“The Uprising and the New Syria: Islamists Rise in Raqqa while Damascene Christians Dodge Fire” By Matthew Barber
Posted by Matthew Barber on Sunday, March 10th, 2013
The Uprising and the New Syria: Islamists Rise in Raqqa while Damascene Christians Dodge Fire
By Matthew Barber, for Syria Comment
March 11, 2013
Readers of Syria Comment were less than thrilled by the posting of the video of the capture of Raqqa by Jabhat al-Wahdet al-Tahrir al-Islamiyya. Some felt that the forenamed Islamists deserved greater criticism, and that the quip that “the Ba’athists look unhappy” was trite.
Syria Comment is a blog that attempts to maintain pace with rapidly developing current events; it should be obvious that it’s not always possible to provide an op-ed with each significant incident as it breaks. But in addition to this, a sentiment of frustration seems to be surfacing due to the perception that the blog’s bias is gradually trending toward the mainstream media’s simplistic regime-vilification and opposition-advocacy, the myopic narrative of “good guys and bad guys.”
In this article, I will try to complicate the “good guys versus bad guys” narrative.
According to most sources, only one military site in the entire muhafiza (governorate) of Raqqa remains under regime control. This means that the first muhafiza in Syria to be effectively “liberated” has been achieved by Islamist resistance. That only passing mention was made in the last post about the fact that other Islamists have in the same week kidnapped UN personnel in the Golan has contributed to the perception that Syria Comment is somehow becoming soft on the opposition and unconcerned with the issue of Islamism in the conflict. The capture of Raqqa is much more than the “changing of the guard;” it represents a change in the kind of power exercised. It is a visible shift to Islamism, something that many Syrians as well as outsiders linked to Syria find troubling.
These events are significant, and do deserve greater attention. Raqqa, the first muhafiza to be (nearly) independent of the Syrian regime, is now controlled by Islamists—though with or without the approval of its inhabitants? Many questions remain unanswered about this incident. If the rumor is true that tribal authorities were ready for a change and facilitated the smooth nature of this takeover, one can’t help but wonder why local tribal leaders supported something like “Jabhat al-Wahdet al-Tahrir al-Islamiyya” as the new authority of their city, and install this “emir.” (“Emir” is a title of authority preferred by certain groups who believe in implementing an “Islamic state.”)
This narrative is suspicious. The first striking oddity is the falling statue after take-over. It seemed quite normal at first—after all, we’ve seen countless such videos. But that was the funny part: we saw them during the opening months of the uprising. When have we seen them recently? In most cities that the rebels take over, the statues of regime figures tend to have disappear far in advance of the final takeover. Opposition activity precedes the takeover, when symbols of the regime are usually the first target and destroyed. How does a city where a statue of Hafez al-Assad has remained standing for two years suddenly fall without a fight? Furthermore, why does a tribal, predominantly Sunni city still have a standing statue of Hafez after two years?
To those who know the city, al-Raqqa is an unusual. In Syria it is considered a social space characterized by open-mindedness. Syria’s most important folklore dance troop comes from Raqqa, and men and women dance together in the city’s dance festival. It is a city that produces many cultivated intellectuals, sports champions, and artists. Something is different about al-Raqqa: its muhafiza was one of the few that has remained calm during the last two years (on par with Sweida—yet it is Sunni). The tribal configuration of Raqqa have long been regime supporters. According to local lore, the particular relationship between the Sunni tribes of Raqqa and the regime can be explained by virtue of the held tradition that these tribes were Shi’i in origin. I don’t have the part of the story that explains how tribes originally Shi’i became Sunni, but the belief is that when the Alawi came to power, the Raqqan tribes “remembered their roots,” and a “natural” affinity has existed ever since. Whether or not this traditional knowledge can provide a satisfactory understanding for the close ties with the regime, the question remains: Why would tribes with a long history of being in the regime’s confidence now suddenly abandon it, especially considering that the retaliatory air strikes would be anticipated?
If my Raqqan contact (a professional living in the city who belongs to one of the tribal bodies itself) is correct, they haven’t. Evidently, the tribes have NOT altered their position of support for the regime. Local citizens were taken by surprise and shocked by the abrupt takeover of the city. In other words, if this is true, then the Islamist rebels are a foreign, uninvited presence whose agenda runs contrary to the will of the residents. Furthermore, the city and tribes are apparently not capable of doing anything about it.
No one seems to know anything about the mysterious “emir” heading this Islamist force. In the conquest video, did he really have trouble asserting that he was with the FSA and therefore switched to “Jabhat,” or were “FSA” the first words spontaneously out of his mouth, before coming back to the title of his Islamist group? Upon further viewing, it almost seems that FSA is what comes most naturally to him, and it takes effort to pronounce the Islamist affiliation. It’s hard to read and seems a bit suspicious. Ultimately, he distances himself from the FSA and identifies with Islam.
Slightly more can be gleaned from Jabhat al-Wahdet al-Tahrir al-Islamiyya’s debut video, which can be seen here:
In it they state that they are comprised of a number of small groups that have banded together to form the larger body of “Jabhat al-Wahdet al-Tahrir al-Islamiyya.” They state that their agenda is to attack the regime’s forces, protect public places, and support the Free Syrian Army. They also announce that they are establishing shari’a courts to mete out justice to those who err. They also make the vague statement: “we are going to judge others before they judge us.”
The “emir” doesn’t seem readily visible in this video. The man seated to the right of the table, behind the row of crouched men, seems to resemble the mustached fighter seated with the row of men to the right of the couch with the emir and his two conquered officials in the post-takeover video.
Some have wondered if the “emir” is not Syrian. This is unlikely, based on the accent. There are many Syrian “ethnicities” spread throughout Syria, and it is hard to place origin by mere appearance. He certainly does seem quite different from everyone else in the room, and it gives him the appearance of being “foreign,” at least to the rest of the bunch. He also doesn’t seem particularly charismatic, and one wonders how he was chosen to lead this front as “emir.” He and two other fighters with him (one by the door, one on the couch) have beards and mustaches, but not all the men in the room have beards. It’s not possible to say which of the men in the room were with the Jabhat group, and which were with the Muhafiz. The man introducing the clip seems eager to please.
To the left of the “emir” is Suleiman Suleiman, the Head of the Ba’ath Party in Raqqa, claimed to be an Alawi. On the right is the Muhafiz of Raqqa, Hasan Jalali (Abu Wa’el). According to sources claiming to have known his history, he was a mulaazim in the army (lieutenant), later became the Mudiir Naahiya al-Nabak (Director of the District of Nabak), later a qiad ash-shurta (police chief), then the Mu’awin Wazir al-Dakhaliya (Assistant to the Minister of the Interior), before finally becoming the Muhafiz (Governor) of al-Raqqa. While Mudiir of the Naahiya of Nabak, he lived in Deir Atiyah, and according to local residents, he took a lot of money from people in the area. Regime personnel have always had their strategies to extract bribes from the citizenry, and he had his. Most people depend on motorcycles rather than cars in those communities, and these generally lack license plates. Supposedly he used this as a pretense to confiscate motorbikes, requiring the owner to pay rishwe before being able to take back the vehicle. Of course, stories abound among people excited to see the capture of an enemy about his former depravity, and none of this is confirmed.
Still to be answered is how many men Jabhat al-Wahde has on the ground, and how they were physically able to pull off the rapid takeover. Also unclear is the exact extent of regime presence still in the muhafiza; the one regime base left should have around 3,000 men since it is classified as a liwa (brigade), but there may be less due to recent needs to deploy troops elsewhere. Additionally a military airport is still under regime control; unknown are the extent of its fortifications.
Amidst all the questions, one thing is certain: The Ba’athists do look unhappy.
Two Years Ago
These events represent great change in Syria. A faction of the readership is saddened by the movement in this direction, and also feels that Syria Comment is not confronting this reality openly enough. To consider the orientation of Syria Comment toward these events, let’s return for a moment to the beginning of the conflict.
While inside Syria at the beginning of the uprising, I wrote an article for Syria Comment called “Syria in Fragments: Divided Minds, Divided Lives,” detailing new phenomena that I noticed, namely rifts of opinion that were forming between different groups of Syrians with whom I had daily contact. I was struck by how quickly this divide formed and how unable Syrians were to hear each other’s concerns across this divide. What became obvious was that sentiments regarding the regime and the uprising began to visibly polarize along confessional lines.
The reader’s responses to this article were telling. Despite substantial praise, some readers attacked the article for “being sectarian” or for “promoting sectarianism.” One comment judged it as participating in “…Western Orientalist and Neo-Orientalist tendencies to divide people along ethnic and religious lines. Such an approach is profoundly racist.” Another reader invoked Edward Said to suggest that I was following an Orientalist penchant for superimposing artificial sectarian categories onto other societies—to define identity, I suppose, as I saw fit: “I am either a person of a sect that fights with other sects or I am nobody.”
Rather than concealing such a strategic agenda, the article’s account of personal encounters was primarily edited material that I had extracted from my own journaling, as I tried to make sense of what was happening for myself in a Syria that was suddenly transforming remarkably from the one I had known. The motivation was to understand an undeniable pattern that became clearer each day with every individual, family, and community I visited: that though a number of Sunnis supported the regime, and a tiny sliver of Christians (and one or two Alawis) supported the opposition, most of those participating in the uprising were Sunni, and most members of religious minorities stood with the regime.
The idea of my critics seemed to be that I would create sectarianism just by talking about it—that I could conjure up rifts where previously there was unity. And though the article had the aim of creating empathy for the minority communities that opposed the uprising, it was often members of those communities who found it so offensive. For anyone infused with Ba’athist ideology, vocally commenting on Syria’s milieu of diversity was a breach of sacrosanct convention (unless to affirm peaceful coexistence). “There are no Alawis or Sunnis in Syria—just Muslims,” Alawi young people would tell me in the first months of the uprising. Lovely thought, but the Sunnis didn’t agree. Those participating in the uprising also challenged my premise, claiming that Syria would be “one” against the regime. They consistently mentioned the few Christians (and the one Alawi they’d heard rumor of) who were participating in the dissent, and maintained that it was a struggle for the freedom and rights of all Syrians. They disliked any suggestion that the uprising would be “Sunni” in character, and the article—and others of its kind—became targets of abuse from those on both sides of the conflict.
These reader’s reactions mirrored the very division inside Syria that the article was highlighting. As both sides tried to convince us that neither Syria nor the uprising were sectarian, several problems became apparent. While maintaining that there was no sectarianism in Syria, regime supporters ironically explained the uprising as an insidious sectarian current of hateful Salafism. Being simultaneously terrified of both Islamism and the regime, many members of minority communities were content to not understand the uprising, and to instead chorus Ba’thist clichés, trying to reinforce the groupthink of obedience, adopting the identity required of them, and waiting and hoping that the regime would quickly quell the “Islamist” disturbance that was not only fearsome for what it might have stood for, but which unsettled all by disturbing the balance of conformity and submission.
As the terrified child of an abusive parent or the fearful member of an authoritarian cult who says, “Let’s all just do as Father wants,” many minority Syrians were distressed and angered when others broke with conformity to rock the boat. Their unquestioning devotion to the national figure of adulation has earned them the moniker minhebakjiin (those who participate in the cult surrounding government-placed billboards with the slogan “we love you” printed next to the president’s picture). (Some, with the clarity of age, would slow down and acknowledge their years of abhorring the regime. Their reason for the drastic shift to support it was: “We are not ready for democracy. We don’t even know what it means. This is not the right way or moment to create change in Syria.”)
Since the unity of Syria was the religious mantra, any dissent had to be explained as a sectarian anomaly, a form of terrorism that must be propelled by religious extremism. This was a narrative of denial regarding the participation of ordinary Syrians in the uprising. To this day, the regime cannot simply acknowledge that there are Syrians unhappy with it. (This makes the regime’s recent overtures for dialogue perplexing; how can you dialogue with a party you don’t believe exists? What solution can you seek when you won’t admit that much of the population you ruled is fighting you?)
On the other side, Sunni activists and rebels responded to concerns that a Syria without Bashar would resemble an Iraq without Saddam by singing such platitudes as: “Syria is not Iraq; Syrian culture is different from Iraqi culture; Syria is used to everyone living together in peace; the Christians are the original Syrians, no one will attack them or their churches.”
Both sides of this argument have been proven wrong: those who maintained that Syria was not a sectarian place have had to admit that it is, often by observing rebel attacks on the civilians of their own communities; and those with the opposition who assured us that the uprising would not inflict harm on minority communities have had a unpleasant wake-up call as to the character of a good segment of the rebel fighting force. Two years later, the verbal violence among readers of this blog runs parallel to the killing on the ground in Syria. The frequent use of “rat” to describe one’s perceived opponent is reminiscent of the Hutu use of “cockroach” to describe Tutsis prior to the genocide. Let’s just say the comments section of Syria Comment isn’t a place I’d want my (imaginary) children to spend time.
The Early Warnings of Sectarianism
In the initial days of the Syrian uprising, during the adrenaline of the (at that point still inspiring) “Arab Spring,” many were searching (from the comfort of their own homes) for their next rush, and Syria seemed to hold a lot of promise. Amidst the stampede of appeals for “intervention,” Dr. Landis belonged to a minority of voices urging caution regarding the danger of a “sectarian conflict.” Though it was an unpopular position, Syria Comment remained one of the few entities opposing intervention (back when we wondered if intervention might truly be on the table), not out of any love for a corrupt, selfish, tyrannical regime, but out of a concern that without the proper kind of transition, the future could be worse.
The original position of those in this camp was to point-out the obvious faults of the rebels and by demonstrating that they also had a dangerous capacity to do harm, to advocate leaving the regime alone, while still recognizing its abuses and not defending its actions. The fear was that the security vacuum in removing Assad would replay the events that ensued when Saddam was deposed, and the statements of Iraqis longing for the days when he provided security were a constant echo.
Trying to provide a critical understanding of the conflict has often not engendered appreciation. Since the beginning, Syria Comment has been attacked by readers on both sides of this civil war, and accusations of “pro-Alawi supremacy” and “pro-intolerant Islamists” can be found together in response to the same post. The dilemma was predicting which of the two contenders would be the lesser evil in the long run, and it was felt that security in the now would be better than uncontrolled sectarian chaos. Looking back at the tremendous loss of life, many would maintain that this was the right position, but that the regime’s violence has surpassed even our worst expectations helps to explain why the discussion of Islamism’s problematic character has lately become muted.
Even the staunchest critic of the opposition, who holds that rising Islamism will pose the gravest threat to the long term health of the country, is so dismayed by the tremendous loss of life in the short-term as regime brutality pounds countless towns into gravel, that he or she now sits counting the days until the regime falls. Over time, it has become more difficult to follow this line of criticizing the opposition and holding that the regime should be left in power, due to the extreme proportions of violence it uses. After two years, maintaining that “the alternative could be worse” began to frustrate the public, since: “what could be worse than pulverized towns?”
And yet, all the predictions of sectarian hatred are coming to fruition: the Islamist presence is rising (in Raqqa’s case apparently against the popular will) and in many places it is demonstrating incredible intolerance for non-Sunnis. While the Islamist role in the immediacy of the conflict might not be grinding towns into rubble, when war-time ends, will it be better than the severe rule of militant nationalism?
The Sectarian Reality Now
A reader recently provided this video showing mujahidiin in Syria blowing up an Alawite Mazār (Arabic مزار) which is a Saint’s tomb, mausoleum or shrine. The Alawites traditionally do not build mosques, but visit saint’s shrines or “mazārs.” Watching it is almost more painful than the many videos of wounded people, because more than a physical attack on the body of a political rival, it represents a spiritual attack on the soul of what others consider most sacred.
Here is another video, showing Syrian rebels forcing a Shi’ite man to destroy a Shi’ite mosque—his own mosque: http://youtu.be/aX8KUUKSWgc
The Christian District of Damascus
The Christian districts of Damascus now come under daily fire from Syrian rebels. Mortars are fired from Jobar, Qabun, and the area east of Zabladani. The targets are Qasaa’ and Bab Tuma. Within the past few weeks, multiple churches have been attakced. The Chaldean Orthodox church-building was hit by one such projectile, and another nearly-hit the Latin Catholic church. Also in February, two mortars were fired into the French hospital in Qasaa’. Christian-owned businesses in Qasaa’ and Christian homes around George Khuri park have all been hit by various projectiles. One homemade mortar damaged three houses in one shot, terrorizing the entire neighborhood. These attacks are not new; they’ve been occurring for some time. They are now increasing in frequency, however, and currently around two mortars per day are hitting Qassa’. This is in addition to bombings that have targeted Christian areas, such as the October 21st bombing in Bab Tuma that killed 20 people. In the provinces of Homs, Idlib, and Aleppo—regions lacking effective regime protection—numerous churches have already been destroyed.
Rebels have attacked Christian villages, with broad-daylight killings in streets. Monasteries and places of pilgrimage have been bombed and hit with rockets. Each day al-Jazeera airs images of rebels in Jobar pushing toward ‘Abbassiyiin Square, depicted with heroic sensationalism, as if to boost morale and drive them on. On the other side of that front, Christians tremble like peasants behind a crumbling castle wall, hoping that Syrian troops will manage to keep out the advance. Considering recent vigilante justice on the part of rebels in Yarmouk (hanging Palestinians accused of collusion with the regime and executing police at point-blank range), their fear seems warranted.
The Damascene Christians have formed some local militias to try to protect their areas, though they mostly do not carry weapons and are reluctant to display a public presence. They are trying to learn the lesson of the traditionally Druze suburb of Jeremana, where six local Druze patrolmen were attacked and killed. Jeremana was hit several times by car bombs, rockets, etc. When locals erected checkpoints, they effectively created visible targets, something that the Christians are now trying to avoid. The Christian ability to protect themselves is quite limited, however, especially in Qasaa’ which is most vulnerable, having no walls and being surrounded by streets on all sides. The places for launching the attacks are so obviously nearby that the opposition’s tired argument that “the regime is attacking its own supporters to keep them loyal through fear” is no longer convincing.
Many people are terrified of the rise of Islamist power in Syria, and with regular assaults on minority civilian communities, it should not be difficult to understand why they side with the regime, even though many of them have despised the regime their entire lives. When I recently brought up the regime violence in Idlib and Aleppo with one of my Christian friends in Qasaa’, pressing him about the fact that the majority of the FSA are ordinary Syrians from ordinary families, he said, “Look, I know that. But we’re worried about the minority of extremists. 2% of the FSA can kill all the Christians in Syria.”
The idea that sectarian tensions didn’t simmer from the beginning of the conflict—or even before—is absurd. A Christian friend climbed into a taxi in Jobar in the first few weeks of the uprising. The driver asked him what sect he belonged to. He replied, “I’m Syrian” (a typical Ba’thist response, favored by minorities who would prefer to be “Arab” or “Syrian” than feature their vulnerable label—but then that’s what the Ba’ath party is all about…). The driver replied, “Well, at least you’re not one of these Alawi who are oppressing us,” a typical attitude in the uprising’s moments of birth among—not all—but many. And while yes, in general the oft-touted statement that “all groups live together in peace in Syria” was true, anti-Christian sentiment is not new. Aleppine Armenians remember a time prior to Hafez al-Assad (and the brutal suppression of sectarianism so characteristic of Assad rule) when men in trucks with La ilah illa Allah painted on the sides terrorized Armenian neighborhoods with threats that they would kill the inhabitants, shouting the taunt “Ya Arman maskiin, tahat as-skiin!” (Poor Armenians, under the knife-blade!).
When still in Syria, I remember asking a friend who lived in Harasta why he hadn’t brought his car when he came to meet me for lunch in Damascus. “Well, you know I am from Tartus,” he explained. “I can’t drive my car anymore. If people in my neighborhood see my Tartus license-plates, they will think I am Alawi and attack me.” (He was Isma’ili, not Alawi, but opposition fighters tend not to view Shi’i sects with much nuance; all have become subsumed under the label of “Shi’ism,” the detested villain.) A young Alawi man on the outskirts of Damascus had his throat cut by men posing as soldiers while he was walking home in his neighborhood one night. Such acts of sectarian animosity characterized even the earliest days of the uprising, prior to the regime’s large-scale assaults on communities of rebellion. They have continued up to recent attacks, such as the combination car-bombing/mortar assault on the lower middle-class Alawi neighborhood of Jebel Mezze last November. These attacks are often poorly covered by the media; while 11 were reported dead in the Jebel Mezze attack, locals allege that the death toll was closer to 60 with around 100 injured.
The Trajectory of Opinion
Due to his ability to humanize the community holding power in Syria, Dr. Landis has been attacked for “maintaining a pro-regime position.” The irony is that while the mainstream media is perhaps finally catching up to the sectarian problem, and just starting to talk about Islamism and violence against minorities, this is coinciding with greater reader complaints that Syria Comment is now ignoring Islamism and focusing primarily on regime abuses.
The threat of sectarian violence and instability was high enough (for those who perceived it) to warrant maintaining a position against arming the opposition during the heavy assault on Homs in early 2012. At that time, when such an assault was still something new, those in favor of intervention would ask Dr. Landis with incredulity how he could still feel hesitant about supplying weapons or full-scale external intervention. In that period, thousands of Alawi, Christian, and neutral or pro-regime Sunni refugees fled the Hama and Homs areas for the Christian enclave of Al-Waadi. (Some were forcefully evicted by Syrian rebels; some friends in Homs reported that their neighbors, three elderly people living in the old city, were unable to travel due to their health. Rebels showed up, told them they needed their house for a military base, and expelled them onto the street in their pajamas, without allowing them to take any money or valuables from their home.)
While the rebels and regime battled in Homs, armed militants from outlying Sunni villages invaded a mixed Sunni-Christian area at the southern end of al-Waadi. These self-proclaimed holy warriors erected makeshift checkpoints and began stopping vehicles (as the mukhabaraat were doing in Homs) as part of an ethnic hunt; the targets were any Alawi families who might be passing by. The insurgents were unsuccessful in their quest for Alawi blood because government forces came to the area and restored order. Several Christians were killed in the streets before the government could contain the renegade gang, however, and fear incited a second surge of refugees (who had already fled Homs) from the southern part of al-Waadi northward and deeper into its mountainous territory.
Also during the Homs assault, Alawi civilians in the city became targets. I spoke in that period with one Alawi family whose home was in an Alawi area of Homs; in just a single day they counted 17 bombs launched into their neighborhood by rebels. This illustrated the uncomfortable paradox of Syria at that point: the forces of the regime cracked down violently on dissent, yet conversely they were the only source of protection and stability for most of the country. While the government was cracking down on Homs to crush resistance that threatened its sovereignty, it simultaneously intervened in areas like al-Waadi to maintain security. Countries spearheading the regime-change agenda, often as authoritarian as Syria’s dictatorship, called on Syria to cease its crackdown. (When Saudi Arabia voted to suspend Syria’s Arab League membership, it killed several of its own protestors at peaceful demonstrations in the same few-week period.) The regime knew that if it withdrew from Homs, the city would never again be under the authority of the Syrian state, and the country would fracture. Those on the outside again wondered which was the lesser evil: a desperate government willing to employ every measure against armed elements wanting to secede, or a vacuum of security in which sectarian violence could proliferate.
As the war has expanded however, the regime as a source of security has shrunk in proportion to it as a source of threat. It does still provide security to minority communities in Damascus and other areas where it has control, but it is also a source of danger from which most Syrians have no security.
Yesterday I spoke to a Sunni Syrian friend who recently found out that her fiancé (though not having participated in any demonstrations or resistance activity) was arrested by Syrian mukhabaraat while at his job teaching in a university. He was tortured to death in a detention center. Would the sectarian terrorism against minority civilians in the regime’s absence be worse than the current terrorism on the part of the regime against Syrians in oppositional territory? This is the enduring question, and will continue to be hotly debated. The answer depends on gaining an accurate sense of regime violence vs. violence of extremists within the opposition—something that we do not have and about which there is no consensus.
In light of recent events, the positions of Dr. Landis and others who warned of sectarianism and fragmentation have proved durable. The rise of Islamist power, as well as the plentiful evidence of increasing anti-Shi’i/anti-Alawi violence have demonstrated that their original predictions have come to pass. But even though this camp has rightfully maintained that forcibly deposing the regime would spell a sectarian bloodbath, many who belong to it secretly want to see Assad fall, because we know how corrupt and cruel his faction is, we’re tired of the torture and violence, and we long to see things resolve and begin to move on, toward some kind of new reality. The takeover of Raqqa seems to confirm that Islamism will be a big part, if not the definition, of that new reality. That many are so ready for a change can explain why Syria Comment has seemed to lately focus primarily on regime abuses (they are abundant) and to have neglected sectarian violence and critical discussion of the opposition, including the new power in Raqqa, which for many readers represents the heartbreaking loss of “their” Syria, a Syria where religion did not figure into the foreground and where tolerance was strictly enforced.
* Matthew Barber is a graduate student at the University of Chicago who was living in Syria during the first 6 months of the uprising and who has written for Syria Comment in the past.
Comments (452)
revenire said:
Matthew Barber the previous story – the romanticized one about Raqqa – was pretty bad but that is the bias of SC. Dr. Landis has a horse in the race in the sense he has feelings. He believes it is noble to stand against Assad and said so. SC, and Dr. Landis, didn’s say one word about the UN peacekeeper’s kidnappings or the multitude of other crimes his bearded, energetic and confident terrorists committed. I find that shocking and outrageous.
I find it funny that some accuse SC of having a “regime” bias. I wonder what they want? Jabhat al-Nusra ads? Fundraising?
March 10th, 2013, 9:26 pm
ghufran said:
Syrians will have to choose between going back to the Middle Ages or trying to change their government and staying in the 21st century. The answer to having a brutal and corrpt regime should not be the establishment of a syrian taliban government, those of you who are giving assurances that Syrians are too secular to accept an islamist state ignore the fact that any attempt to build a secular regime will probably fail as long as violence keeps flaring up, and as long as there is no credible military force to stand up to islamist terrorists, some suggested that the FSA will play that role, I am deeply skeptical.
Nusra thugs and their supporters do not want any form of dialogue or any attempt to stop the war, they only thrive where there is blood, do not get surprised if they accuse Syrians who want to end the blood shed “traitors”.
March 10th, 2013, 9:31 pm
Tara said:
99.9 % of those who were killed, tortured, burned alive, displaced, or raped were Sunnis and the author is concerned about the sectarianism of the Sunnis against the minorities. I am tired of this blindness to reality, not only by the author but also by the whole world who is afraid of arming the opposition lest something, God forbidden, happen to the minorities. Desecration of a mosque is quite alright but when it comes to Shiaa shrine, Alawi mazzar, or a Christian church, only then one’s humanity hurts?
Are people not equal? Dose the majority needs to be enslaved, subjugated, and slaughtered to maintain the supremacy of the minorities?
Can those who tolerate our suffering and the image of headless little children perhaps attend a morality class to learn the basics?
March 10th, 2013, 9:38 pm
Ghufran said:
Tara,
This 99,9% figure reminds me of election results under Assad, you know better, opposition sources claim that 30,000 regime loyalists were killed, do you have any source to support your 99% theory?
This is from Homs, SOHR has not said much about Bab Amr yet:
الزعران التي دخلت الى حي بابا عمرو قامت بارتكاب مجزره ب 5 اشخاص من اهالي الحي , حيث قامت بقتل كل من رائد قدور، فاطمة العسكر، ابو سامر رزوق، عبدو جمعة، ابو احمد مغربل , عرف منهم مدرب ناشئين نادي الوثبة الشهيد رائد قدور حيث قامو بقتله لانه قال عنهم بانهم / حرامية / و تهم موجه للضحايا بانهم عواينة النظام .
(the term زعران is according to the source, I think the death of Raed Qaddour is probably easier to verify)
March 10th, 2013, 9:57 pm
Ghufran said:
قائد قوات الدفاع الوطني في اللاذقية هلال الاسد ينفي في إتصال مع شام إف إم الأخبار التي بثتها قناة سكاي نيوز وبعض الفضائيات الأخرى عن إستهدافه على طريق الحفة – اللاذقية ويؤكد ان هذه الاخبار لا أساس لها
It is hard to do anything more stupid than appointing a thug as the head of local defense militias, this regime has an unlimited potential when it comes to hurting its own supporters.
March 10th, 2013, 10:08 pm
Tara said:
Ghufran
99.9% of those killed by the regime are Sunnis
How many Alawi, Christian, or Shiaa killed by the regime? Near zero?
Can you deny it?
March 10th, 2013, 10:24 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Americans training Syrian rebels in Jordan.
Akbar Palace
If this is true,I question the reason
1 why US is training them.
2 why we did not hear anything about what they achieved?
This rumors has been mentioned long time by now.I believe it when we see their actions
March 10th, 2013, 10:34 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The figure is closer to 90-95%, but Tara’s point stands.
The Alawite regime has effectively declared war on the Sunnis of Syria. The Christians are collateral damage.
Yes, a couple of Christian churches and what-not got burnt down. But that’s minor compared to the damage done to the Sunni population.
March 10th, 2013, 11:07 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Alawis and Christians are trying to ethnically cleanse the Sunnis.
They are prepared to kill three quarters of the country.
They will actually admit it out loud if you ask them.
They think it is a levelheaded thing to do.
‘Sir, why are you massacring people?’
-‘Because the Christians are uncomfortable with political change.’
March 10th, 2013, 11:08 pm
ghufran said:
Tara,
this is what you said in your first post:
“99.9 % of those who were killed, tortured, burned alive, displaced, or raped were Sunnis”
this is what you said in your second post:
“99.9% of those killed by the regime are Sunnis”
the word “regime” was missing from the first post.
to me, the lives of sunnis is not less or more precious than the lives of alawis and christians, victims of violence ,sunnis or not, have families and most of them did not have to die.
another point, 70-75% of Syria’s population are sunnis, almost all rebel fighters are sunni, and almost all of the areas that rose against the regime or hosted rebels were majority sunnis.
This war took a sectarian turn due to the actions of the regime and due to demographic factors, many sunnis were sick and tired of being dominated by a regime that relies heavily on minorities, especially alawis, but that does not justify shooting every regime supporter or every soldier employed by the regime.
at the end of the day, the two views,yours and mine, are not that far apart, I agree with the diagnosis,I disagree with the treatment and the mind set that justifies violence, because violence will not lead to freedom or democracy when almost all victims are Syrian, the biggest winners of violence are the thugs leaders, most of whom are not in the battle field and they are not the ones who are dying, all others are mostly victims.
March 10th, 2013, 11:15 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Militarily, the regime is losing ground, even in Homs.
The rebels have strategic mobility. They can strike anywhere they want and the Alawite regime simply doesn’t have the manpower to stop them.
The regime can bombard rebels. But it can’t hold territory.
March 10th, 2013, 11:15 pm
Visitor said:
Akbar Palace from previous thread:
<i"Visitor, if you don’t think the ME is ready for a western-style government where you can say anything or write anything without any consequences, that’s fine with me. It is YOUR country, not mine. Personally, I like complete freedom of speech, even if what I hear sometimes angers me."
Akbar, I believe the fathers of the US constitution would endorse what I said. I am certain that what they meant by freedom of speech at the time was not meant to abuse this right in a manner such as to insult people’s beliefs particularly the three great montheistic religions. What they created was an environment of tolerance not very much different from what the early Muslim civilization created before them. You cannot deny that even up till today the US practice of secularism is completely different than many Europeans, particularly France. If some want to conflate atheism with secularism, then that should be made clear enough in order to draw the line clearly as to what secularism is and what atheism is. Again, I repeat, secularism in the west began as a movement to erode the political power exercised by the church in the middle ages. It was not meant to stamp out religous beliefs from people’s lives and substitute those beliefs with atheism by using the tools of acquired political power to that end. It could be that certain religions suffer from inherent fissures which became apparent through scientific discoveries so as to create conflicts between its view of the natural order and world views that become prevalent as new discoveries dawn upon us, however, Muslims do not feel that the world view offered by their faith is in any way in conflict with any such new discoveries.
But I am happy to know that you belong in the believing crowd.
March 10th, 2013, 11:25 pm
Tara said:
Ghufran,
Rhetorics aside, You and Abu Ghassan the rare minorities I know that do not harbor hate to Sunnis. I have never had any doubt. Orthers on SC do harbor lots of hate. They deny it. They think they can fool the others but they don’t. it shows and is very clear. Sadly! Hate is very transparent and so is love. Hate begets hate and so is love. We also need a heart and mind revolution in this ME of ours.
March 10th, 2013, 11:37 pm
Juergen said:
March 10th, 2013, 11:39 pm
ann said:
Child killed, 9 injured by mortar attack in Damascus – 2013-03-11
• One child was killed and 9 others wounded when a bomb shell hit their school bus in Damascus
• Main refinery of Homs Province was hit on Saturday noon by three mortars launched by [rebels]
• Explosion rocked al-Rmeila neighborhood in al-Raqqa city, leaving at least seven civilians dead
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/11/c_124439627.htm
DAMASCUS, March 10 (Xinhua) — One child was killed and nine others wounded on Sunday when a bomb shell slammed their mini school bus in a restive suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, the state-run SANA news agency said.
The bus was struck at the Dahiet al-Assad area in the restive suburb of Harasta, SANA said, adding that many other mortars landed at the area.
Mortar attacks have become increasingly common in Damascus, as the intensity of clashes is on the rise between the government troops and the armed rebels. And clashes and violence have flared up in hotspots nationwide.
Earlier in the day, multiple mortar shells landed at Souk al- Hal in al-Zablatani area in Damascus, wounding five people and causing material damages in the area, SANA said.
