By Syed Haider Raza Mehdi.
Absolutely unbelievable and incredible how the terrible tragedy of Aleppo in Syria, has legitimized DAESH, Al Qaeda & their proxies like Jaish Al Fatah, Jash Al Islam, Jaish Al Shaam & Jubhat Al Nusra, & their supporters, who’ve basically committed mass genocide these last several years, as the “Good Guys”!
The power of petrodollars fuelling the tragic human stories on social media joined by Western media to put Russia and Iran on the mat has served its purpose in capturing the narrative and influencing people’s opinion.
People, who in their simplicity only see the horrors of children and women caught up in this madness through the powerful but highly subjective “Optics and Imagery” of impactful, social and electronic media, unfortunately fail to comprehend the terrible power politics and insidious machinations by all parties, which lead up to these heartbreaking tragedies.
And when the Western media picks it up, then you really must question, why?
What alerted me to this sinister design was when Western media started using the phrase “The Fall of Alleppo ” and it suddenly started doing the rounds.
Now those familiar with media lexicon will understand that the word “fall” in the context of war is generally used to bring up images and emotions of valiant brave fighters, in this case DAESH and Al Qaeda, tragically but unsuccessfully, defending and fighting an “evil” aggressor, in this case the Assad Regime, Iran and Russia.
So basically “Good guy” DAESH vs “Bad guy” Assad.
Then instead of labelling the Daesh and Al Qaeda fighters and their proxies as “terrorists” a much more romantic phrase is springing up for them. “Rebel”.
So in my opinion at a high level, primarily four factors behind Aleppo.
1. Aleppo is a human tragedy as people are caught in this terrible genocidal war between two groups, divided primarily by sectarian schisms and fuelled by Arab and Iranian petrodollars.
2. A political power struggle between Assad and Daesh/Al Qaeda for control of Syria.
3. A geo political power struggle between Saudi Arabia and their Sunni Arab allies and Iran. The former trying to weaken Iran’s regional influence by overthrowing Assad, a staunch Iranian supporter.
4. A global battle between USA and Russia.
Aleppo is a manifestation of all these and tragically there will be many more to come.
The line between the “good guys” and “bad guys” has really blurred.