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Syria, its over!

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  • Syria, its over!

    Syria: disillusioned rebels drift back to take Assad amnesty

    Hundreds of men who took up arms against President Bashar al-Assad are defecting back to the government side, The Telegraph has learnt.

    A member of the Free Syrian Army aims his weapon as fellow fighters stand behind him in Deir al-Zor Photo: REUTERS








    By Ruth Sherlock, Beirut

    8:23PM BST 23 Jul 2013


    Disillusioned by the Islamist twist that the "revolution" in Syria has taken, exhausted after more than two years of conflict and feeling that they are losing, growing numbers of rebels are signing up to a negotiated amnesty offered by the Assad regime.


    At the same time, the families of retreating fighters have begun quietly moving back to government-controlled territory, seen as a safer place to live as the regime continues its intense military push against rebel-held areas.


    The move is a sign of the growing confidence of the regime, which has established a so-called "ministry of reconciliation" with the task of easing the way for former opponents to return to the government side.

    Ali Haider, the minister in charge, said: "Our message is, 'if you really want to defend the Syrian people, put down your weapons and come and defend Syria in the right way, through dialogue'."


    Mr Haider, who has a reputation as a moderate within the regime, has established a system in which opposition fighters give up their weapons in exchange for safe passage to government-held areas.

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    Rebel fighters have privately said that they are aware of the amnesty offer, and that some men had chosen to accept it, although they say that the numbers involved remains a small proportion of those fighting the government.

    "I used to fight for revolution, but now I think we have lost what we were fighting for," said Mohammed, a moderate Muslim rebel from the northern town of Raqqa who declined to give his last name. "Now extremists control my town. My family has moved back to government side because our town is too unsafe. Assad is terrible, but the alternative is worse."

    The prevalence of extremist Islamist groups in rebel-held areas, particularly in the north, has caused some opposition fighters to "give up" on their cause.

    Ziad Abu Jabal comes from one of the villages in Homs province whose residents recently agreed to stop fighting the regime. "When we joined the demonstrations we wanted better rights," he said. "After seeing the destruction and the power of jihadists, we came to an agreement with the government."
    Mr Haider said that he had attended a ceremony yesterday at which 180 opposition fighters rejoined the government's police force, from which they had previously defected.

    Although it was not possible to verify this claim, when The Daily Telegraph previously visited the reconciliation ministry's headquarters in Damascus the office was crowded with the family members of rebels fighting in the city's suburbs who said their men wanted to return.

    A ministry negotiator, who gave his name only as Ahmed, was in the process of arranging the defection of a rebel commander and 10 of his men from the Ghouta district.

    "It took us three months of negotiation and this is a test," he said. "If this goes well, the commander says that 50 others will follow."

    He described the steps taken to allow the return of fighters willing to lay down their arms. First, he said, a negotiator must cross the front line for a meeting on rebel-held territory. "We have to hope the rebel commander orders his snipers not to shoot us."

    Would-be defectors were given papers allowing them to pass through Syrian army checkpoints, and then waited in a safe house until the officials could get their names removed from wanted lists held by the more hardline defence ministry and intelligence agencies.
    The rebels "did not sign up to be part of extremist Islamist groups that have now gained influence", he said. "Now they want to come back to a normal life."

    In the days before the regime took the town of Qusayr last month, The Telegraph saw mediators on the Lebanese border work with the Syrian army to secure an amnesty for fighters wanting to surrender.
    The phone rang with desperate calls from the parents of the rebels. "These mothers know that this is the last chance for their sons. If they don't give up their weapons now they will die because they are losing the battle," said Ali Fayez Uwad, the mediator

  • #2
    Re: Syria, its over!

    When it comes to infighting within the Arab world (across the full spectrum from squabbling to killing one another), it's never over...

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    • #3
      Re: Syria, its over!

      This is the best news I've heard in some time. I've had enough with these rebel creeps


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      • #4
        Re: Syria, its over!

        It has always been in any country's ultimate welfare to work things out without civil war.

        Assad is a strong handed dictator, and he seems to be even better at killing off the enemy. At any rate, perhaps order will be restored in Syria, and the Middle east will step back from their favorite sport of infighting for a time.