Meanwhile, the electricity in the country’s northern city of Hasaka has been totally cut off due to the clashes that have rocked the adjacent city of al-Raqqa, which has been recently overrun by the armed rebels.
The long-standing conflict has started to have repercussions on the country’s infrastructure.
The government-run Tishrin newspaper reported Sunday that the main refinery of the central province of Homs was hit on Saturday noon by three mortars launched by rebels, adding that the terrorist attack triggered off a big fire.
It said that the fire was put off after 90 minutes, adding that the attack was the fourth over the past months.
Quoting Homs’ governor, Ahmad Monuir Mohammad, the newspaper said the mortars were likely Israeli-made.
In the meantime, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday that a big explosion rocked the al-Rmeila neighborhood in al-Raqqa city a day earlier, leaving at least seven civilians dead.
Posting a video of the blast’s aftermath, the Observatory said that the dead include women and children.
Also in al-Raqqa, clashes between al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and government troops flared at the 17th Regiment to the city’s north, the Observatory said, reporting casualties on both sides.
Clashes were also reported to have intensified in other areas like Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus countryside.
The Observatory said that 14 members of one family were found killed in the Mlaiha suburb of Damascus, adding that the killed include seven women and three children.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/11/c_124439627.htm
March 10th, 2013, 11:40 pm
Juergen said:
March 10th, 2013, 11:47 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
It seems that Assad thugs army was pulled partially from Homs and was sent to Reqqa,that gave an oppurtunity to the rebels to repel Assad troops and gain some ground in Homs.
Assad troops , now has less manpower,Hassoun and Bouti are now calling for Jihad against Musslems,any further gains by the rebels in Homs will ruin Assad plan to control Homs and add it to his Alawi state,that movement of troops from Homs was a military mistake
March 10th, 2013, 11:50 pm
Visitor said:
MajedKhaldoun @11,
I tend to believe the story about training those officers by the US. But you need to determine the real objective behind such training.
I believe it is related to the same concerns the US had all along about the chemical weapons. So, it is all meant to ensure Israel is safe and sound. The US was active in training Jordanians, Turks among others for the same purpose long ago. Now if you compare such concerns to Israeli security so early on since the revolution began to the non-ending grace periods granted to Assad time in and time out, you cannot help but burst into big laugh when anyone suggests that the US is really playing any positive role in the Syrian Revolution or providing any aid to it.
The best thing the US can do as far as Syria is concerned is to just shut up. The more they talk the more scandalous they look like in front of the whole world.
March 11th, 2013, 12:24 am
revenire said:
March 11th, 2013, 12:32 am
ghufran said:
عمان- القدس العربي- طارق الفايد: تحدث مصدر سوري مطلع عن تقدم واضح لقوات جبهة النصرة على محور الطريق الدولي الرابط بين عمان ودمشق.
وأبلغ المصدر (القدس العربي) بأن قوات تابعة لجبهة النصرة تشتبك مع اللواء (38) التابع لقوات النظام على الطريق الرابط بين دمشق – عمان مما أدى لإغلاق وتعطيل معبر نصيب الحدودي الرابط بين سوريا والأردن.
ولم تعلن السلطات الأردنية عن توترات حدودية لكن مصدر لـ(القدس العربي) أكد أن الطريق الرئيسي الرابط بين العاصمتين دمشق – عمان متوتر وشبه مغلق حاليا من قبل عناصر في جبهة النصرة وذلك بعد اشتباكات مع قوات النظام السوري للسيطرة على اللواء (38).
Jordan is part of a plan to force Assad to leave his office and convince troops loyal to him to abandon the regime, but no military plan is enough if it does not come on the back of a political horse.
violence is likely to worsen especially if Damascus is surrounded and Homs starts to burn again, the big question is, and has been, how will more than 80,000 soldiers in Damascus respond and how will civilians from different sects behave if they feel that Damascus is about to fall, even though it is not likely for the time being. Regime media is saying nothing but you can sense the anxiety in social and non government media, it is obvious that the rebels supported by the west will try to corner the regime and force an end to the war on their terms, but Nusra fighters are singing their own song and may not be onboard, people are making predictions but the truth is that this situation can easily get out of hand and is very unpredictable since Assad’s fall may not be enough to end the war. A year ago,removing Assad would have done a lot to end this bloody mess but I am not sure this is true today, Assad’s departure will help only if a plan exists on how to enforce a cease fire and stop militias from all sides from eating up whatever is left of the country, there is no such plan. Very difficult months are ahead for sure.
March 11th, 2013, 1:51 am
Hopeful said:
A year ago, I wrote this blog post to try to explain to my non-Syrian friends the complexity of the Syrian situation, and to voice my opinion on how Syria can get out of its mess:
http://onsyria.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/a-way-out-for-syria/
A year later, nothing has changed. A year, along with tens of thousands of lives, were lost. Millions have lost their homes.
The post includes a poll. Go ahead and vote. I am curious if people have changed their mind after a year.
March 11th, 2013, 1:52 am
apple_mini said:
I have to say commentators and posters here are not typical. They do not represent most of Syrians.
Most Syrians are trying so hard to survive this war. They no longer have luxury to articulate their emotions and write constantly for their homeland and future. Their mentalities are rather simple: they take their sides (or none) and hope the war can end asap.
We all know the outcome is decided on battle field. Not here among some hypocrites, hateful clowns and out of touch smug Syrian Expats.
Now you got the idea who they are.
March 11th, 2013, 2:25 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Seems like talking points have not yet arrived to spin the Batta Jihad (BJ) call. Still waiting for the cannibals (AKA retards) to spin this one.
First reaction from Yassin Al Haj Saleh
دعوة المفتي الأسدي حسون للجهاد اليوم ما لازم تخفي عنا أنو النظام “جهادي” و”تكفيري” البنية أصلا، وإن كان “دينه” مختلفا، الدين الأسدي: لا إله إلا بشار!
إخواننا الجهاديين لا يحملون بنية سياسية تختلف عن بنية النظام، وإن اختلف مقدسهم.
لكن محاولة النظام ركوب الجهاد الديني مؤشر على إفلاسه، وأنه فقد الثقة بدينه الخاص.
عند الأسديين، الإسلام مثل العلمانية، مجرد أدوات قد تفيد هذه الطغمة التي لا تعبد شيئا إلا ذاتها
يشار يحكي على معقل العلمانية والمفتى على الجهاد… كلو أدوات، مجرد أدوات.
March 11th, 2013, 3:23 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Mr. Counter Revolutionary Extraordinaire
My un-verified news from Homs stand. Your blather about السوقية رغدة debunked by her own family. Time for you to take off the mask and join your batta jihadis friends.
March 11th, 2013, 3:30 am
annie said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/mar/11/syria-bodies-river-aleppo-massacre?CMP=twt_gu
Syria: the story behind one of the most shocking images of the war
Why did the bodies of 110 men suddenly wash up in the river running through Aleppo city six weeks ago? A Guardian investigation found out
March 11th, 2013, 4:20 am
Elisabeth Reehorst said:
A week ago dr. Landis recommended the book “A Decade of Lost Chances”, written by Carsten Wieland. I am now reading the book, and am surprised. The first chapters are about the uprising/war, and Wieland describes almost everything that the government is doing as bad and everything the rebels do as good. He does not mention Kofi Anna’s UN-mission, suicide bombings etc This is obviuously not a balanced book – and maybe you cannot expect that from a journalist. But I am really surprised that dr. Landis recommended it. Hope that the rest of it is more balanced. And I want to thank Matthew Barber for a very balanced and good article about the secterian part of the war. But what happend/happens really in al-Raqqa?
March 11th, 2013, 4:35 am
AzroBaal Naser said:
عند قرائتي لمقال السيد ماثيو باربر أو حلاق رأيت الكثير من المعلومات المفيدة والتي تعبر عن مآل الأمور وردات الفعل التي تعبر عن الطائفية الحاصلة وشرح قصور منظري المعارضة أو النظام عن التفاعل مع الأزمة أو حتى شرحها والإكتفاء بردات الفعل والانفعال وتوجيه اللوم ذات اليمين والشمال وأكثر ما أخذته على المقال هو أولاً إغفال أن من يحرك ويغذي الحقد الطائفي بشكل لحظي أعلاماً ومالي هو عدد من البلدان أولها السعودية وقطر و العديد من أتباع الأخوان المسلمين و السلفيين عبر العالم العربي يكفي أن نكتب على التويتر في مجال البحث كللمة سورية أو دمشق لنجد أن نسبة المغردين من السعودية وقطر ودول الخليج من مشايخ و صحافيين تبلغ حوالي 30-40% و يوجد نسبة كبيرة من نفس المكون الفكري من الأردن وسورية من المهاجريين والمقيمين وخلافه وبين كل لفظ طائفي والآخر لا توجد مسافات أحيانا ككلمة فطائس النظام ونصيري ومجموسي وعبادين الخسب وباطني وخلافه وكله تهكم ديني بالدرجة الأولى
يجب الاتفاق بأن في كل مجتمعات العالم نسبة من السكان طائفية ولا يوجد لديها حس وطني أو اجتماعي وتكثر هذه النسبة بنثر المال والتحريض الاعلامي المكثف وعطالة أجهزة الحكم بالتعامل معها بوتيرة مقبولة علماً بأنه أحيانا من الصعب التعامل مع جسم مالي هائل واعلامي شديد الاحتراف كالجزيرة والعربية وبي بي سي العربية و فرانسا 24 و الكثير الكثير الآخر مما لا يتسع المجال لذكره كونه إما شديد الطائفية كوصال والمنار أو أقل شهرة وحرفية
وأما التمويل والتحريض الديني الكثيف فللأسف كان من البدايات ( مقطع تحريض رجالات الدين في أوائل العام 2011 على الجهاد والتهجم على مدرسة التمريض بدرعا وخلافه أرجو أن تعكس المقالات اللاحقة صورة أوسع لأن في حالتنا المكون الخارجي من مال واعلام وتمويل وتسليح وتجنيد له دور كبير جدا فيمل وصلنا إليه، ولربما كان الدور الأكبر
على الرغم من كل نقائص النظام وهي كثيرة ولكن وصف الموضوع بشكل صراع محلي داخلي يتفاعل ويتطور ذاتيا وصف خاطئ ومجافي للحقيقة جداً وأرجو لكل من يشاركني الرأي أن يطلب من الدكتور لاندس والسيد حلاق أن يكونوا كثر موضوعية في المقاربة كما عهدناهم بالسنوات السابقة
بالمناسبة ختاماً همش المقال كل مكونات الشعب السوري الأخرى من القوميين والشيوعيين والعلمانيين وهم اليوم هدف مشروع للمعارضة عبر أذرعها الضاربة السلفية التكفيرية والكثير منهم مسلمون سنة كقيادات وكوادر
أرجوكم ساعدوني بمقاطع الفيديو وروابط المقالات الملائمة
ولكم مني تحية
March 11th, 2013, 4:37 am
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
Would the sectarian terrorism against minority civilians in the regime’s absence be worse than the current terrorism on the part of the regime against Syrians in oppositional territory? This is the enduring question, and will continue to be hotly debated. The answer depends on gaining an accurate sense of regime violence vs. violence of extremists within the opposition—something that we do not have and about which there is no consensus.
OMGoodness!!! And particularly the last sentence is the absolute KO blow! How about the hundreds of videos released BY THE REGIME FORCES filming themselves torturing and killing opposition captives? And did you, my dear Matthew ever consider the (intentional) sectarian message in most of these videos -something that was mentioned by JL and others- obviously specifically designed to stir up sectarian anti-Alawi sentiments by advertising that the tormentors were Alawi as well as worshippers of Assad?
And yes, App-Mini, the outcome will be decided on the battlefield, and yes many desire and end to the fighting, BUT NOT through a false dialogue that results in the AsMAA having any foothold in the affairs of Syria. NEVER.
March 11th, 2013, 4:52 am
Altair said:
The problem is that 2 years into the conflict, there is no easy good guy vs. bad guy way to look at it. The government is brutal, but the opposition fighters aren’t knights on white horses either.
Squabbling on this site and hurling of insults doesn’t help matters either. If it is a reflection of Syrian society, and we can’t know if it is or not, it is not a good sign.
Much as I try, I can’t see a ray of hope yet. All signs point to more conflict, more disintegration, more desctruction and more death. Syria is trapped in a cycle of violence and revenge, a cycle I believe is the fault of the government.
I listened to an interview with Lakhdar Brahimi over the weekend on Aljazeera English, and he seemed to make a lot of sense. (It would be nice if that would be posted here for discussion).
Basically, he believes a transition that kept the military intact would be the best solution, and he warns that if the fight continues, on this zero sum basis where one side has to obliterate the other, there may be no Syria at the end of it.
For regime supporters, at least you have to admit that this leadership has led you down a bloody path and a civil war, from the pulled out fingernails of boys in Dar’a to the bodies of dead men in the Quwaiq river bed, and all the destruction. It has already failed. In no sane society can such a leadership continue.
For opposition supporters, well, we still don’t know who leads it and how whoever does will reunify the country. Does anyone even talk about elections anymore?
Truth and reconciliation. Save Syria!
March 11th, 2013, 5:00 am
Visitor said:
I suggest to.those who continue calling Bashar Batta to refrain from calling him in either of these names from now on.
It has come to my attention that Assad thug recently has become extremely furious with HBJ. So, he sat down with Hassoun in order to figure out a way on how to deal with the Qatari FM. The two of them figured out that by calling for Jihad people will start talking about Hassoun Bashar Jihad or the Hassoun Batta Jihad which ever way you prefer. In either case it will eventually be shortened to the acronym of HBJ.
The way around this dilemma, IMHO, is to continue calling Bashar as either Athad or Assad which ever way your tongue can handle the sound of the middle letters. In this case the acronym will become HAJ or يطعمك الحج والناس راجعة
March 11th, 2013, 5:56 am
revenire said:
No Altair – no to all of your points.
Assad is not the cause of this and his removal would not be the solution.
Lakhdar Brahimi is a senile old man who should not return to Damascus.
March 11th, 2013, 6:57 am
Akbar Palace said:
The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
And of course, constitutional lawyers have been busy throughout the years debating what the above really means. Should there be prayers in american public schools? And what about our currency where the motto “In God We Trust”, is shown on almost every coin and paper bill.
The link also describes the many lawsuits testing the right to freedom of speech. Throughout american history, it has been tested numerous times. These lawsuits made america stronger.
Again, I repeat, secularism in the west began as a movement to erode the political power exercised by the church in the middle ages.
Yes, the first americans came here in search of religious freedom. Many were members of religious sects that were not treated well in Europe.
You cannot deny that even up till today the US practice of secularism is completely different than many Europeans, particularly France.
I don’t know, the French seem to be a fairly private and tolerant people.
March 11th, 2013, 7:00 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Akbar Palace said
“the French seem to be a fairly private and tolerant people.”
In france if a woman wore Hijab,she has to pay monetary penalty,This is not tolerance while nuns can wear their hijab with no penalty,infact it is women abuse
March 11th, 2013, 7:15 am
Syrialover said:
Iraqi scholar says fundamentalists are turning Muslims away from Islam
EXCERPT:
Fundamentalists’ interpretation of Islam and their practices have turned Muslims away from Islamic teachings, he said. “A large number of young people who live under the rule of fundamentalists have renounced their religion because fundamentalists forced religion on them,” Mr al Qabbanji said.
“Faith thrives on freedom and freedom is the basis of ethics. When a religious adherent is forced to give charity, then this charity means nothing and has no actual value.”
He said that fundamentalists had “planted the seeds of hypocrisy” among religious adherents by forcing religion on public life. “Fundamentalists have made people hate freedom; they made freedom sound as though it is only for animals,” he said. He said religion promotes ethics, but that ethics are not its basis, contrary to the fundamentalist’s view of religion.
The scholar also differentiated between “fundamentalist Islam” and “genuine Islam”, saying that genuine Islam has been distorted by extremists “out of ignorance and out of good faith”.
The basis of Islam, he said, is not the Quran and the Prophet’s traditions, as extremists think; the basis of Islam is the belief in God and love towards God’s creation. The Shiite cleric said the former understanding of Islam would turn Islam into rules and regulations that deal with issues only relevant to societies that existed 14 centuries ago. “Believing in God never changes; it could only decrease or increase. Our understanding of religion is never perfect, it changes and develops.”
He said genuine Islam nurtures a genuine human being, while fundamentalist Islam creates a deformed human being, because each way has a different attitude towards the function of intellect. “Genuine Muslims use intellect to seek the truth, while fundamentalists use it to store rules,” he said. “Extremists are dogmatic and they reject everything that contradicts the rules they stored in their brains.”
He said it is not enough for Muslims to be tolerant; they should believe in pluralism, modernity, development and progress.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/iraqi-scholar-says-fundamentalists-are-turning-muslims-away-from-islam
March 11th, 2013, 7:22 am
Syrialover said:
SYRIAN HAMSTER #23
Can’t get enough of Yassin Al Haj Saleh! Have enjoyed and admired his comments for many years.
March 11th, 2013, 7:27 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
Can anybody be stranged that syrian people destry alawi and shia temples? Is there anything strange in it?
After 24 months shooting at demontrators, massive detentions, massive tortures, massvie bombing including Scud missiles and strange chemical products…. after the use of mercenaries from Iran and Lebanon, etc. What´s strange or mistake in attacking anything related to the religious-political-militar power that is destroying the syrian people?
March 11th, 2013, 7:37 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
29. REVENIRE
The solution is not Assad removal,the solution is Assad anihilation. Another minor solution is your removal.
March 11th, 2013, 7:40 am
annie said:
http://wewritewhatwelike.com/2013/03/11/twisting-the-truth-all-in-a-days-work-for-the-pro-assad-faction/
Recently, a new site has started which is a platform for video debates on various controversial issues. The owner of the site finds persons on Facebook who are active in discussing the matter, and sets up an hour-long debate which then will be uploaded to You Tube so that others can watch it after it is over. One of the topics is Syria. Originally, the title of the room where those debates take place was “Civil War In Syria” and the photo that accompanies it is of Assad and some of his high-ranking officers. Today, the photo still is there, but the title reads “Revolution in Syria”. I suppose this must be a compromise for each of the factions.
March 11th, 2013, 8:02 am
Visitor said:
{إِنَّ هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ يَهْدِي لِلَّتِي هِيَ أَقْوَمُ وَيُبَشِّرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا كَبِيرًا(9) وَأَنَّ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ أَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا} 10].
فَإِذَا قَرَأْنَاهُ فَاتَّبِعْ قُرْآَنَهُ (18)
ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لا رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ(2)
صدق الله العظيم
وصدق رسوله الكريم
—————————–
وكذب المنافقون وكذب من استشهد بهم
March 11th, 2013, 8:12 am
revenire said:
Annie the debate is over. Now the only argument is whether to use Scuds or SAMs on the foreign rodents spreading their cancer to our women and children.
March 11th, 2013, 8:55 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
38. REVENIRE,
The debate is over long time ago. I am not going to give any more arguments. The only question to see now is if assadists leave, go, disappear, vanish, stop, suicide or need some outside help.
March 11th, 2013, 9:14 am
Sami said:
Assadi militia does not use car bombs my foot:
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-309372-turkey-says-border-gate-attackers-linked-to-syrian-regime.html
March 11th, 2013, 9:27 am
Akbar Palace said:
In france if a woman wore Hijab,she has to pay monetary penalty,This is not tolerance while nuns can wear their hijab with no penalty,infact it is women abuse
Majedkhaldoun,
I agree. Also there are issues concerning muslim dress (burka?) and identity cards and drivers licenses. You have to have enough of the face shown in order to identify the person. I bet this causes a bit of friction as well.
Somehow, people get around it.
March 11th, 2013, 9:59 am
revenire said:
Sandro you’re not even Syrian. If you were the army would 1.) arrest you 2.) shoot you (and maybe in that order too).
March 11th, 2013, 10:08 am
Dolly Buster said:
The West is pretty advanced in many areas such as economy and human rights, but they fail in the subject of religion. What kind of dumbаss can decide to be a Christian? Yet the West is overwhelmingly Christian.
So they are having trouble balancing between their respect for human rights, and their Crusader hate.
The niqaab legislation is France is an example of Hiqd as Saleebi masquarading as democratic facial ID.
March 11th, 2013, 10:09 am
Akbar Palace said:
So they are having trouble balancing between their respect for human rights, and their Crusader hate.
Dolly Buster,
I don’t know about you, but there seems to be a lot of hate in the Muslim world too.
What kind of dumbаss can decide to be a Christian?
Example No. 1…
March 11th, 2013, 10:33 am
ghufran said:
with friends like these,who needs enemies?
تبنى تنظيم دولة العراق الإسلامية، الفرع العراقي لتنظيم القاعدة، قتل 48 جنديا سوريا في الأنبار أثناء اعادتهم الى بلادهم ، وفقا لبيان نشر على مواقع تعني بأخبار الجهاديين ، وأوضح البيان “تمكنت المفارز العسكرية في صحراء ولاية الانبار من تدمير وابادة رتلٍ كامل للجيش الصفوي مع عجلات النقل المرافقة المكلفة بتهريب عناصر الجيش النصيري و”شبيحة” النظام السوري في اشارة الى الجيشين العراقي والسوري.
كما أوضح بيان تنظيم دولة العراق الاسلامية الذي حمل اسم “بيان عن غزوة عكاشات المباركة” انه “بدأ الاعداد لهذه الغزوة بعد العمليات المباركة التي قام بها اخواننا في الشام لتطهير الارض من رجس النصيريينن الانجاس”.
وتابع “قام أسود الصحراء ورجال المهمات الصعبة بنشر الكمائن على الطريق وكان منها كمين في منطقة مناجم عكاشات والذي صار بفضل الله مقبرةً اختلطت فيها دماء الأنجاس من الرافضة والنصيريين”.
I am still looking for my mask Mr Hamster, I am glad you lost yours
March 11th, 2013, 10:41 am
Dolly Buster said:
Yes, your power is directly proportional to your net worth.
But your net worth is subject to change. If you do a better job, you earn more. That makes it fair.
If you are unsatisfied with your ranking, then you earn more money.
That is a much better system than Putin arresting girl bands and banning their videos.
So we should root for the Free World, and the defeat of these few remaining dictators.
Then finally the world will operate under 1 fair set of rules.
March 11th, 2013, 11:02 am
Tara said:
Hassoun calling for Jihad?
Promising shabeehas what?
Unrestricted access to worship Batta’s 72 times?
Sounds tempting.. any interested commenter?
March 11th, 2013, 11:11 am
revenire said:
Dolly not interested in Pussy Riot’s cause. It is boring to me and unimportant.
You’re clearly a deluded dreamer.
The West runs along the lines of what is called a banker’s dictatorship with media and therefore public opinion, thus elections, controlled by money. It is not true to say it is a democracy. You can get “gay married” but not a decent job or health care.
If we are rooting for the Free World and getting rid of dictators we should start with Obama, the British and their Saudi allies.
March 11th, 2013, 11:12 am
revenire said:
Guess these children were “pro-Assad” and had to die for freedom? One thing is certain: they are free now.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
Reef Dimashq: 3 children were killed by rockets falling on the al-Assad suburbs, which is a civilian area under regime control and its inhabitants are represented as “pro-regime”. The towns and cities of Douma, Zamalka, Mou’adamiya, Thiyabiya, Bhadliya, and the Huseiniya camp were all bombarded by the regime’s multiple rocket launchers. 4 civilians, including a woman, were killed by the bombardment on Mou’adamiya. Bombardment resumes on the town of al-Ateiba, several civilians were killed. Clashes took place in the eastern Ghouta. There are reports of clashes by several military checkpoints around Harasta city, rockets are falling on the city.
March 11th, 2013, 11:16 am
Dominique said:
Awesome, Matt!
One has to wonder whether this ‘civil war’ was induced by externally-driven operatives or by those indigenous to Syria.
You write:
“Why would tribes with a long history of being in the regime’s confidence now suddenly abandon it, especially considering that the retaliatory air strikes would be anticipated?”
Good question, Matt, good question. Syrians need to look closely at the signature left at Raqqa and compare it with the ones left throughout Central America and other strategically-significant areas of the West.
Looking forward to further observations to this important story.
March 11th, 2013, 11:17 am
Dolly Buster said:
There should be no health care. The recipient of the health care should pay his own bills.
There should be no guaranteed jobs. If the employer considers his potential employee worthless, then he should remain jobless.
March 11th, 2013, 11:19 am
Dolly Buster said:
I know Mufti Hasoon from a long time ago, when he used to promote Shiism on YouTube.
He is one of those guys I’m eager to see executed along with Bashar al-Khanzeer and his family. I am counting down the days.
ICU when I see you, Hasoon.
“Dar Karbala an nabud Pepsi Cola bud.”
March 11th, 2013, 11:25 am
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
This is for you Altair #27
AJE talks to Lakhdar Brahimi
March 11th, 2013, 11:30 am
majedkhaldoun said:
There is definite shift in the attitude of the Alawi sect, many families are refusing to send their young men to join the army,they are complaining that they already lost many men and they issued a statement asking Bashar to abandon all violence,stop fighting,get new election before the end of this year,and asking him not to run.
I don’t think forming goverment is doable now, this should wait till Mennegh,Qwaires and Neirab airports are in the hands of the rebels,and FSA has specific weapons.
March 11th, 2013, 11:35 am
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
And here is something for Matthew Barber, see how secular the protectors and foot soldiers of the Assadist Mafiosi and Associates (AsMAA) are:
http://youtu.be/hp0qt9TNRuc
March 11th, 2013, 11:52 am
Majedkhaldoun said:
After seeing the video by SAAD we all can see that all of them must be punished and killed
March 11th, 2013, 12:09 pm
Ted Hankey said:
A thoroughly decent article, followed by the usual splatter of drivel in the comments section.
March 11th, 2013, 12:09 pm
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
Avaaz.org has many worthwhile petitions. Here is one that concerns those who care about the suffering people of Syria. Let us stop UN aid money going to the Mafiosi in Damascus.
http://www.avaaz.org/ar/urgent_aid_for_the_syrian_people/?fp
March 11th, 2013, 12:14 pm
AIG said:
I am beginning to think that all these videos are going to pose a serious problem for forgiveness and reconciliation once the fighting phase is over. I think the Syrian civil war is the first time that there is so much actual footage of torture or mistreatment. I am not saying that other conflicts were more kind or humane, not at all. It is just that it was never documented to this extent in video. And once it is on the internet, it cannot be erased.
March 11th, 2013, 12:17 pm
Tara said:
AIG
I just opened the link and watched. My nblood is boiling.
The perpetrators will be found one after the other and will be executed. We do not want to reconcile with those animals and if that means Alawis supporters leave the country and disappear then good riddance. We are better off without sharing the country with filthy animals. And the Sunnis who participate in this will too be executed.
March 11th, 2013, 12:30 pm
annie said:
That is called hutzpah
http://youtu.be/n6t5LV0WnsQ
March 11th, 2013, 12:35 pm
AIG said:
Matthew,
I understand the complexity of writing about this subject. On the one hand you want to keep some distance from the events and provide objective analysis. On the other hand, when your friends are being tortured and killed, it is very difficult if not impossible.
If I read you correctly you are admitting to this problem but not explicitly. For your consideration, I would suggest taking the little extra step and laying all the cards on the table. If your personal sympathies lie with getting rid of the regime (as I think you say), say it explicitly and mention also that it may influence your analysis but that you are aware of your personal biases and are trying as much as possible to leave them out of the analysis. You will get a few more “enemies” short term, but longer term your analysis will be considered more credible and I think also you will feel better with yourself.
Historians always say that you need time and perspective to analyze events. You do not have this luxury and I think that you should make it clear to your readers.
Being a realist is very difficult when you have skin in the game, as you do through your friends in Syria. That does not mean that you should abandon realism, but perhaps its limitations should be examined.
I find what you wrote very interesting (needs a little editing though) and I hope you accept what I have written as an attempt at constructive criticism coming from good intentions.
March 11th, 2013, 12:39 pm
revenire said:
Drama queen Tara – go to Syria and fight – take your Hasbara boyfriend with you.
March 11th, 2013, 12:41 pm
AIG said:
Tara,
I understand you perfectly and your reaction is natural and the correct one to have initially. I would feel exactly the same if it were closer to home for me as it is for you.
When WWII ended, my paternal grandfather who was in Palestine at that time, went to Europe to look for survivors for his and my grandmother’s family. He found no one, the extended family, about 80 from each side, all gone. When I was 13 I was doing a project for school about the history of the family and I asked him if he ever felt the urge to kill Germans. He looked at me and said the fact that his children and grandchildren are prospering is his revenge.
If you go on the path of revenge, you will jeopardize the well being of future generations in Syria. Just be aware of that trade off and choose the course that best suits you.
March 11th, 2013, 12:50 pm
Dolly Buster said:
It’s nice that AIG supports the revolution & quest for freedom.
I used to be anti-jewish, but now that Russia Today has started to play antisemitic programs 24/7, I decided to moderate.
Also Jon Stewart was funny the other day with Neil deGrasse.
March 11th, 2013, 12:56 pm
apple_mini said:
It seems brutality from the rebels’ side has escalating recently. After they overran Al-Raqqa, they summarily executed regime prisoners. They even dragged some of them behind cars and very graphic video has been posted.
More frequent indiscriminate mortar attacks at residential areas in almost every cities now. Thanks to US, Saudi and Croatia!
Then it was this: A woman in Homs who spoke to a French TV crew had her throat cut by the rebels the next day in Bab Amr, because she accepted to talk to the French in the presence of the army. They considered she was collaborating.
I thought the rebels infiltrated in Bab Amr as a military move. Yet, those Islamic radicals managed to do more than damage to the regime.
This somehow is troublesome. It appears those rebels have taken ruthless and bloody approach to conduct the war now. Out of revenge or frustration, either way is a chilling warning sign: the Islamic radicals are really out of control.
March 11th, 2013, 12:58 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Yeah аsshоle, expect much more. There will be revenge for your Mig bombings that have lasted 24 months now.
May Allah be pleased with Yazeed ibn Mu’awiyah.
March 11th, 2013, 1:10 pm
revenire said:
LOL
March 11th, 2013, 1:11 pm
Observer said:
This is from Haaretz about a UN report of the regime using militias for sectarian killings and ethnic cleansing
I think this report speaks volumes about the response to this particular post. Even Ghufran recognizes that the regime wanted it a sectarian war by painting the opposition as pure MB.
Here is the report
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/un-syrian-government-reportedly-using-militias-for-mass-killings-1.508693
On a different note the editorial by Mr. Atwan today at Al Quds Al Arabi is actually a fair description of the events. While the outside opposition is bickering since day one “wearing the bear’s fur before killing it” we have the militants on the ground make headways and creating the conditions for a takeover of the country through provision of stability and real fighting.
The other news are the fact that the regime is retrenching around Damascus and its latest attempt to have a corridor to the coast via Homs has been dashed. Hence the call for Jihad to allow for Iraqis and Lebanese and maybe Iranians to join the fight.
Check it out.
March 11th, 2013, 1:29 pm
revenire said:
Observer your “facts” are wrong about the military situation but please INDULGE your fantasies.
http://syrianperspective.blogspot.com/2013/03/first-post-march-11-2013-fsa-surrounded.html
ENTIRE JABHAT AL-NUSRA CABAL ANNIHILATED AT AL-MAYSAR IN ALEPPO:
ALEPPO:
At Al-Maysar in the Aleppan countryside, the Jabhat Al-Nusra jihadist apes were holding a meeting of the “Council of Shari’ah Courts” under the aegis of the “Jabhat Al-Nusra Court”. You might think all this sounds very legal and proper. In truth, these cockroaches were planning to employ their ignorance to further vex and torment the local people. We have received permission from our source to tell you that villagers reported the meeting to the Military Intelligence office in Aleppo which alerted SAA and militia of the meeting. The attack was planned just before dusk as the insects relaxed for their inept council. Not offering the trash any opportunity to feign surrender in order to arm their suicide vests, the SAA pounced on them with AK47s on automatic mode. When the operation finished, not one rodent-roach out of the 43 was alive. Here are the names of the identifiable carcasses:
Nibraas Ali Shaqqour
Muhammad Duwaylaati
Akram Muhammad Ali Hassanayn
Maher Ahmad Julwaan
Adib Mahmoud Abu-Hassoon
Mustafa Qaramanji (?)
Awda Ali Mahsoub
Muhammad Taher ‘Arfaan
Ali Jabbour Qassqass
Mahmoud Abdul-Basset Mbahhaj
The rest are unidentified with some clearly appearing foreign.
We told you not to believe the nonsense about the Jabhat Al-Nusra taking over the police academy. We can confirm that to you again. At Khan Al-‘Asal, total security has returned to the town. The Jabhat Al-Nusra nihilists were sent running either straight to Hell or to their Turkish principals.
March 11th, 2013, 2:06 pm
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
Yes, of course, AppleMini, the AsMAA troops are a model of self control and an example of the most moral fighters in the world, and the video at #54 is proof of that, right?
March 11th, 2013, 2:08 pm
Uzair8 said:
Yalla Souriya
HasanSari7
SO LATE, but Alawites in #Syria have finally issued an important initiative. The so called Hasan Eid Initiative calls for the following:
1. Assad has to officially announce he’s not running for a new term as president. (This shows they want to get rid of him).
