{"id":9383,"date":"2011-04-26T11:20:17","date_gmt":"2011-04-26T15:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=9383"},"modified":"2011-04-26T18:05:59","modified_gmt":"2011-04-26T22:05:59","slug":"quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/","title":{"rendered":"Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2011\/04\/26\/world\/26syria_cnd\/26syria_cnd-popup.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"273\" height=\"170\" \/>Bashar al-Assad is determined to quell the Syrian revolt, which  is why he has sent in the military with tanks and is now arresting the  network of opposition activists and leaders that his intelligence agencies have been  able to track.<\/p>\n<p>There is an element of &#8220;shock and awe&#8221; to the operation. Tanks are  clearly not useful for suppressing an urban rebellion, but they  demonstrate the superior firepower of the state and the determination of  the president. It is a classic military strategy &#8211; go hard and quick.  Take out the opposition before t has a chance to harden and develop a  durable command a reliable cell structure. This is precisely what the US  military tried to do in Iraq. It is what it failed to do in Libya, when  it allowed Qaddafi to regroup and regain control of Tripoli and Western  Libya after his initial confusion and weakness.<\/p>\n<p>I do not believe that the regime will be able to shut down the  opposition. Unlike the Iranian opposition, which was successfully put  down, the Syrian opposition is more revolutionary, even if, perhaps, not as  numerous in the capital. The Green movement did not call  for the overthrow of the regime and an end to the Islamic republic, but  only reform. The Syrian opposition is revolutionary. Although it began  by calling for reform, it quickly escalated to demand an  end to the regime. It is convinced that reform of the Baathist regime is impossible and Syria must start over. It wants an end to the Baath Party, an end to Assad dynasty, an  end to domination of the presidency and security forces by the Alawite religious  community, and an end to the domination of the economy by the financial  elite which has used nepotism, insider trading, and corruption to  monopolize the ramparts of trade and industry. In short, the opposition  abhors most aspects of the present regime and is working to uproot it. It is more determined and revolutionary than was the  Iranian Green movement that Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei successfully  suppressed.<\/p>\n<p>There is no reason why it won&#8217;t do this. Some of the leadership of  the opposition is dedicated to peaceful means, but this pacifism is not  universal. Already we have witness the resort to arms by the opposition.  In Banyas, nine soldiers were shot while driving down the main highway  into the city by armed opposition elements. In Jable, demonstrators had  armed themselves with clubs, shovels and other weapons. Although useless  against firearms, these weapons demonstrated the mood of the crowd and  willingness to oppose state violence with violence of their own. Syrian  authorities have insisted from the beginning that opposition elements  have been shooting at police and the military. Even if only a small  percentage of these reports are true, it suggests that the opposition is  willing to use force.<\/p>\n<p>In the face of the state&#8217;s superior military and willingness to use   force, the opposition will be forced to turn to military means itself.   The opposition leadership has already been able to smuggle loads of   satellite phones and electronic equipment in to reinforce their   activists inside the country. Smuggling arms will not be hard. The   Syrian government has reported stopping several truck loads of arms   being smuggled in from Iraq already. Both Lebanon and Iraq are awash   with arms and the smuggling routes between them and Syria are well   traveled. The Gulf will be a source of money and support.<\/p>\n<p>Militant groups in Iraq and elsewhere have long argued that Syria is a  cockpit of the Middle East and a proper target for destabilization,  etc.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A FEW QUESTIONS from a journalist and my responses:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>Journalist: <\/strong>Do  you think the protesters will breach the capital in large numbers? Do  you think they HAVE to do that in order to overthrow Bashar?<\/em><strong>Landis<\/strong>:  The opposition has yet to be successful in bringing out the middle  classes and upper middle classes in the cities. The monied classes have  too much to lose from prolonged instability, and the opposition cannot  offer them any convincing scenario for a peaceful transition to  democracy or regime change. They fear instability above above regime  repression.<\/p>\n<p>If the military and middle classes stay loyal to the government, the opposition will have an uphill battle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A long grind to the bottom<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But  the opposition does not HAVE to bring Damascus and Aleppo onto the  streets to bring down the regime. If they can do enough to paralyze the  Syrian economy &#8211; as it is now paralyzed &#8211; the government will slowly  fail. If business comes to a halt, tourism collapses, and foreign  investment ceases, private enterprises and small businesses will go  bankrupt and government revenue will dry up. Eventually the regime will  be unable to pay salaries to state employees, and government services  will stop. When this happens, the middle class will abandon the regime.  It will be a long grind to the bottom.