Upheaval within the Opposition: Defections, Terrorism, and Preparing for a Phase II Insurgency
Posted by Joshua on Monday, March 19th, 2012
The Syrian opposition is reshaping itself following its defeat in Homs. A new leadership seems bound to emerge. In all likelihood, in the new phase of the battle the is shaping up to combat the Assad regime, opposition leaders are likely to champion new tactics of militancy and Islamization.
The opposition will have to rebuild itself to be more Islamic, militant and sectarian in order to take on the Assad regime. Opposition leaders on the ground, those who are actually fighting the regime, have already become more militant and Islamized. If the SNC doesn’t scramble to catch up, it will become irrelevant. I suspect that the upcoming opposition meeting in Turkey this Thursday and Friday (March 22-23) will reflect some of that shift. The recent high level defections within the the Syrian National Council suggest the opposition is responding to these pressures and new demands. The SNC is going through a period of soul searching and transformation in response to the government’s classic “clear and hold” operations carried out in Sednaya, Homs and Idlib.
The future strategy of the Syrian opposition will have to follow the outlines of a classic “phase two” insurgency predicated on guerrilla warfare. This phase is reached when the insurgent movement initiates organized continuous guerrilla warfare in an attempt to push government forces into a defensive role. “Phase three” insurgency is a war of movement. In this phase the insurgent can directly engage government forces and hold territory. The Syrian opposition prematurely tried to hold territory and take on the Syrian Army. This was a bad and costly mistake. In the first year of the Syrian uprising the opposition naively believed that the entire Syrian population would embrace it and abandon the regime or that Bashar al-Assad would hand over power. Based on the example of the North African uprisings, Syrian opposition members incorrectly believed a “Tahrir Square moment” would arrive within months of the uprising’s start, eliminating the need for a coherent military strategy, a defined leadership, or how to parry government counter-insurgency operations. The passions of Syrians who have tasted little but contempt from their own government led them to rise up in an act of incredible courage. Now, however, the reality of just how difficult attaining victory will be is setting in.
The Assad regime remains vigorous and will last longer than many thought. The reason that mass defections have not destroyed the regime are twofold: sectarian anxieties prevent Alawite defections, and the regime turns out to be more sectarian than many thought; and class anxieties are more important as well.
Members of the Sunni middle and upper classes are not defecting in the numbers the opposition hoped that they would. The reason that neither Damascus or Aleppo have become centers of the revolution is usually attributed to their privileged position in Syrian society. Wealthy Sunnis living in the West have joined the revolution, but that may be because they do not fear the disorder and incompetence of the opposition in the same way as those living in Syria. They have also experienced the freedom and dignity afforded by the rule of law. They look at the brutality of the Assad regime and wonder, “how come we have this?”
The Syrian revolutionaries are largely rural and young, just as were the Baathists in the 1960s. Wealthy and educated Sunnis fear the results of the present revolution could be the same for them as the results of the last revolution, when Syria’s rural poor took power. They will lose money, status and their quality of life, at least temporarily. If the Lebanon and Iraq revolutions are a guide, that decline could last a long time.
The coming “phase II” insurgency will be characterized by:
- the creation of cell-networks that maintain secrecy
- Terrorism: these techniques include bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, threats, mutilation, murder, torture, and blackmail. These actions will be used to provoke the government into overreactions that discredit the regime, alienate the populace, and demonstrate its inability to protect them.
- multifaceted attempts to cultivate support in the general population, by undermining the regime, proving that the opposition must be feared and will eventually win, and by winning gratitude and trust by providing food and shelter to those in need.
- attacks against the government and security forces, such as car bombings in Damascus and Aleppo and the planting of IEDs as in Iraq and Afghanistan will undermine military moral and its ability to move around the country.
In order for the opposition to organize an effective phase II insurgency, it will have to embrace guerrilla warfare and greater Islamization of the resistance. This means Sunni sectarian recruitment, Islamic martyrdom operations, and all the aspects of Middle Eastern insurgency that we have seen used so effectively against occupation forces in the recent past, whether used by Palestinians, Afghans or Iraqis. Elements of the SNC who are unhappy with the way the Ghalioun has
The role of Burhan Ghalioun and members of the Syrian National Council closest to him, such as Ausama Monajed and Bassma Kodmadi, is bound to diminish or change in the coming phase of the struggle. They must be prepared to embrace a much more stridently Sunni insurgency. The regime has proven its viciousness. The secular leaders of the SNC have been very successful at mobilizing the West against Assad. They have gotten sanctions put in place and the regime has been isolated internationally. But they look down on religion and warfare.
Kamal Labwani, a leader of the Syrian opposition who quit the Syrian National Council last week, accused the SNC of being an “autocratic” organization that has sidelined most of its members. “There is no council, it’s an illusion,” he said. Furthermore he accused council chief Burhan Ghalioun of being like Bashar and “running the organization …. [like] Assad’s ruling Baath party.” Haytham Mallah slammed Ghalioun for being reluctant to support the military effort of the Free Syrian Army. Anwar al-Bunni is worried that the Muslim Brotherhood has become too powerful within the SNC. These are all growing pains as the opposition struggles to keep up with the changes on the ground brought on by the Homs crisis and opposition defeat.
In keeping with the Islamization necessary to recruit financial and military assistance for the revolution, opposition organizers in the West are rallying support from the broader Islamic community by presenting the Syrian struggle in clear religious terms. Quoting from the Koran is key to this. Here are selected quotes from a recent Syrian opposition rally held in Australia. Notice the use of Islamic concepts of martydom, khalifa, the umma, rejection of nationalism, angles coming to the aid of Islamic fighters, blood nourishing the roots of Jihad, etc.
Sunni Shaykhs of Australia Speak at Rally to Gather Support against the Assad Regime
This is a video of the Muslim community protest for Syria held on Jan 21, 2012 at Paul Keating Park, Bankstown, Sydney, Australia. This video is of the entire protest, including all talks, chanting and videos. The following are snippets of the talks:
“We Stand United for the Sake of Allah and for our Brothers and Sisters who are Getting Slaughtered – We are all Muslims who are Worshiping Allah.” “We Ask Allah to Destroy the Assad Regime and his army.” The Muslim Umma stands as one. For one hundred years these dictatorships and these animals have reigned. … The Umma is one step closer to realizing the reality… the reality of the Khilafa to come. Put your trust in Allah. Allah ordains that our brothers and sisters in Syria stand firm, brave and courageous in standing against those who have been oppressing them for the past decades. We can see the wings of angles above Damascus. They will destroy Assad and his regime. Allah insists that his life will continue to exist and the light of his martyrs will continue and the only thing that will be destroy is the life of tyrants and the Assad regime and his army and to revive truth as he promised. God has made us one Umma. It is the Umma of God who is one.”
Remember that the blood of the Martyrs will never be wasted. It will continue to feed the roots of the tree. The prophet said that their will remain a group of my Umma who will fight on the command of Allah to suppress evil and uphold the unity of God. Brothers in Islam, to remember that the outcome is for the beliefs. The outcome is for the beliefs. to remember the stance of the people of tawhiid. We had our Umma and our scholars stand up for belief against these regimes. When the likes of al-Buti and the likes of al-Hassoun, this dog wearing a turban, stood on the side of the tyrants. Remember that victory will only come with adhering to the book of Allah and his Sunna. Victory will NOTcome with the name of nationalism. Lift your fingers in the direction of God and say there is only one God. Oh Muslims of Syria Victory is near.
Al Arabiya: Al Arabiya declined to publish Assad’s ‘very personal emails’
2012-03-16
None of the “very personal emails” of President Bashar al-Assad or his wife Asmaa al-Akhras were aired or published, Al Arabiya said on Friday. The pan-Arab news channel said that many “private” messages were in their inbox among thousands … Al Arabiya said that none of the emails were exchanged with senior military or government officials in the country. There weren’t any exchange of emails with members of the Assad family as well, but most of emails were exchanged with members of his wife’s family and his close friends who belonged to his inner circle….Hundreds of “scandalous” emails were accordingly deleted by Al Arabiya.
Bashar Al Assad’s Wife ‘Could Face Two Year Prison Term’ for Sanctions Busting After Shopping Spree – March 16 (Telegraph)
Syria: Bashar Al-Assad Email Reveals Mystery Near Naked Woman
by Raf Sanchez, March 16 (Telegraph) —
Mystery surrounds a photograph of an near-naked woman posing provocatively that was sent to Bashar al-Assad by a young female political aide. The undated picture shows the woman, clad only in white lingerie, pressing herself against a wall as her clothes lie discarded in a heap at her feet. It was discovered among thousands of emails from the personal accounts of the Syrian president and his wife after their passwords were smuggled out of Damascus by opposition groups. The photograph was sent to Mr Assad on December 11 last year by Hadeel al-Ali,
John Stewart: Homs Despot: Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad’s hacked emails reveal he’ll taunt NATO in the world community, but he won’t f**k with Apple.
Syria: Songs of Defiance – Al Jazeera.Net
An undercover Al Jazeera correspondent takes us inside the lives of Syria’s anti-government demonstrators.
Syria Puts On Mass Rally in Support of Assad
By ANNE BARNARD in the New York Times
“What happened in Homs is betrayal,” Mr. Labwani said in an interview. “There is a sense of irresponsibility on the part of the council.”
The council, he added, was in danger of causing splits in Syrian society by failing to create a single rebel military command under its control, leaving individual militias to seek their own sources of help. He accused Muslim Brotherhood members within the exile opposition of “monopolizing funding and military support.”
The 270-member council has been plagued by internal disagreements. A member of its executive committee, Samir Nachar, played down the latest frictions, saying the members had not submitted formal resignations. One, he said, was simply frustrated at his exclusion from a meeting with the United Nations special envoy, Kofi Annan. Mr. Nachar said Mr. Labwani had attended few meetings.
Mr. Nachar acknowledged the council needed to improve but said disagreements were inevitable, noting that many members had never met before the uprising and had widely varying backgrounds and opinions.
But this time the departing members include some well-known figures with deep credibility among Syrians both inside and outside the country, including Mr. Labwani and Haitham Maleh, an executive committee member and lawyer in his 80s who served many years in prison after defending Syrian dissidents, including Muslim Brotherhood members.
Mr. Maleh could not be reached for comment, but told Al Jazeera that he had resigned because of chaos within the group and doubt over what it could accomplish, adding, “We have not gotten very far in working to arm the rebels.”
Still, the way forward for the opposition seemed unclear. On Tuesday, the Syrian National Council had taken steps to bring the Free Syrian Army under its umbrella. But Mr. Labwani, the council member who is resigning, said the exiles had few ties to the fighters inside. “The Free Syrian Army is the people who are inside Syria,” he said.
He called the council’s head, Burhan Ghalioun, an autocrat who makes decisions “under our names without getting back to us.” Mr. Ghalioun could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Labwani said he had argued that the rebels should be armed only under a single command with the council controlling the finances, but Muslim Brotherhood members had objected.
“It will lead to disaster, especially if the revolution is turned into militias,” Mr. Labwani said.
The other two resigning members are Walid al-Bunni and Catherine Altalli. “The Brotherhood took the whole council,” Mr. Bunni said in an interview. “We became like extras.”
In a kind of warning, Mr. Labwani and Mr. Maleh last month formed a new group under the council’s umbrella.
…. Looking at the balance of forces on the ground, it’s not hard to see why [Assad] may be feeling lucky, at least in the near term. In recent weeks, he has sent armored units to recapture rebel-held neighborhoods first in Homs and then in Idlib. Having successfully driven opposition fighters outside of those areas they had held for months, he has turned his forces’ attention back to Deraa in the south, cradle of the rebellion. Of course, these operations have exacted a terrible toll in civilian life and suffering, not sufficient to prompt foreign powers capable of intervening to throw off the restraints they have imposed on themselves out of fear of the consequences of plunging into a messy civil war…..
Syrian rebels lack guns, money after key defeats
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY | Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — Two significant defeats at the hands of Syrian government troops have exposed the limitations of the country’s rebel forces: They are low on cash, running out of weapons and facing a fiercely loyal military that will fight to the death.
Insisting that their drive to oust President Bashar Assad by force remains strong, the Free Syrian Army says the arms shortage is the main obstacle.
“Send us money, we’re desperate. Send us weapons,” Ahmad Kassem, who coordinates military operations for the FSA, told The Associated Press in an interview. “We don’t need fighters. We have excess men who can fight, but we need weapons to protect our land and honor.”(..)
Saudi Arabia shut down its embassy in Damascus, the Saudi foreign ministry announced Wednesday. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies withdrew their ambassadors in February.
“Assad Tells Annan he has three conditions for Cease Fire,” Shamlife, Thursday, March 15, 2012
- Armed groups must promise to cease fire
- Neighboring countries must promise to stop the smuggling of weapons into Syria
- Countries must promise to stop financing the opposition
علمت صحيفة “النهار” ان “رد الرئيس بشار الاسد على المبعوث المشترك للامم المتحدة وجامعة الدول العربية كوفي أنان في سوريا، تضمن ثلاثة شروط هي، تعهد المجموعات المسلحة وقف النار، تعهد دول الجوار وقف تهريب الرجال والسلاح، وتعهد الدول الممولة للمعارضة وقف تمويلها”. وعندما تتحقق هذه الشروط يوقف الرئيس الأسد العمليات العسكرية ضد المسلحين.
A Chrisian friend from Homs writes of how refugee families are occupying empty apartments.
My family left Homs because of their fear for their lives, some went to Damascus and some to Lebanon and few families went to Marmarita and Amar AL Huson,
My cousin who went to her Daughter in AL Raga, went back to Homs and found people in her house, it is 2 bedroom house so she told them that she needs the house as it is too small for more than her and her family, so they left, another relative of mine in Hameedia, they left first then when they came back they found people in their home so they asked them to leave, they refused and asked the owners my relative to talk to the office in one of the Hameedia restaurant that is occupied , so they went there and asked for their house back, they complied and the office of the armed militia ( i think) asked the people who were staying in the house to leave and give the house back, apparently they occupied the houses of the people who left, I am not sure if they forced the people out, that is what i heard from my family.
Google Ideas Director Involved in ‘Regime Change’
Explosive news: Ex-State Department employee tuned Google director pushes programs supporting regime change in the Middle East. This comes on the back of news that Avaaz’s campaign manager is also ex-State Dept. This really begs the question whether there is a policy decision to infiltrate social media at the top as well. Disturbing stuff…..
Syria’s rebels will have to deal with Assad
By Julien Barnes-Dacey
Senior Policy Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, European Council on Foreign Relations, www.ecfr.eu
No one wants to deal with dictators. But one year after the Syrian uprising began, the harsh truth is that Bashar al-Assad maintains the upper hand and the opposition – with its international backers – may have little choice but to cut a deal with him if they want to ease the Syrian people’s suffering.
Through brutal suppression, cynical sectarian mobilisation and continued support from Russia and Iran, the regime has maintained its grip on power. Mr Assad has lost most of his legitimacy and Syria’s economy is crumbling but, so long as the regime has internal cohesion and external support, it is unlikely to collapse soon. The headlines accorded the recent defection of a powerless deputy minister have only served to highlight the struggle facing the opposition.
Short of unlikely direct foreign intervention, the worst scenario Mr Assad faces is prolonged civil war, particularly if foreign powers arm the opposition as demanded by the Syrian National Council and Free Syrian Army. But without artillery and air support, the balance of power is unlikely to change quickly. Moreover, while this route could eventually help the rebels to a military victory, it may further empower Mr Assad among his internal and external backers, by providing a justification for regime violence. The one certainty is that an already horrific toll will increase exponentially, as it did in civil wars in Iraq and Lebanon.
From a humanitarian perspective, then, it is urgent to find a political solution….
For Russia – as well as China and even Iran – to change tack and to press Mr Assad to implement a ceasefire, the opposition will have to consent to direct talks with the regime, not preconditioned on Mr Assad’s immediate departure or on that of regime forces from urban centres. In effect, the initial price will be an outcome that favours the regime’s position on the ground. Distasteful as this will be, there is no other way to end the bloodshed. However, if Mr Assad was to agree a ceasefire, even if he remains in power, he will be far more marginalised internationally and under severe pressure to comply. Such an outcome could ease the entry of humanitarian aid and of a new, enhanced team of monitors.
More positively, such a deal could prepare the ground for a political process, however difficult, that could swing the balance in the opposition’s favour. After four decades of repression, a vibrant, politically mobilised population is now intent on seizing its own future. The state of fear has been broken. This is a force Mr Assad is unable to resist except by violence. A political track may therefore be a surer way of ultimately ending the regime.
The regime could of course renew its violence, but commitments by Syria’s protectors – principally Russia and China – to the process, as well as continuing western economic and political pressure, would make it harder for Mr Assad to extricate himself. A political process could also help erode internal support by persuading senior Alawites to support the Arab League transition plan, under which Mr Assad would step down. It should be remembered that Yemen’s transition plan only succeeded on the basis of talks with President Abdullah Saleh.
While the SNC and FSA reject talks with the regime, many Syrians – including activists – already think political dialogue is the best means of averting a devastating civil war. It should be the west’s preference too.
Date: 19 February 2012 07:41:51 GMT
From: CF2R Secrétariat <info@cf2r.org>
You’ll find here attached our latest report, THE LEBANONIZATION OF SYRIA. Report on the actors of the Syrian crisis, Paris, January 2012.
Organised at the instigation of the Centre Français de Recherche sur le Renseignement (French Center for Intelligence Studies – CF2R) and the Centre international de recherche et d’études sur le terrorisme et d’aide aux victimes du terrorisme (International Center for Research and Study on Terrorism and Aid to Victims of Terrorism – CIRET-AVT), an international delegation of experts travelled to Syria from December 3rd to December 10th, 2011, in order to assess the situation in Syria in an independent and impartial manner and to meet with the actors of this nine-month-long crisis. It completed its assessment mission with meetings with various representatives of the Syrian opposition abroad, as well as with a panel of Middle East experts from Europe.The aim of the present report is to provide objective information on a crisis which is being substantially deformed by the control that Syria’s adversaries have over international media networks.The media networks of the Gulf states, with support from major Anglo-American press agencies and their European and French counterparts, have become frontline players in this crisis, with « global » coverage aimed primarily at the overthrow of the Damascus regime, similar to what occurred in Libya.This falsification of the facts seeks to hide from global public opinion the support – often reluctant – that the majority of the Syrian population have for the current regime and the fact that the external opposition is not the most legitimate stakeholder (as opposed to longstanding domestic opposition groups), neither do they espouse democratic ideals that they pretend to promote (given their strongly Islamist character).
…The Arab Spring has periodically been compared to the stirrings of 1848. But with the exception of the toppling of the Orleans monarchy in France, the 1848 revolutions ultimately failed. Dynastic governments reasserted themselves. They did so for a reason that has troubling implications for the Middle East: Conservative regimes in mid-19th century Europe had not only the institutional advantage over their liberal and socialist adversaries but also the moral advantage….
If conservative — even reactionary — orders are necessary for inter-communal peace, then they may survive in one form or another, or at least resurface in places such as Egypt and Iraq. Iraq in 2006 and 2007 proved that chaos is in some respects worse than tyranny. Thus, a system is simply not moral if it cannot preserve domestic peace. “Progress includes Order,” John Stuart Mill wrote in Considerations on Representative Government (1861), “but Order does not include Progress.” In other words, nobody is saying that conservative-reactionary orders will lead to social betterment. Nonetheless, because order is necessary before progress can take hold, reactionary regimes could be the beneficiary of chaos in some Middle Eastern states, in a similar way that the Habsburgs were after 1848. For it is conservative regimes of one type or another that are more likely to be called upon to restore order…..
While Syria’s al Assad is seen as illegitimate, that does not mean that the future in Syria automatically means either democracy or sectarian chaos. It may mean eventually a new form of authoritarianism that alleviates or better manages such instability in the first place. Remember that a system is not defined by the name it gives itself, but by how the power relationships actually work behind the scenes. Thus, Iraq may call itself a democracy, but in truth it is a sectarian “thugocracy” that barely keeps order, and if it continues to falter in that regard, it may eventually be replaced by a full-fledged authoritarian regime (hopefully one far less brutal than Saddam Hussein’s).
Indeed, democratic uprisings in 1848 did not secure democracy, they merely served notice that society had become too restive and too complex for the existent monarchical regimes to insure both order and progress. In Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington wrote that the more complex a society becomes, the greater the number of institutions that are required to govern it.
So one should not confuse the formation of new regimes in the Middle East with their actual consolidation. This will require coercive power in the form of new police forces and intelligence agencies, notes Antonio Giustozzi of the London School of Economics in his provocative new book, The Art of Coercion (2011). And such extreme forms of compulsion are only alleviated by the building of civilian institutions of the kind Huntington talks about, which can then maintain order in a more benign manner. If new bureaucratic institutions do not emerge in a more socially complex Middle East, the Arab Spring will be a false one, and it will be remembered like 1848.
Meanwhile, the authoritarianism of the al-Saud family lingers on in Saudi Arabia, the strategic linchpin of the Arabian Peninsula. And lesser monarchs from Kuwait south to Oman appear not to be in danger. With the exception of the oppressed Shia in Bahrain and in eastern Saudi Arabia, the peoples of the Persian Gulf still broadly associate stability and progress with conservative orders. Thus, the emirs and sultans have the loyalty of their populations and hence the moral advantage.
Syria is at this very moment a bellwether. It is afflicted by ethnic and sectarian splits — Sunnis versus Shia-trending Alawites versus Druze and Kurds. But Syria also can claim historical coherence as an age-old cluster of cosmopolitanism at the crossroads of the desert and the Mediterranean, a place littered with the ruins of Byzantine and medieval Arab civilizations. The Western intelligentsia now equate a moral outcome in Syria with the toppling of the present dictator, who requires those sectarian splits to survive. But soon enough, following the expected end of al Assad’s regime, a moral outcome will be associated with the re-establishment of domestic order and the building of institutions — coercive or not. Because only with that can progress be initiated.
1848 had tragic repercussions: While democracy in Europe flowered briefly following World War I, it was snuffed out by fascism and then communism. Thus, 1848 had to wait until 1989 to truly renew itself. Because of technology’s quickened advance, political change is faster in the Middle East. But for 2011 to truly be remembered as the year of democracy in the Arab world, new forms of non-oppressive order will first have to be established. And with the likely exception of Tunisia — a country close to Europe with no ethnic or sectarian splits — that appears for the moment to be problematic.
Five myths about Syria,” by Roger Owen in Wash Post
5. The international community has to do something to stop the violence…. As the recent history of such interventions demonstrates, the desire to put an end to what are regarded as the evil policies of an evil regime can easily cause politicians to neglect the other side of the balance sheet: the number of civilian lives that will undoubtedly be lost in the attempt to save them. Think, for example, of the hundreds of thousands of Afghans who’ve been widowed since the Russian invasion some 30 years ago.
Hands On Syria, Hands Off Iran
Martin van Creveld, Jason Pack, 14 Mar 12
CommentsCAMBRIDGE – Israel is daily ratcheting up its threats to attack Iran over its nuclear program. Unfortunately, these threats have come to overshadow more pressing events in Syria, which is the epicenter of a regional crisis that will determine the future of the Arab Spring, as well as Iran’s role in the Middle East….. The Israeli government has vastly exaggerated the threat that a nuclear Iran poses to its security, …. The ascendant powers in the Middle East are Turkey and Qatar. These Sunni countries, along with Saudi Arabia, should join with their international allies and initiate a regional solution to Syria’s crisis. …..Now is not the time to provoke Iran, but rather to tend to Syria’s troubles before it is too late – for example, by publicly offering Assad a way out of the country that will safeguard the minority Alawite community if he is toppled or forced to flee. If the Syria situation is ignored, its spillover may inadvertently provoke Israeli or Iranian action, inciting a regional war and a global depression.
Amnesty International’s latest report ‘I wanted to die’: Syria’s torture survivors speak out
Iraq Lets Iran Fly Arms to Syria Despite U.S. Protests
By: Kristina Wong | The Washington Times
The Iraqi government has refused U.S. requests to stop Iranian cargo flights to Syria, despite being aware of credible intelligence that the planes are transporting up to 30 tons of weapons, according to a U.S. official.
Syria Marks Anniversary of Uprising Against Assad
By: Patrick J. McDonnell and Paul Richter | Los Angeles Times
A year after the revolt began, President Bashar Assad shows no sign of easing his grip on power. Rebels have no plans to back down, leaving Syria at an impasse.
Comments (900)
Syrian Nationalist Party said:
“……The opposition will have to rebuild itself to be more Islamic, militant and sectarian in order to take on the Assad regime……
No, that is to destroy Syria and not take on the Assad regime. Assad can comfortably tolerate all that while doing ebay and Amazon shopping. Those promoting, financing and supporting this concept know wells that it is intended to destroy the country only. They could not be that ignorant.
March 19th, 2012, 12:28 pm
ghufran said:
this is Iraq minus foreign occupation. The last time Arabs and Muslims mattered was 900 years ago, our contribution to civilization since then has been mostly marginal and often brutal and regressive.
on a more positive note,Syria has a better chance of getting out of this mess, it will not be quick but it will be costly, for now, until we decide to put our guns down, our fate will be decided by foreign nations and blood money.
March 19th, 2012, 12:29 pm
Dawoud said:
Thanks Jeurgen for agreeing with my comment below, which I have just modified for the Arabic speakers.
Russia and Iran are both foreign and non-Arab. What happened to Bashar’s and Hasan’s claim that they oppose any foreign intervention in Syria.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, etc. are ARAB countries and they should intervene to stop Bashar’s bloody massacres.
During 1958-61 Egypt and Syria were ONE country: The United Arab Republic.
The Syria Ba’athist regimes slogans are:
1) Hurriah or Freedom حريه: We know that Syria has no freedom and those who dare to express their opinion face Hamza al-Khateeb’s fate!
2) Wihda or Unity وحده. We know that the Ba’athist regime has divided Arabs, instead of uniting them. Hafez supported Iran against Iraq, the Arab. He only supported Kuwait in 1991 in order for the United States to allow him to control Lebanon and stop investigating Syria/Iran in the PAN AM 103 terrorist bombing!
3)Socialism or Ishtirakiyah اشتراكيه. Well, with Bashar’s cousin, the thief Rami Makhlouf-Mr.10 or 15 %-and Asma’s online shopping with looted/embezzled money, we know that Syria has no socialism. “All people are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
Urgent: Syria need Arab deterrent force قوات الردع العربيه
Didn’t the Arab League (AL) authorize Syria to send such a force to Lebanon in the 1970s. Unlike such force, however, this force will be made up of multi-Arab countries (particularly those recently freed) and include civil and human rights activists. The Arab World, including in its authoritarian parts, does have human rights experts. They are just awaiting a call of duty!
No Iran, NO Russia! Neither is an Arab country, and we don’t want a foreign intervention in Syria!
March 19th, 2012, 12:30 pm
Dawoud said:
P.S., I am not just a copy and past comment writer here. I have original content here that is based my knowledge of Syria, the Arab World, and global politics in general. I don’t rely on Xinhuanet, RT, Press TV, NY Times, etc. at all!
I don’t believe in cut and paste blogs. I like SC because Mr. Landis, Ehsani, et al. are able to write their own articles/commentary.
I need to read native/original opinions/knowledge. No cut and paste “renting” and “borrowing!”
March 19th, 2012, 12:36 pm
jad said:
“The opposition will have to rebuild itself to be more Islamic, militant and sectarian in order to take on the Assad regime.”
I’m shocked to say the least of such careless and dangerous writing.
The terrorists and the Wahhabi khaliji follower oppositions as well as any traitor in the opposition groups should thank JL for this ‘lovely’ well planned ‘road map’ he put.
Good bye Syria welcome Afghanistan, suggesting Dr. Landis will be the news headlines for today
We should refer Alzawahri to this post to learn something for his noble missions anywhere in the world.
I just notice that not a single news about Damascus or Aleppo terrorist attacks, a freaking Australian sheikh words are more important I guess…Are you kidding me!!!
March 19th, 2012, 12:47 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
REVLON,
If you read this: Please come back!
You were unjustly banned, and I understand your frustration and anger. But I miss you and the valuable news you bring regarding the revolution.
Just come back !!!
.
March 19th, 2012, 12:55 pm
omen said:
an official placed inside the regime leaks plans and defects!
March 19th, 2012, 12:59 pm
Dawoud said:
On a recent episode of “Opposite Direction” الاتجاه المعاكس on Aljazeera, Faisal al-Qassem (the Druze Syrian host) repeated what his guest and Arabs say about Russia: Russia exports only two things to the Arab World, 1) Weapons that dictators use to kill their own people (e.g., al-Qadhafi’s Grad rockets on Misrata and Bashar’s T72 tanks in Homs, Der’ah, etc.) 2) Blond Russian Prostitutes.
I think that the Arab World needs neither of these two things! No Russian weapons, no Russian prostitutes!
March 19th, 2012, 1:00 pm
jad said:
Check out the Jewish hypocrisy in #6, when someone writes that 2 of the French presidential candidates are Jewish couple comments ago, they immediately jump out of the blue shouting it’s ‘racist’ to mention the word ‘Jew’, but for someone to spread sectarianism, hatred and call to kill Alawites and Shia in every comment he writes he becomes the ‘hero’ and his banned become ‘unjustified’.
Who bye these lies! 7ello 3an 6….a ya!
March 19th, 2012, 1:03 pm
omen said:
amir, why was revlon banned?
March 19th, 2012, 1:06 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Yes REVLON come back, you promised me Mendo Soda a year ago. If ALCIDA Director Landis have his way, there will be no Mando Soda Factory in Homs soon. In Fact, there will be no Homs at all and they will all be cheering at that, but not those that will be paying $15 per gallon at the gas pump.
Basically, the way I see it, this is not about removing Assad, and not even about Homs, not even about Iran, this about the fact the the deceivers have run out of tricks, the bag of tricks is empty now and the deception will be uncovered to all to see soon. I am not talking, staying quiet and will keep my mouth shut.
March 19th, 2012, 1:07 pm
Dawoud said:
9. JAD
I agree with you. I actually stopped reading his comments because an Israeli occupier has no credibility to comment on Syria and freedom!
انا واياك نختلف عن الوضع في سوريا ولكننا نتفق في ما يخص اسرائيل ونفاق هذا الشخص
March 19th, 2012, 1:08 pm
Afram said:
the article made me… Grimace!!
http://www.google.com/search?q=grimace&hl=en&rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS470US470&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ldhcT5G4IMuM0QHo3qyWDw&ved=0CEkQsAQ&biw=1358&bih=532
March 19th, 2012, 1:09 pm
omen said:
i’m not the big expert but syrians i’ve run across don’t want the country to turn into another saudi arabia.
March 19th, 2012, 1:11 pm
ann said:
On Syria, French Draft Statement Supports Annan’s 6 Point Plan, Online by ICP
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1frdrprst031912.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 19 — In the UN Security Council Monday morning, France circulated a draft Presidential Statement on Syria, a copy of which Inner City Press is publishing below, and there was a discussion about “working methods of the Council,” including several countries denouncing leaks.
At the stakeout after the meeting, Council President for March Mark Lyall Grant said he would not described the draft statement. Inner City Press asked if there had been any discussion of transparency, and, for example, if Jean Marie Guehenno, the second of now four Frenchmen in a row atop UN Peacekeeping, is in fact an Annan deputy in Syria.
[…]
PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT ON THE JOINT SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA
The Security Council expresses its gravest concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria which has resulted in a serious human rights crisis and a deplorable humanitarian situation. The Security Council expresses its profound regret at the death of many thousands of people in Syria.
The Security Council welcomes the appointment of Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the League of Arab States Kofi Annan, in accordance with General Assemblyresolution A/RES/66/253 of 16 February 2012 and relevant resolutions of the League of Arab States.
The Security Council expresses its full support for the Joint Special Envoy to bring an immediate end to all violence and human rights violations, secure humanitarian access, and facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition.
To this aim, the Security Council fully supports the six-point plan outlined by the Joint Special Envoy to the Security Council on 10 March 2012 as part of his initial proposals to the Syrian authorities to:
a- commit to work with the Joint Special Envoy in an inclusive Syrian-led political dialogue to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people;
b- commit to stop the fighting and achieve urgently an effective United Nations supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians, by immediately ceasing troop movements towards and ending the use of heavy weapons in, population centres, and beginning pullback of military concentrations in and around population centres. As these actions are being taken on the ground, the Joint Special Envoy shall seek similar commitments from all other armed groups to cease violence, under an effective United Nations supervision mechanism;
c- ensure timely provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting.
d- in close coordination with humanitarian organisations, intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons, including especially vulnerable persons and those involved in peaceful protests, by providing without delay to humanitarian organisations a list of all locations in which such persons are being detained and immediately beginning to organise with humanitarian organisations access to such locations,;
e- ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists;
f- ensure freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully as legally guaranteed.
The Security Council calls upon the Syrian government and opposition to commit to work in good faith with the Joint Special Envoy towards a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis and to implement fully and immediately his initial six-point plan.
[…]
March 19th, 2012, 1:14 pm
omen said:
if the snc were to play up sectarian divisions, that would kill off international support. and would discourage the other sects from breaking off their support for the regime.
