go? Why does the official story keep varying from blaming Salafis to neighboring Lebanon to further away the Saudis and then the Turks and again back to the Salafis [To name a few]? Doesn’t the public deserve more specific information by now about the “gangs”? Is it really enough what state TV keeps on showing as “armed gangs”; members mentioning vague names such as Abu Mhammad, Abu Ali, and Abu Sameer as their suppliers and/or “gang leaders”? And why is free press, except those who are friends of the regime [not free by the way], disallowed from operating in Syria should the official story be the correct one? Are heavy tanks, military planes, and even army warships really necessary in the process of eliminating the “gangs”? Does cutting off water and electricity seem like a creative technique for that matter, or does it sound more like a mass punishment? Finally, is it safe to suggest that at least 90% of the time the only “armed gangs” killing, stealing, destroying, and sometimes raping are those of the regime, their thugs, or what we call them here “Shabbiha”? Bingo! Now we’re going somewhere… Moreover, the conspiracy seems to be rather an internal matter much more than external!
Still, with all that stress on the “armed gangs” story by the regime, it doesn’t explain key elements and incidents within the overall story of Syria at the moment, such as; the catastrophic number of detainees and arrested people in the regime’s prisons, mainly Syria’s elite, some of whom are being severely tortured, and the footages of bombarding minarets and desecrating mosques, the personal attack on Ali Ferzat the international Syrian cartoonist for his anti-regime sketches, and the slaughtering of Ibrahim Qashoosh the singer who sang an anti-Bashar tune during a protest, and… and… and…
Conclusions
I would like to conclude by presenting this YouTube video which was very bravely shot a while back by one of the protesters, and the significance of this one is that it supports everything I mentioned. Kindly view it and watch how the guy dressed as a civilian is supported by all the security men behind him, and shooting at protesters. Now here’s what you must note; he’s using his gun in the middle of the street with no fear whatsoever of any violent response, and not hiding behind something solid or at least protective in case of an armed opposition. Would anyone behave in such a manner if he knew he was up against “gangs” that have been wreaking havoc in the country all over? Now, in many cases army soldiers were led to believe that they were up against armed gangs, but in this case it’s clear that this dude knows exactly what he’s facing… Peaceful protesters!
If you’re really interested, just go to YouTube and browse through all the videos concerning the subject, as there is lots of stuff out there by now, and I bet you’ll find all the answers to all the questions that I have been able to raise here…
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