Russians and Americans report 'common ground' over Syria

[craigt3365]

Yes you are confused - Syria is a Muslim majority country but not an Islamic country. Just as Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Morocco and others are Muslim (majority) countries but not defined or claimed as Islamic. Islamic countries are those that declare themselves as such and usually have a 100% Muslim native population.

Again, NO, Assad did not start anything - why continue that lie? I've already described how the crisis started which roughly corresponds with your Wiki post, leaving out the bias which permeates Wikipedia. I've never claimed that the western powers started it but they sure as hell exacerbated it by supporting the various militias, including ISIS & Al-Nusra - some directly & some indirectly.

Bahrain is an example of hypocrisy by the west as it mirrors the Syrian crisis - Assad bad, Al Khalifah good but both brutal dictatorships.

We're cutting hairs here. There may be a few countries with 100% muslin population, but very few. But I do understand your definition. Though in reality, Syria is a majority muslim country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Syria

Despite civil codes introduced in the past years, Syria maintains a dual system of sharia and civil courts (see The Judiciary, ch. 4). Hanafi law applies in sharia courts, and non-Muslim communities have their own religious courts using their own religious law.

Moreover, the Syrian Sunni Muslims have close links to the Lebanese Sunni Muslims,^[2]Iraqi Sunni Muslims and Jordanian Sunni Muslims.

As for Assad, please provide a credible link that shows he was not the catalyst for the civil war. I use Wiki because they've got pretty good info. But there are many articles out there on why the civil war started. All point to Assad. Great article for you to read to get educated on how this mess started. No lies here.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868

More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State. This is the story of the civil war so far, in eight short chapters.

Pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets.

The unrest triggered nationwide protests demanding President Assad's resignation. The government's use of force to crush the dissent merely hardened the protesters' resolve. By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets across the country.

Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas.

I think we better get back to the topic.