Constructive chaos through proxy wars

In his book ‘Shadow Wars, The Secret Struggle for The Middle East’, Christopher Davidson quoted a militant speaking in an interview with The Guardian, saying that Bashar Al-Assad wanted the opposition to be radical, and if peaceful street demonstrations had continued, his regime would have toppled within a few months. The militant added that Assad released Mohammed Al-Joulani of Al-Qaeda, the real backbone of jihadists. He also released Awwad Makhlouf, who later became an IS representative. Similarly, Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh released Al-Qaeda members to describe his opposition as terrorists.

Assad did not stop at creating a monster. GCC states and charity groups in these states used millions of dollars to fight the sectarian Alawite regime in Syria, as Gulf militants support the revolution and are against the Alawite minority that has been ruling Syria. Thus, our conservative countries showed keenness and support to the Syrian revolution, as if these states spearheaded the political change starting with the Arab Spring. They never supported counter revolutions and helped kill the Spring on inception to avoid setting examples for further regime changes.

Billions poured in with the excuse of supporting moderate rebels in Syria such as the Free Syrian Army, while this army shrunk and its troops merged with militants, especially after corruption prevailed in the areas it ran, with the eventual result that Nusra Front and other jihadist groups took over. Yes, we feel sorry for the death and destruction in Aleppo and other Syrian cities. We are angry with Iran, Russia and Hezbollah’s interference in Syria as if they are nothing but humanitarians supporting ‘moderate’ rebels in that war-stricken country.

It is as if we are not responsible for shedding the blood of civilians including women and children when our charity groups supported religious powers that used civilians as human shields and took them as hostages to be used in their war against the regime. We do shed tears for the people of Aleppo today, as it became easy to blame others like the Syrian regime for everything and kept silent while terrorist groups beheaded people, blew up churches and stole historic documents.

Does anyone remember the Palestinian cause? Have we forgotten the dream of establishing a Palestinian state? So, greetings to this constructive chaos unfolding in the form of sectarian proxy wars.