        Is Egypt next?

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        • #5
          Re: Syria, its over!

          Now we may learn how much influence the Islamists have in the Obama Administration, if the West (USA) increases aid to the radical rebels and ups the ante on weapon systems. On the other hand they may decide to cut their losses and throw in this hand. Question: was the US assistance to the rebels a ploy to draw Israel into attacking Syria with the aim of starting a new Middle East war? Assad may covertly engineer scattered terrorist attacks on Israel in retaliation; or he may try to secretly line up an Arab coalition to spring a surprise attack on Israel. He could convincingly argue that its time to deny the West an outpost (Israel) in the Middle East. Would the US come to the aid of an Israel in dire straits under Obama?
          "I love a dog, he does nothing for political reasons." --Will Rogers

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          • #6
            Re: Syria, its over!

            If Israel attacks Syria, IMO this would be the worst strategic decision since the 'Short Victorious War' the Russians thought they'd have with Japan in 1904.

            That would thoroughly distract the Sunni Muslims from their 'freedom' fight vs. the Shi'ites. Hard to reconcile serving Islam by fighting alongside infidels, particularly those ones.

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            • #7
              Re: Syria, its over!

              Originally posted by c1ue View Post
              If Israel attacks Syria, IMO this would be the worst strategic decision since the 'Short Victorious War' the Russians thought they'd have with Japan in 1904.
              ....
              never mind when ole adolph apparently thot a winter wonderland excursion over to moscow would be walk in the park, eh?

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              • #8
                Re: Syria, its over!

                Originally posted by lektrode
                never mind when ole adolph apparently thot a winter wonderland excursion over to moscow would be walk in the park, eh?
                To be fair, Adolph could scarcely have expected the Russians to do a Black Knight:

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                • #9
                  Re: Syria, its over!

                  indeed!

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                  • #10
                    Re: Syria, its over!

                    Update:-
                    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23483717
                    Mike

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Syria, its over!

                      Originally posted by Mega
                      I do find it amusing that the 'rebels' are complaining about foreign fighters intervening on behalf of the Syrian government. Apparently the 20 or 30 nation's worth of Salafi contributors are vastly different because they're fighting for 'freedom'. Or is it 'Sharia rule'?

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                      • #12
                        Re: Syria, its over!

                        Obama doesn't want to know...........they lost Egiypt, they risk losing Turkey...........a bridge too far.
                        Mike

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                        • #13
                          Re: Syria, its over!

                          Hey, is this my 5999 post?

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                          • #14
                            Re: Syria, its over!

                            The only thing I worry about now is Israel going rouge to change the outcome of this


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                            • #15
                              Re: Syria, its over!

                              Originally posted by verdo View Post
                              The only thing I worry about now is Israel going rouge to change the outcome of this
                              I think Israel would strongly prefer to see the likes of a secular-ish Assad hardliner remain in power in Syria, albeit in a weakened state as opposed to the likely alternative.

                              I think Israel can accept a bit of asymmetric warfare from Iran thru Syria, thru Lebanon as a price to pay as opposed to a potentially very dangerous and malignant protracted civil war that spreads like cancer through Lebanon and Jordan.

                              Syria declined as a conventional warfare existential threat to Israel post 1973, and was decisively displayed in 1982.

                              But 1982 probably saw the crossover of the rising threat to Israel via unconventional/asymmetric means.

                              Israel has been attacked via unconventional/asymmetric means, including a number of very nasty and high profile attacks back to the 1960's, but they paled compared to the capabilities of Hezbullah displayed in Lebanon 2006 as well as the far greater threat posed by chaos resulting from a total collapse in Syria and it's inevitable spread to Lebanon and Jordan, as well as 2nd/3rd order effects in Iraq/Turkey.

                              I strongly suspect Israel would choose the lesser of two evils if the choice is a weak(er) Assad facilitating Hezbullah and/or Iranian attacks on Israel OR World War Z.

                              If Israel has to deal with failed or failing states(add the problems in Egypt to the list) across the vast majority of its borders I would think the economic toll would be pretty significant, possibly enough to suffocate it eventually.

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