2. Seize fire to be implemented in #Syria as of April,1 including withdrawal of armed soldiers from streets
3. All foreign fighters currently in #Syria have to leave country immediately.
4. Forming a national public conference to elect a political body.
5. The Alawites who signed this initiative also said a 100 Alawite personalities are due to meet in CAIRO on March, 23 to discuss issues & Assad
March 11th, 2013, 2:33 pm
revenire said:
That isn’t true Uzair8 but a lie from your bald clown. Just go look at his TL and come back and tell me about the “Alawite” news. LOL
March 11th, 2013, 2:43 pm
revenire said:
🙂
بإذن الجبــّــار لــن يسقط بشــــــار
نــــــــــــفوق الارهابي التونسي “لزهر ضيف الله ” اصيل مدينة بنقردان ولاية مدنين وهو من زعران جبهة النصرة الصهيونية ….قتل وهو يجاهد في سبيل الشيطان,,,,,,,,الى جهنم الحمرا
ااس.س اا
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/c38.0.403.403/p403x403/269298_571137786243381_1981727868_n.jpg
March 11th, 2013, 3:04 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
REVENIRE,
Are the Azad Prezident writting from a closed dark room inside the russian vessel in Lattakia? Or probably you are an old communist gone corrupt and lately gone like russians mafious neo-liberals ?
In the new status quo people like you who defend crimes against humanity and the criminal regime will be ILLEGAL according to new laws, so you will be able if you persist to face death penalty or life prison.
I will be the first to be in Damascus the day Assad dies. I will not wait even one day because the day the Great Rat God dies all the small rats will flee like crazy mosquitoes.
March 11th, 2013, 3:14 pm
revenire said:
Remember when Syrian “expert” Josh Landis posted Assad was living on a Russian ship? LOL
Sandro you’re not even Syrian – go back to bed.
March 11th, 2013, 3:16 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
REVENIRE
I am syrian, not alawite like you, but a real syrian.
Or maybe you are an israeli acting to create hate and chaos.
People with no land and no identity like you should be sent to Siberia.
Go to Bab al Faraj underground paradises. Or maybe go to Shatkha.
March 11th, 2013, 3:26 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
REVENIRE,
Assad will only persist in Syria in case 80 % of the syrian population is killed by iranian forces and russian weapons. In that case Assad will be no longer president of Syria but governor of the Syrianistan province of Iran. Lebanon will become Lubnanistan under governor Nasrallah. And Irak will become Karbalistan. It will be very nice living like animals among garbage.
March 11th, 2013, 3:30 pm
revenire said:
Nah Sandro you are not Syrian at all – Syria spits you and your kind out.
You’re just some guy on this SC forum talking crazy about Israeli agents and spreading sectarian hatred.
March 11th, 2013, 3:47 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
REVENIRE,
You are the type of syrian thugs that believe themselve very smart until their arguments become poor and uneffective. Then they SPIT, HIT, TORTURE, KILL and finally BOMB entire cities.
Good night and Go to hell, the place you should have never left.
March 11th, 2013, 3:50 pm
revenire said:
Prove you’re Syrian: tell me your name and the town you’re from and we will have someone verify it. Once they do I will gladly apologize.
I think you must be a Saudi or Tunisian ape. The word you were looking for dog is “ineffective” not “uneffective” – no thanks necessary.
March 11th, 2013, 4:24 pm
Syrialover said:
Test…
March 11th, 2013, 4:47 pm
Syrialover said:
Assad’s jihad against Syrian rebels, and what it tells us about his regime
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/shiraz-maher/2013/03/assads-jihad-against-syrian-rebels-and-what-it-tells-us-about-his-regime/
March 11th, 2013, 4:57 pm
Syrialover said:
News on twitter – https://twitter.com/ProfKahf
– S**t is going down in Qardaha right now, Alawite sources in Syria revolution report. Regime army surrounds assad birthplace town.
– Reportedly Alawite youths in Qardaha refusing to defend regime said,let bashar depend on his Sunni base in Damascus;we’ve had enough
– Reportedly,bashar sent troops to Qardaha to demand 2500 Alawite youth report for duty;they refused;clashes ensued.
– Alawite families in bashar town of origin Qardaha reportedly refusing to let their sons be cannon fodder to perpetuate bashar’s rule
– WalaaBridget Yes there were clashes in Oct 2012 too.There is deeprooted Alawite resentment of assad for regime exploitation of them
March 11th, 2013, 5:23 pm
annie said:
Posted by Maysaloon at 8:28 pm
Monday, March 11, 2013
The Wine of the Golan
While the Israeli Army’s Chief of Staff comments on the quality of wine from the occupied Golan Heights, Assad is sending his tanks into Syrian cities fitted with cameras so that we can see the devastation he has wrought in full HD quality. When I think about the destruction this regime has inflicted on my country, I can only feel a helpless rage. This lying and deceitful pack of fraudsters failed in liberating an inch of occupied territory whether by war or peace.
To the world they spoke of the need for a “just and comprehensive” peace, but domestically Assad promised his people the mother of all liberations, all will be well “when the time is right” – just so long as they put up with no freedom or dignity. This country was like a dysfunctional family, pretending to be normal to the world when in reality almost everybody in it was either incestuous or abused. If it wasn’t so tragic this situation would be comical.
March 11th, 2013, 5:27 pm
Tara said:
The Alawis are waking up? After 70,000 dead, a million displaced, and Syrian girls being sold for prostitution?
I’ m not going to say too little too late…
March 11th, 2013, 5:35 pm
Uzair8 said:
71. Revenire
MajedKhaldoun shared the news in #53. Later I came across the detail on YS.
March 11th, 2013, 5:38 pm
Uzair8 said:
BBC 2 is broadcasting a documentary on Syria right now. Don’t think it’s available for viewing outside UK. Perhaps someone will upload it on Youtube later.
Our World
A History of Syria with Dan Snow
Dan Snow travels to Syria to see how the current civil war has been shaped by the country’s tumultuous history, unpicking the historic divisions between the myriad factions.
Duration: 60 minutes.
March 11th, 2013, 5:42 pm
Syrian said:
روى العميد أحمد رحال، ما سماه حقيقة الإشتباكات التي حصلت في القرداحة، نقلت عنه الرواية الآتية:
تفصيلاً لما حدث بالقرداحة البارحة تبين أن مجموعة من عناصر الشرطة العسكرية وبأعداد كبيرة توجهت لمنطقة القرداحة والقرى العلوية المحيطة بها من أجل تبليغ حوالي ( 2500 ) شاب علوي متخلفين عن الخدمة الالزامية والاحتياط وجوبه الأمر بمعارضة الاهالي خوفاً على ابنائهم من القتل وحدثت بعض المناوشات مما اضطر بفروع الأمن باللاذقية للتدخل وحصلت ايضاً بعض الاشتباكات مما دفع المشايخ للتدخل وتم استدعاء مجلس مشايخ الطائفة حتى مشايخ طرطوس ووقعوا عريضة يطالبون بشار الاسد بعدم طلب شباب الساحل العلويين للخدمة وان أراد الحفاظ على كرسيه فعليه أن يصمد في دمشق والاعتماد على شباب الطائفة السنية فقط لان الطائفة العلوية قد اشبعت من القتلى فداء لكرسي بشار وأرسلت الرسالة لبشار وهنا تدخل مفتي النظام قبحه الله وأصدر الفتوة اللاشرعية بدعوة الشباب للالتحاق بالجيش الأسدي!
March 11th, 2013, 5:50 pm
ALI said:
Hi Everybody,
Sorry for being away for a bit and I hope you all doing well and your families back home are safe and sound.
Talking about family, my father made it out of Syria safely and he’s spending sometime with us over here. He did NOT defect, it’s just a normal family holiday and it was approved by the president himself. Now whether he wants to go back or not is a different question, but for now we do have a long list of things to do and people to visit so too early to make big decisions.
I’d like to share some interesting information with you guys.
First of all, senior high ranking officials including army and security personals are allowed to leave and travel but surely it all depends on who you are and your relation to the political leadership, even Rami Makhlouf keeps traveling here and there with no concerns at all.
In my father’s case, he didn’t risk applying with his real name to obtain a visa for travel, he issued a new passport with different name and applied for a short term visa. The funny part was when he went for the interview (yes even Bashar himself needs to attend an interview) in Beirut, the Arab embassy staff member has to refer his application to the senior foreign boss, who in returns asked my dad to a small room where the consular himself was there and told him “we know who you are and we know what you do, but at the same time we do understand why you’re hiding your identity”. After the meeting he was issued with 10 years super visa with multiple entry and unlimited period of stay.
At Beirut airport, all Syrian officials get their passport stamped, paper processed, and luggage checked in while they’re having a cup of coffee in the VIP official hall.
Upon his arrival over here, they stopped him at the airport and told him “we know who you are, we know you’re a minority at risk of …… and here’s the papers to apply for refugee status”. My father refused to apply for refugee so they stamped his passport and welcomed him while giving him contact details of an emergency officer to get in touch if he feels any threat around here or he decided to submit an application of refugee status.
I found this special treatment quite nice for Syrians, and I wish all Syrians from all different backgrounds are getting the same.
I will give you another update of what’s actually happening in Syria later.
March 11th, 2013, 6:14 pm
Uzair8 said:
Just watching the documentary. Patrick Seale makes an appearance and has his say.
[…]
Oh here’s Buthanai Shaaban. We’re at the point where Hafez Assad is rising up and joins the Baath Party. I’ll rewind it and quote her:
[Said with exaggerated pronouncement and a beaming smile to end].
The name al-Wahsh get’s a mention. Dan Snow:
March 11th, 2013, 6:20 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
Hail REVENIRE,
You will send what ??? Haaaaaa haaha hahahahahaha
To probe you are an Assad criminal just inform us about your family name, village you come from and number of identity card. Then we will send someone from the FSA to verify it. You act like a pimp thug.
Do you think I am going to give any personal details to a morbid thug?
March 11th, 2013, 6:24 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
http://www.youtube.com
March 11th, 2013, 6:35 pm
revenire said:
Scared?
March 11th, 2013, 6:41 pm
Citizen said:
Putin! In my opinion this is your competence send these people to the heaven 🙂
Hundreds of Russian Islamists Fighting in Syria, Expert Says
The Moscow Times
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/hundreds-of-russian-islamists-fighting-assad-in-syria-expert-says/476629.html#ixzz2NDamy0z2
At least 200 Russian-speaking Salafi Muslims are fighting against Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria, according to an expert at a state-run think tank.
Rais Suleimanov, head of the Kazan-based Volga Center for Regional and Ethno-Religious Studies, said he got this number from Russian militants themselves, who he said have “no interest in exaggerating it.”
He said the militants come from CIS countries including Ukraine and from different regions of Russia, among them Tatarstan and the volatile North Caucasus, where Russian law enforcement is battling an intractable insurgency of separatist Islamist militants.
————-
The Syria “Gun-Running Program”: US and Britain Channel Large Shipments of Weapons to Al Qaeda Terrorists
It’s well known by now that NATO and the Gulf States initial plans to overturn the sovereign state of Syria has been running behind schedule since their operation was launched two years ago. They had hoped for the sort of slam dunk which they enjoyed in overturning the country of Libya in late 2011.
This same formula could not be applied again however, so Plan B, a ground war using proxies has meant a longer drawn out conflict. It hasn’t been working fast enough in Syria, and western backed terrorist groups still sustaining heavy losses in their fight to topple the Assad government on behalf of the NATO and its Gulf allies.
The main obstacle with Plan B is that the very idea of directly arming terrorists in Syria is not one which can be sold openly in either the US or Britain.
From the NATO Allied corner, something drastic needed to be done.
March 11th, 2013, 6:47 pm
revenire said:
“85. UZAIR8 said:
71. Revenire
MajedKhaldoun shared the news in #53. Later I came across the detail on YS.”
Majedkhaldoun? Yalla? Ja ja sorry friend but your little Twitter friends are not news.
March 11th, 2013, 6:50 pm
Citizen said:
Syrian electronic site Syria today (Surya al-AN) has published an article which talks about the failed assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin, was planned during his recent visit to Turkey.
According to an unnamed source in Moscow, an attempt was planned to implement during the Russian president’s visit to one of the naval bases on the Bosphorus Turkish Navy, during which a large contingent of Turkish troops was officially greet Putin.
The plan was to undermine a car bomb driven by three suicide bombers, “al-Qaeda” – two Chechens and one Turk – disguised in the form of the Turkish army.
The plan was disclosed by Russian secret services and the Turkish security forces, as Putin’s trip on the Bosphorus has been excluded from the visit.
It is reported that the car is prepared for a terrorist attack, was found. Information about the fate of the terrorists do not.
After the disclosure of plot to assassinate security measures during the Russian president’s trips abroad were reviewed.
March 11th, 2013, 7:07 pm
zoo said:
Russia’s Economy Is Beating America’ ?
Mark Adomanis, Forbes
How Russia And The United States Have Fared Since The Great Recession
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markadomanis/2013/03/11/how-russia-and-the-united-states-have-fared-since-the-great-recession/
GDP
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/markadomanis/files/2013/03/USRussiaGDP.png
Net Government Debt
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/markadomanis/files/2013/03/RussiaUSDebt.png
Unemployement
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/markadomanis/files/2013/03/RussiaUSUnemployment.png
Does any of the above paint Russia as some sort of dramatic success story that should be emulated by other countries? Not really. But I always find it interesting to compare Russia’s actual economic performance (pretty decent) with how it is most commonly described (awful, worsening, incompetent, or catostrophic).
March 11th, 2013, 7:17 pm
revenire said:
Uzair your story is all wet.
March 11th, 2013, 7:25 pm
Dolly Buster said:
The U.S. and EU contribute 50% to global GDP, and Russia 2%.
That makes the clout ratio 25:1
March 11th, 2013, 7:30 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Did you know that Russia ranks 130th in life expectancy, behind Bangladesh?
March 11th, 2013, 7:32 pm
revenire said:
Yeah but Dolly the US counts whores and cocaine in their GDP.
I can see economics is not your forte.
March 11th, 2013, 7:37 pm
Tara said:
Test ????
March 11th, 2013, 7:37 pm
revenire said:
March 11th, 2013, 7:38 pm
Tara said:
Basically the regime left its own men to die. The armed forces need to learn a lesson and abandon the regime before its too late. These men should understand when you’re dead, you are dead and that is it. And Batta will still be enjoying i-tunes and Asma’s shoes.
—-
A Syrian officer who survived last week’s deadly ambush by al-Qaida in Iraq said the Syrian troops retreated across the border after Damascus refused to send reinforcements.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, a man identified as the officer in charge of the Yaarabiya border crossing, said commanders in Damascus turned down repeated requests to send help to defend the outpost.
He said this forced him and the remaining men to retreat to the Iraqi side. The Iraqis then organised a convoy to transport the 64 Syrians to another border crossing that remains under Syrian government control hundreds of miles to the south.
The officer and three other people who were in the convoy said they were ambushed by multiple roadside bombs. They said the gunmen sprang out from behind the hills along the road and attacked the trucks carrying the Syrians with a barrage of gunfire. Those who survived were taken to Baghdad and flown to Damascus last week.
The WSJ also noted that the state-controlled al-Watan newspaper suggested that the Syrian army should prioritise defending central areas and not become over-stretched on “new battle fronts”.
,,,,
The Guardian
March 11th, 2013, 7:45 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
@95
And yet, during the same stellar performance year… the US registered 503,582 patent applications compared to Russia’s enormous, astronomic, magnificent, incredible, and unbelievable 41,414 applications. The Koreans ( i mean the free ones, not yours.. you idiot) had only a poor show of 178,924 applications.
March 11th, 2013, 7:45 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Babe, have you tried my advice which is to leave the browser open while it counts down from 09 59 to zero? Then it should post fo’ sheezy.
If you look at Fortune 500 major companies in the world, most are from the West. Practically zero from Russia.
For instance if I say cpu leaders are Intel and AMD, what Russian equivalent can you name.
March 11th, 2013, 7:48 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
REVENIRE is a frustrated thug. He would have loved to hit and humiliate people but all he can do is trying to try to threaten people from behind a screen without any result. This is the real image of the syrian dictatorship supporters. A failed regime formed by frustrated people. Keep on believing your President God is very intelligent and smart and your crash against the wall of reality will be sublime and memorable.
Bir-ruuh Bid-damm Nafdika ya Hayawan
March 11th, 2013, 7:49 pm
Tara said:
I am watching Faisal Abdul Al Sater on Aljazeera defending the regime. This guy elevates my blood pressure. He gets on my nerve so badly. If I ever stopped posting on SC before the fall of this regime, it is because Abdul Sater caused me a heart attack.
—
Dolly, I will try it next time.
March 11th, 2013, 7:55 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Forget it…………..I am better than to demean women, any woman.
March 11th, 2013, 8:07 pm
revenire said:
Tara you are so full of yourself. No one cares if your blood boils. You’re a terrorist supporter calling for sectarian murder. You belong in a cage. I’ve never seen a smaller person so filled with hatred toward Syria as you.
March 11th, 2013, 8:11 pm
Tara said:
Hassoun calling for Jihad today is a reflection of how deeply desperate the regime is. I have never said this before but now I see it coming: Assad’s days are numbered.
March 11th, 2013, 8:23 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Quizzzzzzz….
…
Who is Porrazzo….?
Guess and you may uncover a few retards…..
March 11th, 2013, 8:25 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
FROM RAQQA
ذهب رجل من قرانا مع ابنه ذو السنوات الثمانية يقصد مدينة تل ابيض. وفي الطريق اوقفهم حاجز للجيش الحر. احب المقاتل ان يداعب الولد فسأله:
شو اسمك عمو؟
لم يجب الولد، وسط استغراب ابيه
فاعاد المقاتل سؤال الولد: شو اسمك عمو؟
اجاب الولد بنزق، وسط دهشة الاب و المقاتل: اسمي شحاطة!
واضاف: كان اسمي بشار و صار اسمي شحاطة!
March 11th, 2013, 8:35 pm
zoo said:
Let the USA and the UK help them to kill more…
Al Qaeda boasts of Syrian troops massacre
http://www.examiner.com/article/al-qaeda-boasts-of-syrian-troops-massacre
Claiming they massacred 48 Syrian army troops, Al Qaeda confirmed that it’s heavily involved in toppling he Alawite, Shiite government of 47-year-old Bashar al-Assad.
With British Foreign Secretary William Hague and conservatives in the U.S. Congress backing Syrian rebels without any knowledge of the insurgent groups, the latest Al Qaeda incident should give foreign governments opposed to al-Assad’s regime reason to pause.
March 11th, 2013, 8:41 pm
zoo said:
The rebels bombing christian quarters of Damascus
Mortar bombs struck a Christian neighborhood and a football stadium at game time in Damascus Monday, killing six civilians and wounding at least 24 in what appeared to be an escalating campaign by rebels to sow fear in the Syrian capital. Opposition fighters trying to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad have stepped up mortar attacks on Damascus in recent weeks, striking deeper than ever into the heart of the city.
Rebel fighters have tried in the past to establish bridgeheads in the capital, but were pushed back to the Damascus suburbs by regime forces. Recent rebel mortar fire on civilian targets signals a new tactic in trying to loosen Assad’s grip on his main stronghold.
In the latest attacks, four mortars bombs hit Bab Sharqi, a predominantly Christian area known for its old churches. One fell in a park, two near an ice cream shop and a fourth hit a house nearby, a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Mar-12/209729-jets-bomb-homs-as-mortar-fire-rocks-damascus.ashx#ixzz2NHXAaDJj
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
March 11th, 2013, 8:45 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Tara is awesome. I bow to her
Is that the year when Russia collapsed -11.00% ?
That is possible when Gazprom is 1/5 of your entire country.
It is safe to say that Russia has never made anything in history.
Their #1 export is totalitarianism.
This whole Syria thing, is simply the latest episode of human suffering that Russians have caused.
Luckily Russians are dying out. That is the only positive thing I’ll say about them.
March 11th, 2013, 8:45 pm
zoo said:
The West is divided, the senile Ibrahimi useless, Erdogan busy preparing his election as a president, and the opposition is on a kindergarten merry-go-round.
In the meantime Qatar and KSA filled with terror of Iran are hysterically taking out their checkbooks to buy second hand weapons for Al Qaeda.
In Brussels, EU foreign ministers emerged from talks with U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on the conflict which is about to enter its third year, divided over whether to arm the rebels or push for a political solution.
Brahimi, speaking after talks with the EU’s 27 foreign ministers, insisted that “the military solution is out of the question.” The ministers were sharply divided, with Britain, France and Italy tipping in favor of eventual military aid for the opposition, and Germany and others seeing that as too risky.
Israel’s chief of staff Benny Gantz warned Monday that “terrorist” groups fighting Assad’s regime alongside other insurgents were “becoming stronger” and voiced concern that they could turn on Israel in the future.
“The situation in Syria has become exceptionally dangerous. The terrorist organizations are becoming stronger on the ground. Now they are fighting against Assad but in the future they could turn against us,” Gantz said.
In recent months, there have been several instances of gunfire or mortar fire hitting the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Mar-12/209729-jets-bomb-homs-as-mortar-fire-rocks-damascus.ashx#ixzz2NHXwbmvM
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
March 11th, 2013, 8:54 pm
revenire said:
“I have never said this before but now I see it coming: Assad’s days are numbered.”
You said it last year and the year before right here on SC.
🙂
March 11th, 2013, 8:57 pm
zoo said:
That’s a real leader..
Hariri says decision made to kill him, delays return
March 12, 2013 12:55 AM
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has said he will not return to Lebanon for now because of what he called a decision to assassinate him, political sources said Monday.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Mar-12/209727-hariri-says-decision-made-to-kill-him-delays-return.ashx#ixzz2NHaWBp57
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
March 11th, 2013, 8:58 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Tara
Do we know why the commanders in Damascus turned down repeated requests by the outpost for help?
It seems that they don’t have enough soldiers, this is clear now that Hassouneh is calling for Jihad, this call is so stupid,Jihad in Islam is to defend God only against foreign invasion.,I expect Hassouneh and Bouti will be hanged in Marjeh..
Lebanese goverment must fire the foreign minister or they will face actions by the Gulf states including KSA,this action will be to withdraw their money from Lebanon, The goverment will go bankrupt as the lira will fall like free rock falling.
Three airoplanes were downed today
March 11th, 2013, 9:01 pm
revenire said:
Russia delivered 10 “airoplanes” today.
March 11th, 2013, 9:06 pm
revenire said:
Sandro please, we wish to offer you a prize but need an address first? Are you in the liberated areas? If so there is nothing to be afraid of. We would not waste a Scud on you. 🙂
March 11th, 2013, 9:09 pm
Tara said:
Majed,
Because Batta doesn’t give a damn. He considers the armed forces as well as the general population to be slaves and pretty much dispensable. Don’t you remember all the young men from the army working as servants at the door of “VIPs.” I still remember very vividly how they were used as chauffeurs, and servants in many houses of “VIPs”.
My memories living in Syria are all disgusting.. We all witnessed so much degradation of human beings…
Hassouneh and Buti and others were all bought. I am very much familiar with those religious figures. The regime provides them with Mercedes, chauffeurs , and sent them on “official” trips to Europe and other countries so they sell themselves to the devil. They deserve to be hanged.
March 11th, 2013, 9:12 pm
observer said:
ZOO quote
ZOO quote: ““The situation in Syria has become exceptionally dangerous. The terrorist organizations are becoming stronger on the ground. Now they are fighting against Assad but in the future they could turn against us,” Gantz said.
In recent months, there have been several instances of gunfire or mortar fire hitting the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.”
So ZOO are worried about the safety of Israel now? Is it not an admission that for 40 years your stupid criminal regime actually safeguarded the border with the great enemy Israel?
Your regime is finished. For the most stupid prethident on earth to call for jihad against jihadists is the ultimate in delusional stupidity. Laughable were it not for the cruelty of such criminality.
March 11th, 2013, 9:29 pm
Altair said:
#52 Syrian Atheist.. thanks for the video post.
#29 Revenire, No to all my points? Even saving Syria? I hope you don’t mean it.
Brahimi is a respected diplomat and he’s very articulate, giving a sober assessment of the situation. No sign of senility there.
He is proposing a democratic transition, and warns not to wait until 2014 because the country may be destroyed by then (“If you continue like this, one day you’re going to wake up and there is no Syria”).
What’s wrong with that?
March 11th, 2013, 9:31 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
One of the airoplanes that was downed today belongs to Assad himself,it was downed in Dhmair,but he was not in it
March 11th, 2013, 9:40 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Zoo should be investigated for war crimes. He is a Baath sympathizer, and that party is being referred to the Hague by the United Nations.
It is disconnected from reality, because it’s been made clear a million times over that Bashar al-Assad will not resign ever.
March 11th, 2013, 9:41 pm
revenire said:
Who would investigate Zoo for war crimes? Marigoldran? Tara? Bill “Mary” Scherk? The Internet Police?
March 11th, 2013, 10:08 pm
revenire said:
Majed – it is AIRPLANE or AEROPLANE not “airoplane” (and yes, of course one of the planes downed today was Assad’s).
March 11th, 2013, 10:11 pm
revenire said:
Altair Brahimi is not in the real world but I do believe he should be allowed a nice room in a Damascus hospital. The government was onto the UN’s tricks early on.
March 11th, 2013, 10:15 pm
ghufran said:
اخي الفاضل الاستاذ مصطفى حفظك الله
سلام الله عليك وبعد:
فأرجو ادراج مايلي في جدول الاعمال، واريد من اجله 10 دقائق فقط
العمل لاعدادات قيادة جديدة للائتلاف، لانني بصراحة ساقترح امرا على الهيئة العامة لتدرسه خلال الفترة القادمة، كي لا يظن بعض اخواننا الاحباب الذي يرسلون رسائلهم الهادرة في وجهي انني من المتمسكين بأي شيء من المناصب
خالص المودة والاحترام
احمد معاذ الخطيب
10/3/2013
March 11th, 2013, 10:32 pm
Tara said:
Zoo, this is for you. Not really a bedtime story that I would like to share..
Again, I worry for you one of those days when you have a moment of truth with yourself.
—
Syria: the story behind one of the most shocking images of the war
http://interactive.guim.co.uk/2013/mar/aleppo-b/index.html
It is already one of the defining images of the Syrian civil war: a line of bodies at neatly spaced intervals lying on a river bed in the heart of Syria’s second city Aleppo. All 110 victims have been shot in the head, their hands bound with plastic ties behind their back. Their brutal execution only became apparent when the winter high waters of the Queiq river, which courses through the no man’s land between the opposition-held east of the city and the regime-held west, subsided in January.
It’s a picture that raises so many questions: who were these men? How did they die? Why?… A Guardian investigation has established a grisly narrative behind the worst – and most visible – massacre to have taken place here. All the men were from neighbourhoods in the eastern rebel-held part of Aleppo. Most were men of working age. Many disappeared at regime checkpoints. They may not be the last to be found
—
“Mohammed was going to the dentist in Jamilia and he was taken by the military. He was arrested because he was young and the military thought he was with the FSA.
“We knew where he was being held and his father went to see him but the military told him that he will be joining the army now. Several days later, his body ended up in the river “This is a dictator’s regime. They took that kid to join the army and then they killed him. This is because he was a Sunni. This war is obvious. This is a message from the Shia regime to the Sunnis.
“The image of my cousin was horrifying. His face was wrapped with nylon bag and with a tape to make sure he will be dead not only from the bullet but from suffocating. It is heart breaking. Killing Bashar and all of the shabiha won’t be enough revenge.”
—
Dealing with the dead in Aleppo has a medieval feel. Bodies dragged from the river in the days and weeks after the massacre were laid on footpaths outside the school yard, a simple plastic sheet covering the grey, shrivelling skin. The few who remained in Bustan al-Qasr walk past heads down, no longer stopping to look as they go about life in a city at war.
Some families asked the rebel unit to bury them on their behalf. Such a plea is highly unusual in this war. Here, like in conflicts elsewhere in the world, the final act of burial is akin to closure for grieving families. But, the request illustrated the depth of Aleppo’s divide and the desperate decisions that some families are being forced to make in order to maintain their incomes in a city where most commerce has ground to a halt. Little works in Aleppo anymore. Electricity has been dwindling for months and is now nearly non-existent. Rubbish is piled in football-field sized festering heaps. Even the flow of running water, potable from the tap, has slowed to a trickle.
All the relatives who requested that the rebels bury their relatives’ remains, without them being present, still worked in the west of the city. Some also lived there. Others had to cross from the east through checkpoints on most days.
—
In the days following the massacre, Syrian officials blamed ‘terrorist groups’ for the deaths. State television broadcast a ‘confession’ from an alleged member of Jabhat al-Nusra, the jihadist group that shares the worldview of the late al-Qa’ida leader, Osama bin Laden, which has become increasingly prominent on some of the battlefronts of Syria’s civil war, including Aleppo.
The confession was derided by every one of the 11 people interviewed by the Guardian as well as dozens of others that came and went from the Revolutionary Security centre during the week we were there. Jabhat al-Nusra members are visible on the streets of eastern Aleppo and play prominent roles in distributing food and aid to some communities.
They are distrusted by some rebel groups who vie with them for fighting honours and subsequent spoils of war. But they are feared by few on the rebel side.
“They’re not good guys,” said Amhed al-Sobhi, a hospital worker. “They don’t think like me, but they behave respectably. They do not kill civilians. You would have to be willfully blind to not know who did this massacre.”
“Jabhat al-Nusra won’t do such a horrible thing,” said Amer al-Ali. “No muslim can do such a thing but this regime can do it. You call us terrorists. Come and fight us face to face.
Sheikh Aurora was emphatic: “Jabhat Al-Nusra is more honest and noble than Bashar and his gang. They would not commit such a crime. It was Jabhat al-Nusra who provided people with food, shelter and clothes. Why would they give them with all of these things and then kill them?”
Read more….
March 11th, 2013, 10:34 pm
Tara said:
Dear Dolly,
Thank you.
March 11th, 2013, 10:38 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
A good article from Denver about Egypt
http://www.du.edu/korbel/middleeast/media/documents/Occasional-Paper-Calvert.pdf
March 11th, 2013, 10:42 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C6kpJB6pfMA
Fatima Khabbaz was killed by Assad thugs
March 11th, 2013, 11:01 pm
Basel said:
To all decent Syrians it’s THE time to answer the call of holy war defending our beloved Syria from the terrorist apes.
We all heard the Mufti and we all in for answering the call, labayk labayk labayk ya Bashar.
March 12th, 2013, 12:02 am
Ghufran said:
مبادرة النقاط العشرة
– أولاً: إلقاء السلاح من الجميع.. وسحب المسلحين والحواجز العسكرية من المدن والقرى وعدم إطلاق النار لأي سبب كان .. فالدم السوري حرام على السوري .. وليكن ذلك في الأول من شهر نيسان القادم .. شهر الربيع والجمال .. وأطلاق سراح جميع الأسرى والمعتقلين من السجون .. والمختطفين من كل الجهات . ويعتبر كل من سقط منذ بداية الأحداث شهيداً بغض النظر لانتمائه أو توجهه السياسي .. يشمل هذا الأمر كل ضحية سورية ..وتشكل لجنة الشهداء للحصول على التعويضات لكل عائلة شهيد .
ثانياً: الطلب من كل من هو ليس بسوري أو من في حكمه من المسلحين بمغادرة الأراضي السورية خلال إسبوع من وقف إطلاق النار .. وتعمل كل جهة على مسلحيها
ثالثاً : تشكيل لجنة وطنية خلال إسبوع واحد من وقف إطلاق النار للإشراف على تنفيذ المبادرة .. تتشكل هذه اللجنة من حكماء الوطن .. ويكون لديها الصلاحيات الكافية للتنفيذ ..
رابعاً: يمنع الخطف والإعتقال للسياسيين المعارضين أو المؤيدين مهما كان السبب
خامساً : إعلان واضح وصريح من الرئيس بشار الأسد ووعد منه بعدم الترشح للإنتخابات الرئاسية القادمة .. مع تحديد موعد لأنتخابات رئاسية مبكرة في الربع الأخير من هذا العام
سادساً: عودة جميع السوريين إلى ديارهم .. دون أية قيود
سابعاً : تشكيل لجنة وطنية للمصالحة الوطنية تشمل كل الإتجاهات
ثامناً: الإنتقال بسورية إلى دولة مدنية تتساوى فيها الحقوق والواجبات على كل السوريين خلال سنة من تاريخ التنفيذ ..
تاسعاً: خلال الفترة الإنتقالية ( سنة من تاريخ التنفيذ) تسلم صلاحيات رئاسة الجمهورية إلى لجنة وطنية مدنية وعسكرية .. وليس لهذه اللجنة الحق في الترشح لأي منصب في سورية الجديدة
عاشراً : تفصل الدولة نهائياً عن الأحزاب السياسية ويمنع الجيش من ممارسة السياسة ليكون جيشاً إحترافياً للدفاع عن حدود الوطن
March 12th, 2013, 12:07 am
Basel said:
حيدوا احنا الحزبية حيدوا
بشار اسد قبل الله بنعبدو
March 12th, 2013, 12:12 am
Basel said:
يحيا الرئيسُ الاسد للأبدْ
يحيا هو الفردُ الصمدْ
له صفاتُ ربنِّا
لكنهُ لهُ ولدْ.
الشعبُ لهُ
والحكمُ لهُ
وكُلُّنا لهُ سَجَدْ
March 12th, 2013, 12:14 am
MarigoldRan said:
I totally agree on your earlier comment on terrorists, Basel.
Regime supporters and other regime terrorists need to answer for their crimes.
March 12th, 2013, 12:15 am
Ghufran said:
القاهرة ـ لندن ‘القدس العربي’: قال الرئيس المصري السابق حسني مبارك ان المصريين يجب ان ‘يلتفوا’ حول الرئيس محمد مرسي وان ينهوا التظاهرات العنيفة، بحسب ما قال الاثنين محاميه فريد الديب.
