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Salaam Alaikum all-- I know this is going to be a difficult task to ask of everyone. I am not well informed regarding the Syrian crisis, and if possible, can someone give me a brief description of all the events that lead up to the Syrian Civil War, and if possible, what are our roles as Muslims in the conflict, i.e. who should we support. My husband says he supports Assad and has articles about what's going on, but unfortunately, most are in Arabic. I just want to make sure I have knowledge of this subject, and what side I should support or what I can do further as a Muslim. Thank you.

Changing War in South-west Syria Syrian Army - Major gains in Qalamoun, FSA/IF/Nusra fighters panic and retreat to Rankus - Homs [central Syria], SAA/NDF forces succeed in isolating and besieging rebel pockets - Druze forces counterattack pushes rebels 18 months back. It consumed the rebels 18 months to reach Bosra - SAA amputates FSA advance from Israeli Golan region Rebel Army - Spring Offensive fails to reach Damascus - gains in Daraa Qalamoun Close up Map 29/03/2014 Hezbollah/SAA/NDF bulldoze FSA/Nusra defenses

A good article by The Economist, it is a good read highlighting recent events in Syria: The jihadists may have gone too far From Baghdad to Beirut, a growing backlash against the most extreme of the jihadists may change the course of civil wars in Syria and IraqJan 11th 2014 | CAIRO | From the print edition IN A region of opaque politics and oddly named actors, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) lives up to its title. The group that started as an al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq has prospered there since the Americans left in 2011, subduing much of the rural, Sunni-dominated north and pursuing an aggressive terror campaign against Shias further south. ISIS expanded into Syria in April last year; al-Sham denotes a Greater Syria encompassing—among swathes of what was the fertile crescent—Lebanon, Palestine and even Jordan. Better armed and financed, it has encroached steadily into areas freed from government control by other rebel groups, enforcing harsh, state-like authority along the Euphrates valley and across much of the north. But the group’s rapid rise may now be over. Today ISIS’s fighters, who include as many as 7,000 would-be jihadists from across the globe, face battles on three fronts. In Syria a wave of disgruntlement with the group turned into a tsunami after December 31st when its men returned the torture-marked corpse of a doctor-cum-commander with Ahrar al-Sham, a Salafist rebel group which had hitherto been an ally. A final provocation came when ISIS abducted five employees of Médecins Sans Frontières, a French-founded charity that is one of the few aid organisations still willing to work inside Syria. Since then, rebels of all stripes, including al-Qaeda’s slightly milder Syrian affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, other Islamist brigades and moderate Western-backed groups known as the Free Syrian Army, have joined forces, rapidly sweeping ISIS from strongholds across a swathe of northern Syria. In Raqqa, the biggest town wholly controlled by the opposition, most recently by ISIS, its fighters are now said to be holding out in a single building. The group is also said to have lost all but one of the border crossings to Turkey it once held, as well as its headquarters in the rebel-held half of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city. ISIS is also under fire in neighbouring Iraq. Exploiting the simmering resentment among minority Sunnis in the country’s north and west against the Shia-dominated Iraqi government in Baghdad, ISIS on January 3rd seized parts of Falluja and Ramadi, the main cities of Anbar province, which abuts Syria (see our map). But this bold move may have played into the hands of Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki. Despite a year of unrest in Sunni areas and an intensified campaign of al-Qaeda bombs, Mr Maliki has shied so far from sending his Shia-dominated army into full-on combat. Now he has an excuse, as well as support from America which has promised to speed up its arms supplies, and also from remnants of the Sahwa, or awakening, a movement of Sunni tribesmen who turned against al-Qaeda to fight alongside the Americans in 2008. In anticipation of an army assault on Falluja, some 13,000 families have fled the city, says the Iraqi Red Crescent. ISIS may have spread itself too thin by moving fighters from Syria to Iraq. Yet, if some reports prove credible, the group has opened a third Levantine front—in Lebanon. In unverified recordings, ISIS claimed responsibility for a car bomb on January 2nd which targeted loyalists to Hizbullah, the Shia movement that backs Syria’s regime. This was the latest in a growing list of tit-for-tat exchanges between Lebanese groups aligned with opposing sides in Syria’s civil war. As horrid as each otherWeakened central control in Syria and Iraq has opened space for ISIS’s brand of extremism, and the sectarian politics of both Mr Maliki and Bashar Assad’s Syrian regime have prompted some hapless Sunnis to embrace the group. And yet few actually agree with its radical ideas. Unlike other Syrian rebels, ISIS had its sights set not on capturing the capital, Damascus, but on creating its own Islamic state in the area between eastern Syria and north and western Iraq. ISIS’s methods, as well as its reliance on foreign fighters, are also unpopular. Even al-Qaeda’s chief, Ayman Zawahiri, has criticized ISIS’s indiscriminate attacks against Shias as well as moderate Sunnis. Its imprisonment of scores of aid workers and journalists, as well as Syrian activists and minority Kurds, Christians and Alawites, has tarnished the rebel movement as a