Friedrich Schiller Denkmal
Friedrich Schiller




Schiller-Institut e. V.
"Zweck der Menschheit ist kein anderer als die
Ausbildung der Kräfte des Menschen, Fortschreitung."
Friedrich Schiller

     Konferenz in Flörsheim, November 2012   

Mohammad Mahfoud
chairman of the Danish-Syrian Association
 

Written Submission

There Was No Syrian Revolution; It Was Terrorism from the Beginning

The Syrian conflict started in March 2011, and, what at first seemed confusing, became more and more clear. Today we all know that the Syrian conflict is far more than a national conflict. We see a wide range of Western figures, who never cared much for human lives and international law, act as if they have already turned Syria into a Western feudal province, in which they are dictating all of the internal Syrian issues.

These Westerners have forgotten all about their own countries, where crisis follows crisis, and for 18 months, they have not cared about their own problems in the West. It seems as if these Westerners have a personal agenda, driven by blind fury.

The Syrian conflict was never peaceful. There was always a third, militant, barbaric group that had a violent agenda of its own. The Syrians knew it very early, after the first days of confusion, where the foreign news media said one thing, and the people on the streets another. They found out that something very strange was going on. Every Syrian became a ``Sherlock Holmes,'' and kept in close contact with family, friends, and others, in other cities. Every incident was investigated.

Also, Syrians outside of Syria started to follow every move, calling home daily, and then discussing the news with other Syrians to find out what their families and friends said. Many called the media in their countries, telling them that their news was untrue. But from Australia, to Denmark, to Canada, all the Western media had the same response, and they called them Syrian agents, puppets, etc., and made sure that no one could hear their voice.

I was very surprised that even a state-owned major media in Denmark was very effective and cynical in its censorship of the Syrians in Denmark, and in Syria. Instead of getting Syrians to comment on Syria, they used two non-Syrians with Arabic background, who have very little, or no knowledge, about the Syrian community, and both had exactly the same standard answers as commentators in other Western major media, as if they had all received the same manuscript!

A Hidden Foreign Attack

Very early on, it was obvious that what was happening was a hidden foreign attack on Syria, where the military, media, and cyberspace of all Western governments, had been mobilized, alongside their puppets in the Gulf. They even recruited jihadists from various countries, and armed and paid them to go to Syria to fight. Also, they created a Western-controlled Syrian opposition, comprised of people living in the West. Syrians in Syria (supporters of the government, and the Syrian opposition inside Syria) condemned this act as irrelevant. This was madness. It seemed as if the Western politicians and journalists were on drugs.

I will never forget seeing the U.S. ambassador, standing alone outside the Cham Hotel, begging people passing by to demonstrate against the government--without getting any support! Have you ever seen a foreign ambassador stand in the middle of Berlin, begging Germans to demonstrate against the German government? Can you imagine this? He has become a joke all over Syria, and this is just one of his many strange acts!

The hidden central actors in the strange opposition/revolution are [U.S. Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton, [former French President Nicolas] Sarkozy, [British Foreign Secretary William] Hague, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik] Hariri, and the feudal royalties in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, etc. The spiritual godfather is Adnan Arour, a very bloody sectarian, who promised to kill everybody who didn't follow him. Living in Saudi Arabia, he had weekly prayers on Al Arabiya, telling supporters to kill people, and destroy Syria. He has even promised to kill artists, only because they support the government.

Western weapons were smuggled into Syria from the beginning; huge quantities of foreign weapons were seized, and people talked about armed foreigners. In certain poor, extremist, criminal neighborhoods, dollars were suddenly very common, as were modern satellite phones that were not sold in the market in Syria. Everything was very surreal. As if this weren't enough, Western politicians and ambassadors seemed to be on Syrian drugs. They acted and talked like thugs, instead of well-behaved adults or diplomats.

As if launching military, political, and media wars, and sanctions against Syria weren't enough, the Western powers are trying to dominate Syria by using the United Nations Security Council. Already in April 2011, the so-called peaceful protestors committed barbaric killings of civilians and security personnel.

Here are some examples: A farmer was tortured and mutilated, and then killed. A father driving his two sons and a nephew from school, were all killed. A 14-year-old boy was hanged for hanging up the Syrian flag at his home. A 17-year-old girl was killed. A bus bringing soldiers from their base back home was ambushed in an area where everything was still completely quiet. Nine young soldiers were killed and 25 wounded. This already happened in early April 2011, and all were committed by people who called themselves peaceful protesters. They also committed vandalism, burned private and official properties, etc.!

Kidnapping was used to pressure people into demonstrating. For example, two girls were kidnapped in April 2011, after their village refused to take part in the demonstrations. One girl returned home again, and the other is still missing.

A Last Telephone Call: `For the Country'

A security station in Jisr Shoghour, with several personnel inside, who were unaware of an attack, was set on fire by the FSA [Free Syrian Army] terrorists, and then attacked. One of the soldiers called his leader, and explained the situation: that they were surrounded by terrorists, and that they were trapped, yet resisting. At the end of their conversation, the soldier said, ``Sir, we are out of ammunition.... We salute you and our President.... We send our good-byes.... Our country is in your hands now.''

Another soldier from the station called his sister, who has close family in Denmark. His last message was, ``Never let these thugs take over the country. They are barbaric!''