Two objectives: looking like a state man, and earning Morsi’s support for a possible pardon for him and his sons.
( I think Basel is another mole)
March 12th, 2013, 12:16 am
Basel said:
اسألوا إبائي، اسألوا جدّي،
اسألوا نَسَبي، اسألوا الشموخَ،
اسألوا للواحدِ الأحدِ،
اسألوا ما شئتم:
فأنا البعثُ ديني
وربي بشارُ الأسدِ
“حَلَّكْ يا ألله حَلَّكْ، تحط الأسد مَحَلَّكْ”
الرب الاسد حامي المسيح و المسيحين من شذاذ الآفاق و عبدة ابن الوهاب
March 12th, 2013, 12:19 am
Basel said:
شو يعني Mole?
mole, mo·le
/mōl/, /ˈmōlā/
A highly spiced Mexican sauce made chiefly from chili peppers and chocolate, served with meat.
ما فهمت?
March 12th, 2013, 12:22 am
ghufran said:
A Ukrainian journalist taken hostage by a faction of Syrian rebels in October escaped from her captors Monday, according to a Russian media report.
The rebels had demanded a $50 million ransom from the Ukrainian government for Ankhar Kochneva’s release, the Russian state-run RIA Novosti reported.
“I thought they would have killed me eventually and would say that it was the army who did it,” Kochneva told Russian radio website BFM.ru on Monday. “So I made a decision to escape. I simply came to the street and (left) and maybe in 15 kilometers I met normal people who helped me to get to the army’s side.”
Her ordeal as a captive took a toll on her health, Kochneva said. “I lost about 30 kilograms,” or 66 pounds. “My health condition is very bad because they didn’t treat me at all. I spent the whole winter in a room with a broken window. When the snow fell it was in the room, too, and on the ceiling. It’s a miracle that I didn’t become seriously
(CNN)
March 12th, 2013, 12:44 am
ghufran said:
liberating Damascus with one mortar at a time:
سقطت قذيفتا هاون في منطقة باب شرقي بدمشق أسفرتا عن استشهاد وإصابة عدد من المواطنين ووقوع أضرار مادية في المكان.
وذكر مصدر في قيادة الشرطة أن قذيفة هاون سقطت خلف أحد المحلات التجارية على طريق الدويلعة وأسفرت عن استشهاد ثلاثة مواطنين وإصابة 28 آخرين.
وأشار المصدر إلى أن قذيفة هاون ثانية سقطت في حارة المسك في باب شرقي على أحد المنازل متسببة بأضرار مادية في المكان دون وقوع إصابات
كما سقطت قذيفة هاون أخرى على ملعب تشرين أثناء مباراة بكرة القدم بين فريقي ناديي مصفاة بانياس وأمية ما أدى إلى وقوع عدد من الإصابات بين اللاعبين والإداريين وحكم الاحتياط.
March 12th, 2013, 1:07 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
133. BASEL
“We all heard the Mufti and we all in for answering the call, labayk labayk labayk ya Bashar.”
It’s crazy in Damascus.
It’s a parallel universe
All the cops are cutthroats.
It only can get worse.
The al-Assads are werewolves
Maher’s a bombardier.
Asma’s locked in a tower.
She stares into a mirror.
The Parliament’s a dumb show.
The Prime Minister’s a chump.
The Grand Mufti’s a hunchback.
The Mosque’s an ammo dump
March 12th, 2013, 2:52 am
Juergen said:
Hasnain Kazim, a DER SPIEGEL correspondent in Pakistan wrote this on his facebookpage:
Today I received an email saying that Christians in Pakistan deserve getting their houses burnt since “Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and in so many other countries are being butchered by Christians”. Yesterday somebody wrote that Shias deserve to be massacred since they are “misleading from the true path of Islam”. And some weeks ago somebody wrote that Ahmadis deserve to be persecuted and killed “as they are no Muslims”. To all these writers I have a humble request: Please fuck off. I am sick of this kind of mindset. And to those who say: These are only uneducated people, nothing to worry about, I say: It doesn’t need education to understand that one doesn’t kill people, one doesn’t burn houses. To understand this it only needs a brain. These people are not uneducated, they are brainless.
March 12th, 2013, 2:53 am
Azrobaal Naser said:
إللى الجميع،
حاولنا أمس أن نرى عبر تعليق يوصف الحالة السياسة التحريرية لهذا الموقع الذي كنت ومجموعة كبير من الأصدقاء نعتبره منبر لتداول الأراء بواسع اطيافها التعليق حذف ولم ينشر وكالعادة بالأيام الأخيرة عني الموقع بنشر الأفكار المتطرفة والتركيز عليها باستثناء القليل ولذلك أعتقد أن أهداف الموقع لا تختلف كثيرا عن برنامج الاتجاه المعاكس الذي يهدف للتهييج وزيادة الحركة على الموقع وليس تبيان الأمور على ما هي عليه
موقع يعنى بصنع الحقائق لا توصيفها ولذلك اسقط صفة الأكاديمية عنه أنا ومن يشابهني( مجموعة من 25 شخص رغبنا أن نجرب وأخذنا النتيجة ولنرى مصير هذا التعليق
March 12th, 2013, 3:01 am
Juergen said:
German rebel fighter sends videomessage in German
An disturbing video made headlines these days in Germany. A men who used to live in Kassel ( famous for the art exhibition documenta) has send an eiry message to German islamists. Hayan was severly injured in the fights with the SAA, lost one leg and continue to fight in a wheelchair. ( see from minute 2:02)
He calls for his brothers to join the “jihad” in Syria.
http://www.spiegel.de/video/salafist-aus-deutschland-ruft-in-syrien-zum-heiligen-krieg-auf-video-1259381.html
March 12th, 2013, 3:04 am
Juergen said:
interesting report of the danish tv, shows an empty Yusuf al Azmeh square with barricades and an empty national museum as an precaution for an Bagdad scenario.
http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/video/index/id/65097458/
March 12th, 2013, 3:19 am
Juergen said:
Dan Snow report: A history of Syria BBC
March 12th, 2013, 3:47 am
Mina said:
Juergen 145
You’re lucky he didn’t add that after reading your posts on SC 2 years ago he felt he really had to go!
March 12th, 2013, 6:13 am
Citizen said:
Obama is willing to do anything in exchange for the submission half Syrian Arab Army field commanders … Frente al Nusra (Syrian Al Qaeda)
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fanna-news.info%2Fnode%2F10190
http://www.understandingwar.org/press-media/graphsandstat/graphic-syrian-military-command-structure
March 12th, 2013, 6:55 am
Syrialover said:
Moaz al-Khatib is being let down in a very simple way that makes me angry.
It’s being pointed out on Twitter – and I agree – that Moaz is being very poorly served and unsupported by those who should be responsible for translating and disseminating his statements.
For example, that very significant letter of his that was recently leaked should have been professionally translated and placed on his Facebook page. And other official Coalition stuff that’s been put into English has grammatical errors, left out words, poor choice of terms etc.
So if there is anybody out there who has the contacts and capabilities to do anything about this, please for the sake of Syria see if you can crack through whatever (or whoever) is blocking the way in his team and help get the game lifted there URGENTLY.
He deserves better. He’s doing his part and shining through very well. But others in his support team sure don’t seem to be.
COMMENT: This is a sharp, shaming kick in the pants for all those highly educated and multilingual members of the Opposition who instead of assisting are too busy egotistically wasting space and muddying the waters.
March 12th, 2013, 8:00 am
zoo said:
Tara
Now Al Nusra terrorists are the good and ‘clean’ angels of this revolution, just like the Talibans were in Afghanistan.
Welcome to al Nusra fan club.
March 12th, 2013, 8:14 am
zoo said:
Erdogan in the hospital for a …. cold? or is it the colon again?
Turkish PM taken to hospital due to health issues
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-pm-taken-to-hospital-due-to-health-issues-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=42808&NewsCatID=338
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was taken to Ankara’s Atatürk Hospital after cancelling his program today, including a parliamentary group meeting due to health issues.
…
Anatolia news agency had earlier reported that Erdoğan had caught a cold and would therefore rest at home,
March 12th, 2013, 8:21 am
zoo said:
Another senile has his heart ‘broken’ and call for Arab to unite against… Syria
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/israels-peres-urges-syria-intervention-by-arab-force.aspx?pageID=238&nID=42818&NewsCatID=352
Peres said that to end the violence “the United Nations should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets.” The free world “cannot stand by when a massacre is carried out by the Syrian president against his own people and his own children,” Peres said.
“It breaks all our hearts.”
March 12th, 2013, 8:26 am
zoo said:
Altair
Ibrahimi can’t broker any deal. He is not welcomed neither in Syria nor with the FSA, nor the expats op. No one wants to meet him.
He can go on crying and complaining but he is useless.
March 12th, 2013, 8:30 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
Those were not my words. Those were Aleppines’ words. And supposedly Aleppo was pro regime? How come the Guardian’s journalists did not manage to interview any pro regime? Is there none? In any case, I am glad you are ok. I worry.
March 12th, 2013, 8:33 am
zoo said:
#155 Tara
The Guardian and many UK journalists are clearly biased against the Syrian government, the same way their government is.
They rather cover the “glorious” actions of the rebels rather than the ones of the Syrian army. If occasionally they cover the other point of view it is just to appear impartial.
The more they are biased, the less credible they become for me.
France24 that was very anti-regime seem to have become surprisingly more more measured recently. Is it the Mali effect and the realities of Islamist terrorism that is hitting them?
March 12th, 2013, 8:48 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
So what do you think of Hassoun calling for Jihad? I interpreted it as a sign of deep deep desperation. The regime is clearly missing on the principals of psychological war. It is an implicit declaration that they are lacking on men to fight for them.
March 12th, 2013, 8:55 am
Ghat Al Bird said:
Simon Perez proposes a solution:-
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday called for Arab League intervention in Syria to “stop the massacre.”
The Arab League “can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre, to prevent Syria from falling to pieces,” he told the European Parliament.
“The United Nations should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets.” The intervention of Western forces “would be perceived as a foreign interference,” Peres said in the first speech to the assembly by an Israeli head of state in almost three decades.
March 12th, 2013, 9:12 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
REVENIRE,
You are pathetic like all the Assad guys. So useless and corrupt, you believe you are worth something when you are inside Assad´s Syria and you realize you are nothing out of Assad. You do not deserve even a word. You will get what you deserve.
March 12th, 2013, 9:23 am
revenire said:
Sandro Not Syrian – If you want to talk about corruption talk about expats who believe BEHEADING PEOPLE WILL BRING SYRIA FREEDOM.
Nothing could be more corrupt. Nothing could be more depraved.
March 12th, 2013, 9:38 am
Syria (Rebel Destruction of Holy Sites) (Against Political Theology) | jewish philosophy place said:
[…] article by Matthew Barber explaining the shift in thinking at Syria Comment, a blog run by Joshua Landis, for which and for […]
March 12th, 2013, 9:43 am
zoo said:
#157 Tara
I don’t think it is despair. I think he is very worried that the Salafists and the extremists are deviating the Sunnis toward these extreme ideologies. That’s the problem with Sunnis, they have a variety of ideologies often enemies of each other. The average Sunni could be drawn to any depending on his/her immediate needs and the influences around him.
Al Nusra is now trying to win the hearts and minds of the empoverished Syrians by bringing bread and claiming to have ‘pure’ intentions and guided by God.
They hope that these sunnis will then adhere more easily to their ideologies.
That’s what the Mufti is opposed to and he is trying all the means available to him to counter that influence.
The recruitment of Al Qaeda’s ideology is growing in Syria. In Raqqa and some North Syria towns they already have Sharia based religious judicial courts. Alcohol is forbidden and women covered. No one knows where this is leading if left unchecked.
I don’t blame the mufti to try to stop that. He is a moderate like most educated Sunnis are and refuses to see the country turning into an extremist brand of Sunnism. He is calling to join the ‘moderate Islam’ that the Syrian army represents.
March 12th, 2013, 9:44 am
revenire said:
Shimon Peres? Ha ha. You’re kidding right? This is a solution? To have the cowards in the Arab League (Arab in name only) intervene? Ha ha.
Syria is the only Arab nation left. The ONLY Arab nation. All others have sold their souls to the devil.
March 12th, 2013, 9:46 am
revenire said:
“157. TARA said:
Zoo,
So what do you think of Hassoun calling for Jihad? I interpreted it as a sign of deep deep desperation. The regime is clearly missing on the principals of psychological war. It is an implicit declaration that they are lacking on men to fight for them.”
Tara with you I already know what you’re going to say before you say it. You’re a hateful broken old record playing the same Song of Death each day.
Go to Syria and fight with your rat brothers Tara.
Then I might take you seriously.
March 12th, 2013, 9:48 am
Hanzala said:
Liwa al Tawheed of Aleppo and Jabhat al Nusra have finally arrived in Homs…
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/s480x480/67340_532423283468956_1220966194_n.jpg
March 12th, 2013, 9:48 am
Tara said:
Reve,
I am not interested in your opinion. If I was, I would’ve asked you directly. How hard is that to understand.? Please do not inject yourself in conversations.
March 12th, 2013, 9:56 am
revenire said:
Tara this is a PUBLIC COMMENT forum. If you want private conversations have them elsewhere princess.
You are full of hatred and bile toward Syrians.
For those keeping track most of the deaths/murder of government supporters (normal Syrians) are Sunni (this includes many Sunni children of soldiers being murdered by Libyan rats).
March 12th, 2013, 10:23 am
Tara said:
Reve,
Then express an opinion, not just retarded comments. Take a moment and read all your comments then find us one solo single opinion or thought. You will find none.
March 12th, 2013, 10:33 am
zoo said:
Israel’s Peres delivers historic EU speech
I hope it’ll be his last
I’d rather hear Ariel Sharon’s snoring that the rantings of this vicious, hypocrite and senile old zionist.
March 12th, 2013, 10:36 am
revenire said:
Tara as you typed that out Libyan rat-terrorists bringing “freedom” to Syria just murdered a nine year old Sunni girl because her father is in the army and supports and loves President Assad.
March 12th, 2013, 10:45 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Question
Would forming a goverment by the opposition guarantees that they can get more specific weapons?
March 12th, 2013, 10:45 am
ghufran said:
Some of you are acting like teenagers with rage problem throwing fits and screaming online while most Syrians are just trying to stay alive or find basic necessities to feed their kids, why do not spare us all of that garbage and send a buck or two to help the needy !!
you know how bad things are in Syria when Israel’s president asks the AL to intervene to stop the blood shed, the AL is now a tool in the hands of the GCC with some members having warm relations with Israel and most members hosting NATO military bases:
ستراسبورغ- (ا ف ب): دعا الرئيس الاسرائيلي شيمون بيريز الثلاثاء الى تدخل قوة تابعة للجامعة العربية في سوريا “لوقف المجزرة” في هذا البلد وتجنب انهياره.
وقال بيريز في خطاب أمام البرلمان الاوروبي في ستراسبورغ هو الاول لرئيس اسرائيلي منذ ثلاثة عقود تقريبا ان “الجامعة العربية قادرة ويجب ان تشكل حكومة موقتة في سوريا لوقف المجزرة ومنع سوريا من الانفجار. وعلى الامم المتحدة ان تدعم قوة حفظ سلام عربية”.
واضاف بيريز وسط تصفيق كثيف من غالبية النواب الحاضرين عند انتهاء خطابه “لا يمكننا البقاء مكتوفي الايدي فيما الرئيس السوري (بشار الاسد) يقتل شعبه واطفاله”.
March 12th, 2013, 10:45 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
I just have no respect to any so called religious figures aligned to the government. They are all corrupt and have no independent opinion. Too much calling him a moderate threatening the west to unleash suicide terrorists. Remember?
If I was Batta, I ‘d fire Hassoun and Buti and instead hire myself some real respected religious figure to try to amend relations. But Batta is not that smart..
March 12th, 2013, 10:46 am
ghufran said:
Some of you are acting like teenagers with rage problem throwing fits and screaming online while most Syrians are just trying to stay alive or find basic necessities to feed their kids, why do not spare us all of that garbage and send a buck or two to help the needy !!
you know how bad things are in Syria when Israel’s president asks the AL to intervene to stop the blood shed, the AL is now a tool in the hands of the GCC with some members having warm relations with Israel and most members hosting NATO military bases:
ستراسبورغ- (ا ف ب): دعا الرئيس الاسرائيلي شيمون بيريز الثلاثاء الى تدخل قوة تابعة للجامعة العربية في سوريا “لوقف المجزرة” في هذا البلد وتجنب انهياره.
وقال بيريز في خطاب أمام البرلمان الاوروبي في ستراسبورغ هو الاول لرئيس اسرائيلي منذ ثلاثة عقود تقريبا ان “الجامعة العربية قادرة ويجب ان تشكل حكومة موقتة في سوريا لوقف المجزرة ومنع سوريا من الانفجار. وعلى الامم المتحدة ان تدعم قوة حفظ سلام عربية”.
واضاف بيريز وسط تصفيق كثيف من غالبية النواب الحاضرين عند انتهاء خطابه “لا يمكننا البقاء مكتوفي الايدي فيما الرئيس السوري (بشار الاسد) يقتل شعبه واطفاله”.
March 12th, 2013, 10:53 am
majedkhaldoun said:
I believe that Mr.M.Khatib is a good person, but he is a temporary leader,he is here for political maneuvering, he should not be serious about having political dialogue with the regime, only military solution will oust Assad,and Mr.Khatib in the future ,as the FSA gains more, he has to resign and be replaced by a military leader.
In my previous comment(still in moderation) I asked would forming a goverment now guarantees delivery of more and specific weapons to the oppostion,if yes then I am for forming Goverment now,and Mr. Khatib must resign.
March 12th, 2013, 11:11 am
zoo said:
#172 Tara
Obviously you did not read the content of my post and my logical explanations as it seems that for you everything in Syria turns exclusively around Bashar al Assad.
I wonder why you are asking me questions if you don’t even read the answer and you refute it by going back eternally to your manic obsession.
I got my lesson.
March 12th, 2013, 11:20 am
apple_mini said:
Tartus: an explosive device has been exploded by armed men on the subway of Baniyas near Margat castle.
I was not able to understand why the rebels decided to assault Tartus. It does not make sense: they won’t be able to make any military gain since they have absolutely no sustainable support in Tartus. The SAA can easily swallow them.
Also it is somehow against their claim to protect civilians. Civilians in Tartus have not seen any violence so an explosion was a reminder to them?
Then I remember some posters here on SC encouraged the rebels to fire their newly acquired long range “missiles” towards Tartus.
Then you realize this kind of action by rebels serves one purpose: inflict death and damage to Syrians who are most likely supporters of the regime. Terrorize them, massacre them. Those rebels want blood from those Syrians for revenge. I don’t believe those rebels even consider those Syrians as Syrian.
March 12th, 2013, 11:28 am
zoo said:
Majed
So Al Khatib has become disposable…
March 12th, 2013, 11:28 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
Sorry I do not find your calling Hassoun a moderate being logical. Threatening to unleash suocide bomber in the west is not moderate. Additionally, he is not doing anything on his own, he does what he is told. He was ordered to call for jihad by his masters who in my opinion going desperate.
I got my lesson too. Sorry that I asked.
March 12th, 2013, 11:30 am
AIG said:
Peres is a great man and we should all be lucky to accomplish in our life time 1/10 of what he accomplished in his. He did great things for Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimon_Peres
Syria would have been a very different place if it had great leaders like Shimon Peres.
What Peres is saying makes a lot of sense. The Lebanese civil war ended after 15 bloody years when the Syrian army entered Lebanon. In the same way, the Syrian civil war could end, if an Arab army would take the reigns. Any other intervention would be rejected.
March 12th, 2013, 11:31 am
zoo said:
#176 Apple_mini
This is the strategy of losers desperate to get some satisfaction to their frustrated egos . They throw mortars and put bombs just anywhere, blindly kill innocent civilians in order to create a climate of terror.
These are nothing by terrorists and the only answer is to crush them ruthlessly.
March 12th, 2013, 11:33 am
AIG said:
GHUFRAN,
How many wars do you want to fight at the same time? Do you want to take on the US, the Gulf Arabs, Israel, the jihadists and the regime at the same time?
Sometimes you have no good choices. So make the least bad choice from your point of view. I’d be interested to know what conclusion you come up with.
March 12th, 2013, 11:36 am
AIG said:
Zoo,
It is so amusing to me that regime supporters are condemning terror attacks when not so long ago they were not only happy that there were terror attacks against Israeli citizens, they were proud of Assad actually funding and hosting the terrorists.
What changed your mind or do you think Israeli civilians are different from Syrian ones? Is terror justified only against Israelis? I have asked you this question many times. You always run away from answering.
March 12th, 2013, 11:40 am
zoo said:
It is obvious that Peres has earphone in his ear dictating him what to say. When Erdogan treated him of murderer in Davos, he did not react as this was not planned and the guy dictating him in the ear did not know what to say.
I prefer another ‘great’ man’s comatose snoring. At least it comes directly from him.
Peres has been elected as a president only because he is too old and impotent to rape his secretaries like the previous president did.
March 12th, 2013, 11:47 am
zoo said:
Call to War: German-Language Video Promotes ‘Jihad’ in Syria
By Jörg Diehl
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-language-propaganda-video-calls-for-holy-war-in-syria-a-888394.html#ref=rss
A disturbing video has emerged on the Internet showing a radical Islamist rebel in Syria speaking to the camera in German. The man, who authorities say lived in the German city of Kassel for years, calls on Muslim viewers to come to Syria and wage a “holy war” against the government.
The man in the video wears a full black beard and sits in a wheelchair. His right leg had to be amputated because of a serious injury, but his comrades still push him to the front lines of the battle. Wearing a camouflage jacket, he positions himself behind a wall of sandbags and opens fire with a Russian-made machine gun.
The man is named Hajan M., a 38-year-old Syrian father of two who for several years lived in the central German city of Kassel. He’s now fighting on the side of the rebels in Syria, and he appears in several videos filmed in the war zone calling other radicals to join a “jihad,” or holy war — in German. The video, which circulated over the Internet and parts of which will be broadcast on German public broadcaster NDR on Tuesday evening, casts a light on the alarming presence of German extremists in the Middle East.
..
An internal paper produced by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) states that German security authorities believe there are about 900 people with “Islamist-terrorist potential” in the country. Additionally, 250 of these men are said to have completed paramilitary training abroad. The paper concludes that from those ranks could emerge “individuals or small groups … who could see themselves as obliged to commit religiously motivated, violent acts of revenge — even when not given a mission by a terrorist organization.”
March 12th, 2013, 11:58 am
AIG said:
Zoo,
We each get the leaders we deserve. Have fun with yours. In the end, the results speak for themselves loud and clear. Israel is where it is and Syria is where it is because of the difference in capabilities of the leaders we each have.
And I am still waiting for the answer about you liking terror directed at Israeli citizens.
March 12th, 2013, 12:08 pm
zoo said:
In Homs, the Syrian army is gaining ground in Khalidiyah, one of the few areas still in the rebels hand.
As a diversion, the rebels have infiltrated Baba Amr at night but are being pushed back.
The media prefer to avoid reporting the advances of the Syrian army in Khalidiya and keep repeating the old news of Baba Amr.
As we know, the only source of the anti-Syria media are the “activists”.
March 12th, 2013, 12:09 pm
AIG said:
How long has the regime’s militia been trying to take Homs? Almost a year? What have they got to show for it except a flat city? And while they concentrate unsuccessfully on Homs, they lose Raqqa.
There is no way regime supporters can win. The most they can get is a stalemate in which they constantly face jihadists and mortar fire into their strongholds while all the while being under sanctions and economic strangulation. Have fun Zoo.
March 12th, 2013, 12:14 pm
zoo said:
Sheikh Naim Qassem: I believe Bashar Al Assad “will be the people’s choice” in 2014
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/3/13/worldupdates/fearful-syrian-voters-will-keep-assad-in-power-qassem&sec=Worldupdates
BEIRUT (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad is likely to run for re-election next year and win, with Syria remaining in military and political deadlock until then, said the deputy leader of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group
Sheikh Naim Qassem, who predicted a year ago that Assad would not be dislodged from power, said the Syrian leader would win a vote because his supporters understood that their communities’ very existence depended on him.
“I believe that in a year’s time he will stand for the presidency. It will be the people’s choice, and I believe the people will choose him,” said the bearded, turban-wearing Shi’ite cleric, speaking carefully and deliberately.
“The crisis in Syria is prolonged, and the West and the international community have been surprised by the degree of steadfastness and popularity of the regime.”
Citing rifts among Assad’s foes inside and outside Syria, as well as disagreements among world powers over Assad’s future, Qassem said any talk of political solutions was futile for now.
“It will take at least three or four months” for any such solution, he said in a meeting with Reuters editors. “Maybe things will continue until 2014 and the presidential election.”
March 12th, 2013, 12:51 pm
Uzair8 said:
Oh no! After the regime declared Jihad, the revolution is doomed if JN switches sides.
March 12th, 2013, 12:57 pm
zoo said:
A well paid and bloody job for Sandro Loewe. It fits him very well, just read his comments.
I’ll support his application.
Saudi Arabia may end execution by beheading as it runs short of swordsmen
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/9922321/Saudi-Arabia-may-end-execution-by-beheading-as-it-runs-short-of-swordsmen.html
March 12th, 2013, 12:57 pm
Citizen said:
187. AIG
How long has the regime’s militia been trying to take Homs?
How long has the Israeli racial militia(IDF) been trying to takeGazza?
http://youtu.be/UVY4NUKowzg?t=6s
Do you remember how it formed a militia (IDF)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHiQpFt_kqg&feature=player_embedded
so you can shut-up!
March 12th, 2013, 1:01 pm
zoo said:
According to the JL poll, 65% of the SC commenters believe that Bashar Al Assad will still be in control of Damascus in June 2013…
What about in 2014?
March 12th, 2013, 1:10 pm
Uzair8 said:
Being serious, you can see the regime and it’s supporters are terrified of JN and the Islamist fighters. You can see it in official statements and SC comments.
The regime will feel it has a chance against ordinary rebels to draw out the conflict and establish stalemates. Neither side prepared to take greater risks or make greater sacrifices.
JN and the more Islamist groups are a game changer. With their willingness to take greater risks (and sacrifices) they can overturn stalemates and force the issue. Regime forces are reluctantly drawn into engagement. Regime forces reluctantly fighting don’t have much chance against keen and highly motivated opponents.
That’s why we see regime and it’s supporters publicly complaining and moaning about the situation. It’s a sign of helplessness. A cry for help (perhaps in the hope the west will come to the rescue). It’s surprising to see a usually stoic and authoritarian (arrogant) regime exhibiting fear and weakness.
March 12th, 2013, 1:15 pm
Uzair8 said:
#147 Juergen
Thanks for the video of the BBC documentary.
March 12th, 2013, 1:18 pm
mjabali said:
Uzair
being serious, why don’t you go and fight in Syria? I have asked this before and you confessed into being a coward and do not have the stomach for a fight.
Dude you are a lunatic: I am serious.
March 12th, 2013, 1:20 pm
zoo said:
The Syrian governments seem to clear the way for the Kurds to control the North East of Syria. That may pit the Kurds against the Islamists and the Turks to control the oil fields
Syrian Kurds Bank on Big Oil Reserves
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-kurds-bank-big-oil-reserves
In the meantime, reports have been leaked indicating that the Syrian regime may be planning a withdrawal from the northeastern city of Qamishli sometime in March.
According to these reports, the Kurdish militias are preparing to take control of Qamishli, considered to be the center of Syria’s Kurdish population both demographically and politically.
This explains why the YPG has their sights set on the airport, as the Kurdish militia is planning to impose control over what it calls “Western Kurdistan.”
It is worth noting that the Syrian regime considers Qamishli’s airport a significant military asset. This explains why the YPG has their sights set on the airport, as the Kurdish militia is planning to impose control over what it calls “Western Kurdistan.”
..
The Turkish government is closely monitoring these developments. Ankara is apprehensive about Kurdish “self-rule” in Syria, a concern that is further fueled by the fact that Kurds control nearly all the country’s oil fields.
…
In the same vein, some believe that if Syrian Kurds manage to obtain autonomy, they may be able to develop “a kind of independence similar to Iraq.”
Other observers believe these developments will mean that the Kurds will have de facto control over the majority of oil fields in Syria. This, they say, may prove to be one of the biggest sources of dispute between Arabs and Kurds in the “new Syria.”
March 12th, 2013, 1:33 pm
Tara said:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/world/middleeast/islamic-state-of-iraq-says-it-killed-syrian-soldiers.html
The decree is notable because it suggests that Mr. Assad’s armed forces are in need of more recruits and may begin to strictly enforce compulsory service laws for the first time since the conflict began.
It also appeared to be a call to jihad — a marked departure for Mr. Assad, who has always sought to portray himself as secular and tolerant. He has often denounced the Sunni extremist calls to jihad against him propagated by some elements of the insurgency.
Sheik Hassoun issued the decree in a statement by the Dar al-Ifta Council, the highest official Muslim body in Syria linked to the government. It was read on Syrian television news on Sunday evening, sprinkled with some of the same fevered jihadist language used by Sunni insurgents to recruit more fighters. Sheik Hassoun repeated the same ideas in interviews on Syrian television and the official SANA news agency.
“Today we are fighting on several fronts,” said Sheik Hassoun, whose own son was ambushed and killed by Syrian insurgents in October 2011. “Against our cousins who have betrayed us and some sons of this nation who have been brainwashed and whose identities have been wiped and who are sitting with the French, British, Americans, asking them for weapons to destroy and dismantle Syria and to tear the Muslim and Arab world apart.”
Apparently referring to the Sunni Arab nations supporting the insurgents, notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar, he said that “targeting Syria, the land of divine messages, is basically targeting the Arab and Islamic nation.”
Syrian social media traffic surged in reaction to Sheik Hassoun’s decree, especially from young men in Syria who expressed concern they would now be seized at checkpoints and made to enlist. One antigovernment group posted an altered picture on Facebook of a Syrian television news anchorwoman on a pro-government channel wearing a hijab with a caption joking that it was her “new garment after the mufti’s call for jihad.”
(…)
March 12th, 2013, 1:36 pm
zoo said:
A puppets meeting in the snake pit.
Egypt President Mohamed Morsi will attend the 24th Arab League Summit, expected to take place in Doha, Qatar on 26 and 27 of March.
March 12th, 2013, 1:39 pm
zoo said:
It’s so funny to see the media looking for any sign of weakness of the Syrian army.
We had the wave of ‘massive’ defections of soldiers, then France’s announcement of “massive” defections of officials while all the experts keep repeating that the Syrian Army is strong and united and the armed rebels are weak, polluted and divided.
Now that an important religious man, worried by the ‘brainwashing’ of Sunnis by the Islamists extremists gives a warning and call the young Sunnis to move away from these extremists and rally the Syrian army, symbol of the country religious moderation and unity, the media rushes to interpret it the Syrian’s army ‘weakness’
As with the other rumors, interpretations and predictions, this one will fall flat too.
March 12th, 2013, 1:54 pm
AIG said:
Yes, the Syrian regime militia is so strong it cannot hold on to Raqqa, most of the north, Aleppo, certain suburbs of Damascus etc. etc. You know, people look at the actual facts on the ground instead of reading Al-Watan or Tishreen.
March 12th, 2013, 1:57 pm
zoo said:
That’s a long overdue change of position: no more ‘evil’ against ‘good’? The FSA is ‘shocked’ by the report that they are not good “angels” either.
U.N.: Both Syrian rebels and government forces guilty
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/12/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html
(CNN) — The Syrian war has never been a simple fight between good rebels and evil government forces, and the United Nations has said so several times in the past.
But this week, U.N. investigators released a particularly detailed and horrific report that slams both sides, accusing rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad of murder, rape, torture and forced disappearances.
Government forces and the rebels have violated international humanitarian law in the two-year war, said Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria.
“The war displays all the signs of a destructive stalemate,” he told the U.N. Security Council this week.
“If the national, regional, and international actors fail to find a solution to the conflict and stop the agony of millions of civilians,” Pinheiro warned, “the alternative will be the political, economic and social destruction of Syria and its society
March 12th, 2013, 1:59 pm
revenire said:
RAT STATS DIRECT FROM THE FRONT IN DAMASCUS
http://syrianperspective.blogspot.com/2013/03/first-post-march-12-2013-hard-news-and_12.html
DAMASCUS:
Jawbar is completely surrounded. Monzer confirms what he saw. This is the last stand of the FSA and its Al-Qaeda allies. There are no more safe-houses or tunnels. At the Communications Building, the SAA destroyed 2 motorcycles carrying ordnance and drugs. The following 2 vermin:
Bassam Bakkour (a known RPG expert)
Salman Abdul-Fattah Al-Samman
At Daraayya, 2 snipers from the Jabhat Al-Nusra were killed as they tried moving through destroyed buildings:
Tareq Bilal Faisal
The other is unidentified.
At Douma, clever operations caught these apes sleeping on the job:
Aamer Al-Maghribi
Ali “Dani” Mahmoud
Wissam Al-Masri
Samir Marjaana
Abdul-Hafizh Ghaali
At Zamalka’s West Entrance, the SAA wiped out a unit of apes:
Abdul-Malik Muhammad Al-Wari’
Sa’adoon Ali Mubaaraz
7 others are still unidentified.