March 19th, 2012, 1:17 pm
Dawoud said:
P.S., Joshou Landis WILL be welcome to come visit, study, teach, tour, praise, criticize, etc. in a FREE Syria 🙂
March 19th, 2012, 1:22 pm
Tara said:
Amir
I too want Revlon back.
Moderator,
Can you please write Revlon an email and tell him we want him back. I can read alfatiha for the martyrs of the revolutions but can’t fill in his shoes.
March 19th, 2012, 1:25 pm
Aldendeshe said:
I sure hope that day will come when Landis (Landis of Arabia) will dare to visit, teach, tour, praise, criticize, etc. in Syria Islamic Republic. You will have as much freedom as in Saudi Arabia and Shia Republic Iran. He will be surprised to learn then that Syria has quadrupled its growth rate in 2 years after the revolution success ( Theoretically speaking only). I am not talking about economic rates here, I am talking about prisons occupancy. It can only be out done by the rate the Islamic revolution of Iran managed to achieve in the days after the Mahdi revolution overthrown the Nobility of the Pahlavi.
March 19th, 2012, 1:41 pm
Dawoud said:
26. ALDENDESHE
I am very confident that you will be wrong. It’s not either Bashar or the hell fire, or as his supporters say, “Bashar or no one!”
The devil will be more merciful and tolerant than Bathar’s (Bashar’s) murderous regime!
March 19th, 2012, 1:44 pm
aron said:
J LANDIS – Is there any way that that Economist video can be embedded in the post? I can’t get it to work on their site.
March 19th, 2012, 1:48 pm
omen said:
and undercover al jazeera reporter snuck into syria and covertly filmed. covered demonstrations and meet with various militia.
in one scene, members of one militia grumbled that another better armed militia (aided by a rich patron,) didn’t use their superior fire power to ward off a regime attack.
showed russian arms the rebels are still struggling with in being trained to use. one rebel reassured they have officers in the free army who know to use the weapons.
p.s. reporter said christians would wait outside the mosque and wait for services to be over to join them in the anti regime demonstrations.
March 19th, 2012, 1:51 pm
ann said:
796. zoo said:
Anyone knows who are the five members of the UN team?
.
.
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13992&cp=all#comment-301360
.
March 19th, 2012, 1:54 pm
Alan said:
Beatings, sexual abuse, electric shock: US torture camps ‘still operative’
http://rt.com/news/torture-afghanistan-prisoners-901/
As Masks Fall, is ‘Murder, Inc.’ the real face of the US?’
http://rt.com/news/murder-inc-face-of-us-897/
Heavy firefights erupt in Damascus
http://rt.com/news/damascus-firefight-regime-opposition-873/
March 19th, 2012, 1:55 pm
Syrian Nationalist Party said:
….The future strategy of the Syrian opposition will have to follow the outlines of a classic “phase two” insurgency predicated on guerrilla warfare…..”
Landis still reading out of circa 1942′ ALCIADA published hard cover book by Maxwell Smart “The Guide to defeat Chaos for dummies”, he must really value this book he found at garage sale.
March 19th, 2012, 2:01 pm
omen said:
ann, who is inner city press? i couldn’t find their credentials.
March 19th, 2012, 2:04 pm
Dawoud said:
Moderator (23):
You should ask comment writers to verify their emails. If a new person posts here, you should send her/him confirmation email that they need to reply to before being allowed to post
March 19th, 2012, 2:05 pm
Afram said:
“”we can see the wings of[[[angles]]]above Damascus. They will destroy Assad and his regime. Allah insists””
totally awesome…can they moondance?
To US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta:
Amrika is wasting Zillions of dollars on Stealth aircraft technology,as a tax payer I advise you to utilize the islamic angels new version fighters.
They Environmentally friendly also eco-friendly
latest model:F/ something
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Beelzebub_and_them_with_him.jpg
March 19th, 2012, 2:11 pm
Syrian Nationalist Party said:
………..The Syrian revolutionaries are largely rural and young, just as were the Baathists in the 1960s. Wealthy and educated Sunnis fear the results of the present revolution could be the same for them as the results of the last revolution, when Syria’s rural poor took power……..”
In fact after experiencing the trauma and suffering so much loss from the Sunni Baathist Revolution and getting a bit of relief from the Corrective Movement of 70′ Assad, not only they are clamping hard on that relief, but fear letting go may suffer a much worse outcome and loss than the 63′ if this Islamo-Iranian revolution model to gain power. For them, it is not a Shia-Sunni revolution, it is the have and have not one. There were much to go around in Syria back in the 60’s and 70’s to make revolutionaries looks good to comrades by ceasing and sharing with them, robbing Tom to pay Paul. Now, Syria is dry bone, the revolutionaries should ever win ( not possible) there is nothing to share, but suffering and miseries.
March 19th, 2012, 2:22 pm
Alan said:
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/03/as-warmongers-plot-to-destroy-syria.html#more
Monday, March 19, 2012
As warmongers plot to destroy Syria, Syrians face only one choice
..(..)….
2. A broader Balkans-like campaign to help depose Assad. And by this, O’Hanlon of course means, a “Libyan-like campaign,” but would rather focus on the Balkans because it is further in hindsight and much more has been done to rewrite its historical outcome as “favorable.” Evoking the NATO-led genocidal killing spree that just unfolded in Libya, complete with the destruction of several major cities, would again remind potential defectors in Syria the cost of allowing their nation to fall into NATO hands.
That cost would be the plunging of Syria into perpetual division, instability, violence, and an uncertain political future that could see any defector a hero one minute, and at the wrong end of a rifle the next. There will be no power sharing, there will be no seats at the table for “defectors,” and as Libya has proven, it is very unlikely there will even be a table for seats to be placed around in the first place.
3. Creation of a safe zone for Syrian civilians: O’Hanlon indirectly admits that this would only be done as a means to eventually include one or both of the above mentioned options. This was already stated in “Genocidal Turkish Government Eyes Syria,” where it appears that NATO-member Turkey has been elected to create just such a zone from which increasing hostilities could be conducted.
What O’Hanlon is really saying…
What must be remembered is that O’Hanlon is not writing this for the consideration of the Pentagon. Instead, he is specifically writing this so that pundits and media outlets can repeat what is essentially extortion directed at Syria’s establishment. The purpose of this exercise is to prey on the fear of Assad’s political allies and those across Syria’s business community who have so far stood behind their nation’s government.
It is hoped that the West can bluff their way into folding opposition by presenting them with a difficult and costly military campaign verses the alternative of “power sharing.”
Unfortunately for O’Hanlon and his superiors, Syria has already seen the dead end “power sharing” led to in Libya, a dead end Libya will remain in well into the foreseeable future.
The rationale of businessmen capitulating to see UN sanctions relieved is also absurd considering the inevitable fracturing and perpetual destabilization that will wreck both the country and its economy should the current government fall.
Syria’s opposition is entirely dependent on foreign fighters, foreign arms, foreign funds, and an international consensus that allows such foreign resources to continue flowing to them unabated. Already cracks have begun to show, and now the West’s only chance is to psychologically break Assad’s power base through threats and perhaps even a limited military incursion. The catch is, should Syria remain united, order can be restored and nothing short of total war waged by the West could prevent it.
[…]
March 19th, 2012, 2:26 pm
omen said:
36. Syrian Nationalist Party
why is it not possible?
March 19th, 2012, 2:35 pm
Syrialover said:
(re-posted, from tail end of last forum)
My comment: A smoking gun in Bashar’s hand? Stand by for the rush of scorn and outrage from the anti-Aljazeera brigade. But we’ll see. These will have been under the microscope of international intelligence experts well before this report.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/20123191073517388.html
Papers prepared for President Assad by intelligence and security chiefs throw light on his strategy to quell protests.
Excerpts
The files provide an insight into President Bashar al-Assad’s strategy to suppress anti-government protests, including the lengths the government went to for protecting its strongholds.
….
One leaked paper spelled out clear orders to top officials to give financial and moral support to Assad’s supporters in Aleppo, the second major city.
The documents were passed on to Al Jazeera by Abdel Majid Barakat, who until recently was one of the government’s most trusted officials.
The former Baath party member, who was in charge of collating information from across Syria at the secret joint crisis management cell in Damascus, has fled to Turkey.
“For months, the opposition had a mole at the heart of Assad’s security apparatus working in this joint co-ordination cell that co-ordinates the work of all the intelligence agencies across the country,“ Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Turkey, said.
“This man was leaking information to the opposition. Finally he was compromised and realised that he had to get out of Syria to save his own life. As he left the country he took with him some of Syria’s most secret documents.”
…
Every evening at 7:00 pm Damascus time, there is a meeting of all the intelligence and security chiefs looking back at what happened across the country during the day, making their plans, making their orders for the next day,” our correspondent said.
“These orders then go to the office of the president the next morning and he himself signs all the orders, the final go ahead,“ he added.
March 19th, 2012, 2:48 pm
mjabali said:
Mr. Jad:
Why we are at a dead end road in Syria right now?
1- The religious aspect is killing the legitimate quest of Syrians for real change.
2- Also, what kills any real change is the immaturity and lack of real political education of many ex pats Syrians who are hell bent on revenge from al-Assad and every Alawi to that matter. You can see it and feel it. This is not going to work especially with the current power and alliances of al-Assad. You need dialogue to solve things.
3- Speaking of dialogue: No one in the opposition is speaking of it and the outside forces are not doing anything instrumental to force people to the negotiation table.
4- There is no political and activist education in Syria, the Baath killed it among Syrians, which leaves room for unorganized political entities like the competing immature list that can not unite even with a common cause like this one.
5- Way too many in the opposition think they are going to rule the future Syria: This mentality is evident and supported by a long history of fights about who is who. Let the Syrians vote for their right representatives. So far we saw rookie wannabe politicians.
6- There is no real reporting by real experts about Syria. We have some Middle Eastern experts but no Syria specialists (Like Van Dam and Landis,) here your quest for top notch news is a little asking too much from this blog even with Landis at the helm. He has his work and school and this blog needs help if it is going to be a news source. WE also have those journalists who sneaked and reported but it was of course from one side. You need balanced reporting from both sides by the same source. Until then you got to dig in and read between the lines to know the truth. The lack of real information about Syria is an important factor for this stalemate.
7- So far and after a year, still there is no real opposition political parties in Syria proper. You need to force political change from within.
8- The Armed opposition is strong and is getting outside help and encouragement. al-Assad and his army are strong too. Battles are going to rage for a while.
9- As you saw in the last week the wave of car bombs is going to increase.
10- All of the above reasons say one thing: we reached a dead end right now and the only thing the warring parties are going to do is something they are all good at: more violence.
Salam.
March 19th, 2012, 2:51 pm
omen said:
alan, i share in your criticism of US imperialism. i’ve made them myself. but when an aggrieved people of a country under seige call out to the international community and call for intervention, that isn’t imperialism. this isn’t like iraq.
how can you turn a blind eye and deaf ear to people calling for help?
March 19th, 2012, 2:52 pm
omen said:
syrialover @ 2:48
this leak will increase assad’s panic and paranoia. he’ll feel like he cannot trust his inner circle. recriminations will spook remaining loyalists and cause more defections!
March 19th, 2012, 3:00 pm
Aldendeshe said:
“………Islamic martyrdom operations, and all the aspects of Middle Eastern insurgency that we have seen used so effectively against occupation forces in the recent past, whether used by Palestinians, Afghans or Iraqis….”
You mean follow the ways of all the losers that accomplished “NIL” in decades of suicides and martyrdoms, just became stuffing for the world largest atrocious prison camps of ALCIDA, Israel and those ran Iran Shia Armies.
March 19th, 2012, 3:02 pm
omen said:
mjabali @ 2:51
that’s not true. syrians i run across are calling for unity and are against sectarianism. they are mindful of the mess in iraq and lessons learned from lebanon.
March 19th, 2012, 3:08 pm
Tara said:
Moderator
I read your responses to me and to others on the previous thread. I am so impressed with the level of sensitivity, fairness, and humbleness you are displaying. You are the best moderator ever. I can’t personally do a better job.
March 19th, 2012, 3:09 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Joshua
I Think that we are now in a stage I call Raw Bands stage, in this stage there is no one leader, but rather several leaders, they all compete they are against each other, they are composed of people who are nervous, worried, concerned about their safety, they found themselves forced to hold on to someone who has claimed leadership, they look for him as someone they can seek help from, he will give them sense of security.
This stage is characterized by chaos,lawlesness, the law is the law of each band leader, many incidences of violences will ocur, robbing intimidations,and fear is planted in the hearts of people, as for the regime they will go through attrition, and many will question the wisdom of their superiors orders, so this stage is stage of chaos for both the regime and the people.
Raw bands they do not organize, they never united, they compete, and sometimes they fight each other, however when one raw band leader emerge as strong, and his achievements seems impressive, people start to abandone their small leader and join the stronger one.
Bengazi in Syria is possible in area where the regime is weakest, we know that the regime is fighting with loyal troops, mostly fourth brigade, and republican guards, and loyal generals from the sect loyal to Assad, they know very well their most important job is to defend the capital, Damascus, so they need to stay close to Damascus, far away areas are defended weakly and there where Bengazi could developed.
Islamization of the revolution is not true, Syrian are not religious as Egyptians or Libyans, MB in Syria is rather weak party.
In any revolution there is Mr X, he is speaker, but he is not strong nor he is a leader, he is transitional figure, the leader comes from the fighting people, Ghalioun is Mr. X.
March 19th, 2012, 3:09 pm
Observer said:
I would add the following item to the blog and this is from our colleague Juan Cole on Informed comment
http://www.juancole.com/2012/03/paul-conroy-speaks-at-syria-rally-in-london-covered-baba-amr.html
The rumor mill has it that the attack in Mezzeh was after Asef and they missed him but managed to kill about 80 members of the regime’s security forces.
Reports of an antiterror unit being offloaded in Tartus by the Russians supposedly to prepare for the evacuation of Russian citizens.
This is the same news of “Jordanian denial” that arms are coming into Syria.
This is a response to the AL countries arming the rebels I guess.
Melik Kaylan had a very good article today in the WSJ that I advise the manager of this blog to add about the Russian strategy of supporting Iran and by extension Syria and that is to preserve its hold on the Silk Road Republics who have huge gas and oil fields but are dependent on Russian pipelines for export and therefore if Iran were to go out of the Russian orbit we will have a gas pipeline that is not subject to Russian control. It will spell the final nail in the coffin of Russia as a superpower. This is the reason why there is such strong support for the axis Iran Syria for without Syria Iran will be further isolated and diminished.
This is the same vein as to why Iran has supported Islamic Jihad in Gaza as Hamas’ alliance is in doubt. It needs to keep allies close to it in case Syria falls off the cliff as it surely will.
On a continued note of my previous post, it seems that the regional players have concluded that the regime is beyond redemption; therefore the move is going to be to allow for an implosion of the country and limit the damage of this implosion from spilling into a regional conflict.
Unfortunately the regime is a good pyromaniac and arsonist and will probably stir up Sunni-Shia trouble and Kurdish-Turkish ones to threaten the kind of explosion rather than an implosion.
Despite the recent so called successes of destroying a village to save it, we are seeing an increased radicalization of the resistance. We are also seeing desperate attempts to preserve the image of the regime leadership as the email fiasco has damaged its internal cohesion deeply.
It is the regime supporters and the adoring fans and the paid supporters that will find it ever more difficult unless they have incredible power of self delusion to continue to support such a character and such a buffoon.
If the wife is privy to receiving the news about the emails of her hubby, then I would presume that either she knows and does not care, or she knows and dare not say a word, or does not know and will throw a fit, or does not know and does not dare throw fit. In any case, this kind of bad news usually results in compulsive behavior hence the overweight eat more to ease the stress and others just go on shopping.
Please try to post the WSJ article it is illuminating as to the role of Russia in Syria and finally explains well the attachment of Putin to the regime.
In this post I have only made observations and have not taken a stand but it is clear that the regime is not able to have a decisive victory, BA was a pyrrhic victory.
Cheers
March 19th, 2012, 3:16 pm
Syrialover said:
Observer (#40) thanks for the lead on that excellent article about Russia’s real stake in supporting Syria.
It’s quite a head clearer and explains a lot.
I found the link:
Russia’s Stake in Syria and Iran
If Tehran returns to a pro-Western orientation, Moscow’s stranglehold on the central Asian republics will be over..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304450004577277820529873332.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
March 19th, 2012, 3:32 pm
jad said:
Syria’s conflict has significance far beyond its borders
With Syria a kind of geopolitical chessboard on which interests great and small play for their advantage, the prospect of Mideast instability is high.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Beirut— The raging conflict in Syria that has left thousands dead and stymied all international peace entreaties is not just about the fate of President Bashar Assad.
Rather, the prospect for regional power shifts, proxy wars and spreading instability — along with a reprise of Cold War-style great-power animosities — goes far beyond Syria’s borders.
That is the stern warning from international experts including former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is now engaged in what many view as a last-chance bid to avert all-out civil war in Syria, long a bastion of police state stability in the heart of the turbulent Middle East.
{…}
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-regional-stability-20120319,0,7952555.story
March 19th, 2012, 3:38 pm
jad said:
Russia and the Red Cross, asking both sides for an immediate cease fire:
روسيا والصليب الأحمر تدعوان الحكومة والمعارضة المسلحة في سورية إلى فرض هدنة إنسانية يومية
أعلنت الخارجية الروسية أن روسيا والصليب الأحمر تدعوان الحكومة السورية والمعارضة إلى الموافقة على هدنة إنسانية يومية لإيصال المساعدات إلى المدنيين المتضررين من النزاع.
وأشار البيان الصادر يوم 19 مارس/آذار حول نتائج لقاء وزير الخارجية الروسي سيرغي لافروف ورئيس لجنة الصليب الأحمر جاكوب كيلينبرغر إلى أن الطرفين أعربا عن ثقتهما في أن “الأولوية في المرحلة الراهنة يجب أن تكون لتقديم المساعدات الإنسانية لجميع من يحتاج إليها من السوريين”.
ودعا الطرفان الحكومة السورية وتنظيمات المعارضة المسلحة إلى “الموافقة على فرض هدنة إنسانية يومية من أجل السماح للصليب الأحمر وجمعية الهلال الأحمر السورية بالوصول إلى الجرحى، وغيرهم من المدنيين المحتاجين إلى المساعدة أو الإجلاء، إضافة إلى تقديم ضمانات الحماية للأطباء الذين يقدمون هذه المساعدات”.
وأكد لافروف ضرورة السماح للممثلين عن الصليب الأحمر بالوصول إلى جميع المعتقلين بسبب مشاركتهم في تظاهرات الاحتجاج.
http://arabic.rt.com/news_all_news/news/581125/
March 19th, 2012, 3:41 pm
Uzair8 said:
If Bashar Assad defected today the regime would accuse him of being a revolutionary.
“…but when Landis wrote during the first weeks of the Syrian uprising of 2011 that there was “no soft landing”[3] for the Syria regime and that it was “deeply sectarian”[4], Ambassador Moustapha cut off further contact with him on the grounds that he was a “revolutionary.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Landis
I was giving some background regarding SC elsewhere hence I came across this info.
March 19th, 2012, 3:42 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
Omen,
I have no idea. The moderator here lately is over sensitive, and is embarked on a casual banning spree. Revlon was just the occasional victim.
.
March 19th, 2012, 3:46 pm
omen said:
while the brass are alawites, is it true most of the army are conscripted sunnis?
isn’t a conscripted army bound to be less loyal?
March 19th, 2012, 3:47 pm
Alan said:
With each additional adventure from the western players across Syria Russia will seriously surprise with persistence to protect the interests! It is not necessary to repeat Georgia!
March 19th, 2012, 3:50 pm
Uzair8 said:
I have to say I admire the approach of the moderator. It is fair and allowing the comments to flow. Knowing this blog I wouldn’t have thought that was an easy thing to do.
We should all try to make the moderator’s job easier.
March 19th, 2012, 3:54 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Omen,
“while the brass are alawites, is it true most of the army are conscripted sunnis?
isn’t a conscripted army bound to be less loyal?”
Yes most of the conscripts are Sunni, and most defections so far occurred from the conscripts ranks with few from the elite units.
This is why the regime tries its best not to rely on conscripts, and have been using their elite units and the paramilitary forces (Shabihha) in most cases of suppression.
March 19th, 2012, 4:00 pm
mjabali said:
Omen:
With the Islamization of the Syrian Crisis there increases the call for mass punishment.
We saw this in Homs with the Homsis themselves killing each other along sectarian lines. What had happened in Iraq and Lebanon for Christians is happening in Homs now. Homs is an important center of Christianity in Syria, Christians are fleeing. The Alawis and other minorities in that city are almost out of many areas and enclosed more and more. There are Alawis, Murshidis and Shia in Homs and I would guess there would be Ismailis and Druze also. These minorities suffered during the last few months of fighting.
With this stagnation we are witnessing there will come frustration and with that you know what: the call to punish them all.
Here are some links if you read Arabic to this matter:
http://www.sooryoon.net/archives/49709
http://www.sooryoon.net/archives/48676
The people you met and the people I know who call for living together are a minority and they are dwindling in numbers fast with the never ending violence.
When, up to this second and after one year of this argument we see Syrians are standing according to their religious lines and here is the danger I am talking about.
Syrian opposition to al-Assad should have been secular it would have rooted him out faster than what you think. The outside forces add to this sectarian tone. When you have Qatar and Saudi Arabia leading calls for democracy you know you are in a twilight zone: من كانت البومة دليله قادته للخراب
Some moments I think that I am in the middle pf a war against Iran and the Shia and not the Syrian quest to freedom and liberty.
March 19th, 2012, 4:02 pm
Dale Andersen said:
“…I suspended all bans the first week in March… SCModeration@mail.com”
All means all. Anything less makes you a liar
March 19th, 2012, 4:12 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Tara,
(From previous post)
I always knew atta (as in Cat) as a term of endearment, never batta.
Zabadani seems to like the nickname:
March 19th, 2012, 4:22 pm
Jad said:
Dear Mr MJabali,
You have many valuable points, I’ll write you a reply later.
Please check this article explaining about what’s happening in politics behind the closed doors:
ضابط الاستخبارات الفرنسية السابق لـ..عربي برس : حان الوقت لعقد تسوية مع الرئيس بشار الأسد
كتب البير فرحة – عربي برس – باريس
قدم ضابط إستخبارات فرنسي سابق قراءة شاملة للأوضاع في سورية على ضوء التطورات الميدانية والسياسية – الدولية والإقليمية المحيطة بدمشق والمتدخلة في أزمتها الراهنة.
الضابط السابق أصبح اليوم خبيرا يعتد برأيه في الشؤون الخاصة بمكافحة الإرهاب الوهابي وهو عمل في سورية ولبنان ومصر وفلسطين المحتلة طوال عقود ويتابع الشأن السوري من موقع عمله الحالي في إحدى المؤسسات الأهلية المعنية بالبحوث السياسية .
ورأى المصدر ، الذي لا يزال وثيق الصلة بالدوائر الرسمية الأمنية في باريس، بأن عناد ” ألان جوبيه ” الغير منطقي سياسيا في الملف السوري يؤكد شكوك الإستخبارات الفرنسية حول تأثر وزير خارجية فرنسا بصداقته الوثيقة – ذات المنافع – مع الشيوخ القطريين .
المصدر الذي عمل سابقا في مكتب العمليات التابع لمدير المخابرات الخارجية الفرنسية يرى بأن الأزمة السورية مرت بثلاث مراحل وهي تمر حاليا بمرحلة رابعة مختلفة عن سابقاتها:
المرحلة الأولى:
تمتد من تاريخ إنطلاق التظاهرات في درعا وحتى مجزرة جسر الشغور التي تبادل النظام والمعارضة المسؤولية عنها إلى أن إعترفت إحدى تشكيلات المعارضة الإسلامية المتطرفة أخيرا بإرتكابها في فيديو يظهر بوضوح بعض لقطات المعركة التي أدت إلى مقتل أكثر من مئة وعشرين عنصر من قوات الشرطة الأمنية السورية (ودوما بحسب تعبير المصدر الفرنسي) .
حتى تلك المرحلة كان النظام يعاني مشكلة في إثبات وجود مسلحين وفي تبرير مقتل المئات من المتظاهرين ظلما على يد قوات الأمن التي كانت ترد على حجارة المتظاهرين وعلى بعض رصاصاتهم الطائشة بالرصاص القاتل بدل إستعمال المعدات الحديثة لمواجهة الإحتجاجات العنيفة وهو الأمر الذي تحتاج إليه سورية بشدة ولم يزودها به أحد. كانت التظاهرات السلمية بشكل عام هي الأداة لإسقاط النظام ولكن فلتان المجموعات المسلحة الغير منضبطة عجل في معزوفة التدخل التركي العسكري لإقامة منطقة عازلة وقد جرى لجم الأمر إقليميا من خلال سرعة السوريين في فتح قنوات تعاون مع مناهضي أردوغان داخل المؤسسة الرسمية التركية وايضا من خلال الديبلوماسية النشطة لكل من الإدارتين الأيرانية والروسية .
المرحلة الثانية:
بدأت ذروتها مع شهر الصوم (شهر رمضان ) وبدأ إنحدارها بعد فشل المتظاهرين في الإستفادة من التجمعات الدينية اليومية لنقل الحراك إلى المدن الساكنة مثل حلب ودمشق . مع نهاية شهر رمضان بدأت الخطة العربية البديلة للضغط على النظام السوري من قبل الجامعة العربية لتحقيق أمرين ، أولهما سحب القوى الأمنية والسماح للتظاهرات بالسيطرة على المدن وهم ما لم يرضخ له النظام وبدلا عن ذلك سمحت خطة مخادعة في حسم عرين الثورة التاريخي في حماة التي كان يعول عليها سفراء فرنسا وأميركا لإشعال ثورة شعبية شاملة في كل الاراضي السورية تسعى لإنهاء النظام خلال اسابيع، فإنتهى الأمر إلى فشل كبير وجرى بعدها حراك ديبلوماسي يرافقه إطلاق لعمليات مسلحة كبيرة وترسيخ لفكرة عسكرة الأنتفاضة الشعبية على أرض الواقع وسعي حثيث لشق الجيش وتفتيت مؤسسات الدولة.
طرد العرب سورية من مجلس الجامعة ثم جرت محاولات تدويل الأزمة وايضا فشلت تلك المحاولات بالفيتو الروسي المزدوج والذي أقفل الطريق نهائيا على المحاولات الغربية والخليجية لفرض تدخل عسكري لم تتحمس له أميركا ولكنها لم تكن تمانع أن يقوم به غيرها ولو لمصلحتها الأكيدة بإسقاط النظام .
المرحلة الثالثة
بدأت بالسعي لخنق النظام إقتصاديا وبالسعي إلى إغراق النظام في بؤر أمنية متراصة تخلق ملاذا آمنا متعدد المواقع جغرافيا ليصبح للمنشقين موئل يهربون إليه وينطلقون منه لتحرير المناطق الأخرى من وجود النظام . ولكن نظام الرئيس السوري نجى من العسكرة بفوضى المسلحين وبترابط وبتماسك جيشه وقواته الأمنية وإقتصاديا نجى نسبيا بالشريان الإيراني – العراقي – الروسي – الهندي – الصيني فإنتهت تلك المرحلة مع دخول الجيش السوري إلى بابا عمرو من الزبداني وريف دمشق(…)
ويشرح المصدر مقاصده فيقول:
لو فشل الجيش النظامي في فك الطوق الريفي المسلح عن دمشق لما إستطاع النظام حسم معركة بابا عمرو بسهولة كلفت كثيرا من الدمار في البناء ولم تكلف كثيرا في الارواح على الجانبين. فمسلحو المعارضة في ريف دمشق كانوا يستعدون لدخول العاصمة في الوقت الذي كان مسلحو حمص يستعدون للإنطلاق منها لتحرير حماة والأتصال بالمسلحين في أدلب . لكن الجيش السوري حسم الأمر ووجه ضربات قوية جدا للمسلحين .
المرحلة الرابعة
هي التي وصلت فيها دول مثل الولايات المتحدة وبريطانيا والمانية إلى قناعة بأن الخلاص من نظام الرئيس بشار الأسد لن يحصل في القريب العاجل، وأن إدارة حرب عصابات بالوكالة ليست أمرا مضمون النتائج، وأن التسوية مع النظام بشروط تناسب الغرب أفضل من انتظار معجزة قطرية – سعودية قد تأتي ولكن على جناح أشباح الزرقاوي وبن لادن .
ويضيف المصدر:
فور إنتهاء النظام السوري من تنظيف المدن والارياف العصية عليه حاليا مثل إدلب وريف حلب (وهي آخر معاقل المسلحين الرئيسية) فإنه سيطلق صفارة الإنتقام من الدول التي قاتلت مع المسلحين بالمال والتدريب وبالتسليح لذا لا مصلحة لفرنسا ولا لحلفائها في الإستمرار في الحملة الغير مجدية على الأسد فالروس حسموا أمر بقائه ووقواته العسكرية تمسك بالاراضي السورية بشكل مطلق وهي قادرة على سحق المسلحين مهما قدمت لهم السعودية وقطر من أسلحة ومعدات سيصل كثير منها إلى عملاء النظام المندسين بين قيادات وقواعد المعارضة كسرطان المريء.
Read more
{…}
http://www.arabi-press.com/?page=article&id=28044
March 19th, 2012, 4:26 pm
Mina said:
Jad #5
Don’t be too harsh, what JL is describing is actually what has been going on for the few last months but that the French and British journalists mainly want to ignore. For whoever has followed the comments on SC, and FB and Twitter, it was very clear from day one, even if some NGO and Academic figures were brought in and around the SNC to polish it.
A perfect illustration of the “islamization” of the movement, which was there since day one, again, is a guy I saw in the plane between Paris and Berlin yesterday. A 16 year old or so kid, with punkish style hair, the word Syria written in Arabic written within his short razed hair. As he was looking for something in his bag, he took out a derbuka, and looked a bit puzzled at what was obviously a present he got at the Paris-demo of Saturday: a cheap English translation of the Sahih al Bukhari…
March 19th, 2012, 4:28 pm
bronco said:
I fail to follow the logic of this analysis and prediction.
“The SNC is going through a period of soul searching and transformation in response to the government’s classic “clear and hold” operations carried out in Sednaya, Homs and Idlib.”
OMG!
It has nothing to do with “soul searching” and nothing to do with the long expected actions of the Government in Homs an Edlib!
Joshua is giving a noble excuse for the cheap internal rifts within the SNC, the greed for power, the ineptitude and the total incomprehension of what the Syrians are and what they want.
The SNC is rotting from inside not because of Bashar Al Assad but because of their arrogance, naivety, their reliance on rogue Western and Arab countries and lack of realism from day one.
I fail to understand the logic of Phase 3
How could “bombs and terrorists acts” could create ‘multifacetIed attempts to cultivate support in the general population”. It will only cultivate fear and sense of insecurity in the population.
People who want security first will rally around their known leader, unless a charismatic leader suddenly appears in the Opposition, and frankly we don’t see many candidates in the horizon.
The islamization of the opposition and the move toward increased violence in the name of God is possibly the only short term path for the “embattled” and crumbling opposition. The masks are simply falling as it has been the main drive from the start despite the denials that it was a ‘secular’ revolution.
I have strong doubts that not only the majority of Syrians will follow but that neighboring countries, Iraq, tJordan, Lebanon, Turkey and above all Israel will tolerate this to happen as they will see the threats of islamist extremism looming at their door.
If there is a phase 3, ironically , it will be not the end of the regime, but the end of what is left of the opposition credibility. Then there will be phase 4.
March 19th, 2012, 4:28 pm
Alan said:
Putin wants to send in space of 100 military companions
20.02
http://finam.info/news/putin-hochet-otpravit-v-kosmos-100-voennih-sputnikov-2/
In «the Russian newspaper» there was a next pre-election article of the prime minister Vladimir Putin in which the presidential candidate has promised to increase a monetary contentment the military man, to construct new army, and also to enter the additional rights at receipt into the best universities for those who has already repaid the debt to the Native land.
The army should become strong and professional. For 10 years and for 23 trillion roubles… Vladimir Putin in the new article – about problems on strengthening of defensive potential of Russia.
Putin recognizes huge merits of army in integrity of the state. He marks, as in the future armed forces will play a huge role. Russia shouldn’t mislead anybody the weakness.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin, in the third time running for president, has written the next program article devoted to army. As the prime minister promises, for possible decade of its new board the Russian army can “see further and shoot more precisely”, than any potential opponent.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin has published the next pre-election article in the Russian newspaper », devoted to national safety and army. In it present position of Armed forces (AF) and the project of their reform is depicted.
Armed forces of Russia will receive more than 400 modern intercontinental ballistic missiles, more than 100 military ships and more than 2300 new tanks within the next ten years as prime minister Vladimir Putin has declared.
============================================================-===
Putin has intercepted the initiative, the Department of State in furiousness
Mister Putin hasn’t had time to finish the elective company as it there and then having rolled up sleeves has got down to business. It it is necessary to tell at all hasn’t pleased its opponents not only in Russia, but also it is far behind boundaries most необьятной the world countries. Such lightning activity convinces once again Russians that they have correctly made the choice and in the end who upsets those took great pain to it to prevent and has suffered not simply a failure, but catastrophic fiasco.