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Journalist<\/strong>: Given  the relative disorganization of the opposition _ and the prospect that  they&#8217;re taking up arms _ wont a power vacuum if Assad goes be  potentially SERIOUSLY deadly?<\/em><strong>Landis<\/strong>: Yes.<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldpoliticsreview.com\/trend-lines\/8636\/assads-crackdown-could-drive-syrian-opposition-to-armed-revolt\">Assad&#8217;s Crackdown Could Drive Syrian Opposition to Armed Revolt<\/a><br \/>\nInterview with Joshua Landis by Guy  Taylor |  25 Apr 2011<br \/>\nWorld Politics Review | Trend Line<\/h3>\n<div>\n<p><cite> <\/cite> The sudden deployment of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/04\/26\/world\/middleeast\/26syria.html?ref=global-home\" target=\"_blank\">tanks and infantry into the Syrian city of Daraa on Monday<\/a> has some observers wondering whether the uprising against Syrian   President Bashar al-Assad may soon devolve into a civil war comparable   to the one raging a few hundreds miles away in Libya.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the   opposition wants to continue to press its cause, there&#8217;s only one way to   do it, and that&#8217;s through armed struggle,&#8221; says <a href=\"http:\/\/faculty-staff.ou.edu\/L\/Joshua.M.Landis-1\/\" target=\"_blank\">Joshua Landis<\/a>, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p>Landis, who maintains <a href=\"..\/..\/\" target=\"_blank\">Syria Comment<\/a>,   a leading English-language blog on Syrian politics and society, tells   Trend Lines that such a development is &#8220;likely to happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Groups   opposing al-Assad&#8217;s government have already built an infrastructure   that would allow for the emergence of a secret militarized movement,   Landis told Trend Lines, while adding that a serious armed response by   the opposition &#8220;will take some time, because the government is arresting   people right now and trying to tear down those networks that have   developed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The goal behind the government&#8217;s deployment of tanks   was to create a &#8220;shock and awe&#8221; effect against the uprising, said   Landis. &#8220;They&#8217;re going to try and go in hard and fast and bring this to   an end.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During recent weeks, al-Assad had &#8220;hoped that he could   get on top of this by making a few concessions, and that failed, so now   he&#8217;s going to try and stamp this out,&#8221; Landis explained. &#8220;So it&#8217;s  going  to have to go bloody, and if the opposition wants to continue,  they&#8217;re  going to have to meet force with force.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Such a  development would  most likely involve the movement of weapons into  Syria by elements  loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood based outside of the  country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The  Muslim Brotherhood would have to play a role in  arming the opposition,  because [regional] governments are not going to  do it,&#8221; said Landis,  noting that Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria&#8217;s  other neighbors in the  Persian Gulf &#8220;will not want to see the Assad  regime fall, because the  danger is that it will empower Islamic groups  that are in the best  position to be able to fight the regime.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He  added that while  Syrian opposition groups in the United States and  Europe will call for  support for an armed uprising if one breaks out,  the likelihood of a  U.S. or European intervention on the side of an  armed opposition to  al-Assad is unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many of the realists  in Washington and  Europe . . . are frightened about the fall of this  regime, because they  believe the outcome is going to be civil war, not  democracy. And that  means a lot of refugees.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Landis said,  &#8220;Europe is already choking  on Muslim refugees, and they&#8217;re not going to  want to take more in.&#8221; He  added that &#8220;there are hard days ahead.  America&#8217;s allies in the region &#8212;  Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia &#8212;  are going to be supporting al-Assad .  . . because they fear a civil war  in Syria, which will mean refugees and a  rise of extremism in the  region. They fear that they&#8217;ll get sucked in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>* Joshua Landis recently wrote <a href=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/world\/article\/0,8599,2061364,00.html\" target=\"_blank\">this analysis on Syria<\/a> for Time magazine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NEWS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/policy.arabarabnews.com\/index.php?page=show_det&amp;select_page=8&amp;id=6502\">Ayman Abdalnour<\/a>, the Syrian opposition activist that runs the site all4syria, did not traveled to Israel, as<a href=\"http:\/\/policy.arabarabnews.com\/index.php?page=show_det&amp;select_page=8&amp;id=6502\"> this news story<\/a>, claims.<\/p>\n<p>Ayman has published a denial:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/all4syria.info\/web\/archives\/5692\">?? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ????????<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">??? ??: ??? ????<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">??????? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ?? ????