At Harasta, Hujayra and Bahdaliyya, 16 rats were killed. 8 alone were killed in the latter. Rat-stats available tomorrow.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION, AL-SIYAASA NEWSPAPER OF KUWAIT, HAS PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE THAT CLAIMS 80 SAUDI APES HAVE BEEN KILLED IN SYRIA SO FAR. IT ALSO CLAIMS THAT 39 KUWAITI HYENAS HAVE LOST THEIR STINKING LIVES IN SYRIA. THE ONLY NAME I HAVE SO FAR IS FOR A KUWAITI, KHALED HAADI AL-DIHAANI WHO WAS KILLED IN DAYR EL-ZOR LEADING A PACK OF ISLAMIST GARBAGE. 9 OF THE 39 CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED BECAUSE THEIR BODIES WERE TORN TO SHREDS BY OUR ARTILLERY. (YAWN) BOO HOO HOO.
March 12th, 2013, 2:00 pm
annie said:
http://youtu.be/mom6ZBMrcEM
March 12th, 2013, 2:14 pm
zoo said:
As they despise Hassoun, is there any respected moderate Syrian religious leader that the anti-regime Sunnis respect and follow?
We know only Al Khatib but he is a preacher and nobody considers him to be a religious leader.
It seems that the only vocal anti-regime religious leaders are foreign Salafists or Wahhabi sheikhs.
The opposition is an arrested development embryo: No political leader, no military leader and no religious leader.
How can it hope to succeed.
March 12th, 2013, 2:16 pm
Jasmine said:
While the Syrian women are raped and forced into prostitution in the refugee camps,this is how the Saudi princesses spend their spare time.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9915485/Saudi-princess-who-fled-5-million-Paris-hotel-bill-to-have-assets-seized.html
March 12th, 2013, 2:27 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo said
is there any respected moderate Syrian religious leader that the anti-regime Sunnis respect and follow
Zoo there are many, how about Ziad Ayyoubi,previous minister of Awqaf?
March 12th, 2013, 2:37 pm
revenire said:
Hassoun is a legend, a Syrian hero.
March 12th, 2013, 2:45 pm
Uzair8 said:
A response to Mufti Hassoun. Posted yesterday:
=============
Reply to the Mufti of the Syrian regime d. Ahmad Hassoun
Announcement general alarm to overthrow the regime
(An earlier statement, we enacted a year ago)
Sheikh Yacoubi calls to arms and general alarm
(28 February 2012)
الرد على مفتي النظام السوري د. أحمد حسون
إعلان النفير العام لإسقاط النظام
(بيان سابق كنا أصدرناه قبل سنة من الآن)
الشيخ اليعقوبي يدعو إلى حمل السلاح والنفير العام
(٢٨ شباط ٢٠١٢)
أصدر الداعية السوري الشيخ محمد أبو الهدى اليعقوبي فتوى يدعو فيها إلى حمل السلاح والنفير العام والتطوع في الجيش الحر.
ووجه نداءه إلى أهل دمشق وحلب للانضمام إلى الثورة، ودعا الخطباء إلى إعلان النفير العام والثورة وصلاة الغائب في خطبة الجمعة لقادمة. وحث الديبلوماسيين والسياسيين على الانشقاق.
ويذكر أن الشيخ اليعقوبي مدرس سابق في الجامع الأموي وخطيب عزل عن الخطابة ومنع من التدريس بسبب دعمه للثورة من بداياتها، فاضطر بعد ملاحقته للخروج وأصدر فتواه الشهيرة في برنامج الشريعة والحياة بوجوب إسقاط النظام، وهي أول فتوى صدرت من عالم من الداخل بوجوب إسقاط النظام.
وهذا هو نص البيان:
يا أبناء الشعب في سورية!
إن النظام يرتكب مذابح جديدة كل يوم في حمص وغيرها من المدن المحاصرة، وقد وصل الأمر إلى درجة لا يجوز معها السكوت ولا القعود.
:اقرأ المزيد
https://www.facebook.com/ShaykhMuhammadAbulhudaAlYaqoubi/posts/281516185312471
March 12th, 2013, 2:46 pm
Tara said:
Damage control to compensate for Hassoun’s calling for jihad reflecting the regime despair?
Syria says ready to fight rebels ‘for years’
By AFP | AFP
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/syria-rebels-army-locked-combat-homs-damascus-084550844.html
Syria said Tuesday it is ready to fight “for years” against rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad, as the UN warned a generation of children risked being lost in the spiralling violence.
…
Pro-government daily Al-Watan said the army was “in perfect condition” to defend Syria, but stressed citizens could also join in the battle, echoing a call made by the country’s top religious authority.
“Soldiers and officers have been fighting for two years with a courage and bravery unparalleled in world history, in the fiercest of battles,” the newspaper said.
“The Syrian army has at its disposal enough men and weapons to fight for years to defend Syria.”
(…)
March 12th, 2013, 2:48 pm
Uzair8 said:
#yallasouriya 5:11 pm on March 12, 2013
#Syria, ALERT – ALL YOUNG MEN ARE REQUESTED TO STAY AWAY FROM THE CKPTS AS THEY CAN BE DRAFTED IN THE ARMY REGARDLESS OF THEIR SITUATION.
March 12th, 2013, 2:52 pm
Uzair8 said:
The revolution has to keep up the pressure and ratchet it up. Assad, already stretched and short of men to deal with the many fronts, is now said to be facing internal problems (reports posted on SC yesterday about recruitment trouble and infighting in Qardaha). As the revolution pushes on, and as Assad becomes weaker and overburdened, the pressures on the regime will rise exponentially resulting in further loss of control and panic.
March 12th, 2013, 2:59 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The regime is rapidly running out of men to fight for it.
The Sunnis are defecting and many Alawites are having second thoughts. Their ranks shrink, while the ranks of their enemies grow.
Just look at Baba Amr. The regime doesn’t have the manpower to hold even that.
Forced conscription works both ways. The regime might get a few more deeply unhappy conscripts, but it’ll be just as likely to DRIVE men to flee the country or join the other side.
And if the regime wishes to fight for years, then so be it. The rebels intend to fight for decades.
March 12th, 2013, 3:36 pm
zoo said:
Majed
“Ziad Ayyoubi,previous minister of Awqaf?”
I never read or heard anything about this guy and I am not sure if Sunni Syrian knows who the guy is. Even Google does not know him…
Maybe he should get himself better known if he want to counter Hassoun’s monopoly on Sunnis.
You said there are many, who else?
March 12th, 2013, 3:38 pm
MarigoldRan said:
So, Zoo, is it normal for “secular” states to require Grand Muftis to help in their enlistment efforts?
March 12th, 2013, 3:46 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Yeah but, you just spent 20 minutes frothing at the mouth about “Jihadis,”
and now suddenly Hassoun calls for Al-Jihad, and you say “Great idea.”
You sсumbag.
March 12th, 2013, 3:48 pm
zoo said:
Uzair8
Thanks for posting this unknown salafist Yaqoobi sheikh’s calls who is recycling his year old brilliant ideas.
I am sure all employees will hear his call and go in strike.
Many will follow him to heaven. Just count the number of replies to his posts…. Pathetic.
March 12th, 2013, 3:52 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Most regime supporters are retards.
Hardly a surprise. After all, retards support the retard regime.
The regime is starting to get desperate as it continues to lose ground. What makes it worse is that it’s only getting what it deserves. What makes it EVEN worse is that no one’s planning to talk to it.
March 12th, 2013, 3:54 pm
zoo said:
In this scenario, the regime can hang on for months, said Joseph Holliday, a Syria analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. “The opposition is definitely ascendant, and Bashar is going down, (but) it’s a question of time,” he said.
…..
Holliday said that while Assad is unlikely to regain control over Syria, he is in a position to keep fighting. Even if he is eventually toppled, his loyalists could mount a fierce insurgency against the new rulers, keeping the country at war for years to come, he said.
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Syrian-army-eroded-by-defections-battle-deaths-4347221.php
March 12th, 2013, 7:02 pm
zoo said:
After 2 years, 70,000 dead, 1 million refugees and Syria destroyed, the major powers have finally decided to push for negotiations without asking Bashar Al Assad to step aside.
Major powers discussing talks format to end Syria conflict – Fabius
12/03/2013
PARIS, March 12 (KUNA) — The major world powers, including the United States, Russia and France, have been in consultations over potential and acceptable participants in negotiations to end the two-year-old conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius indicated Tuesday.
In parliament statements, Fabius confirmed that major powers have been discussing potential interlocutors on the Syrian government side that could enter negotiations with the opposition groups that compose the Syrian National Coalition (SNC).
Fabius said on “The National Assembly Channel” that efforts were undertaken to establish “a list of Syrian officials who would be acceptable” to the SNC.
He gave no indication of progress on compiling this list but France has made it known that it would not agree to talks that involve President Bashar Al-Assad or any Syrian officials “with blood on their hands.” France said those guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity must be pursued.
March 12th, 2013, 7:08 pm
Tara said:
When the Jihad that is waged to defend one’s self or family is considered terrorism while the jihad that is being called for by Hassoun to defend a murderous thug is considered a good strategy, one can think nothing other than there is no common ground for a discussion or dialogue and to support the revolution until an unequivocal victory.
You either condone or condemn the jihad ideology.. You can’t have it both way, only to suit your worship idolization. You then lose all credibility.
March 12th, 2013, 7:11 pm
revenire said:
Oh Tara go get a facial. No one give’s a rat’s ass what you think about Hassoun. If he wants to call up patriots more power to him.
March 12th, 2013, 7:14 pm
Tara said:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/12/174098975/in-secular-syria-top-muslim-cleric-picks-sides-in-civil-war
In Secular Syria, Top Muslim Cleric Picks Sides In Civil War
March 12, 2013 2:52 PM
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.
Another user circulated a picture of an uber-muscular man, a sort of stereotype of a pro-regime thug — but with a beard and a turban that had been Photoshopped.
…
As one social media user commented: “LOOOOLLL. Bashar goes on jihad.”
“OMG. Bashar declares jihad on jihadis. How stupid is this regime?” said another.
The larger Arab media also went into overdrive in reaction to Hassoun’s fatwa. One report, aired on the Dubai-based Al Arabiya, showed a compilation of clips of Hassoun saying contradictory things in the past.
One clip was taken at the start of the Egyptian revolution in early 2011, but just before the start of the Syrian uprising in March of that year. Hassoun says it is unethical for clergymen to take sides in these popular movements.
“It’s not our role to incite violence between people, but rather to promote harmony in society,” he said.
“For us to go on TV to tell people ‘kill your leader,’ or tell the leader to ‘kill your people,’ that is not our right,” he added. “We only say to the leader: ‘God help you. Be just with your people.’ ”
(…)
March 12th, 2013, 7:15 pm
zoo said:
#220 Tara
Can you enlighten us on your interpretation of ‘jihad’. I did not know it was an ideology as such.
I remember you said that there many interpretation of ‘jihad’, what are they?
March 12th, 2013, 7:16 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Simply speaking, the concept of jihad as I understand it means a struggle. It can be at a personal level, against one’s “ill” desires, or a national struggle to defend one’s self, family, and country. It is not meant as a struggle to kill infidels, to subjugate people, or to steal a country. You do not have to fight physically to be performing a jihad.
However, the way it is being used by the Western countries or dictators is a complete distortion of what is learned by the vast majorities of the Muslims Sunnis. Jihad for the West means terrorism carried out by Muslims. Granted that Al Qaeda terrorist actions sealed that understanding for the west.
To dictators, it is a phrase they use to recruit people for any self-serving cause of the day.
March 12th, 2013, 7:33 pm
revenire said:
Ha ha ha I love watching everyone freaking out about Hassoun.
March 12th, 2013, 7:36 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Wow, you’ve really scaled back your ambitions.
Few months ago, you said Putin would conquer the world, and impose censorship and human rights violations globally.
March 12th, 2013, 7:47 pm
revenire said:
Ha ha anyone who thinks Assad and the army isn’t in control of Syria should have their head examined.
Some of you read the press of the enemy too much I can see.
🙂
March 12th, 2013, 7:49 pm
Dolly Buster said:
I’ve been patiently waiting for Hassoun to be offed, ever since I watched his pro-Shia speech in 2007.
It looks like this is my lucky year, in terms of Hassoun’s turban being emptied of its contents.
March 12th, 2013, 7:57 pm
Ghufran said:
AIG,
I do not know if you had the chance to read my old posts, I have been calling for a credible force to separate the two fighting factions for over a year, but that force needs to have teeth and it needs to receive the support of the UNSC, the AL today is an extension of the GCC and many syrians do not trust it.
As for Perez, Israeli leaders are accountable unlike the ruling mafia in syria and their Islamist enemies, this is why Syrians should reject both and insist on a pleural and accountable government elected by the people and monitored by an elected body (MPs), this can not happen today but a transitional team can lay the ground for elections after violence comes to an end.
March 12th, 2013, 8:06 pm
revenire said:
You’ve been waiting since 2007 for Hassoun to be murdered? LOL
That’s obsession. Have you met Tara? She’s been waiting nearly as long for Assad to be murdered.
Maybe you two can hook up and when you have kids can send them on suicide bombing missions?
March 12th, 2013, 8:07 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=84697
Dr Ziyad Ayoubi is my classmate,he was Imam of the Mosque cI attend when I go to Syria, the mosque is Anas Ibn Malk in Maliki,.I know him since he was 18 year old, an excellent imam ,very moderate,he does not have a beard,except small one at the chin.
As for Jihad in Islam it is three type of jihad
1 jihad of blood and money
2 jihad at work,to improve what you do
3 jihad of what you say,speak the truth
the prophet said the best jihad is a word of truth infront of an unjust brutal ruler
March 12th, 2013, 8:17 pm
zoo said:
#224 Tara
Well I did a bit of reading too. Jihad is a religious duty for Moslems.
The ‘greater Jihad’ is the struggle for a Moslem to fulfill his religious duties. The ‘lesser’ jihad is a physical fight against enemies of Islam, and it is usually violent.
Now the question is who decides who qualifies as an enemy of Islam?
Are the Christians, Jews, Bhudists, Hindous enemies of Islam?
Are Shia, Hanafi, Wahhabi, Alawite, Druzes, Ismaelis etc … part of Islam or enemies of the ‘authentic’ Islam?
Who decides which is the ‘authentic’ Islam?
When al Nusra/Al Qaeda calls for Jihad, we know historically that their targets are the non-Moslems they consider as enemies or Moslems they considers are heretics because in their view, they don’t follow their hardline version of the ‘authentic’ Islam
When the Mufti Hassoun calls for jihad, he is considering that the Islamist extremists are the enemies of Islam as they follow an extreme and hardline view of Islam that he does not consider to be the ‘authentic’ Islam.
As long as the ‘authentic’ Islam is not defined, then a Jihad against the enemies of Islam would mean something different depending in your own interpreation.
March 12th, 2013, 8:25 pm
Tara said:
Syria: UK’s Cameron ‘may veto EU arms embargo’
David Cameron said the UK was “still an independent country”
David Cameron has said the UK would consider vetoing any extension to the European Union’s arms embargo on Syria.
The embargo is due to be renewed in May, but the prime minister said it was “not out of the question we may have to do things in our own way”.
Mr Cameron said the UK was “still an independent country”, although he hoped the whole EU could reach agreement.
Last week, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the government would provide armoured vehicles and body armour to opposition forces in Syria “to help save lives”, and offer millions of pounds in equipment, including search and rescue, communications, and disease-prevention materials.
…..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21763345
March 12th, 2013, 8:26 pm
zoo said:
Majed
Maybe you friend is a good person, but if no one knows him, how do you expect him to counter the Mufti whom all Sunnis in Syria know, whether they like him or hate him?
March 12th, 2013, 8:30 pm
revenire said:
Ha ha insecure Tara always reading things that make her feel better.
March 12th, 2013, 8:34 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
If you are not syrian you may not know Mr. Ayoubi, but if you are syrian you should know him ,he ran TV series explaining Islam for three years, he was removed because he objected to giving a piece of land,to Rami Makhloof, that land where Damascus international exhibits is located, it belong to Awqaf, and Rami wanted to take it for nominal money,,basically stealing,the story is well known in Damascus.
His replacement as Imam of Anas Ibn Malek Mosque is another good one , he is a dentist,still working as dentist.Imam of Rawdha mosque is good too, he was the son of Abdulrahman Barakat
March 12th, 2013, 8:42 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Then let’s pause at the ideology of jihad that is meant to be waging a violent fight “against the enemies of Islam”.
Since the definition of the “enemies of Islam” is a liquid one, dependent on the cause of the day, I condemn that particular ideology of Jihad from whoever the source might be, anti or pro. I am not supporting the revolution to achieve victory against a perceived enemy of Islam. I am supporting it to achieve victory against an enemy of the people.
What about you? Do you condem Hassoun’s call for a jihad against his version of Islam?
March 12th, 2013, 8:43 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
اشتباكات عنيفة جدا تجري الان حيث يقوم ابطال الجيش الحر بهذه اللحظة باقتحام سوق الهال القريب من ساحة العباسيين …
March 12th, 2013, 8:54 pm
MarigoldRan said:
More military aid forthcoming for the rebels. Both Sauds and the Europeans are looking to accelerate Assad’s demise with more weapons for the rebels.
They’re also scared that if they DON’T supply arms, Al Nusra will take over the country. I guess the regime’s propaganda on Al Qaeda and Al Nusra has finally convinced the West and the Saudis to act. Well done, regime propagandists!
March 12th, 2013, 8:56 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
ضابط يقول للمجند.
ولك حيوان ليش واشم علم الأستقلال عأيدك؟
قلو:سيدي مشان إذا كمشوني الجيش الحر يحسبوني معون وما يعملولي شي…….
… قلو الضابط :شولك حيوان وبلكي انتصرنا…!!!
قلو المجند: بقص إيدي إذا أنتصرنا..سيدي!!
March 12th, 2013, 8:59 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Hassoun is using his title to get fighters for Bashar.
According to islam, Jihad becomes Fard 3Ayn (individual obligation) under some circumstances.
One of those conditions – is when the ruler declares Jihad.
Fancying themselves rulers, they are now hoping to persuade people to obey their military command on religious grounds.
Al-Qaeda is also using this in their own interpretation. They say Jihad is now Fard al-عAyn because the disbelievers are on a killing spree in muslim countries.
That is why you’re seeing foreign fighters going in.
Anyway, it’s easy to punch a hole in Hassoun’s case, because Bashar is not even a muslim, let alone a legitimate Shar’i ruler. So he cannot declare Jihad.
Allahumma alaika bi kulli man Taghaa wa takabbar.
Allahumma alaika bi kulli man Taghaa wa takabbar.
March 12th, 2013, 9:15 pm
revenire said:
Hassoun really bothers you rats. Ha ha. So funny. He has more respect in Syria than all your fake preachers put together and THAT is what eats you alive.
Ha ha jihad against the rats. I love it!
March 12th, 2013, 9:18 pm
Syrialover said:
Hey CITIZEN, did you see this?
Kidnapped Ukrainian reporter escapes from rebels.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21747417
Her capture, the ransom claim and her escape are all a bit mysterious. Almost like it could have been an anti-FSA stunt…
March 12th, 2013, 9:32 pm
Syrialover said:
CITIZEN, hey did you see this?
“Kidnapped Ukrainian reporter escapes from rebels.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21747417
Her disappearance, the ransom claim and her escape are all a bit mysterious. Almost like it could have been an anti-FSA stunt…
March 12th, 2013, 9:34 pm
Observer said:
It does not matter what Hassoun says. It is the context. It is clear from reports from Joseph Halliday and from Juan Cole and from Alquds Alarabi that the regime has its back against the wall. The US national security council reports that the regime will resort to chemical weapons as it becomes cornered.
Juan Cole thinks that the troops loyal to the regime are dwindling. Conscripts are not showing up and attrition and lack of trust in the majority of troops is making its reliable numbers of troops down to about 65000 and these are stretched so thin and so exhausted from constant firefights that it can no longer have an effective ground force. It has airpower and missiles and that is it.
The French and British are now ready to arm the rebels and at the same time to start talking to regime figures. There were always regime figures that one could talk to the problem was they were figure heads and props. Farouq or Muallem you could talk to until you are blue in the face, the question is whether you can talk to regime figures that are influence wielding.
The reason that there are suggestions of talks is because there was a recent big fight within the sect with some from Qurdaha refusing to die for the regime and others from Jableh willing to destroy the country to stay in power.
These are clear signs of the sect now convinced that they cannot win and turn the clock back and therefore they will be ready to sacrifice the regime for some form of protection.
The decision to arm the rebels is also well thought of now in my opinion as the conflict has become a new recruiting and training and radicalization source of Jihadists from Chechnya all the way to London.
It does not matter whether you agree or disagree with them but the JAN are winning on the battle field and on the political side as well showing all the “secular” opposition to be just talkers. They will deliver a Taliban style stability to a country reeling from violence as well as ineptitude from all parties. It is a fruit ripe for the picking.
Israel is now convinced that a radical takeover is likely and it will have HA in Lebanon which can be deterred and a most radical group in Syria that cannot be deterred as the country is already destroyed and Israel cannot destroy rubble.
Now the question is what is Russia going to do as it tries to prove its importance by doing a reverse Iraq regime change: we keep a regime to show you cannot do regime change. The regime is going to change but will Russia have the ability to keep enough elements within the new regime to exert influence?
I doubt it, I think they can deal with some cafe visiting outside opposition figures with foulards around their necks talking smooth talks but they cannot deal with JAN.
The horse has left the barn.
I wonder how JAN will deal with Hassoon? Make him eat his turban?
Any thoughts?
March 12th, 2013, 10:04 pm
Ghufran said:
John Campbell :
Through its murder of seven European and Middle Eastern hostages over the weekend in northern Nigeria, Ansaru has trumped Boko Haram through the propaganda of horror, at least for the time being. Ansaru also probably holds the French family of seven kidnapped in Cameroon last month, with the potential of more horror to come. Those kidnappers have made no public ransom demands; instead they are demanding that the Abuja government release Islamist prisoners, a demand that will be all but impossible for Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan’s government to meet. Ansaru has become a direct threat to Westerners working in northern Nigeria in a way Boko Haram in the past was not. There is not much Western-funded economic activity left in northern Nigeria, but what there is will likely diminish. Foreign companies working on infrastructure projects are likely to pull back. The same is true of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on development and other projects.
( multiple locations, one disease)
March 12th, 2013, 10:08 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
MTV Channel has interview with Sheikh Tofayli,I could not downloaded here,I hope someone does.
Shiaa in Syria ,if they want to keep visiting Sitti Zainab they must condemn Assad,not support this criminal tyrant.
March 12th, 2013, 11:15 pm
revenire said:
Observer what makes that analysis by Juan “LOL” Cole and the other all wet is Iran and Hezbollah were each said to have thousands of soldiers fighting in Syria remember (they don’t)? In other words, this “Assad’s running out of men” is just more BS from the people who said the FSA had an air force etc.
The army has plenty of soldiers and if it comes to it they can draft Tara’s cousins to fight for Assad.
🙂
March 12th, 2013, 11:24 pm
MarigoldRan said:
By “thousands” of Hezbollan FOREIGN mercenaries, you mean, perhaps, “ten thousand?”
I believe the report mentioned that Assad’s SIXTY FIVE THOUSAND men army was already badly over-stretched.
As I’ve said before, you’re an idiot. You’re so dumb that you think a few thousands of men can make a difference when SIXTY FIVE THOUSAND MEN cannot.
Also, Tara’s cousins, if they were still in Syria, are in Aleppo. The only province the regime can reliably conscript soldiers is probably Lattakia. As I’ve said before, you’re a dumb piece of crap. After several months on this blog, you still can’t tell between one Syrian province from another.
March 12th, 2013, 11:42 pm
Syrian said:
New weapons in Bab Amer, Homs
Anti tank missiles, and more on the way
http://youtu.be/0sF7Rkuq5jQ
March 12th, 2013, 11:52 pm
Syrian said:
New weapons in Bab Amero, Homs
Anti tank missiles, and more on the way
http://youtu.be/0sF7Rkuq5jQ
http://youtu.be/0sF7Rkuq5jQ
March 12th, 2013, 11:57 pm
apple_mini said:
Cameron made a unwise speech to members of UK MP. His threat to veto EU policy will be interpreted as an open rift already exists along economic landscape. Rather than a serious threat or blackmail to EU, it echos more like those Troy’s arrogance and miscalculation. It is a hugely unpopular policy to support the opposition in Syria. If UK does go ahead arm those rebels without consesus of EU, there will be an explosion of resentment against this policy by Britains. Plus after fully commitment of UK administration to the opposition and the rebels without a warranted positive outcome for future Syria, the blowback will be impossible for Cameron and his party to handle.
That really brings up a question: why they would take a all-out stance and risking everything on an uncertain and highly fluid foreign affair? This is more than ideology conviction and economic gain. I really have no idea what more is involved.
Likewise, France and Germany alliance cracks on economy and policy on Syria.
March 13th, 2013, 12:01 am
MarigoldRan said:
It’s a response to Iran’s and Russia’s arms shipments to the regime. And the rise of Al Nusra in Syria.
The regime’s propaganda WAS successful. The West is so spooked of Al Nusra that they’re finally thinking of arming the rebels.
What comes around, goes around. They want a piece of the pie too. It’s not as if Iran or Russia can complain (or they can complain, but no one’s going to listen to them).
March 13th, 2013, 12:05 am
revenire said:
Ha ha maybe dog-boy is really Henry Kissinger?
March 13th, 2013, 12:12 am
Visiot said:
I agree 100%. With AIG. Peres is a great man. If the Arabs had someone like Peres they, and paricularly the Syrians, would be in a much better shape.
——————————————————————————
Israel’s Peres Urges Arab Intervention in Syria
Israeli President Shimon Peres, delivering an historic address to the European Parliament, on Tuesday called for Arab League intervention in Syria “to stop the massacre”.
“The Arab League can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre, to prevent Syria from falling to pieces. The United Nations should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets,” he said.
In the first speech to the assembly by an Israeli head of state in almost three decades, Peres said the free world “cannot stand by when a massacre is carried out by the Syrian president against his own people and his own children.”
“It breaks all our hearts.”
“The intervention of Western forces would be perceived as a foreign interference,” he said.
The Israeli leader, about to wind up an eight-day Europe tour taking in EU institutions as well as France, received a standing ovation from the 754-member parliament.
Saying Syrian President Bashar Assad was a threat to the entire region “and even for Europe” because he possessed a chemical arsenal, Peres said Arab League intervention was the best solution to prevent chemical weapons from falling into the wrong hands.
The fate of Assad’s chemical arsenal was “a real problem”, he said at a news conference immediately after the speech.
Hailing the European Union’s feat in turning a continent at war into a continent at peace in six decades, Peres singled out Iran as the world’s Number One enemy.
“The greatest danger to peace in the world is the present Iranian regime,” he said, attacking Tehran not only for “aiming to build a nuclear weapon” but also for violating human rights by hanging people and discriminating against women.
The last Israeli head of state to address lawmakers from the bloc’s then 10 nations was Chaim Herzog 28 years ago.
Source Agence France Presse
March 13th, 2013, 12:13 am
revenire said:
I find it very funny how often the rats change their story. First Iran had thousands of soldiers fighting in Syria. Then it was Hezbollah with thousands too. Now the story is Assad is running out of men. The source? Some American think tank with no experience in Syria and no real data. You might as well have asked TARA about it. She could have told you about the FSA Air Force too.
March 13th, 2013, 12:16 am
MarigoldRan said:
At this point everyone knows that:
1. You post continuously on this blog.
2. You’re retarded.
3. You have no life or job.
My job is done.
EDIT: [Not that I won’t stop trolling you for shi- and giggles. After all, you’re the PERFECT target.]
March 13th, 2013, 12:28 am
apple_mini said:
Some people got the impression that the regime is weakening badly and getting close to desperate position. That ain’t true. After two years of fighting, the regime is exhausted and distressed. Same to the whole country, but the regime is far from collapsing. The nature of dynamic in the regime is more like how a body reacts to a disease: it responds accordingly how bad the disease is progressing. If the regime is pushed to corner, expect internal and external supercharge.
The rebels have shown all its force and muscle. More heavy weapons will boost up their position. But do not expect them be able to expand their manpower. The recent escalation of Islamic radicals targeting civilians and open calling to arm those rebels from those international players will only toughen the regime supporters and win more supports from other Syrians. More acute threats will trigger self-protection response. No doubt more citizens will take up weapons against the rebels and Russia, HB and Iran will pump more than just weapons or moral supports to the regime.
To many Syrian, the only alternative to the regime is a genuine national political body achieved via political solution. So far, the opposition and the rebels have nothing more progressive than the regime. Even worse, more hurdles to peace and destruction.
And how could we believe those rebels and the opposition will gain their national recognition and supports only through force and empty slogans?
March 13th, 2013, 12:29 am
MarigoldRan said:
Can I quote you on that, Apple-Mini? Is that a PREDICTION I can hold you to?
Or is that another one of your empty, mindless, throwaway comments that you’re so fond of?
By the way, I would like to remind you that I ENJOY trolling trolls. They’re the perfect target. I can insult them however I want and THEY STILL WON’T GET ANY SYMPATHY. It’s wonderful.
Also, most trolls like the Retard are dumb as a rock. They don’t even know how to defend themselves except to act even DUMBER, which makes MY arguments that they’re retards and idiots more convincing.
March 13th, 2013, 12:31 am
apple_mini said:
Marigoldran, sorry I don’t think we can make a meaningful discussion or anything, so we might just save it and ignore each other.
March 13th, 2013, 12:42 am
MarigoldRan said:
Nah, I think I’ll just punch holes in your argument and make you look stupid, like the way I did before. Let’s begin:
1. You talk about internal and external supercharge from the regime. And then after that you switch to another paragraph. Please specify what “supercharge” we’re talking about. The regime isn’t Clark Kent who can rip off his clothes and turn into Superman. It has very real limitations and weaknesses.
2. The rebels have sufficient manpower for their goals. What they lack is WEAPONS, which are ALREADY making a difference, if you haven’t noticed already from the recent rebel gains.
3. Iranian and Hezbollan support, which at this point is VERY well-known, increases the perception that the regime is a foreign puppet. So the last sentence of your second paragraph is total rubbish.
4. The rebels are only going get STRONGER as time passes. They’ve certainly gotten stronger over the last two years. What makes you think that trend is going to end? Especially now that they’ll be OPENLY supported by the GCC and perhaps by Western powers too?
In other words, you don’t have an argument worth shi-, Apple-Mini. Instead you take a position of moral offense at being insulted, which isn’t fooling anyone because we all know that YOU HAVE NO MORAL FIBER ANYWHERE.
[Or brains, for that matter. But that’s a separate issue].
March 13th, 2013, 12:47 am
Majd Baddour said:
The fact that the two sides happen to be drawn along sectarian lines does not mean this is a sectarian war. This is simply the topography of the underlying state infrastructure, where the Syrian army mostly consists of Alawi officers and personnel. Syrian culture is not identical to the Syrian state. The opinions expressed by most people interviewed by the author of this article happen to outline the “terrain” of the state, not the Syrian cultural values.
March 13th, 2013, 12:50 am
Syrian said:
Erosion of Syrian power accelerating, top U.S. intelligence official says
“The opposition is gaining in strength; it is gaining territory,” Clapper said in a prepared statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. “At the same time, the regime is experiencing shortages in manpower and logistics.”
http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/erosion-of-syrian-power-accelerating-top-us-intelligence-official-says/2013/03/12/d73b4794-8b10-11e2-b63f-f53fb9f2fcb4_story.html
March 13th, 2013, 12:53 am
revenire said:
“Syrian” is that the same intelligence official that predicted Assad would be defeated back in 2011?
March 13th, 2013, 1:01 am
Syrian said:
MGR
Apple-mini means by super charge if the regime pushed to a corner, is using WMD
Of curse he dose not say it out loud because then he will have to defend it and become just another Revenire.
March 13th, 2013, 1:02 am
MarigoldRan said:
No, it’s not.
This is the first time General James Clapper has gone on record to say anything as definitive on Syria as this.
Please do a little bit of research before you troll, retard.
March 13th, 2013, 1:05 am
MarigoldRan said:
@ Syrian
It’s an empty threat. If the regime uses WMD, they will be completely and PERSONALLY destroyed once and for all.
No one will offer them asylum after that. And the US and almost everyone else in the world will have a VESTED interest in destroying them, PERSONALLY.
The moment they use those weapons, they’re dead men ALONG with their communities, beyond the shadow of doubt. As of now, they can still cling to the option of asylum. And the rebels know this.
March 13th, 2013, 1:08 am
revenire said:
Clapper’s the clown who said Iraqi WMD was shipped out of Iraq to Syria. He also said Gaddafi would prevail.
I wonder if he wears those big clown shoes when he issues these “definitive” statements.
🙂
March 13th, 2013, 1:12 am
Syrian said:
Rev,
I don’t know, I know that many expected the regime to crumble sooner,and they were wrong, but that is because they did not know the nature of the beast
I always said that the regime has been preparing for this moment for 40 years and it might take as long to dismantle it and eradicated it completely
March 13th, 2013, 1:13 am
MarigoldRan said:
That’s nice, but it totally misses the point. As I’ve said:
“This is the first time General James Clapper has gone on record to say anything as definitive on SYRIA as this.”
Also, from what sources did you get that info from? Your ass?
March 13th, 2013, 1:14 am
revenire said:
“Syrian” honestly you read too much media garbage. The government isn’t losing territory, men or anything else that would change the equation.
This happens a lot when the media game gets inside your head.
Even Josh Landis gets sucked in. Remember when he said Assad was living on a Russian ship off the coast? It was a headline here. That is the so-called Syria expert of SC. The Prof.
