Blumenthal interviewed residents who were caught between Western and Gulf-backed extremist insurgents and the Syrian government's war to retake territory, and who now struggle to recover under a US-led economic blockade.
"They want to attack and intimidate people from the West who want to have cultural and personal contact with Syrians in the area where most Syrians live," Blumenthal says. "I went there and I took that opportunity to have contact with them because I'll take any reasonable opportunity to break the media blockade in countries targeted with regime change, and to show my fellow citizens what's on the other side of the corporate media and the US national security state's information war."
Guest: Max Blumenthal, Senior Editor of The Grayzone and author of "The Management of Savagery."
Video by Ben Norton
Aaron Maté is a journalist and producer. He hosts Pushback with Aaron Maté on The Grayzone. He is also is contributor to The Nation magazine and former host/producer for The Real News and Democracy Now!. Aaron has also presented and produced for Vice, AJ+, and Al Jazeera.
Comment: The other side of the Western-backed war in Syria (that is largely missing from US mainstream media outlets) has been well covered by those who dare to speak truth on the subject: