Hidden Planet Week
Richard Engel heads to a land that time forgot. Raja Ampat, the four main islands off the West Papuan mainland in Indonesia surrounded by 1,500 smaller islands, spans 10 million acres of land and sea that explode with brilliant green forests and vibrant blue waters.
NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel takes a dive into these waters, known to many as an underwater Eden, that have the most biodiversity on the planet.
NBC’s Richard Engel examines America’s progress after fighting for more than a decade in Afghanistan.
Is there any evidence that the American plan to hand over a credible, stable Afghan government will work?
Engel reports from Kabul.
American missions across the Arab world tightened security on Friday in anticipation of more anti-U.S. demonstrations on the Muslim day of prayer.
Tensions flared with attacks on U.S. embassies in Sudan and Tunisia, protests in Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, and even the torching of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Lebanon.
Jim Maceda, veteran NBC News' Foreign Correspondent, has been reporting from Cairo on the protests triggered by an anti-Islam film for the last several days.
Is the wave of protests about more than the amateur, yet provocative, anti-Islam film? What’s really behind the anger? Maceda answered reader questions about the demonstrations earlier today.
Replay the informative chat below.
Zac Baillie / AFP - Getty Images
A Syrian rebel covers a fellow fighter carrying the body of his brother, killed during a battle in the Saif al-Dawla district of Syria's northern city of Aleppo, amid heavy street fighting between opposition and government forces on August 29, 2012.
First, he reprimanded me for not calling enough and hardly visiting. I’ve been away too long. You can’t do that, not to your friends. What’s so difficult about calling? he asked.
I apologized, asked about his children, his health, if he’s having success in quitting smoking, and offered the only excuse I could think of: "I’ve been busy with the Arab Spring."
"The Arab Spring?" he said. "What’s that? There’s no Arab Spring anymore. That’s over. It is now a big struggle for power."
He may have been acting like an insistent grandmother, but he was right. The Arab Spring is over. The days of the protesters with laptops and BlackBerrys in Tahrir Square are long gone.
Instead, a much bigger struggle is underway, one that goes back centuries that is both a regional battle for dominance and an epic tug of war between Sunnis and Shiites for control of the Middle East and the Prophet Muhammad's legacy.
The front line is now in Syria, where the United Nations says more than 20,000 people have been killed since pro-democracy protests started in March 2011.
But it goes back, at least in very modern history, at least to Iraq — and America shares a large part of the responsibility for reopening this Pandora’s Box.
Roots in Iraq
A major factor in the rise of the present struggle came when American troops invaded Iraq in 2003, thus pitting Sunnis against their rival Shiites, who many Sunnis think are effectively infidels who turned against Islamic leaders about 1,400 years ago and have been on the wrong side of Allah’s path since then.
For decades, Saddam and his Sunni minority had imposed their will on Iraq, carrying on a 14-century tradition of Sunnis controlling Mesopotamia despite a Shiite majority. Not surprisingly, in most Sunni regions there has little appetite for free U.S.-sponsored elections. They knew they would end up being ruled by their enemies.
And that’s what happened. Essentially, the lasting legacy of America’s involvement in Iraq is an Iranian-allied Shiite government that also happens to be one of the most corrupt on the planet. (Iran is the biggest and most powerful Shiite-majority nation.)
Reuters
Iran's religious breakdown by Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Iran is 89 percent Shiite Muslim and approximately 10 percent Sunni. But the rest of the region is predominately Sunni Muslim. There are more than 1 billion Sunnis worldwide, making up 87-90 percent of the global Muslim population. Click on the map to see a larger version.
The Shiites were, of course, delighted. I remember the moment U.S. troops left their last base in southern Iraq in December 2011. The Iraqis changed its name as the Americans rolled out the gate. It had been called Camp Adder; the Iraqis renamed it 'the Imam Ali base,' after the patriarch of Shiite Islam.
The Shiites — in both Iraq and Iran — won, and won big.
President George W. Bush, in his now-rare public appearances and interviews, still refuses to acknowledge he did anything to help Iran. But it doesn’t really matter what he thinks. The 200 million people in the Middle East understand that there is a new reality — and that’s what they are battling about now.
Iraqi Sunnis are still seething — and sometimes fighting — in their stronghold cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. They can’t accept what they consider the tragedy that has befallen their community and don’t understand even now why Washington sent troops across the Atlantic and Indian oceans to help Iran expand a buffer zone beyond its borders.
Enter al-Qaida, a radical Sunni group
Back in the Iraq war days, al-Qaida, a radical Sunni group, saw an opportunity to expand. Al-Qaida militants flowed to Iraq to help fellow Sunnis fight Iran, Shiites and the Americans who were propping them up. But al-Qaida got more than it bargained for. The U.S. troops were tougher than al-Qaida expected. American forces learned guerilla tactics in Iraq. They built bigger, stronger vehicles to defeat car bombs and IEDs. U.S. troops, much to al-Qaida surprise and dismay, moved at night, dropped men from helicopters like spiders and blasted militant safe houses into kindling.
Al-Qaida made another mistake too. It misbehaved in Iraq and abused its hosts, fellow Sunni tribesmen. Al-Qaida forgot it was a guest and abandoned its manners. Al-Qaida killed Sunni tribesmen because they weren’t fundamentalist enough. The wild-eyed militants flogged Sunnis in Ramadi and Fallujah for minor infractions like taking off their pants to swim in the Euphrates. It was hardly the behavior of someone who’s claiming to help.
The Americans eventually used al-Qaida’s misbehavior against the group, forming a militia of Sunnis who were fed up with the fanatics, often referred to as the "Sons of Iraq." Al-Qaida lost in Iraq and the Shiite government won. Iran won, too.
After the Shiites came to power in Baghdad, Iran suddenly had access to Iraq’s holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala. Iran increased tourism and business ties with its new Shiite-controlled neighbor. The majority of passengers now arriving and departing from Baghdad International Airport are from Iran.
