TV Host Wonders Why Syrian Rebels Haven’t Been More Serious About Ethnic Cleansing
Faisal al-Qassem, the host of Al Jazeera’s The Opposite Direction, asked why Shia Muslims haven’t been expelled from Sunni areas in Syria.
The host of one of Al Jazeera’s most popular — and controversial — shows recently demanded to know why Syria’s rebels still tolerated Shia Muslims in largely Sunni areas.
Faisal al-Qassim, the host of Al Jazeera’s The Opposite Direction, was interviewing Zein Eddin, coordinator for the Syrian opposition groups, on Tuesday when he asked about the rebel’s battlefield choices.
Eddin countered that those areas are protected by the Russian air force.
“I want to ask you this. Nubi and al-Zahra are Shia colonies in the heart of Sunni land,” Qassim said, naming two Shia majority cities in Aleppo. “Why don’t you expel them as they did to you and curse the ones who gave birth to them?”
Eddin said that it was “for the children” of several towns besieged by the Syrian government that such actions were not taken.
“War has no emotions,” Qassim chided.
On Friday, Qassim took to Twitter to defend himself from claims that he was stirring sectarian animosity:
“The funny thing in Syria, is that the world is calling for the protection of minorities, but the most funny thing is that this half-blind world ignores the fact that 99.99 of the victims in Syria are from the majority,” he wrote.
“I never care about religion or nationality of the victims, all I care about is that he is a victim, [We] must stand with the victims,” he said, listing off several groups that should be supported.
It isn’t al-Qassim’s first run-in with controversy over the course of the Syrian conflict. In 2015, he was panned for asking whether Syrian’s Alawite minority should be collectively punished for destroying Syria.
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