<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">???? ????? ??????? ????????? ???????? 26\/4\/2011 ??????? ?? ????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ??????.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">????? ??????? ??? ?? ??? ???? &#8220;??????????&#8221; ?? ??? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??????????? ??????????? ?? ????? (???? . ?) ??????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ????????? ???????????? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???????? ??????????? ?? ????? ???????? ???????.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/english.cri.cn\/6966\/2011\/04\/25\/2021s633914.htm\">UAE Stands Alongside Syria Amid Current Crisis<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/04\/27\/world\/middleeast\/27syria.html?_r=1&amp;ref=world\">Syria Crackdown May Signal Brutal New Phase<\/a><br \/>\nBy: Anthony Shadid | The New York Times<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Syrian Army stormed the restive city of Dara&#8217;a with tanks and soldiers and helped detain dozens in towns across the country Monday in an escalation of the crackdown on Syria&#8217;s five-week-old uprising&#8230;.. the United States State Department urged American citizens not to visit the country and said Americans already there should leave immediately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory late Monday calling for the evacuation of diplomats&#8217; families and non-essential personnel at the U.S. embassy. It also urged U.S. citizens in Syria to leave the country immediately.<\/p>\n<p>About 400 Syrians have already lost their lives in Syria&#8217;s unrest, and at least 25 people have been killed so far in Dara&#8217;a during Assad&#8217;s latest crackdown.<\/p>\n<p>British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that the U.N. Security Council was considering steps to punish Syria for its brutal suppression of dissent. European and U.S. officials have distributed a draft statement that condemns the crackdown, and supports U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon&#8217;s call for an independent investigation of events in Syria.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Daily Mail (GB): THIS COULD MAKE LIBYA LOOK LIKE A SIDESHOW <\/strong><br \/>\n2011-04-26<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In a further dramatic escalation, yesterday the Syrian army .. Amidst all the upheaval in the Middle East, the crisis in Syria is perhaps the most serious conflagration for the West &#8211; not only because of the country&#8217;s crucial strategic position as a neighbour of both Israel and Iran, but also because there is no possible outcome that is likely to benefit either Western interests or enhance the spirit of democracy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>The Philippines on Tuesday urged its 17,000 citizens in Syria to leave,<\/strong> in the face of growing violence there. MANILA (AFP)&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bashar al-Assad is determined to quell the Syrian revolt, which is why he has sent in the military with tanks and is now arresting the network of opposition activists and leaders that his intelligence agencies have been able to track. There is an element of &#8220;shock and awe&#8221; to the operation. Tanks are clearly not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uprising"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms? - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms? - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bashar al-Assad is determined to quell the Syrian revolt, which is why he has sent in the military with tanks and is now arresting the network of opposition activists and leaders that his intelligence agencies have been able to track. 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Tanks are clearly not [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-26T15:20:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-04-26T22:05:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2011\/04\/26\/world\/26syria_cnd\/26syria_cnd-popup.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/\",\"name\":\"Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms? - Syria Comment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2011\/04\/26\/world\/26syria_cnd\/26syria_cnd-popup.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-26T15:20:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-04-26T22:05:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2011\/04\/26\/world\/26syria_cnd\/26syria_cnd-popup.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2011\/04\/26\/world\/26syria_cnd\/26syria_cnd-popup.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Syria Comment\",\"description\":\"Syrian politics, history, and religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\",\"name\":\"Joshua\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.joshualandis.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/joshua_landis\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/author\/syriacomment\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms? - Syria Comment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/quelling-the-revolt-will-the-opposition-take-up-arms\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms? - Syria Comment","og_description":"Bashar al-Assad is determined to quell the Syrian revolt, which is why he has sent in the military with tanks and is now arresting the network of opposition activists and leaders that his intelligence agencies have been able to track. 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