Photo Blog: Portraits from the front line: Syrian rebels pose in Aleppo
Syria, Lebanon, Hezbollah
Of course, it isn’t tourism that is on the minds of concerned observers of the Middle East. Rather, it is another Shiite government — just to the northwest of Iraq —the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In fact, the Assad family isn’t actually Shiite, but Alawite, a secretive Shiite-linked offshoot that makes up just about 13 percent of the population. There’s also a sizable Christian community. Iran has effectively adopted the Alawites into the family by forging a long-standing alliance with Assad and — before him — his father, Hafez, who ruled Syria from 1971-1990.
Reuters
A breakdown of religious groups in Syria. Approximately 70 percent of Syria's population is Sunni Muslim. About 3 percent are Shiite, but another 12.8 percent are Alawite, a Shiite offshoot that President Bashar al-Assad follows. Click on the map to see a larger version.
And, moving further west from Syria, there’s Lebanon. Lebanon is a mixed basket if there ever was one. It’s Sunni in the north, Christian in the middle and Shiite in the south, with each making up about a third of the population. As any Lebanese person will tell you, it’s a volatile mix that has produced a lively culture, fantastic food, attractive people — and recurring cycles of civil war.
Topping the heap in Lebanon are the Shiites, emboldened by their powerful and skilled militia, Hezbollah. Hezbollah is heavily armed and has thousands of rockets pointed at Israel. The weapons mostly come from Iran through Syria or from Syria itself. In addition, Hezbollah runs a powerful social network. It can collapse the Lebanese government when it chooses.
France sends aid, cash to rebel-held Syrian cities, source says
So, there we have it. The previously isolated Shiite regime in Iran is emboldened by the emergence of a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq. In reaction, the Sunni world becomes concerned about the upstart Shiite powers, complete with their considerable oil resources and weaponry.
The region, already a tinderbox, becomes primed for a power struggle.
At the same time, there is the matter of religious pride and a sense of being in the right. In the Muslim world, the Sunnis are the big players. There are more than 1 billion Sunnis worldwide — making up 87-90 percent of the world’s total Muslim population, according to the Pew Research Center. By comparison, Shiites are a relatively small group, there are just about 150-200 million Shiites in the world, with about 75 percent living in just four countries: Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and India, according to Pew.
For the world’s Sunni Muslims, there is a certain confidence, perhaps even arrogance, that comes with having a billion friends.
NBC's Richard Engel, who has just returned from his third trip inside Syria, since the uprising began, joins Andrea Mitchell Reports to discuss the situation on the ground.
Arab Spring shake-up
At first, the current unrest was unrelated to the Sunni-Shiite divide. The first eruption came in Tunisia, which exploded in protests in December 2010. Then came Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.
The region’s dictators were caught off guard by student demonstrators who had mobile communications that government security forces couldn’t track or monitor. The students could organize flash mobs. They could communicate directly with hundreds of millions of supporters though social media.
The Arab regimes in 2011 in many ways were legacies of Israel’s victories in 1948 and 1967. Faced with the catastrophic defeats, military strongmen grew in power. Over time they become corrupt. By 2011, most Arab governments were brutal, uncreative and thoroughly uninspiring.
In Tunisia, lawyers, students and women’s groups protested in because of the country’s secret prisons and because the former president’s wife was taking a cut of nearly everyone’s business.
The Egyptian regime was similarly ossified and out of touch. Hosni Mubarak had been an effective president in his early years and relatively popular. But by the time protests began in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, he was 82 years old, his military cohorts and family had become increasingly corrupt, he had been president for nearly three decades, and he was insistent that his bland son take over from him.
The Arab Spring put the Middle East back in flux — and, encapsulated by the current situation in Syria — put religious divides back in the spotlight.
The rise of religious tensions started in Egypt, where the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood — a Sunni organization — mobilized and easily hijacked the 2011 revolution started by liberals, anarchists, socialists, students, artists and techno-nerds who were joined by millions of the unemployed and disenfranchised. Sunni Islamists, albeit moderate, took over in Tunisia, too.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
But it is Syria that has become the epicenter of the historic battle between Sunnis and Shiites. And Lebanon will probably follow.
I spoke with a rebel in Syria about a month ago who explained the religious calculation.
"We lost Iraq to the Shiites and Iran. We’re going to take Syria for us," he said.
Nearly all of the rebels in Syria are Sunnis and the fighting in Syria remains almost exclusively in Sunni areas. Alawite areas remain generally supportive of the Assad regime and therefore haven’t been attacked by the central government. The worst massacres have taken place in Sunni villages that are surrounded by Alawite towns.
The rebels claim the Alawites want to drive out Sunnis from their areas to make pure Alawite blocks for self-defense in case they lose the war and are hunted. Although the rebels say they want to create a Sunni-led government, which they promise will be open and democratic, this isn’t Tahrir Square anymore. It’s not even close.
Iran-Syria alliance
The Syrian government has long found Iran and Hezbollah to be useful allies. Iran is technologically advanced and offers a big market for Syrian goods. Hezbollah is a sword Damascus can wave over Israel's head, and a way to maintain influence in Lebanon, which Syria claims (with some reason) was historically part of Syria before the horribly planned British and French division of the Middle East during and after World War I.
U.S. officials: Iran supplying Syrian military via Iraqi airspace
But war changes the dynamics between allies. As Assad’s grip on power weakens, Iran and Hezbollah’s position in Syria grows stronger. The tail is starting to wag the dog. Iranian and Hezbollah advisers are becoming increasingly dominant in Syria.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke out publicly about Iran’s increasing presence in Syria last month.
"There’s now an indication that they’re trying to develop or trying to train a militia within Syria to be able to fight on behalf of the regime," Panetta said at a Pentagon news briefing. "So we are seeing a growing presence by Iran and that is of deep concern to us."
In Syria, I saw evidence of Hezbollah’s influence at an army outpost that the rebels had just taken over. Rebels claimed there were 20 Hezbollah fighters in the outpost. They said that they occupied their own room and fought to the death. I saw boxes of unpacked Hezbollah flags.
It’s no longer a situation where Hezbollah is just providing arms and intelligence, but appears to have mobilized and is fighting alongside Syrian forces.
