Neck of the woods
“A Syrian rebel commander on Sunday said that 11 kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims are members of Hezbollah, a claim denied by their families. Abu Omar, commander of the Storm of the North brigade, said the men, who were returning from a religious pilgrimage in Iraq when they were abducted by armed rebels in Syria, were members of the Lebanese Shia resistance group that supports Assad. Omar, who said he was ensuring the men were kept in good conditions, added that they would not be released until President Bashar al-Assad leaves power and a new parliament is elected. “(They) are from Hezbollah, their fate will be decided by the new Syrian parliament, because Hezbollah attacked us and is helping the Syrian regime,” Omar said……..”


The Syrian opposition forces are as thuggish and criminal as the regime forces. They use similar methods against their opponents. One difference is that the opposition are more sectarian than the regime: in fact rabid sectarianism is one of their hallmarks. Even their exile leaders like Ghalioun and Sida now talk like accomplished liars. These kidnapped Lebanese men are old and middle-aged men who were kidnapped by the Free Syrian Salafi Army simply because they are Shi’as. Maybe the goal was to draw Hezbollah and Lebanese Shi’as into the Syrian conflict and speed up Western intervention. They were traveling on pilgrimage with women, hardly the behavior of Hezbollah agents in war. In the past they had promised to release them, then reneged. It is simple Salafi jihadist behavior.
Cheers
mhg
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