More strange things going on:

In Secular Syria, Top Muslim Cleric Picks Sides In Civil War
The Takeaway @ npr.org, March 12, 2013

This story was written by a Syrian citizen in Damascus who is not being further identified out of safety concerns.

In a surprising religious decree, Syria's government-appointed grand mufti has issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to fight on the side of President Bashar Assad's regime against the rebels who have been waging an uprising for two years.

In a televised statement Sunday, Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun said: "I urge the sons of Syria to join the army and fight for the unity of this great country."

He called on parents to push their children "toward this duty, and do not worry, for they will not be killed, only rewarded by God."

He said this was a duty for all Muslims.

The move was met with outrage by some clergymen in the Arab world, and by a barrage of sardonic humor on social media. One mufti, based in Saudi Arabia, condemned Hassoun for inciting violence and called him a "mufti of wickedness."

[....]

Hassoun is a member of the Sunni Muslim majority in Syria, though there are a number of religious minorities and he has a reputation for encouraging interfaith dialogue. Assad belongs to the Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Catching Syrians By Surprise

Hassoun's decree struck many Syrians as very strange because Assad's government has long dismissed the uprising as the work of jihadis. The regime has often claimed that extremists from abroad have been inciting violence within Syria. [....]

One elderly Damascene watching the newscast while eating dinner stopped in midbite.

"What? Is he reciting the Quran?" she said, her face visibly confused.
"It's like the Soviet Union suddenly invoked Jesus."

The Social Media Response

On social media, one user referred to Hassoun as "Shaytoun," a diminutive play on words to mean the devil. [....]

As one social media user commented: "LOOOOLLL. Bashar goes on jihad."

"OMG. Bashar declares jihad on jihadis. How stupid is this regime?" said another. [....]