Youssef Boudlal / Reuters
Free Syrian Army fighters from Qadissiya Brigade detain two Syrian army soldiers in the El Amriyeh neighbourhood of Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo in Sept. 4, 2012.
And al-Qaida is also trying to make up for lost time. Its leader is dead and Afghanistan and Pakistan aren’t as safe as they used to be. Even Yemen is unsafe with increasing American drone strikes. Al-Qaida trying to do in Syria what it failed to accomplish in Iraq. Al-Qaida has learned from its Iraq’s experience. Sensing an opening, al-Qaida fighters are going into Syria offering money and arms to the rebels, their Sunni brothers.
They are going in politely, or at least as politely as al-Qaida can be. They are offering rebels cash with no strings attached, at first. Initial payments tend to be small, around $5,000. It is tiny sum in a war zone, but enough to give strapped rebel units a taste of what’s to come. They also have RPGs, the weapon rebel commanders seem to value above all others.
After taking a few payments, according to rebels who’ve seen this process, al-Qaida fighters — from Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Chechnya and other countries — ask that the rebels receive some of their men. An increasingly number of rebels commanders are taking the deal, even though they worry what al-Qaida could ask for in the future.
They reason that it’s better to take the support than die with nothing. Without American troops to worry about — not even drones —Syria could prove to be a far better base for al-Qaida than Iraq ever was.
What’s next?
What happens if Washington continues to watch from afar?
Well, Syria is likely to become an even bigger battleground for a proxy war between Hezbollah, Sunni rebels, government troops, Iran and al-Qaida. And once Syria collapses — or even before — Lebanon could ignite as well.
My Iraqi friend was right. The Arab Spring no longer exists.
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James Lawler Duggan / AFP - Getty Images
Free Syrian Army fighters take cover as they exchange fire with regime forces in the Salaheddin neighbourhood of Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Wednesday.
More foreign fighters claiming allegiance to al-Qaida have reportedly joined rebels in war-torn Aleppo, deepening the regional implications of the conflict in Syria.
According to Zeina Khodr, a journalist with news channel Al Jazeera, "Arab fighters from Saudi Arabia and Egypt who didn't want to be filmed" were operating in the city. Some reportedly claimed allegiance to al-Qaida.
Earlier this month, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel witnessed al-Qaida units crossing the border from Turkey into Syria, raising fears that militant Islamists could use the civil war to establish a power base in the heart of the Middle East.
Russia warns Obama against' violation' of law over Syria
The 16-month Syria crisis has widened in recent weeks, with deadly sectarian clashes spreading over the border into Lebanon's coastal city of Tripoli.
At least 13 people have died and more than a hundred have been wounded in fighting this week between Lebanese Sunni Muslims and Alawites, including one in the early hours of Thursday.
NBC's Richard Engel answers your questions about Syria
Government troops and opposition forces have been fighting in Aleppo for a month after rebels took over several neighborhoods.
Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.
Human rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday artillery and mortar fire and airstrikes by President Bashar Assad's forces in the northern city are killing mostly civilians, including children.
Clashes over Syrian conflict in Lebanon leave 10 dead
Meanwhile, Syrian forces backed by tanks stormed Daraya, on the outskirts of Damascus, on Thursday after 24 hours of artillery and helicopter bombardment to drive out rebels, opposition sources told Reuters.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
The bombardment killed at least 15 people and wounded 150 in Daraya, situated on the southwest edge of Damascus, the sources said.
Main players in Syria's civil war
Troops were conducting house to house raids in the conservative Sunni Muslim town and making their way to the town's centre, meeting light resistance from rebels who appear to have largely withdrawn from the area, activists in Damascus said.
Activists release amateur video reportedly showing the shelling of Aleppo by Syrian government forces while Japan confirms a war correspondent, Maya Yamamoto, was killed by gunfire in Syria. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
"They are using mortar bombs to clear each sector then they enter it, while moving towards the centre," said Abu Zeid, one of the activists. He was speaking by phone from an area adjacent to Daraya.
Other activists said the army was also shelling parts of the suburb from Qasioun, which overlooks Damascus, and from Republican Guard barracks situated near a hilltop presidential palace.
What a small car bomb looks like afterwards.Wrecked a shop and injured 3 soldiers at a checkpoint in north Weds twitter.com/Skytwitius/sta…
— Tim Marshall (@Skytwitius) August 23, 2012
Tim Marshall, a journalist with UK news channel Sky News, said he counted 32 explosions in the space of just one hour in the southern suburbs of Damascus early on Thursday.
Londoner against Londoner: UK fighters held journalist captive in Syria
Britain on Wednesday echoed the warnings of President Barack Obama that the use or threat of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would force them "to revisit their approach".
A spokesman for U..K Prime Minister David Cameron said the "appalling situation that continues in Syria" had been the main focus of a telephone conversation between Obama and Cameron, according to a BBC report.
Another long night in Damascus.Heard 32 explosions between 0200 - 0300 from southern districts including Kfar Sousa.
— Tim Marshall (@Skytwitius) August 23, 2012
Obama on Monday threatened "enormous consequences" if his Syrian counterpart used chemical or biological arms or even moved them in a menacing way.
The president used some of his strongest language yet to warn Assad not to use chemical or biological weapons – after Syria acknowledged for the first time that it had such weapons and could use them if foreign countries attacked it.
Reuters contributed to this report.
As civil war rages on in Syria, there is growing concern over violence that is spreading to neighboring countries. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
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The conflict in Syria took another bloody turn on Wednesday when the Syrian army led a deadly assault into southern Damascus, more than 17 months into the popular uprising.
Meantime, the international community continues to squabble over a solution to the conflict. On Wednesday Russia rebuffed President Barack Obama’s threat of unilateral action against Syria if the Assad regime used chemical or biological arms.
Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent, has just returned from reporting in Syria for over three weeks. He answered reader questions about the ongoing conflict earlier today. Click below to replay the extremely informative chat.
The key city of Aleppo has come under ferocious assault, bombarded by fighter jets and machine gun fire. NBC's Richard Engel reports from northern Syria.
