10 Myths about Assad and What’s Happening in Syria

by Maher Arar

A lot have been said about Syria since the popular uprising started in March, 2011.

In what follows I present 10 myths that have been circulating around since the very beginning. Many of these myths are, unfortunately, still being reinforced by many Western journalists and left-leaning anti-imperialism activists.

1. The United States and its allies have been supplying arms to the Syrian armed opposition.
2. The fighting that has been taking place in Syria has an entirely sectarian nature and as such can be accurately described as a civil war.
3. Assad and his regime have been the most hard-core supporters of the Palestinian resistance. That explains why they are still being targeted by Israel (and the West). It is simply a Western conspiracy against Syria.
4. All members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are Islamic extremists (also described as hard-core Salafists) who swore allegiance to either Qatar or Saudi Arabia.
5. The FSA has a single command structure and takes instructions from a single military council.
6. The FSA is exclusivity composed of Sunni Muslims.
7. All Shabiha belong to the Alawite minority.
8. The Syrian uprising was militarized from day one.
9. The Syrian army doesn’t target civilians.
10. Most of the anti-regime fighters are foreigners.