daniellayne

One of the main reasons I made this AMA is because in the previous one the dude said a lot things that were blatantly wrong. There aren't only two majors in Syria's educational system, Aleppo isn't the most dangerous city to be in, Syria isn't democratic, Bashar was never chosen to be president (the unopposed "elections" are proof of that) etc.

*anywhere else in the Middle East except Israel

Yes I am. And being openly gay in Syria (and anywhere else in the Middle East) was a whole issue of its own but I'm not sure if you're interested in that.

I'm aware it may seem like there are three warring factions, but honestly there really are only 2 major ones right now (and probably multiple smaller groups in between): The Assad supporters, and the non-Assad supporters.

My family is a non-Assad supporter and has been for decades. It was extremely hard for my dad to get to where he is today and to acquire his wealth because his main rival and competitor in Syria was Nizar Al-Assaad (not Assad, still related to Assad though). Most of the economy was dominated by Assad and his relatives or close friends, almost everything was monopolized.

My dad grew up in Deir Al Zour, which is another city in Syria which is much poorer than Damascus and Aleppo and that's mostly why he's very against the Assad regime. He's seen its evils in these corners and just because we're part of the 1% doesn't mean it's okay for the rest of the 99% to suffer. There is no middle class in Syria. You're either extremely rich, or barely making end's meet. I'm going to estimate a statistic now because I'm not sure of the exact number, but it's something like 60-70% of the country's wealth is with 1% of the population. That's why the majority of the population really is anti-Assad despite what many surveys and polls show. Many are just too afraid to speak out.

This will all make more sense if I give you the Assad supporters' perspectives. They can mostly be divided into two categories: The ones related to him in some way, and other minority groups.

My best friend since childhood's grandfather was one of Hafez Al-Assad's military generals. Although they are not politically affiliated now, they support Assad not because they think he's a good president, but because they owe him almost everything. Where they are right now is all because of him even to this day. Their social status not just their wealth.

The other part of Assad supporters is composed mostly of minorities (other Alawites, Christians etc.) The Alawites support Bashar because they get very special treatment for being Alawites, most of the ones I've met were cunts to everyone because they knew they had some form of protection from the government for the sole purpose that they are Alawites. They also find it a lot easier to get jobs, and end up in higher social statuses.

The Christians mainly support Bashar because of the propaganda fear that if Bashar falls, the Muslim Brotherhood will control Syria (which I'm assuming is the third fraction you were talking about?) With all honesty I know that there is genuinely no way that would ever occur. And that the Christians only support Bashar because of the irrational fear of this that has been planted in their heads for years. The Muslim Brotherhood is no threat in Syria, especially not since the 1982 Hama Massacre. But this fear will continuously drive them to support Assad. Most of my friends who happen to be Christian have debated me with "I don't know why you would support the rebellion, do you want us to end up being a Muslim country like Saudi Arabia? Where you could get killed for being gay?" and so on.

I grew up going to international schools, and we didn't speak Arabic at home. My mom is Turkish and dad speaks to us in Aramaic, so I never really used Arabic. My reading and writing still isn't that good, but I can speak.

The main differences between Lebanese and Arabic are a few words that we use differently, but mostly the pronunciation. Like Lebanese pronounce the أ a lot differently than Syrians and the أ is used a lot so it's noticeable.