NORTHERN SYRIA – Syrian rebels are dismayed by the U.S. response to the stepped-up fighting around the commercial capital of Aleppo.
What is the United States saying? Are they not listening? Do they want us all to die? These are just a few reactions to what in the eyes of the Syrian rebels looked like a weak and confused American position on the ongoing war.
The rebels, who are battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, are specifically reacting to statements from State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. On Thursday she said Washington is “deeply concerned” about the threat of potential massacres in Aleppo, but that the United States will not assist in the supply of arms to the opposition.
Engel: Syrian regime's thugs face retribution
“We do not believe that pouring more fuel on this fire is going to save lives," she said, adding that there had not been the kind of “groundswell call for external support" seen elsewhere.
Syria's commercial capital has been attacked again by government forces. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
When rebels I’m traveling with heard that, they were shocked. One young man with a Russian AK-47 by his side could hardly believe it.
“This is completely the opposite of what we’ve been saying and the opposite of the truth,” he said. “If they give us weapons, or help us get weapons, there would be less bloodshed, because Bashar would fall more quickly. The longer the war lasts, the more people will die,” he said.
US official: Syrian regime seems to be readying for massacre
The young rebel is in his 20s, secular, generally pro-American and says he joined the revolt to end government oppression. His unit has lost 28 men fighting Assad’s government. His home has been burned down by Syrian troops.
Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News
Rebels on a motorcycle in Northern Syria. Click on the photo to see a complete slideshow of life behind enemy lines for Syria's rebels from NBC News.
Yesterday, I met one of his neighbors, Umm Ahmed. She says she’s 105 years old, the oldest woman in her village. She’s nearly deaf. Her eyes are cloudy with cataracts. She has shrapnel in her leg from a Syrian artillery shell that exploded by her home. Her son, 74 years old, lost a leg. Her other son was killed by Syrian forces; her friend, a woman of 85, had her house burned by government troops.
The young rebel who was so surprised by U.S. statement says he wants weapons to defend his neighbors and free his country from an army that he says is attacking the Syrian people. His unit is armed mostly with homemade bombs and a few rifles.
He doesn’t understand how giving him the ability to defend himself and 105-year-old Umm Ahmed, who still walks everyday even with an injured leg, is “pouring fuel on the fire.” The fire in Syria is already burning.
Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News
Umm Ahmed, 105 years old, is a resident of a village in Northern Syria who was has shrapnel in her leg from a Syrian artillery shell that exploded by her home.
As for the groundswell, every rebel I’ve spoken to for the last month – each one I’ve quoted in articles or seen quoted in articles written by other reporters – has asked for outside help. The rebels don’t want American troops on the ground, they want to fight to free the country themselves, but they do want U.S. assistance in obtaining arms.
Syrian regime 'reeling, armed to the the teeth' with chemical weapons
Russia is openly supplying the Assad government with weapons. Iran has military trainers on the ground, according to numerous witness and Western intelligence reports. The rebels are fighting with bombs that look like firecrackers. It’s hardly a fair fight.
From here in the war zone, the State Department’s fears about a massacre in Aleppo seem like crocodile sympathy. A rebel here explained it to me like this. “If a person is drowning, and you have a life preserver in your hand and don’t throw it, but only talk and say you’re sorry he’s drowning, then you are responsible too.”
Engel: Separating myth vs. truth in the Syrian conflict
Stringer / Reuters
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
Many people in rebel-held areas are starting to suspect that Washington is in a secret alliance with Assad.
It seems clear that the situation in Aleppo is only going to get worse.
Rebels say that 100 armored vehicles have already been sent to attack the city of 3 million people. Aleppo is already surrounded and strafed by jet and helicopters.
PhotoBlog: Who are the Syrian rebels?
If a massacre does happen in Aleppo, rebels will believe the U.S. saw it coming but chose to do nothing other than express concern and sympathy and claim nobody asked for help. They are asking for help. They say they want to prevent a massacre in Aleppo before it happens.
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Lo / AFP - Getty Images
Soldiers from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) detain alleged "shabiha" members identified as Mehsin Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Azezz, from Aleppo, and accuse them of stealing from homes and giving important information to the Syrian regime, in an undisclosed location in the north of Idlib province on June 19, 2012.
NORTHERN SYRIA – Every war has its demons. The chaos of bullets and bombs gives rise to a certain breed of men who join the fight for the thrill of killing, and to stand before begging prisoners and cowering women in damp tattered clothing.
In Syria these monsters in civilian clothing who are the enforcers for President Bashar Assad’s regime are called the “shabiha.”
I’m staying in one of their family’s homes.
Syria’s ghost-like devils
It’s a small house with a vaulted stone ceiling. The shower is a bucket on the floor that slopes into a drain. There’s an outhouse in the garden with a fig tree. The house looks like many in this rural village flanked by olive, walnut and almond groves.
Syrian troops withdraw from 'secondary towns' and pound Aleppo
The shabiha left this village when the army pulled out to re-group and attack Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital and the focus of the battle to control the north of the country. Before they left, there were about 50 shabiha in the village by most rebel counts.
Some lived among the rebels as spies. Others operated as plainclothes commandoes, arresting rebels or just shooting them and their families. I’ve seen a video of shabiha using a chainsaw to cut off a rebel’s head. I saw a shabiha prisoner tied up with wires. The rebels accused him of raping 10 girls. The youngest girl was said to be just 14.
NBC's Richard Engel reports from Syria, where government loyalists are launching a major counter-offensive to maintain control of Aleppo, the nation's largest city, which is considered to be critical to the survival of the Syrian government.
Shabiha is a difficult word to translate into English. It comes from the word Syrians used to describe the luxury Mercedes favored by the Assad family’s operatives that the enforcers of the regime used to move money, smuggle weapons and intimidate opponents.
Whenever someone in a flashy Mercedes with tinted window passed by, Syrians would say the car was a ‘shabah.’ It literally means the car was a ‘ghost,’ mysterious and not to be trifled with. The thugs who drove these phantom cars became known as shabiha – the ghosts who worked in the dictatorship’s deep shadows.
