BEIRUT (AP)
-- For Syria's banned Muslim Brotherhood, the uprising against President
Bashar Assad that erupted amid Arab Spring revolts in 2011 provided a
long-sought opportunity to stage a comeback after decades spent in
exile.
Thirty years earlier, the group's own
violent uprising against Assad's father, the late Hafez Assad, was
brutally crushed, culminating in an infamous massacre in the city of
Hama that ended with the group's leadership killed, imprisoned or
exiled.
Amid the chaos of the current revolt,
the group quickly emerged as the best organized of Assad's political
opponents, and is playing an increasingly active role on the ground by
providing assistance to military brigades it supports.
It faces enormous challenges in the months ahead, however.
The
downfall of the Brotherhood in Egypt has shaken its Syrian counterpart
and deepened distrust of the secretive movement by other Syrians who are
suspicious of its religious agenda.
Inside
Syria, the group faces an uphill battle trying to rebuild its base with
the young revolutionaries of today, many of whom view its leadership as
aging and out of touch after years away from the country. Moreover, the
self-described moderate Islamic group faces fierce competition from
better equipped hard-line Salafi fighters and al-Qaida extremists who
have emerged as a major force among the ranks of the rebels.
"Despite
its rich history of involvement in Syrian politics, for some, the
Brotherhood continues to be viewed as a foreign entity merely
representing a local branch of the Egyptian movement," said Raphael
Lefevre, a visiting fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center and author
of the book "Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria."
"To
win hearts and minds, the Syrian group needs to move more decisively to
define itself in the context of its own considerable history," he said.
Leaders
of the Syrian Brotherhood and activists inside Syria say the group has
been actively working in that direction. In addition to its pivotal role
in shaping and influencing the opposition abroad, it has stepped up
relief assistance to rebel-held areas inside the country and its leaders
have made several trips to opposition areas in the north in an attempt
to reconnect with residents in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, once
considered strongholds of the group.
In
February, the group launched al-Ahed, a newspaper which now distributes
10,000 copies bi-weekly in opposition territory. Sheik Hatem al-Tabshi,
head of the Brotherhood's Shura Council, preaches in the city of Maarat
al-Numan and is seen in videos holding meetings with fighters in the
area.
Most significantly, an umbrella group of
brigades known as the "Shields of the Revolution" has emerged as a
military force closely affiliated with the group, although Brotherhood
officials deny any formal ties. Activists, however, say the group is
preparing to formally launch its military branch in the country.
"It
is not easy to reconnect and restore our presence after 30 years of
absence," acknowledged Omar Mushaweh, who heads the group's media
communications department. "It requires time, but we have a strong
history in Syria and we will get there despite the smear campaign
against us," he told The Associated Press from his base in Turkey.
It
is precisely this controversial and violent history, however, which
makes many Syrians wary of the group. Suspicions that the Brotherhood is
ultimately looking to grab power in Syria were fueled by the rapid
downfall of the Brotherhood in Egypt when that country's military
overthrew former President Mohammed Morsi.
While
the Egyptian and Syrian groups share the same name and ideology, they
have no organizational ties to speak of. Although modeled after the
Egyptian Brotherhood, the Syrian branch took its own path soon after its
founding by Mustafa al-Sibai in 1942.
Its
Islamist ideology soon clashed with the secular ideology of the ruling
Baath party, which outlawed the group in the early 1960s, putting the
two sides on a collision course.
In 1982,
following years of insurgency during which the Brotherhood and its
affiliates carried out bombings and assassinations of government
officials, Syrian President Hafez Assad launched a withering assault on
the rebellious city of Hama, stronghold of the Brotherhood at the time,
leveling entire neighborhoods and killing thousands in one of the most
notorious massacres in the modern Middle East.
Amnesty
International has estimated that between 10,000 and 25,000 people were
killed in the massacre, though conflicting figures exist and the Syrian
government has never given an official tally.
The
movement's remaining leaders went underground while the rest were
killed, imprisoned or exiled and their relatives chased down for years.
In successive years, the word "Hama" and "Brotherhood" would be
mentioned only in whispers among Syrians.
"There
isn't a citizen in Syria, young or old, who doesn't carry with him
tragic memories from the `80s which touched the lives of most Syrian
families," said Ali Sadr el-Din Bayanouni, a London-based senior member
and former leader of the group.
"The same
police state that was in the 80s is still ruling Syria now and it is the
same desire for change and revolution that triggered the uprising this
time around," he said.
Today, the Hama
massacre stands as a rallying cry both for those trying to topple the
regime, and for Assad, who has seized on the Brotherhood's violent past
to try and portray the current popular revolt as an extension of the
government's longstanding fight against Islamists.
"We
have been fighting the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1950s and we are
still fighting them," Assad said in an interview in Oct. 2011. Last
month, he praised the massive protests that toppled Morsi, calling his
ouster the end of "political Islam."
For
Assad's opponents, memories of Hama appeared to be a mobilizing factor
early on in the uprising, though many now say they resent what they see
as the group's heavy use of money as a key lever of influence.
Last
year, activists in Hama commemorated the anniversary of the massacre,
throwing red dye into the ancient water wheels on the Orontes River, the
city's most famous landmarks.
"Hafez died, and Hama didn't. Bashar will die, and Hama won't," they sprayed on its stone walls.
Still,
the Brotherhood faces widespread accusations that it seeks to impose
its will on the rest of the opposition, mainly through the
Western-backed Syrian National Coalition umbrella bloc. The
fundamentalist group has a powerful donor network among members in exile
and supporters in oil-rich Gulf countries, especially Qatar.
Tensions
within the opposition peaked in March, with critics claiming the
Brotherhood orchestrated the election of Ghassan Hitto, a little-known
figure, as interim prime minister for the opposition.
About
a dozen members of the Coalition suspended their membership a day after
Hitto was elected, prompting the Brotherhood's general leader, Mohammad
Riad al-Shaqfa, to hold a rare press conference in which he denied the
accusations. Since then, the Coalition has been expanded to dilute the
influence of the Brotherhood and Hitto has stepped down. Qatar, a main
supporter of the group, has taken a back seat in favor of Saudi Arabia
in dealing with the Syrian opposition.
"Support
for the group is not what it used to be," said Ahmad, 32, a resident of
Hama. "They've been away for too long and now they try too hard, they
buy people," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of
retaliation.
The group is also riddled with infighting among various factions.
Its
longtime spokesman, Zuhair Salem, recently resigned reportedly over
disagreements with the group's leadership. He refused to comment when
contacted by the AP, and al-Bayanouni said his resignation has not been
formally accepted.
Mushaweh said the Brotherhood knows fully well that it will not be able to rule alone in the future, nor does it intend to.
"Even
if the regime falls, we expect difficult years ahead because the state
we will receive will be a heap of stones and humans. Neither the
Brotherhood nor anyone else can work alone to rebuild the country," he
said.
Lefevre said the Brotherhood still has a long way to go before regaining the full trust of society.
"But
because it's a structured and experienced national political force, it
will remain one of the powerbrokers in any new Syria and it's a group
still worth watching," he said.
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