My suggestion is stop believing all the nonsense. It is easy to shoot holes in all of it. Syria would never use chemical weapons – they have zero use fighting cowards who hide among the population. If the rats came into the open (LOL they would not dare) then I’d say go ahead and gas them. It works fast and not a lot of blood to clean up after.
Also I think you have seen them saying Assad was a cooked goose for two years. I am telling you there are hardly any defections at all and the army is strong. The rebels have no territory. It is all smoke and mirrors for the media.
March 13th, 2013, 1:17 am
MarigoldRan said:
Did you by any chance go online, found Clapper’s webpage on WIKIPEDIA, and started quoting from the NY TIMES????
Hmmmmmmmm???
As I’ve said, Revenire, you’re a total and utter retard and a failure of a troll. You fall for the stupidest and most OBVIOUS traps (designed for retards like you).
So once again, RETARD, what SOURCE do you have to validate your statements about Clapper?
March 13th, 2013, 1:19 am
revenire said:
Marigoldran they don’t allow Wikipedia in my country but you did walk into my trap on Clapper. I made a monkey out of you.
It’s okay. Think of it as father-son training for when you become a man.
🙂
March 13th, 2013, 1:25 am
MarigoldRan said:
Point proven. YOU HAVE NO ARGUMENT.
As I’ve said before, you can’t even troll a brick wall.
Good night, retard. Enjoy wasting your loser life on the comments section of a blog. Unlike you, I have things to do this afternoon.
[P.S. I also love it how when I call you a retard, you RESPOND. That means you’ve accepted your new nickname, as has everyone else.]
March 13th, 2013, 1:28 am
revenire said:
My son I must go but will play with you again tomorrow.
March 13th, 2013, 1:29 am
revenire said:
“Syrian” in the future when someone is in the Washington Post just skip the story. It is really not a reliable paper and hasn’t been for a long, long time – way back before Katherine Graham took over from her dead husband. WaPo has an agenda and poor Clapper is what we in the intelligence business call a “knuckle-dragger”.
Thanks.
March 13th, 2013, 1:32 am
Syrian said:
Revenire,
I rarely quote western media, I only put that link for apple mini
There are many facts that support the claim, Alrqqa is almost twice the size of Lebanon, then you have Aljazira corespondents reporting freely just 500 m from Abassin square and yesterday and Gada 3wees was in Aleppo reporting.where no regime reporter can dare step a foot to tell me that the regime has lost new ground lately
March 13th, 2013, 1:40 am
Juergen said:
March 13th, 2013, 2:46 am
Citizen said:
Some bright life pictures of your allies! any comment about the Human rights ?
http://rt.com/news/saudi-arabia-execution-juveniles-188/
Saudi Arabia executes 7 for juvenile crime despite UN appeal
March 13th, 2013, 5:15 am
Citizen said:
Some bright life pictures of your allies! any comment about the Human rights ?
http://rt.com/news/israel-kill-palestinian-hebron-183/
http://rt.com/news/palestinians-prisoner-clashes-settlers-350/
Palestinians urge inquiry into Israeli jail death
Israeli troops kill Palestinian, injure several in West Bank clashes
March 13th, 2013, 5:20 am
qunfuz said:
The problem was not recognising sect, but failing to recognise how sect arianism was instrumentalised by the regime. sectarianism is one factor present in syrian society. it was strongly countered by the national unity discourse of the revolutionaries at the start. but the regime, which has always preserved and played on sectarian distinctions for divide and rule purposes, deliberately instrumentalised sectarianism by its propaganda, by targetting secular activists while releasing salafists from prison, by forming sectarian death squads. SC also came in for criticism from me for, for instance, uncritically publishing Harmoush’s confession under torture as if it meant something (Landis’s defence – that readers should be educated enough to know that it didn’t mean anything – was remarkably weak), for focussing in the early days on Islamist revolutionaries, when they were’nt important, and ignoring the secular leadership of the LCCs.Of course, following months of extreme violence against Sunni communities, the thing became totally sectarian. The anti-democratic and anti-Syrian policies of supposed ‘shia’ powers in the region also contributed to the tragedy. SC is much improved now (perhaps because the propagandist Otrakji seems to have gone, perhaps because it became obvious that assad would eventually fall). The idea that pro-revolution people criticised SC in the early months simply because SC dared to mention the sect taboo is, however, a straw man.
March 13th, 2013, 7:03 am
qunfuz said:
‘tolerance was strictly enforced’ – what a sad and oxymoronic phrase. the regime had decades in which to organise civilised, controlled public discussion of, for instance, fears and resentments between alawis and sunnis. it deliberately failed to do so. it also persecuted or eliminated natural authorities in every community who could have reached out to the other. all those wonderful figures like hassan al-Khayyer who died in the regime’s dungeons. and its ‘secularism’ was of course in reality sectarian dictatorship. the baathist years only gave ‘secularism’ a bad name by mocking it. the problem goes back to sykes-picot and the french instrumentalisation of sect. sectarian hatred is so much worse now than it was half a century ago. part of this in an international phenomenon which includes racist parties in europe, the religious right in the US the Hindu nationalists in India. a large part of the blame in the arab world goes to the cultural and social destruction undertaken by filthy dictatorships.
March 13th, 2013, 7:14 am
Mina said:
After the German from Kassel yesterday, it’s an American tourist qua djihadi
http://angryarab.blogspot.de/2013/03/an-american-freedom-fighter-in-syria.html
A Christian family speaks about the situation in Deir al Zor
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/66748/World/Region/Christians-dream-of-Syria-without-Assad,-Islamists.aspx
(I hope the journalist has modified the names, otherwise…)
March 13th, 2013, 7:55 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Several messages indicated that Mr. Khatib abused his position,by suggesting dialogue with Assad (non criminal ) advisors, and now by opposing the formation of goverment, the idea that forming a goverment will enable the coalition to get a seat in the AL,and taking control of several embassies,and may be a seat at the UN,also the goverment can ask for weapons and can legally get the weapons.Mr. Khatib opinion that forming a goverment will lead to division.
The question is that who would replace Mr.Khatib? another politician?isn’t time for a military president of the Coalition?we must never forget that the successes of FSA is what helped the revolution and the military victory on the ground is what will determine the outcome,weakening Assad military power is what will convince him to abandone the fight,so to me the most important thing is to strengthen the FSA and by that I think a military leader must head the new goverment,a leader that has close contact with the officers fighting on the ground,Mr. Khatib replacement with another politician will not do us any good.
Qunfoz
Please be fair to Alex, SC has not improved,we have people like Ali and revenir and Hassan ,they have not added any meaningful discussion to this forum, while Alex was always writing very smart comments, Ehsani was always very intelligent commentator,we need them back.
March 13th, 2013, 8:00 am
Mina said:
Tunisia: the new democratic model.. spotted by The Arabist
http://www.africanmanager.com/148084.html
And Morsi can’t find better than imitating Mubarak in announcing TV speechs days before and then sending the tape to be played with a 5 hours delay!!
March 13th, 2013, 8:26 am
apple_mini said:
Sunni consists about 70% of Syrian population. Majority middle class families are Sunni. Most small and middle business are owned by Sunni.
Sectarian tension and rift cannot be originated from minorities in Syria. They simply do not have the strength or motive to initiate it.
The regime has been brutal, corrupted and impotent. But to blame the regime for not ease sectarian problem in Syria is like to blame a Catholic cardinal fails to stop sexual abuse by all priests. You simply cannot make yourself to believe that a social, psychological, economical and cultural demon can be solved by a political leader, right?
The current situation in Syria has passed the stage when a political figure still matters and his role is key to solve national crisis.
Yes, there are still very few moderate rebel fighters. But those who have more credential in fighting and who have more says in the final are Islamic. Significant of them are radicals and extremists. Also the opposition is fractured as always being. And that makes this whole civil war bloodshed offer no alternative for the regime or most educated and concerned citizens of Syria.
There is nothing wrong to lash the regime again and again. But no matter how hard you are banging the regime against a wall, it simply won’t solve the current Syrian crisis.
March 13th, 2013, 8:42 am
Dolly Buster said:
They do, because the minorities run the dictatorship. That is the entire cause of this civil war.
The minorities (Christians + Shia) are armed to the teeth, and destroying entire cities using Russian airplanes and tanks.
March 13th, 2013, 8:57 am
Dolly Buster said:
Some guy posted a map of Dimashq on twitter, with government control in red, and rebel control in green.
It reminded me of the Libyan situation, I am hopeful that a sudden fall of the capital may happen (like Tarabulus 2011).
I hope the Assad Death photo-op is well done. Sometimes presentation is everything. The Mu3ammar el-Qathafiy photo shoot has sent the right message to the fools who claimed he was defeating rats.
March 13th, 2013, 9:04 am
zoo said:
#237 Tara
I think Hassoun it totally right and he talks as a religious man worried about the wrong direction some Syrians moslems are taking under various pressure.
Like me, he sees Salafists and extremist Islamists are the current enemies of Islam. In the last decades they have cause extreme harm to Islam. 9/11, the Talibans, Al Qaeda and Ossama Be laden have polluted the mind of millions of young Sunni Moslems. There is a crisis now in Islam and the West perception of this religion is mostly negative.
Hassoun is the country Sunni moslem mufti, so his calls are made on a religious basis and he has an audience. He is calling for jihad against these enemies, who happen to be the ones wanting to replace the current religiously moderate system of Syria by a Islamist sectarian one.
This is a reality on the ground. In Raqqa Islamists have established religious judicial courts etc.. Hassoun is not inventing it.
I fully agree with him on his initiative. He is ringing the alarm bell. Syrians who believe in the coexistence of different religions in their country with none imposing its laws on the others should feel it as a duty to join that struggle with whatever means they have.
You are focusing on the future political vision of the country, he is defending the future religious vision of the country.
March 13th, 2013, 9:06 am
zoo said:
The Rape of Syria
By its failure to forecast, plan, manage and compromise the Syrian “Arab Spring”, the opposition has offered Syria to young Islamists extremists.
With Official Wink And Nod, Young Saudis Join Syria’s Rebels
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/13/174156172/with-official-wink-and-nod-young-saudis-join-syrias-rebels
Following a circuitous route from Saudi Arabia up through Turkey or Jordan and then crossing a lawless border, hundreds of young Saudis are secretly making their way into Syria to join extremist groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, GlobalPost has learned.
With the tacit approval from the House of Saud and financial support from wealthy Saudi elites, the young men take up arms in what Saudi clerics have called a “jihad,” or “holy war,” against the Assad regime.
Based on a month of reporting in the region and in Washington, more than a dozen sources have confirmed that wealthy Saudis, as well as the government, are arming some Syrian rebel groups. Saudi and Syrian sources confirm that hundreds of Saudis are joining the rebels, but the government denies any sponsoring role.
March 13th, 2013, 9:27 am
Akbar Palace said:
Putting the Blame Where it Needs to Be
a large part of the blame in the arab world goes to the cultural and social destruction undertaken by filthy dictatorships.
Robin,
I see you are coming around. How nice. You sure were a lot more vocal against Zionism than you were against Assad. Here’s a “softball” comment I found on your website from October 2006 entitled, “Syrian Opposition”:
Then there are West-based people. Some, like Farid Ghadry, have no support in Syria and are creations of foreign lobbies. Much more credible are people like Ammar Abdul Hamid, who campaigns for a liberal democratic future and the rights of minorities. In my view, Ammar’s ‘camp’ tends at times to be idealistically pro-American and fails to recognise that a more democratic Syria will support armed resistance to America and Israel more, not less.
Whether I agree with all these people or not, I’m sure that a happier future requires that they be allowed to freely express their views in Syria. The government may have a point when it says that sectarian groups threaten social peace and the stability of the country, but if or when, and how, to silence these groups are issues that the whole of society needs to debate openly. On Syrian TV, when the word ‘church’ is mentioned in a foreign film, the subtitles translate it not as ‘church’ but ‘place of worship.’ The same patronising censorship is applied to all issues of sect and politics inside the country, and it doesn’t work. Not allowing people to talk about sect just allows the venom to build up. As for liberal democrats like the currently imprisoned Kamal Labwani and Michel Kilo, people who’ve never attacked anyone for ethnic or religious reasons, the ‘undermining social stability’ argument is a sorry excuse for suppressing legitimate peaceful dissent.
http://qunfuz.com/2006/10/01/syrian-opposition/
Like I said, if Syrians like you had the “FIRE IN THE BELLY” that you’ve always had against Israel and Zionism, maybe the Assads don’t spend 50 years screwing up a great country like Syria…
March 13th, 2013, 9:35 am
zoo said:
The life of rumors
Rumors seems to be the favorite weapons of the rebels, as they can’t get heavy ones from the Friends of Syria.
Someone should make a list of the rumors carried by the media about the imminent fall of Damascus, the chemical weapons used on cvilians, the Hezbollah army on the ground, Bashar on the Russian boat etc…
Like most rumors, after filling the headlines for a few days, they linger in some articles as a ‘confirmed’ events to reappear a few months later as a “fresh news”.
Syria denies mass conscription, says military remains strong
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-military-conscription-20130313,0,347235.story
Almost two years of war — accompanied by heavy casualty numbers and large-scale desertions — have certainly worn down the capabilities of Syria’s military, analysts say, though the extent of erosion remains unclear. The government long ago stopped providing details on service members killed in action.
But experts agree that there is no indication that Syria’s armed forces are about to collapse. Regional defense units, pro-regime militias and civilian security forces have been incorporated into the nation’s security scheme, supplementing the military’s capabilities. The military — with tanks, aircraft and ballistic missiles at its disposal — also enjoys a major firepower advantage compared to its adversary.
March 13th, 2013, 9:59 am
Dolly Buster said:
You are not a scholar. Spelling the word muslim is a struggle for you.
Salafee means to be upon the understanding of the 1st generations of islam (salaf = predecessors).
So, no scholar worth his weight in salt will condemn “Salafis.”
March 13th, 2013, 10:00 am
zoo said:
“SC is much improved now (perhaps because the propagandist Otrakji seems to have gone, perhaps because it became obvious that assad would eventually fall).”
Ha Ha Ha !
March 13th, 2013, 10:06 am
zoo said:
Soon to be applied in ‘liberated areas’…. No wonder the mufti Hassoun worries.
Saudi Arabia beheads seven men convicted of robbery ( one was a kid from the poor south, arrested and tortured when he was 15)
Associated Press
Mar 13, 2013
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia // Seven Saudi men convicted of theft, looting and armed robbery were beheaded today, according to the country’s official news agency, more than a week after their families and rights group appealed to the king for clemency.
Human Rights Watch had called for the sentences to be cancelled because the men were juveniles when they were arrested.
One of the men told The Associated Press earlier this month that he was only 15 when he was arrested as part of a ring that stole jewelry in 2004 and 2005. Nasser Al Qahtani said he was tortured to confess and had no access to lawyers
…
one of the reasons the seven were sentenced to death was that “they hail from the south, a region that is heavily marginalised” and viewed “as lower class citizens”.
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-beheads-seven-men-convicted-of-robbery#ixzz2NQfM7Sm8
March 13th, 2013, 10:15 am
Citizen said:
Jabhat al-Nusra and other Islamist groups are not separate from the FSA; they’re part of the FSA. The FSA is a ragtag grouping.
The West’s short-term and reckless foreign policy objectives in Syria have stimulated al-Qaeda and provided it with a much needed boost.
The West is moving the goal post concerning its support for the militants in Syria…now it’s to “stop Jihadists from prevailing”
Regarding the FSA’s attack on Syrian children 2 dayes ago, I can only repeat how the West sees the FSA: They’re bastards but they’re our bastards.
@DrMarcusP
March 13th, 2013, 10:28 am
qunfuz said:
AP – I was too soft in my criticism of Assad. I’ve already apologised for that repeatedly. (Although there wasn’t much point ranting against the dictatorship until the people launched their revolution. I am following the people, not leading them. I’ve never calimed to be any sort of ‘leader’). What you’ve reposted, however, just backs up the argument I was making today and does not in any way embarrass me.
I am certainly not coming round to your filthy zionism, which is itself based on sectarian supremacism and apartheid, and was brought to out=r region by the same sykes-picot and balfour crew that put minorities in power everywhere (in Palestine it was an imported minority that became a majority when it ethnically cleansed the majority).
(on another point, Otrakji, along with propagandists like yazan abdullah, son of the mukhabarat man, are currently presenting themselves as the moderate majority. on radio debates such people say things like ‘i’ve just returned from a meeting of the leftist opposition…’ Like Goebbels has just returned from a meeting of ‘civilised anti-Nazis’. Sick)
March 13th, 2013, 10:46 am
revenire said:
Exactly. There is NO SEPARATION between Jabhat al-Nusra and the FSA. There is no FSA but, as Citizen said, a loose collection of jihadis.
March 13th, 2013, 10:49 am
revenire said:
Robin are you still a supporter of Nasrallah?
March 13th, 2013, 10:56 am
Dolly Buster said:
So? Jihadis are better than Russia. Even cannibals in Papua New Guinea are better than Russia.
Task numero uno is to kill Bashar, and then afterwards please feel free to fine-tweak the new government with your suggestions.
March 13th, 2013, 11:02 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo
Are you Moslem?
If you are you should know the difference between Jihad which is a fight against non Moslems, and sedition which is a fight between moslems.
Hassouneh is calling for sedition not jihad, and for that he deserves death penalty.
Hassoun by the admission of his own father who was good moslem and sheikh,he said his son is bad.
March 13th, 2013, 11:05 am
revenire said:
Dolly a question: How old are you? The reason I ask is because of a lot of your posts remind me of a very young man – almost childlike, bordering on cartoonish. If it is too personal just ignore me.
March 13th, 2013, 11:11 am
zoo said:
“IMPORTANT NEWS: SYRPER PREDICTS AHMAD MUA’DH AL-KHATIB’S FEIGNED RESIGNATION. THE U.S. WILL JUMP TO HIS RESCUE AND CONVINCE HIM TO STAY FOR A WHILE. HE WILL, OF COURSE, RELUCTANTLY AGREE. LET’S SEE. I COULD BE WRONG. HE’LL LOST HIS STATUS AS WOG OF THE YEAR.”
I also think this may well happen.
Al Khatib is detested by the SNC and despised by the FSA. By feigning to resign, he may get a needed boost as the SNC is not ready for another humiliating blow after their failure of their repeated promises to elect a PM.
Al Khatib is only tolerated by the West because he is the only one who has expressed readiness to compromise. After the dead-end of Tlass, Al Khatib is the only possible chance for negotiations of Syria.
While Qatar and KSA wants to get rid of him, I think the West will try to keep him on board by all means.
March 13th, 2013, 11:12 am
revenire said:
Majedkhaldoun you come here every single day wishing death on someone. It must be very hard for you to get out of bed each day with that sort of hatred boiling inside of you.
You’re not a Muslim. You are a fake. Islam is none of what you preach.
March 13th, 2013, 11:19 am
AIG said:
Qunfuz,
Nobody asks you to think that what Britain and France did good. They clearly didn’t. But what should have been done? Should the middle east have been carved up according to “natural” ethnic-sectarian lines? Should one large Arab state have been formed?
None of these solutions seem stable to me and there would have been another set of problems, perhaps just as bad as the awful mess that Sykes-Picot has left us with.
I think the core of the problem is the sad state the Ottoman Empire left the Arab world with after 400 years of rule. The discrepancy between what happened economically, culturally and technologically in Europe and the Arab world over 400 years is the core of the problem. Societal changes take generations to come to fruition.
March 13th, 2013, 11:23 am
ghufran said:
If Nusra is in the business of liberation and not domination why do not they allow locals to run their own towns?
(Source: SOHR)
محافظة ديرالزور ::لليوم الثالث على التوالي تخرج مظاهرات في مدينة الميادين تطالب بخروج جبهة النصرة من المدينة وذلك بعد العرض العسكري الذي نظمته الجبهة في التاسع من الشهر الجاري لشرطة الهيئة الشرعية التابعة للهيئة الشرعية في المنطقة الشرقية التي اعلن عن تشكيلها يوم السبت الفائت حيث نشرت الهيئة بيان وصل الى المرصد السوري لحقوق الانسان نسخة عنه اعلنت من خلاله تشكيل الهيئة الشرعية التي تضم مكاتب وهيئات اخرى لتسيير شؤون المواطنين وملئ الفراغ الامني الذي تشكل في المنطقة وقد ضمت الهيئات المشكلة قوة تنفيذية سميت بشرطة الهئية الشرعية كما ضمت الهيئة مكاتب للاغاثة والدعوة والارشاد والفتوى والخدمات وقد ناشدت الهيئة المواطنين للتعاون مع مكاتبها وهيئاتها وذلك لتمكينها من القيام بواجباتها الاغاثية والخدمية والامنية على حد تعبير البيان الذي نورده كما وصلنا من المصدر
March 13th, 2013, 11:24 am
ghufran said:
Liberating Damascus with one mortar at a time:
4 mortars exploded in Baramkeh and Fahhameh and 2 mortars hit a center for orphanages and caused casualties.
BBC hosted a debate between Aanas Abdeh, another SNC member, an egyptian journalist and one academic. the conclusion: the AL is irrelevant, the opposition is fragmented, the future is bleak.
March 13th, 2013, 11:34 am
Citizen said:
Some bright video ! any comment about the Human rights ?
http://youtu.be/h3n47PR6UDo?t=37s
March 13th, 2013, 11:34 am
Uzair8 said:
Heartbreaking and upsetting. They are heroes and martyrs. Hope this doesn’t deter further defections.
==========
Syria about 12 hours ago
Syrian government forces killed at least 30 army deserters in an ambush on the Damascus Airport road on Tuesday as opposition fighters were guiding them on foot to a rebel-held district, opposition sources said.
“They were crossing the highway to Eastern Ghouta when they were ambushed,” a rebel commander in the region said on condition of anonymity. He was referring to a part of the eastern outskirts of Damascus that is held by the opposition.
March 13th, 2013, 11:38 am
zoo said:
#297 Majed
I disagree: Jihad is a religious duty for moslems to fight against the “enemies of Islam” whether they call themselves Moslems or non-Moslems.
Islamist extremists and Salafists are today’s the main enemies of Islam because they distorted it for their own interests and have destroyed the reputation of openness and tolerance that is the real Islam.
That’s the image of a ‘negative’ Islam they have succeeded in projecting to the West and this is why the West look suspiciously at all Moslems.
March 13th, 2013, 11:40 am
revenire said:
Uzair8 tell me an army that doesn’t shoot deserters. People that betray Syria during a war should be executed and will be executed.
March 13th, 2013, 11:41 am
qunfuz said:
whoever asked it, no I’m not a supporter of nasrallah any more, of course not. I was wrong there too. I vastly underestimated Hizbulah’s sectarianism and ties to the Iranian leadership. I supported their struggle against Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.
The tragedy in Syria has been good for me intellectually. It has shown me that there are no blanket goodies and baddies, that there are no permanent allies or enemies. So may ‘leftists’ and ‘anti-imperialists’ that I used to admire have proved themselves to be hopeless blanket thinkers outraged by one kind of sectarianism but not by another, by one kind of imperialism but not another, and so lacking in compassion and imagination and respect for facts that they twist reality to fit their ieological preconceptions. We live and learn.
AP – a lot of what you say in your last comment is true. We can’t claim that everything would have been fine had it not been for Sykes-Picot. The Arab mashreq has been in a mess for a long time. Certainly the last century of Ottomanism was a disaster. But still, when dlegates in 1920 arrived in Damascus from all over bilad ash-sham and asked for a bilad-ash-sham state loosely federated with other Arab states, if they had been listened to and false borders hadn’t been drawn which ruined economies and cultural links, had minorities not been put in power directly or indirectly by foreigners, had Jewish immigrants not been intent on statehood but rather on some kind of autonomy or just equal rights, we might not be in the total mess we’re all in now.
I still like the idea of a loose federation of regional states, none of them particularly centralised, in which a Jew could live in Baghdad, a Sunni could live in Tel Aviv, a Shia could live in Amman, a Christian could live in Fallujah, all of them with equal rights and responsibilities, all free to worship or not worship as they chose, to wear and eat and drink and say whatever they liked. But we are so far away from that now it seems like a ridiculous fantasy.
March 13th, 2013, 11:41 am
Uzair8 said:
Zoo
What makes you say Sh. Yaqoubi is salafi?
The Shaykh is the same background as Mufti Hassoun & Sheikh Buti.
March 13th, 2013, 11:42 am
ghufran said:
Nusra in the eyes of SOHR:
تتبنى جبهة النصرة، القريبة من نموذج القاعدة، خطاباً طائفياً عنيفاً لا لبس فيه يسعى إلى «تطهير» بلاد الشام التي تُمثّل بنظرهم بلاد «المسلمين/ السنة» وهم ساهمون في الصراع الحالي بوصفه «جهاداً» ضد «العدو النصيري»، وعلى عكس بقية الأطراف في المعارضة فإنّ مشروعهم لا يتوقف عند حدود إسقاط النظام بل هو خطوة في طريق إقامة «دولة الخلافة»، لذا فإنّ أي حل سياسي يمثّل تهديداً وجودياً لمشاريعهم، الأمر الذي يجعل استمرار الصراع العسكري ضرورة استراتيجية بعيدة المدى لكلٍ من النظام والنصرة، كما أنّ تدّخل النصرة التدريجي في عقائد ونمط حياة السوريين في المناطق «المحرّرة» وخطابات الكراهية والعمليات الانتحارية التي باتت تستهدف حتى الموظفين في المؤسسات الرسمية، سينجم عنه تفاقم الاستقطابات بين السوريين وتخلخل في موقف المعارضين المنحدرين من مناطق «الأقليات» وعموم السوريين ممن ينفرون من نموذج الإسلام التكفيري والقاعدي، كما أنها تضع المعارضين في موقف أخلاقي فصامي.
March 13th, 2013, 11:54 am
Citizen said:
Der Spiegel weekly says not clear whether those training Free Syrian Army members in use of anti-tank weaponry are soldiers or people working for private firms
Americans are training Syrian anti-government fighters in Jordan, the German weekly Der Spiegel said on Sunday, quoting what it said were participants and organizers.
Spiegel said it was not clear whether the Americans worked for private firms or were from the army but said some wore uniforms. The training focused on use of anti-tank weaponry.
Some 200 men have already received such training over the past three months and there are plans in the future to provide training for a total 1,200 members of the “Free Syrian Army” in two camps in the south and the east of the country.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper also reported that US trainers were assisting Syrian rebels in Jordan. British and French instructors were also participating in the US-led effort, the Guardian said on Saturday, citing Jordanian security sources.
Syrians flee army shelling in Aleppo (Photo: Reuters)
Jordanian intelligence services are involved in the program, which aims to build around a dozen units totaling some 10,000 fighters to the exclusion of radical Islamists, Spiegel reported.
“The Jordanian intelligence services want to prevent Salafists (radical Islamists) crossing from their own country into Syria and then returning later to stir up trouble in Jordan itself,” one of the organizers told the paper.
The reports could not be independently verified.
A spokesman for the US Defense Department declined immediate comment on the Spiegel report. The French foreign ministry and Britain’s foreign and defense ministries also had no comment.
More than 70,000 people have been killed and 1 million refugees have fled the Syrian conflict.
It started as pro-democracy protests but has turned into a sectarian war between rebels mainly from Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and state forces defending President Bashar Assad, who follows the Alawite faith derived from Shiite Islam.
The United States has said it would provide medical supplies and food directly to opposition fighters but has ruled out sending arms for fear they may find their way to Islamist hardliners who might then use them against Western targets.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are widely believed to be providing weapons to the rebels, and Arab League ministers decided on Wednesday to let member nations arm them.
————————–
“Syria tankers should benefit from the experience of Iranian and Iraqi counterparts” – material Major General Sergey A. Kanchukova.
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fanna-news.info%2Fnode%2F10207
March 13th, 2013, 12:09 pm
revenire said:
Robin your slavish support of Hezbollah and Nasrallah are serious errors in judgment. You don’t support them but support US-UK-French- Saudi Arabian-Qatari-Israeli project? Why should anyone take you seriously? You appear to be a silly man with no principles.
March 13th, 2013, 12:09 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo
Your assertion is laughable,you disagree on basic thing in Islam, ,you know nothing of Islam,the prophet warned against fighting among Moslems,you justify it ,just by considering them as enemies,I found you to be the most ignorant of Islam.
You are typical Persian Shiite,Qaramitah,who believe the words has opposite meaning, you are Qaramitah,there is close connection between Qaramitah and persian Shiite.
Qunfoz
Many of us,defended Nasrallah before as we hate Israel,we hate Israel so we thought and believed that Hassan Nasrallah is patriotic, we now know that he is deeply sectarian persian puppet, we still are against Israel as a state,but I am just like you I believe the jews has the right to live in part of palastine ,exactly as Moses said and has local autonomy. Moses said that area is between two parallel lines ,run east – west from southern Tabariya to north of dead sea from the river to the sea,this is what is written in Torah,this does not include jerusalem,as you can see,infact jews know that God forbade David from building the temple in Jerusalem ,jerusalem later was granted to the son of Soloman,Rebo,after he married to the Pharoah’s daughter, clearly means it was under the control of the egyptian pharoah.
March 13th, 2013, 12:17 pm
Mina said:
The new frontier (or how to brainwash readers without them paying attention): Djihadis go to Syria as nice guy, but they become radical there!! (just as the Pakistani talibans when they went to fight the commies in Afghanistan)
http://news.sky.com/story/1063988/dutch-raise-terror-threat-over-syria-fighters
March 13th, 2013, 12:28 pm
ghufran said:
Marah Mashi from Damascus:
يروي سامر، سائق سيارة أجرة، مقيم في حيّ العباسيين، عن الاشتباكات العنيفة التي وقعت منذ فترة في الساحة ما أدى إلى إغلاقها ووضع إحدى الدبابات فيها تحسّباً لأي تقدم قد يحرزه مسلحو المعارضة. يبتسم حين يوضح أن الساحة لم تغلق سوى ساعات قليلة. ابتسامة الرجل تتسع عندما تظهر في الشارع الموازي سيارة تابعة لمحافظة دمشق تحمل خزان مياهٍ ضخم لريّ الأشجار المنتشرة على جانبي الأتوستراد وفي منتصفه. والابتسامة تتحول إلى قهقهة قائلاً: «أشعر أحياناً بالطمأنينة حين أراهم مطمئنين إلى وضعهم وثابتين فيه. انظري كيف يتصرفون وكأن شيئاً لا يجري في البلد. إنهم يتابعون الأمور الخدماتية وبالهم مرتاح. يسقون الشجر في منطقة كانت منذ يومين مرتعاً للاشتباكات». المسافة القريبة للوصول إلى الشهبندر ليست عذراً، كما الحديث الودود، بالنسبة لسامر، فهو سيطلب 300 ليرة سورية أجرة الطريق المرهق، مستغلاً الأزمة المرورية الخانقة والازدحام على محطات الوقود.
يتحدث توفيق، سائق سيارة أجرة آخر، عن الدولة القوية التي لا تلين منذ سنتين. ولا يخفي الرجل الخمسيني ميوله المعارضة إلا أنه يتوقف طويلاً عند كل إشارة تعطيها المعارضة وبعض القوى الخارجية على أن النظام يضعف وسيسقط، فيقول: «لا يسقط إلا نحنُ، بينما النظام باقٍ. حتى عند استهداف قياداته، تجد سيارات منشآت الدولة الخدمية تضرب قطعة عملاقة من القماش الأخضر للتغطية على آثار الانفجار والمسارعة إلى ترميمه. فتُعقد المناقصات ويبدأ المتعهدون بتقديم عروضهم وكأن البلاد لا تعيش حالة حرب. إنّ هذه تصرفات يقوم بها من هو متأكد من بقائه». برأي توفيق فإن الرئيس بشار الأسد باقٍ، ويتابع قوله: «لا أظن أنه سيخسر انتخابات 2014. سيربح سبع سنوات جديدة، فهذه الحرب لا تجري من أجل بقاء الدولة قائمة سنة واحدة فقط».
وبالقرب من انفجار المزرعة الأخير وسط العاصمة السورية يبدو جسر الحياة قائماً. آثار باقية لدمار خلّفه الانفجار، إلا أن الحياة عادت إلى سابق عهدها، وتجد في داخل أحد المباني المتهدمة واجهتها بعض الأشخاص يتنقلون داخل المبنى، فيما شرطة المرور في الشارع يقومون بعملهم ويتناوبون على إعطاء المخالفات والتأكيد على وضع الحزام، وسط دهشة وتعليقات المواطنين التي لا تنتهي.
أما في ساحة الأمويين، فيقف مبنى قيادة الأركان الذي تعرض لانفجار منذ أشهر، حيث أعمال الترميم تجري على قدم وساق.
March 13th, 2013, 12:40 pm
Akbar Palace said:
Learning the Hard Way
AP – a lot of what you say in your last comment is true.
That was AIG’s post.
I still like the idea of… [wherre we are] … all free to worship or not worship as they chose, to wear and eat and drink and say whatever they liked. But we are so far away from that now it seems like a ridiculous fantasy.
Guess which country is closest to your “ridiculous fantasy”?
Answer: The State of Israel.
I am certainly not coming round to your filthy zionism, which is itself based on sectarian supremacism and apartheid, and was brought to out=r region by the same sykes-picot and balfour crew that put minorities in power everywhere (in Palestine it was an imported minority that became a majority when it ethnically cleansed the majority).
The “FIRE IN YOUR BELLY” is still misplaced, HaBB.
We live and learn.
Maybe you need a new instructor.
I was wrong there too.