After the fighting started here the Assad government turned the shabiha into a militia. It armed them and sent them to infiltrate, execute and spy on the rebels. Now the shabiha are more feared than Syrian troops. Their evil has become legendary.
Rebels talk of the shabiha like devils, deadly as the regime’s chemical gas. But herein lies the danger.
Engel: Myth vs. truth in the Syrian conflict
Stringer / Reuters
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
Who is really who?
I’m not sure if this house was really owned by any shabiha or their relatives. The owner’s son is accused of being shabiha, but the rebels have no solid proof that he did anything wrong at all. And there’s no proof either that the young man I saw tied up with wires, his eyes covered with a bandana, actually raped any girls.
Every war has revolutionary justice. Here that justice is carried out in the name of fighting shabiha.
No one knows exactly how many shabiha work for the regime. If the Assad government falls, the rebels will likely – almost certainly – carry out executions of suspected shabiha.
A man I spoke to this morning said all shabiha should be executed without mercy, and their property sold and distributed among their victims. The man’s own cousin is among those accused of being shabiha.
CFR.org: What you need to know about the Syria crisis
Slippery slope
But how will Syrians know when justice is being served or miscarried?
Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.
There’s also a disproportionate number of Alawites, accused of being shabiha. The Alawites are the minority Shiite Muslim sect to which Assad belongs and which has held a disproportionate amount of power since his family came to power in 1970. But the Alawites make up only 10 percent of the population, sowing resentment among the country’s Sunni population, who make up the majority of Syria’s 22 million people.
PhotoBlog: Who are the Syrian rebels?
Syrians need to prepare for the aftermath if the Assad regime falls. Atrocities that could be considered war crimes have been committed in this country and Syrians should rightly demand that the perpetrators be held accountable.
But Syrians must be careful not to engage in a murderous campaign of hunting ghosts. The shabiha are real, but they can’t be everywhere.
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With the Assad regime directing the full force of its military at Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, the Syrian government is pulling forces out of surrounding towns -- a cause for celebration among rebels there. NBC's Richard Engel reports from inside one of those towns, in northern Syria.
Updated at 4 p.m. ET:
The United States has "grave concerns" about the situation in Syria, the State Department said Thursday, as President Bashar Assad's forces withdrew from many towns and villages and focused their firepower on the key city of Aleppo.
"This is the concern, that we will see a massacre in Aleppo, and that's what the regime appears to be lining up for," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Citing "columns of tanks" outside the city, Nuland said the Syrian military "seem(s) to be massing for an attack." She called the use of fixed-wing aircraft in addition to helicopter gunships a "serious escalation in this conflict."
"It could be a humanitarian disaster for the people of Aleppo," NBC News' Richard Engel reported from northern Syria. "It also means the Syrian troops are forced to make trade-offs. They don't have enough loyal troops to make the offensive against Aleppo and hold these rural areas."
The key city of Aleppo has come under ferocious assault, bombarded by fighter jets and machine gun fire. The Syrian government's main priority is taking control of the major cities – without enough troops to control the entire country, they are on the offensive. NBC's Richard Engel reports from northern Syria.
Nuland said Assad's regime was "increasingly losing control of its territory, that there are swaths of the country that are no longer under the control of the regime, that his tactics are increasingly violent, increasingly desperate as that happens."
Myth vs. truth in the Syrian conflict
Military experts believe an overstretched Syrian army is pulling back to concentrate on fighting insurgents in Aleppo and Damascus, important power centers for the government, while leaving outlying areas in the hands of rebels. Assad's forces have launched massive counterattacks in both cities.
Pierre Torres / AFP - Getty Images
Free Syria Army opposition fighters guard a group of police officers Wednesday after overrunning the Shaar district police post in Aleppo.
Meanwhile, opposition activists said thousands of troops had withdrawn with their tanks and armored vehicles from Idlib province near the Turkish border and were heading toward Aleppo. Rebels attacked the rear of the troops withdrawing from the north, activist Abdelrahman Bakran told Reuters from the area.
Fierce clashes raged in the early hours in Aleppo itself, and an activist said rebels now controlled half of the city, a claim that could not be independently verified.
Council on Foreign Relations: What you need to know about the Syrian crisis
"There was shelling this morning on the Salaheddine and Mashhad districts," Aleppo activist Abu Hisham told Reuters. "Now it stopped, but helicopters are buzzing overhead."
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
Activists said 24 people were killed in fighting in and around Aleppo on Wednesday, swelling a national death toll of about 18,000 since the revolt against Assad began 16 months ago.
'Terrorists are suffering terrible losses'
State-run Syrian television painted a more favorable picture, saying government troops were imposing security and stability in and around Aleppo.
"The terrorists are suffering terrible losses. Groups of them are throwing their weapons away and giving themselves up. Others are fleeing for the Turkish border," the television report said.
Engel and other journalists have repeatedly observed government troops retreating from "secondary towns" so they can fight opposition forces in the capital Damascus and now Aleppo, leaving vast swathes of the countryside under rebel control.
"When government forces pull out of a place they lose control and immediately rebel flags go up and rebels hold celebrations," Engel said. "Those celebrations have been attacked so now the rebels are deciding not to hold celebrations because they're noisy, they have lights and they're easy to target."
Total war: Syria sends armored column to Aleppo
Meanwhile, north of Aleppo, the town of Azaz has been almost completely destroyed by heavy fighting, Reuters reported. Burned-out armored personnel carriers sat on the roads where rebels hit them with rocket-propelled grenades. Bullet casings were scattered everywhere.
The Syrian government's army is descending on the northern city of Aleppo after the city was seized by rebels. NBC's John Ray reports.
In another key development, neighbor Turkey was not allowing goods or people to pass over the Bab al-Hawa border crossing after rebels took base near Aleppo over the weekend, Engel said.
"Maybe they're concerned about there being too many rebels or refugees crossing," he said. "There may also be concern that the Turks may be losing control of security in sourthern Turkey."