whole, frightening off the foreign press and would-be providers of aid, especially from Western countries. The hostages may be held as an insurance policy against imagined future Western drone strikes or other military actions. But many Syrians unsurprisingly regard the tactic as evidence that ISIS, despite its fighting prowess, has thereby bolstered the regime, if it is not actively colluding with it. Jabhat al-Nusra, its al-Qaeda-linked rival, has offered to call off clashes if ISIS works under a joint sharia court. But ISIS seems unlikely to back down. On January 6th it killed 50 people before surrendering its Aleppo base; it has set off car bombs there and elsewhere, too. Its spokesman declared on January 8th that ISIS fighters were “hungry lions who drink blood and eat bones, finding nothing tastier than the blood of Sahwa”, a gibe that is particularly insulting to other jihadist groups. A successful containment of ISIS would drastically change the dynamic in both Syria and Iraq. The group has assiduously worked to worsen the sectarian bitterness sweeping the region between Islam’s two main sects. In Syria Mr Assad has used ISIS to scare Western powers into viewing him as the least bad option for Syria, with policy altering accordingly. In Iraq the group has helped to make 2013 the bloodiest year since 2008. The clashes have also shown that there is life in some of the moderate rebels who were only recently considered a spent force. Two emergent coalitions, the Syrian Revolutionaries’ Front and al-Mujahideen, are now fighting alongside the more devout Islamist Front and Jabhat al-Nusra. Some groups engaged against ISIS appear to be backed by Saudi Arabia, an indication that ISIS may face foes increasingly well armed and financed. But it would take a concerted effort to defeat ISIS’s militias in Iraq or Syria. Syria’s rebels are united by little more than shared dislike for ISIS. The West has become warier of getting involved in the region. As France’s war in Mali shows, military action tends to suppress rather than eradicate groups benefiting from a power vacuum across the region. But for the first time in many months, most Syrians feel united in satisfaction. “It’s early days,” says a cheered rebel commander in the Turkish city of Antakya, near Syria’s border. “But this is good news.” From the print edition: Middle East and Africa Source: http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21593462-baghdad-beirut-growing-backlash-against-most-extreme Another relevant article: Al-Jazeera, rebel's own source: 'Nearly 500' killed in Syria rebel infighting - in a week, From the article: Now wait up, it is not like the 'nice' rebels are up against the crazy ISIS. ISIS as we know are complete maniacs led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, they are responsible for killing 8600 people just last year in Iraq, of which 900 were security personnel and Shi'a civilians overwhelmingly, along with some ex-Sahwa members of their own tribes who fight against them. (Respect) The new anti-ISIS opposition are again complete nuts as usual, this is a video of them discovering their 50 militants/rebels all freshly executed by the ISIS: ISIS massacre in Qadi A'askar, Graphic [NSFW] - [2:18] It would be good if people can translate this, but from comments this is what the anti-ISIS opposition is saying: They refuse to admit that those savages are same believers and fight the same side as them. Al-qaida is 100% Sunni and he admit Al-Qaida is behind the slaughter but still accuses Iran and Shi'a. Fail in logic. This shows how freakin' sectarian and gullible they are, like goats following another goat, following the ultimate goat who gets the GCC-led petro-dollar. Blaming Shi'as for the savagery displayed by the ISIS takfiris. (Really?) Lets get the esteemed war general, or basically a war criminal Khalid bin al-Walid into this for some perspective, here is what he famously said on the Battle of Yarmouk: "Actually, what brought us out of our lands is that we are a people who drink blood, and it has reached us that there is no blood tastier than Roman blood." Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah, Dar Abi Hayyan, Cairo, 1st ed. 1416/1996, Vol. 7 P. 14. And now we have complete maniacs like ISIS (whose crimes are SO much that even the rebels are fighting them, if I were to list their savagery, I did spend 5 pages just showing how vile they are) who are echoing [from above] Khalid bin Walid's blood-thirsty statement: “hungry lions who drink blood and eat bones, finding nothing tastier than the blood of Sahwa”, [sahwa here are the Syrian rebels in this context] dramatically, against their own Nasibis/Takfiris who they were fighting alongside just yesterday. Shows the integrity of people who look up to their great war hero, Khalid bin al-Walid, for they are present day reminiscence of him in honor it seems, and the anti-ISIS (or the less crazies if you may) is blaming them to be hidden Shi'a 'kuffar' pretending to be al-Qaida and being a thorn within us. Sadly, the Anti-Shi'a propaganda [good read] and hatred for Shi'a Muslims is too strong among them, for they casually use it as a scapegoat as well, Syria is no less that a grand spectacle of blood bath, and the 'nuts vs criminals', is this week's (and possibility will go on much further) episode for all to watch.

Salam, The situation in Syria has been continuously in turmoil. First the major threat were the rebels, then Turkey, then Israel and so on, until the US finally prepared to strike. I am creating this thread so we can predict the next course of action which will be taken by: the axis of arrogance and its minions and the activities of the axis of resistance. Please try to backup your posts with facts and news articles from only 'resistance media' sources, if required.

