Feature: Growing presence of extremists in Syria sends chills down Syrians' spines
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E-mail Xinhua, December 16, 2012
With the growing presence of radical Islamists affiliated with al-Qaida in Syria, fear and apprehension have crept up among the moderate Syrians, sending chills down their spines about the vague and uncertain future of their country.
As the crisis in the country is nearing to enter its third year, its complications and repercussions are also growing larger; especially now that the armed rebels' ranks are overwhelmed with radicals from al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaida terror network in Iraq.
Even the international community, who has for long blamed the Syrian administration for the bulk of the violence in Syria, admitted now the threats of al-Qaida-linked groups in Syria. The U. S. branded al-Nusra Front last week as a terror network, after the group has claimed responsibility for almost all explosions that rocked the government and army forces' installations over the past year.
Watching what happened in Iraq over the past 10 years, what is going on in Yemen now and on the top of that the footages that emerge on daily bases from places in Syria that witness a thick presence of al-Qaida fighters, Syrians started to mutter about what indeed happened and how did they get this far?
Some people repeat the government's line that a big foreign- backed conspiracy has been plotted against Syria since long time ago, with the aim to destroy Syria as a country in favor of the Zionist entity next door; while others who oppose the administration say that the government's harsh crackdown on opposition activists and freedom advocates has plunged the country into this swamp and drawn in radical fighters who claim that they have come to Syria to wage jihad against the "infidel" administration of President Bashar al-Assad and to protect their fellow Sunni people.
Furthermore, some rebel battalions, especially in the northern province of Aleppo, said they want neither freedom nor democracy; they want to establish an Islamic emirate on the wreckage of the current government whose high ranks are dominated by members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shitte Islam. But the government has pushed for a secular identity to Syria over the past 40-year- rule of the Assad family.
With all of this going on, the Damascenes, at least, have started to feel the heat and their discomfort grow higher amid reports raging battles at the outskirts of the capital between the rebels and the government forces.
Some rumors that make the rounds recently said that most of the wealthy people and those who do not want to think of further suffering of what may come have already left the country to neighboring ones.
"Why would I stay here now that I can afford a living in a neighboring country? I could save my family some avoidable consequences," Maher, a 46-year-old engineer, said.
"I don't want to see another Iraq or Afghanistan here," he said, wishing for a miracle to save Syria.
Some other Syrians firmly believe that a more serious chaos would be the title of a post-Assad era in case he decided to go.
Resentment among the Damascenes has also become on the upswing with daily reports about robbery and kidnapping.
Some believe that the armed militias are lurking for wealthy Syrians for ransoms, as they are running short of funds to buy weapons and ammunition. Others suggest that gangs and thieves are capitalizing on the current chaos to make money by kidnapping rich Damascenes to demand ransom; while some people think that some pro- government armed militias are also carrying out some kidnappings to tarnish the opposition.
"Some people have become traumatized by the losses of loved ones," Asma said, trying to gather her composure and wipe away tears.
She said a relative of hers had been kidnapped and the captors called his family two days after his disappearance for ransom. "We paid one million Syrian pound and he didn't show up," she said while choking back tears.
"Two years ago," she said, "we didn't even think or imagine that something like this would ever happen in Syria ... we are in a real nightmare."
With the growing complicity of the crisis, Syrian officials still confirm that Assad still keeps a tight rein on the country and downplay rebels' accounts of achieving gains on ground.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad told the BBC recently that "The government is strong. The Syrian army is strong, and the Syrian people are still rallying behind President Assad. That's why President Assad and the political system are still surviving and they will still survive." Endi
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