Dozens are reported dead in Syria where opposition forces are fighting to maintain control of Syria's commercial capital Aleppo. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Fighting in and around Aleppo is expected to prompt an exodus across the Turkish border, where some Syrian refugees are already complaining about poor conditions and have clashed with riot police in disputes over food.
"There is not enough food. They have broken our hearts, the Turks. Why are they doing this to us?" a sobbing woman named Umm Omar, with her four children huddled next to her in a camp near the border, told Reuters.
Photo Blog: Who are the Syrian rebels?
Rebels also took the Bab al-Salam border crossing with Turkey over the weekend.
Artillery and rockets
Further south, Syrian forces used artillery and fired rockets on Wednesday on the northern Damascus suburb of al-Tel in an attempt to seize it from rebels, forcing hundreds of families to flee, residents and opposition activists said.
"Military helicopters are flying now over the town. People were awakened by the sound of explosions and are running away," Rafe Alam, one of the activists, told Reuters by phone from a hill overlooking Tel. "Electricity and telephones have been cut off."
The latest massacre began with a military bombardment of the village of Tremsi. After the heavy artillery and shelling, villagers said pro-government militia men swept in to kill at close range. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Opposition sources also reported helicopters and machine guns were firing on the neighborhood of Hajar al-Aswad. The slum lies on the southern outskirts of the capital and has been a haven for rebels sneaking into Damascus from the suburbs.
NBC News' Kari Huus and F. Brinley Bruton and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Dozens are reported dead in Syria where opposition forces are fighting to maintain control of Syria's commercial capital and biggest city. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
News Analysis
NORTHERN SYRIA – The rebels call this Free Syria.
I am writing from a village that was occupied by Syrian soldiers four hours ago – the tracks of retreating tanks are freshly pressed into the pavement.
Grape vines hang in the small garden of the two-room stone house I’m in. There’s no electricity, but there is fresh water from rural wells. Bullet holes – some as small as grapes, others big as oranges – pierce the house’s walls.
Still, the people in this village are celebrating.
“Free Syrian army! God protect them!” they shout, index and middle fingers splayed into a “v” for victory.
The defense minister, his deputy and a vice president were all killed in the blast but it is unclear if Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was nearby. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
The returning families sift through the debris of their homes. The villagers find that many houses were burned by Syrian troops. The Syrian army appears to have carried out a deliberate scorched-earth campaign here.
The troops burned every home with a son, son-in-law or even cousin among the rebels, residents tell us. There can be little doubt that this is government policy (and what appears to be a war crime) because the same thing has happening in every village we’ve visited.
A man who returned to this village had a leg cut off under torture by Syrian forces. He’s 74 years old.
Another man who escaped Damascus five days ago says the fighting in the capital is now so bad that President Bashar Assad isn’t sending ground forces into rebel neighborhoods anymore and is only shelling them from afar. He doesn’t want to send foot patrols out of fear the troops will defect, people say.
The regime is on the ropes.
Total war: Syria sends armored column to Aleppo
The Assad goverment is concentrating its firepower on big cities like Damascus and Aleppo. Government troops left this village last night to join the attack on Aleppo. But the rebels, and Syria, need urgent help to prevent huge losses of life, both among fighters and civilians – Sunni, Allawite and Christian.
Many myths circulate in Washington and in the media about the Syrian opposition and the fighting in this country. From what I’ve seen traveling with the rebels, many of the commonly accepted ‘truths’ seem to be incorrect. After all, the first casualty of war is the truth.
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
Myth: The rebels are getting weapons and money from abroad and will soon finish off Bashar’s army on their own.
View from the ground: The rebels are fighting with almost nothing. I was with a rebel commander yesterday who has 48 men. Only 15 of his fighters have any weapons. He has almost no ammunition. He has one anti-aircraft gun, but not a single bullet for it.
The rebels don’t have enough gasoline to put in their vehicles. The gas they can find costs the equivalent of $8 a gallon. Food is plentiful, and so is water. But weapons and ammunition are in desperately short supply. Another unit I have seen is armed with homemade bombs that they try to fire from cardboard tubes.
The rebels are now starting to get Motorola radios. They are new and coming from Turkey. Washington has recently said it will help private non-lethal aid, including communications equipment. But the radios are of little use. Communications have never been the rebels’ main problem. In fact, the rebels coordinate and communicate effectively already. They use both the new Motorola radios and local Syrian cellphones. The cellphones can be monitored by Syrian intelligence, but the rebels’ strategy has been to overwhelm the Syrian government’s ability to listen.
Syrian villagers are hoping to their normal lives after what looks like Syrian government policy to collectively punish the rebels and their families by making them homeless. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Because the rebels – commanders and foot soldiers – all use cellphones and landlines, there are tens or thousands of conversations going on at any one time. The rebels speak vaguely and in primitive codes. It seems unlikely that Syrian forces are able to keep track of such a high volume of calls and effectively act on them. The rebels do appreciate the radios and use them, but they are a secondary priority.
Syria: What you need to know about the crisis from the CFR.org
What the rebels say they truly need are arms that can pierce Syrian armored vehicles. They need 12.7 anti-aircraft ammunition. They say they need 14.5 ‘doshka’ rounds. They need armor penetrating RPGS. They need 60mm and 120mm mortars. They need 7.62 rounds. These are what commanders ask for whenever I meet them. These are what every rebel wants.
Myth: The rebels are disorganized, have no leaders and are rife with infighting.
View from the ground: The rebels have no central leadership. They do not have a single commander. The rebels generally do not recognize the leaders of the Syrian opposition in exile in Turkey and Europe. But on the ground here in Syria the rebels are well organized. Their structure is more organic than hierarchical, less like a pyramid than a bungle of grapes, with individual cells joined together by a common cause. The rebel cells coordinate well with each other. Since weapons are in such short supply, all rebel military operations are collective efforts. In the town where I am, there are no fewer than five different rebel commands. They respect each other. They trade weapons and fighters. Some units are more Islamic in their politics, others are secular. The differences in politics do not prevent their coordination.
Photo Blog: Who are the Syrian rebels?
