Kourosh Ziabari – Syrian writer and painter Anan Tello believes that that the media war against Syria had started long ago, even before the U.S. occupation of Iraq in 2003, and that different entities, including Israel are involved in this intensive propaganda campaign against the Syrian people and government.
“The only solution which will put an end to violence in Syria is an international one. Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon must keep their borders under control. Regimes supporting armed groups in Syria must stop smuggling weaponry and explosives into Syria, quit funding the armed groups and stop sheltering terrorist groups,” she said in an interview with Tehran Times on Tuesday.
Anan Tello is a Syrian writer, blogger and painter based in Saudi Arabia. As an anti-war activist, she has been a strong opponent of the U.S. military expeditions in Iraq and Afghanistan and is currently working to raise public awareness about the Western conspiracy against Syria under the guise of democratizing and liberating the country.
What follows is the text of Tehran Times’ interview with Anan Tello, about the ongoing unrest in Syria and the repeated violations of ceasefire by the armed groups beginning on the day of Eid Al-Adha.
Q: What’s your reaction to the violation of ceasefire by the armed groups? Why didn’t the United Nations Security Council give any categorical and clear response to the illegal actions of the insurgents and terrorists who violated the ceasefire in Daf al-Shouk?
A: First of all, I’m not sure the word “violation” is accurate enough since the armed groups are not unified and mostly do not even communicate with each other. It was announced that the majority of the insurgents agreed to the 4-day ceasefire – not that the Syrian government would ever take their word on that, but one of the main armed groups, Al-Nusra Front, announced clearly that they refused to be drawn into what they referred to as a ‘trick’. Indeed, the Syrian government, sustaining its diplomatic stance, thoughtfully agreed to conditional ceasefire.
In fact, I was not surprised at all when many armed groups violated the ceasefire before it even started – contrary actually; I expected them to have a ‘special’ surprise for us on the first day of Eid Al-Adha. Trusting those armed groups would submit to ceasefire is no different from having faith that Israel would submit to any peace treaty. Besides, those groups’ only purpose in life is to bomb, terrorize, destroy and murder, so it would be naïve to believe they’d be able to hold on for four days without blowing something up.
I assure you that the UN Security Council knows more than any of us who those insurgents are and what pattern they follow, thus, they were certainly predicting – probably anticipating – an extreme violation of Eid Al-Adha ceasefire by absolutely any of the armed groups, whether they agreed to the ceasefire or not. The United Nations Security Council’s silence is its way of telling the armed groups, “Do your job; I have your back.” And a proof the Security Council is just a part of the conspiracy against Syria.
Q: Why are the Western countries such as the U.S., France and Britain along with some regional states as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey continuing to support the insurgents with money and military assistance? In what ways do they benefit from the fomentation of unrest and instability in Syria?
A: The U.S., along with its puppets, has five main goals from supporting armed extremists in Syria:
1- Weakening the Syrian Arab Army which is definitely a threat to the Israeli State.
2- Fragmenting Syria into tiny, almost-independent fragments by creating and encouraging sectarianism which will later on be quite easy to handle on the long run, and would definitely serve in creating the New World Order.
3- Getting the Syrian government, army and people busy with internal conflicts rather than focusing on their main goals: resistance against Israel and liberation of occupied lands.
4- Getting rid of all those uncontrollable beasts (terrorist groups) which the U.S. has created and on which it has lost control, by tossing them over to Syria in order to die there.
5- Burning the cards it no longer needs for its next step and upcoming plan by pushing them into a battle at which they will undeniably get defeated.
Sadly, many Arab pet governments imagine that, if they succumbed to Uncle Sam’s wills and orders, they’d be left out of the ‘Arab Spring’. Well, to their misfortune, they haven’t yet learned that Uncle Sam is not loyal to any of his puppets; they’re puppets after all, so why bother? Besides, Syria’s victory means the end of all those regimes conspiring against her, so I’m pretty sure they are ready to spend every penny in order to keep their thrones.
However, Erdogan may have an additional fantasy which includes resurrecting the Ottoman Empire and crowning himself Sultan of the East, solet’s just allow reality to strike him right in the face.
Q: The Western media, since the beginning of conflicts in Syria, have been claiming that the government of President Assad has been attacking and killing the innocent civilians, and that the unrest in Syria was a revolution like what happened in Tunisia and Egypt. What’s your response?
A: The media war on Syria, which started years before the so-called Arab Spring has started (even before the Iraq War), is nothing but a major part in the conspiracy against Syria. As a matter of fact, it’s a crucial part in this Zionist conspiracy against Syria.
The Western media’s job has always been to mislead the masses and conceal the truth in order to serve Uncle Sam’s needs to meet his goals for the Israeli State. The simplest example is how they picture the Palestinian kid with pebbles in his hands as the villain, and the Israeli soldier with heavy weaponry all over his body, pointing one of his weapons at the kid’s chest as the hero.
It’s easy to deceive the desperate and the ignorant by simply dressing the wolf in a lamb costume, but it takes a lot more effort to deceive the rest of the public, and the Western media actually did put a lot of effort into deceiving as many people as possible through imagery, language and cash. So much money was poured into presenting radical Islamists in Afghanistan as crazed terrorists, and much more money was poured into presenting those same beasts as ‘freedom fighters’ in Syria. Yet, the rational mind could easily identify the truth.
