Western Media’s Tactical War Propaganda in Support of Al-Qaeda and Israeli Operations inside Syria

By Abir A Chaaban

Western media’s initial analysis of conflict in Syria was geared at propagating a sectarian Sunni majority uprising against an Alawite minority. Thomas Friedman in an article titled “Mideast's Three Governing Options” argued “in Syria, under the Assad family's iron fist, the Alawite minority came to rule over a Sunni majority.” An article published in the Telegraph by Ruth Sherlock described villages seized by militants as inhabited by minority groups in what would seem as a demographic segregation based on sectarian minorities and sectarian majorities inside Syria, as she imagined “Sunni rebels seized control of villages populated by religious minority groups in Syria's Hama province, amid fears that the civil war is turning into a sectarian conflict”.

Western media coverage of the Syrian conflict does not distinguish between Wahabi Salaf militancy and the four traditional schools of the Sunni Orthodoxy, the Shafe’i, Hanafi, Hanbali and Maliki, underplaying the fact that the Wahabi Salaf does not belong to any of the traditional Sunnis. In fact, the Wahabi militancy carried out several attacks on Sunni religious clergy by targeted assassinations in Damascus, the most recent of which was the assassination of Sunni scholar Al Bouti.

Western media discourse of the "sectarian conflict" underplays that the Syrian executive leadership is composed of an Alawite Shi’a President, a Sunni Prime Minister, two deputy Prime Ministers one is a Sunni Muslim and one is a Greek Orthodox Christian, and a Sunni Minister of Defense. The military operations of the Syrian Army are commanded by a Sunni. This government representation does not reflect that the government is dominated by an Alawite Shi’a minority.

The Genesis of the Syrian Conflict

The Syrian conflict started with peaceful demonstrations demanding a change from the one party regime to a pluralist system of government, the end of the emergency rule, and the release of political prisoners.Regardless to the Syrian government meeting these demands a militancy emerged instead of negotiations. The Syrian Revolutionary Front, an organization composed of sub-groups of Wahabi and radical –Salaf, are the major player in the conflict. They are also the sectarian player. The most spectacular party of the Syrian Revolutionary Front is Al-Nusra Front, a militant group considered as a terrorist organization by the United States. The Revolutionary Front demands are associated with Western, Saudi, Israeli and Qatari tactical dissemination war propaganda that magnifies the battle in sectarian terms. The media underplays the fact that the Syrian Army is composed of a Sunni majority and is commanded by a Sunni. Western media propagates the sectarian discourse of the Wahhabi and radical Salaf militancy, making the public believe that the Wahhabi-Salaf discourse is the discourse of the Sunni majority. In fact, the Sunni Syrian Army is at war with the Wahhabi-Salaf insurgency. Large numbers of Wahhabi-Salaf militants arrive from Australia, Chechnya, the UK and the United States amongst other western countries.  

The war aims of the militancy, according to local analysis of the conflict are the destruction of Syria’s military power, and not the reformation of government. This position is further confirmed by the Western imposed National Coalition of Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, a blanket opposition of Syrians in exile supported by the Friends of Syria and the Arab League. The National Coalition rejects any attempts of negotiation with the Syrian government opting instead for a militarized "uprising." The Muslim Brotherhood is the most powerful player in the Coalition. The National Coalition is the main recipient of funding from the United States, Qatar and the Friends of Syria. The Peaceful opposition which is composed of the National Coordination Committee is secular. It promotes negotiations and rejects militarization, Western, and Arab intervention. The National Coordination Committee refused to join the Western backed National Coalition depriving it of domestic legitimacy.

The discourse of the regional war started to surface in Western media following the Syrian army's significant military gains in Al-Qusayr and the arrival of Hezbollah as a major player in the war against the Wahhabi-Salaf Western supported and Arab financed militancy. Al-Qaeda is the major player in the militancy.

The Media as Tactical Support of Israeli War aims in Syria. 

The first actual military action taken against Syria by a foreign state was initiated by Israel. Israel attacked Syrian military posts inside Syria on May 3^rd and 4^th(for the second time during the conflict). Israel's attack early May was justified under the pretext that the attacks were aimed at "preventing the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah". Israel's declared target of the attack was a missile shipment heading to Hezbollah. Israel claimed that the missile shipment would have changed the balance of powers on the ground. According to the Syrian government, Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the major providers for ammunition and logistical support of the militancy inside Syria. In an interview with President Bashar Al-Assad on Argentinean newspaper Clarín reported on the Guardian, on May 18, 2013, Assad stated that militants shelled the Syrian radar facility that would have detected the Israeli warplanes a day prior to the attack. 

