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ollylambert121 karma

Yes. The media is convinced that Syria is swimming in Al Quaeda terrorists. This isn't the case. That's a story that sells very well in the West, because we love reading about nemesis. I didn't meet a single foreign fighters in the three weeks I was there. They do exist in Syria, sure, but not in the numbers you would think.

ollylambert88 karma

Another good question. I wasn't "embedded" in any official capacity, but rebels quickly understood that I wasn't just popping in for tea one afternoon - I lived with refugees and fighters for weeks, and ran the same risks as they did. As such, they would trust me quite quickly.
And I'm sure they regarded me as a potential propaganda machine - people would often approach the camera and make speeches or cite "facts" that were not verifiable. And obviously I decided what went into the film.

ollylambert66 karma

It did seem clear that a "peace" between the two sides is now almost impossible. Too much blood has been spilled for either side to countenance sitting down with the other. Most rebels and those who support the revolution are fiercely opposed to having to deal with Assad given the way he has cracked down on the revolution and the protests. And on the regime side, there's increasingly a profound sense that they are locked in a fight to the death, and that regime supporters would be wiped out in the event that the government fell. It's a very bleak state of affairs...

ollylambert62 karma

Quite a lot! After three weeks, I had had 3 very close calls (the air strike on Al Bara being only one of them). The worst was the final 24 hours, when I was filming people buying vegetables in a market, which suddenly came under sustained mortar fire from regime bases. I decided to leave the following day, but at 1.30am, mortars began landing around the house I was staying in. They landed horribly close, but all I could really do was pull the blanket up over my head. I left at 5.30 that morning.

ollylambert56 karma

I don't think that it is a case of which of these "two sides" are "right". It's way more complex than that. The violence meted out by Assad is certainly far, far greater than that which the rebels have or have been able to dish out. But that doesn't mean that the rebels are right. There is no unified rebellion any longer.
The fundamental question is how to bring it to an end.