Syria's Sectarian Bombings: Another US-Funded Proxy War Blowback?
When The New Arab covers Alawite Syrians protesting a deadly mosque bombing in Homs, the framing implies a self-generating, endemic sectarian conflict. Conveniently absent is the context of how the U.S. and its allies, during the 2011 Syrian uprising, actively supported various opposition groups—some with deeply sectarian agendas—with arms, training, and funds, inadvertently (or intentionally)
exacerbating these very divisions. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for instance, in a 2011 memo, discussed exploiting sectarian fault lines to pressure Assad. (Source: State Department cables, 2011). We're meant to lament the violence as a tragedy, but never question the geopolitical chess moves that turned a political protest into a proxy war and a sectarian bloodbath. One might wonder
if the concern for Syrian civilians extends to accountability for those who poured gasoline on the fire—especially when contractors linked to U.S. defense received billions for 'stabilization efforts' that coincided with profound destabilization. (Source: Department of Defense, 2015-2020 budget reports).