The other day someone posted a link to an article on Consortium News about the origins of the Syrian Revolution. https://consortiumnews.com/2015/07/20/hidden-origins-of-syrias-civil-war/ After reading it, I emailed it to our contact in Syria, Lilly Martin, for verifiction. She sent me this reply:
Dear Deena,
This article is truthful and basically correct in the facts. I have written about the origins of the Syrian crisis before, and my narative is a bit different, but basically the same facts covered.
#1. March 2011, Deraa, Syria on the Jordanian border.
Supposedly a group of teenagers were arrested for writing wall graffiti against the government. However, those teenagers and families were interviewed later and recant the whole story. The very first night of violence, 60 Syrian soldiers were killed when armed gun men attacked the police station and Army post. This was not a street protest, but an armed attack.
Deraa is a very small, insignificant border town. It has antiquities, and therefor historians will have heard of it, but the average Syrian has never been there, and will never want to go there. It is a dusty border crossing and the main thing going there is agriculture. It had no social or political significance in Syria prior to March 2011. Compare it to a small farming community on the Minnesota-Canadian border. Who cares about the place, other than the residents?
The fact it was a BORDER town/crossing with JORDAN (close ally of USA) is the only reason it was chosen for a REVOLUTION starting point. You must have WEAPONS brought in from a foreign country in order for a revolution to begin. In this case, Jordan was used by the armed mercenaries.
The epicenter of the Revolution in Syria was a Mosque called Omri in Deraa. It was in fact a well stocked arms depot. The arms and mercenaries were all LIBYAN. Rula Amin of CNN personally went to Deraa and interviewed the cleric of Omri Mosque. He was an older man who wore dark glasses, supposedly from an eye disorder. He at first claimed to not want any regime change. He was Syrian obviously. However, later he was interviewed and he said he had been 'duped'. He claimed to have thought the weapons and armed men were all local Syrians. He claimed he was shocked to find out later they were all Libyans, and mercenaries sent in to create a revolution. I believe he is a liar. From the accent and speech of any person you can easily and instantly tell if they are Syrian or Libyan. There is nothing similar in a Libyan speaking and a Syrian speaking. It is like night and day.
That cleric was an important TOOL used by the foreign terrorists in Deraa, in March 2011. It gave the impression of a "Home-Grown" local rebellion. He later admitted the armed men were not locals, but Libyans.
We now know that the regime change foreign funded attack on Syria was planned years before. Roland Dumas, former French foreign minister, traveled to UK 2 years prior to the Syria revolution and was told by UK officials they were in the midst of planned to send armed gunmen to invade Syria for the purpose of regime change, and this was to be at the behest of Israel. He stated this on French TV in 2013 in an interview. The interview is on YouTube with English sub-titles.
#2. In the very first speech of President Assad after the revolution began in March 2011, he stated that the Syrians who died on both sides of the conflict were equally considered to be MARTYRS. I was shocked, as we only consider the police and soldiers killed, along with innocent by-standers to be martyrs. I would not consider armed terrorists as martyrs. But, now I understand his point, after 5 years. Everyone involved were martyred, whether they were on the Syrian side defending, or the terrorists themselves, because the real villains were those western countries who cooked up this plan and sent the Libyans to die in Deraa.
NATO attacked and destroyed Yugoslavia. NATO attacked and destroyed Libya. USA rigged the Egyptian election in order to place Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood into power. USA and their allies invaded and destroyed Syria for the purpose of regime change, but they were not successful.
#3. Summer 2015: Russia sends more people and equipment to their already existing facilities on the coast of Syria. USA gets frightened. USA, FRANCE, UK and TURKEY all make new statements that President Assad does not need to be removed from office. That suddenly, after 5 years of bombardment, Pres. Assad is part of the solution to the Syrian conflict. "Syrian Conflict": conflict between Syria and who? The conflict is between Syria and Israel. Palestine is the only country on earth which is under military occupation. Palestinians have no human rights at all. They are being killed systematically day by day since 1948 and the whole world allows it, at the behest of Israel. As my friend Medea Benjamin likes to say at
www.codepink.org "There is no defense of occupation". There is not one word, or reason, which can ever be stated by anyone on earth which could justify the occupation of Palestine. End of subject.
Syria and Hezbollah and Iran are all staunch supporters of RESISTANCE. End the occupation of Palestine, give them their human rights, and Hezbollah and Syria and Iran will all be the best friends and neighbors of everyone in the Middle East. But, continue the occupation and have the whole western world give their stamp of approval to the atrocities of Israel, and there will continue to be conflict in the middle east.
Every Syrian is born and bred to feel the misery of the occupation of Palestine. However, the other Arab nations, like Saudi Arabia, have become close allies with Israel, and have sold Palestine down the river long ago. Syria and Saudi Arabia have nothing in common.