Keep an open mind. Everyone makes mistakes.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/08/recognizing-israel-s-arab-achievements.html
March 13th, 2013, 12:44 pm
qunfuz said:
Anyone raving about a “US-UK-French- Saudi Arabian-Qatari-Israeli project” is not worth responding to. Perhaps one day you’ll grow up and realise the world is more complex than that.
Majed – it’s a shame when anyone has to refer to ancient works of myth to discuss contemporary political tragedies. Also a shame to see sectarian language, whoever it’s directed at. Sunnis slaughtering Shia in Pakistan, oppressing them in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Alawites slaughtering Sunnis in Syria – it’s all barbarism, and has nothing to do with religion.
I apologise to AIG
March 13th, 2013, 12:50 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
I call this a mental gymnastics.
You are approving and condoning Jihad that is aimed to protect one’s own interpretation of Islam? And in your opinion, the true version is the version that Hassoun approves, and condemning the version of Islam that salafists like to have. And how do you know Hassoun hold the real version? Your personal judgement of what is the true version?
How about calling Jihad against the Mufti for religious cause when he implicitly approved the worship of Bashar? How about calling Jihad against Shiaa who are trying to convert lt Sunnis to Shiism? How about calling Jihad against Alawis because they do not submit to religous duties asked from the Sunni Muslim.
Who are me, you, or anyone to think that they hold the truth?
I find this to be a rather ingenious attitude that is only meant to protect the regime.
I sometimes wonder if you are allowed to voice your real opinion.
March 13th, 2013, 12:54 pm
Dolly Buster said:
No, the real islam is the islam of the Salaf.
Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman are the criterion for true islam. Not any ewe from the Zoo.
No, not really. Allahu ta’aalaa says:
Walan tarda anka al-Yahudu wala an-Nasara hatta tattabia millatahum.
(Baqarah 2:120)
“The Jews & Christians will not be satisfied with you, until you follow their religion.”
March 13th, 2013, 12:55 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Qunfoz
Please don’t come back later and say I was wrong before.
I however agree that Sunnis killing shiite in pakistan is barbarism, but Bahrain is different, Bahrain is too small to be considered as seperate state,and it is part of KSA,and there is hardly any killing there.
March 13th, 2013, 1:04 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
الثورة الصينية ضد طاغية الصين the Chinese revolution
بعد إعلان أبواط النظام ومجلس الإفتاء وجوب الجهاد إلى جانب الأمير بشار ، رأينا أنه لابد من تغيير النشييد الوطني للبلاد بمايتناسب مع المرحلة الجهادية !!
(يمكن ترديد الكلمات على نفس لحن النشيد الأصلي)
شعر :أبو سعد السوري
((حماة النظام))
ســلام عـلـيكم حـماة الـنظام
حـمـاة الـنـظام عـليكم سـلام
نــظـام الـبـلاد يـعـاني الــزوال
فـــإن تـتـركـوه حـــرام ٌ حــرام
شـيـوخ الـنـظام تـريـد الـجهاد
لـتحمي الـرئيس بـموت العباد
فـسـارع ولـبـي نـداء الـشيوخ
وإلا فـــإنــك خـــنــت الــبــلاد
نـــداء الـرئـيـس نـــداءٌ مـطـاع
فـكـونوا خـرافـا تـجـوب الـبقاع
فـإن عـارضتكم جـموع الـضباع
فـلابـأس مــن أن تـنادوا بـماع
فـبـشـار يـــا أيــهـا الـمـؤمنون
رئــيـسٌ لـطـيفٌ كـريـمٌ حـنـون
فـمن ثار يبغي سقوط الرئيس
سنضرب عنق الجحود الخئون
إلـى الـجيش هـيا فـلبوا النداء
وكــونـوا جـنـودا مـثـال الـوفـاء
وعـنـد الـحـواجز نـرجـوا الـبقاء
فـلـسنا نـريـد ســوى الأغـبياء
هـلموا لـتحموا الـذليل الـهبيل
وثوروا جميعا على المستحيل
فمن عارض الحكم، هذا عميل
وإن نُـصِّـبَ الـمستبد الـضليل
فـعيشوا عـبيدا وعيشوا رقيق
وشــدوا بـذيل الـحمار الـرفيق
وإن صـاح فـيكم بـصوتٍ عميق
فـهـيّا ارقـصوا واطـربوا لـلنهيق
سـيـفتي إلـيـكم إمــامٌ وقــور
بـفـتيا الـحـروب وأهــل الـثـغور
فـلابـأس مـن أن تُـدار الـخمور
لـجـند الـنـظام حـمـاة الـقصور
وشــيـخ الــبـلاد إمـــامٌ بـلـيـد
ومـفتي الـنظام كـوحشٍ مَريد
فــمـنّـا الـمَـريـد فـيـنـا الـبـلـيد
فَــلِـم لا نُـشَـبِّـح ولِــم لانُـبـيد
March 13th, 2013, 1:28 pm
Hanzala said:
Don’t believe this false report about anti nusra protests in Al Mayadeen. The people were protesting not against Sharia law but were asking Nusra to leave because they were being shelled.
Here is a pro Nusra protest yesterday in Mayadeen.
March 13th, 2013, 1:36 pm
ghufran said:
is this good enough to make your blood “boil” ?
Toz feekon wa bihalthawra
the fact that the video is posted by a pro regime web site does not change the fact that what rebels did here is terrorism plain and simple.
March 13th, 2013, 1:45 pm
zoo said:
313. majedkhaldoun
Do you mean that Shias are not Moslem, this is why you have the right to fight against them? Such an aberration..
I think you attribute a very narrow and pathetic value to this great religion that is Islam. This is why I even wonder if you are moslem.
If you are, then you seem to belong to one of these middle-age extremist Islamic sects that have grown over the years and because of their geographical location, their money or weapons, they claim they have the exclusive right to represent Islam.
By doing so, they show that they are just the opposite, they are the enemies of Islam, so are you as no one has the exclusivity of representing Islam.
No wonder the West are suspicious of people like you. You and your equals are a danger to humanity.
March 13th, 2013, 1:49 pm
Dolly Buster said:
The heroes take a base from the criminal regime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHeIAeewn9Y
Inna Allaha a’azzana bil islam. Fa mahma ibtaghayna al-‘izza bi ghayrihi, adhalanallah.
March 13th, 2013, 1:55 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo
Do you mean Sunnie are not moslem, or they are enemy of Islam?
March 13th, 2013, 1:57 pm
Akbar Palace said:
More evil news from (what is known by one educated british arabist who once tolerated the Assad family) “The Apartheid State™”:
(warning: pictures may be be considered obscene)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9927119/Barack-Obama-to-dine-with-first-black-Miss-Israel.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/294051.stm
March 13th, 2013, 2:03 pm
Tara said:
Asma must be biting her nails under that famous Chelsea magnificent chandelier. She can’t show off anymore. Not in Europe, and not in Souk al Hal. And no more meet the famous.. Asma lost a big opportunity to make history had she left Batta in protest of the mass killing… Yet thinking about it, she will enter history… as the first lady from hell. What a shame!
Prince Charles visits Syrian refugee camp in Jordan
Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall attend refugee camp close to Syrian border.
13 March 2013 09.38 EDT
March 13th, 2013, 2:14 pm
zoo said:
#318 Tara
I don’t hold any truth. It is my personal belief. I believe that any religion or sect that wants to impose its laws on the others is not a religion anymore, it is a tool to gain power and ends up by abusing and harming people.
I share with the mufti Hassoun his view of an Islam that is inclusive and moderate and does not impose its tenets on others but guides people to find their own truth.
I strongly reject the Islam version imposed by the Islamist Salafists that considers anyone who is non-sunni to be an heretic that must either converted to their version of Islam or accept to be second class citizen.
Christianity has had this domineering attitude for centuries and caused millions of deaths and irreversible harm to the religion that Christ brought. It was used as a manipulative power and that’s exactly what the Salafists are doing, in the name of God.
That’s what I believe and try to live according to my beliefs without imposing it on others.
Each one finds his own truth, there is no universal one.
March 13th, 2013, 2:15 pm
zoo said:
#326 Majed
Yes, some extremist sects of Sunnis, while claiming they represent the real Islam are distorting Islam’s message and harming Islam as well as Moslems. Therefore there are enemies of Islam.
March 13th, 2013, 2:20 pm
zoo said:
Tara
“Prince Charles visits Syrian refugee camp in Jordan”
When will Queen Rania of Jordan visit the Syrian refugees on her own land?
March 13th, 2013, 2:28 pm
Syrialover said:
This is fantastic! The discussion led here by Qunfuz (Robin Yassin-Kassab) is a wonderful taste of what SC used to be like. Before this forum became swamped by professional Assdist operators and kids who discovered Syria in the headlines and came here to play.
Thanks Qunfuz for returning, and to AIG and Akbar Palace for also reappearing and helping restore the level of debate here in a quantum leap.
It’s a treat for the small corps of serious contributors and readers here (you know who you are) who’ve doggedly hung in and not quit this forum in disgust like so many other quality participants.
March 13th, 2013, 2:29 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Not to repeat myself but you are giving me two contradictory statements. You are convinced that no one holds the truth yet you do not condemn the mufti’s call for Jihad to impose his own version of truth.
My problem is using the name of God for the cause of the day and attributing that cause to God. I condemn using God’s name by anyone. You seem to have no problem using the name of God only when used against those you abhore.
In any case, the word “jihad” is often being used by lots of people as a tool for brainwashing.
Im my opinion, you either condem or condone the concept of Jihad defending one’s own version of God. You just can’t have it both ways
March 13th, 2013, 2:32 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Any atheists who tries to impose their views on others are no better than a religious person who tries to impose THEIR views on others.
A surprisingly many atheists are FANATICAL atheists. Which I find ironic, and contemptible.
According to Zoo, any religious person on the REGIME’S side is automatically moderate and acceptable. Any religious person on the OTHER side is a fanatic and an extremist.
March 13th, 2013, 2:33 pm
revenire said:
Umm no, actually those on the terrorist’s side ARE extremists. The evidence in their own words. No embellishment is needed.
March 13th, 2013, 2:38 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Basically Zoo has been a stooge of the regime for so long that any trace of intellectual honesty is long gone.
Zoo is an excellent product of “regime thinking,” otherwise known as a “slimy defense and rationalization of evil.”
ANYONE who uses terrorist tactics can and should be considered a terrorist. Since the regime has resorted to terrorist tactics since the beginning of it two years ago, the regime is the most terrorist of them all.
March 13th, 2013, 2:38 pm
zoo said:
Terrorism and freedom fighting along the Syria-Iraq border
When some rebel groups kill Syrian government soldiers, the US applauds. When others do the killing, it’s ‘terrorism.’ Why?
By Dan Murphy, Staff writer / March 13, 2013
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2013/0313/Terrorism-and-freedom-fighting-along-the-Syria-Iraq-border
..
US officials say the arms flowing into Syria have bypassed Nusra and other jihadi groups, but in most conflicts like this, weapons flow to the best fighters, and Nusra like to lead from the front. Civilian leaders of the uprising have been exasperated with the US position, complaining that the US is more interested in measuring the length of rebels’ beards than in seeing them defeat Assad.
Not surprisingly, reporters on the ground say they’ve started to see the weapons Saudi Arabia is buying from Croatia to arm the “good” rebels in jihadi hands.
…
So it’s the US position that looks strange. It spent billions of dollars and the lives of nearly 4,500 soldiers in Iraq, fighting to put down a Sunni insurgency that was described as a grave threat to American interests.
Today, the US government policy is assisting a Sunni insurgency in Syria that is not only similar in character to the one put down in Iraq, but has surviving Iraqi veterans of the war serving in it.
The ISI’s core strength is in Anbar Province (these folks fought ferocious pitched battles against the US in Fallujah in 2004 and 2005), and its members have strong family and tribal ties along the Euphrates river into Syria.
The US knows this, and is trying to find a way to reassure countries like Iraq that Sunni Islamists will not dominate Syria if Assad is defeated.
March 13th, 2013, 2:38 pm
revenire said:
Marigoldran’s words have no meaning, they’re gibberish. I am amused.
March 13th, 2013, 2:43 pm
MarigoldRan said:
At this point the Americans are willing to risk arming the jihadists if it means bringing down the regime faster.
As I’ve said before: the regime is considered WORSE than its enemies. So any propaganda it tries simply doesn’t work or backfires.
EDIT: That’s because you’re a retard, Revenire. Most of my predictions and comments have been accurate and reasonable and I’m not considered to be retarded, like you.
I’ve been predicting the regime is losing, and lo and behold, the regime is losing. Of course I’m not the only one who predicted that, but it’s whole lot more accurate than any predictions YOU made.
At this point your reputation is totally shot. So you can say anything you want but no one is going to take you seriously.
March 13th, 2013, 2:43 pm
revenire said:
Syria “expert” Landis gets a mention at SyPer:
http://syrianperspective.blogspot.com/2013/03/third-post-march-4-2013-how-nato-lost.html
We have announced the three winners of the Annual SyrPer Dr. Pangloss Award for 2012: Prof. Fouad Ajami, Prof. Joshua “I got an Alawite wife” Landis and Andrew “I got no Ph.D.” Tabler. While Ajami has not been in the press recently on the Syrian issue, Landis continues to get cruelly-worded, almost condescending references in western publications which are known mouthpieces for either the State Department or the CIA. He now must be explained away as the owner of a “widely read” blog on Syria. Of course, there is nothing on Syria which is widely read other than SyrPer. And then, Tabler gets quoted, most notably by the Zionist NYT, after introducing him as a senior fellow at the Washington Institute. They won’t tell you he’s been wrong on everything concerning Syria since March 2011. But he tells the Zionist establishment and Barack Obama want they want to hear. And that’s the problem with American, and by association, NATO foreign polic
March 13th, 2013, 2:45 pm
Syrialover said:
How the Muslim Brotherhood Hijacked Syria’s Revolution
The shadowy Islamist group that was all but destroyed in the 1980s is ruining the uprising against Bashar al-Assad.
EXCERPT:
Khatib has proved that the Brotherhood underestimated him by unshackling himself from its control, unilaterally announcing a brave initiative for dialogue with the regime. For his defiance, he has since been subject to fierce attacks from the Brotherhood and its allies: The SNC criticized Khatib for “taking personal decisions,” while the Brotherhood itself rejected the initiative as “undisciplined and inadequate.”
The Muslim Brotherhood knows it has a long way to go before taking control of Syria. But its power grabs have already played a major role in perpetuating the current crisis, and they bode ill for its role in the new Syria.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/03/13/how_the_muslim_brotherhood_hijacked_syria_s_revolution?page=full
COMMENT: The MB are a power-greedy, parasitic and dangerous obstacle to Syria’s future that needs to be be exposed and opposed NOW.
This an excellent and very well-researched article that spells out their game in detail.
I hope the author has done an Arabic version which can be circulated inside Syria.
March 13th, 2013, 2:52 pm
revenire said:
What is funny about Landis is he would not touch the kidnapped UN peacekeeper’s story with a ten foot pole. It must have scared him. You see any, and all, manner of trash posted by Landis that romanticizes terrorism (he even called for arming people he knows are Al-Qaeda with SAMs a few months ago) but not a word when these terrorists kidnap UN peacekeepers. Why not? It doesn’t fir the narrative. Sure there have been SC stories on some abuses of the rats in Aleppo but that is only because the crimes of the “FSA” are so bad that they can’t be ignored by most media.
March 13th, 2013, 2:55 pm
zoo said:
Tara
I support unconditionally the mufti Hassoun in his call for jihad against people who are Islamists extremists and who are influencing negatively Syrians in their relation to Islam, whether these extremists are pro or anti-Bashar al Assad.
That’s my choice.
I know you seem to support Al Nusra’s Jihad against non-sunnis and moderate Sunnis only if they are pro-Bashar al Assad.
That’s your choice.
March 13th, 2013, 2:56 pm
revenire said:
Syrialover you can go back and read about how the Muslim Brotherhood was supported by the US starting way back in the mid-2000s. This isn’t news to anyone really.
I will tell you the MB would get very few votes in Syria. Everyone hates them.
Assad will be reelected easily in 2014.
March 13th, 2013, 2:57 pm
revenire said:
How sick of Tara to call anyone on extremism when she supports the murder of Sunnis by the Nusra Front. Most of the dead are Sunni supporters of President Assad. Tara is sick beyond belief.
March 13th, 2013, 2:59 pm
zoo said:
#341 SL
For once we agree…MB and Salafists are parasites.
Have you any suggestion of who can counter them?
Kilo? Khatib? Ghaliun? the FSA?
March 13th, 2013, 3:12 pm
Syrialover said:
Not what HANZALA claims in #322.
These crowds in Mayadeen are chanting: “Suria hurra hurra, hal jabhat titla barra’ (Syria is free, the [Nusra] Front should leave)
March 13th, 2013, 3:31 pm
zoo said:
Moscow expects Syrian opposition to form negotiating team
“Both the government and the opposition should set up their negotiating teams. The government has done that and now we are waiting for the opposition to do the same,” he said at a Wednesday press conference in London.
“We expect that those who are working with the opposition like us will be urging for it to form such a team of negotiators as soon as possible,” Lavrov said.
March 13th, 2013, 3:32 pm
Syrialover said:
Syrians take to streets as they seek to drive out Al-Nusra fighters
Activists take to streets of rebel-held Mayadeen in eastern Syria for third straight day to demand that Al-Nusra Front fighters leave town.
(caption: Syria between hammer of war and anvil of extremism)
BEIRUT – Anti-regime activists took to the streets of rebel-held Mayadeen in eastern Syria on Wednesday for a third straight day to demand that jihadist Al-Nusra Front fighters leave the town, a watchdog said.
“For the third day in a row, protests erupted in Mayadeen calling on the Al-Nusra Front to leave the town,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Protests erupted after the Islamist Al-Nusra Front — blacklisted in December by the United States as a “terrorist” organisation — set up a religious council in the east of Deir Ezzor province, where Mayadeen is situated, to administer affairs in the area.
At the weekend they set up a religious police force in Mayadeen, the Britain-based Observatory said, adding that the force had held a parade in the town.
Amateur video distributed by the Observatory showed a large convoy of vehicles driving through the east of Syria, large swathes of which have fallen out of army control in the past few months.
Rebels held up black Islamic flags while driving down an unidentified road.
“The protests are an important indicator that people in eastern Syria — where people do not have a culture of religious extremism — do not welcome the imposition of religious law,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
“The fact is that fanaticism has little place in Syria as a whole, though the regime has tried hard to make the world believe that a successful revolt would put radical Islamists in power,” he added.
A second amateur video distributed on Sunday by activists showed protesters, some of them on motorcycles, holding a night-time demonstration in Mayadeen.
“Protesters are calling on Al-Nusra Front to leave Al-Mayadeen!” said the unidentified cameraman filming the event.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=57506
March 13th, 2013, 3:35 pm
zoo said:
UK cannot arm the rebels, it’s illegal.
Arming Syrian opposition would be illegal: Russia
(Reuters) / 13 March 2013
LONDON – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that supplying the Syrian opposition with weapons was illegal under international law, a day after Britain floated the possibility it might bypass an EU arms embargo to do just that.
“International law does not permit the supply of arms to non-governmental actors and our point of view is that it is a violation of international law,” Lavrov told a news conference in London via a translator.
March 13th, 2013, 3:36 pm
zoo said:
SL
You claim that Syrians don’t want Bashar al Assad’s regime, they don’t want al Nusra, they don’t want the Moslem Brotherhood.
As the FSA is dominated by Al Nusra and the SNC by the MB, I guess they don’t want these either.
So what other existing entity do they want that will bring ‘freedom’ and ‘peace’ after two years of death and destruction?
The Syrian army? the Turks? the UN blue berets? Qatar’s army?
The options seems extremely limited.
March 13th, 2013, 3:46 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo called Sunnis the enemy of Islam,Zoo you are Qaramitah,you are not moslem,and when you support Hassoun you support sedition not jihad
March 13th, 2013, 3:54 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
I’m not surprised.
March 13th, 2013, 4:12 pm
Syrialover said:
“Syria between hammer of war and anvil of extremism” – caption from story in #349.
Well put!
Syrians are not going to tolerate that crazy anvil after all they have fought for.
Here’s the face of al-Nusrah – recruits like this sad misfit US Army veteran (3 years no deployment) Eric Harroun, who converted to Islam after receivng a head injury in a car accident:
“Harroun, known among Syrian rebels and loyalists alike as “The American,” has moved from one country to another, joining protesters in the takedown of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before fighting alongside rebels attempting to depose Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. A prolific poster of online diatribes against the infidel, he’s joined the threads of those calling for the deaths of Zionists.
“His father, Darryl Harroun, told FoxNews.com that his son was discharged from the Army after he was seriously injured while riding in a pickup truck that hit a tree. He was left with full disability pay and a steel plate in his head, according to his father.
“Now he has mood swings and what-not,” said Darryl Harroun, who lives in Arizona and talks to his son by phone frequently. “He was already suffering from depression before that, and the accident just kind of multiplied it.”
://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/11/muslim-holy-warrior-known-as-american-seen-in-syria/#ixzz2NS7wvlWT
March 13th, 2013, 4:19 pm
revenire said:
Illegal LOL
Lavrov is correct, of course, and Hague is nothing but a pig – a pirate.
March 13th, 2013, 4:22 pm
Syrialover said:
# 351 ZOO
Don’t get too carried away with your black and white paintbrush. You’ll see what emerges.
March 13th, 2013, 4:22 pm
Citizen said:
SYRIALOVER
Are you asked about her? but not always, the answer may be urgent!
‘If you were a man, we’d kill you’: Captive journalist tells RT how she escaped Syrian rebels
http://rt.com/news/kochneva-syria-escape-interview-224/
March 13th, 2013, 5:53 pm
revenire said:
Anhar Kochneva is another story Josh Landis won’t touch with a ten foot pole.
March 13th, 2013, 5:58 pm
Ghat Al Bird said:
The latest review by a political analyst….
Israel’s goal of a fragmented Syria differs greatly from the Saudi goal of a strong Syria which will be its partner in rolling back Shia-Iranian influence from Lebanon to Iraq.
In this respect, Syria will one day be a source of conflict between Jerusalem and Riyadh, as each power pursues its national interests beyond the transient one of ousting Assad.
Brian M Downing is a political/military analyst and author of The Military Revolution and Political Change and The Paths of Glory: War and Social Change in America from the Great War to Vietnam.
March 13th, 2013, 5:59 pm
annie said:
308.QUNFUZ “I still like the idea of a loose federation of regional states, none of them particularly centralised, in which a Jew could live in Baghdad, a Sunni could live in Tel Aviv, a Shia could live in Amman, a Christian could live in Fallujah, all of them with equal rights and responsibilities, all free to worship or not worship as they chose, to wear and eat and drink and say whatever they liked. But we are so far away from that now it seems like a ridiculous fantasy.”
Not ridiculous at all. A possible world and the only one that will bring peace and harmony.
March 13th, 2013, 6:16 pm
Citizen said:
Syria to buy civil aircraft from Ukraine: SANA
bey bey Boeing ! bey bey Airbuses ! take care about your civil airliners from heatseaking shoulders-carrying pipes ! Down with your western Embargo ! elite schizophrenics !
March 13th, 2013, 6:19 pm
ghufran said:
Kerry will be attacked by many and may be forced to “clarify” his statement, pro Assad media was quick to capture this:
“We want to be able to see Assad and the Syrian opposition come to the table for the creation of a transitional government according to the framework that was created in Geneva, the Geneva Protocol, which requires mutual consent on both sides to the formation of that transitional government,” Kerry added.
(Kerry is suggesting that Assad will be allowed to take part in negotiations)
abdulazeem is also taking notes:
قال المنسق العام لهيئة التنسيق الوطنية بالداخل والخارج حسن عبد العظيم في حديث لقناة “روسيا اليوم” من دمشق يوم الاربعاء 13 مارس/آذار ان تصريح وزير الخارجية الامريكي جون كيري الاخير عن ضرورة جلوس المعارضة السورية والرئيس بشار الاسد الى طاولة المفاوضات “ليس زلة لسان وانما هو حصيلة جهود (المبعوث المشترك الاخضر) الابراهيمي في الوصول الى توافق امريكي-روسي حول حل سياسي للازمة ووقف العنف ونزيف الدماء
March 13th, 2013, 6:21 pm
zoo said:
…
March 13th, 2013, 6:24 pm
zoo said:
Majed
Your expressed hatred toward other Moslems and your condescending attitude towards minorities only prove that you and the ones who think like you are enemies of Islam, a religion that calls for respect, tolerance and peace.
Moderate Sunnis are not enemies of Islam.
Extremists Sunnis like you are enemies of Islam.
In addition when you distort what I wrote to make it sound that I said ‘all Sunnis are enemies of Islam’, you show exactly what you are: a manipulative and anxious bigot.
March 13th, 2013, 6:25 pm
Citizen said:
امريكا تتراجع عن مطلب تنحي الاسد؟
يبدو واضحا، ومن خلال تصريحات جون كيري وزير الخارجية الامريكي الاخيرة، ان السياسة الامريكية تجاه الازمة السورية باتت اكثر اقترابا من نظيرتها الروسية، وابتعادا في الوقت نفسه عن حلفائها في منطقة الخليج العربي.
فعندما يقول كيري في مؤتمر صحافي عقده امس على هامش زيارته الى اوسلو، ‘ان ما تريده امريكا والعالم هو وقف القتل في سورية’ مضيفا ‘ان المطلوب هو جلوس الرئيس بشار الاسد والمعارضة السورية الى طاولة التفاوض لانشاء حكومة انتقالية بحسب اتفاق الاطار الذي تم التوصل اليه في جنيف’. فهذا يعني ان الادارة الامريكية، في فترة ولايتها الثانية، باتت اكثر فتورا في مواقفها تجاه الازمة، وتميل اكثر لحل سياسي في ظل بقاء الرئيس الاسد.
الوزير كيري لم يطالب مطلقا بتنحي الرئيس الاسد كشرط لاي حل سياسي في المؤتمر الصحافي المذكور، كما انه لم يقل ان النظام او ممثليه هم الذين يجب ان يجلسوا مع المعارضة الى مائدة المفاوضات، وانما قال يجب ان يجلس الاسد والمعارضة وهذا يعني اعترافا امريكيا بشرعية النظام.
وحتى نكون اكثر وضوحا نعيد التذكير بان الرئيس اوباما الذي ظل يكرر لاكثر من عامين بان الرئيس الاسد فقد شرعيته ويجب ان يرحل وان ايامه باتت معدودة، لم يستخدم هذه العبارات منذ خمسة اشهر على الاقل، وهذا هو حال معظم حلفائه الاوروبيين.
وربما ليس من قبيل الصدفة ان تتزامن تصريحات كيري هذه مع تأجيل مؤتمر المعارضة الذي كان مقررا في اسطنبول الاسبوع الماضي لتشكيل حكومة مؤقتة تحت عنوان ادارة المناطق ‘المحررة’ في حلب وادلب ومعرة النعمان في الشمال الغربي والرقة واجزاء من دير الزور في الشمال الشرقي من سورية. فالادارة الامريكية التي دفعت في هذا الاتجاه باتت تفضل المفاوضات بين النظام والمعارضة لتشكيل حكومة وحدة انتقالية بصلاحيات واسعة تضم وزراء من النظام والمعارضة.
الانباء المتسربة من كواليس اجتماعات المعارضة السورية تقول بحدوث خلافات كبيرة داخل الائتلاف السوري المعارض، وان طلب جامعة الدول العربية بتشكيل ‘هيئة تنفيذية’ او ‘حكومة مؤقتة’ كشرط لاحتلال كرسي سورية في اجتماع القمة العربية الذي سيعقد في الدوحة اواخر الشهر الحالي، قد لا يتحقق بسبب صراع الاجنحة، والتنافس على المقاعد الوزارية، وعدم الاتفاق على اسم رئيس الوزراء حيث تتطلع الى هذا المنصب لائحة تضم العديد من المنشقين على النظام، او من الكتل والاحزاب السياسية التي شكلت نواة المعارضة الخارجية مثل المجلس الوطني.
ولا نكشف سرا اذا قلنا ان الشيخ معاذ الخطيب، وحسب مقربين منه، يستعد لتفجير قنبلة استقالته في اجتماع اسطنبول المقبل للمعارضة، واذا تراجع عنها، فان ذلك يعود الى تدخلات وضغوط عربية وخارجية ضخمة، فالرجل وصل الى درجة عالية من الاحباط بسبب صراع الاجنحة وتباعد وجهات نظر الرؤوس الكبيرة في الائتلاف الذي يتزعمه.
التغيير في الموقف الامريكي راجع الى عدة اسباب، ابرزها تعثر الجهود لتوحيد فصائل المعارضة، والخوف من اتساع نفوذ جبهة النصرة واخواتها في الداخل السوري، والتفاف الآلاف من الشباب السوري حولها نظرا لتقديمها خدمات انسانية ومعيشية ضخمة للسكان في المناطق التي تسيطر عليها.
الايام المقبلة حافلة بالمفاجآت في هذا الخصوص، ومعارضة الاوروبيين والامريكان لنداءات تسليح المعارضة باسلحة حديثة ونوعية خوفا من وصولها لجبهة النصرة، هي عنوان تقارب امريكي ـ غربي مع الاسد ونظامه، يحمل صفة التدرج، وسيكون بروتوكول جنيف هو الارضية الرئيسية باعتباره يشكل توافقا روسيا امريكيا.
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today\13qpt999.htm&arc=data\201333-13\13qpt999.htm
March 13th, 2013, 6:29 pm
zoo said:
#362 Ghufran
Kerry has always been secretly in favor of keeping Bashar in power during the negotiations process. He knows very well that productive negotiations are impossible if the regime collapses carrying with it the army, the judicial etc..
No one negotiates in a void.
The opposition has proven incapable of proposing an alternative to to the negotiations. It is now been squeezed and it will be obliged to accept what the USA is telling them, or else the USA will turn to the local opposition, Haytham Manna’s group who are more willing to take the chance to negotiate with the regime.
The clock is ticking for the Qatar-KSA-Turkey supported coalition.
March 13th, 2013, 6:36 pm
zoo said:
#353 Tara
Neither am I, as you seem in full agreement with Majedalkhaldoon’s bigoted views.
March 13th, 2013, 6:40 pm
Dolly Buster said:
There will be no negotiations, that is just a joke. The audience has to kill time, so they talk about a diplomatic solution.
The war will conclude 100% in favor of Qatar, and in 100% defeat for Putin.
March 13th, 2013, 6:54 pm
ghufran said:
Jabhat al-Nusra, a Syrian rebel group accused of ties to Al Qaeda, posted a video online this week that documents the last day in the life of a suicide bomber who killed himself in an attack on a government checkpoint in January.
The video appears to be an effort to publicize an attack that the group describes as “the largest martyrdom operation in Syria,” but also to humanize the group, which was blacklisted by the United States in December. The brief documentary offers a rare glimpse into the last day in the life of a suicide bomber as he jokes with friends, says tearful goodbyes to his fellow fighters and picks his target with the help of Google Maps.
(NY Times)
the interviewer was probably a non syrian Arab but the bomber seems to be Syrian)
March 13th, 2013, 6:56 pm
Citizen said:
Where is Hillary ? is she in good form ?
Can she fly by helicopters ?
Where is Condoleezza Rice? Is she okay?
March 13th, 2013, 6:57 pm
Uzair8 said:
An interesting article at Open Democracy. Other Syria related articles.
The Iranian key to the Syrian crisis
Heiko Wimmen
5 March 2013
______________________________________________________________
Iran’s strategic and ideological investment in the Assad regime may force smaller, unpalatable political compromises to secure a ‘solution’ in Syria.
_____________________________________________________________
March 13th, 2013, 7:22 pm
revenire said:
Wonder what all you freaks will do when Assad wins. It is already funny because there are NO rat victories at all.
March 13th, 2013, 7:31 pm
ghufran said:
this is why islamists are not fit to lead muslim countries into the 21st century:
القاهرة – ا ف ب: انتقد الاخوان المسلمون بشدة الاربعاء وثيقة تعدها لجنة المرأة بالامم المتحدة معتبرة انها تعد ‘هدما للاسرة’ و’تتصادم مع مبادئ الاسلام وثوابته’.
وقال الاخوان في بيان نشر على صفحة الجماعة على فيسبوك ان لجنة وضع المرأة التابعة للامم المتحدة تعقد اجتماعا من الرابع الى 15 اذار/مارس الجاري ‘لاقرار وثيقة بعنوان ‘إلغاء ومنع كل أشكال العنف ضد النساء والفتيات’ وهو عنوان خادع يتضمن بنودا تتصادم مع مبادئ الإسلام وثوابته المقررة بالقرآن والسنة والإجماع، وتقضي على الأخلاق الإسلامية، وتسعى لهدم مؤسسة الأسرة التي أكد الدستور المصري أنها لبنة المجتمع’.
ودان البيان ما تتضمنه الوثيقة من بنود، مؤكدا ان من بينها ‘منح الفتاة كل الحرية الجنسية، بالإضافة إلى حرية اختيار جنسها وحرية اختيار جنس الشريك مع رفع سن الزواج وتوفير وسائل منع الحمل للمراهقات ومساواة الزانية بالزوجة، ومساواة أبناء الزنا بالأبناء الشرعيين مساواة كاملة في كل الحقوق’.