In this case it is a question about its initiative to remove sanctions from Iran. Possibly after the initiative has been sounded and heard in capitals of the western states, it very few people has pleased. Under some data in the Department of State the meeting has been collected, for position development which will be sounded further by its employees. To be upset is because of what. With enormous work there is an advancement on the Iranian problem, the White house is under constant fire of criticism as from the “house” legislators, journalists, the Proisraeli lobby and retired military men, and from politicians of Union States. That there is one example of yesterday’s conversation with the prime minister of Israel, mister Netanjahu.
While Washington constantly repeats that “all plans for a table”, hinting at possibility of military operation, mister Putin proposes easing of sanctions or even in general their cancellation. It is a question of sanctions of Russia. If Russia removes the sanctions will be or not West sanctions any more an essence are removed is important. Putin’s this offer indirectly says that any resolutions of UNSF across Iran are impossible now basically. The position of Russia actually forces the West to enter a new phase of negotiations with Iran. Согаситесь, a course absolutely unexpected impudent and disarming. It is a course of the great master of political opposition. Putin didn’t begin to wait for favor from the West, and practically forces to do these favor and forces to consider a position of Russia.
Comparing a situation to Libya and a position of Russia in that case, it is possible to feel a difference almost physically. All western threats to Iran somehow сьежились also became at once absolutely toothless. Only yesterday mister Obama convinced prime minister Netanjahu to give to more time to sanctions, they a pier will make the work. What turns out now? They won’t make any work in general. Head of the Department of State should go now to Moscow and absolutely in vain it is necessary to tell the madam Clinton will sweep. It will change nothing. Putin has started the big game. It is speculation for the rise of the price for oil. It is pleasant to begin presidential term with full treasury and the high price for oil. There is a possibility to make serious transformations and not to climb in debts to any rotten western banks which poison world economy toxic деривативами.
Together with congratulations on election on a state post of the head, from the Department of State the wish of has come that perhaps Russia will change the position under the resolution concerning Syria. Reaction of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not original, it is not necessary to wait for any changes. And here concerning internal policy of Russia the West needs to be ready to main recesses.
Already becomes clear as the newly elected president is going to build in рядок all opponents. This new weapon was never applied in Russia till now, but widely used by the West. It is a question of sanctions. According to some information, Putin has seriously decided to adopt this experience and to apply sanctions against the companies of those states which will disturb to the Russian economic development and to interfere with Russian State foreign policy. Putin has received very powerful weapon which will seriously shake the Antirussian usages in the order. The West living in misery nowadays will need as to put the tail between the legs and look nothing in eyes of the new owner.
If such information has reached the author of article certainly even earlier it has reached the American foreign policy department. Possibly for this reason now it is not audible madams Clinton, after negotiations with the mister Laurel in the Department of State have seriously reflected. It is absolutely clear that having reached certain successes and closely having approached to the European level of salaries, Russia becomes very much a tidbit of absolutely unimaginable sizes. Now Putin will regulate whom and where to start up or whom and where to send. So the real economy prevails over the virtual. So real money differs from currency bubbles so making the real goods and the real blessings, work of people differs from work of exchange speculators and professional bubbles.
The paradox consists that the West still inflates bubbles, for example speculating on the prices for oil and remains with the same bubbles in economy, and Russia in it without participating at all receives real money and at it isn’t present either debts, or bubbles, either slumps in production, or unemployment, authority falling. The West having lost the initiative already today can’t tell the word without thinking about Russia. Twice not taken place resolutions of UNSF across Syria, bright to volume acknowledgement.
March 19th, 2012, 4:29 pm
omen said:
piggybacking off Russia’s Stake in Syria and Iran article cited above by observer, here is another one.
Russian counter-terror unit arrives in Syria, reports say
US imperialism, alan? how about russian imperialism? hmm?
March 19th, 2012, 4:37 pm
omen said:
if you google “russia’s stake in syria and iran” you can bypass the subscription wall.
March 19th, 2012, 4:39 pm
Alan said:
57. OMEN
Be defined please. The Russian communism isn’t pleasant to you the Russian imperialism too it is not pleasant! What in general it is pleasant to you?
Your reference is nonsense! It is necessary to read is better! The military doctrine of Russia dictates to protect the Russian citizens in territory of Syria! is it to you clear?
March 19th, 2012, 4:51 pm
jad said:
Dear Mina, Bronco,
I’m not being harsh on this post but the way this post is written is confusing to say the least and even wrong.
I think that JL wrote it without even review it properly before posting it, what was striking to me as Bronco pointed out is that he totally ignore the affect of terrorist attacks Alqaeda style on Syrian’s opinion and how are they going to even think of supporting mass murderers.
Probably he means that UNLESS the oppositions and their armed ‘wings’ use sectarianism, radicalization and more violence as a way to worsen the situation, they won’t stand any chance to change the regime.
And even if that what he meant, it’ll be suicidal to every Syrian, unfortunately, in reality all these things are been used from the beginning, but the level wasn’t as alarming and criminal as now.
And even his ‘prove’ of his mantra that the regime is ‘sectarian’ is also weak, his ‘witness’ is nobody else than the ‘fake Brit’, Ghalyoun secretary, Mounajed! Eh Ahleen w meet alsalameh!
March 19th, 2012, 4:55 pm
Antoine said:
11. ALDENDESHE said :
“deceivers have run out of tricks, the bag of tricks is empty now and the deception will be uncovered to all to see soon.”
Aldendeshe, do you think when Tareq al Hashemi is captured from his hideout in Kurdistan and brought to trial in Baghdad by Mahdi Revolutionaries, the deception will be uncovered (i.e who is behind all the unrest in the region) ??
March 19th, 2012, 4:56 pm
Antoine said:
45. AMIR IN TEL AVIV said :
“I have no idea. The moderator here lately is over sensitive, and is embarked on a casual banning spree. Revlon was just the occasional victim.”
Moderator is not over-sensitive, rather Professor Landis wants to keep this site neat and polished for his “academic” friends to see. He probably doesn;t want his friends to know how much Arabs hate each other.
March 19th, 2012, 5:00 pm
Antoine said:
MJABALI, my friend, I want you to watch this video carefully :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPHBPjnte0U&feature=g-all-u&context=G2104615FAAAAAAAAHAA
Pls watch all of the video carefully, I request you as a friend.
March 19th, 2012, 5:04 pm
Majed97 said:
Is this for real??
Russian Anti-Terror Troops Arrive in Syria
http://news.yahoo.com/russian-anti-terror-troops-arrive-syria-164035966–abc-news.html
March 19th, 2012, 5:25 pm
Aldendeshe said:
@Antoine,
Part of it, but they will finish him off before he makes it to trial.
March 19th, 2012, 5:29 pm
Mina said:
The final word on the emails is for… Angry Arab
“It seems that my early suspicions were correct. None of the emails leaked belong to Bashshar Al-Asad, who I am told rarely use emails for security reason. But this Syrian opposition website (which is known for having inside sources in Syria itself) had published this article on the “leaked” emails back in February and published the name of the government official whose email is Sam@alshahba. His name is…Dr. Sam Dallah. This makes sense if you read the emails and if you read the message from Shehrezad Al-Ja`fari in which she tells this sam that she misses him. Plus, read this letter sent from sam@alshahba to Buthuayna Sha`ban, and it is clear that it can’t be from Bashshar Al-Asad from the phraseology and the manner of address. And Al-Haqiqah says that Sam in a letter (another one?) indicated that he visited the Turkish embassy in Damascus, and of course, it can’t be Bashshar. When I expressed early skepticism about the so-called Bashshar’s email many out there thought that I acted too instinctively. I did, and I was right. ”
http://angryarab.blogspot.de/2012/03/bashshars-email-who-is-samalshahba.html
March 19th, 2012, 5:32 pm
Tara said:
Son of Damascus
Batta for people with blubber mostly and Atta for people without. Usually reserved as an endearment expression towards girls. I personally would never call my man Batta.
Have you checked the Batta FB that I linked earlier. It is hilarious. You must scroll down to see all the entries.
On another note, the term mnhebaks are no longer used . The term has officially changed to Batbatjie.
March 19th, 2012, 5:38 pm
omen said:
professor landis was on al jazeera english last night sunday. remarking upon the huge demonstration that broke out in al raqqa.
1:30 on video timer.
March 19th, 2012, 5:44 pm
Alan said:
Israeli Terrorists
http://youtu.be/2rYciv9onMM
March 19th, 2012, 5:54 pm
Syrian Nationalist Party said:
“…..if the regime has the put soldiers both in the east and in the west, it’s going to be very damaging for the regime……
He used so far about 15% or less of the loyal forces capacity, not the entire Syrian Army. He even can send the entire army of 300,000+ and even new conscripts if necessary, we know how it will be done by the regime and with very little defection and possible threat to the Baathist regime.
As said before, confronting Assad most valuable, reliable and solid assets is a waste of resources and is a dead ender for any honest revolutionary that seeks to liberate Syria from Baathist clutches.
March 19th, 2012, 6:14 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Unless Tlass exit was pre-planned and part of an army coup, then that will for sure be serious threat for the regime if the opposing units number and hardware is at least equivalent to the regime’s. It will be a disappointment if Tlass exit turned out to be just like Khaddam’s, fake flip to keep cash and get residency in Europe, play the opposition scam.
March 19th, 2012, 6:23 pm
ann said:
70. Syrian Nationalist Party said:
Very well explained SNP. Syria can mobilize a total of 2,500,000 combatants. Only the US can take on Syria’s military.
March 19th, 2012, 6:31 pm
zoo said:
The US offers more gifts to Iran and Islamists: Free hand on Afghanistan..
More disasters America will face if we retreat from Afghanistan
http://blog.american.com/2012/03/more-disasters-america-will-face-if-we-retreat-from-afghanistan/
By Marc Thiessen
March 19, 2012, 11:03 am
In today’s Washington Post, I lay out five disasters America will face if we retreat from Afghanistan—including the likely end of the drone war against al Qaeda in Pakistan; an increased risk that Pakistan could fall to the Islamists; the return of al Qaeda to its safe havens in Afghanistan; the emboldening of al Qaeda to carry out new attacks on America; and the strengthening of Iran in its nuclear standoff with America.
These only scratch the surface of what might befall our country if we retreat now before the mission is complete. Here are some additional consequences of an American failure in Afghanistan:
(..)
March 19th, 2012, 6:32 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
Syria is losing day by day billions of dollars in terms of human and material damages, and in cost of weapons used in both sides, but the biggest amount are the large amounts of dollars that are being sent to Iran and Russia.
The other aspect of this huge loss is the fact that tens of thousands of girls and boys have lost their father or mother or both, opening the doors to poverty or misery. Aside from the sad heritage it will leave on them this burden is impossible to quantify in economical terms.
Finally, I can observe as many of the best professionals in Syria are leaving the country. If they find a well paid job abroad they will rarely come back.
For recovering all these loses we will need many years of hard work. I think regime supoorters should be more realistic and, if they really love this country, should begin thinking about the job we will face together to rebuild the country.
March 19th, 2012, 6:43 pm
zoo said:
A Der Spiegel article repeating the same cliches
Joel Cohen is the translator, no author.
Hopeless Diplomacy
Syrian Regime Resembles Mafia Cartel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,822189,00.html
March 19th, 2012, 6:49 pm
Antoine said:
65. ALDENDESHE said:
“@Antoine,
Part of it, but they will finish him off before he makes it to trial”
Btw, Aldendeshe, do you think it is possible for Mahdi gangs of Baghdad to capture Hashemi from Kurdistan ? I mean is it militarily possible, or do you think they will have a deal with Barzani and other
Khazaro-Kurds ? Since you can analyse military capability, do you know if the Baghadad Army can defeat the Kurdistan Army if the need arises ?Also what do you think of indications that the Kurdistan Regional Government is getting involved in Syria ? Can you think of Bashar doing a possible agreement with Erdogan ? Or maybe Bashar will agree to another “rubbish law” for semi-autonomy of Qamishli if Erdogan proves to be too stubborn ?
I think the next interesting step will come from the North-East of Syria. Whats ur opinion ?
March 19th, 2012, 6:50 pm
irritated said:
#74 SL
“if they really love this country, should begin thinking about the job we will face together to rebuild the country.”
It is premature. Wait, didn’t you read the post? The destruction has just started.
March 19th, 2012, 6:51 pm
Antoine said:
71. ALDENDESHE said:
“Unless Tlass exit was pre-planned and part of an army coup, then that will for sure be serious threat for the regime if the opposing units number and hardware is at least equivalent to the regime’s”
May be possible if regime tries to do Baba Amr to the FSA in Rastan.
March 19th, 2012, 6:54 pm
zoo said:
Turk media are finally aware of the dead end Turkey has put itself in its aggressive campaign against Syria.
Al-Assad outfoxes Ankara
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/al-assad-outfoxes-ankara-.aspx?pageID=449&nID=16393&NewsCatID=416
Ankara appears to have painted itself into a corner on Syria. Its expectation was that the uprising in that country would not drag on for long and that Bashar al-Assad would be toppled relatively quickly – the way it happened in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – with Turkey emerging as a key mentor for the new Syria.
This also fitted neatly into Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s grand vision for Turkey in the region. But, as the Turkish saying goes, “the sums done at home did not match the market place.” Al-Assad has proved himself to have more staying power than many expected. He has also proved himself to be a wily player of regional and international balances.
He has thus successfully tapped into the power-play between Sunni and Shiite regimes and is getting vital material support from Iran and moral support from Shiites and Alevis scattered across the region. On the global level he has tapped into the rivalry between Russia and the West in general and the United States in particular.
Moscow no longer hides that fact that it is also continuing to supply Damascus weapons.
….
In the meantime Ankara has given up on “unilateral plans” for the region and is back on the “multilateral level” in trying to address the situation in Syria. This is why it is investing much hope in the “Friends of Syria” meeting to be held in Turkey at the beginning of May.
Ankara’s confusion over Syria is also apparent in some of the contradictory signals it is giving out. For example, the Erdoğan government is calling on the international community “to act in order to stop al-Assad from killing his people.” But at the same time it is indicating that it wants no foreign military intervention in that country.
In saying this, though, it is not clear what the “international action” Turkey wants is.
…
In the meantime, Syrian forces continue to push forward with Iranian and Russian help. It is clear that this is not “an indiscriminate killing campaign,” but a well-thought-out strategy based on the expectation that sooner or later diplomacy will have to come into play. Put another way, al-Assad is trying to secure as much land as possible before negotiations start.
It is also interesting to note that Turkey is ready for an influx of refugees and has factored in the possibility of up to half a million people arriving on its territory seeking refuge. There are those say this is a grossly exaggerated figure. It seems, however, that Ankara cannot overlook the possibility that al-Assad may actually want to push the predominantly Sunni population toward Turkey as part of his overall strategy to secure land for himself.
Such an eventuality would of course be the source of a major headache for Ankara, which also has to consider that it, too, has a large Alevi population which is not all that pleased about Turkey’s stance on Syria.
The bottom line is that al-Assad – albeit in the most appallingly inhuman way – has thus far outfoxed Erdoğan and Davutoğlu, and it seems he will be around for much longer than Ankara expected or is prepared for.
March 19th, 2012, 6:59 pm
Antoine said:
70. SNP said :
“He used so far about 15% or less of the loyal forces capacity, not the entire Syrian Army. He even can send the entire army of 300,000+ and even new conscripts if necessary, we know how it will be done by the regime and with very little defection and possible threat to the Baathist regime”.
What are the approximatew total size of the “loyal forces” , I think about 150,000 to 200,000 ; not counting the number of Iraqis and Lebanese who will make their way to Qasyoun.
Btw, can you explain how Assad can gain new conscripts, impossible, Idleb, Daraa, Deirezzor, Reef Halab, Reef Damas contributes 70 % of conscripts, I think we know the extent the revolt is spread among rural and agricultural population, plus Raqqah is starting to get into mayhem. Even if Assad can gain new conscripts they won’t be half as well trained. Only way will be ofcourse to mobilize entire populations of Latakia, Tartous, Sweida, Quneitra, etc.
March 19th, 2012, 7:00 pm
jad said:
Irritated,
“Wait, didn’t you read the post? The destruction has just started.”
Very well put.
I’m sure lots of work will take place after the ‘good’ Syrians take over from the ‘bad’ Syrians..As i wrote before they are changing it to Sweden.
BTW, Irritated, we better be nice to SL&Co. otherwise they won’t give us a visa to visit the ‘promised land’ any more.
Good bye Syria welcome Afghanistan.
Where are you Kandahar?
March 19th, 2012, 7:03 pm
Aldendeshe said:
“……Only the US can take on Syria’s military….”
_________________________________________________________________
And that is not going to be like an easy drive to Baghdad, it will be way more financially and casualty costly. Assad will not just sit or hide in a hole like Saddam, and the Syrian army is not going to play the per-planned game of acting as defending while the units are plummeted by U.S. Forces as the Iraqi Defense minister agreed with the Americans before the invasion.
The very first U.S. Air force drop will unleash everything in Syria possession at Israel, Turkey and kiss the Middle East oil fields and installations, loading facilities and ports goodby. Whatever arsenal left is stock is then handed to Hezbollah and to the real Islamic extremists, not fictitious Alqaida, Afterward, they will go into hiding, knowing that the world has bigger problem to deal with than chasing the Assad’s in Iranian villages or Siberia.
I don’t know when the loooooooooosers going to quit this shell game that is hurting everyone in Syria but the regime, Assad still can get online and get his favorite toy for the younger gal he is eying.
March 19th, 2012, 7:06 pm
zoo said:
EU weapons exports to Saudi Arabia
“There seems to be little EU interest in the fact that the Saudis have used their tanks to help their neighbor Bahrain crack down on the Arab Spring movement and also happen to be enmeshed in what security experts in the region call a “cold war” with Iran.”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/bild-822288-329489.html
March 19th, 2012, 7:10 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
JAD and IRRITATED,
I do not believe Syria is going to fall in a long civil war. If it seemed to be the case probably there would be some kind of foreign intervention to topple Assad Triade. Maybe I am too optimistic.
Anyhow Assad has the word. If he is unable to commit suicide then we will have to help him.
March 19th, 2012, 7:10 pm
Tara said:
Is Christian Louboutin toast now that we know his overpriced shoes are the favourite footwear of Asma al-Assad?
Martina, London
Poor ol’ Christian really isn’t having a good 12 months, is he? If he thought losing the case against Yves Saint Laurent – in which he claimed that the latter company’s red-soled shoes were an infringement of Louboutin’s trademark – was bad, one only can imagine the oh-la-la-ing going on in his studio last week. The Assad emails revealed that Asma harbours a particular, if baffling, fondness for Louboutin’s more repulsive designs – a revelation that garnered even more media attention than her husband’s appreciation for Right Said Fred – and images of the shoes were duly splashed across newspaper pages. So that can come as some comfort to Christian, perhaps: his designs are deemed by newspaper picture editors to be more photogenic than Richard Fairbrass.
Personally, I confess myself surprised by the shock expressed by some that the Assads were planning shopping trips to Harrods and bingeing on iTunes while protesters outside were being slaughtered. Really, did anyone expect something else? Bashar to be stricken with contrition while he snickered at sanctions? Asma to be bathing herself in apologetic ashes? Hell, no! Nero fiddled while Rome burned and Bashar was sending his wife dirty jokes about world leaders and she was cooing over crystal-encrusted £3,000 Louboutin stilettos. They’re like a pair of evil despots from a Mel Brooks movie, those two, in their adherence to cliche.
In any event, who else would buy £3,000 crystal-dusted stilettos, or shoes with spikes sticking out of the tips? No, those shoes were made for women who either are the wives of despots or wish they were.
This is why Louboutin will, I suspect, not be sweating the small stuff, the small stuff in this case being an association with Bashar Assad. I’m assuming you haven’t been in a Louboutin store in some time, Martina, but let me tell you, Louboutin shoes? They’re not all classic and chic. In fact, quite a lot of them are downright trashy, as they always have been – Louboutin, after all, originally modelled his designs on those worn by the women he would watch dance on stage at Le Palace, a Parisian nightclub. And, frankly, if a man can convince the world to spend more than a grand on shoes that basically look like the footwear for what my grandmother would call “ladies of the night”, I don’t think he’ll have many problems with an inconvenient diplomatic incident.
If nothing else, Christian, console yourself with this thought: Imelda Marcos is no longer in power.
Read more..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/2012/mar/19/asma-al-assad-christian-louboutin
March 19th, 2012, 7:12 pm
Antoine said:
65. ALDENDESHE said:
“@Antoine,
Part of it, but they will finish him off before he makes it to trial”
Btw, Aldendeshe, do you think it is possible for Mahdi gangs of Baghdad to capture Hashemi from Kurdistan ? I mean is it militarily possible, or do you think they will have a deal with Barzani and other
Khazaro-Kurds ? Since you can analyse military capability, do you know if the Baghadad Army can defeat the Kurdistan Army if the need arises ?Also what do you think of indications that the Kurdistan Regional Government is getting involved in Syria ? Can you think of Bashar doing a possible agreement with Erdogan ? Or maybe Bashar will agree to another “rubbish law” for semi-autonomy of Qamishli if Erdogan proves to be too stubborn ?
I think the next interesting step will come from the North-East of Syria. Whats ur opinion ?..,
March 19th, 2012, 7:18 pm
teomax said:
“He used so far about 15% or less of the loyal forces capacity, not the entire Syrian Army. He even can send the entire army of 300,000+ and even new conscripts if necessary, we know how it will be done by the regime and with very little defection and possible threat to the Baathist regime.”
only to watch half of them to defect…there is a reason why Assad use only 15-20 percent of his army – they are the most realiable units he have.
Defections often happen during attacks on FSA.
March 19th, 2012, 7:27 pm
jad said:
Funny:
الافتتاحية … الاعلام السوري وعبودي كازية من قلم اسامة فوزي
”بشرفكم هل هذا معقول … حتى عبودي كازية لم ( يهشت ) على سكان الخربة مثل هذا الهشت
مدينة محاصرة لعدة ايام وتتعرض لقصف صاروخي ومدفعي ثم لاقتحام مسلح بالدبابات … وتكون النتيجة مقتل عشرة جنود من المقتحمين … وجرح اربعة مواطنين مدنيين فقط”
مثال اخر
يوم امس … حدث اطلاق نار في دمشق … البيان الرسمي السوري قال ان اربعة مسلحين اعتصموا في احد منازل المزة وتبادلوا اطلاق النار مع الجيش فقتل ثلاثة والقي القبض على الرابع .. اما عبودي كازية فلا يزال يوزع بياناته عبر الجزيرة والعربية .. واخرها يقول ان مائتي عنصر من الجيش السوري الحر خرجوا من موقعهم وشنوا هجوما على مقار عسكرية وان الحرب لا زالت شغالة في دمشق ولا معركة اليرموك … ولكن يرموك عبودي كازية هنا يقودها قطز غليون من باريس بتمويل من دول النفط وهو تمويل معلن رسميا من قبلها وليس افتراء من عندياتي
{…}
طبعا … جميع السفاراتت الاجنبية التي تقع في حي المزة ومنها سفارات موالية لغليون لم تؤكد هذه الهشتة مع ان الاشتباكات وفقا لبيانات غليون دارت في باك يارد هذه السفارات … وكل السفراء ”
http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/news_display.cfm?Action&Preview=No&nid=10823
March 19th, 2012, 7:36 pm
omen said:
teomax, and then there’s this regime tactic that’s backfiring:
points to video.
March 19th, 2012, 7:45 pm
Tara said:
Damascus is the oldest city alive. It is deeply rooted in history. The FSA quality operation in Mezza today is a turning point. Neron will not be able to burn Damascus. Damascus is not Rome. This was proven throughout history. Bashar will die in Damascus and be buried in Baba Amr.
March 19th, 2012, 7:46 pm
zoo said:
اهالي المزة يروون تفاصيل مداهمة وكر الارهابيين في حيهم
March 19th, 2012, 7:47 pm
Tara said:
اللبواني لبشارلاتجربوا دمشق
World | Posted on Mar 20, 2012 at 04:34am IST
Syrian capital sees heaviest fighting yet
Amman: Rebels battled government forces in Damascus on Monday, in the most violent clashes Syria’s capital has seen since the start of the year-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
…
Two days after a double car bombing killed nearly 30 in the city, Monday’s gunfight near the centre of Assad’s power base appeared to be an attempt by rebels to show they still pose a serious challenge after being forced out of Homs and Idlib.
On Monday, rebel forces in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor also came under attack. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR)said army defectors bombed a security convoy in the southern region of Deraa, killing eight and wounding 27.
There were differing accounts of the violence in Damascus, which erupted shortly after midnight in the upmarket al-Mezze district, home to many embassies and security facilities.
The SOHR said up to six rebels had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the house of an army general before taking refuge in a building which was then the focus of a fierce gunfight.
The official Syrian news agency Sana said the authorities had stormed a “terrorist hideout” and that three rebels and one member of the security forces were killed in the raid.
“These clashes were the most violent and the closest to the security force headquarters in Damascus since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution,” said SOHR director Rami Abdulrahman.
Video footage showed the top two floors of an apartment block scorched by fire, its walls pitted with bullet holes. Reports from Syria cannot be independently verified because the authorities have barred access to rights groups and journalists.
… .
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/syrian-capital-sees-heaviest-fighting-yet/240760-2.html
March 19th, 2012, 7:57 pm
jad said:
“Defections often happen during attacks on FSA.”
I didn’t know that fsa suddenly become this militia of ‘Supermen’ to have such an effect on the “most reliable units”. Unless they are a militia of ‘Sorcerers’.
As far as I know, the fsa terrorist armed militias are formed from a collection of defected soldiers, armed civilians, outlaw gangs and radical/terrorist groups belong to Alqaeda, not even one ‘sorcerer’ or Haitian ‘Voodoo’ priest between them, unless something happened in the last 24hours where Aladdin found the genie of the lamp.
March 19th, 2012, 8:00 pm
Tara said:
Asma will be added to the EU sanction list on Friday. This is the end of her shopping career. I hope she can adapt well. The Iranian chadors market is still widely available.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9154286/Syria-Asma-al-Assad-to-be-added-to-EU-sanctions-list-for-shopping-sprees.html
Syria: Asma al-Assad to be added to EU sanctions list for shopping sprees
Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of the Syrian president, will be added to a European Union sanctions blacklist later this week after details of her online shopping sprees were revealed by leaked emails, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
….
European diplomats said the decision to add Mrs Assad to the list would be taken on Friday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“A number of family members will be added to the list,” said a diplomatic source.
…
Before the protests against her husband’s rule began a year ago, she cultivated the image of a glamorous yet serious-minded woman with strong Western-inspired values who would liberalise the ruling family and the country. A glowing article in Vogue magazine described her as “a rose in the desert” and her household as “wildly democratic”.
That image crumbled when her husband responded to the anti-government rebellion with extreme violence. She has shown no sign of the inner torment that some who met her beforehand assumed she was going through. Her messages to her husband and her friends are utterly supportive of him and at times display a resolve to see the crisis out.
“If we are strong together, we will overcome this togethere_SLps I love you,” she wrote to her husband on Dec 28.
..
“She and her father are accomplices to this crime. They learned nothing from the democracy here in the UK,” said an opponent of the regime in London who asked to be named as Fawaz. He claimed that Mrs Assad had become a hate figure for many in the expatriate community of which she was once a part.
“They have stolen Syrian money. She is squandering it here in London,” he said.
…. .
March 19th, 2012, 8:16 pm
Syrian Nationalist Party said:
@Antoine,
Sorry, to replay to all your comments will have to give out too much info that would like those anti-Nationalist forces stay in the dark on. Let them stumble and falls flat on the faces, only then will Nationalists can make moves. So sorry for the kitties in Baba Omar, hope someone fed them.
March 19th, 2012, 8:25 pm
Tara said:
Syria: ‘I am the real dictator’, declares Asma al-Assad
Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of Syria’s president, told a friend that she was the “real dictator” in the family, according to leaked emails that suggest she holds a cherished place in the leader’s inner circle.
… .
In an email to a family friend on Jan 10, she praised a speech the president gave for conveying a sense of being “very strong, no more messing around”.
… .
Mrs Assad’s “dictator” comment was made partly in jest during an exchange with a friend about how much attention spouses typically pay to each other.
“As for listening – I am the REAL dictator, he has no choice …” she wrote on Dec 14. Her use of the word in reference to her husband suggests she understands how others regard him.
… .
The accounts were stopped a few days later when the Assads realised they had been exposed.
… .
Although pseudonyms are used, the identities of the president and his wife are beyond any reasonable doubt given the recipients and subject matter.
The president is affectionate to his wife, although his inbox shows that two of his trusted aides were young Syrian women based in the United States. A woman who looked to be in her 20s sent him a photograph of herself standing provocatively against a wall in her underwear.
Mr Assad’s cynicism is sometimes striking: he disparages his reforms to appease protesters as “rubbish”.
… .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9151547/Syria-I-am-the-real-dictator-declares-Asma-al-Assad.html
March 19th, 2012, 8:27 pm
ss said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWeA8wksgIc&feature=youtu.be
Aljazeera earlier stated that both men defected.
Aljazeera is a pathological liar
March 19th, 2012, 8:35 pm
Ghufran said:
Jonathan Steele-The Guardian on a Syrian Mandela:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/19/syria-might-need-own-mandela
For the first time in a year, there might be a possibility of a deal between Russia, The US and GB about Syria. France wants a more vigorous resolution, but Anan may eventually get his way (US way).
Nobody mentioned Qatar and KSA.
March 19th, 2012, 8:49 pm
jad said:
The ‘evolution’ of women in the Wahabi world:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/303385_355835694455056_189560074415953_993172_1588382963_n.jpg
March 19th, 2012, 9:04 pm
Impressed said:
Hellooooooo! Good morning Mr.Landis! Have we woken up to the Islamist call??
But what is surprising is realizing that Mr. Landis managed to portray the situation just like the typical Western analyst would! By presenting things the other way around. “They must be prepared to embrace a much more stridently Sunni insurgency. The regime has proven its viciousness. The secular leaders of the SNC have been very successful at mobilizing the West against Assad. They have gotten sanctions put in place and the regime has been isolated internationally. But they look down on religion and warfare.”
As if , suddenly, just because the popular movement did not manage to topple the regime, the Islamic movement popped-up all of a sudden!?… I have been to the streets in the beginnings and I had been questioned several times, I have my own frustration with this regime, but it didn’t take me long to realize how Islamic the whole movement was, how they have made use of our own personal struggles our dreams to their own advantage. How they have managed to turn a blind eye to the real demands of the real opposition, how they hijacked our causes and accused us members of the real syrian opposition of being traitors for not complying to their strategy, and by fear that our voices, the voices of the true demands of the true syrians might dilute their aspirations for Syria to fall into their hands! Where is the real opposition, how much of the street mentions them or follows their call??? I will never be a tool, syrian blood was their main weapon to turn us into lambs and call for more blood and stand on their line, speak their language and fight their war. I may be a muslim, but my secular state is the guarantee for my children and grand children.
NO MR. LANDIS!! They have not just suddenly turned more towards islamism by need! It has been fueled and manipulated by the Muslim Brotherhood ALL ALONG! Doesn’t Tunisia ring any bell, what about Libya but mainly Egypt’s highjacked revolution…It strikes me that the most frightening declarations in Egypt have not SHAKEN the world!?!? And they managed to praise the revolution, while the outcome is one of the most alarming in history!
Don’t we learn ???
Just one question Mr. Landis: Had your wife and kids been living in Syria, would your reading and sympathy to blood against blood been the same?
March 19th, 2012, 9:06 pm
Son of Damascus said:
For anyone doubting that Assadist are willing to burn Syria for the sake of Assad, please have a look:
https://twitter.com/ArabSpringFF/statuses/181727942290833408
For those who are not familiar with the Damascus explosions, the cars that exploded were parked in front of the security buildings. As such it is impossible for anyone to park their car near those buildings with out being asked “El Sayarah La meen” (who does the car belong to) by one of the MANY guards scattered around those buildings. If you are a person that does NOT live in the neighbourhood you will NOT be allowed to park your car there, let alone “Saudis” parking their cars there.
People I love and have known since I was born were directly affected by this bombing, when I asked the father what happened he replied “Since when is anyone allowed to park here that is not from here? What do they think we are idiots?”
March 19th, 2012, 9:09 pm
Aldendeshe said:
“…….Quoting from the Koran is key to this. Here are selected quotes from a recent Syrian opposition rally held in Australia. Notice the use of Islamic concepts of martydom, khalifa, the umma, rejection of nationalism, angles coming to the aid of Islamic fighters, blood nourishing the roots of Jihad, etc….”
These concepts are more than a decade old, they are in fact way older, they are part of the Illuminati plan for the Islamic world integration into the New World Order under one banner. For them (the hidden plotters), it is easier to have one brute so called Islamic Khalifa leader for all the Moslem countries who can submissively take orders and implement the Illuminati plans for depopulation, accept one currency etc. than having to deal and coerce few dozens of them. Not all can be submissive to them, as say, the Sultan of Brunei and others.
