Tha’ir Adimashqee, a reporter with the Syria-based citizen journalist agency Shaam News Network, interviewed civilians in East Ghouta towns hit by the August 21 chemical weapons attacks, asking them on whether they support a U.S. strike against the Assad regime.
The interviews, conducted on September 5, are recorded in these two English-subtitled videos.
In the first video, two local men say that they are in favor of a U.S. attack that targets regime bases and decapitates the regime, and which does not harm the FSA or civilians. The men also express that they feel abandoned by the rest of the Arab world and Arab governments:
This second, longer, video starts with an interview with Free Syrian Army fighter. Asked to comment on the Congress debate over a possible U.S. strike on Syria, the insurgent says that what is needed is action, not words.
“In my opinion, the strike should hit the bases of the oppressor Bashar and its supporters the Devil’s Party [Hezbollah]”, he says, adding that if the U.S. hit Assad’s military capabilities the FSA would be able to finish off the regime.
Another man says: “I swear to God, if it’s a strike that will rid us of Bashar Al Assad’s regime, I wish they would hurry up”.
Many residents express skepticism over whether the U.S. will actually take any action at all.
A woman says: “I don’t trust what they are saying, that they will strike, because first of all Obama did not give a fixed opinion. He said it could be after a month or only with some kind of prior agreement, to delay or just talk — I don’t trust this speech 100 percent.”
Another man is even more direct: “It’s all a joke, man. There is no American strike or anything like that. Whoever Bashar hasn’t killed, America will kill them.”