Myth: The rebels are al-Qaida or at least infiltrated by al-Qaida.
View from the ground: We have not seen evidence of a large al-Qaida presence. This is not an al-Qaida fight. In the last 24 hours we have met three rebel commanders. One was an air-conditioner repairman before the war. Another was a tomato and zucchini farmer. The third grew grain and lentils. One of the commanders considers himself an Islamist. The other two are more secular.
Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.
In total, the three commanders control about 1,500 men. Not one of the commanders supports al-Qaida, nor have any of the dozens rebels have we have met. There were reports that al-Qaida fighters had recently taken over the Baab al-Howa border crossing between Syria and Turkey. There was a video that showed rebels carrying a suspicious-looking all black flag, similar to ones favored by al-Qaida. We spoke with the rebel leader who carried the flag. He said he has nothing to do with al-Qaida and the flag was an Islamic one.
Syrian forces launch air attacks on largest city
Al-Qaida’s presence may grow, however, without a quick end to this conflict. The rebels need help. Their men are dying. Their homes are being burned. As time goes on, the temptation to welcome help – even if offered from al-Qaida –will grow. We have heard reports of foreign fighters coming to Syrian from Algeria and Saudi Arabia. We have heard reports that al-Qaida is offering some rebel commanders money. The longer this drags on, the more dangerous it will get.
Myth: The rebels want a NATO intervention
View from the ground: The rebels do not want American or European soldiers in Syria. Many rebels do not specifically even want a no-fly-zone, although I suspect many would welcome it. Mostly, they just want access to weapons.
Myth: After Assad is toppled there will be ethnic cleansing of Allawite (a secretive Shiite sect) civilians by the Sunni majority.
View from the ground: Syrians don’t want ethnic violence, but some may happen. It’s already happening. There have already been ethnically motivated massacres. The longer the war continues the worse this will become. Syria is not, however, Iraq.
There are no U.S. troops in Syria trying to organize elections. The U.S. presence and American missteps made ethnic violence in Iraq far worse than it would have been otherwise after Saddam Saddam Hussein's fall. The Syrians are better suited to sort out their internal divisions than anyone else.
A first? Helicopter gunships bombard Syrian capital
Allawites comprise about 10 percent of Syria’s 23 million people. They are the government’s favored sect. The Assad family is Allawite. If Assad falls, there may be vendetta killings of some Allawites. More than 17,000 Syrians have already been killed, which means 17,000 angry families. It will be difficult to contain all that rage. The longer the conflict continues, however, the more vengeance there will be. If there are more large-scale massacres – if Aleppo is reduced to a smoldering pile like Homs – the aftermath could be much worse.
The latest massacre began with a military bombardment of the village of Tremsi. After the heavy artillery and shelling, villagers said pro-government militia men swept in to kill at close range. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
But Syrians I have spoken to say they do not want a civil war. They do not want to drive Allawites from the country. Mostly, they want justice. The rebels know exactly who they are looking for. They have the names of Syrian government officers and militiamen responsible for massacres and torture. They want to bring them to justice, but not to perpetrate more atrocities. Syria needs help organizing a justice system to deal with the popular demands for retribution after the regime collapses.
The conflict in Syria seems to be in its final stages, but how long this stage will last depends largely on what happens in the coming days and weeks and the amount of support the rebels receive.
All indications are that Assad is going to fall. But how many more Syrians need to go with him?
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NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel walks through crowded Tahrir Square as demonstrators celebrate the victory of Egypt's first Muslim Brotherhood President.
CAIRO, Egypt – The Muslim Brotherhood has won the presidency. Will it bring a new Egypt? I can’t see how it won’t.
This morning a Christian woman I’ve known casually for years came up to me and asked if I could help her seek political asylum in the United States. Many Christians, women and moderate Muslims worry about the Muslim Brotherhood’s promise to bring Islamic Law. It’s not a good sign if the day after elections that people are asking how they can escape the country.
Last night in Tahrir Square Muslim Brotherhood members were celebrating their victory, calling it not a win for democracy, but divine intervention. They acknowledged that a free vote brought them to power, but saw God’s hand filling the ballot boxes.
In an analysis piece last week I asked, if democracy brings a non-democratic party, is that a win for democracy? Today some Egyptians don’t think so and have considerable buyers’ remorse, feeling the cliché, "be careful of what you wish for."
Big changes are in store for Egypt now that Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, once banned in Egypt, has won Egypt's first democratic presidential election. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Egyptians face a new Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood
In Tahrir Square street vendors now sell badges with Mohammed Morsi's photograph. Some Egyptians wear them to show support and solidarity, like wearing a U.S. presidential campaign pin. I bought one. It’s sitting on my desk now in Cairo. The laminated badge also has the Muslim Brotherhood’s logo of two crossed swords with a Quran between the blades. Beneath the swords is a single phrase, “And Prepare.”
It’s a quote from the Quran which in the light of the Brotherhood’s win deserves elaboration.
“And prepare” comes from the Quran’s Chapter 8 on "the spoils of war." The full quote is:
“And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged.”
“And Prepare” means to prepare for battle against God’s enemies.
When I think about the Muslim Brotherhood, I remember a hot, sticky evening in 1998 when I was working as a local journalist in Cairo. I was in the lawyers' syndicate building in central Cairo.
The syndicate was, and still is, dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. I had many contacts there and was a frequent visitor. That evening, I sat drinking strong coffee with a group of about a half dozen members of the Brotherhood. We spoke for hours.
I remember the conversation vividly because I have had so many just like it. The Brotherhood members mostly talked about Israel. They were obsessed with the Mossad, Israel’s powerful spy agency. According to them, the Mossad ran everything in the Middle East.
They also said America was at war with Islam. They told me Osama bin Laden was an American creation. They talked about how Jews ran the world, and how the only group as powerful as the Mossad was the "Jewish Lobby" in Washington. Jews and Israel, they said, used America’s muscle to dominate the Arab world through proxy dictators like Mubarak. They told me how Israel was deliberately exporting chemicals that spread AIDS and cancer among Egyptians.