From the beginning, every week, a number of policemen, soldiers, and other security personnel were killed in cold blood, in surprise attacks. Many were killed in brutal ways. It was clear that al-Qaeda terrorists had entered Syria, as well as special troops and hired fighters of different nationalities.

There was no revolution. It was terrorism from the very beginning! There were huge rallies in support of the government's reform, but only small demonstrations against it, in small cities, mostly one at a time, after Friday prayers. The same people attended the demonstrations in all of these cities. These same people were obviously traveling from one place to another.

But the Western media, alongside the feudal royalties in the Gulf, never showed the huge pro-government rallies. All they showed were manipulated demonstrations against the government from YouTube, which could not be verified, because they were mostly fakes. There is an ocean of examples of fake videos and pictures. Many journalists from Al Jazeera have resigned since Spring 2011, because of the distortion of the facts about Syria. If there truly were a public uprising, why would they need to fake demonstrations and victims? Why would they have to use the same ``demonstrators'' in all places? Why did they need massive help from the outside?

We heard daily the Western leaders, yes, even the Saudi feudal monarch, call for democracy and freedom, and, since 2005, the same leaders in the U.S. have paid huge amounts to anti-Syrians in London, for example, to create an opposition for Syria. They even financed a TV channel for this purpose. They tell the Syrian government to step down. [[They organize conferences with themselves and the feudal royalties as hosts, and the leadership, in order for head-hunted figures, not living in Syria, to play opposition.]] The Syrian people in Syria are not being asked. When the Syrian people reject Western interference, the West uses bullets.

How democratic is that? And since when did the feudal royalties in Saudi Arabia and Qatar care about democracy and freedom? Also, YouTube seems to be drugged when it comes to Syria. While the so-called exile-opposition had no problem in having brutal videos, usually fabricated, put on YouTube, the Syrians' YouTube videos were removed by the YouTube administration, most of the time. There was certainly a plot against Syria and the Syrian people.

A Romanian newspaper wrote already in May 2011, that the plot aimed at undermining stability in Syria had failed, thanks to the Syrian people rallying around President Bashar al-Assad. The foreign plot failed thanks to the Syrian people and their awareness. In May, a number of groups were created by citizens (mainly young ones), who wanted to bring the truth to the world. Also, well-established organizations started campaigning.

For example the ``Voice of the Homeland's Women,'' launched by the Syrian Women's Union, with the participation of a number of journalists and lawyers, started a campaign aimed at exposing the truth to the world. In May and June 2011, public groups, and political parties, etc., asked people to be careful, because there was a violent group that was organizing demonstrations, calling them peaceful.

Authors, artists, and thinkers sent an appeal addressed to the youth of Syria, saying, ``Stop protesting, because suspicious groups are initiating the protests using dangerous, extremist slogans. This will reveal the real intruders, and eliminate the roots of this sedition. If it were not stopped, it would lead us towards devastation.'' Syrian Kurdish parties asked the youths to keep away from these demonstrations, already during the first part of June 2011.

Syrians, especially the youth, appealed to the Western world to tell the truth, but they were totally ignored. In one effort, in mid-June 2011, they created a huge Syrian flag, 2,300 meters long. A huge crowd marched with the flag in Damascus--but no Western media gave it a glance!

In mid-June, 10 million people rallied across Syria, condemning the foreign intervention, and showing support for the reform; hardly any Western media mentioned this!

New Media Law in May 2011

In May, a committee of journalists started to draft a new media law and to set up mechanisms to reform the national media.

On May 1, the committee started setting up the basis for a national dialogue. And shortly after, a meeting was held about finding political solutions for the current challenges. The dialogue was open to all national political figures, inside and outside Syria, to achieve the national interests, and to preserve its unity and security. (Of course, we all know that the Western-made ``opposition'' rejected any dialogue.)

The participation of political, economic, social, religious, artistic, and cultural figures, farmers, etc., in all counties, hold regular week-long meetings

In June 2011, a number of academics, jurists, and lawyers started to write a draft to reform the judiciary by developing the laws. Committees were formed in Summer 2011 to study laws needed to fight corruption.

In addition, the following reforms were undertaken:

  • A new party law in August 2011
  • New Constitution in February 2012
  • Election to Parliament in April 2012
  • Amnesty

We don't have many extremists in Syria, but they were the ones that the West and the Gulf states encouraged to protest, and decided to use. The extremists already tried in the beginning to create a sectarian civil war. In the streets at night, they were heard shouting ``Death to the Christians'' and other groups. They have destroyed many churches and mosques, and have vandalized others. Many Christian villages were threatened and attacked, in order to force them to leave their homes.

In Homs, during Autumn 2011, when the West used all means to push the Syrian Army away from the city, the Christians and others left their homes and villages when the army pulled out, because it was too dangerous to stay. As soon as the army had pulled out, the extremists, foreign terrorists, and even Western fighters entered. Those who had remained in their homes became hostages for weeks, some even for months--the terrorists threatened to use them as human shields in order to keep the Army away.

Without a political solution, the country risks slipping into civil war, with a breakdown of law and order, arbitrary killings, and the danger of sectarian conflict. If such a situation were to occur, everyone would suffer, without exception. A political solution is essential. Dialogue is the only way out of any crisis, also in Syria! Those who reject dialogue are not very great supporters of democratic principles!