# Who Is Winning In Syria? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 30, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316 "2012-10-30T12:33:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/21 "2012-10-31T15:00:32Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Thanks for the replies-I get the feeling that Syria will turn into a nastier version of Afghanistan. The difference is that Syria has a long tradition of relatively stable (if unpleasant) central government. Afghanistan has always been a basket case. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/22 "2012-10-31T15:37:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Wait, now – is there any serious sign that anybody in Syria actually wants to ethnic-cleanse the Christians? There were some chants of “Christians go to Beirut and Alawis go to Hell” at one/some of the demonstrations a while back, back when things hadn’t escalated as much as they have now. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/23 "2012-11-01T08:54:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Who would be the right ones? The right one would be none. You don’t have to become involved in every conflict that goes on somewhere on Earth. > [@ralph124c](#): > > Thanks for the replies-I get the feeling that Syria will turn into a nastier version of Afghanistan. Syria has a fairly educated and liberal population. They will no turn into a nation of sheep herders that marry ten year old girls because of a civil war. I think a protracted civil war more like the Lebanese of the 80s or Bosnia of the 90s is the worst scenario. But hopefully they’ll come to some agreement before that. ---
**Author:** ![ginman999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@ginman999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ginman999)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/24 "2012-11-01T22:05:06Z")
Muslims killing Muslims, who’s winning? Everyone who’s not a Muslim ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/25 "2012-11-02T00:04:22Z")
> [@ginman999](#): > > Muslims killing Muslims, who’s winning? Everyone who’s not a Muslim Considering the number of Syrians who are Druze and Christian this is a really stunningly ignorant post. What makes you think that everyone fighting for Assad or everyone fighting against him is a Muslim. Moreover what makes you think the only people killed there are Muslims? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/26 "2012-11-02T00:32:08Z")
_That’s_ your problem with that post? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/27 "2012-11-02T00:36:42Z")
> [@ginman999](#): > > Muslims killing Muslims, who’s winning? Everyone who’s not a Muslim Muslims have been killing Muslims ever since the Sunni-Shi’a schism if not longer; but it never seems to do the infidels any good. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/28 "2012-11-02T01:31:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > _That’s_ your problem with that post? No, it’s not the major problem I have with the post but I don’t feel like giving Marley or Tom headaches. ---
**Author:** ![ginman999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@ginman999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ginman999)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/29 "2012-11-02T19:04:21Z")
I believe it’s in our country’s interest and Israels. I believe its an unspoken government policy. Sad but true. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/30 "2012-11-02T19:05:57Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Arms dealers. /thread ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/31 "2012-11-02T23:25:23Z")
> [@ginman999](#): > > Muslims killing Muslims, who’s winning? Everyone who’s not a Muslim > [@ginman999](#): > > I believe it’s in our country’s interest and Israels. Knock it off. Your opinions on Islam in general aren’t relevant to this thread, and if you absolutely must hope large numbers of some ethnic or religious group kill each other, you should do it in the Pit so people can respond appropriately. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/32 "2012-11-03T02:46:40Z")
> [@ginman999](#): > > I believe it’s in our country’s interest and Israels. I believe its an unspoken government policy. Sad but true. Wait, what is, supportng the rebels or supporting Assad? I don’t think Israel is doing either. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/33 "2012-11-03T10:59:41Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > No, it’s not the major problem I have with the post but I don’t feel like giving Marley or Tom headaches. Restraint is appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![ginman999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@ginman999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ginman999)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/34 "2012-11-05T00:17:35Z")
Keeping groups fighting each other that are our enemy is not a new or moral tactic. Sad, Sad, Sad, but fact of life and government policy. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/35 "2012-11-10T17:13:08Z")
I just read today, that the Turkish Army is now fighting Kurdish rebels inside Syria. If true, this heralds a new concern-the Kurds have wanted their own state for years-maybe they figure that the Syrian regime is now close enough to collapse, to allow this. In any case, Turkey doesn’t want this-it would be a green light for other minorities to rebel as well. The ME is one messed up place. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/36 "2012-11-10T17:39:00Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Arms dealers. That. As bad as Assad is, the rebels don’t seem to enjoy much popular support. Without that, they might as well be a drug cartel trying to seize power. I see no good in supporting that. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/37 "2013-04-24T21:46:49Z")
[Setback for the rebels.](http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2013/04/2013424155756695862.html) > [@](#): > > Fierce gunbattles have remained unrelenting across Syria, as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad seized a strategic town east of Damascus, while the minaret of Aleppo’s ancient Umayyad mosque was destroyed, Syrian state media and a watchdog reported, with the regime and the opposition blaming each other. > > Activists and fighters said on Wednesday that the army had entered the town of Otaiba, which has been used by rebels as a weapons supply route for the past eight months. > > “The disaster has struck, the army entered Otaiba. The regime has managed to turn off the weapons tap,” a fighter from the town told Reuters via Skype. > > Rebels said they have pulled out of the town, a gateway to the eastern rural suburbs of Damascus known as al-Ghouta, in the early hours on Wednesday after more than 37 days of fighting in which they accused the government of using chemical weapons against them twice. > > The government has denied using chemical weapons and accused rebels in turn of firing them in Aleppo. > > “Now all the villages will start falling one after another, the battle in Eastern Ghouta will be a war of attrition,” another fighter in the area said, speaking by Skype. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/38 "2013-04-24T21:54:53Z")
I’d say over the last 4-5 months since this thread was active the Assad regime has definitely turned the tide in what looked like a slow but probably inevitable defeat for the regime. The rebels now appear scattered and disorganized while Assad has increased control over everything he once held, strengthened his defenses, and started pushing the rebels back on several fronts. Additionally, with one of the major rebel groups openly allied with al-Qaeda it now makes it very difficult to impossible for most Western governments to give any more material aid to rebels. In fact, I don’t really want them to, I just am not confident anyone is going to be able to pick the “right” rebel group and I don’t want us inadvertently supplying tons of weapons to Islamic terror groups. I mean, what scares us more now, Assad in power or a potential al-Qaeda affiliate taking power and possibly getting its hands on Syria’s massive chemical weapons stores? I’d take Assad over that alternative any day, we know from history that he’s not going to give those chemical weapons over to terrorist groups or use them against the West. If the West was ever to get involved it’d be over Assad using chemical weapons, which I now think he has probably done and several of our allies report he has done. Yet, I think the fact the rebels are so splintered and so many of them are unsavory means even in light of that we probably should not intervene. Syria is a mess and I wouldn’t want to see us touch it with Bulgaria’s dick. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/39 "2013-04-24T22:06:53Z")
Wrong thread ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316/40 "2013-04-24T22:14:48Z")
Rebel groups have already begun enacting Islamic law, persecuting Christians and non-Sunni Muslim, burning churches and abducting priests and bishops. If the rebels win I expect we’ll see yet another Middle East nation cleansing Christians from their lands. Fortunately Assad seems to hold his own at this time. Just a few weeks both Britain and France signed a new UN treaty banning the sale of weapons that had a high probability of falling into hands that would use them against civilian population. Yet here we have the same two nations already advocating shipping weapons to rebel groups where this is already the case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-winning-in-syria/639316.md?page=3)