Like: www.facebook.com/monitormideast

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=298_1367335081 In the Sunnah of Khalid bin Walid - the rapists, his followers are raping these women of media, incidentally Al Jazeera is the same media which is helping them squarely. Imagine what would they be doing to helpless women and girls of Syrian towns under their control!!! ----------------------–-----–------------------------------------ A female Al Jazeera correspondent, who is covering the terrorist activities from different cities in Syria for months, was quickly moved to Qatar, after one of the commanders of Al Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, raped her in Aleppo. Egyptian daily Al-Nahar reported that Ghada Oweis, Al Jazeera correspondent, has long been working alongside terrorist groups opposed to Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo to send reports to Qatari network. A few days ago on the invitation of one of the commanders of this Salafist group, she went to his office. Surprisingly however, the Al-Nusra militias did not allow her camera crews to enter the office. And they took Ms. Oweis by force and told the crews to come back for interview tomorrow. Al Jazeera correspondent was rushed out of Syria via Turkey, when it was discovered she was raped by the commander of Al-Nusra Front in Aleppo. She was transferred to Qatar later, she is emotionally in shock. Returning to Qatar, Ghada Oweis demanded justice and asked the senior leaders of Al-Nusra group to punish this commander. Reportedly Al Jazeera is trying to prevent the reporter from affirming the news by ways of pressure and payments of huge amount of money to maintain the good image of the terrorists fighting in Syria. The terrorist militias in Syria have been committing numerous acts of violence and shameless atrocities against the civilians, by using a Fatwa; issued by one of the Muftis of Salafists, that militias fighting in Syria can force women to ‘Jihad al Nikah’ (Girls must participate in "marriage" to fulfill their Jihad obligations in Syria). Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=298_1367335081#KomkqttbUOK9OcY0.99

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL81UaKrqnw

Ok it's been my observation, some of you may concur, others won't: Until the fall of Saddam, Iraqis used to be a big "mirage unity" guys. Pakistanis used to tell them of Wahabis and you would get ridiculing looks. 10 years down and suddenly you see Iraqis yelling and cursing Wahabis. Iranians till late were, "no brother, don't use the word Wahabi, don't say it's Salafi, we all are Muslims". Starting with Jandullah in Balushistan and now in Syria, same repeat of cursing and yelling at Wahabis. So what do you think, Pakistani Shias are more aware of Wahabi politics and tricks? Are Iraqis and Iranians gullible?

New evidence emerging from recently captured areas from where saudi funded FSA Salafis/Wahabis are on the run. Victorious SAA personnel found corpses of young women and children which were raped by Al-Nusra members after they were killed.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/06/201369175918244221.html He said something like "even if Muhammad came down from heaven, I would not pay this bill" referring to the price of coffee, (apparently a common Syrian phrase), and this was heard by foreign wahabbi terrorists who mistook it for blasphemy and proceeded to kill the child. tell me more about how these FSA fighters are "fighting for freedom"

The magazine said Mr Hamad, a Sunni like much of the opposition fighting against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, expressed hatred of member's of the leader's Alawite sect. "Hopefully we will slaughter all of them," he told the magazine. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/syria-oppn-condemns-heart-eating-video/story-fnd134gw-1226642519615 how can some shias support this movement?

UAE Sunni cleric: 'They say, angels descended to aid anti-Bashar rebels, but it might be satan' lol UAE Cleric Fallah bin Ismail Al-Mandakar Denies that Angels Descended to Aid Anti-Bashar Rebels in Syria Fallah bin Ismail Al-Mandakar: People said they saw angels descending in Damascus, Syria. They actually saw them! What did they look like? They had white faces, white bodies, white horses, white swords... Next thing they'd say that the horse' dung and urine were white as well... What ever happened to people's tenets of faith and principles of belief? It's gone. It's all gone. This discord... We have lost our principles. Brothers, according to our doctrine, when the angels descend upon this earth, you cannot see them. Who are you to decide that angels were descending there? Of course the story, as they tell it, is that they descended in the form of... White, white, wrote... They think that everything white is an angel. It might be Satan... I swear that if Allah had ordered the angels to descend in Damascus, there would be nothing left of Bashar today. When the angels descend, it's game over. When they descended in the Battle of Badr, that's it – it was all over.

Salam Alaykom, brothers and sister. I wanted to share this with you because it is important that we are aware of what is actually going on in Syria and don't get tricked by shaitan into inadvertently working against the interests of Islam. Here is proof the Houla massacre was committed by the FSA against pro-Assad supporters who refused to join them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ny5w_suQk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6-kLpFBIGs More FSA propaganda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AWYqCuwRXE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJxqlNEtbA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPfrDGNTsy0 This is a Syrian blogger named Ahmad Makki who was killed by the FSA for his pro-Assad views: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qulOPr3h2UU And this is Rayan, a little boy who has survived several assassination attempts by the FSA because he was involved in pro-Assad rallies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNwCuflbSsY Meanwhile the overwhelming majority of the country supports Bashar Al-Assad: