Calls for Western intervention in Syria are getting louder.

Last week rumours that dictator Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons against the opposition was being used as a justification for a military intervention.

Now the accusation has been thrown at the rebels.

Western powers want to retain influence in the region and help usher in a post Assad regime that will cooperate with them.

But interference from the West will not stop the suffering of ordinary Syrians resisting Assad’s dictatorship.

The Syrian revolution is portrayed as degenerating into anarchy and sectarianism at the mercy of outside powers. But as Simon Assaf reveals in this series of interviews, revolutionaries are taking part in committees determined to take control of their own lives in the midst of the fighting

Syrians jealously guard the independence of their movement, and the local councils and revolutionary committees that emerged out of the popular uprising.

I first heard about the National Unity Brigades (Kata'eb Al-Wahda Al-Wataniye in Arabic) from a YouTube video announcing the formation of one of their units and their intention to take up arms against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. In the first line of the statement, the speaker declares, "Religion is for God, and the homeland is for all."

With the regime of Bashar Assad desperately trying to cling to power, the death toll has risen to 30,000 fighters since Syria's revolution began. Simon Assaf argues that the revolution remains popular, non-sectarian and led by Syrians themselves, despite the claims of some commentators on the right and left of the political spectrum.

Azaz in northern Syria is a town under the control of the opposition. Everything from the baking of bread to the welfare of thousands of refugees from Aleppo is run by revolutionary committees.

That’s why the dictator Bashar al-Assad bombed it. He attacked with air strikes, as the regime doesn’t have the forces on the ground to take back such cities—all they had was the airport.

A few years ago, in Iran, a university student told me that "Each time the US and the West threatens Iran with military attacks, the regime tightens its grip on various social/political elements of life. They use the "being under attack" argument and call for national unity and support for the regime. There are various political elements challenging the government in Iran and the government uses every excuse to disable these, including the sentiment of unity of the nation under attack"

The terrible massacre of civilians in the village of Houla near the restive city of Homs marks a watershed for the Syrian revolution.

Despite Bashar al-Assad’s regime blaming the atrocity on rebels and "Al Qaida terrorists" it is clear that responsibility for the carnage lay at the feet of his security forces and his sectarian Shabiha militia.