In fact the whole idea of religion was invented by the Reptilians and Amen-Ra /Marduk for the sole purpose of taking over the entire planet. When the Hebrew refused to work on that plan, he destroyed them and sent them as exiles to slave in Babylon, re-programmed them and gave them the Talmud. He then concocted Christianity as new One World Order Plot, and when Constantine in the Council of Macias thwarted the plot and had 1600 missionaries fabricate the bible to proclaim him as the Messiah (Mahdi), instead of Amen-Ra intended programming, he moved to Rome and worked thru the various secret Societies on one hand while his son SIN (incarcerated on the moon) using NABU (Arabic NABI= prophet) roamed the middle East promising the coming of Mohammad and afterward used Islam as another means for World domination. Now, Jews, Christians and Shia Moslems are awaiting the coming of the All seeing Amen-Ra/Marduk to rule One world Government. Mankind is too intelligent nowadays to fall for this scam and most likely he will, as before, miserably fails. Humanity will pay a heavy price for his shenanigan again, but the ones that will pay the most according to the Bible is the ones that he used to get to the top, he will have no needs for them then and the bible is pretty clear about what he is going to do with them.
The links are too many, but here in this one link you can start learning all about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlTJWDg2Jhs
You can search and watch for all 30 videos but another way to learn with a bit more entertaining angle, watch couple of movies: The Arrival and Stargate. They are very much the reality of things that was and still is.
March 19th, 2012, 9:41 pm
ann said:
Syria blames recent bombings on “foreign-backed terrorists” – 2012-03-20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/20/c_131476472.htm
DAMASCUS, March 19 (Xinhua) — Syria’s foreign ministry on Monday blamed the suicide bombings that wrecked the country in the past two days on “takfiri terrorists” backed by “well known regional and international parties that had explicitly declared their support.”
The ministry’s remarks were made in its letters sent to the UN Security Council, the UN organization for Islamic cooperation and the UN human rights council about the suicide bombings in Damascus and northern Aleppo which killed at least 29 people.
“The falling of dozens of innocent Syrians is a result of the terrorism that is backed by external parties, which had overtly announced their financing and arming to the extremist groups, said the ministry.
It went on to say that “the takfiri terrorists and those who back them and overtly supply them with funds and weapons are continuing their terrorist acts in implementation of a conspiratorial plan targeting Syria, its people and institutions.”
[…]
March 19th, 2012, 9:44 pm
Tara said:
Joshua,
Pretty good and logical analysis in my opinion. It is clear as you said that a Tahrir Square moment is not going to come and that Assad’s regime must be extracted by force. Lots of us have long ago realized that “Sulmiah”, a romantic and noble movement, will fall short from toppling the Assad’s regime.
Does phase II have to go hand in hand with Islamization of the revolution? In other words, can the opposition organize an effective phase II insurgency without Islamization of the resistance? Or in order for phase II to launch, opposition needs to play on the religious feelings of the masses for the armed resistance to expand and to change from the defensive to the offensive?
March 19th, 2012, 9:49 pm
Syrian Nationalist Party said:
So in fact the Saudi, Arabs and even all those Wahhabi and Sunni are being used and deceived to carry out the plan that deceptively labeled, in fact they are bringing own determent, soon in just 3 years they will find out that they dug own graves, that all along, they helped make Iran a super power and that all what they fought for under the banner of Sunni and anti Shia were all false banners that are used to bring about the Shia MAHDI rulers to rule all Moslems. Iranian, understand the game plan and knows that the Arch is destined to move west to be housed in Iran, they are playing along as the adversary role to move things forward, but they know, even before the 1990 desert storm, that all what is being planned is in the end to their glory and the glory of Shia and the coming One World Ruler, the Shia Mahdi.
March 19th, 2012, 9:52 pm
zoo said:
U.N. asked to back efforts to end Syria conflict
By Martial Trezzini, AP
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-19/un-syria-diplomacy/53657914/1
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — France circulated a proposed statement to the U.N.Security Council on Monday that urges the Syrian government to immediately implement proposals by international envoy Kofi Annan to end the yearlong bloodshed.
…
he draft presidential statement, obtained by the Associated Press, expresses “full support” for Annan and the six-point plan he presented to Syrian President Bashar Assad during two meetings in Damascus on March 10-11 as the joint envoy for the U.N. and Arab League.
It would express the council’s “gravest concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria which has resulted in a serious human rights crisis and a deplorable humanitarian situation.” It would also express “profound regret” at the thousands of deaths.
…
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, the current council president, told reporters the council will discuss the draft presidential statement backing Annan on Tuesday as well as a press statement proposed by Russia, Syria’s closest ally, on the recent attacks in Damascus and Aleppo.
France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said he introduced a presidential statement to give quick backing to Annan because a resolution would take a week or two.
Presidential statements become part of the Security Council’s permanent record and are stronger than press statements which do not. But unlike resolutions, neither statement is legally binding.
…
Syria told Annan in a letter obtained Saturday by The Associated Press that it is “keen to end violence” but insisted that armed opposition groups give up their weapons first. It also demanded that Annan halt the supply and financing of weapons to the opposition.
The Syrian response fell far short of U.S. and European demands that Syrian forces stop fighting first — and even Russia’s insistence that both sides lay down their arms simultaneously. But it did leave the door open for talks.
…
U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey quoted Annan’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, as saying Monday that the team, with expertise on political, peacekeeping and mediation issues, will stay as long as it is making progress in reaching agreement on practical steps to implement Annan’s proposals.
The other points in Annan’s proposal, spelled out in the draft, call for Syria:
— to work with Annan in establishing “an inclusive Syrian-led political dialogue to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people”
—to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian aid to all areas affected by the fighting
—to intensify “the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons.”
—to ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists
—to ensure freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully “as legally guaranteed.”
(..)
March 19th, 2012, 10:08 pm
Mick said:
#101 IMPRESSED
I would say good post, but you obviously don’t understand the complex mind of the opposition.
They are like the right-wing descriptions of gays. You see in right-wing America, gays aren’t really gay. They just wake up each day and ‘decide’ to be gay.
The extremists in Syria are the same. They wake up each morning and decide whether or not to be a Jeffersonian democrat or an armed Salafists. It all depends on how the winds are blowing when they wake up.
I know I do that when I wake up.
Of course being a male, the first thing I think about is sex. Then with which sex. Then whether I believe in a God or gods or a djin. Then if I do, whether I think that day whether or not this/these gods/dieties should be part of my political aspirations.
It usually takes me a good 15 minutes each morning to figure who I am.
I thought this was just normal.
March 19th, 2012, 10:25 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Remember Sunni Moslems, you been warned, his name is Awar Al Dajjal, the One Eyed Deceiver. Landis is just palying the roll played by the black kid at the Arrival movie end. Watch the movie and see it to the end, you will know Landis mission.
Watch the whole series:
March 19th, 2012, 10:26 pm
DAWOUD said:
# 104.
Yes, foreign-backed terrorists carried out the latest terrorist bombings in Damascus and Aleppo: the FOREIGN Russian/Iranian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad planned and carried out these attacks!
March 19th, 2012, 10:30 pm
Dawoud said:
102. Son of Damascus
I agree with you. Excellent post.
في برنامج الاتجاه المعاكس فيصل القاسم ذكر ان احد اعضاء النظام السوري قال ان عدد سكان سوريا عندما استلم الاسد الاول كان 8 مليون فقط. بما معناه ان بشار مستعد قتل 15 مليون واعاده سوريا الى 8 مليون لكي يبقى دكتاتورا!!!!!!!!!!! كيف يدافع اي شخص عن هذا النظام
P.s., it’s ok for Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia to aid Syria’s anti-regime innocents and the FSA because they are NOT foreign. They are ARAB. Iran, Russia, and China are ALL Foreign!
March 19th, 2012, 10:37 pm
Dawoud said:
P.S., we Arabs don’t use “foreign” when we talk about other Arabs and Arab countries. We use it only to describe non-Arab countries and non-Arab citizens, e.g., Russia (Russians), Iran (Iranians), Malta (Maltese), etc.
This is just an educational correction, which seems to be ignored in Hasan Nasrallah’s basement!
March 19th, 2012, 10:44 pm
ann said:
In Syria, Nasser Al Kidwa Was Blocked, Guehenno to Be Named, Annan Foundation Stonewall
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 19 — After the UN refused Monday for the fifth time to disclose who is on the Syria team of Kofi Annan, ostensibly the UN’s and Arab League’s Joint Special Envoy, a well placed Arab League Permanent Representative confirmed to Inner City Press that Syria said that the Arab League nominated deputy, Nasser Al Kidwa, could not visit Syria.
“He is a friend,” the Permanent Representative said, “but he represents the Arab League, and Syria does not agree to the League’s plans or proposals.”
As Inner City Press first reported, it was after Annan unilaterally fingered his former UN peacekeeping chief Jean Marie Guehenno as his deputy that the Arab League rebelled and demand that Nasser Al Kidwa be first deputy.
Now, sources tell Inner City Press that on March 20 the UN will belatedly confirm that Guehenno is another deputy. On March 19, Inner City Press obtained and published the French-drafted Presidential Statement, here.
Here was the Q&A on Monday:
Inner City Press: I saw where Mr. Fawzi was quoted as saying that he couldn’t say, you know, where they are going, but can you say who they are?
Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey: No, we cannot say who they are.
Inner City Press: Why not?
Deputy Spokesperson Del Buey: Because we cannot say who they are.
Inner City Press: And, are they being paid with UN money and if so, how can you not say who they are?
Deputy Spokesperson Del Buey: Matthew, the important thing is that we have two teams on the ground. One is following the humanitarian route to see if we can get humanitarian aid to the people who desperately need it. The other one is there to try and find a political solution to the situations, so the violence and killing end. Those are the main themes we are working on. If and when we have administrative issues to discuss, we will discuss them.
Inner City Press: My question is whether Nasser Al-Kidwa, the deputy who was named and appointed by the Arab League, is among those going, and it is not an administrative detail.
Deputy Spokesperson Del Buey: I cannot say. I cannot say, I am sorry.
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1guehenno031912.html
March 19th, 2012, 10:57 pm
Dawoud said:
As a Sunni Muslim, I find this comment both obnoxious and NOT funny!
March 19th, 2012, 10:59 pm
DAWOUD said:
FYI
Nasser Al Kidwa is Yasser Arafat’s nephew. Hafez al-Assad was NO friend of Yasser Arafat. The entry of the Syrian “Arab Deterrent Force” in Lebanon was to prevent the victory of Arafat and Kamal Junblatt in the Lebanese civil war. Please Google the “Tal Az-Za’atar Massacre.”
March 19th, 2012, 11:03 pm
Jerusalem said:
مثلا
قبل ايام وزع اعلام برهان غليون بيانا عن هجوم الجيش السوري على مدينة ادلب … وبعد ان اشار الى ان المدينة حوصرت لعدة ايام وعاشت تحت القصف طوال تلك الفترة قبل ان يقتحمها الجيش ويرتكب فيها المجازر … قال البيان نفسه ان خسائر العملية كانت : جرح اربعة مواطنين سوريين من سكان المدينة .. ومقتل عشرة جنود من المهاجمين
بشرفكم هل هذا معقول … حتى عبودي كازية لم ( يهشت ) على سكان الخربة مثل هذا الهشت
مدينة محاصرة لعدة ايام وتتعرض لقصف صاروخي ومدفعي ثم لاقتحام مسلح بالدبابات … وتكون النتيجة مقتل عشرة جنود من المقتحمين … وجرح اربعة مواطنين مدنيين فقط
ثم ان هناك ظاهرة مثيرة للعجب … فمعظم الايميلات والرسائل التي تصل الينا من مناصري غليون لا تتضمن شرحا او تقويما او تقييما او توضيحا وانما تبدأ بشتم امهاتنا وتنتهي بشتم امهاتنا بالفاظ سوقية بذيئة تعكس جانبا من اخلاق الجهاز الاعلامي العامل لدى غليون وهذا يثير الدهشة .. فغليون تحركة جماعة الاخوان المسلمين كما اعترف البنايوني مؤخرا واعترافه موجود على يوتوب والاسلام لا يسمح للمسلمين بمثل هذا بل وقد يخرج اللاعن والشاتم من ملة الاسلام بسبب جريمته .. الامر الذي جعلني اسأل ( مناضلا ) سوريا التقيت به قبل ايام في اوستن … من اية مزبلة سورية احضرتم جهازكم الاعلامي … ولما ابدى دهشته من السؤال حولت اليه جانبا من ( الايميلات ) التي وصلت الينا .. فاتصل بي معتذرا ومؤكدا ان المال النفطي خرب ( الثورة ) وان انشقاق اشهر معارض سوري عن جماعة غليون – يقصد المحامي هيثم المالح – هو بداية النهاية لثورة بدأت صادقة وصافية تطالب بالاصلاح … الى ثورة يتصارع قادتها على المائة مليون دولار التي دفعتها السعودية لغليون
والبقية تأتي
http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/news_display.cfm?Action=&Preview=No&nid=10823
March 19th, 2012, 11:10 pm
DAWOUD said:
I am going to sleep, but before I leave this forum uncontested for the folks in Hasan Nasr*** basement, I would like to share with you the funny nightmare that I had last night. I dreamed of an immoral supporter of Bashar chanting in Arabic:
الله, ثوريا, وبثار وبث 🙂
It turned out that he was Batta himself 🙂
Good Night, and Good Luck!
Free Syria, Free Palestine!
March 19th, 2012, 11:17 pm
Shami said:
Jad ?
March 19th, 2012, 11:54 pm
Jerusalem said:
Mr. Dawood the only way to get to your banner ‘Free Palestine’ is Iran. Read:
لان جامعة نبيل العربي مشغولة بالتامر على سوريا وحماس مشغولة بالمليارات القطرية وابو مازن مشغول بمنح الجنسية الفلسطينية لفضل شاكر … اسرائيل تقرر بناء 187 الف وحدة استيطانية في الضفة الغربية والوحيد الذي اعترض وهدد الصهاينة …. ايران
Unfortunately it’s a fact whether it’s coming from the basement or the roof.
http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/news_display.cfm?Action=&Preview=No&nid=10819
March 20th, 2012, 12:04 am
jad said:
Son of Damascus
What a disappointing comment, being an opposition to the regime doesn’t mean that you have to support terrorism and defend them.
You obviously have never been to that area, otherwise, you would know that cars there are parked with no question asked, but you obviously on a mission to defend the killers, good luck!
In case you don’t know the car that exploded wasn’t parking, it was moving and tried to get into the entry of that building,
so please tell your not ‘idiot’ ‘beloved’ friend to wake up and take his dementia piles, he needs couple.Dave,
I second your call, Free Syria from the terrorists criminal Alqaeda, fsa and their supporters, Oul AMEEN!
March 20th, 2012, 12:14 am
jad said:
Shami
What a retard clip, how difficult for the paid crowds behind the camera shouting sectarian and veil language against the Syrian in the demonstration to hire someone holding an israeli flag and take this clip…seriously, they did more dirty game than this, they killed people and sold the pictures to the media, paying someone $10 to hold the flag is so cheap.
Did you write this comment under the clip?
النظام بيجمع عاهرات الطائفة العلوية
وبحكيلهم اعملولي مظاهرة تأييد
معروووفة .. كل المنحبكجحشية عاهرات وعاهرين
Alsha3erMan1 9 hours ago 20
March 20th, 2012, 12:29 am
Shami said:
Jad ,thank for your excuse à la syriatruth.
March 20th, 2012, 12:32 am
Hans said:
Here is what Josh Landis is asking the revolution to do!!
follow the Iraqi trail and kill the Christians as the Americans did by invading Iraq.
http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionID=2105&ChannelID=50194&ArticleID=2103
it is clear the call to Islamize this revolution only means killing more of the minorities and specifically the christians as it is happening in Homs.
it is clearly the end of the christian in the middle east which means the middle east is going to live in the dark ages for years to come, because christians in the middle east are the light of the land and the hope of the humanity.
March 20th, 2012, 12:38 am
Jerusalem said:
الشيخ وجدي غنيم ليوسف القرضاوي .. عزيت في البابا مش حتعزي في الماما
مع أن نبي المسلمين، محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، همّ بالوقوف أثناء مرور جنازة يهودي قبل نحو 14 قرناً من الزمن، احتراماً لقدسية الموت، يبدو أن أتباعه اليوم لا يتشبّهون بأخلاقه، إذ استقبل عدد من السلفيين والجماعات الإسلامية نبأ وفاة بطريرك الأقباط الأرثوذكس في مصر بزخّ الفتاوى التي تحرّم الترحّم على بابا الأقباط بل ورفض تقديم العزاء. وقد رفض عدد من نواب حزب «النور» السلفي، أمس، الوقوف دقيقة صمت حداداً على روح البابا في مجلس الشعب، وهمّوا بمغادرة الجلسة أثناء الوقفة
http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/news_display.cfm?Action=&Preview=No&nid=10826
March 20th, 2012, 12:41 am
jad said:
Fashro! (Screw them in local dialect)
We will build and clean:
اعادة اعمار ما خربه الارهابيين في القصاع
http://youtu.be/MGFvLb6nivY
March 20th, 2012, 1:01 am
Aldendeshe said:
@122. Hans said:
I clicked thumb up for you Hans.
March 20th, 2012, 1:03 am
Hans said:
Here is some of the supporter of the revolution in Syria.
I wonder if this night club is a syrian one and the regime is precluding this pig from enjoying himself in syria
http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/news_display.cfm?Action=&Preview=No&nid=10814
March 20th, 2012, 1:11 am
Juergen said:
Thank you Zoo for sharing this article from DER SPIEGEL.
I loved this part:
“An opponent of the regime struck up a conversation with an extremely young soldier from the eastern part of the country: “After hesitating for a long time, the soldier accepted a sandwich and was amazed that someone was speaking Arabic with him,” recalls the activist. “He asked where he was and was totally amazed when he found out that he was in Damascus. His commanding officer had told him that they were going to Israel to fight against the Zionists. But then he wondered why the Israelis were speaking Arabic with a Syrian accent.”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,822189,00.html
March 20th, 2012, 1:15 am
jad said:
Saudi special mission is to drown Syria in blood:
مهمة سعودية خاصة : إغراق سورية بالدماء
ناصر العابد – عربي برس – الرياض
منذ ان استطرب وزير الخارجية السعودي لفكرة تسليح ما يسمى بالجيش الحر، والمملكة السعودية نقلت العمل من تحت الطاولة الى العلن، عبر رجال الدين والاعلام، كيف وأي أنظمة عربية تيسر للملكة السعودية طريق السلاح والانتحاريين؟
صرح المفتي العام للسعودية ورئيس هيئة كبار العلماء الشيخ عبد العزيز بن عبد الله آل الشيخ بأن تسليح الجيش السوري الحر وتقويته وإضعاف شوكة النظام الحاكم يعد نوعاً من أنواع الجهاد في سبيل الله.
وأضاف المفتي إنه إذا تيقن وصول الدعم بأمانة ودقة إلى الجيش السوري الحر فإنه يعد من الجهاد في سبيل الله، مشيرا إلى أن كل ما يقوي شوكة الجيش الحر ويضعف شوكة النظام السوري الدموي حسب تعبيره مطلوب شرعا.
وقال إن واجبنا نحو إخواننا في سورية هو دعاء الله وصدق الالتجاء والاضطرار إليه مع بذل الجهد في إيصال المساعدات إليهم.
وفي تقرير لقناة العربية السعودية تناول أبرز احتياجات ما يسمى بالجيش الحر لمواجهة ما سموه بجيش النظام في اشارة واضحة الى اطلاق حملة لدعم تسليح العمل الميليشيوي في سورية
وعندما يتعلق القول باسقاط النظام السوري يتحول النظام السعودي الى الفعل الحثيث فقد كشفت مصادر أن هناك اتفاق أُبرم بين محمد بن نايف آل سعود وسجناء القاعدة تمّ بموجبه الإفراج عن هؤلاء السجناء وإعطائهم منحة مالية شرط أن يتوجهوا فوراً إلى سورية!”.. هذا الكلام هو خلاصة اتصال هاتفي من داخل سجن الحائر السعودي أجراه أحد السجناء مع ناشط عربي حقوقي مقيم في الغرب..!.
{…}
http://arabi-press.com/?page=article&id=28269
March 20th, 2012, 1:27 am
Juergen said:
Jad
dont want to warm up some discussion which is useless but your argumentation that i mislead people about Germany is just not true.
Read chapter 146 of the Grundgesetz:
Artikel 146
[Geltungsdauer des Grundgesetzes]
Dieses Grundgesetz, das nach Vollendung der Einheit und Freiheit Deutschlands für das gesamte deutsche Volk gilt, verliert seine Gültigkeit an dem Tage, an dem eine Verfassung in Kraft tritt, die von dem deutschen Volke in freier Entscheidung beschlossen worden ist.
English:
Article 146
[Duration of the Basic Law]
This Basic Law, which since the achievement of unity and freedom of Germany for the entire German nation loses its validity on the day of entry into force a constitution which was adopted by the German people in a free election.
There were big discussions at the consultations which led to the reunification in 1990, the east german counterparts surprised the west germans by asking excactly what the law suggests, an referendum for a new constitution, the first then of Germany after 1933. So my claim that Germany does not possess an constitution is correct.
About your claim that jewish life did not prosper in Germany until just recently, also wrong. 1979 the jewish university with an rabii teaching programme opened in Heidelberg.
1952 after 7 years jews already lived in 70 communities throughout Germany and had synagogues, app 18.000 jews lived at that time in Germany.
There were new synagogues build in new towns and cities throughout the western part of Germany in the 60s and 70s, the first newspapers were published in the 70s. The biggest congregation was to be found in Berlin with 6000 members. Kohl signed a deal with Russia and Israel allowing thousands of russian jews to settle in Germany prior to their immigration to Israel. Many decided to stay in Germany, so we have here in Berlin a big boost, app 12.000 members of the jewish faith live amongst us now. There are problems in the community though. Reform judaism was founded in Germany, back in 1925 we had in Berlin alone 175.000 jews, which had many liberal synagogues. When the russian jews arrived in the 90s an phenomenon took place. Many of them lived isolated from their faith, and when they had a chance to live it here they preferred the orthodox style over the liberal.
March 20th, 2012, 1:37 am
jad said:
Juergen
You have short memory, I don’t.
“Not even Germany has an constitution.”
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13417&cp=all#comment-296113
“About your claim that jewish life did not prosper in Germany until just recently,”
Usually Germans are very specific and precise,I didn’t write that, I think I was very specific: ‘Spiritual Establishment’ not ‘Socially’ as you claimI wrote:
“Just two years ago the German Jewish Rabi start rebuilding their spiritual establishments.”
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13992&cp=all#comment-302065
I’m correct and the links I gave you proved my point about the ‘Spiritual establishments’
Regards.
March 20th, 2012, 2:05 am
jad said:
Check out the hostility against anyone trying to be reasonable:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Politics/1244504890/ID=2210977482
“Nour El-Khadri, vice-president of the Canadian Arab Federation, discusses growing international pressure on the Syrian regime to put an end to its year-long violent crackdown against rebels”
March 20th, 2012, 2:10 am
Mina said:
How to hide NACTO victims, and how to bring Libyan fighters in full discretion?
http://blog.lefigaro.fr/malbrunot/2012/03/des-milliers-de-libyens-afflue.html#comment-416112
March 20th, 2012, 2:17 am
Sunny said:
Most Syrians bloggers and political analysts are confirming that after the terrorists attacks on Saturday and Sunday, Syrians in Syria and around the world are in support of President Bashar Alassad and his reform more than ever.
They are more determined to keep united to stop the US from interfering in their country through Saudi/Qatar to turn it into another Iraq. Many in my area switched to be pros in the past two days!
Some have been calling on their senators to stay out of Syria and stop arming Alqaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood as their family and friends got hurt during the attacks.
Despite the fact that these senators are out of touch with the Americans, one of the Syrian Americans made the call anyway to the senator office to tell him that any interference in Syria is against the US constitution law!
Dr. Landis, in Syria as you heard, there is only Syrians, as diversity was born and raised in Syria. Using ethnicity and religion slogans are the creation of wars and hegemony seekers or extremists for centuries; and the Syrians have been taking notes on that.
The Syrian gov. is thinking out the box, while the the US foreign policy is stuck in the 1950’s box.
March 20th, 2012, 2:22 am
Alan said:
The Chaos of Spreading Democracy – U.S. Style
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/370038.html
By Martin Sieff, senior fellow of the American University in Moscow
“They made a wilderness and called it peace.” The great Roman historian Tacitus was talking about Roman policies of waging war. If he was talking about American foreign policy in the 21st century, he would say, “They made a chaos, and called it democracy.”
The experiment of imposing instant democracy on Iraq (like instant coffee, just add hot water and stir) in 2003 fanned the flames of a civil war that left more than 750,000 dead — not counting around 100,000 people who died in the US conquest of Мarch-April 2003, the literal anarchy that followed it, and one trillion dollars bill on top of it. But nothing was learned from it – nothing. The pundits of the American media, led by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times are now relentlessly seeking to replicate that “triumph” in Syria. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears deaf and blind to the dangers of genocidal ethnic massacres and threats of a far wider war that the violent toppling of the Syrian government would bring.
More than a year ago, I predicted in a Fox News column that Muammar Qaddafi in Libya and Bashar al-Assad would hang on for dear life in the face of the Arab Spring democratic uprisings and that it would take force – a lot of it — to get rid of either of them.
I also expressed scathing skepticism at the hallelujahs of joy by all our neo-liberal and neo-conservative “friends” that a wonderful new era of democracy, western style was about to dawn over the Middle East. I warned that the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and of Qaddafi in Libya would be followed by the rise of far more intolerant, extremist regimes.
Well, sure enough, Qaddafi is finally dead and gone. But it cost tens of thousands of lives and it required a sustained NATO air campaign in support of the so-called “democratic” opposition to suppress his well-equipped mercenary forces, even though they were miserably trained and small in number.
Now a lot of crocodile tears are being shed over what the Western media are euphemistically referring to as “the humanitarian crisis” in Syria. There certainly is a humanitarian crisis there all right. But anyone who believes that forcing President Assad out is going to magically bring a nice bright shiny new perfect democracy with leaders who carefully read the New York Times every day belongs in Cloud Cuckoo Land alongside Secretary of State Clinton.
Through the long decades of the Cold War, the United States claimed to be the champion of established governments and of upholding stability around the world against the perceived challenge of revolutionary communism. In the time of Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev, the Kremlin poured the wealth and strength of a superpower into quixotic support for repressive and economically bankrupt governments from Iraq to Afghanistan. All Brezhnev did was bankrupt his own country.
But today, those roles have been reversed in a way Georg Friedrich Hegel, the great philosopher of history, would have recognized very well.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 2:22 am
Alan said:
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/369841.html
Russia has no warships near Syria, Defence Ministry says
MOSCOW, March 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Defence Ministry denied media reports claiming that Russian Navy ships have been spotted off Syria.
“The Russian Defence Ministry was surprised by some media reports claiming that Russian Navy warships have appeared near the Syrian coast. The Russian Navy has no warships near Syria,” the ministry said on Monday, March 19.
“An auxiliary vessel, the tanker Iman, has been at the Syrian port of Tartus for 10 days. It provided logistical support to the Black Sea and Northern Fleet ships that participated in the anti-pirate mission in the Gulf of Aden,” it said.
“The Iman crew consists of civilian personnel. There is a guard unit aboard,” the ministry said.
March 20th, 2012, 2:26 am
Juergen said:
Jad
i dont want to be like an NYC lawyer, but Germany really has no constitution, if you read the basic law correctly youll see that it was written as an momentum, as an law providing basic rights to the west germans, waiting for the day Germany would reunite and then draft an constitution for all. We have the basic law, and the law itself makes that destinction in § 146 which i have posted earlier.If you want to call our basic law an constitution because it is written in the spirit of one, you are free so. But i am not the only one stressing that our reunification process is not finished until we have drafted an constitution.
March 20th, 2012, 2:29 am
Alan said:
China’s stance on Syria – ‘a matter of principle’
http://rt.com/news/china-syria-conflict-principle-956/
Moscow and Beijing have been firmly opposing intervention in Syria, stressing the need for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Middle East expert He Wenping says this is matter of principle.
He Wenping, of the ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences, insists that Russia and China are defending the principle of state sovereignty. “Any regime change should be undertaken by the people in that country,” she told RT.
In addition to Russia, China is also trying to protect its geopolitical interests in the region, He admits. “Everybody knows that China heavily depends on the oil imports from the whole Middle East.”
The Syrian crisis is no longer a domestic issue as outside forces, reportedly including Al-Qaeda, have penetrated the opposition, she notes. “The so-called the Free Syrian Army now is no longer the pure Syrian people.”
The Syrians are not willing to listen to the opposition outside the country, He Wenping believes, noting that opposition groups at home are fighting for their rights separately from outside pressure.
He says that it is hard to believe US President Barack Obama when he says that there will be no military intervention in Syria. “At the very beginning of the Libyan war, we heard the same sayings coming from the White House, from NATO.”
The death toll in the Syrian conflict continues to climb, with the UN saying the as many as 8,000 have been killed. However, He warns that we should not trust these figures blindly as they are being reported by rebel forces. “The real picture is still not clear.”
He believes that so far, the situation in Syria seems to be favorable for President Bashar Al-Assad. “The situation on the ground is the determination factor for how long this regime will be there.”
March 20th, 2012, 2:29 am
Aldendeshe said:
In order to understand what is happening now and what will transpire in the coming years, you need to learn about few things quickly. Remember, in the bible it is said this: “we resettle not against flesh and blood (Humans), but against principalities in higher places”. It is also said, that by the end of the Pisces age (2012) there will be a war in heaven between those in earth’s subterranean dwellers and men helping them and others dwelling in heaven, as a result, those dwelling in heaven, will punish humans for helping the reptilians by sending four cataclysm that will finish us off, not totally, but about two thirds of the planet, will perish. But there is more, the bible said that mankind spoke in one tongue, one language, then god corrupted man and made them Babbling.
Well, it was not god, there is no such thing, it was Amen-Ra / Marduk. The story of what he hid from human memories is too long, here is the start of it:
March 20th, 2012, 2:32 am
Mina said:
The monarchist moment in Benghazi (remember the 80 year old king they brought back to Afghanistan before the real candidate, i. e. the pizzeria owner?)
http://www.lanation.info/Le-peuple-libyen-trahi-par-ses-amis_a810.html
Interesting post and comments on Matt Carr’s blog http://www.infernalmachine.co.uk/?p=1486
March 20th, 2012, 2:36 am
Jad said:
Dear Juergen
Nobody know Germany better than the Germans and Syria more than the Syrians.
I do understand and believe your point, no disagreement there.
I was refering to a very specifi point and I think we already clarify it and we may need to accept each others stand, nothing more nothing less.
Regards.
March 20th, 2012, 3:02 am
Antoine said:
83. ALDENDESHE said :
” Syrian army is not going to play the pre-planned game of acting as defending while the units are plummeted by U.S. Forces as the Iraqi Defense minister agreed with the Americans before the invasion”
Is that true ? Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tayy ( Iraqi Defence Minister) had a deal with the Americans ? Maybe that explians why he surrendered easily in Mosul, why he was so well-treated after the invasion, why he escaped death penalty, why he did not have to stand trial for war crimes, why he got a luxury suite in Prison.
March 20th, 2012, 3:37 am
Syrialover said:
My comment: This article points out some of the Syrian business class are finding common cause with the opposition. It makes sense – a future Syria is going to need an alternative to the 60% Rami Makhlouf monopoly of Syrian business (Assad’s cousin). The article refers to Sunni businessmens’ resentment of the Makhlouf circle as well as gradual disaffection with the regime among executives in Syria facing international sanctions, inflation and sudden policy changes such as import bans.
Syria opposition taps business class
By Michael Peel in Abu Dhabi, Financial Times 19 March 2010
Excerpts
Khaled al-Mahamid, a Syrian doctor and businessman with interests ranging from real estate to foodstuffs, turned against Bashar al-Assad’s regime when it launched a lethal assault on his home city of Dera’a.
Dr Mahamid – who had thought the Syrian president was a genuine reformer and met him more than once – watched in horror as the crackdown, in the city where the uprising started, killed 44 members of his own extended family.
“I would give all my capital to help this revolution,” Dr Mahamid told the Financial Times. “We are giving the blood – and blood is more than money.”
The doctor is one of a small group of entrepreneurs at the vanguard of an effort by Syria’s opposition to tap more funding from business people who have revolted against the Assad regime over its violence, the instability it has created and its alleged enrichment of ruling family cronies.
The Syrian National Council, the main umbrella anti-Assad body, is calling for the country’s entrepreneurial class to swing behind a new group – Dr Mahamid is one of the five founders – that aims to put the year-old uprising’s funding on a surer footing.
….
“They say capital is a coward and it looks always for peace and stability,” Mr Merza said. “The business community sees that the armed situation is not leading to stability.”
