Hamas ditches Assad, backs Syrian revolt

[tabatha]

By Omar Fahmy and Nidal al-Mughrabi
Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:45pm IST

CAIRO/GAZA, Feb 24 (Reuters - Leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas turned publicly against their long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Friday, endorsing the revolt aimed at overthrowing his dynastic rule. The policy shift deprives Assad of one of his few remaining Sunni Muslim supporters in the Arab world and deepens his international isolation. It was announced in Hamas speeches at Friday prayers in Cairo and a rally in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas went public after nearly a year of equivocating as Assad's army, largely led by fellow members of the president's Alawite sect, has crushed mainly Sunni protesters and rebels.

In a Middle East split along sectarian lines between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam, the public abandonment of Assad casts immediate questions over Hamas's future ties with its principal backer Iran, which has stuck by its ally Assad, as well as with Iran's fellow Shi'ite allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

"I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring and I salute the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, visiting Egypt from the Gaza Strip, told thousands of Friday worshippers at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque. "We are marching towards Syria, with millions of martyrs," chanted worshippers at al-Azhar, home to one of the Sunni world's highest seats of learning. "No Hezbollah and no Iran."

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/02/24/syria-palestinians-idINDEE81N0F020120224

[hifiguy]

1. If true, the end game has commenced.

And it won't end any better for Assad than it did for Qaddaffi.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Assad is no doubt acutely aware of what happened to Ghaddafi.

And is determined not to end up like that. Time will tell.

Although I'm not certain what impact, if any, the Hamas pronouncement will have on the ground. It does emphasize the sectarian nature of the divide in Syria.

[eissa]

2. Only enforcers the original fear among many

That this "pro-democracy" revolution is more sectarian than anything else. The Sunnis can't stand that a minority -- a Muslim, but still a member of a minority sect -- rules them. Having Hamas come out in support of the revolution will do nothing to calm the fears of the majority of Syrians, who still support the Assad regime despite everything.

[riderinthestorm]

4. Yup, this will really rev up the crazy factor for Iran as well.

This is NOT a good sign at all.....

[Zalatix]

5. Wait a second. Most Syrians are Shiite, the minority are Sunni

but the majority of people - who must be Shiite - support the killing of large numbers of members of their own sect?



Did I miss something?

[riderinthestorm]

6. Most Syrians are Sunni, the Assad family is Alawite Shia. Hamas is Sunni

Iran (Shia) is supporting Assad. Iran has also typically supported Hamas. With Hamas declaring itself as aligned with the Sunni faction (and basically publicly breaking with its patron, Shia Iran), it becomes more and more indisputable that this is a sectarian civil war.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. You have misread one thing

The earlier post said "The Sunnis can't stand that a minority -- a Muslim, but still a member of a minority sect -- rules them."

It's true that the minority group - the Alawites, a branch of the Shiites - rules Syria, largely. When you say "most Syrians are Shiite", that's incorrect. The majority is Sunni.

The other part of the post you replied to - "the majority of Syrians ... still support the Assad regime despite everything" - is questionable. He has significant support, and not just Alawites, but it's hard to work out what a majority thinks when the regime is infamous for having a huge secret police force, and torturing people who step out of line,

[Zalatix]

9. Gotcha. So the majority, the Sunni, support the Shiites who are KILLING the Sunni rebels

but this is not exactly the iron-clad truth because no one really knows what the population thinks, because of the secret police. Which sect are the secret police a part of, anyway?

And yes, I agree with another poster here, this does appear to be turning into a sectarian war. In light of this, Hamas's turn of opinion couldn't possibly be all that unexpected.

This cements the credibility of the "Stay out of Syria" point of view. I'm going to go slap myself silly now for agreeing with Russia and China.

[riderinthestorm]

10. Since its almost impossible to get accurate information about what the Syrians want or think

its at best a guess HOWEVER, it does appear that most Syrians don't want a civil war in their country. While Assad is a dictator, his country was at least held together without genocide (feel free to make parallels here to Saddam Hussein and Iraq, Mubarek and Egypt etc. etc. - virtually all of the ME strongmen).

That other major players in the region (KSA, Iran, the Gulf States etc) probably made a grave error in revving up the sectarian nature of the unrest in Syria (under the guise of another Arab Spring type of "revolution" - cough), there's no putting the genie back in the bottle I'm afraid. I presume this conflict will get much worse before it gets better, with everyone jockeying behind the scenes and out front. With Israel standing quietly next door like some huge shadow....

US drones are already patrolling over Syria. Who knows what strategic information is getting passed on... Russia is supplying arms, so is Iran. The Arab states are also supplying arms. Too late to exhort everyone to stay out.

[PufPuf23]

8. Syria has turned into a very serious pretzel of alliances in the Middle East. nt

[leveymg]

11. Great! The Free Syrian Army now has both al Qaeda and Hamas militants to recruit from! Viva!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/al-qaeda-infiltrating-syrian-opposition-us-officials-say/2012/02/16/gIQA9LDJIR_story.html

Oh, and here comes the Muslim Brotherhood, too!

What could go wrong?