Rableh and the rebellion

Over the past two weeks, the town of Rableh in Syria, home to over 12,000 people, most of them Christians, was being held under siege by FSA insurgents. They would not allow in either food or medical supplies, so those inside were subsisting on bread and water, and could not treat their wounded and dying. Anyone daring to leave the town would be shot at by insurgent snipers, as would anyone attempting to bring food or water into the town. Only earlier today were the Syrian regulars able to chase the insurgents from Rableh, and allow for the infrastructure of the town to be repaired.

Progressive Catholic and evangelical voices had been calling for some international attention to the situation in Rableh. However, I could find no secular sources outside Russia Today, The Voice of Russia and the Canadian National Post which would even touch the subject. It is not one which fits in with the preordained Western media narrative of the hip, peaceful demonstrators being mown down senselessly by the bloodthirsty, iron-fisted Assad regime. But this incident, and the lack of coverage, is indicative that a good deal more is going on in Syria than we are being allowed to see. If we truly want to aid the causes of peace and human rights in Syria today, we need to look far more carefully before we leap toward actions we may have good cause to regret.