Mr Merza said the Syrian business council hoped soon to boost its membership above 100 by attracting people who opposed the regime but had not said so publicly. He said a meeting at an undisclosed location outside Syria in late January had attracted more than 50 business people, reflecting an increasing sense in the country’s commercial sector that the regime was damaging their interests and doomed in the long run.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f9063e30-71dd-11e1-8497-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1pdgyfDX1
March 20th, 2012, 3:55 am
Alan said:
Israel War Crime Videos Now Violate YouTube Policy? ‘Sorry About That’
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/03/19/israel-war-crimes-videos-violate-youtube-policy-sorry-that-100321/
March 20th, 2012, 4:20 am
Juergen said:
UN general Ban: Syria Situation Unacceptable, Intolerable
http//news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=756426
March 20th, 2012, 4:23 am
Alan said:
144
the link is damage
March 20th, 2012, 4:25 am
Alan said:
Pentagon creating new-generation cyberweapon
http://rt.com/usa/news/cyber-weapon-us-report-920/
A next-generation cyberweapon capable of knocking out enemy networks, even if they’re not connected to the Internet – this is a primary goal for the Pentagon’s research and development teams.
According to the Washington Post, the US military is ramping up its cyber-efforts in anticipation of a possible showdown with Iran or Syria.
The Pentagon had wanted to use cyber warfare technology during the NATO mission in Libya, but realized that it would have needed at least a year to properly develop the necessary weapon.
“We weren’t ready to do that in Libya. We are not ready to do that now, either,” the newspaper quoted an anonymous US official as saying.
US military officials are looking to create a weapon capable of targeting “offline” military systems, that would transmit damaging codes by radio. The US’s military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently secured a half billion dollars in funding for such a project.
However, codes disseminated by such a weapon would need to be customized in order to have the right effect on enemy targets………..
March 20th, 2012, 4:48 am
Juergen said:
here is a better link which works:
http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/20/situation-in-syria-is-intolerable-ban.html
March 20th, 2012, 4:57 am
teomax said:
“I didn’t know that fsa suddenly become this militia of ‘Supermen’ to have such an effect on the “most reliable units”. Unless they are a militia of ‘Sorcerers’.
”
ha, ha.
You know sometimes you see FSA with tanks or BMPs in those youtube movies, probably Alqaeda has sent them to Syria, lol.Just imagine,how hard is to defect with tank or BMP, when you have
behind your back rest of the reliable unit.
Its well known fact, that regime use only 15-20 percent of army, can you please enlighten me why it is so? Also its well known, that two most reliable divison are in full work (12th and 4th) and those two divisons should just represent something like 10 percent of the army.
From strategical point of view, it would make sense for Assad to put whole army into the work. Why the rest army is staying in barracks then?
Everybody, excluding you, knows the answer. Even Assad knows it too.
From strategical point of view, in such (now)divided country like Syria you put the most reliable units in work at first.
March 20th, 2012, 5:51 am
Juergen said:
Human Rights Watch: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses
In a letter to the Syrian Opposition, the organization said that ” serious human rights abuses were carried out by opposition forces on the ground. … Abuses include kidnapping, detention, and torture of security force members, government supporters, and people identified as members of pro-government militias, called shabeeha. Human Rights Watch has also received reports of executions by armed opposition groups of security force members and civilians.”
full report under:
http://www.hrw.org/node/105885
I assume some will still call them biased right?
March 20th, 2012, 6:53 am
Alan said:
99. GHUFRAN
On the end the Mountain has given birth!
Jonathan Steele-The Guardian on a Syrian Mandela:
Western governments seem to be abandoning military options. The US is concerned about al-Qaida, the latest bombings in Damascus and Aleppo perhaps another example of its role in exploiting chaos. France has rejected Saudi and Qatari calls for arming the rebels. These are welcome steps. The next is for the west to support Annan’s approach of a simultaneous cessation of hostilities by both sides. Then dialogue on a political transition could start, without preconditions.
March 20th, 2012, 7:09 am
ann said:
2 Syrian officers deny defection reports – 2012-03-20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/20/c_131478276.htm
DAMASCUS, March 20 (Xinhua) — Two senior Syrian officers have refuted as “baseless” media reports claiming that they defected and left their positions, according to state-run TV.
Colonel Mohammad Ammar Sardini, head of the political security branch at the northeastern province of Raqqa, denied media reports about his defection along with Lieutenant Colonel Mosaab Abu Rukbeh, head of the criminal investigation department.
Speaking with the state TV late Monday, Sardini said those reports are “baseless,” adding that “I was surprised yesterday by the airing of these false news… It’s funny and ridiculous.”
Abu Rukbeh also denied the news and confirmed that he is still working as usual.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:26 am
ann said:
Syria denies receiving special forces from Russia – 2012-03-20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/20/c_131476501.htm
DAMASCUS, March 19 (Xinhua) — A Syrian military source on Monday refuted as “baseless” some media reports about the arrival of Russian warships carrying military staffs by the Syrian shores, according to state-run SANA news agency.
“Those news come in the framework of the lie campaigns against Syria by some opposition sides and the countries that support them in order to cover calls for foreign intervention in the Syrian affairs,” the unnamed source was quoted by SANA as saying.
Earlier in the day, the Saudi-based Al Arabiya TV cited opposition sources as saying that Russian special forces have arrived in the Syrian Mediterranean port city of Tartus.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:28 am
DAWOUD said:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/20/201853.html
Fighting rages in Syria amid conflicting reports over deployment of Russian forces
By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES
Russia has added its voice to growing calls for a humanitarian truce in Syria, a move hailed by the U.S. after deadly clashes rocked a district of the capital near the heart of the embattled regime, as fighting continued in heavily guarded areas of Damascus.
Meanwhile, reports conflicted on the deployment of Russian special forces in Syria.
Russian defense ministry denied in a statement the presence of Russian warships in the Syrian regional waters. The statement said that an oil tanker has been in the Syrian port of Tartus over the past ten days for the purpose of providing logistic services to the ships of the Black Sea fleet, and securing the Gulf of Aden against piracy attacks.
The statement said that the crew of the tanker Iman is made up of civilians and a unit that provides for its security. There are no special forces on board, it said.
The statement by the defense ministry contradicts with earlier statements by a source at the Russian Navy, reported by Interfax and Russia News, about the deployment of Russian unit of anti-terrorist marines to the Syrian port of Tartus aboard of an oil tanker. The news were confirmed to Al Arabiya by Syrian opposition forces.
Tartus is the only base used by Russia, a longtime ally of Syria’s regime, in the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces launched attacks in several regions, opposition activists said.
Fighting continues
Syrian tanks bombarded major districts of Hama on Tuesday in an attempt to dislodge Free Syrian Army rebels who resumed operations in the city after several army assaults to subdue its population, opposition sources said.
The barrage, mainly with mortar rounds and heavy machineguns, concentrated on the central Hamidiya neighborhood, the target of overnight raids to apprehend rebels who had taken refuge there, as well as Bab Qibli in the western sector of the city, the sources said.
Hama has been a hotbed of a year-old popular uprising against Assad.
Pre-dawn fighting in a heavily guarded area of Damascus, the capital’s fiercest since the revolt against Assad’s regime erupted, came as residents still reeled from deadly weekend bombings.
At least three rebels and a member of the security forces were killed in the upscale western neighborhood of Mazzeh, state television and monitors said.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:32 am
ann said:
UN team begins Syrian monitoring mission – 20 March, 2012
http://rt.com/news/un-team-syria-mission-976/
A five-member UN team, mandated by Kofi Annan, the special envoy to Syria for the UN and Arab League, is in Syria attempting to launch a monitoring operation to help end the country’s crisis and establish a ceasefire.
The former UN secretary-general’s spokesman said that the team, with expertise on political, peacekeeping and mediation issues, will stay as long as it is making progress in reaching agreement on practical steps to implement Annan’s proposals.
Kofi Annan presented his six-point plan to Syrian President Bashar Assad during two meetings in Damascus on March 10-11 as the joint envoy for the UN and Arab League.
A key point of the proposal calls for Syria to “commit to stop the fighting and achieve urgently an effective United Nations supervised cessation of armed violence by all parties.” As these actions are being taken, Annan “shall seek similar commitments from all other armed groups to cease violence under an effective United Nations supervision mechanism,” it said.
In a letter to Annan, Syria said it is “keen to end violence,” but insisted that armed opposition groups give up their weapons first. It also demanded that Annan halt the supply and financing of weapons to the opposition.
Moscow says it is ready to back Kofi Annan’s mission in Syria, not only in form of a statement, but also as a UN resolution. Russia’s Foreign Minister said, however, that the Security Council should not interpret Annan’s proposals as an ultimatum, but simply as a basis for settling the crisis.
On Tuesday, the UN Security Council is expected to discuss a draft statement which backs Annan’s proposals and urges Syria to immediately implement them.
Syria’s envoy to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, assured reporters in New York “that Syria is committed to making Mr Annan’s mission successful.”
The “technical team from Mr. Annan’s office will discuss further issues related to the fulfillment of his mission,” he added.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:33 am
DAWOUD said:
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=data\201233-19\19qpt999.htm&arc=data\201233-19\19qpt999.htm
روسيا والمسؤولية الاخلاقية في سورية
رأي القدس
2012-03-19
تركز وسائل الاعلام العربية والعالمية على اعمال القتل والعنف في تقاريرها الاخبارية اليومية عن تطورات الاوضاع الدموية المستمرة منذ اكثر من عام في سورية، وهذا امر طبيعي ومتوقع، لان أحداث العنف هذه، ومعظمها ناجم عن هجمات قوات الجيش والامن الرسمية، تؤدي الى سقوط عشرات الآلاف من القتلى والجرحى والمشردين، وهؤلاء يحتاجون الى رعاية خاصة من قبل المجتمع الدولي ومنظماته الانسانية وفي اسرع وقت ممكن.
ومن هنا فان دعوة السلطات الروسية لحلفائها في دمشق بالموافقة فورا، ودون اي تأخير على طلب اللجنة الدولية للصليب الاحمر باعلان هدنة يومية للسماح لها بالوصول الى الجرحى والمدنيين الذين يتعين نقلهم واسعافهم، خطوة على درجة كبيرة من الاهمية، وان كانت قد جاءت متأخرة.
عناصر اللجنة الدولية للصليب الاحمر يجب ان يصلوا الى كل الجرحى والمحاصرين، ودخول كل السجون والمعتقلات لاداء مهامهم في انقاذ ارواح هؤلاء، وعلاج جروحهم، في ظل غياب كامل لرعاية الدولة، وازدحام المستشفيات، بل وتعرض الكثير من الجرحى لعمليات قتل انتقامية من قبل الشبيحة التابعين للنظام، وهم على اسرتهم، مثلما افاد العديد من التقارير الاخبارية.
السلطات الروسية وقفت دائما الى جانب النظام، وقدمت له المساعدات العسكرية والامنية، ومنعت ادانته وفرض عقوبات اقتصادية ضده في مجلس الامن الدولي، ولذلك فهي الوحيدة القادرة على ممارسة ضغوط جادة عليه للقبول بمثل هذه الهدنة، والسماح بانقاذ الجرحى، وايصال المساعدات للمحاصرين في مناطق منكوبة، مثل حمص وادلب تتعرض للقصف اليومي.
نحن لا نطالب بهدنة من جانب واحد فقط، وانما من جميع الاطراف المتورطة في هذا الصراع، والجيش السوري الحر ايضا، بعد ان فرض نفسه كقوة في ميادين المواجهة، مع اعترافنا بالفارق الكبير من حيث التسليح والتدريب والقدرات العسكرية بينه وبين قوات الجيش والامن التابعة للنظام.
زيارة المعتقلين في السجون الرسمية، وهناك عشرات الآلاف منهم حسب الارقام غير الرسمية، من المسائل الضرورية ايضا للتعرف على ظروف اعتقالهم، وطريقة معاملتهم، والتأكد من عدم تعرضهم للتعذيب، فهؤلاء بشر وسوريون ايضا، وقد يكون الكثيرون منهم ابرياء لا ذنب لهم، وكم من المظاليم في المعتقلات والسجون السورية.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:34 am
DAWOUD said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/19/syria-leaked-document-assads-role
Syria: leaked documents reveal Bashar al-Assad’s role in crushing protests
Documents leaked by Syrian defector show that Assad personally signs off security crackdown plans
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:36 am
mjabali said:
I just read from the pro-Assad Homs News Network HNN (http://www.facebook.com/homs.news.network) that fighters from the Sunni town of al-Qasir near Homs had attacked the Alawi village of al-Hasibiyah and killed 14 of the Alawi villagers and forced the rest to leave. If this is true, that is big, because this will lead to the arming of mostly everyone in Syria to claim land and protect themselves. When this would take place: the partition of the country is next according to religious and sectarian lines.
We need real independent coverage for something like this?
March 20th, 2012, 7:40 am
DAWOUD said:
Arabs say that FOREIGN (intervention) Russia exports two products to the Arab World:
1) Weapons of repression that dictators like Bashar that they use to kill their own people.
2)blond Russian prostitutes!
Now, we know that FOREIGN Russia is also exporting a third product:
3) Foreign Russian special forces to Tartus/Syria to help the murderous dictator kill his own people.
Syira is NOT Chechenya!
March 20th, 2012, 7:52 am
ann said:
FSA escape from Deir az-Zour, activists say – March 20, 2012
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=378134
Local activists said that the Free Syrian Army withdrew from the town of Deir az-Zour in Eastern Syria following an attack by the security forces that lasted for two days, Reuters website reported on Tuesday.
Reuters also quoted a statement by the so called “the allahu akbar revolutionary committees” saying that “tanks entered residential neighborhoods in the southern and eastern parts of Deir az-Zour which prompted the escape of the FSA to avoid getting their arses blown up [by the security forces].”
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:57 am
Observer said:
Is it possible that the leaks are an inside job to frame Fredo and let the others around him get a pass?
Are the Assads still in charge or are the Makhloufs putting them in the front while they prepare the after Assad period?
The e mails are important but Fredo is clearly a prop and the action is behind the prop by all the security house of cards
March 20th, 2012, 7:59 am
Afram said:
“Upheaval within the Opposition”
Assad is Walking Tall, the oppos are Running Scared
clearly,Assad is a better chess player than his opposition source of harm & ruin.
they the bozos won,t listen to reason. it,s like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good you are at chess,the pigeon is just going to knock over the pieces, crap on the board and strut around like it,s victorious…
at the end syrian humor will pevail and islamic terror would fail
March 20th, 2012, 8:13 am
ann said:
The West is helping to crush the Bahrain Spring – 20/03/2012
http://www.vob.org/en/index.php?show=news&action=article&id=1328
Can you guess the country?
For decades, the people of this Middle Eastern state have lived under what is effectively a hereditary dictatorship. In spring last year, however, it looked like things might finally change. A long-repressed people began to feel emboldened. Protests gathered momentum. At last, it seemed, a more democratic, more open future beckoned. And then, the crackdown. The troops moved in, the shooting (and killing) started, and the summary arrest, detention and torture commenced in earnest.
Now, you could be forgiven for guessing Syria. But you’d be wrong. The place I’m describing here is the small Gulf state of Bahrain, just off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Still, given the brutal repression, given the popular unrest, you would expect the West to have responded to events in Bahrain much as it responded to events elsewhere in the region. After all, Bahraini troops effectively began firing on their own people; and a disenfranchised majority struggling for some degree of political sovereignty, long withheld by Bahrain’s decidedly unconstitutional monarchy, is still being repressed.
So did Western leaders issue strongly worded condemnations? Did US secretary of state Hillary Clinton call, as she has done with Syria’s chinless tyrant Bashar al-Assad, for Bahrain’s King Hamad to step down? Did British foreign secretary William Hague talk of some form of NATO intervention? Not exactly.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:14 am
DAWOUD said:
http://watan.com/news/politics/2012-03-19/5782
المخابرات السورية تنكل بعائلات الجنود المنشقين والناشطين – فيديو
علمت الرابطة السورية للدفاع عن حقوق الإنسان أن المواطن السوري مأمون جاموس قد فارق الحياة صباح اليوم متأثرا بحروق شديدة واصابات خطيرة تعرض لها أثناء التعذيب الوحشي بعد إعتقاله يوم أمس الأحد 18 / 3 / 2012 من قبل أجهزة الأمن في مدينة قطنا بريف دمشق التي قامت أيضا بتدمير منزله نتيجة لانشقاق ولده وانضمامه إلى عناصر الجيش السوري الحر .
وفي سياق متصل قامت المخابرات ا
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:24 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
ANN,
Thanks for your XINHUANET links. I wonder what would we do in this crazy world without the true of Xinhuanet. Some days I cannot sleep without visualizing the word Xinhuanet and the face of the father of the Yellow Revolution.
March 20th, 2012, 8:30 am
DAWOUD said:
http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/report-syria-arms-imports-surge-thanks-to-russia/76adc70bbd3f4ce18028dfee84385ffa
Report: Syria arms imports surge thanks to Russia
March 19, 2012, 12:15 a.m. EDT
AP
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Syria imported nearly six times more weapons in 2007-2011 than in the previous five-year period, with Russia accounting for 72 percent of the arms supplies to President Bashar Assad’s regime, an international research institute said Monday.
The report on global arms transfers by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute highlighted how Moscow continues to provide Syria with weapons even as the U.S., the European Union and others impose arms embargoes due to the regime’s violent crackdown on protesters.
It did not specify the volume of weapons exports after the start of the uprising in 2011.
Major Russian arms deliveries to Syria in 2007-2011 included air defense systems and anti-ship missiles, which have no direct use in the current unrest in the Arab state. But they have upgraded the regime’s capability to defend against outside intervention, SIPRI researcher Pieter Wezeman said.
“They increase the risks involved in and therefore the threshold for foreign military intervention like the NATO operation against the Gadhafi regime” in Libya, Wezeman said.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:33 am
ann said:
French ambassador to Israel condemns Toulouse killings at parliament – 2012-03-20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/20/c_131478503.htm
Israeli officials on Tuesday slammed remarks by European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton, who seemed to compare the Toulouse killings to the death of Palestinian children in Gaza by the Israeli army and other mass murders of children.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called Ashton’s remarks ” inappropriate”, made at a Brussels conference entitled “Palestine Refugees in the changing Middle East” in Brussels.
“When we think of what happened in Toulouse today, when we remember what happened in Norway a year ago, when we know what is happening in Syria, when we see what is happening in Gaza and in different parts of the world – we remember young people and children who lose their lives,” Ashton said.
Lieberman, currently on a visit to China, responded to the remarks, saying, “I hope that Ashton reexamines and retracts them, ” adding that, “Israel is the most moral country in the world, despite having to fight terrorists operating from within a civilian population. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are doing everything it can to not hurt that population even though it is defending terrorists.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that, “the comparison made by Ashton between what is happening in Gaza to what happened in Toulouse, and what is going on in Syria every day, is outrageous and has absolutely no grounds in reality. The IDF operates in Gaza with great care and precision in order to protect the lives of innocents. I hope that Catherine Ashton quickly realizes her mistake and rethinks her comments.”
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:35 am
zoo said:
After Babr Amr and Edlib, armed gangs now flee Deir Ezzor (to where?) and HRW accuses now armed opposition of tortures and abuses.
Syria rebels quit eastern city, army on offensive
By Oliver Holmes and Crispian Balmer | Reuters – 17 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/clashes-hit-syrian-capital-west-wants-united-front-054033484.html
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Rebel fighters were forced to flee the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Tuesday in the face of a fierce army assault, suffering the latest setback in their bid to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
(..)
In a separate blow to their cause, a respected human rights group accused the armed opposition of committing torture and arbitrary executions during the 12-month uprising – charges previously only leveled at the state security apparatus.
March 20th, 2012, 8:35 am
Alan said:
158.
Russia has been- is- and shall be for ever the best friend for Syrian peoples ! Glory for Syria and Russia
The western actors! Hands off Syria.
USA uses two products for the Arab World:
1) Weapons to destroy there countries and kill them.
2)politic prostitutes for dectate arab rulers what US want from them to do !
March 20th, 2012, 8:37 am
DAWOUD said:
I guess shopping with looted/embezzled Syrian money is getting harder! Of course, Asma can still shop through FOREIGN Russia and FOREIGN Iran 🙂
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9154286/Syria-Asma-al-Assad-to-be-added-to-EU-sanctions-list-for-shopping-sprees.html
Syria: Asma al-Assad to be added to EU sanctions list for shopping sprees
Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of the Syrian president, will be added to a European Union sanctions blacklist later this week after details of her online shopping sprees were revealed by leaked emails, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
By Alex Spillius, and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels 8:30PM GMT 19 Mar 2012
The 36-year-old former investment banker and other relatives of regime members will join 114 Syrians – topped by her husband Bashar – and 38 organisations subject to freezes on their assets and bank accounts in EU member states.
European diplomats said the decision to add Mrs Assad to the list would be taken on Friday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“A number of family members will be added to the list,” said a diplomatic source.
EU and British officials have faith that the move will add to the “stranglehold” on the regime, though it has survived 11 previous rounds of sanctions.
Like others already listed, Mrs Assad is likely to be subject to an EU travel ban, though this would not prevent her travelling to Britain, if she has retained her British citizenship.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:41 am
irritated said:
The only thing that the anti-regime posters on SC are glotting about is the Email leak “breakthrough”
They prefer to ignore the successive defeats of the armed opposition “angels”, the demise of the AL league plan asking Bashar to resign and the imminent collapse of the SNC.
I guess they are right to keep hoping that Itunes and shoe shopping “revelations” will accelerate the fall of Bashat al Assad.
March 20th, 2012, 8:42 am
irritated said:
#168
I would add to that
3) The USA produced dictators that they used at their will then dump them at the first sign of weakness. From the Shah of Iran to Mobarak and all the South America dictators, the USA has proven to be a greedy, opportunistic and unreliable ally, except to Israel.
In the contrary Russia is showing persistance in the support of its allies, even in hard times.
March 20th, 2012, 8:47 am
ann said:
‘Fairytales!’ No Russian warships, anti-terror squads in Syria – 20 March, 2012
http://rt.com/politics/russia-syria-warships-annan-lavrov-979/
The Defense Ministry has officially announced that a Russian tanker is currently visiting Tartus to supply fuel to Russian Black Sea and Northern Fleet ships that are working in the Gulf of Aden as part of counter-piracy measures, which also involve ships of the EU and NATO countries,” he said.
According to a statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry: There are no Russian combat ships on missions off Syrian shores. The Iman auxiliary vessel (tanker) has been in the port of Tartus for the last 10 days with the task of providing supplies to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the North Sea Fleet that are currently protecting the navigation through the Bay of Aden. The crew of the Iman is manned by civilians with a security formation joined with them.
“Like any other civilian support vessel taking part in the counter-piracy operation, this tanker is carrying security units that will not allow pirates to seize this tanker or any other civilian vessel in the Gulf of Aden in the event of an attack,” he said.
We are witnessing a string of events that clearly do not help the success of this mission, let alone the terrorist attacks that hit Aleppo and other Syrian cities a few days ago,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday. “It is clearly a provocation intended to thwart Kofi Annan’s efforts.”
Decisions adopted just a few days ago, including steps by Persian Gulf Arab countries to recall all of their ambassadors from Damascus, the European Union’s new sanctions and yesterday and today’s fairytales about some Russian warships’ visits to Syrian ports are not helping this mission,” he said.
The UN Security Council’s appropriate reaction – be it in the form of a statement or a resolution – requires at least two conditions. The [UN] Security Council should not approve them as an ultimatum, but it ought to continue working and approve them as a foundation for Annan’s further efforts aimed at securing reconciliation between the Syrians, the government and all opposition groups,” Lavrov said.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:51 am
DAWOUD said:
Every so-called intellectual and doctoral holders should feel ashamed of supporting a rotten dictatorship in 2012!!!! Yes, in 2012!!!!
True intellectuals neither take orders from Hasan Nasr$$$ nor from anybody else!
Please read what the Arab-American James Zogby is writing:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1089/op1.htm
Stopping Syria’s descent into hell
Strong and intelligent intervention in Syria is needed and needed now, writes James Zogby*
Syria continues its long, slow descent into hell, with violence and tragedy showing no let up. By now, one year into this horror, it has become clear that neither side can win an easy victory, reaffirming the adage that there can be “no victor and no vanquished”.
In countries like Syria, plagued by deep divisions, several scenarios may play out. Scenario one: There can be repressive rule by one group over the others (Syria, like its neighbour Iraq, has tried that — and some believe Iraq may be heading there again). Scenario two: There can be a prolonged civil war (Lebanon lived through that). Scenario three: There can be an uneasy truce leading to a somewhat stable modus vivendi among the groups (that’s where Lebanon is now). Scenario four: There can be a full- fledged democracy, with full national integration and citizenship rights guaranteed for all.
At the present time, Syria is stuck somewhere between scenarios one and two.
For its part, the regime has behaved in an abominable manner. When faced initially with a largely non-violent protest movement, it used brutal repression. This only spurred on the opposition that then, in response, resorted to weapons taking on the characteristics of a violent insurgency. This only played into the regime’s hands, justifying, at least in their minds, the use of even more brutal and deadly force.
Recognising that some change was required, the regime has proposed a series of “faux” reform initiatives. Because they were introduced by diktat and were so transparently designed to protect the regime’s authority, these efforts have been rejected by the opposition as either “too little too late” or just plain fraudulent.
On the one hand, the regime is more like a military junta than a government. And for its part the ruling Baath Party is an ossified shell governed by a corrupt clique, and administered by apparatchiks who are oftentimes more ideologues or fearful functionaries than public servants.
The opposition, such as it is, is dispersed and dysfunctional. There is a coalition of committed exiles who have coalesced into a council. Inside Syria, there are opposition figures and groupings that have been operating for decades facing down repression, but still convening on occasion to voice their views. They have been joined by a loose coordinating committee of activists operating in many cities. It is this group that has been responsible for organising the street protests and sending information out of the country. More recently, the opposition has been joined by groups of officers and soldiers who have turned against the regime, and bands of armed insurgents, some home-grown and others coming into the country from outside. It is these groups who have fuelled what has become the armed insurgency.
What has become painfully clear is that while the regime, due to its behaviour, has lost whatever little legitimacy it may have had with a wide swathe of the population, it still retains support from some significant groups. And the opposition is not yet “ready for prime time”, or representative of or accepted by all elements of Syrian society. And so, this mess becomes increasingly out of control, with no relief in sight.
More ominously, the conflict, which was at one point a struggle within Syria between competing factions with competing “visions”, has now become a regional and international conflict over Syria with East/West, Arab/Iranian, and sectarian dimensions overlapping. And so, just as the opposition has drawn support from members of the Arab League, Turkey, and the West, the regime has been emboldened by support it continues to receive from Russia, China and Iran and its allies.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:56 am
zoo said:
Is Israel posing and accepted as the “homeland” of the world Jewry not exposing all Jews to further acts of retaliation directed to Israel’s abuses in the occupied territories?
Bodies of French school victims bound for Israel
AFP – 1 hr 52 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/bodies-french-school-victims-bound-israel-110717335.html
The bodies of three Franco-Israeli children and a French rabbi who were murdered in a French school shooting were to be flown to Israel on Tuesday, a Jewish community body said.
(…)
March 20th, 2012, 9:02 am
Tara said:
Zoo
Do you believe Human Right Organization?
March 20th, 2012, 9:04 am
zoo said:
Arab Spring Is Spinning Out of Control
By Zvi Mazel
March 20, 2012
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2012/03/20/arab_spring_is_spinning_out_of_control_99969-2.html
….
Altogether, the “old” Middle East, with its dictatorial regimes and clear division between countries supporting Iran and countries allied to the United States, is no more. A new map is yet to emerge, while the fate of Syria still hangs in the balance. However, the map will be painted with the green of Islam, and hard work will be needed to persuade the new regimes that they need to tone down their extremism to benefit from investments, loans and technology from the hated West.
March 20th, 2012, 9:12 am
zoo said:
#175 Tara
I am just reporting the information that says that the armed rebels do exist and are not ‘angels’ either. One is free to believe it or not.
March 20th, 2012, 9:17 am
zoo said:
Friends of Syria: April fools?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-bring-forward-friends-of-syria-meeting.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16425&NewsCatID=359
Turkey said Tuesday it was bringing forward by a day to April 1 a “Friends of Syria” conference in Istanbul, designed to pressure the Damascus regime into halting its crackdown on opponents.
(..)
March 20th, 2012, 9:22 am
Tara said:
Zoo
“one is free to believe them or not”. True. What about you? Do you personally believe the reports of HR organization?
I personally do. Do you?
March 20th, 2012, 9:23 am
AIG said:
Zoo,
Is support of the regime that supports attacks on Israeli civilians not exposing you and other regime supporters to retaliation? Assad funded Hamas, you support his regime, Hamas killed Israeli civilians, therefore you are culpable. No?
You disgust me with your attempts to justify attacks against Jewish children in school.
March 20th, 2012, 9:31 am
zoo said:
Thanks to Youtube, filming the actual killings have become a must in any violent act as it gives the perpetrators the assurance of a much larger audience.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/cruel-gunman-filmed-french-school-carnage-minister.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16423&NewsCatID=351
..
Claude Gueant told reporters video surveillance tapes at the school in Toulouse showed the gunman was recording his shooting spree with a small video camera attached to his neck.
(…)
March 20th, 2012, 9:34 am
zoo said:
#179 Tara
As for most international organizations, I don’t believe them blindly. They too can make mistakes and be manipulated by politicians and by their own bias and prejudice.
Just see the huge and deadly mistake the UN did in Iraq.
March 20th, 2012, 9:40 am
Alan said:
Every so-called intellectual and doctoral holders should feel ashamed of supporting a rotten dictatorship in 2012!!!!!!! Yes, in 2012!!!!!!!
ادخلوا الى مكاتب بنتاغونكم , و اطلعوا على الاسرار المبيتة لأولاد أولاد أحفادكم لقد علبوا كل الكرة الأرضية شبرا شبرا ! انظروا الى ذهنية الغلو , و الغطرسة لدى حكامكم و الدولار السياسي القذر الذي يسفك دماء شعوب العالم و مجمعات تصنيعاتكم الحربية التي ستفني البشرية ! لقد انتهينا من الحرب الباردة فبديتم الحرب الساخنة ! ماذا يجري عندكم ؟ هل تريدون اقناع العالم بنواياكم الحسنة ؟
March 20th, 2012, 9:53 am
Jad said:
Zoo,
What’s going on with HRW, It must be a mistake or the American admin asked them to admit it, the ‘angels’ are bunch of criminals, Allah A3lam
Syrian rebels committing human rights abuses: HRW
Armed opposition groups in Syria have kidnapped, tortured, and executed members of the security forces and supporters of President Bashar Assad, the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
The rights group condemned the tactics by opposition fighters, who have long accused government troops and loyalists of carrying out similar abuses.
“The Syrian government’s brutal tactics cannot justify abuses by armed opposition groups,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, in an open letter to dissident groups.
“Opposition leaders should make it clear to their followers that they must not torture, kidnap, or execute under any circumstances,” she added.
{…}
http://m.english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-rebels-committing-human-rights-abuses-hrw
هيومان رايتس ووتش تتهم المعارضة السورية المسلحة بارتكاب انتهاكات خطيرة
اتهمت منظمة “هيومن رايتس ووتش” الحقوقية مقاتلي المعارضة السورية “بارتكاب انتهاكات خطيرة ضد عناصر موالية للرئيس السوري بشار الأسد”، وذكرت أن “الانتهاكات شملت اختطاف وتعذيب وإعدام عناصر من قوات الأمن السورية ومدنيين مؤيدين للنظام، والمليشيات التي تعرف بـ”الشبيحة”.
واضافت المنظمة المعنية بالدفاع عن حقوق الإنسان، إنها “قامت بتوثيق انتهاكات موسعة ارتكبتها قوات الأمن السورية، شملت الاختفاء القسري، وتفشي استعمال التعذيب، والاعتقالات التعسفية، وقصف الأحياء السكنية بشكل عشوائي”.
واوضحت المديرة التنفيذية لقسم الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا في “هيومن رايتس ووتش” سارة ليا ويتسن ان “أساليب الحكومة السورية “الغاشمة” لا يمكن أن تبرر ارتكاب جماعات معارضة مسلحة لانتهاكات”. ودعت “هيومن رايتس ووتشط قيادات المعارضة السورية لإدانة هذه الانتهاكات ومنع مقاتليها من ارتكابها”.
http://www.elnashra.com/news/show/452785/هيومان-رايتس-ووتش-تتهم-المعارضة-السورية-المسلحة-با
March 20th, 2012, 10:10 am
Syrialover said:
Reality check.
“Khaled al-Mahamid, a Syrian doctor and businessman with interests ranging from real estate to foodstuffs, turned against Bashar al-Assad’s regime when it launched a lethal assault on his home city of Dera’a.
Dr Mahamid – who had thought the Syrian president was a genuine reformer and met him more than once – watched in horror as the crackdown, in the city where the uprising started, killed 44 members of his own extended family.
“I would give all my capital to help this revolution,” Dr Mahamid told the Financial Times. “We are giving the blood – and blood is more than money.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f9063e30-71dd-11e1-8497-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1pdgyfDX1
QUESTION: What is someone like this expected to do? Go back and live a normal life, put it behind him and be very careful never to mutter a word of criticism against the regime?
