For Sama - More Syrian War Propaganda?

There’s a documentary called ‘For Sama’, that airs on UK Channel 4 tonight, about the battle of Aleppo in Syria, where the ‘rebels’ had taken over the eastern part of the city, and were eventually defeated by the Russian and Syrian forces.

Some info:

The ‘rebels’ in Syria have been dominated by sectarian extremists since the beginning of this conflict, according to a Pentagon report from 2012, (and according to Syrians who’ve lived through this hell). The US, along with NATO, and their Gulf allies, supported these jihadist 'rebels' anyway. (According to the Pentagon report, some in the US were actually keen on the idea of of creating a ‘Salafist principality’, aka ISIS). Most of the Islamist groups sent in by Turkey the other week to attack the Kurds, had previously been backed by the US.

For Sama is directed by Syrian filmmaker Walid Al Katib, along with British director, Edward Lucas. Al Katib’s husband, Hamza, who features in the documentary, has been pictured alongside a Syrian ‘rebel’ who subsequently beheaded a 12 year old boy.

Edward Lucas has retweeted a guy called Charles Lister, who is endorsing the film. Lister works for the Middle East Institute, which is funded by arms/oil companies, banks, tyrannical Gulf states like UAE and Saudi, etc. (i.e all those who profit from war and were keen on regime change in Syria). He has a long history of doing PR for the various extremist ‘rebel’ groups.

The documentary alleges that Russian and Syrian forces purposely targeted in-use hospitals and schools. If true, this is horrific, obviously, but remember that the entire area was under the control of extremists, including the hospitals and schools. And it seems that the extremists were using human shields.

The US has spent $billions on their regime change effort in Syria, much of that being spent on propaganda.

And finally - it is a war. War is brutal. Of course there is horrific suffering, on all sides. I’m sure the immense suffering depicted in the film is genuine. And it is fair to criticize the war tactics of Putin and Assad.

But it is vital to note how Syria ended up like this - the west and their allies in the Gulf gave $billions of support to an opposition that they knew was sectarian in nature - the very kind of people whom they ostensibly set out to defeat following 9/11.

A small nation in the Middle East has been resisting the might of the US Empire. If they hadn't resisted this regime change effort, and if they hadn’t asked for Russia’s assistance, the whole country would have been taken over by a rabid array of extremist groups, who would’ve wrought havoc, persecuting/ethnic cleansing non-Salafi Syrians, destroying a proudly secular nation that is one of the most progressive societies in the region, for women’s rights etc.

And note that there is no documentary about the US-led bombardment of Mosul, where 9000+ civilians were killed, and undoubtably would have involved the bombing of hospitals and schools. Note that there is no documentary about NATO bombardment in Libya, which destroyed that country and resulted in ethnic cleansing and slavery. Where is the film about US slaughter in Fallujah; about NATO’s radioactive bombing of Yugoslavia which led to thousands of cancer deaths and birth defects? Etc. Where is the film that explains how all of these interventions are about oil and profit?

If you decide to watch For Sama, please take all of this into account!