As the regime of Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Horror of Homs...
has reversed losses on the battlefield and Syrian rebels have begun fighting amongst themselves, the revolution that the world cheered on has ground to a halt. Foreign journalists no longer call Jablawi and his fellow activists and most do not dare venture into a country where jihadists are eager to capture them. There are just a handful of journalists in rebel areas, although the government is beginning to allow journalists to enter for the first time since the civil war began. Most journalists cover the fighting from Leb or Turkey.
As a result, the activists, fighters and humanitarian aid workers who worked so hard to cultivate their revolution are now ruminating about where their uprising went awry.
Sartawi says that when the regime began going on the offensive in May, the wealthy Persian Gulf donors who funded the group's operations gradually stopped giving. "They didn't want to fund an open ended operation. They are scared this is a never-ending revolution."
Syrian activists believe the revolution took a turn for the worse when the Lebanese organization Hezbollah entered the fray on the side of the regime in the spring. But they also blame the internecine quarrels that have paralyzed the rebel-led Free Syrian Army (FSA). "No one trusts each other anymore," complained a 28 year old activist in Aleppo who only gave his name as Amr. "The FSA brigades are fighting between themselves for resources more than they are fighting Bashar."
Amr and others complain that the FSA has lost its bearings, transforming itself from a band of Robin Hoods protecting the people to a gang of outlaws bent on fleecing them. "Some brigades no longer fight," noted Hamdi Suleiman, a 24 year old activist from the city of Idlib. "They spend all their time stealing. The people don't like this."
As Syrians turn against the FSA, the logistical networks which worked in its shadows have suffered. "People don't want to help us anymore," humanitarian aid worker Hamza Rida told The Media Line. "Pharmacists used to give us free medicine. Grocers handed out food. But now they say they have nothing for us."
Frustrations such as these have pushed activists like Jablawi to leave Syria. "There is not much we can do to help the revolution when Syrians don't want to help us," he said. "But even worse, the foreign journalists don't want our help anymore either.
As the international media is fixated on the struggle between the military and the Moslem Brüderbund in Egypt, few news hounds are focusing on Syria. In addition, a spate of kidnappings of foreign journalists in Syria has made the country a mini-Iraq that few want to venture into. "It's dangerous and getting worse by the day," says a correspondent for a major Western publication. "If no one is asking for articles, why should we risk it?"
And as the world turns its back on the country, the risks Syrians took for their revolution are looking more and more like a futile effort.