THIS is why there is an opposition movement.
It’s ordinary Syrians, angry and desperate. People who now have nothing to lose, their lives cruelly assaulted, physical and economic security destroyed, and their society collapsing under army and mukharabat occupation. All at the hands of those demanding at gunpoint to be revered and trusted as “leaders”.
Claims that the opposition is the outcome of international conspiracies is poison spat out by those who are themselves caught up in a junk propagandist conspiracy.
March 20th, 2012, 10:19 am
Tara said:
Zoo
Thank you for your integrity. I respect that.
It repulses me when people choose to selectively believe things that fit their narrative. I just don’t get how integrity means nothing to some people.
March 20th, 2012, 10:21 am
DAWOUD said:
I know that my dear sister TARA does not want any part in this pro-dictator women solidarity! 🙂
Thanks Tara for keeping thing more sane!
March 20th, 2012, 10:49 am
bronco said:
#184
Jad,
Remember that the UN is negotiating with Bashar al Assad about withdrawing the army, in exchange for the opposition withdrawing the armed rebels.
While the syrian army is under the control of the government, no one knows who has any control of the armed rebels.
Just before the “Friends of Syria” meeting, I think the HRW report, with the approval of the UN and the international community, is increasing the pressure on the SNC and on the FSA.
Either the SNC is a valid and powerful representative of the opposition as they claim it, and therefore should condemn and stop the abuses done on their name, or it should admit it has no control over the armed rebels. Then, when time comes to ask the armed militias to stop the violence, the SNC is impotent.
It confirms to me that the SNC maybe soon ‘demoted’ and probably discarded from the negotiations.
As for the FSA, the pressure will also grow on them to condemn and prevent the abuses if they want to stay in the course.
The Annan strategy is in gear.
March 20th, 2012, 10:53 am
majedkhaldoun said:
The DEVIL is always against the ANGELS
March 20th, 2012, 11:05 am
DAWOUD said:
MAJEDKHALDOUN, TARA, SYRIALOVER, SHAMI
I am currently writing an article, which I will submit to a Journal. It advocates for an Arab Deterrent Force that would forcibly enter Syria in order to depose the dictator (Bashar), protect civilians, and combat the non-Arab FOREIGN presence of Iran/Russia.
سوريا تحتاج قوات ردع عربيه
March 20th, 2012, 11:13 am
zoo said:
Is Egypt removing one more thorn with Iran?
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=28918
“The court also acquitted Mohammed Islambouli, whose Islamist brother Khaled assassinated president Anwar Sadat in 1981, they said. They had been convicted of planning militant attacks.”
..
Islambouli returned from exile in Iran after a popular uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, joining a number of Egyptian Islamist militants returning to the country after the ouster of their nemesis.”
-End-
Iran and Egypt were at odds because Egypt hosted the exiled shah and considered Khaled Istambouli as a criminal. Iran considered him as a hero and named a street on Teheran ” The Martyr Khaled Istambouli Street”. In 2001 they renamed “Intifada Street” in order to appease Egypt
The acquittal of the brother, who was in exile in Iran, could be seen as a further sign of Egypt’s improving relations with Iran
March 20th, 2012, 11:19 am
DAWOUD said:
Dear Moderator:
I sincerely would like to thank you for removing all comments that may hurt the feelings of pro-dictator females, and males’ feelings too!
Dawoud
http://watan.com/news/focus/2012-03-20/5789
إنشقاق سياسي نوعي وزلزال داخل عائلة الأسد.. قريبا
تصنيف الخبر: تحت الضوء تاريخ النشر: 2012/03/20 – 06:08 AM المصدر: وطن
دعا المعارض السوري البارز بسام جعارة السوريين والعالم الى انتظار مفاجأة من العيار الثقيل في القريب العاجل.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 11:25 am
zoo said:
The AL washes it hands..
Asharq Al-Awsat Interview: Arab League SecGen Nabil Elaraby
19/03/2012
By Sawsan Abu-Husain
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=3&id=28917
….
Asharq Al-Awsat] Has Kofi Annan asked President Al-Assad to step down from power as a political solution?
[Elaraby] This has not been proposed to Al-Assad.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Then, what are the results reached by Annan after the UN official spokesperson announced that the dialog between the Syrian Government and the joint envoy was continuing?
[Elaraby] There are no results that can be announced. What happened is that Annan received a reply, and then a second reply. I was in touch with him a short while ago.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Did the answers given to Annan indicate the existence of any change in the Syrian Government stance toward the ceasefire?
[Elaraby] The Syrian Government has not rejected the ceasefire, but there is no pledge to undertake this step.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] The reactions in the Arab street indicate that Kofi Annan’s mission has failed, even before it started, and that the Arab League is helpless and has no role. The proof is that the situation in Syria has become worse, and has reached the level of war crimes and genocide?
[Elaraby] The dossier now is at the United Nations, and no one can blame the Arab League. The United Nations has the authority and the power to send troops, and to issue a binding resolution. The Arab League cannot issue a binding resolution, but the UN Security Council can issue a binding resolution that has to be implemented.
(…)
March 20th, 2012, 11:27 am
Afram said:
“Upheaval within the Opposition”….part two
“Sunni Shaykhs of Australia Speak at Rally to Gather Support against the Assad Regime.
Victory will NOTcome with the name of [[[nationalism]]].
the reality of the Khilafa to come”
[[[nationalism]]].what is that someone would ask?!
the shieks just revealed that it was Islam’s doctrine&hegemonic nature that allowed for its expansion,so the imposition of Islamic hegemony worldwide had nothing to do with[[[nationalism]]].
so why the muslim countries/caliphat are Members of the General Assembly&at the same time disrespecting Sovereign Borders???
wass up shieks with your Temper tantrums&whining!! plus screaming and kicking at the Security Council to bomb syria?
you call for khilafa?then go ask the Organization of the Islamic Conference to bomb you and terrorize the syrians.nuf said….
March 20th, 2012, 11:27 am
Observer said:
I posted before and not sure what happened.
Here are my questions:
Is it possible that the e mail leak is an inside job from members of the security house of cards to put the president in your face and in the front of any future accounting for the violence?
Is it possible that the Makhloof clan has now pushed the Assad clan to the forefront while they prepare for the day after? Is it possible that having so much emphasis on his private e mails and not his professional e mail is a way to nail him further?
Is it possible that the leaking is also an attempt at deflecting the attention from what is happening on the ground as well?
Finally, we have a report about abuses from HRW and regime supporters are hailing it; well you can not have the cake and eat too. You have to accept ALL of HRW reports and UN human rights reports and in this light the regime comes way worse.
I am actually surprised that anyone from the pro regime is even mentioning it lest we go and check the other HRW reports.
By the way, since when did the regime care about rights let alone human ones?
March 20th, 2012, 11:37 am
omen said:
151. Alan said:
oh, sure, france doesn’t want to arm the rebels. yet they don’t mind getting rich arming the butcher regime!
March 20th, 2012, 12:28 pm
omen said:
the site got hacked again? had to enter via google cache.
March 20th, 2012, 12:29 pm
Syrialover said:
Claims by As’ad AbuKhalil (who blogs as The Angry Arab) that the Assadgate emails are a hoax are calmly picked apart and unravelled here.
[
Edited URL:
http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2012/blog1203.htm#assad_and_the_email_sceptics ]
March 20th, 2012, 12:31 pm
Syrialover said:
Slogan used by Assad’s soldiers in Homs now spotted in Damascus – “Assad or we will burn down the country” http://pic.twitter.com/ZBBEv1wi
March 20th, 2012, 12:37 pm
jna said:
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Syria
Sergei Strokan, a Russian columnist and host of the “Redline” Radio Show on the Voice of Russia, told Al Jazeera that Russia has always supported diplomatic negotiations with Syria and now the rest of the world is coming into line.
Here’s what he said:
“What we are witnessing now is that Russia’s position is understood more and appreciated more by the world community.
Let me remind you, in recent months, we have seen a lot of misinterpretations of Russia’s position, but what becomes crystal clear in recent weeks is that there is no military solution of Syria crisis for simple reason that president Assad does not want to give up power, and he still controls the army.
There is no way to oust him from power either through NATO-led operation – since NATO is not ready to come to this country – nor through meddling of regional powers like Gulf states.
So, there are two options: Either to continue the conflict and to make it evolve into a civil war or start the negotiations for which Russia has been calling.
Russia’s voice seemed lonely in recent weeks, but now it seems there is more pragmatic understanding.
Let us keep fingers crossed that the world community would be able to finally speak in one voice on Syria.”
March 20th, 2012, 12:40 pm
jad said:
Mr. Mjabali,
These crimes are committed on daily bases from both sides, but the local media are not announcing them for reasons we all know.
The terrorists have been hitting on the sectarian issue for three months now, it started in Homs and now they are spreading it in every mixed area, be it Sunnis, Alawites, Shia, Christians, Druz, even Ismailis.
And the locals have nothing to do with these crimes, it’s mostly terrorists from different areas come in and start the killing.
Lately, it’s more intense and mass murdering of specific sects and religious groups is their dirty game to make it a full scale civil war, God willing they won’t succeed.
Bronco,
I agree that there is some kind of deal is playing behind the closed doors, but I’m not sure about the results yet, hopefully the world can force SNC and fsa to stop their useless strategy of going to hell and start some negotiations for the best of all Syrians, otherwise, we will see these terrorists attacks every day until nobody of us left.
March 20th, 2012, 12:41 pm
jad said:
The endless story of the ‘people’ magazine email; according to the beloved Syriatruth, there is a specific server for the presidential palace and the government to use and it’s highly unlikely that the high officials use and outside email server for their correspondence:
مهندس أمن المعلومات في الحكومة السورية سابفا يؤكد أن الأسد يستخدم “سيرفرا داخليا” منفصلا عن الإنترنت
المهندس لـ”الحقيقة” : الأسد وجميع مسؤولي الصف الأول في سوريا ، لاسيما العسكريين والأمنيين ، يستخدمون ” سيرفرا داخليا” للتواصل ، وإيميل “سام” يثير التساؤل!؟
باريس ، الحقيقة ( خاص): كشف الدكتور المهندس “م . ك” أن بشار الأسد ، وجميع مسؤولي الصف الأول في سوريا لاسيما العسكريين والأمنيين ، يستخدمون ” شبكة إنترنت داخلية” للتواصل فيما بينهم تعمل على “سيرفر داخلي مغلق” منفصل عن شبكة الإنترنت ، وأن جميع “دومينات” عناوينهم الإلكترونية الخاصة تعمل على “السيرفر” نفسه ، وهذه لا يمكن ـ على الأقل نظريا ـ اختراقها. وشبه الدكتور المهندس هذه الشبكة بشبكة ” الخط الهاتفي الرباعي” ( الخط العسكري) الذي يستخدم فيما بين الوحدات العسكرية في سوريا ، والذي يتبع للأركان العامة . وأوضح بالقول إن هناك ” سيرفرا” آخر تابعا لوزارة شؤون رئاسة الجمهورية يستخدم أحيانا أيضا في بعض المراسلات الرسمية الأقل حساسية ، و” الدومين ” الخاص به هو ” mopa.gov.sy” ، وبالتالي “من غير المنطقي أن يستخدم الأسد بريدا إلكترونيا لمراسلات رسمية حساسة يعمل على “سيرفر” شركة ” الشهباء” (alshahba.com ) الموجود في دبي بالإمارات العربية ، والذي تعود ملكيته لشركة تجارية يملكها رجل الأعمال محمد حمشو” ، مالك قناة “الدنيا”. ولاحظ قائلا “علينا أن ننتبه إلى أن بثينة شعبان ، التي مسؤوليتها أقل حساسية من مسؤولية الأسد ، تستخدم بريدا إلكترونيا على ” دومين” وزارة شؤون رئاسة الجمهورية ، بينما العنوان البريدي الخاص بـ”سام” ، والذي يزعم أنه للأسد ، موجود على شركة تجارية في دبي !!؟ هذا أمر مضحك ، ومثير للسخرية ، ولا يمكن تصديقه”، ختم الدكتور المهندس قائلا.
حديث الدكتور “م.ك” جاء جوابا على سؤال من “الحقيقة” بشأن “الجرصة” القائمة منذ أوئل الشهر الماضي حول “اختراق” المراسلات البريدية الخاصة بالأسد وبعض معاونيه. وقال الدكتور ” م . ك” ، وهو الذي عمل طويلا مع الحكومة السورية كمصمم ومنفذ لبرامج أمن المعلومات الرسمية، “حسب ما أعمله ليس لدى الأسد بريد إلكتروني باسم ” سام” الذي ورد في سياق هذه التغطية الإعلامية للحدث على أنه بريد الأسد”.
{…}
http://www.syriatruth.org/news/tabid/93/Article/6977/Default.aspx
March 20th, 2012, 12:50 pm
omen said:
@ 196. Observer
according to one report:
March 20th, 2012, 12:50 pm
ann said:
‘Opposition instructed by West’ – Syrian Ambassador to UN – 20 March, 2012
http://rt.com/news/syria-opposition-instructed-west-993/
The opposition as well as the armed groups “which are not independent in policy making…fulfill instructions coming from Doha, from Saudi Arabia, from Turkey, from France, from Washington,” the official said.
“It is coming from everywhere, including Western countries, and it is not difficult to get anything through the borders,” a Syrian opposition source claimed at the end of February.
“The opposition in Syria is about wings: we are dealing with peaceful demonstrators on the one hand, but we are dealing also with armed groups on the other hand.”
“Those who fight for justice, purely for justice should engage in the government’s call for national inclusive dialogue,” he said. “The government is really serious and committed to making the inclusive Syrian-led political process.”
‘WESTERN STATES HYPOCRITICAL ABOUT SYRIA’
“Western states are hypocritical in their stance towards Syria,” said Bashar Ja’afari. Instead of pushing their own agenda in the country it would be better to let the Syrian people decide their own destiny, he believes.
“Although the Palestinians have got so far 135 states supporting their request to get the full membership there is no way they could progress one inch with this regard, but when they gather 137 votes against Syria in the General Assembly then there should be a declaration of war against Syria, because Syria is not fulfilling the resolution of the General Assembly,” Bashar Ja’afari said. “It is about hypocrisy. It is about double-standard policy. They are not serious about making any assistance to the Syrian people.”
“If they were really serious about helping the Syrian people they would have exerted pressure on the Israelis to withdraw from the Syrian Golan, to withdraw from the remaining territories in south Lebanon occupied by Israel, to give to the Palestinians the right of self-determination and having their own state in their own country,” Bashar Ja’afari said.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 12:51 pm
Syrialover said:
Omen, sorry, checking the link again:
Claims by As’ad AbuKhalil (who blogs as The Angry Arab) that the Assadgate emails are a hoax are calmly picked apart and unravelled here.
http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2012/blog1203.htm#assad_and_the_email_sceptics
It’s Brian Whitaker’s blog 20 March on al-bab.com
March 20th, 2012, 12:53 pm
ann said:
Russia to honor arms contracts with Syria: general staff chief – 2012-03-20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/20/c_131478621.htm
MOSCOW, March 20 (Xinhua) — Russian Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov on Tuesday said Moscow will continue honoring its arms export contracts with Syria.
“We are honoring all of our contractual liabilities. Everything will be fulfilled, because there are no effective sanctions,” Makarov told reporters.
Russia is an independent country, he said, taking note of sanctions imposed by other countries on Syria.
With regards to possible Russian warships’ deployment to Syria, Makarov said Moscow has no such plans.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 12:56 pm
Uzair8 said:
There was an interesting account on Radio 5 last night. The guest talked about the daring rade on the property of a General (other users have posted this report already). More interesting was how he described the regularity of the sounds of gunfire and explains in Damascus. He was speaking from Damascus.
Just like the main post, the guest ends with mentioning of ‘a new phase’.
A must listen:
Listen from 17 minutes. Available for 7 more days.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dhjq8
March 20th, 2012, 12:59 pm
omen said:
@ 196. observer
oh wait, are you suggesting the ruling elites around assad put out fake emails in attempt to frame assad, getting ready to push him out but replace him with one of their own? thus maintaining power.
March 20th, 2012, 1:00 pm
ann said:
Russia calls for humanitarian access, ceasefire in Syria – 2012-03-20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/20/c_131478568.htm
“(It must be done) simultaneously, not in some sequence, when the government is pressed to withdraw all its troops from the towns but the opposition is not expected to do the same,” Lavrov said.
“Our task is to undertake measures to prevent that process because it aggravates the situation in Syria and feeds the armed conflict,” Lavrov said.
“It is necessary that the Security Council approves them not as an ultimatum but as a basis,” Lavrov said.
“We are ready to support Annan’s mission and proposals he passed to the Syrian side and some opposition groups,” he said, adding that Moscow has not changed its position on the Syria issue.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 1:01 pm
Son of Damascus said:
The new HRW report is a wake up call for the opposition to get their act together, from the report you can see that the incidents are isolated and not prevalent with the entire opposition, however this does not diminish the monstrosity of those actions.
According to the HRW report the majority of those crimes committed were done in Homs and Idlib (two places that have seen the heaviest regime response) and inflicted by mainly two FSA battalions (Khalid Ibn Walid, and Al Farouk), these battalions did not receive orders from the SNC or any other opposition group to commit those crimes:
“Many of the antigovernment groups reported to be carrying out abuses do not appear to belong to an organized command structure or to be following Syrian National Council orders. But Syria’s opposition leadership has a responsibility to speak out and condemn such abuses, Human Rights Watch said. On March 1 the SNC created a military bureau to liaise with, unify, and supervise armed opposition groups, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA).”
I am glad that members of the opposition spoke out against these crimes (that is a lot more than the regime has done), but after a year the lack of organization and a proper command structure these types of crimes will most likely increase and not diminish. It is really important for the opposition to unite and speak in a unified voice that these crimes are despicable.
The opposition can’t be expected to be united on all issues but there should be a set of rules that they ALL agree on, toppling the president and his cronies should not be the only thing that unites them. Killings, torture, disappearances, revenge attacks on civilian targets and any of the Assadist mode of operation should be a line that is never crossed, and they should have a proper strategy to persecute those that are guilty of such crimes.
Comparing the crimes by the opposition to that of the regime is premature, for one side has been and continues to commit these atrocities on a daily basis for 40 + years.
“Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented and condemned widespread violations by Syrian government forces, including disappearances, rampant use of torture, arbitrary detentions, and indiscriminate shelling of neighbourhoods.”
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/20/syria-armed-opposition-groups-committing-abuses
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/mar/20/syria-opposition-accused-abuses-live#block-14
March 20th, 2012, 1:02 pm
Son of Damascus said:
SyriaLover and Omen,
I believe this is the link you are looking for.
http://twitpic.com/8vk2yi
(Homs)
https://twitter.com/#!/ArabSpringFF/statuses/181727942290833408
(Damascus)
March 20th, 2012, 1:07 pm
Uzair8 said:
Some say the the regime can hold out for some time even years. One suggestion was upto 10 years.
We talk about how the economy is the weak link and money is flowing out of Syria however we haven’t seen nothing yet. If the current situation continues and escalates with the regime stepping up its military action and the opposition becoming increasingly militarised, all sides digging their heels in, we will see more insecurity and chaos (also recall Damascus and Aleppo bombings). Those who haven’t withdrawn their savings sending them abroad will be more likely to so. The roads will be unsafe and trade will be affected. Many businesses will collapse. People will not be able to travel to work.
How can the regime last much longer? Militarily it can but the economy will collapse long before. Surely?
March 20th, 2012, 1:10 pm
ann said:
Ron Paul blasts Obama for killing Americans – 20 March, 2012
http://rt.com/usa/news/ron-paul-obama-process-014/
“It is particularly bizarre to hear the logic of the administration claiming the right to target its citizens according to some secret selection process, when we justified our attacks against Iraq and Libya because their leaders supposedly were targeting their own citizens,” writes Rep. Paul. “We also now plan a covert war against Syria for the same reason.”
Holder, says Paul, “tells us that this is not a violation of the due process requirements of our Constitution because the President himself embodies ‘due process’ as he unilaterally determines who is to be targeted. As Holder said, ‘a careful and thorough executive branch review of the facts in a case amounts to “due process.”’ That means that the administration believes it is the President himself who is to be the judge, jury and executioner.”
“Our civilian court system, with the guarantee of real due process, judicial review, and a fair trial, is our strength, not a weakness,” writes Rep. Paul. “It is not an impediment to be sidestepped in the push for convictions or assassinations, but rather a process that guarantees that fundamental right to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”
After the CIA ordered and executed a “targeted kill” on Awlaki and alleged al-Qaeda operative Samir Khan last year, Ron Paul responded the same day to condemn the assassinations. “Nobody knows if he ever killed anybody,” Paul said at time. “If the American people accept this blindly and casually…I think that’s sad.”
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 1:10 pm
Syrialover said:
Have mercy on the moderator. When my stuff gets moderated I think oh well, take a step back and move on.
I think it would be a nightmare, thankless job having to check through the oceans of cut-paste and various “distraction faction” stuff posted here here.
With that, I’m impressed how the moderator maintains his/her good spirits and good manners.
March 20th, 2012, 1:19 pm
omen said:
did the angry arab point to accounts of regime torture only after he was accused of supporting the regime?
March 20th, 2012, 1:20 pm
omen said:
via 213. Son of Damascus
note to kofi annan: threats, and bullets and missiles. this is assad’s idea of dialogue.
March 20th, 2012, 1:27 pm
Mina said:
SNC, the Ikhwan, and their bailers, exporting FITNA wherever they go
http://angryarab.blogspot.de/2012/03/ugly-sectarianism-of-syrian-national.html
As if Egypt needed that in addition to its current problem.
Now that Wael Ghonem’s connection to the Google executive who has worked for the State Department and was apparently active in Tunisia, Egypt, Gaza and UAE last winter has been established, is anyone going to ask about Muhammad Ridwan, who went directly from Tahrir square to the Umeyad mosque with his I Phone to record 5 guys shouting among the many people who went to pray there normally a friday, and published it on the internet as a “demonstration”?
March 20th, 2012, 1:34 pm
Son of Damascus said:
So SANA is reporting on the HRW report, their excerpt editing is laughable at best.
“Human Rights Watch (HRW) affirmed on Tuesday that some Syrian armed opposition groups have committed serious human rights abuses.”
Hmmm, how about the rest of the report SANA:
“Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented and condemned widespread violations by Syrian government forces, including disappearances, rampant use of torture, arbitrary detentions, and indiscriminate shelling of neighbourhoods.”
I guess HRW is only relevant to the Batbatjieh (Thanks Tara) is when they support their argument, the rest of the time it is fabricated fiction.
Assadists hypocrisy at its best!
http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2012/03/20/407298.htm
March 20th, 2012, 1:46 pm
omen said:
what’s wrong with the site?
March 20th, 2012, 2:28 pm
jad said:
Now Turkey is showing its own democracy and ‘humane’ treatment for its Kurds:
Turkey clashes: Police fire tear gas at Batman protesters
http://youtu.be/Bf72GQh2n3E
“Over a thousand Kurds clashed with police Tuesday in Turkey’s southeastern Batman Province on the eve of Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd who hurled stones, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails. The clashes broke out when the group was prevented from observing the traditional spring festival, which also marks the New Year.”
———————–
Son of Damascus,
So now you have a problem that SANA report about the crimes that you couple comments ago linked the same report? Strange!
Here is the open letter in Arabic in case you want to spread the word:
رسالة مفتوحة إلى قيادات المعارضة السورية
بشأن انتهاكات حقوق الإنسان من قبل عناصر من المعارضة المسلّحة
نبعث إليكم بهذه الرسالة لنعبر لكم عن قلقنا إزاء ارتفاع عدد الأدلة، المذكورة أدناه، عن وقوع عمليات اختطاف، وتعذيب، وإعدام، ترتكبها عناصر مسلحة من المعارضة السورية، ونشدد على دعوتكم إلى العمل على ضمان عدم انخراط جميع المنتمين إلى المعارضة في ارتكاب مثل هذه الممارسات غير القانونية.
لقد قامت هيومن رايتس ووتش بالكثير فيما يتعلق بتوثيق وإدانة انتهاكات واسعة قامت بها قوات الأمن التابعة للحكومة السورية وموظفيها، وشملت الاختفاء القسري، واستعمال التعذيب، وانتزاع اعترافات بالقوة بُثت على شاشات التلفزيون، والاعتقالات التعسفية، وقصف المناطق بشكل عشوائي، وحالات وفاة لأشخاص رهن الاحتجاز وتحت التعذيب. أما الآن، ومع توفر أدلة على حدوث انتهاكات لحقوق الإنسان على يد عناصر من المعارضة المسلحة، فإن هيومن رايتس ووتش تدعو قيادات أهم فصائل المعارضة السورية، بما في ذلك المجلس الوطني السوري ومكتبه العسكري، إلى التنديد بمثل هذه الممارسات التي ارتكبتها المعارضة السورية والعمل على منع وقوع اعتداءات غير قانونية.
وبينما تميزت الحركة الاحتجاجية السورية بسلميتها في أغلب الأحيان حتى سبتمبر/أيلول 2011، قامت هيومن رايتس ووتش بعد ذلك بتوثيق جرائم وانتهاكات أخرى واضحة ارتكبها بعض عناصر المعارضة المسلحة. وشملت هذه الجرائم والانتهاكات اختطاف واعتقال عناصر من قوات الأمن، وأشخاص تم تعريفهم على أنهم عناصر في ميليشيات مساندة للحكومة (يُشار إليهم بـ “الشبيحة”)، وأشخاص آخرين يُقال أنهم من حلفاء أو مساندي الحكومة. كما شملت الجرائم والانتهاكات استعمال التعذيب، وإعدام عناصر من قوات الأمن وأشخاص مدنيين. ويبدو أن بعض هذه الأعمال التي استهدفت الشيعة والعلويين لها خلفية طائفية.
كما قامت لجنة الأمم المتحدة لتقصي الحقائق بتوثيق انتهاكات مماثلة في تقريرها الصادر في فبراير/شباط 2012، وشملت الانتهاكات المذكورة اختطاف الرهائن، وعمليات إعدام نفذها عناصر من المعارضة المسلحة. وإضافة إلى ما خلُص إليه التقرير من انتهاكات جسيمة لحقوق الإنسان ارتكبها بعض عناصر المعارضة المسلحة، ذكر التقرير ووثق في ملحقه وثائق استلمها من الحكومة السورية تشير إلى أن عناصر من المعارضة المسلّحة قاموا بعمليات اختطاف وقتل، وأخفوا مدنيين وعناصر من قوات الأمن، وهجروا مدنيين آخرين.
و نُدرك أنه ليس دائمًا من السهل تحديد مرتكبي هذه الانتهاكات، وأنهم لا يعملون بالضرورة تحت لواء قيادة منظمة، أو يأتمرون بأوامر فصائل المعارضة التابعة للمجلس الوطني السوري. وتلقت هيومن رايتس ووتش بعض التقارير التي تشير إلى أنه إضافة إلى المجموعات المسلحة التي لها خلفية سياسية، توجد بعض العصابات الإجرامية، التي تعمل أحيانًا باسم المعارضة، ويمكن أن تكون مسؤولة عن بعض الجرائم المرتكبة.
وبعد إنشاء المكتب العسكري التابع للمجلس الوطني السوري في 1 مارس/آذار 2012 للتنسيق مع المجموعات المسلحة التابعة للمعارضة، وتوحيدها وتأطيرها، بما في ذلك الجيش السوري الحر، فإن هيومن رايتس ووتش تدعو هذا المكتب إلى التنديد بالانتهاكات ومنع حدوثها كي ينجح في هدفه المتمثل في ضمان امتثال عناصر المعارضة المسلحة للقانون الإنساني الدولي، ويفي بالتزاماته في مجال حقوق الإنسان. كما تدعو هيومن رايتس ووتش عناصر المعارضة المسلحة غير التابعين لقيادة المجلس الوطني السوري إلى الكفّ عن ارتكاب هذه الانتهاكات.
{…}
http://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2012/03/20-0
March 20th, 2012, 2:29 pm
ann said:
US urges Syria’s terrorists to protect rights – March 20, 2012
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=378271
New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report Tuesday that Syria’s armed terrorists were carrying out serious abuses including kidnapping, torture and execution of security force members and government supporters.
Human Rights Watch said that Syria’s armed terrorists appeared motivated by animosity toward religious minorities including Shia Muslims and Alawites, the group to which Assad belongs in the majority Sunni nation.
“We are again calling on the terrorists to do what they can to reassure all groups in Syria that they have their best interests at heart,” Nuland said.
She voiced hope that the terrorists would show support for a Syria “that protects the rights, the dignity, the democratic future and participation of all groups in Syria, particularly minority groups and women.”
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 2:49 pm
omen said:
why does my china post keep disappearing?
March 20th, 2012, 2:51 pm
jad said:
Lavrove interview on Syria.
He sounds very angry at everybody, the Regime, the oppositions, the AL and the West for the situation Syria is in at the moment, which is very true.
However, for Reuters the balanced and trusted news agency, the only thing they got from this pretty long interview is this:
“Russia says Syrian leadership has made many mistakes”
Talk of biased!
{…}
س – نعم ، انني اردت ان أسأل عن سورية. انك قلت في خطابك في مجلس الدوما ان روسيا تدافع عن فكرة العدالة الدولية في سورية. ومن الواضح وجود اختلاف كبير عما يفكرون في العواصم الاوروبية والولايات المتحدة بهذا الصدد. انهم هناك يقولون عن روسيا ان روسيا تقوم في الواقع بدور المحامي الدولي لنظام الأسد وتزوده بالسلاح وتدافع عنه في مجلس الأمن الدولي. بم يرتبط موقف روسيا هذا ؟ هل يرتبط بمصالح معينة مثل القاعدة البحرية في طرطوس وصفقات السلاح وهلمجرا ، ام بموقف مبدئي مفاده :”نحن لن نسمح بفكرة تغيير النظام”. هل ان هذا موقف ايديولوجي ام موقف يرتبط بالمصالح العملية حصرا ؟
ج – في واقع الأمر انه أساس النظام العالمي الذي يجب ان ندافع عنه ،والمبادئ المثبتة في ميثاق هيئة الامم المتحدة. حقا ، انها تستثني جذب الاسرة الدولية الى ألعاب تبديل الانظمة. انها تستثني التدخل في النزاعات الداخلية. والاسرة العالمية يمكن ان تتدخل فقط في النزاعات بين الدول حين يكون المقصود وقوع عدوان وحين تهاجم بلاد بلادا أخرى. وتتوفر لدى مجلس الأمن الدولي كافة الصلاحيات لاتخاذ قرار حول اتخاذ هذه او تلك من التدابير القسرية. والحالة الثانية المنصوص عليها في الميثاق هي الاستخدام الشرعي للقوة – انها ممارسة حق الدفاع عن النفس ، سواء الفردي او الجماعي. وهذا كل ما ينص عليه هناك. أما ما يجري في سورية …
س – تراق هناك الدماء.
