© Eva BartlettCenter: Syrian General Hassan Hassan • Right: Eva Bartlett • Left: Translator
For years, international headlines spotlighting Syria have claimed that the Syrian government, army, and its allies were guilty of a variety of atrocities. Yet as time has passed, many of the accusations levied at government and its allies have been shown to have been
either falsified, staged (as in the case of allegations of chemical attacks in eastern Ghouta),
or actually committed by the myriad terrorist groups operating in the country.For their part, Syrian leadership has maintained from the start that the uprisings leading to the civil war in their country were not peaceful. Media in the West and the Gulf vilified Syria's leadership, featuring story after story of government-imposed violence while ignoring or whitewashing the violence of the burgeoning armed groups flooding into Syria.
From
as early as 2011, armed groups were throwing civilians from rooftops and committing beheadings, kidnappings, and massacres.
The year 2011 alone saw multiple massacres of civilians and security forces committed by what the media called "unarmed protesters" and later by the "Free Syrian Army." This was the same year that
many in the media were insisting that a "peaceful revolution" was underway.Since that time, those same armed groups, as well as the many iterations they spawned, have starved, tortured, imprisoned, murdered, maimed and even harvested the organs of Syrian civilians, in addition to killing Syrian and allied soldiers and journalists and destroying much of the country's infrastructure.To give a voice to the often ignored "other side" — those Syrians that have been working to defend their country since 2011 —
Eva Bartlett interviewed the Syrian Arab Army's Head of Political Administration, General Hassan Hassan. A stout military man with styled hair and a clean shave, General Hassan's shelves and large wooden desk are covered with stacks of books, family photos, and various homages to the country he serves — the general holds a Ph.D. in geopolitical studies. The following is a transcript of Bartlett's interview with Hassan following
the 74th anniversary of the founding of the Syrian Arab Army.
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