Eric Trager, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, studies Egyptian opposition groups. He spoke with NBC News' Charlene Gubash about what the Muslim Brotherhood victory means for the U.S. and the region.
Egypt's Morsi: Bloodshed will not be in vain
They told me the Americans people, whom they considered decent and God fearing, were ignorant of the games played on them by Jews and their lobby. One Jewish-Israeli-American conspiracy rolled into the next.
I remember thinking all those 15 years ago as I sipped coffee and looked around at the syndicate, I hope these guys don't come to power. But even then I suspected one day it would happen – there were simply too many Egyptians who thought just like the people drinking coffee in the syndicate.
They packed the universities and professional unions. They wrote the little paperback books sold on blankets on Cairo sidewalks linking Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, the Bush family, the Jewish Lobby, Freemasons and of course the Mossad in elaborate plots against Egypt and Muslims.
There are clearly many Egyptian free-thinkers and intellectuals -- lots of wonderful Egyptian artists and architects and scientists. But the conversation I was having in the syndicate was much more common.
Morsi now talks about moderation. Western diplomats hope he means it and that the Brotherhood will have to become more pragmatic now that it will have to actually run a government. That could very well happen, but pragmatism seems unlikely to erase a mentality that is deeply ingrained and which will, especially in time of crisis, expose itself sooner or later.
NBC News: Egypt's ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak slips into coma
Morsi still has to battle with the military for power. The military holds key authorities which it took through steps that were probably illegal. The army’s position looks weaker now that the Brotherhood has won an election that was widely considered free and fair.
Egypt took a big turn last night. I hope now the Brotherhood can move beyond a mentality of conspiracies and turn this country into a success. If it can’t, the Middle East faces a tough road ahead.
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EPA/MOHAMED MESSARA
Supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi celebrate in Cairo's Tahrir Square after the Brotherhood claimed victory in the presidential election on Monday.
Analysis
CAIRO, Egypt – It could be the end of Egypt as we know it. Early, still unofficial, but credible results, show that the Muslim Brotherhood has won Egypt’s presidency.
However the military has made a series of decrees that threaten to usurp the new president’s power – setting the stage for a major showdown between the remnants of the old regime who make up the ruling military council and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Still, the biggest country in the Arab world is poised to start its first experiment in Islamic democracy.
Many Egyptians are celebrating – after all, a majority of voters elected the Muslim Brotherhood’s firebrand candidate Mohammed Morsi.
Other Egyptians are calling this a “black day” that will set back Egypt a hundred years.
Oh, that’s an exaggeration some Egyptians and Middle East analysts argue.
The Brotherhood will have to be answerable to future voters, they say.
Democracy will keep the group in check, they say.
The Brotherhood will be forced to adopt a center of the road policy, they say.
The Brotherhood is really quite moderate, they say.
Egypt will end up like Turkey, with an Islamist government, but secular laws, they say.
If Egyptians don’t like the Brotherhood, protesters can just go back to Cairo’s Tahrir Square and get rid of it, they say.
I wouldn’t count on it.
A power struggle is underway between the Egyptian military and the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which says its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, won the country's first free presidential election. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Democracy if undemocratic group comes to power?
The Muslim Brotherhood is a fundamentalist group. It is anti-American at its core, despite recently sending delegations to the United States to win friends. The Brotherhood is vehemently anti-Israel. The group is also largely anti-democratic. The Brotherhood was happy to use elections to gain power, but it believes wholeheartedly in Islamic law, the immutable rulings from God that are not subject to ballot boxes or opinion polls.
Military guards Egypt power as Islamists claim victory
If democracy brings an undemocratic group to power, is that a victory for democracy?
The Brotherhood has a few basic tenets which will likely be at the core of future policy, basic truths that shape its worldview.
They include:
On the positive side, the Brotherhood is basically a working man’s group that supports Egypt’s legions of poor, often ignored by former President Hosni Mubarak. If Mubarak's former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik had won the election, Egypt would very likely have turned violent, with an unpredictable outcome.
I also wouldn’t count on Egypt ending up like Turkey. In Istanbul, women often dress provocatively and there are bars on nearly every corner. The country is economically booming. The Muslim Brotherhood is much more hard-line than Turkish Islamists.
AP Photo/Ahmed Gomaa
Mohammed Morsi and his supporters celebrate his apparent victory in the Egyptian presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Cairo, Egypt on Monday.
Brotherhood vs. military showdown
The Egyptian military is terrified of the Brotherhood. Morsi has repeatedly said he will purge all parts of Egyptian society of “remnants” of the former regime.
The military worries that once Morsi is sworn in, he will try to imprison or at least sideline senior military officers. Sunday night, as votes were being counted showing Morsi in the lead, the military launched a controversial preemptive strike.
In a decree that is very likely illegal, the military declared that the new president does not have the authority to declare war or remove military officers. The military declared its autonomy and immunity in a blatant attempt to castrate the new president before he takes office.
The power struggle between Morsi and the military that is now under way will likely take months to sort out. Morsi and the military will battle over the parliament, the constitution and Sunday night’s decree.
While it’s too early to know who will win this showdown, it seems unlikely that the military can hang on to its self-appointed authorities – as every Egyptian knows the kinds of powers a president should and should not have.
Ahmed Youssef / EPA
Egypt's popular uprising over 18 days of popular protest culminated in the downfall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SEE A FULL SLIDESHOW
A new dawn
It’s a new dawn for Egypt. If the military truly feels threatened, it might stage a real coup, sending tanks into the streets, instead of what many Egyptians have called its attempted “soft coup,” through decrees and court decisions in recent weeks.
The Muslim Brotherhood talks about understanding and moderation. After declaring victory last night, Musri said he will be inclusive. Morsi wants to reassure Egyptians and Egypt’s allies that the country will remain stable. If pushed, however, the Muslim Brotherhood’s true colors will show.
Good luck, Egypt! Critical choices and potential major changes lie ahead.
Already Monday, Shafik’s campaign started contesting the early, unofficial results, as Egypt hangs in the balance.
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