ج – تراق الدماء ، تراق الدماء هناك. بالمناسبة تراق الدماء ليس في سورية فقط بل تراق الدماء ايضا في ليييا وتراق الدماء في مالي التي يتدفق المسلحون اليها من ليبيا ، وتراق الدماء في اليمن كالسابق. وكذلك ، بالمناسبة ، تراق في البلدان المجاورة التي تفضل وسائل الاعلام الغربية الدولية عدم الحديث عنها. انت قلت ان موقفنا من سورية يختلف عما يفكرون به في الغرب مثلا. وأنت تعرف بالذات انهم يفكرون هناك بشكل لا يختلف ابدا عما نورده في موقفنا. هناك يفكرون بالاسلوب ذاته بدقة تماما. والاختلاف هائل بين ما يناقشوه بهدوء في سكون المكاتب وهيئات الاركان العامة ، وبين ما يقال علنا في العواصم ذاتها. انهم يدركون هناك كل الادراك بأنه منذ نيسان/ابريل الماضي حين نشرت لأول مرة الانباء حول ظهور مسلحين في صفوف المتظاهرين في سورية، والذين يستفزون السلطات لأبداء رد فعل لا يتناسب مع الحدث. واريد ان يفهم كلامي بكل دقة : نحن لا نبرر القيادة السورية على الاطلاق ، ونعتقد ان القيادة السورية قد تصرفت بشكل خاطئ منذ اللحظات الاولى لبدء الاحتجاجات السلمية ، وان القيادة السورية ارتكبت الكثير جدا من الاخطاء بالرغم من الوعود الكثيرة التي أعطيت لنا ردا على دعواتنا، اما الخطوات اتي تقوم بها في الاتجاه الصحيح فهي تتخذ بشكل متأخر. وهذا ساعد للأسف لحد كبير على بلوغ الأزمة مثل هذه الحدة . لكن اذا ما كنا مبدئيين ، واذا ما أبدينا الاهتمام بالمواطنين المسالمين ، فيجب علينا ان ندين أيضا أولئك الذين يمارسون الاستفزازات ، وبالمناسبة ، منذ وقت بعيد جدا. ويقال ان الشعب السوري حمل السلاح في الفترة الاخيرة فقط. فإذا كان بين المتظاهرين ليس فقط من يدافعون عن بيوتهم ، ويوجد مثل هؤلاء الناس بلا ريب ، وهو شئ مفهوم تماما، لكن يوجد هناك عدد يزداد اكثر فأكثر من المرتزقة والمسلحين الذين يبحثون عن مجال عمل لهم بعد ان قاتلوا في ليبيا ، وكذلك بعد ان قاتلوا في العراق. ان القاعدة موجودة هناك ، وفي الواقع اعترفت بذلك هيلاري كلينتون في اثناء المناقشات في الكونغرس لدى اجابتها عن السؤال حول سبب عدم تزويد المعارضة في سورية بالسلاح ، فقالت :”نحن غير واثقين بصدد الجهة التي ستحصل على هذا السلاح، ونحن لا يمكن ان نقدم السلاح الذي يمكن ان يقع بأيدي الارهابيين”. وجدير بالذكر ان زملاء كم من قناة” الجزيرة” الذين جرى تسريحهم من هذه المحطة مؤخرا ، من وسيلة الاعلام هذه ، قد ذكروا انهم منذ ابريل /نيسان الماضي شاهدوا مسلحين كانوا يطلقون النار على المواطنين المسالمين ، ويستفزون السلطات السورية. لهذا لا يجوز السكوت عن هذه الوقائع ، فأنها ستنكشف بالرغم من كل شئ. وكما تعرفون الآن … فحالما يظهرون ، تتصرف السلطات السورية بشكل متأخر، وترتكب الكثير من الاخطاء ، لكن حالما تنبثق بارقة أمل ، وحالما تجري حركة ما الى الامام ، يحدث رد فعل معاكس ما يحاول ايقاف هذه العملية …
س – ماذا تقصد بذلك ؟
ج – هذا ما حدث للمراقبين الذين ارسلتهم جامعة الدول العربية. ولم يسمح لهم بالعمل ولو لفترة شهر ، وحتى لم تنتظر جامعة الدول العربية بحث تقريرهم في نيويورك وسحبت المراقبين ، وأوقف عمل هذه البعثة عموما ، بالرغم من أنها بدأت بعمل أشياء تقربنا بهذا القدر او ذاك من تهدئة الوضع ، وعلى اقل تقدير انها قدمت معلومات واقعية يتبين منها انه ليست القوات الحكومية تمارس افعالا غير مقبولة وحدها ، بل يمارس ذلك المسلحون من الطرف الآخر أيضا. والآن التقينا وزراء خارجية جامعة الجدول العربية في القاهرة ، وقد سافرت الى هناك منذ فترة قريبة وإلتقيت زملائي. وقد اتفقنا هناك على خمسة مبادئ للتسوية ينص احدها على :” عدم قبول اي تدخل عسكري من الخارج”. وبعد عدة ساعات أعلن رئيس الوزراء وزير خارجية قطر الذي ترأس لجنة جامعة الدول العربية والذي اجريت معه المباحثات ان من الواجب ادخال قوات عربية او دولية الى سورية ، وحدث هذا بعد عدة ساعات من توقيعه على مبدأ ” عدم قبول اي تدخل عسكري اجنبي”. والآن تعمل بعثة كوفي عنان التي نؤيدها بنشاط ويترأسها رجل محنك ، واذا ما وجد رجل يستطيع طرح شئ ما مقبول من قبل الجميع ، فهو بالذات. انه يعمل الآن ، وقد سافر الى دمشق ، وتحدث مع اعضاء مجلس الامن الدولي عبر الهاتف. وتوجد في سورية الآن مجموعة من الخبراء الذين يطرحون الافكار التي صاغها في اثناء الاتصالات مع الحكومة والمعارضة. وفي هذه اللحظة بالذات تقوم بلدان الخليج العربي بلا اية اسباب مفهومة بسحب جميع سفرائها من دمشق . وفي اللحظة نفسها تحدث تفجيرات سيئة جدا في دمشق وحلب وبعض المدن الأخرى. ان مثل هذه الاشياء ان لم أقل انها تزامنت خصيصا بغية نسف مهمة كوفي عنان ، فأنها من الناحية الموضوعية تمضي لتحقيق هذا الهدف.
س – لمنفعة من يجري تقويضها في هذا الوضع؟ انت تعتقد ان سورية هي رأس الجسر الذي يجري فيه الصراع بين الانظمة السنية في الخليج العربي وايران مثلا؟ يعتقد الكثيرون ان الأمر كذلك. فايران في نهاية المطاف تدعم سورية بقوة جدا …
ج – ان الصراع يدور في المنطقة كلها ،واذا سقط النظام الحالي في سورية ، فستنبثق رغبة قوية وتمارس ضغوط هائلة من جانب بعض بلدان المنطقة من أجل اقامة نظام سني في سورية، ولا تراودني أية شكوك بهذا الصدد. ويقلقنا في هذا الوضع مصير المسيحيين وهناك اقليات أخرى كالاكراد والعلويين وكذلك الدروز. وما يجري في لبنان ، وليس بوسعي ايضا التنبؤ بشكل ما ، فستكون الامور هناك سيئة جدا ، لأن البلاد متعددة الطوائف والاقليات القومية ايضا، ونظام الدولة هش جدا. كما ان العراق ستمسه لاحقا هذه العمليات في اغلب الظن ، حيث يهيمن في العراق الآن الشيعة في كافة المناصب القيادية. اما كردستان فهي مسالة أخرى حيث توجد هناك منطقة حكم ذاتي كبيرة جدا. ان الأمر الواقع ، وعلى أقل تقدير عدم حل المشاكل المتعلقة بالدستور وعدم حل المشاكل المتعلقة بالوضع الذي يريد السنة ان يجدوا انفسهم فيه في المجتمع. فهذا كله ينذر بالانفجار فعلا جدا ويجب العمل بحذر بالغ. وحالما بدأ كوفي عنان مهمته أعلن ممثل المجلس الوطني السوري من تركيا ان هذه البعثة قد فشلت لأن كوفي عنان لم يطلب رحيل الاسد بإعتباره الشرط الاولي الذي لا بد من قبوله قبل غيره. ونحن كنا في هذا الوضع ، ونحن نعرف حق المعرفة ان هذا المطلب غير واقعي. ليس لكوننا ندافع عن الأسد، وانا اعلنت هذا أكثر من مرة ، بل لمجرد ان هذا غير واقعي. ويكمن الموقف الواقعي الوحيد في ان يطلب جميع من يمارس تأثيرا ما على هذا الطرف او ذاك الذي يحارب في سورية إيقاف جميع العنف واستحداث آلية مراقبة ما تتيح رصد الامور ، وهذا ما يجري. وهذا ما يقوم به كوفي عنان بصفته الخطوة الاولية. وبعد ذلك يمكن اجلاس جميع الذين يؤثرون على اللاعبين السوري وراء طاولة المنفاوضات. هذا يمثل الطريق الوحيد لتهدئة الوضع.
س – انت تحدثت شخصيا مع الأسد وتطلعت الى عينيه. انت تقول انه يتأخر دوما في افعاله. وهو يفهم ذلك ، اليس من الأفضل له ان يستقبل وان يرحل الى مكان ما ، لا أدري الى اين ، الى موسكو او مينسك ، بدلا من ان يصبح في وضع القذافي ويتخفى.
ج – لم يوجه اليه الدعوة للمجئ الى موسكو. ومرة أخرى ان هذا الامر ربما سيقرره الاسد نفسه. وسيقرر ذلك ليس لأن احدا ما في روسيا وموسكو سيطلب منه ذلك. انهم يتحدثون عنه في الكثير من العواصم الغربية بوصفه مجرم حرب ، ويعلنون ان مكانه في لاهاي في المحكمة الدولية. ومعنى ذلك انه يجب على من يطلق مثل هذه التصريحات ان يشرح له اية امكانيات موجودة لديه ، وليس نحن. والشئ الرئيس ان الشعب السوري يجب ان يقرر ذلك. ولدى قناعة بأنه اذا ما بدأ الحوار السوري العام ، كما يتحدث ويدعو اليه الجميع ، وبمشاركة جميع ممثلي المعارضة والحكومة ، فجب ان يتم في اطار هذا الحوار حل جميع القضايا ومنها القضايا حول من سيحكم سورية في الفترة الانتقالية ، وفي الفترة القادمة كما حدث في اليمن. وفي اليمن لم يتحدث اللاعبون الدوليون واللاعبون الخارجيون جميعا بأن هذا يكون الشرط الاولي ، وطالبنا نحن جميعا ، الغرب واوروبا الغربية والولاايت المتحدة وبلدان الخليج العربي وروسيا وهيئة الامم المتحدة والاتحاد الاوروبي ، طالبنا جميعا كافة اليمنيين بالجلوس الى طاولة المفاوضات. وحتى وبالرغ من من استمرار العمليات القتالية وابداء الجميع الصبر الذي لا نراه في سورية ،فأنهم ابدوا في اليمن الصبر على مدى أشهر كثيرة. وعند ذلك فقط اتفق اليمنيون على كيفية تسليم السلطة وبضمن ذلك رحيل صالح ومنحه الضمانات ، وعند ذلك فقط صادق مجلس الامن الدولي على القرار حول اليمن. أما الآن فانهم يحاولون وضع العربة أمام الحصان ويحاولون ان يفرضوا على سورية عبر مجلس الامن الدولي الحل الذي لن يكون مستقرا بل سيستثير فقط تصعيد المواجهة مجددا.
س – السؤال الاخير : انت نفسك قلت ان الدماء ما زالت تراق في اليمن كالسابق ..
ج – نعم.
س – .. لربما ، اولا ، قد لا يكون هذا هو الحل. بالاخص بعد ان سوت الدبابات مع الارض الاحياء في حمص وكذلك في أدلب – فهذا كله اسفر عن اراقة الكثير من الدم ، وهيهات، حسب رأيي، ان يساعد الحوار الوطني في تحقيق ذلك.هو هل انني فهمت بشكل صائب قولك حول كيف يتم التوصل الى اتفاق ما ، في واقع الامر ، وان روسيا ربما تود ان يغادر الاسد الساحة ؟
ج – في الواقع اننا نريد شيئا واحدا هو ان تتوقف اراقة الدماء في سورية. ونحن نقترح اشياء ملموسة تماما من أجل بلوغ ذلك. وأنا اوردتها لك. يجب على الجميع ارغام اتباعهم على عدم اطلاق النار على بعضهم البعض وقتلهم – ارجو المعذرة عن هذا التعبير غير الدبلوماسي جدا – وان يكفوا عن قتل بعضهم بعضا، وبعد ذلك يجري الرصد غير المتحيز لما يجري ، والذي من شأنه ان يسمح بالتأكد من توقف الجميع عن اطلاق النار ، وبعد ذلك يجري مرة أخرى اجلاس جميع الاتباع السياسيين في هذه المرة الى طاولة المفاوضات المشتركة ، وعندئذ نقول لهم قرروا ، كما يجري انتخاب بابا روما ، ولا تغادروا القاعة قبل اتخاذ القرار . اما الآخرون فيقولون كلا يجب ان يرحل الاسد وعندئذ سيتقرر كل شئ بحاله وبحد ذاته. لكن لن يحدث ذلك. ولا يوجد جواب واضح حول كيف سيتم ذلك ، ومن سيشرف على العملية، اخذا بنظر الاعتبار تشرذم المعارضة السورية. اما في داخل الناتو والاتحاد الاوروبي وفي داخل بعض البلدان الغربية فأنهم عموما يقولون انهم لا يستطيعون فهم الوضع ، ويبدو شبيها بالطريق المسدود. لكنهم في الوقت نفسه لا يريدون اجلاس من يصغي اليهم الى طاولة المفاوضات . وهنا تكمن المصيبة. اما بصدد الدم الذي يراق في اليمن فهو شئ خطير جدا لأن “القاعدة ” تبدي نشاطا كبيرا في المين. وعندما تحاول :” القاعدة ” استثارة الخلافات الاثنية الموجودة اصلا في اليمن يصبح من المهم جدا توفر بنية متلاحمة.والحمد لله انها موجودة في اليمن ولا يشكك احد في صلاحيات السلطة . هنا يكمن الخلاف ، وهذا ما نصبو اليه في سورية. ولكن عندما تنفذ مثل هذه الافعال الارهابية كما حدث في الامس واول أمس في دمشق وحلب فكيف يمكن ان نطلب من السلطة إلقاء السلاح.
س – هل يفهم الاسد ذلك ؟
ج – اعتقد انه يفهم ذلك. وعندما زرت مع ميخائيل فرادكوف دمشق قال لنا انه مستعد منذ هذه اللحظة للحوار السياسي مع جميع ممثلي المعارضة ، لكن الحرب مع الارهاب لا تتوقف. وفي ظروف مثل هذه الافعال الارهابية ، اعتقد ان مثل هذه الافعال تقف وراءها ” القاعدة ” ، واذا ما فهمت الامور بشكل صحيح ، فانه لابد طبعا من الرد على مثل هذه الافعال ، وإلا فان الناس سيعشون في حالة رعب دائم .
{…}
http://arabic.rt.com/news_all_news/analytics/68807/
Reuters reporting:
(Reuters) – Syria’s leadership has made “very many mistakes” that have aggravated the crisis in the violence-torn Middle Eastern nation, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks broadcast on Tuesday.
{…}
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/20/syria-russia-lavrov-idUSR4E7K501F20120320
March 20th, 2012, 2:52 pm
zoo said:
Bye Bye AL-Qatar plan… France U-turn
France’s draft statement to UNSC neither calls for Bashar to resign nor for a new government.
http://www.dp-news.com/en/detail.aspx?articleid=115030
SYRIA- In a fresh effort to form a united international front on the mounting crisis, France circulated a Western-drafted statement for the UN Security Council deploring the turmoil and backing peace efforts by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
France circulated the draft statement on Monday and council experts and ambassadors were scheduled to discuss it on Tuesday, with several hoping it could be approved possibly late in the day.
France submitted the Western-drafted statement to the Security Council on Monday, calling on President Bashar al-Assad and Syria’s opposition to ‘implement fully and immediately’ Annan’s six-point peace plan.
The draft statement, obtained by the Associated Press, also discloses the outlines of Annan’s diplomatic initiative by publicly backing its six point plan, which includes:
– Building “an inclusive Syrian-led political dialogue.”
– U.N. monitoring of a cease-fire, and a Syrian halt to “troop movements” and the use of “heavy weapons” in and near cities, followed by “commitments from all other armed groups to cease violence.” The U.S. and its European allies have demanded that Syrian forces stop fighting first. Russia has been demanding a simultaneous cease-fire by both sides, but Syria insists the rebels disarm first.
– Sending in humanitarian aid.
– Freeing detainees, especially protesters, and giving aid groups a list of detention centers and granting access to them.
– Granting freedom of movement to journalists throughout Syria.
– “Ensure freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully as legally guaranteed.”
March 20th, 2012, 2:53 pm
bronco said:
Jad said
Lavrove interview on Syria.
“Russia says Syrian leadership has made many mistakes”
Russia has been accused of protecting Bashar blindly, so it is trying to get some credibility by criticizing him. If it makes the media happy, why not? It changes nothing in the plan that Russia has been advocating for months and that France and other europeans countries have rejected twice. It look they are all coming back to that plan.
March 20th, 2012, 2:59 pm
Son of Damascus said:
CNN’s Arwa Damon reports on the children who have been seriously wounded in Syria.
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2012/03/19/pkg-damon-syria-children-wounded.cnn
(Graphic content)
March 20th, 2012, 3:02 pm
zoo said:
Emails leaks reveal that a US Private Security Company plotted with the Syrian opposition for a regime change
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/blackwater-veteran-took-part-gaddafi-killing-asked-us-help-syrian-opposition
US government officials requested that an American private security firm contact Syrian opposition figures in Turkey to see “how they can help in regime change,” the CEO of one of these firms told Stratfor in a company email obtained by WikiLeaks and Al-Akhbar.
James F. Smith, former director of Blackwater, is currently the Chief Executive of SCG International, a private security firm with experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. In what appears to be his first email to Stratfor, Smith stated that his “background is CIA” and his company is comprised of “former DOD [Department of Defense], CIA and former law enforcement personnel.”
“We provide services for those same groups in the form of training, security and information collection,” he explained to Stratfor. (doc-id 5441475)
In a 13 December 2011 email to Stratfor’s VP for counter-terrorism Fred Burton, which Burton shared with Stratfor’s briefers, Smith claimed that “[he] and Walid Phares were getting air cover from Congresswoman [Sue] Myrick to engage Syrian opposition in Turkey (non-MB and non-Qatari) on a fact finding mission for Congress.”
Walid Phares, named by the source as part of the “fact finding team,” is a Lebanese-American citizen and currently co-chairs Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Middle East advisory group.
In a profile of Walid Phares published in Salon, As’ad AbuKhalil details Phares’ history with right-wing militias during the Lebanese civil war.
(…)
March 20th, 2012, 3:04 pm
Mina said:
Jad,
Thanks God the Kurds are ultra-sunnis and can boast Salah al Din as one of them, otherwise “Nawruz” and “fireworks”, they would be called Majus by many SC commentators!
March 20th, 2012, 3:08 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Guest post from Rana Kabbani
It is just over a year since our Syrian people – men, women and children, young and old – burst into revolution against the world’s most macabre regime. The fuse was lit by the arrest of 11-year old boys who had written on the wall of their run-down school in Dar’aa ‘Down with the regime,’ as they had seen the Tunisian and Egyptian people do in their televised revolutions. Mukhabarat men stormed the school – tipped off by their mole there – and took the children away. They beat them savagely and ripped out their tender nails. When their anguished fathers came to try to retrieve them, they were told by an Assad cousin in command there that the boys had been killed. He had happy news, though, he said: he would round up their mothers at once and his Allawite guards would rape them, to make them pregnant with far better sons!
[…]
https://www.facebook.com/notes/william-hague/guest-post-from-rana-kabbani/262668427155616
March 20th, 2012, 3:14 pm
Tara said:
The ICC has long hand and wrong memory. The wheel of fortune will eventually turn and Bashar and his thugs will be either killed or prosecuted. “Al-Jazeera said: “Every evening at 7pm Damascus time, there is a meeting of all the intelligence and security chiefs looking back at what happened across the country during the day, making their plans, making their orders for the next day. These plans go to the office of the president the next morning and he himself signs all the orders, gives the final go ahead.”..”Anyone who reads these reports will be shocked, will realise that Syria is living a real crisis: killings, criminality and suppression of protesters. However security chiefs paint [a] beautiful picture in their reports. They ignore many substantial facts on the ground simply to boost the president’s morale.”
Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 March 2012 13.26 EDT
Al-Jazeera said the papers made clear that Assad was personally involved in approving measures to crush the unrest. His signature was visible on one document authorising prison sentences for illegal demonstrations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/19/syria-leaked-document-assads-role
Leaks of what appear to be official Syrian documents reveal how its president, Bashar al-Assad, personally signs off plans drawn up by his government’s crisis management centre, prioritising a security crackdown to prevent protests against his regime spreading to Damascus.
Hundreds of pages of confidential papers shown to al-Jazeera TV by a defector describe daily meetings of the heads of all Syria’s security and intelligence agencies, who review events and issue orders that are then approved by the president.
….
Amid reports of fighting on Monday in the Mezzeh area of Damascus – the heaviest in the capital since the uprising began a year ago – al-Jazeera said the documents were smuggled out of Syria by Abdel-Majid Barakat, head of information for the state crisis management unit, who is now hiding in Turkey with opposition activists.
…..
The latest documents appear to shed more direct light on the regime’s strategy against the uprising, including the deployment of thousands of militia known as “shabiha” and Ba’ath party members in operations designed to cut off Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib and other large cities from surrounding regions.
In the capital, the documents show, the main squares are the responsibility of different branches of Syria’s large security apparatus, including the notorious air force intelligence directorate, which has been repeatedly accused of brutality and torture by Syrian opposition supporters and foreign human rights watchdogs.
On Fridays, the day of the biggest anti-regime protests since the uprising began, the plan is to isolate the capital using 35 checkpoints to control movement. Roads into Damascus from nearby towns are routinely closed and 1,000 security staff are deployed in the central Ummayad mosque alone.
Read more..
March 20th, 2012, 3:15 pm
Tara said:
Replace “wrong memory” with “strong memory”
March 20th, 2012, 3:17 pm
Son of Damascus said:
LCC: Nowruz to Become a National Holiday in Syria
Statement released by the Local Coordination Committee today in celebration of the international day of Nowruz tomorrow, 21st of March:
On March 21, during the Kurdish festival of freedom and toppling the dictatorship, the Local Coordination Committees in Syria (LCC) congratulates Syrians in general and the Kurds in particular on Nowruz (“new day”). This day of Nowruz symbolizes the end of oppression as our people fight for freedom, peace, and love, even as they write human history with their blood in seeking to purge the nation of injustice and repression.
We eagerly anticipate Nowruz Day this year because of its importance and great value to the Kurdish people – not only because it is a national day, but also because it represents the struggle of humanity and equality. Every year in March, the Kurdish people face the spiteful authority of the Baath Party, which has always used conspiracy, jingoism, and racism to undermine the rich diversity of our national fabric.
The regime attacks the legitimacy of Kurdish history, and limits Kurds’ eligibility for equal, democratic, national rights. These are rights that must be in line with the co‐existence of all components of Syrian society, and in accordance with the values of justice and equality, so that our national cultural mosaic may continue to contribute to our rich civilization.
[…]
http://razanghazzawi.com/2012/03/20/lcc-nowruz-to-become-a-national-holiday-in-syria/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
March 20th, 2012, 3:19 pm
admir said:
@DAWOUD
‘Russia and Iran are both foreign and non-Arab. What happened to Bashar’s and Hasan’s claim that they oppose any foreign intervention in Syria.’
They mean any direct or military foreign intervention (like what the qataris are suggesting, or what america did to iraq). not indirect intervention via supply of arms/training to the government.
‘On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, etc. are ARAB countries and they should intervene to stop Bashar’s bloody massacres.’
They are NOT syria therefore they are foreign. if ethnicity is a factor for intervention then iranians can intervene in afghanistan and tajikistan (since persians form majority there).
we didn’t see many arab countries intervening in Libya in favour of Arab unity (the few that did like qatar had hidden agendas or rivalry with gaddafi)
‘During 1958-61 Egypt and Syria were ONE country: The United Arab Republic.’
and they split in 1961 when syrians realized egyptians were dominating the ‘united republic’. the united arab republic was only through the decisions of the leaders and the people on the ground were not consulted in this decision (thus being an autocratic republic).
‘1) Hurriah or Freedom ????: We know that Syria has no freedom and those who dare to express their opinion face Hamza al-Khateeb’s fate!’
And we also know that complete hurriah (freedom) will allow terrorist groups do conduct more aleppo and damascus bombings, revenge/sectarian killings and pro-regime assassinations (one terrorist act is the famous one where they shot hamza al-khateeb).
therefore hurriah will need to be limited and restricted to bring security, law & order, and a semblance of normalcy to prevent more victims of terrorism like hamza al-khateeb
‘2) Wihda or Unity وحده. We know that the Ba’athist regime has divided Arabs, instead of uniting them. Hafez supported Iran against Iraq, the Arab. He only supported Kuwait in 1991 in order for the United States to allow him to control Lebanon and stop investigating Syria/Iran in the PAN AM 103 terrorist bombing!’
That’s because iraq sided against syria and didnt unite with it when saddam al-kalb came to power, by the way saddam al-kalb was sectarian from the beginning which is why syria refused cooperation with them (even though they were both baathists). he supported kuwait because most other arab countries like egypt, jordan, KSA were against the invasion kuwait – therefore you have to call KSA and egypt traitors and dividing arabs (however syria might have sided with iraq if saddam never isolated or divided himself from assad).
‘3)Socialism or Ishtirakiyah ????????. Well, with Bashar’s cousin, the thief Rami Makhlouf-Mr.10 or 15 %-and Asma’s online shopping with looted/embezzled money, we know that Syria has no socialism. “All people are equal, but some are more equal than others.”’
yes because when hafez cam to power syria was poor and socialism was needed to pull the country out of poverty and into industrialization (like russia and china did), after when bashar came to power there was no need for socialism because the country had developed quickly (+80% literacy rate, GDP per capita 4600, nouveau riche)
‘Urgent: Syria need Arab deterrent force ???? ????? ???????’
What it needs more is a terrorism/armed-gang deterrent force, russia and iran is there to help
‘Didn’t the Arab League (AL) authorize Syria to send such a force to Lebanon in the 1970s.’
No they didn’t. Syria went there unilaterally to crush the palestinians and support the maronites/christians, when President Suleiman Frangieh called for Syria intervention in Lebanon. it was only AFTER syria invaded lebanon, that in 1976 they accepted the proposal of the Arab League summit. the proposal gave Syria a mandate to keep 40,000 troops in Lebanon as the bulk of an Arab Deterrent Force, it didn’t authorize syria to send a force to lebanon (since it already did before the arab league gave a proposal).
‘Unlike such force, however, this force will be made up of multi-Arab countries (particularly those recently freed) and include civil and human rights activists.’
no they won’t. Those arab countries ‘recently freed’ have problems of their own (i’m not sure what you mean by ‘freed’, egypt and yemen still have some old regime elites and tunisia, libya not committed), and they dont need to deal with foreign issues right now.
If you mean individuals (i.e. peoples, fighters) go on their own to syria to fight for rebels without their government approval, then they will be seen as terrorists/foreign-fighters and uprising will not be seen as a local population fighting for ‘liberty’ (a.k.a. islamic state). That will cause western powers to withdraw their support (they are withdrawing some support as of now after seeing the defections from the SNC), meaning that this ‘revolution’ will have lost all legitimacy/recognition it has recently gained and assad will regain his legitimacy (back to pre-2011 levels) to fight these terrorists/foreign-fighters/armed gangs.
Furthermore, if foreigners (including ARABS) help in this revolution then the powers supporting assad (iran, russia) will send more heavier weapons to crush the local population (where we will see many baba amrs) since the justification of russia/china/iran for supplying arms to assad would be to deter the foreign conspiracy (i.e. foreign fighters, invasion, etc.)
‘The Arab World, including in its authoritarian parts, does have human rights experts. They are just awaiting a call of duty!’
Yeah, and we just saw how miserable they performed in the recent ‘arab observer mission’. even bashar made fun of them and their stupidity/ignorance in one of his e-mails.
‘No Iran, NO Russia! Neither is an Arab country, and we don’t want a foreign intervention in Syria!’
NO ARAB FOREIGN COUNTRY EITHER, since they’re not syrians. syria for syrians. ironic how you ‘don’t want a foreign intervention in Syria’ yet every day we hear the revolutionaries/rebels call for airstrikes/no-flyzone/buffer-zone/mini-invasion.
they dont seem to follow your suggestions. soon we will see that you’re as irrevelant to the revolutionaries/rebels as the SNC is…
(unless you do change your stance and do support it, in which case russia and iran should be correct in supporting assad)
March 20th, 2012, 3:30 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
My problem is not that SANA reported it, but the fact they failed to report the entire report and conveniently forgot to put any mention of regime criticism.
If you fail to see the hypocrisy in such blind reporting, and the fact that SANA has NEVER reported on any other of HRW reports or any of the plenty Human rights organizations that have condemned the atrocious activities of the Syrian regime, I don’t.
Please reread my post before you point a finger at me, and claim things I never wrote.
March 20th, 2012, 3:31 pm
Tara said:
A Kurdish friend of mine trained in Spain in a unique field. He was well published. He returned to Damascus under the constant whining of his wife and established a department that I was told unique in the ME. He was a director for 7 years until an Alawite girl he personally trained and gave his expertise replaced him. This Alawite girl has not had a single publication anywhere. Her only qualification was being Alawite.
March 20th, 2012, 3:31 pm
873 said:
Tried posting from another name and address but I guess BANNED is the word. Just a thought for the moderator- isnt it odd how some lowly reporter like Rosen gets full page rebuttal space in the expensive, corp UK establishment press The Telegraph?
Here is Nir’s own verification of his Israeli citizenship- right on the internet- as is his status as a former staff sargeant for the IDF. But you want to censor me for that? No problem, but these facts are out there, far and wide on the net anyway.
So I ask again. Where is Rosen’s info in his bios? He is ISRAELI and knows quite well it is ILLEGAL and outrageously disrespectful (at the very, very least) to be in the countries he has deceptively entered. It is THAT fact- and not my bringing it out here on SC (from PUBLICALLY available sources)- that put him at risk.
This Broken Home
Revisiting Israel
by Nir Rosen Dissident Voice
April 23, 2002
Over a year ago, I revisited Israel after a three-year absence. As my El Al plane landed in Tel Aviv, the intercom played an Israeli folk song of my childhood, “Its so good that you’ve come home.” Despite my cynicism, the child in me wanted to cry. I stifled the nascent tears, which I rejected as a vestigial remnant of the nationalist propaganda they had inculcated me with in the summer camps of my coastal village. Just like every other time I came, I was entering a maelstrom, new and unique, yet a mere variation on the same theme of bloody nationalism, paranoid identity and violent religion that defined Israel.
Rosen works for Jazeera, which has been trashing Syria left and right- to claim he works for Assads isnt even rational. Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians etc arent allowed to run free in Israel. Shouldnt all the rules be equal for everyone?
March 20th, 2012, 3:41 pm
omen said:
Russia says Assad ‘making a lot of mistakes’
March 20th, 2012, 3:42 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
Test….
March 20th, 2012, 3:48 pm
Tara said:
It is hard to believe that the Russian adaptation of yet the harshest tone against Bashar is just to please the western media. What benefits they can get from pleasing the media? Is this new attitude a prelude to something more serious? I think Russia will not veto a third attempt at the UNSC to condemn the Syrian regime. Also, what is KSA and Qatar ding behind the scene? They are laying low..Arabs do not usually forget or let go that easily?
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/20/uk-syria-idUKBRE82G04H20120320
..
However, just as he was making advances on the ground, Assad also appeared to suffer a setback on the diplomatic front, with key-ally Moscow adopting a new, sharper tone after months of publicly endorsing his government.
“We believe the Syrian leadership reacted wrongly to the first appearance of peaceful protests and … is making very many mistakes,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian radio station Kommersant-FM.
Lavrov also spoke of a “future transition” period for Syria but continued to reject calls from most Western and Arab states for Assad to resign, saying this was “unrealistic”.
It was not immediately clear if the change in language would translate into a tangible difference in the way international powers, hitherto divided on Syria, might deal with the crisis.
…
In a fresh effort to form a united international front, France has circulated a Western-drafted statement for the U.N. Security Council deploring the turmoil and backing peace efforts by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Russia announced it would back the text on two conditions – that there was no ultimatum imposed on Assad and that Annan release full details of his peace plan.
….
March 20th, 2012, 3:48 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
TARA
Do your parents and family still support Bashar ? Do they know about the massacres in Homs ?
March 20th, 2012, 3:49 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
TARA, fo not ignore me, I asked a question.
The revolution is in a critcial phase now, but we will be victorious Inshallah, we are the sons of Khalid ibn al Walid !!!
The new moderation rules are very cruel, especially given the fact that most of us are now in a a very angry state, we feel the urge to vent out our rage at the Menhebaks on SC.
March 20th, 2012, 3:52 pm
omen said:
asma better buy some fur coats, just in case :
March 20th, 2012, 3:53 pm
Leo Syriacus said:
Would’t be nice if all hostilities, military operations, terrorist attacks, and violence stop and all Syrians start a dialogue towards democratizing the country, reforming the economy, and working on a reconciliation process involving all Syrians?
All criminals from the regime and its opponents deserve just punishment but Syria’s future and its interests are above all
March 20th, 2012, 3:58 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
239. OMEN said:
¨Russia says Assad ‘making a lot of mistakes¨
Well, it sounds good news. I hope Russia is heading towards the right direction, or maybe the only possible direction.
As I said, and I have already read in SC from other comments, Russia is likely to act as they did with Irak, letting the crisis grow to beneffit from crude skyrocketting rates, and selling lots of arms to Saddam before leaving him alone. I thought this was the scheme to be followed by Russia. But if finally Russia leaves Assads Mafia alone, we must accept that Russia has played very well his role ¨very professional¨. I even believed Russia had become crazy and was ready to defend Assad forever. But finally it will be like Saddam.
March 20th, 2012, 3:59 pm
Jad said:
‘LCC: Nowruz to Become a National Holiday in Syria’
I guess they didn’t hear the news that 21st of march is a national holiday (mother’s day) as a pretex for the Kirds Nowruze for the last 20 something years.
March 20th, 2012, 4:05 pm
omen said:
238. 873 said:
it wasn’t a claim made out of the blue. his name surfaced in the leaked emails coming from the regime.
March 20th, 2012, 4:06 pm
omen said:
@ 238. 873
maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. i haven’t a clue.
but it isn’t unusual not to disclose being israeli while traveling the middle east. from what i’ve gathered, they commonly travel using one of two passports. one disclosing israeli nationality. the other one, not. this is done in the interest of safety.
