Report: Rebels Responsible for Houla Massacre

National Review Online Corner ^ | June 9, 2012 | John Rosenthal

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It was, in the words of U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, the “tipping point” in the Syria conflict: a savage massacre of over 90 people, predominantly women and children, for which the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was immediately blamed by virtually the entirety of the Western media. Within days of the first reports of the Houla massacre, the U.S., France, Great Britain, Germany, and several other Western countries announced that they were expelling Syria’s ambassadors in protest.

But according to a new report in Germany’s leading daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the Houla massacre was in fact committed by anti-Assad Sunni militants, and the bulk of the victims were member of the Alawi and Shia minorities, which have been largely supportive of Assad. The report’s information is attributed to opponents of Assad, though the sources declined to have their names appear in print out of fear of reprisals from armed opposition groups.

[Bellflower]

The kenyan is Sunni

I think this needs to be expounded upon. Many do not understand that there are two opposing Muslim forces, the Sunni and the Shia. What can you tell us about Obama's preference and why do you understand it as being so? This whole can of worms needs to opened wide up if people are to understand what is going on and just who Obama is and why he makes the decisions he makes concerning the Muslim world. Not to mention his apparent desire to please Putin, also playing in heavily to his decision making processes, of course.