Syrian Opposition and its Lebanese Supporters' Communication Strategy: Hysteria

Hysteria is the communication strategy adopted by some radical and moderate Syrian opposition and Lebanese supporters. Hysteria is a form of propaganda. It communicates messages based on false fabrication of news around actual events. It frames this news as violations of human rights law and humanitarian law painted as consequences of a terrorist attack where the attacker is situated in place of the victim of the Syrian government. This it does by a hysterical visual campaign proliferating images of the injured and dead. The aim is to redirect global attention from the terrorist attack itself by sending messages positioning the adversary of the perpetrator of the campaign as the perpetrator of the attack and prior to any official investigation. Associated with the abricated message we see a proliferation of Photoshop images of children in distress, or bruised bodies of dead people as evidence of the narrative associated with the images.

Fake Sarin gas attack images of thousands of children allegedly killed by the Syrian Government emerged frequently as part of hysteria campaigns by some Syrian opposition factions.. The most recent of which was associated with an American attack the Syrian Government under the pretext that a hysteria propaganda campaign of a chemical attack actually happened, the decision of the attack was made without an investigation about the accuracy of the alleged hysteria campaign. Hysterical academics, lawyers and journalists join in hysteria campaigns.

The most recent campaign can be observed in the recent terrorist attack on the Lebanese Army by Syrian militants in Arsal.  The story can be narrated as follows. Radical factions of the Syrian opposition who operate from the Syrian refugee camp of Arsal in Lebanon launched a suicide bomber attack on the Lebanese Army as the latter was making an entry into the Syrian refugee camp in Arsal. Arrests were made. Four people died. To redirect media attention from the terrorist attack on the Lebanese Army, the Syrian opposition and its Lebanese supporters used fake Photoshop images of tortured bodies of dead soldiers. They claimed that these were the bodies of the four deceased Syrians. The claimed that Syrians died in the custody of the Lebanese Army under torture was not evidenced but was the story proliferating in the media. Pictures showing the detained Syrians portraying them like Jews in Nazi camps suggest that these images are clearly targeting a Western public.

 In fact, the four Syrians died in hospitals. They were 4 out of 13 people transferred to hospitals where a total of 350 Syrians were. The 13 people were transferred by the Lebanese Red Cross to the hospital as they demonstrated critical health conditions that may be attributed to a heat wave where the temperature was almost 42 degrees Celsius according to an official statement published by MTV.

 Academics and lawyers of specific support organizations, nevertheless join the hysteria campaign discrediting the official reports supporting the terrorists attack with claims of the violations of human rights and humanitarian law, when in fact the terrorists’ lawyers were working on obstructing the investigation into

the incident. Lawyers and academics proliferated statements about the brutality of the Lebanese Army, which happens to be the entity that was attacked by the suicide bomber.

In this discourse, the suicide bomber has rights. The suicide bomber and his supporters not only have the right to blast the Lebanese Army with explosives illegally possessed in the country, but also have the right to restrain the Army from taking action under the protection provided by the instruments of human rights, and humanitarian law. While, this critic does not undermine the importance of these instruments, it does shed light on their use as tools in propaganda campaigns in time of conflict.

Hysteria works at achieving one thing. Its aim is to redirect the objects of relations to its own advantage making use of human rights law and humanitarian law to protect the terrorists and gather international support to the cries of this that can spread the largest number of Photoshop images associated with fabricated media messages about an event.

New Political Party in Lebanon-Hezb Loubnan

I attended the presentation of Lebanon Party on July 3rd 2017. Like its sister Sabaa, the party's program is vague. It lacks originality. It does not touch on the material conditions existing within the issues associated with the state security and defense.

The meeting starting with a copy of the French Declaration of Citizen and Man born out of the French Revolution tailored for Lebanon is indicative of the simplicity by which their vision was presented.

This was the point of reference the party stated to advocate citizenship as the basis of belonging, renouncing sectarianism and the National Pact. In fact, we have a long history in Lebanon that could construct a local foundation as to why Lebanon should become a civic state. We do not need to borrow the French Declaration.

The most significant downfall in the party's program in the party's lack of vision regarding conflict with Israel. It advocates that it is a party for peace. Their strategy to achieve peace is "neutrality."

Neutrality is a non operational strategy. It lacks knowledge of the material conditions. It does not take material and actual conflict with Israel and armament on the ground as a result of this conflict. They did not seem to have a plan to tell us on how do they wish to deal with security, defense and armament or possible negotiations with Israel.

Neutrality does not bring peace. Negotiation on the issues of armament, borders and national security, refugees, and economic resources is what brings peace and coexistence.

The Muslim Brotherhood is Coming our Way

The choice is being made clear to all of us by the rapid shifts of alliances at the Middle Eastern Arab states and Egypt on the one hand, and material operations on the ground of conflict on the other. Clearly, alliances between the Arabs are being divided int two clear camps delineating ISIS supporter Saudi Arabia and Muslim Brotherhood supporter Qatar.

At the battle ISIS is diminishing, if true, its leader is killed. In Iraq they are losing ground. In Syria, we have a third group called the "rebels." These are Western and Israeli supported Muslim Brotherhood.

As much as I despise the Muslim Brotherhood, it seems to me they are coming to the front. This is why.

Originally the idea of the Muslim Brotherhood was pioneered by Jamal el Din al Afghani who worked in the service of the Sultan at the Ottoman Empire. His task was to recruit in India under the "Muslim" Mujahedeen identity against the British colonization of India. In Egypt and Syria Afghani promoted reformations similar to the English Reformations following the Protestant and Catholic religious wars.

Afghani also promoted a Muslim Brotherhood that would bond the Sunni Ottoman Empire with the Safavide Twelver Shi'a Empire. He suggested a system of collaboration and coordination between the two imperial theologies.

This history makes it very likely that Iranians would collaborate with the Muslim Brotherhood as the possible future governments in countries like Egypt and Syria.

Sisi is viewed negatively in Western academic circles, as well a,s in the United States. These spaces are taken over by the newly born academics Christians and Muslims from Egypt and Syria. These academics present themselves as the westerners that understand the legitimacy of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood recruits at the social and popular level making it difficult to eliminate. They have a public at their side. This is unlike ISIS a militancy having no popular base.

The two evident losers in this picture are the Saudi King and Sisi. This is because the Muslim Brotherhood would collect Egypt and Saudi people to its own sovereignty.