The situation as it stands today, with the popular local support for Assad, his advancement on the ground against militant organizations, and his containment of the conflict to the borders of Turkey and North Lebanon , does not serve Israel's interest. Israel will not achieve its objective of war by propagating a sectarian conflict that may weaken the government, even with its powerful control of the media and war propaganda.

On May 19, 2013 the Syrian government declared its first operational victory in Al-AQussayr. At this point, Western media changed direction of its war propaganda. Western media started underplaying the sectarian conflict inside Syria and highlighting the involvement of Hezbollah in the Syrian conflict. Media coverage on the Canadian National Post, the American Washington Post, the Israeli Jerusalem Post and Debka tell the story of Hezbollah and the Syrian Army crushing “rebels.” When, in fact, Al-Nusra and radical terrorist organizations are the major militancy battling the Syrian Army in Al-Qussayr. This shift in direction of war propaganda is geared at two directions. The first is to legitimize another Israeli attack inside Syria in the minds of these states publics. Since, Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization in Canada, the United States and Israel. An attack on Hezbollah may not be critically protested by publics of these states, when an attack on the sovereign state of Syria may be rejected by public opinion of the United States and Canada. 

The same media tactic as was previously utilized in support of Israel’s attack on Lebanon in 2006. The media discourse in 2006 underplayed that Israel attacked a sovereignty state, and overemphasized the target of the attacks being Hezbollah, a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is recognized as a militant resistance against Israel in Lebanon, the Middle East except Qatar, and Europe except the Netherlands and the UK.Western media discourse, following the military gains of Hezbollah and the Syrian Army in Al-Qussayr started propagating the involvement of a terrorists organization Hezbollah, and not Al-Qaeda, to legitimize a foreign offensive inside Syria. 

The second direction of western media war propaganda is to legitimize Western military support of Al-Qaeda militancy inside Syria under the label the "rebels." By changing the identity of the "rebels" from the Sunni majority the game on the ground changes. In this case the "rebels" are not magnified as the Sunni majority trying to overthrow the Alawite minority. The "rebels" are the armed opposition fighting the enemies of America, Hezbollah and the Syrian government under the leadership of Assad. This is taking that after two years of conflict it is becoming common knowledge that majority of the Syrian Army are Sunnis. The new direction of war propaganda is then geared to support the United States shift in direction towards the type of support the US will grant Al-Qaeda mercenaries and their multiple identities. Following the Conference of the eleven Friends of Syria in Amman, the discourse of the eleven Friends of Syria started targeting Iran and Hezbollah's involvement in Al-Qussayr. Consequently, the battle of Al-Qussayr is propagated by the media as being the major offensive by the Syrian government and Hezbollah against the legitimate "rebels". Factually and legally, under international law standards, Syria a sovereign state could request Hezbollah to support its military operations against Al-Qaeda foreign militant mercenaries inside Syria, when the Friends of the militancy of Syria cannot legally support the "rebels" either financially or militarily.

Hezbollah's participation inside Al-Qussayr is indeed utilized by the eleven Friends to legitimize the illegal armament of Al-Qaeda militant operations inside Syria against the Sunni Syrian Army and the Shiite Hezbollah. The Washington Post media reports on Al-Qussayr makes American public believe that Hezbollah and the Syrian Army are fighting Syrian legitimate "rebels" and not Western militancy of foreign Al-Qaeda mercenaries. This is not the terrorists of Al-Qaeda. These are the "rebels"  and freedom fighters of Al-Qaeda. As a matter of fact, Hezbollah was not involved in any terrorist activities in a single Western state. Conversely, Al-Qaeda has a historic record of carrying out terrorist activities against civilians in Western States territories. Hezbollah's main target of operations is Israel and the liberation of territories occupied by Israel in the Levant. Hezbollah operates from within its national state Lebanon, and within its regional boundaries. Syria could legally and legitimately request the support of Hezbollah and Iran to support its military operations against the United States and Arab supported militancy of Al-Qaeda