Every day, we see people from each and every part of Syria crying for the Syrian Arab Army to come and rescue them from the armed terrorists. If the SAA and the Syrian government were really killing the innocent, do you think anyone under any circumstances would beg them for help and military action in their neighborhoods? If the Syrian army was so dangerous and bloodthirsty, do you think people would celebrate its arrival in their neighborhoods? Do you think kids would be running over to soldiers to kiss them, hug them and give them flowers and candies if they were murderers? Not unless they were extremely suicidal and they certainly are not. When a person is terrified that adrenaline and his subconscious mind become his main source of reason and action, he runs to where he feels safest. Why do you think, in the presence of snipers and insurgents, terrified, unarmed civilians instinctively scream for and run towards the closest army checkpoint? Certainly because his subconscious mind knows that shelter is where the Syrian army is. Above all, the SAA is not an alien army which landed on Syrian land by UFO’s; every single soldier in the SAA is a member of the Syrian family.
If you live in Syria and are not blinded with any kind of spite, you’d see for yourself that the Western media is telling hilarious and outrageous lies. For instance, you might be hanging out in Abu Rummaneh in Damascus and suddenly receive a call from a friend telling you that she heard on Al-Jazeera TV- and, yes, Al-Jazeera is a part of the Western media – that the Syrian Arab Army is ‘shelling’ and ‘raiding’ Abu Rummaneh. Probably, Al-Jazeera would be talking about some other Syria on some other planet. Also, you might be peacefully flipping through the TV channels at your home and come across Al-Arabiya TV while it aggressively states that a massacre actually took place where you are located at the instant when the entire block couldn’t be more peaceful!
In Syria, things never started as a revolution; there was a conspiracy from the very beginning. The entire Arab Spring scenario taking place in many Arab countries was nothing but an introduction to the Syrian crisis. Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were all appetizers. Syria is the main course. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t compare what’s happening in Syria to what has happened in Libya for example because Syria’s geographical location is not the same as Libya’s, Syria’s political stances are not the same as Libya’s, Bashar Al-Assad is not Muammar Al-Gaddafi, the Syrian Arab Army is not the Libyan Army and Syria’s allies are different from Libya’s. In Egypt, there was a real revolution, but it was hijacked. Besides, can you tell me why the Western media never mentions the real revolution taking place in Bahrain?
If the Syrian government did not care about the lives of the innocent, it would’ve blown up all the areas where the insurgents are hiding long ago and ended this crisis in weeks. The insurgents themselves chose to hide behind and in between innocent civilians by banning them from leaving their neighborhoods because they are cocksure the SAA won’t kill one innocent civilian.
The people of Syria have marched in millions in every Syrian province a number of times since the beginning of the crisis supporting the SAA and Dr. Bashar Al-Assad, but the Western media turned their faces and pretended this never happened. The Western media don’t care a tad about the Syrian people nor their choices. The West’s plan is to overthrow the current Syrian government, put Syria on the road of chaos and eliminate every form of resistance against Israel.
Q: Do you have any information of the sources of funding of the Free Syrian Army? It’s said that Al-Qaeda and NATO are closely collaborating with each other to create instability and tension in Syria. What’s your viewpoint?
A: A number of regimes funding the FSA have made it clear that they were, are and will always be the ones funding and encouraging violence in Syria claiming they were hoping for a more ‘democratic’ Syria. Among those regimes are the Qatari regime indeed, the Bahraini, the Turkish, the Lebanese (if we could call this one a regime) and many other Arab regimes. Whoever is funding the FSA is proudly doing it in the daylight.
Indeed, Al-Qaeda and the NATO are both contributors to creating tension and instability in Syria, but they are not the only ones. This is an Israeli/U.S. war on Syria and Al-Qaeda, Turkey, Qatar, NATO, etc. are nothing but tools and puppets. Israel is smart enough not to come in a face-to-face war in Syria because Israel cannot bear one more defeat. Besides, the U.S. needs to get rid of all those beasts it has created by sending them to die in Syria after they destroy whatever they wanted to destroy and kill whomever they wanted to kill. The U.S. convinced those armed groups that Syria is their highway to their ‘72 virgins’, and so they poured into Syria in numbers.
Q: The United States and its allies have been long trying to persuade the Security Council that a military action against Syria is needed to end the violence in the country. However, China and Russia have resisted and impeded Washington’s efforts to authorize a UN-sanctioned war against Syria. How much effective can Russia, China and Iran be in bringing peace and stability back to Syria?
A: Every Syrian soldier fighting and dying on Syrian soil is actually fighting, not only for Syria, but for Russia, China and Iran as well. I believe that it is their duty to put as much effort as possible, and we all know they are capable, into bringing peace to Syria.
Russia, China and Iran have always been on Syria’s side for many reasons, whether political, strategic, resistance or economical. Thus, I know that, for sure, they will continue to support the Syrian government and work hard on bringing peace to Syria no matter what.
Q: What do you think is the most viable and constructive solution to put an end to violence in Syria? What role can the international community play in helping Syria restore its peace and security back?
A: The only solution which will put an end to violence in Syria is an international one. Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon must keep their borders under control. Regimes supporting armed groups in Syria must stop smuggling weaponry and explosives into Syria, quit funding the armed groups and stop sheltering terrorist groups. I am optimistic that Syria will find peace soon simply because Syria is guarded by Allah.
This interview was originally published on Tehran Times.