Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi Calls for Holy War

Dominic Evans of Reuters is reporting this morning that rebels setting up to launch more rockets toward the Lebanese city of Baalbek were hit hard by Hezbollah. Russia blocked a UN Security Council statement of grave concern over the fighting in Qusayr because the UN had failed to speak out when the city was seized by rebels more than a year ago. Government forces seem to be in the mopping-up phase. Reuters is also reporting that Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV star "Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi called on Saturday for holy war against the Syrian government after fighters from Shi'ite Lebanese group Hezbollah intervened to help President Bashar al-Assad."

It is interesting when one reads the Western press coverage of the Syrian civil war it always refers to the spread of hostilities to adjoining nations as if it were a force of nature or an occult power and that if any blame was to be had it belongs to Assad for setting off the war by his violent crack down on Arab Spring protesters. But ownership of the regional, sectarian expansion of the war belongs firmly to the West's monarchical allies in the Gulf.