Syrian "loyal opposition"

[Lenina Rosenweg]

I have heard that there are factions in Syria who originally protested Assad but, appalled by the visciousness of the Islamist rebels, agreed to ally with Assad against them as a sort of loyal opposition. Is this true and if so who are these people/factions.

Also, according to Louis Proyect and/or Pham Binh, there are socialist among the rebels and in the SNC or its successor. Is there any truth to this or is this assertion nonsense?

[khad]

For formal parliamentary opposition you have the previously-banned far right sect SSNP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Social_Nationalist_Party). In terms of the fighting, there are many, probably thousands by now who've taken up the government's offer of amnesty (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10198632/Syria-disillusioned-rebels-drift-back-to-take-Assad-amnesty.html) and surrendered their arms.

And as for socialism in the SNC, that's a laugh. The SNC is dominated by the Ikhwan. Don't go by a formal listing of organizations, because a key strategy of the Brothers has been to create fronts or to pack the ranks of rival organizations so as to control all sides of the debate. Obviously, the Ikhwan's idea of democracy is one in which they control the ruling bloc and the opposition.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/03/13/how_the_muslim_brotherhood_hijacked_syria_s_revolu tion?page=0,1


According to members of the Syrian National Coalition who were integral to the early opposition meetings, as well as activists close to the Brotherhood, groups that have served as fronts for the Brotherhood include: the National Union of Free Syria Students, led by Hassan Darwish; the Levant Ulema League; the Independent Islamic Democratic Current, led by Ghassan Najjar; the Syrian Ulema League, led by Mohammed Farouq Battal; the Civil Society Organizations' Union, a bloc of 40 Brotherhood-affiliated groups; the Syrian Arab Tribal Council, led by Salem Al Moslet and Abdulilah Mulhim; the Revolution Council for Aleppo and Its Countryside, led by Ahmed Ramadan; the Body for Protection of Civilians, led by Natheer Hakim; the National Work Front, led by Ramadan and Obeida Nahas; the Kurdish Work Front, led by Hussain Abdulhadi; the Syrian Revolution Facebook page, which decides the names for Friday's protests; the Hama Revolution Gathering; the National Coalition for Civilian Protection, led by Haitham Rahma; and the Syrian Society for Humanitarian Relief, founded by Hamdi Othman.

Other groups that represent outlets for the Brotherhood but are not themselves represented in political bodies include the Arab Orient Center for Strategic and Civilization Studies, headed by Brotherhood spokesman Zoheir Salem, and the Syrian Human Rights Committee, led by Brotherhood representative and the opposition's ambassador to Britain Walid Saffour. A group representing women and children is also led by a daughter of Mohammed Farouk Tayfour, the deputy leader of Syria's Brotherhood.

Additionally, some Brotherhood-affiliated figures denied they were part of the group and joined the SNC as "independents." These include Nahas, the London-based director of the Levant Center; Louay Safi, a Syrian-American fellow at Georgetown University and former chairman of the Syrian American Council (SAC); and Najib Ghadbian, a political science professor who also works at the SAC.

The Brotherhood's political domination became more pronounced in late September 2011, when opposition figures and forces met in two separate hotels in Turkey to form a political body representing all opposition forces. In an early sign of its organizational skill, the Brotherhood divided itself into two groups, one in each hotel, to influence both sides of how the body was to be shaped: The Brotherhood's leader, Riad al-Shaqfa, was in one hotel while his deputies, Tayfour and Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, were in the other. Droubi shuttled back and forth. The strategy paid off: A list of agreed-upon members was altered in one of the hotels, and more Brotherhood members and Brotherhood-affiliated groups were added before the creation of the SNC was announced on Oct. 2. You can begin to see just how they've been able to run circles around all the milquetoast liberals in the Middle East.