Why Syria’s Islamists Are Gaining. By J. Malcolm Garcia. New York Times, February 14, 2013.
Garcia:
ALEPPO,
Syria
A
YOUNG fighter for the Free Syrian Army sat at a checkpoint on a couch taken
from an abandoned house. He cradled his Kalashnikov and waited on the empty
street for a car to inspect, or a pedestrian to pat down. If only the future of
Syria would reveal itself to him as easily.
The
rebels in the Free Syrian Army don’t doubt that they will drive President
Bashar al-Assad from power — eventually — but they have no idea what will
happen afterward: Democracy? An Islamic republic? An Islamic dictatorship? The
fighters I met on a recent visit here were unable to articulate any long-term
political vision.
While
the young rebel sat at his checkpoint, and while Americans continue to debate
whether to intervene in Syria or just look the other way, Islamist militants
are exploiting the uncertainty here. They have a clear mission: imposing an
Islamist state in place of Mr. Assad.
“The
people who believe in a strict Islam will do anything, fight anybody, do
anything for Islam,” a barber who recently reopened his shop told me. “They are
like the U.S. Special Forces. They like death more than life.”
The
grass-roots supporters of the Islamists whom I spoke with were a mixture of
devout fundamentalist Muslims, returning merchants struggling to make ends
meet, parents of dead fighters for the Free Syrian Army, and some of the
fighters themselves.
They
insisted that they wanted only a “pure” Islam, not a Taliban-style government,
to replace the Assad family’s regime, which has ruled Syria since 1971. But
they offered examples of purity that sounded Talibanesque: Women must cover
their entire bodies. Everyone must pray five times a day. Dancing should be
prohibited. Differing interpretations of Islam would be tolerated, they say, as
long as those beliefs remained “a secret” — a kind of “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy.
What
the Islamists conveyed most clearly, however, was a firm sense of direction.
They also managed to deliver much-needed social services in the rebel-held
parts of Aleppo.
Perhaps
their determination and efficiency were meant to silence qualms about their
ultimate goals; if so, the tactic seemed to be working. Just as Afghans
welcomed the Taliban in the 1990s — not for its harsh interpretation of Islam,
but for the prospect of respite from decades of dislocation — some Sunni
Muslims in this ancient, multi-sectarian city are now embracing Islamists out
of sheer exhaustion from the conflict, which is nearly two years old.
“I
had a shop,” one man told me, “but when the revolution came to Aleppo I
couldn’t stock it, so I sold everything. Islamic youth organizations now give
us flour. We need bread, at least, just to live. We support the Free Syrian
Army, but the Islamists let us eat.”
If
the West and moderate Arab nations want to prevent a Taliban-style dictatorship
from replacing the current Baathist regime, it’s time for them to offer Syrians
more hope. The Syrians I met here seemed ready to support anyone, or anything —
except negotiations with Mr. Assad — that could restore normalcy to their
lives.
The
United Nations recently reported that record numbers of Syrians have poured
into Jordan and Lebanon. But as of late January, the United Nations fund for
Syrian refugees had collected less than 20 percent of the $1.1 billion it had
sought from donor nations to care for the refugees. And even that money would
not begin to address Syria’s shattered cities and ruined economy, even if the
war were to end today.
So
Syrians feel abandoned and increasingly skeptical of Western expressions of
concern.
“Why
did America go into Libya and not Syria?” asked Abu-Mohammad al-Husen, a Free
Syrian Army commander. “In my opinion, America wants to maintain the war so
Al-Assad won’t have a huge army to attack Israel. America only cares about
Israel. That’s why we say only Allah and the jihadists support us.”
The
Free Syrian Army soldiers, meanwhile, seem content with fighting a war with no
clear end in sight.
One
afternoon, I stood with a rebel commander as he rocketed a building that housed
government soldiers. After he and his men fled the area shouting, “God is
great,” he returned to his wife and children and considered watching a “Lord of
the Rings” DVD. He had no firm plan to follow up the assault. “Possibly
tomorrow,” he told me, “when they won’t expect us.”
His
strategy embraced a skewed kind of logic, I suppose. Why rush? Without war,
without guns, many of these fighters would most likely be unemployed or back at
school. Their bravery and passion can’t be denied, but the longer the war
lasts, the longer they have a purpose. “I don’t know what will happen when the
war ends,” Akran Ahmed, a 16-year-old rebel, told me. “I just have my gun.”
The
belief that the enemy of my enemy is my friend has allowed the Free Syrian Army
and the Islamists to cooperate — but only for now. Disappointment about
American disengagement seemed to grow by the day. “Nobody there cares,” Khaled
Sandah, 49, whose son, a rebel, was killed in the fighting. “They just talk and
talk.” He added: “We will keep going with our own power and our guns and Allah.
We will make victory ourselves and have freedom and an Islamic country.”
