Huda Zein, 6 July 2016 en.qantara.de
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The tyranny of Assad will always give rise to extremist violence, whether it is called "Islamic State" or known by another name. Western societies are increasingly equating the terror of the Assad regime with that of "Islamic State", even going so far as to describe Assad as the evidently lesser evil. This despite the fact that Assad has killed a quarter of a million Syrians with barrel bombs and chemical weapons alone, while IS has between 10,000 and 20,000 people on its conscience (exact figures are not known). In addition, the deployment of Assad's air force and the besieging of cities by government troops have driven several million Syrians from their homes. It is terrifying how the deeds of the man who is currently the world's most brutal mass murderer are being relativised and how the focus is increasingly on the crimes of "Islamic State".

— Huda Zein

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The tyranny of Assad will always give rise to extremist violence, whether it is called "Islamic State" or known by another name. Western societies are increasingly equating the terror of the Assad regime with that of "Islamic State", even going so far as to describe Assad as the evidently lesser evil. This despite the fact that Assad has killed a quarter of a million Syrians with barrel bombs and chemical weapons alone, while IS has between 10,000 and 20,000 people on its conscience (exact figures are not known). In addition, the deployment of Assad's air force and the besieging of cities by government troops have driven several million Syrians from their homes. It is terrifying how the deeds of the man who is currently the world's most brutal mass murderer are being relativised and how the focus is increasingly on the crimes of "Islamic State"." in the context of "Huda Zein, 6 July 2016 en.qantara.de" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Bashar al-Assad" (Quotes about Bashar al-Assad, Academicians and scientists) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Bashar al-Assad

About Bashar al-Assad

Bashar al-Assad (born 11 September, 1965) is a Syrian politician who was the country's president from 2000 to 2024. He is the son of Hafez al-Assad, who was the president of Syria from 1971 to 2000.