Special Report: How Syria's Islamists govern with guile and guns

[dipsydoodle]

(Reuters) - The Syrian boys looked edgy and awkward. Three months ago their town, the eastern desert city of Raqqa, had fallen to rebel fighters trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's government. Now the four boys - clad in tight jeans and bright T-shirts - were whitewashing a wall to prepare it for revolutionary graffiti.

"We'll make this painting about the role of children in the revolution," one of the boys told two journalists.

A white Mitsubishi pulled up and a man in camouflage trousers and a black balaclava jumped out and demanded that the journalists identify themselves. He was from the Islamic State of Iraq, he said, the Iraqi wing of al Qaeda linked to an Islamist group fighting in Syria called Jabhat al-Nusra.

The boys kept quiet until the man pulled away, and then started talking about how life has changed in the city of around 250,000 people since the Islamists planted their flag at the former governor's nearby offices.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/us-syria-rebels-governance-specialreport-idUSBRE95J05R20130620

[John2]

1. That article

seems to put a moderate face on the Terrorists and suggests Assad is worst than them. Where is the Free Syrian Army and what area do they control or is all these areas controled by different groups?

That article seems to suggest, the main authorities are Al Qaeda groups from Iraq. Those people are not Syrians. I uderstand also Aleppo is a city of 2.5 million people, which have their slums and upscale areas. I understand these Terrorists are mostly in those poorer areas, where you have the least educated people. They maybe more susceptible to religious extremism.


I totally reject the rebels, because what those wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, want is slaves. I've heard the other side too, and what I see under the Assad regime is a lot of educated elites just like Assad and his wife. His regime is not just Alawites either. It consists of every group in the country, and they have given Kurds more independence now. They want to single this down to Assad but it isn't that simple. It is a entire group of educated elites in Syria backing Assad. They are not going to have a government in Syria runned base on religion like Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Qatar. Their state media is pretty liberal. They report both sides and don't censor information like the Western media or pro opposition sources. I have heard none of the Syrian side in the Western media, except Assad is a monster and must go. However, he has managed to get his message out past all that propaganda to much friendlier markets such as Germany.