واكد البيان ان من بين البنود التي تشكل تهديدا للاسرة ‘إعطاء الزوجة كل الحق في أن تشتكي زوجها بتهمة الاغتصاب أو التحرش، وعلى الجهات المختصة توقيع عقوبة على ذلك الزوج’ و’التساوي في الميراث’ و’استبدال الشراكة بالقوامة، والاقتسام التام للأدوار داخل الأسرة بين الرجل والمرأة مثل الإنفاق ورعاية الأطفال’ ‘والتساوي التام في تشريعات الزواج مثل: إلغاء كل من التعدد والسماح للمسلمة بالزواج بغير المسلم’.
ومن بين بنود الوثيقة غير المقبولة بحسب البيان ‘سحب سلطة التطليق من الزوج ونقلها للقضاء، واقتسام كل الممتلكات بعد الطلاق’ و’إلغاء الاستئذان للزوج في السفر أو العمل أو الخروج أو استخدام وسائل منع الحمل’.
in the name of protecting islamic values, islamists are supporting laws that treat women as second class citizens.
March 13th, 2013, 7:50 pm
ghufran said:
A little story from Aleppo (source: askalser):
قال ناشطو الثورة السورية أن الهيئة الشرعية في مدينة حلب اعتقلت الطبيب عثمان الحاج عثمان، على خلفية ازالته “علم التوحيد” من مشفى الدقاق الذي يعالج فيه ضحايا عمليات الجيش النظامي.
و لفت الناشطون إلى أن الطبيب عثمان كان من أوائل الأطباء الذين عملوا على معالجة ضحايا المظاهرات في الفترة السلمية للثورة، و اعتقل أثر ذلك.
و أوضحوا أن ذوي “عثمان” ،الذي انتخب مسؤولا للمكتب الطبي في مجلس مدينة حلب مؤخرا، منعوا من لقائه، مشيرين إلى أن الهيئة هددت باعتقال شقيقه.
و خرجت مساء اليوم مظاهرتان في حيي مساكن هنانو و طريق الباب تستنكرات اعتقاله، فيما منعت الهيئة الشرعية مجموعة من الشباب من الاعتصام أمام مبنى الهيئة و هددوهم بالإعتقال في حال عدم المغادرة فوراً.
as things start to settle down, the real battle will be between Syrians and islamist thugs.
March 13th, 2013, 8:14 pm
Syrialover said:
CITIZEN #357
Wow, that Ukranian woman journalist was treated by the rebels infinitely better than any woman held by the regime – especially considering she was employed by Russia to churn out over-the-top Assadist lies and disinformation from inside Syria.
And apparently she didn’t witness any atrocities either.
In fact, she paints a picture of the FSA as gentlemen and kind people who made sure she was well fed and warm. Her bosses will want to shut her up on that.
I sincerely hope her employers or someone paid the FSA compensation to cover the nuisance costs of putting up with her.
March 13th, 2013, 8:14 pm
Dolly Buster said:
I’m 34, but I am an anti-aging researcher. So sometimes I’m biologically younger.
Some of my colleagues include: Aubrey de Grey, Ray Kurzweil, and other immortality experts.
March 13th, 2013, 8:36 pm
Syrialover said:
Here we go, here we go.
Arrogant idiot “holy” fantasists are now busy terrorizing and obstructing heros of the Syrian revolution.
This courageous Aleppo doctor was arrested by self-appointed sharia sheriffs because he didn’t want his hospital badged with their extremist flag.
Read all about it – and about him:
“Islamic Legitimate Body arrested Doctor Haj Othman from Daqqaq Hospital after he removed the black flag from the Hospital; Doctor Othman was one of the first doctors to work in field hospitals and was elected last week as the Chief of the Medical Office in Aleppo Council. He was also a former detainee who was arrested for treating wounded demonstrators The Local Coordination Committees in Syria”
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/syria-lccsy-aleppo-he-removed-the-black-flag-and-get-arrested/
COMMENT: The swollen-headed clowns who arrested him should be rounded up and made to do something useful, like clean up the streets of Aleppo.
They are not even fit to clean Dr Othman’s shoes, though they should also be made to do that as penance.
They are showing they are enemies of the people of Syria with nothing to contribute beyond their own self-important and aggressive delusions.
March 13th, 2013, 9:01 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
2 years is enough time to figure any thing out therefore at this time there is no point of refuting accusations.
In any case, exchanging insults is not my style..
March 13th, 2013, 9:12 pm
zoo said:
#377 SL
When you open the door to wolves to help you fight against your own brother, don’t be surprised when they eat you both.
March 13th, 2013, 9:15 pm
Syrian said:
Guffran @273
You know dam well that even the republican in the US would not agree to some of what in that UN papers,let alone any secular government in the Arab world
Your blind hate is making you agreeing to let your own teenage daughter or granddaughter have sex outside marriage so to make a lousy point
I hope your granddaughter is reading your post and have a bastard baby, to make you a proud 21st century secular grandaddy
March 13th, 2013, 9:27 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qbnWHftKPGs
Kerry statement needs further explanation,it is early to comment on it .if it is true there is change of policy,then the revolution will continue and Assad will lose a little by little, till he runs out of soldier, one thing is true,Syrians will not give up,till they win.
March 13th, 2013, 9:30 pm
Syrian said:
….
March 13th, 2013, 9:35 pm
zoo said:
Tara
Really? Good for you if are convinced of what you say. I am not.
March 13th, 2013, 9:36 pm
zoo said:
Tara
Then don’t cry if the wolves eat you first.
March 13th, 2013, 9:38 pm
ghufran said:
Jordan is changing because of Syrian refugees, many left for economic reasons, even if most left because of the violence, by the end of the year or sooner, more than 15% of Jordan’s residnts will be Syrian and a fraction of those will NOT return, some writers are questioning what that will do to the balance of palestinians-jordanians in the country and how jordanians will survive economically when Syrian workers take jobs for a half or a thrid of wages requested by Jordanians.
A similar scenario is seen in Lebanon,only worse due to Lebanon’s demographic composition. The Middle East will never be the same, as usual the losers are Arab countries,excluding GCC pimps who have enough cash to insulate them for while, and the winners are Israel and Turkey.
(BTW, I do not support every thing in the UN paper on women but I am confident that the MB’s position on it is a reflection of how they see women in society, they use issues as homosexuality and sexual freedom as a cover to hide their regressive views of how a modern society should look like)
March 13th, 2013, 9:46 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
“Good for you if are convinced of what you say. I am not.”
Sorry but I am not following. What does above mean? Convinced of what?
March 13th, 2013, 9:50 pm
MarigoldRan said:
With each passing week the regime continues to lose. It might take several years, but the regime is dead.
As I’ve said before:
1. They don’t have the manpower.
2. It has too many enemies.
3. No one wants to talk to Assad or his inner circle.
4. The rebels are getting stronger and the regime is getting weaker.
5. Iran doesn’t have the money to financially support the regime forever.
It’s just a matter of time.
March 13th, 2013, 9:52 pm
revenire said:
Ha ha they invited the rats into Aleppo but everyone hates them. They’re even arresting anti-goverment activists and in some cases murdering them.
Great revolution.
Another year of this and when the election is held Assad will win 99% of the vote. The Assad years will be looked upon as a Golden Age for Syria.
March 13th, 2013, 9:53 pm
zoo said:
An open letter to Syria’s opposition: you have failed us
Jasmine Roman
Mar 14, 2013
Dear National Coalition, Syrian National Council and main political opposition groups: This is a simple letter from a Syrian, without political terms and complicated language.
Two years have passed and we have exhausted all our hopes, and you have taken part in many meetings, statements and pledges. Now it is only timely to reassess the situation and ask some questions that you are bound to face later, if not now.
…
When we hear that your first priority is to topple the dictator, rather than to stop the violence, we hear that our lives and agonies are worthless. When we hear that you will not negotiate, we hear that you want to protract the conflict – and create more profiteers.
…..
When we hear about your corruption, and when you make no effort to demonstrate your transparency, we are reminded of the corruption of the regime.
…
When we hear that you consider Jabhat Al Nusra to be an essential component of the uprising, we see only more killing ahead. When you conceal atrocities by the armed factions and do not condemn them, even when the factions announce their responsibility, we wait for our death before our eyes.
When you keep silent about explosions, destruction, violations, looting, the targeting of shrines and minority groups and insults to religious symbols, we see that we will never have any place in our country, regardless of our religion, sect, ethnicity and political or ideological dogma.
When you keep silent towards the fatwas allowing strange forms of “marriage” to Syrian women, or forcing them into prostitution, we see only your unethical standards.
Finally, I have one simple question: what have all the political oppositions achieved for the Syrian people?
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/an-open-letter-to-syrias-opposition-you-have-failed-us#ixzz2NTVh0nhS
March 13th, 2013, 9:54 pm
zoo said:
Tara
#383 is a reply to #378
March 13th, 2013, 9:57 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Assad’s inner circle has committed too many crimes for anyone to talk to them. It doesn’t matter what ex-pats like her say. What matters is what the fighters on the ground do.
March 13th, 2013, 9:59 pm
ghufran said:
a powerful article in NY Times, here is a piece:
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
ANTAKYA, Turkey — When members of a fledgling court system in Aleppo, Syria, refused to hand over newly refurbished offices to the head of a Shariah Board last month, four vehicles filled with heavily armed fighters promptly roared through the fence surrounding the five-story concrete building.
The fighters, so-called Shariah Board police, knocked down one cleric who objected, then carted off some 20 lawyers and other employees, whacking some with rifle butts, according to four members of an Aleppo lawyers association who spoke with witnesses.
More than a simple turf war, the confrontation was part of a secondary battle already playing out across Syria, even with its civil war unresolved. It is the fight over who will shape Syria’s future.
“All neighborhoods want some kind of order,” said Lamia Nahas, the head of external relations for the lawyers’ group, the Aleppo Free Lawyers Association, and now the principal of a school for Syrian refugees in Turkey. “But we don’t want Bashar to fall just to usher in worse, like the Islamists,” she said, referring to President Bashar al-Assad.
A Shariah Board — as the religious courts are called — recently ordered a secular critic lashed. In mosques, Islamists have pushed moderate clerics off the pulpit — at least once in mid-sermon — replacing them with speakers who harangue worshipers on topics like the evils of hair gel. In one Islamic school, first graders were urged to grow up to become jihadist fighters, said Azzam Khanji, head of education for Aleppo’s Revolutionary Transitional Council, a sort of government in exile for liberated portions of the city.
(Those of you who promote an islamist government Nusra-style are enemies of Syria,no doubt)
March 13th, 2013, 10:08 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The basic problem for the regime is most people consider the regime to be WORSE than the rebels.
Regime fools can spend countless hours trying to demonize the revolution, but everyone else will just shrug and says, “well the regime is worse.”
March 13th, 2013, 10:08 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
هرووووووووب الشباب العلوي ::
الساعة الثانية صباحا .وصول حوالي 732 شاب الى لبنان عن طريق معبر القريات السورية ومنجذ اللبنانية على 18 دفعة هربوا من جيش بشار النظامي وجميعهم من طائفتي العلوية الى المناطق التالية الحيصة المسعودية حكر حوشب جبل محسن والكورة عند اقاربهم وعند سؤال احدهم ..قال انهم يطلبون من المخابرات ان يذهبوا الى الدفاع عن الوطن وعن الطائفة ولكنهم لايعلمون من يطلق الرصاص عليهم ومنهم يأخذونهم الى مناطق ويتركوهم يجابهون الموت بمفردهم دون اكل او حتى ماء منهم من مات ومنهم من هرب والاتي اعظم والجثث تملاء الاماكن التي يأخذهم الشبيحة اليها وجميع الجثث من الشبيحة والجيش النظامي …….
I know for sure several Alawis in Damascus they left to Lebanon
March 13th, 2013, 10:08 pm
Tara said:
Zoo
Still not clear. You called me a bigot. I responded in kind that I am not going to refute your accusation because 2 years of discussing is enough for you to know otherwise .
March 13th, 2013, 10:08 pm
zoo said:
For Morsi, UN women’s rights requirements “would lead to social desintegration”
http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-brotherhood-blasts-un-womens-document-201012747.html
“It contains articles that clash with Islamic principles and its basics mentioned in the Quran (Islam’s holy book) and in Islamic traditions,” the Brotherhood statement said. “It eliminates Islamic values, and seeks to destroy the family … which would lead to social disintegration.”
March 13th, 2013, 10:14 pm
zoo said:
#395 Tara
I wrote that you support the ideas of a bigot, not that you are one.
I know you’re not.
March 13th, 2013, 10:15 pm
zoo said:
Ghufran
“(Those of you who promote an islamist government Nusra-style are enemies of Syria,no doubt)”
… and enemies of Islam as they are discrediting Islam
March 13th, 2013, 10:20 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Zoo,
You hate religion. You’re some sort of fanatical atheist. What gives you the right to talk about Islamic fundamentals? Do you even know what they are?
March 13th, 2013, 10:22 pm
revenire said:
Marigoldran did I ever tell you that when I was a little boy my mom had a pet poodle that used to bark at all my friends who would come by to play? You kinda remind me of that little dog. Her name was “Jet” and we had to get rid of her because she tried to bite a baby once.
March 13th, 2013, 10:46 pm
Syrian said:
عاجـــــــــــــــــــــــل ::: درعا صيدا
أنباء عن سقوط اللواء 38 في صيدا وقيام الجيش الحر في هذه اللحظة التاريخية بتمشيط كامل للواء وأنباء عن أسر 500 أسير من كلاب الأسد وسنوافيكم بالصور والفيديوهات حال ورودها
Reports in Dara’a about the capture of the 38th brigade with the capture of over 500 fighters from Bashar militia
March 13th, 2013, 10:46 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Saida is 7 Km from Deraa to the east,if this news are verified this means Deraa will be liberated soon
March 13th, 2013, 11:00 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Retard,
You’re mommy’s little boy, aren’t you?
We know you have no job and no life. You’re only confirming it for us.
Retard, if you’re trying to troll someone, why are you using your OWN mom in an insult? The vast majority of trolls on the web use the OTHER PERSON’S mom in an insult, but I guess you’re too much of a momma’s boy for that, huh?
Hell, even MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS troll better than you. At least they use YOUR MAMA jokes, in contrast to you, who talks about his OWN mom.
EDIT: @ Syrian
If confirmed that would be good news.
March 13th, 2013, 11:00 pm
Juergen said:
Hala Gorani on the syrian refugees
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/international/2013/03/11/syria-refugee-photo-essay.cnn
some fun about the Assads
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=480587982000885&set=a.271018419624510.62522.254004324659253&type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=592998234062759&set=a.254873274541925.75384.252281151467804&type=1&theater
March 13th, 2013, 11:04 pm
revenire said:
Jet used to bark a lot. We could always get him to do a little a barking.
March 13th, 2013, 11:05 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Retard, as I’ve said before, you can’t even troll a brick wall. And you’re only proving it to us. Here are some better ones:
Yo Mama’s so stupid she thought Taco Bell was a mexican phone company
Yo Mama’s so stupid because it too her 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes.
Yo Mama’s so stupid she sold her car for gas money.
You can find them online. As of right now, I can troll better than you by COPYING AND PASTING INSULTS.
March 13th, 2013, 11:11 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Retard, as I’ve said before, you can’t even troll a brick wall. And you’re only proving it to us. Here are some better ones:
Yo Mama’s so retarded she thought Taco Bell was a mexican phone company
Yo Mama’s so retarded because it too her 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes.
Yo Mama’s so retarded she sold her car for gas money.
You can find them online. As of right now, I can troll better than you by COPYING AND PASTING INSULTS.
March 13th, 2013, 11:13 pm
Observer said:
I quote:
UK cannot arm the rebels, it’s illegal.
Arming Syrian opposition would be illegal: Russia
So Russia is talking legality?
How about invading Afghanistan was that legal? Does Russia think it is winning anything by preserving regime to show that it can counter regime change? It is as bankrupt as the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq combined.
Or to say in Thouria Alathad is it legal to use phosphorus bombs; to flatten whole sections; to use SCUDS; to use MRL without accuracy; to detain hundreds of thousands of people; or to violate every article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and even the thtupid conthtitution that the prethident wrote for himthelf?
Illegality my toe. What is Russia going to do about it? Invade Britain? Embargo Europe’s oil and gas?
In the meantime, there will be an ongoing daily attrition of the regime forces as they are stretched too thin to regain any areas any longer.
Many bases are about to fall as the troops are starving. Many provinces for all practical purposes are off limits.
Pro regime trolls are now praising the great US of A and its great Secretary of State Kerry for a presumed asking for dialogue with Athad. So all of this evil US led conspiracy is for naught now?
Do they really think that Athad will go the UN next year?
The talks are about handing over power.
On the ground is where you need to be focused.
Where is ALI when he need him.
March 13th, 2013, 11:21 pm
revenire said:
Observer you’re going to have a heart attack. Please.
March 13th, 2013, 11:23 pm
ghufran said:
the conflicting nature of EU statements on Syria made by french and british politicians never ceased to amaze me, those people are either dishonest or plain dumb, I tend to believe the former:
قال وزير الخارجية الفرنسي لوران فابيوس ان زيادة المساعدة للمعارضة السورية هي السبيل الوحيد لإنهاء هذا الصراع المستمر منذ عامين.
وكتب فابيوس في صحيفة ليبراسيون اليومية “علينا المضي قدما والسماح للشعب السوري بالدفاع عن نفسه في مواجهة هذا النظام الدموي”، مضيفاً “من واجبنا مساعدة الائتلاف الوطني السوري المعارض وقادته والجيش السوري الحر بكل السبل الممكنة”.
وقال فابيوس “علينا إقناع شركائنا وخاصة في أوروبا بأنه لم يعد أمامنا من خيار آخر سوى رفع الحظر على السلاح لمصلحة الائتلاف.”
the only outcome of arming rebels is making it less likely that they will consider a political solution, instead, more weapons mean more blood shed and prolong the war. What can work instead is an international arms embargo on Syria that is monitored by the UNSC and accepted by Turkey, the main facilitator of smuggled weapons, Russia will not stop sending weapons if the flow of weapons and terrorists continue through Turkey. Jordan and Lebanon are more manageable, Turkey, not Qatar, is at the core of the problem if the objective is to stop the war due to geographical factors and the size of Turkey, Qatar’s money is not enough to keep the war raging.
March 13th, 2013, 11:24 pm
MarigoldRan said:
All politicians are dishonest. But I expected the Russians to do better than that. “Illegal?” Is that the best they can do? When has the Russians, of all people, cared about legality?
@ Ghufran
On that I don’t agree. The West and the GCC have decided:
enough is enough.
If the regime gets to have weapons shipments from Russia and Iran, there’s no reason why the rebels can’t receive weapon shipments too.
What comes around, goes around.
Besides, according to regime propaganda, there’s a lot of Al Qaeda elements in Syria. Zoo and other regime propagandists have tried for YEARS to convince people that a lot of the rebels are Al Qaeda. I guess they finally succeeded. The West will now supply weapons to rebels to counter the rise of the Islamists.
March 13th, 2013, 11:28 pm
Juergen said:
Prince Charles describes ‘horror’ of Syria’s refugee crisis
The Prince of Wales described the “horror” of Syria’s refugee crisis today as he visited a camp in Jordan for those who have fled the bloody civil war.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9926576/Prince-Charles-describes-horror-of-Syrias-refugee-crisis.html
March 13th, 2013, 11:52 pm
ghufran said:
This is from NY Times:
With fighting raging in Damascus and other cities in Syria on Wednesday, Amnesty International issued new reports detailing what the group called war crimes committed by both sides in the conflict.
The group said that its researchers in Syria had confirmed government shelling and indiscriminate bombing of civilian residential areas, “flattening entire neighborhoods, often with internationally banned weapons,” including cluster bombs.
It said it also found “an escalation of abuses by armed opposition groups,” including brutal summary killings of captured officers, though the group was at pains to say that the “vast majority” of war crimes were being committed by government forces.
“If left unaddressed, such practices risk becoming more and more entrenched,” Ann Harrison of Amnesty International said in a statement. “It is imperative that all those concerned know they will be held accountable for their actions.”
(some people in the name of reconcilliation want a pardon that includes crimes committed by both sides, but some crimes are too ugly to be left unpunished and some criminals do not deserve a pardon. This issue will be at the heart of any future settlement, my fear is that the nation will slide into a campaign of random revenge killings while the real criminals get away)
March 14th, 2013, 12:27 am
revenire said:
Prince Charles? LOL
March 14th, 2013, 12:33 am
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
How can an arms embargo work while leaving the criminal AsMAA regime with a clear advantage in the form of huge stockpiles of deadly weaponry to use after the revolutionaries have been kneecapped? Will Russia agree to sending UN forces to quarantine all weapons held by the AsMAA and enforce a strict ceasfire from ALL sides? I don’t think so.
Until that happens all calls for “an embargo on arms to Syria” is nothing but a ploy to stop the advancest being made by the freedom fighters and keep the AsMAA in control.
And dont let the matter of Assad’s departure fool you, he is but the symbol and figurehead of the Mafia organization responsible for all the death and destruction we have witnessed during the past 2 years. True, his removal might be a blow to their morale, but not enough to neutralize them as a threat. The honchos of the AsMAA all need to go before Syria can have any hope of going forward towards becoming a democratic country belonging to all its citizens.
March 14th, 2013, 1:32 am
revenire said:
OMG. Another one.
Yes, the weapons fairy is bringing the rats some new toys so it is a fair fight.
Of course.
March 14th, 2013, 1:56 am
apple_mini said:
It is not difficult for Syrians to take a side. The regime is brutal, corrupted and less impotent than before.
The opposition have no voice or image dedicated to Syrians. They need lots of work before being recognized. So we can safely skip their roles for now.
The rebels are various groups of bandits, guerrilla fighters, Islamic radicals, Jihadists and Al Qaeda. We know there are few moderate fighters, but we won’t be able to know them. They are not the ones who do most fighting or gain on battleground. In rebel held areas, those moderates are as powerless as those civilians. They don’t get to call the shots how the area is governed.
To Syrians, the rebels are equally brutal or worse, corrupted and backward. The regime is like any government in the world, their authority also calls for their responsibility for the nation and people. Unfortunately, it is not true for the rebels. They don’t even have a meaningful political goal. The only thing that is bonding different fractions together is toppling the regime regardless how to achieve it. Under the regime, there is political oppression but no sectarian massacre. If the rebels take over Syria, all atrocities committed by the regime will be replayed and even worse. Looming massacre targeting minorities is inevitable (Just take a look on this SC site and watch a bunch of those hateful men and women dispersing their venom). The Syria as a state and nation will be drained from inside.
Military dominance dictates the outcome. But keep in mind, how majority of Syrians put their support also play major role on the battle field.
For those who think Alawites or other minorities are giving up the regime, I found it ridiculous. Everyday the rebels are getting more brutal and ruthless. Their extremism act and words are filling up the Levant. And those minorities are feeling safer after all of those? It is a To be or not to be question.
The dilemma the regime facing is that on one hand, they try to play down the sectarian factor in the war and emphasize the Islamic radicalism to gather more national support especially in the army.there is no need to warn the minorities. They know by heart what the alternative will be. The regime wants part of Sunni know that what they believe in for themselves and for Syria will also get destroyed if the rebels take over. On the other hand, if situation worsens, they need to supercharge the civilians as general warning without causing too much panic or division.
No one can deny that the supports for the regime is growing everyday and the supports for the rebels/opposition is diminishing everyday. Not because the regime is improving their image by doing more good deeds, it is because the rebels are committing more atrocities to the country and the West is revealing more it’s true color as a wolf.
Everyday, the rebels are using their inaccurate mortars to attack Damascus. In all those attacks, civilians got killed and injured. Military gain by the rebels: None. And as we can expect, the rebels will not stop their shelling even they know clearly what their next attack will be bringing to civilians. When some people are denouncing the indiscriminate shelling and bombing by the regime, do they think the rebels would hesitate to use any weapons or means of attack in their arsenal if they are about to storm in Damascus?
As far as how the west is portrayed themselves after what they have done to Syria. Remember what Grandi said: they try everything to help us, except getting off our backs.
The opposition has long long way to go to even get some respects from ordinary Syrians. But that is not what matters now. The priority is to stop the violence.
March 14th, 2013, 1:59 am
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
على فكرة أنتو أحسن نظام على وجه الكرة الأرضية وعبر تاريخ الإنسانية والخليقة.. بس هالشعب.. متآمر خاين أرعن جاهل سلفي وهابي.. مابيستاهلكن.. عاقبوا.. تركوا وروحوا دورولكن على شعب تاني يقدر قيمتكن و تضحياتكم..
كندة علوش
March 14th, 2013, 2:15 am
apple_mini said:
A piece of news about Arabian hoses in Syria, breeding project has been suspended due to the ongoing war. Some horses were killed directly. Some died because of lack of caring.
To me, the news is extremely sad and gut-wrenching. Arabian horses are the most beautiful horses on this planet: graceful, intelligent, enduring and uplifting. Now the Arabian horses also became victim of this war.
To me, they are the symbol of Arabian spirits. Yet, Syrians are still in this senseless and bloody war, killing each other.
When, we human beings will be as innocent as those horses? When can we get back to our simple and pure land to live?
March 14th, 2013, 2:24 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
As with every regime propagandist story, what the story about horses left out was that the assad mafia thugs stole all of these horses from the homes of Hama in the 1980s. Thugs like hilal al-assad, an ignorant moron, and his dead cousin, the cheating horse rider bassel used the stolen horses to start these lucrative arabian horses business.
It is a family of thieves, thugs and criminals. In the old days, horse thieves were executed summarily, in athad farm, they become national heros. What a fxxed up gang.
March 14th, 2013, 4:09 am
revenire said:
“As with every regime propagandist story, what the story about horses left out was that the assad mafia thugs stole all of these horses from the homes of Hama in the 1980s.”\
Did you hear Assad started World War I? He is responsible for slavery too. He is the one who bankrupted Twinkies as well. In fact there is little bad in the world we can’t blame Assad for.
March 14th, 2013, 10:14 am
zoo said:
Aren’t the armed rebels armed by Qatar, the UK and France, noble angels instauring “justice, freedom of expression and karama’ in liberated areas that are emptying at high speed.
“[Rebel fighters] are summarily killing people with a chilling sense of impunity, and the death toll continues to rise as more towns and villages come under the control of armed opposition groups,” Amnesty said.
http://rt.com/news/syrian-rebels-killings-kidnappings-261/
March 14th, 2013, 11:13 am
zoo said:
Revenire
For the opposition, Bashar al Assad seems to be an ubiquitous and overpowered giant. They are really blinded by their fear.
March 14th, 2013, 11:18 am
revenire said:
Ha ha you’re right. I bet Tara goes to bed thinking of Assad and the first thing when she wakes up she checks the news to see if they’ve murdered him. A psychiatrist could help perhaps.
March 14th, 2013, 11:41 am
AIG said:
I see the whining idiots of the regime are still at it, complaining about the jihadists. Assad was the one supporting them for 11 years when that suited his goals. It was clear that one day they would turn on him. That day has come, stop complaining and suck it up. You played a dangerous and stupid game and you lost. It is a pity all of Syria has to pay a price for you being idiots.
March 14th, 2013, 11:47 am
AIG said:
The whining idiots of the regime are still at it, complaining about the jihadists. Assad was the one supporting them for 11 years when that suited his goals. It was clear to any sensible person that one day they would turn on him. That day has come, stop complaining and suck it up. You played a dangerous and stupid game and you lost. It is a pity all of Syria has to pay a price for you being idiots.
March 14th, 2013, 11:49 am
AIG said:
I would really like to hear a regime supporter arguing why it was ok for Assad to support jihadists but it is not ok for the rebels. Any regime supporter up for the challenge? Probably not as they are cowards, but it is worth a try.
March 14th, 2013, 11:53 am
Citizen said:
FA = −FB
take care, elite schizophrenics !
France, UK may arm Syrian rebels ‘without EU support,’ despite embargo
http://rt.com/news/uk-france-arm-syria-250/
——–
Syrian rebels ramp up extrajudicial killings, kidnappings – Amnesty Int’l
http://rt.com/news/syrian-rebels-killings-kidnappings-261/
March 14th, 2013, 12:00 pm
AIG said:
Still waiting for that argument… Cowards.
March 14th, 2013, 12:01 pm
AIG said:
Who is in favor of a new rule on SC that until the regime supporters provide a good argument why it is ok for Assad to support jihadists and not ok for the rebels to support them, that the regime supporters cannot complain about jihadists in Syria?
March 14th, 2013, 12:06 pm
AIG said:
Has anyone else noticed how the regime supporters slither away with their tail between their legs when asked simple questions about the relation between Assad and jihadists, an 11 year long relation?
March 14th, 2013, 12:09 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
@421 , aint smart bozo..this is way out of your league of dumb arses
The horse thieves
In the Baroudeyeh, we had horse stables within arabian-styled our homes. All families in our neighborhood had horses and these horses were part of our pride and honor. We never classified our horses as animals, for they carried our names, and in that there was and remains an infinitely clear expression of the nature of the relationship we had with our horses. During our great escape from the neighborhood, some people remained, but most left. Those who remained told us later what happened to our horses. Before leaving, some men released their horses wanting for them exactly what Hameedo wanted his birds, and that was to stay away from the place, or to fight weapons with his beautiful birds. Many of the fine Arabian bloodstock horses were forced out, in manners we have never done in hundreds of year, a manner that does not at all represent our feelings towards our horses.
Yet, many horses remained, and the barley stores were left opened for them in hope that they can survive. Some believed that they will see their horses again upon their return, but these people did not know that barbarians don’t leave anything behind, and they would not leave our cultural heritage, the habits of our grandfathers, and they knew the symbolism of horses to us.
They did not kill the horses because they knew of their cultural values, and they knew that the loss of our horses will be forever painful to us, which is what they want. None of the survivors tell that they have seen horses among the corpses, because the barbarians have carried the horses to another place. I swear that after the end of the massacre, and the return of those who survived it to the city, the people of my city went looking for their horses as if they were looking for their own children. If any one mentioned that a beautiful horse or mare was seen in another governorate, they would go to investigate whether it was one of our beautiful horses. We never saw any, and did not found an answer until the golden horseman showed up, and then the people of Hama knew to where the horses disappeared. His father was never a horseman, nor was his grandfather. While he may have learned riding with our horses, not everyone understands the language of horses, because it teaches ethics, and it only befits us. Bassel al-assad, you never were a horseman, and this is not how horsemanship is.
March 14th, 2013, 12:26 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The retard’s being retarded again. What a retard.
Most regime supporters have no life or jobs. They’re channeling their frustration at their wasted lives onto the internet. Just look at the retard, and how often and for how long he posts.
In other words, they’re losers. They know they’re losers too. So there’s no point in talking to them because honestly they have been infected with too many loser germs.
March 14th, 2013, 11:31 pm
annie said:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151479896332649&set=vb.48261722648&type=2&theater
link to Amb Robert Ford’s recorded message on the 2nd anniversary of the revolt (in Arabic if you please !)
March 15th, 2013, 1:44 pm
Mina said:
“Oil-money ruined everything” says Abu Mahmud
http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/03/08/a-atme-entre-revolution-et-desenchantement_1845325_3210.html
March 15th, 2013, 1:48 pm
revenire said:
Friday, March 15, 2013
David Ben Gurion and ethnic cleansing
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
“”Eight lines of what he said then remain classified and have been replaced by rows of dots. History is not being allowed to know what Ben-Gurion said at that cabinet session about the Galilee’s 100,000 Arab residents, some of whom were refugees of villages that witnessed the departure of their inhabitants: “If war broke out, we would then be able to clear the entire central Galilee with one fell swoop. But we cannot empty the central Galilee – that is, including the [Arab] refugees – without a war going on. The Galilee is full of [Arab] residents; it is not an empty region. If war breaks out throughout the entire country, this would be advantageous for us as far as the Galilee is concerned because, without having to make any major effort – we could use just enough of the force required for the purpose without weakening our military efforts in other parts of the country – we could empty the Galilee completely.” “” (thanks Laleh)
March 15th, 2013, 1:48 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
The main argument against rebels is that by asking dignity and freedom they will only get death and destruction. So let the Assad Mafia rule as long as like. Assad is a dictator but they love him because the country will be destroyed by Assad himself if he is forced to go out.
Now the message is clear: Syria will live without Assad mafia or die. This is the syrian people desire. Assad must go but he cannot understand the message because he conisder syrians are all dogs without dignity who will obey Assad mafia for fear and for a piece of bread.
Fxx you Assad, fxx all the tribal, corrupt, ingorant and slave minds around Assad.
March 16th, 2013, 4:55 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
REVENIRE,
Once again here? Still not sleeping? Go to bed and let your mind rest a little. By the way you are new in SC. What was your life like before working as propaganda official for the syrian mafia regime?
Where you at Palestine Branch of the Moukhabaraat in Kafr Susseh identifying who is a real syrian and who is an spy against the Assad mafia interests? Pfuuu aleik
March 16th, 2013, 5:01 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
447. Mina
Sorry Mina, YOU are the ones who ruined everything. People who is not able to adapt to changing realities, changing economics, people who thinks the status quo is unchangable, people who things that the reign of force will guarantee power. People who is unable to consider other´s demands, other´s lacks and needs. People who thinks that declaring oneself anti-imperialist is enough to fulfill people´s demands. You are probably of socialist or communsit formation or creeds but you are bertraying the core of your ideals. You are violating the syrian people´s demands from 15th March 2011.
March 16th, 2013, 5:23 am
Sara E Huizenga said:
Matthew, ASSad continues to be the cause behind over 95% of the killings in Syria – I understand that yourbown personal interest may not focus on him, but thr Regime and allies still remain the CAUSE of the horror.
March 30th, 2019, 4:31 am
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