March 20th, 2012, 4:10 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
237. TARA,
These are the kind of problems that will probably change 180 degrees. I also know people working for Syrian Embassies abroad who have got the post for the fact of being alawites. For every vacancy you can find always sunnis and chirstians rallying for it and an alawite who normally has less preparation but who normally gets the post. This is not sectarian comments, this is just the truth of the regime corruption and sectarianism.
March 20th, 2012, 4:11 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Mothers Day does not equal Nowruz.
Arab World
Mother’s Day in most Arab countries is celebrated on 21 March. It was introduced in Egypt by journalist Mustafa Amin[20] in his book (Smiling America) 1943. The idea was overlooked at the time, but when Amin heard the story of a widowed mother who devoted her whole life to raise her son until he became a doctor, got married and left without showing her any gratitude, Amin became motivated to promote for “Mother’s Day”. The idea was first ridiculed by president Gamal Abdel Nasser but he eventually accepted it and Mother’s Day was first celebrated on 21 March 1956. The practice has since been copied by the other Arab countries.
When Mustafa Amin was arrested and imprisoned, there were attempts to change the name of the holiday from “Mother’s Day” to “Family Day” as the government wished to prevent the occasion from reminding people of its founder. These attempts were unsuccessful and celebrations continued to be held on that day; classic songs celebrating mothers remain famous to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother's_Day#Arab_World
Newroz in Kurdistan
Although the Kurds celebrate Nowruz, it was not however until 2005 that Kurdish population of Turkey could celebrate their new year openly.[71] “Thousands of people have been detained in Turkey, as the authorities take action against suspected supporters of the Kurdish rebel movement, the PKK.[72] The holiday is now official in Turkey after international pressure on the Turkish government to lift culture bans. Turkish government renamed the holiday Nevroz in 1995, and reclaimed it as a Turkish holiday.[73]
The word ‘Newroz’ is Kurdish for ‘Nowruz’. The Kurds celebrate this feast between 18th till 21 March. It is one of the few ‘people’s celebrations’ that has survived and predates all the major religious festivals. The holiday is considered by Kurds to be the single most important holiday of every year.
With this festival Kurds gather into the fairgrounds mostly outside the cities to welcome spring. Women wear colored dresses and spangled head scarves and young men wave flags of green, yellow and red, the colors of the Kurdish people. They hold this festival by lighting fire and dancing around it.[74]
The main Kurdish greeting that accompanies the festival is Newroz pîroz be! literally translating to “Congratulations on the New Year” or equivalent to Happy Newroz!. Another greeting used is, Bijî Newroz!, simply meaning Long live Newroz!
Newroz is still largely considered as a potent symbol of Kurdish identity in Turkey. Newroz celebrations are usually organised by Kurdish cultural associations and pro-Kurdish political parties. Thus, the Democratic Society Party was a leading force in the organisation of the 2006 Newroz events throughout Turkey. In recent years the Newroz celebration gathers around 1 million participants in Diyarbakır, the biggest city of the Kurdish dominated Southeastern Turkey. As the Kurdish Newroz celebrations in Turkey often are theater for political messages, the events are frequently criticized for being political rallies rather than cultural celebrations.
In other largely populated Kurdish regions in the Middle East including Iraq and Syria, similar celebrations are carried out with fire, dancing and music. In Iran, it is the most important festival of the whole year.
In Kurdistan, jumping over the fire (known as Chuwarshama Kulla) happens on New Year’s Eve (rather the last Tuesday of the year).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz#Newroz_in_Kurdistan
March 20th, 2012, 4:13 pm
ann said:
On Syria, “Differences of Approach,” Kofi’s Box of Consultants Contains Michel
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 20 — As on Syria UN Security Council Permanent Representatives, or most of them, gathered at the Council on Tuesday afternoon, India’s Hardeep Singh Puri told the Press there were “differences of approach” on the pending Presidential Statement.
When France’s Gerard Araud was asked what the difference are, he told the press to “guess.”
South Africa’s Permanent Representative Baso Sangqu told Inner City Press that “this mandate was a mandate of the General Assembly, now the Security Council want to take it over.” He said, “it’s not balanced, Kofi Annan is engaging the government but also engaged with the opposition.”
At Tuesday’s UN noon briefing, Ban Ki-moon’s Deputy Spokesman Eduardo Del Buey belated answered some of Inner City Press’ questions, specifying that Alan Doss, who left the UN amid a nepotism scandal but then reappeared with Kofi Annan in Cairo and Damascus, is no longer with the Mission.
Del Buey would not answer, however, on the status of former UN chief legal officer Nicholas Michel, who left the UN amid his own scandal.
Tuesday afternoon just before the Council began meeting at 3 pm, Inner City Press spoke with another former UN official Ahmad Fawzi, as the spokesman for the Joint Special Envoy. He confirmed that Deputy Nasser al Kidwa cannot go to Syria due to his identification with the Arab League. Kidwa is in Geneva, where now fellow deputy Jean Marie Guehenno arrived today.
After Fawzi said it had already been announced, the UN in New York at 3:40 pm said Guehenno is a co-deputy with Al Kidwa.
Fawzi told Inner City Press there are two political officers from the Department of Political Affairs, former UN-er Lamine Sisse as chief of staff, and two secretaries, one from the Palais where the operation is based.
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1approach032012.html
March 20th, 2012, 4:13 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
SANDRO
Do not be so confident, these bloodthristy Russians are playing a clever card, they know Assad at the moment is in a stronger position than he was 2 months ago thats why they are pushing for a dialogue in order to cement his rule with a degree of legtimacy. SNC traitors may try to get weak, but Syria will have another Khalid bin Walid moment, it is a bloody fight to the bitter end.
March 20th, 2012, 4:16 pm
Jad said:
‘Mothers Day does not equal Nowruz.’
Make it two days then!
March 20th, 2012, 4:18 pm
Jad said:
الاستعدادات لانتخابات مجلس الشعب
March 20th, 2012, 4:27 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
I am not sure why this is such a big issue for you.
In Canada Victoria day is celebrated all across Canada except in Quebec where it is called Journée nationale des Patriotes which is a celebration of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a French-Canadian hero.
It is possible to celebrate two different holidays or cultures on the dame day, is the same country.
Heck even in Syria, Eid can fall on public holidays (Such as Mothers Day) or even Christmas since Eid follows a lunar calendar, does that diminish the importance of either holiday?
March 20th, 2012, 4:31 pm
Tara said:
Khalid Tlass
Welcome back. My parents do not support Bashar. Lots of family members on my mom’s side do but not all. I denounce them and find them repulsive.
Ironically enough, the most vocal person against Bashar I have come across in the US and in the open is some one whose father shared a jail cell in Egypt with papa Hafiz in the sixties during I think Nasser rule and subsequently headed one of the most feared Mukhabarat branch. The family severed their relationship with him/her for Bashar’s ugly eyes.
The moderator’s rules are very appropriate. He does not allow personal attacks, calls for sectarian crimes, or incriminating people based on guilt-by-association whether that association is based on language, religion, ethnic or sexual orientation. Anger is nor an
excuse. The most incriminating evidence against Bashar came through Alawi, Mr. Barakat, and most repulsive offense against Syrians cam from the Sunni Imelda (Asma) Assad and her Homsi father.
March 20th, 2012, 4:36 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
A year On
For those interested.
—Excerpt
Those who put their entire hope in the armed component of the revolution are traumatized after the massacres in Homs and Idleb and what seems to be a repeat of massacres in Dier-Ezzor and Raqqa. Those who put their faith fully in the civilian arm of this revolution are also disappointed and traumatized by the lack of imagery of massive demonstrations. And those who have put faith in what seems then a viable political structure are as disappointed if not more by the failure of SNC and the lack of viable, principled leadership in tone with the streets.
So where do we stand. We stand at the most important and natural juncture of a revolution unlike others confronting evil unlike others. All what has happened so far will soon result in breaking with “traditional” modes of thinking, and that is a good thing. Here is how I see it from my tree top.
—– End Excerpt.
Link: http://7ee6an.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/a-year-on-by-syrian-hamster/
March 20th, 2012, 4:36 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
OTW critique of Joshua Landis
Link: http://7ee6an.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/of-interns-and-the-boy-king/#comment-7215
Part of comment response to Zenobia
As for Joshua Landis’s article, I think that you are being too kind and patient with Joshua. His emphasis on the Syrian issue as being sectarian does him disservice. After all these years I believe that he has developed a tunnel vision, very common among academics in all fields (me and mine included) who become fixated on one theory or on a narrow aspect of any issue they study.
While i would respectfully decline to issue the same judgement as Rime Allaf, I still would love for any one to point me to a recent article or analysis by Joshua in which he delves deep into the socioeconomic aspects of the Syrian revolution, or try, through his contacts to better understand and help others understand the mechanism and working of local coordination committees, their differences, their evolution, or their contributions to /effect on/reliance on to existing political blocks and their view of critical issues pertaining to regional issues relevant to Syria and Syrians.
Joshua’s focus on the sectarian facet may be helpful in providing a simplistic reductive view of Syria and of the Syrian revolution, but it overshadows many other variables that can can only be ignored at our peril. It provides an incomplete picture of the rich, multi-layered mosaic of Syria and forces a context that is neither correct nor sufficient to understand the ongoing revolution. It contributes to the creation of unreasonable fears and expectations and may inadvertently lead to decisions that can be detrimental to many Syrians. With all due respect, I find one single article by Yassin Haj Saleh to be far more illuminating of the constant changes befalling the country, its revolution, and the unraveling of the regime. That said, there are quite few good observations in his most recent article (e.g. overall 4 points characterization of the Phase II of the military insurgency, which IMHO is not the more significant part of the revolution) that while being noteworthy, are being debated in manners that will make his deterministic predictions less certain than they seem. It is his responsibility as an academic to construct a complete argument and providing the counter argument and addressing it is one of the basics of the constructing a good argument, even for an historian. We are no longer satisfied with single view of the multi-dimensional history of Syria nor should we accept that. We are not specialist, but we have enough common sense to recognize when a job is incomplete.
March 20th, 2012, 4:43 pm
Antoine said:
I am very happy that the LCCs have declared their intention of recognising Newruz as a National Holiday. Kurds are 10 % of Syria’s population and largest ethnic minority. LCCs have dine a very smart move by allying themselves with Kurdish cultural aspirations. The days of rotten tea-drinking intellectual Arab nationalism is dead, so is jack-booted militaristic Arab nationalism. The embodiment of the foremr is Ghalioun, while that of the latter is Assad.
I personally despised Ghalioun from the day he declared Syria is an Arab nation and always gonna be Arab Republic. It signified he is not prepared to make a break with the past.
March 20th, 2012, 4:47 pm
jad said:
Son of Damascus
“I am not sure why this is such a big issue for you.”
Me! Big deal? No, it was you who got all excited when I mentioned that the 21st of March is already a holiday in Syria and every Syrian know that this holiday was a pretext of Nowruz for the Syrian Kurds.
We’ve be having it as a state holiday for more than 20 years now and the Syrian Kurds do celebrate it in the area where they make the majority, not a big deal.
Look, even Antoin who hates everybody is celebrating the news..Good for him!
I just notice that all the ‘suddenly’ kurds’ lovers didn’t write a word about how the Turkish police dealt with them in the link I post, I wonder why? Just wondering!
March 20th, 2012, 4:51 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
259. SYRIAN HAMSTER
Thanks for your brilliant analysis. I totally agree about simplistic reductive views common mistake.
March 20th, 2012, 4:59 pm
Tara said:
Continue wondering… You rendered yourself incapable of seeing the truth..unfortunately.
March 20th, 2012, 4:59 pm
jad said:
Bad day for the terrorists and their supporters in the media, two hits at the same day, something is going on, I say!
Aljazeera reporter in the interview confirm that they know about weapons being used by the protesters and they have footage for it as early as APRIL!
Al Jazeera Journalist Explains Resignation over Syria and Bahrain Coverage
Ali Hashem: Al Jazeera has become a “media war machine” and is “committing journalistic suicide”
“At that time, you know, everyone was talking about the revolution in Syria, that it’s peaceful revolution, it’s not using arms. But, you know, what we saw, it was really interesting and kind of—if it was any other channel, this should be a breaking news, it should be a big story. But, actually, Al Jazeera, let me say, the policy and the channel itself, maybe the journalists inside, you know, they went back to, maybe, the owners, and then it was kind of—it’s not allowed, and I was asked to go back to Beirut, and those footage weren’t ever aired on Al Jazeera.”
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=8106
March 20th, 2012, 5:01 pm
jad said:
Tara
Stick to what I told you before and i’ll continue to ignore you.
Go have a nice conversation with your BFF Khalid, he’s back!
March 20th, 2012, 5:05 pm
Antoine said:
Jad, 21 March (Mothers Day) is NOT a holiday on the “pretext” of it being Newruz, you know it very well.
Btw Turkey is justified in clamping down of Left-wing Kurdish extremism as embodied by PKK (supported by Assad and Iran).
Syrian and Iraqi Kurds are a different breed, they are capitalistic and don;t have anyrhing to do with the likes of your hero.
March 20th, 2012, 5:05 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
Having a pretext to a Holiday does not mean you are celebrating the holiday, the Kurds in our country have been treated like second class citizens (when were even recognized as citizens) and deserve to have their Holiday Nationally recognized and not under a pretext, to say the very least about Kurdish issues.
I would also add teaching their language and recognizing Kurdish as part of the National languages of Syria (As well as Aramaic, and Syriac), to that list.
Syria is a mosaic of different ancient and proud cultures and languages, we should celebrate them and protect them for they are as much part of the Syrian fabric as Arabism is.
March 20th, 2012, 5:07 pm
jad said:
Ok 6an6oun, you obviously know Syria more than me.
“Syrian and Iraqi Kurds are a different breed,” that show how much you respect Kurds.
March 20th, 2012, 5:07 pm
jad said:
Son of Damascus
I thought that you don’t want to make it a big deal!
I guess I was wrong. You do want to have a big deal out of it, well, I’m not interested.
March 20th, 2012, 5:10 pm
Antoine said:
Cheers JAD, watch this video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwNTH889k9A&feature=related
Specially for you dear.
March 20th, 2012, 5:12 pm
Tara said:
Jad
I fear not your personal insults. I post whatever I want whenever I want.
You continued to comment on what I say indirectly yet politely. That is ok with me. I too can comment too. You gave yourself the right to comment on my post regarding the Kurds but you are denying me the same right? That only work in Syria, not in SC.
Our pact was to refrain from personal insults, not to muffle opinions.
March 20th, 2012, 5:15 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Dear Sandro
Thanks, but the credit for @259 goes to OFF THE WALL (OTW) who wrote it on his blog 7ee6an. Mine is 258, which also appeared on OTW’s blog.
7ee6an address is
http://7ee6an.wordpress.com
If you haven’t been there, you may want to visit.
March 20th, 2012, 5:18 pm
zoo said:
Kurds,Iranians, Afghans and other celebrating Nowruz on 21 March
Nowruz is a “Majussi” invention…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz
Nowrūz (Persian: نوروز, IPA: [nouˈɾuːz], meaning “[The] New Day”) is the name of the Iranian New Year[4] in Iranian calendars and the corresponding traditional celebrations.[5] Nowruz is also widely referred to as the “Persian New Year”.[6][7][8][9]
Nowruz is celebrated and observed by Iranian peoples and the related cultural continent and has spread in many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, Caucasus, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and some groups in the Balkans.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians, the same time is celebrated in parts of the South Asian sub-continent as the new year. The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and Iranian families gather together to observe the rituals.
Originally being a Zoroastrian festival, and the holiest of them all, Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin.[10] Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox.
March 20th, 2012, 5:20 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
I am just replying to your statements, personally I like to reply to questions posed to me, and to clarify my position when anyone decides to use my own words out of context.
For the record I posted the link from the LCC in reply to Mina (https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13864&cp=5#comment-302357) and not you, you were the one who chose to engage further what I linked to, not me.
Just to be clear.
March 20th, 2012, 5:22 pm
jad said:
Mjabali,
The clip of the massacre that happened in Hassebe village by the terrorists was in the news, the clip is on Alikhbaria Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/alikhbariasyria/videos
Under this title:
فاجعة مروعة في حمص
March 20th, 2012, 5:23 pm
Syrialover said:
# 241. TARA said: “It is hard to believe that the Russian adaptation of yet the harshest tone against Bashar is just to please the western media”
No, no. Putin has other critics who worry him even more. This story from Moscow “Pussy Riot digs claw into Putin” is about his problems with an all-female punk group, Pussy Riot, who voiced their protest by performing their song “Putin wet his pants” in Red Square.
Several of them have been arrested for “hooligan behaviour” after performing an anti-Putin song in a cathedral and now face up to 8 years in prison.
That’s right 8 years, much to the alarm of Human Rights Watch.
Excerpt:
“A September 2011 announcement by Mr Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, the president, that they would swap jobs proved a catalyst for the band’s formation. “It was so disappointing to us, it showed us what kind of a country we were living in,” Shayba said.
Then came the rigged parliamentary elections. Demonstrators clashed with riot police, sparking a street movement that culminated on December 24 with a protest of 100,000 in central Moscow, the largest since the early 1990s.
That, she said, was the inspiration for the song “Putin wet his pants”. “We saw how troops were moving around Moscow, there were helicopters in the sky, the military was put on alert. The regime just wet its pants on that day. And the symbol of the regime is Putin”.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8efa1f1e-6f82-11e1-b3f9-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1ph0BS3uJ
Poor old Putin. He would secretly love to do to unarmed female protestors what Bashar does, and maybe he will one day.
March 20th, 2012, 5:28 pm
Tara said:
Zoo
Do you know anything about Yazidi religion?
March 20th, 2012, 5:28 pm
Alan said:
269. JAD
The principle obvious 6an6oun searches for elements (have undressed and dominate)!
March 20th, 2012, 5:30 pm
jad said:
Tara
Nobody is going to insult you, it was you who is attacking not me this time, I merely reminding you not to do it.
I didn’t attack you in anyway and when I linked what Turkey is doing to the Kurds wasn’t in reply to anything you posted.
Later on I wrote in a reply to Son of Damascus comment of Nowruz, go check.
Son of Damascus,
“LCC: Nowruz to Become a National Holiday in Syria”
Those words weren’t yours it was the title of the article you linked, unless you wrote that article, you need not to get so offended by me pointing out a fact that the 21st of March is a holiday and every Syrian know that Hafez Assad made it a state holiday for the Syrian Kurds, go ask any older person in your family to confirm it.
March 20th, 2012, 5:36 pm
Alan said:
184
ادخلوا الى مكاتب بنتاغونكم
Hundreds die: Pentagon secret war game runs Israeli strike on Iran
http://rt.com/news/israel-iran-war-exercise-990/
March 20th, 2012, 5:40 pm
Tara said:
Jad
What is a polite way to say to some one you are incapable of seeing the truth, or shouldn’t that be said at all?
Khalid
I didn’t. I know enough about Islam, my way. It would be naive to think I can be convinced of Islamophobe ideology or any phobe ideology for that matter. I don’t have it in me. It is that simple. Except cat-phobe. My cat-phobe is relentless and incurable. They scare me to death. All European capitals that I visited and Damascus too have stray cats. Do Montreal have stray cat? I really truly hope not.
March 20th, 2012, 5:46 pm
zoo said:
Syrian rebels outgunned, struggling for supplies
By BEN HUBBARD and SELCAN HACAOGLU | Associated Press – 44 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-outgunned-struggling-supplies-205645118.html
GORENTAS, Turkey (AP) — Syrian rebel commander Ahmad Mihbzt and his ragtag fighters grabbed their aging rifles to fight Syrian troops advancing on their village, but soon fled under a rain of exploding artillery shells.
…
The opposition has suffered a series of military setbacks as regime forces have repeatedly routed them in their strongholds, most recently the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on Tuesday.
…
“There is no possibility in the foreseeable future that they’ll be able to pose a real challenge to or defeat the regime’s forces in a pitched battle,” he said. “They can continue to survive.
…
The weapons shortage has grown so acute that the opposition’s disorganized leadership say only military aid can stop Assad’s forces.
…
Smuggling from neighboring countries was key earlier in the conflict. But rebels and anti-regime activists now say Syrian forces have mined many of the smuggling routes from Turkey and Lebanon, and the Turkish and Jordanian governments have tightened border controls to avoid being pulled into the conflict.
…
“Because of the strength of the regime and because of the rebels’ survivability and resilience, you’re looking at a protracted conflict,” he said.
(..)
March 20th, 2012, 5:47 pm
Alan said:
Poor old Putin.
Hey hey the intensity of anger kills its owner
March 20th, 2012, 5:47 pm
Observer said:
Here are from the Arabic RT an interview with Lavrov
I am sorry to post the interview in part as I only focused on the Syria questions.
Anyway he clearly is showing two aspects of the Russian thinking
1. There is a distancing from the regime and the regime figures per se. There is now in my opinion an effort at damage control and at a way to retreat from positions that have become difficult to support and to justify in the face of the crisis evolving in Syria. They are clearly worried about arming the opposition and they do not think that the regime can come out of the crisis intact enough to perserve their interests.
2. They would like to regain some legitimacy and role in international politics that is beyond their actual power and therefore they would like to be able to support a UN resolution to that effect. However, they are deathly afraid of any wording that might be interpreted as allowing individual countries to act or for the regime to be forced to respond one way or another to the demands.
Here is the text
نعم ، انني اردت ان أسأل عن سورية. انك قلت في خطابك في مجلس الدوما ان روسيا تدافع عن فكرة العدالة الدولية في سورية. ومن الواضح وجود اختلاف كبير عما يفكرون في العواصم الاوروبية والولايات المتحدة بهذا الصدد. انهم هناك يقولون عن روسيا ان روسيا تقوم في الواقع بدور المحامي الدولي لنظام الأسد وتزوده بالسلاح وتدافع عنه في مجلس الأمن الدولي. بم يرتبط موقف روسيا هذا ؟ هل يرتبط بمصالح معينة مثل القاعدة البحرية في طرطوس وصفقات السلاح وهلمجرا ، ام بموقف مبدئي مفاده :”نحن لن نسمح بفكرة تغيير النظام”. هل ان هذا موقف ايديولوجي ام موقف يرتبط بالمصالح العملية حصرا ؟
ج – في واقع الأمر انه أساس النظام العالمي الذي يجب ان ندافع عنه ،والمبادئ المثبتة في ميثاق هيئة الامم المتحدة. حقا ، انها تستثني جذب الاسرة الدولية الى ألعاب تبديل الانظمة. انها تستثني التدخل في النزاعات الداخلية. والاسرة العالمية يمكن ان تتدخل فقط في النزاعات بين الدول حين يكون المقصود وقوع عدوان وحين تهاجم بلاد بلادا أخرى. وتتوفر لدى مجلس الأمن الدولي كافة الصلاحيات لاتخاذ قرار حول اتخاذ هذه او تلك من التدابير القسرية. والحالة الثانية المنصوص عليها في الميثاق هي الاستخدام الشرعي للقوة – انها ممارسة حق الدفاع عن النفس ، سواء الفردي او الجماعي. وهذا كل ما ينص عليه هناك. أما ما يجري في سورية …
س – تراق هناك الدماء.
ج – تراق الدماء ، تراق الدماء هناك. بالمناسبة تراق الدماء ليس في سورية فقط بل تراق الدماء ايضا في ليييا وتراق الدماء في مالي التي يتدفق المسلحون اليها من ليبيا ، وتراق الدماء في اليمن كالسابق. وكذلك ، بالمناسبة ، تراق في البلدان المجاورة التي تفضل وسائل الاعلام الغربية الدولية عدم الحديث عنها. انت قلت ان موقفنا من سورية يختلف عما يفكرون به في الغرب مثلا. وأنت تعرف بالذات انهم يفكرون هناك بشكل لا يختلف ابدا عما نورده في موقفنا. هناك يفكرون بالاسلوب ذاته بدقة تماما. والاختلاف هائل بين ما يناقشوه بهدوء في سكون المكاتب وهيئات الاركان العامة ، وبين ما يقال علنا في العواصم ذاتها. انهم يدركون هناك كل الادراك بأنه منذ نيسان/ابريل الماضي حين نشرت لأول مرة الانباء حول ظهور مسلحين في صفوف المتظاهرين في سورية، والذين يستفزون السلطات لأبداء رد فعل لا يتناسب مع الحدث. واريد ان يفهم كلامي بكل دقة : نحن لا نبرر القيادة السورية على الاطلاق ، ونعتقد ان القيادة السورية قد تصرفت بشكل خاطئ منذ اللحظات الاولى لبدء الاحتجاجات السلمية ، وان القيادة السورية ارتكبت الكثير جدا من الاخطاء بالرغم من الوعود الكثيرة التي أعطيت لنا ردا على دعواتنا، اما الخطوات اتي تقوم بها في الاتجاه الصحيح فهي تتخذ بشكل متأخر. وهذا ساعد للأسف لحد كبير على بلوغ الأزمة مثل هذه الحدة . لكن اذا ما كنا مبدئيين ، واذا ما أبدينا الاهتمام بالمواطنين المسالمين ، فيجب علينا ان ندين أيضا أولئك الذين يمارسون الاستفزازات ، وبالمناسبة ، منذ وقت بعيد جدا. ويقال ان الشعب السوري حمل السلاح في الفترة الاخيرة فقط. فإذا كان بين المتظاهرين ليس فقط من يدافعون عن بيوتهم ، ويوجد مثل هؤلاء الناس بلا ريب ، وهو شئ مفهوم تماما، لكن يوجد هناك عدد يزداد اكثر فأكثر من المرتزقة والمسلحين الذين يبحثون عن مجال عمل لهم بعد ان قاتلوا في ليبيا ، وكذلك بعد ان قاتلوا في العراق. ان القاعدة موجودة هناك ، وفي الواقع اعترفت بذلك هيلاري كلينتون في اثناء المناقشات في الكونغرس لدى اجابتها عن السؤال حول سبب عدم تزويد المعارضة في سورية بالسلاح ، فقالت :”نحن غير واثقين بصدد الجهة التي ستحصل على هذا السلاح، ونحن لا يمكن ان نقدم السلاح الذي يمكن ان يقع بأيدي الارهابيين”. وجدير بالذكر ان زملاء كم من قناة” الجزيرة” الذين جرى تسريحهم من هذه المحطة مؤخرا ، من وسيلة الاعلام هذه ، قد ذكروا انهم منذ ابريل /نيسان الماضي شاهدوا مسلحين كانوا يطلقون النار على المواطنين المسالمين ، ويستفزون السلطات السورية. لهذا لا يجوز السكوت عن هذه الوقائع ، فأنها ستنكشف بالرغم من كل شئ. وكما تعرفون الآن … فحالما يظهرون ، تتصرف السلطات السورية بشكل متأخر، وترتكب الكثير من الاخطاء ، لكن حالما تنبثق بارقة أمل ، وحالما تجري حركة ما الى الامام ، يحدث رد فعل معاكس ما يحاول ايقاف هذه العملية …
س – ماذا تقصد بذلك ؟
ج – هذا ما حدث للمراقبين الذين ارسلتهم جامعة الدول العربية. ولم يسمح لهم بالعمل ولو لفترة شهر ، وحتى لم تنتظر جامعة الدول العربية بحث تقريرهم في نيويورك وسحبت المراقبين ، وأوقف عمل هذه البعثة عموما ، بالرغم من أنها بدأت بعمل أشياء تقربنا بهذا القدر او ذاك من تهدئة الوضع ، وعلى اقل تقدير انها قدمت معلومات واقعية يتبين منها انه ليست القوات الحكومية تمارس افعالا غير مقبولة وحدها ، بل يمارس ذلك المسلحون من الطرف الآخر أيضا. والآن التقينا وزراء خارجية جامعة الجدول العربية في القاهرة ، وقد سافرت الى هناك منذ فترة قريبة وإلتقيت زملائي. وقد اتفقنا هناك على خمسة مبادئ للتسوية ينص احدها على :” عدم قبول اي تدخل عسكري من الخارج”. وبعد عدة ساعات أعلن رئيس الوزراء وزير خارجية قطر الذي ترأس لجنة جامعة الدول العربية والذي اجريت معه المباحثات ان من الواجب ادخال قوات عربية او دولية الى سورية ، وحدث هذا بعد عدة ساعات من توقيعه على مبدأ ” عدم قبول اي تدخل عسكري اجنبي”. والآن تعمل بعثة كوفي عنان التي نؤيدها بنشاط ويترأسها رجل محنك ، واذا ما وجد رجل يستطيع طرح شئ ما مقبول من قبل الجميع ، فهو بالذات. انه يعمل الآن ، وقد سافر الى دمشق ، وتحدث مع اعضاء مجلس الامن الدولي عبر الهاتف. وتوجد في سورية الآن مجموعة من الخبراء الذين يطرحون الافكار التي صاغها في اثناء الاتصالات مع الحكومة والمعارضة. وفي هذه اللحظة بالذات تقوم بلدان الخليج العربي بلا اية اسباب مفهومة بسحب جميع سفرائها من دمشق . وفي اللحظة نفسها تحدث تفجيرات سيئة جدا في دمشق وحلب وبعض المدن الأخرى. ان مثل هذه الاشياء ان لم أقل انها تزامنت خصيصا بغية نسف مهمة كوفي عنان ، فأنها من الناحية الموضوعية تمضي لتحقيق هذا الهدف.
س – لمنفعة من يجري تقويضها في هذا الوضع؟ انت تعتقد ان سورية هي رأس الجسر الذي يجري فيه الصراع بين الانظمة السنية في الخليج العربي وايران مثلا؟ يعتقد الكثيرون ان الأمر كذلك. فايران في نهاية المطاف تدعم سورية بقوة جدا …
ج – ان الصراع يدور في المنطقة كلها ،واذا سقط النظام الحالي في سورية ، فستنبثق رغبة قوية وتمارس ضغوط هائلة من جانب بعض بلدان المنطقة من أجل اقامة نظام سني في سورية، ولا تراودني أية شكوك بهذا الصدد. ويقلقنا في هذا الوضع مصير المسيحيين وهناك اقليات أخرى كالاكراد والعلويين وكذلك الدروز. وما يجري في لبنان ، وليس بوسعي ايضا التنبؤ بشكل ما ، فستكون الامور هناك سيئة جدا ، لأن البلاد متعددة الطوائف والاقليات القومية ايضا، ونظام الدولة هش جدا. كما ان العراق ستمسه لاحقا هذه العمليات في اغلب الظن ، حيث يهيمن في العراق الآن الشيعة في كافة المناصب القيادية. اما كردستان فهي مسالة أخرى حيث توجد هناك منطقة حكم ذاتي كبيرة جدا. ان الأمر الواقع ، وعلى أقل تقدير عدم حل المشاكل المتعلقة بالدستور وعدم حل المشاكل المتعلقة بالوضع الذي يريد السنة ان يجدوا انفسهم فيه في المجتمع. فهذا كله ينذر بالانفجار فعلا جدا ويجب العمل بحذر بالغ. وحالما بدأ كوفي عنان مهمته أعلن ممثل المجلس الوطني السوري من تركيا ان هذه البعثة قد فشلت لأن كوفي عنان لم يطلب رحيل الاسد بإعتباره الشرط الاولي الذي لا بد من قبوله قبل غيره. ونحن كنا في هذا الوضع ، ونحن نعرف حق المعرفة ان هذا المطلب غير واقعي. ليس لكوننا ندافع عن الأسد، وانا اعلنت هذا أكثر من مرة ، بل لمجرد ان هذا غير واقعي. ويكمن الموقف الواقعي الوحيد في ان يطلب جميع من يمارس تأثيرا ما على هذا الطرف او ذاك الذي يحارب في سورية إيقاف جميع العنف واستحداث آلية مراقبة ما تتيح رصد الامور ، وهذا ما يجري. وهذا ما يقوم به كوفي عنان بصفته الخطوة الاولية. وبعد ذلك يمكن اجلاس جميع الذين يؤثرون على اللاعبين السوري وراء طاولة المنفاوضات. هذا يمثل الطريق الوحيد لتهدئة الوضع.
س – انت تحدثت شخصيا مع الأسد وتطلعت الى عينيه. انت تقول انه يتأخر دوما في افعاله. وهو يفهم ذلك ، اليس من الأفضل له ان يستقبل وان يرحل الى مكان ما ، لا أدري الى اين ، الى موسكو او مينسك ، بدلا من ان يصبح في وضع القذافي ويتخفى.
ج – لم يوجه اليه الدعوة للمجئ الى موسكو. ومرة أخرى ان هذا الامر ربما سيقرره الاسد نفسه. وسيقرر ذلك ليس لأن احدا ما في روسيا وموسكو سيطلب منه ذلك. انهم يتحدثون عنه في الكثير من العواصم الغربية بوصفه مجرم حرب ، ويعلنون ان مكانه في لاهاي في المحكمة الدولية. ومعنى ذلك انه يجب على من يطلق مثل هذه التصريحات ان يشرح له اية امكانيات موجودة لديه ، وليس نحن. والشئ الرئيس ان الشعب السوري يجب ان يقرر ذلك. ولدى قناعة بأنه اذا ما بدأ الحوار السوري العام ، كما يتحدث ويدعو اليه الجميع ، وبمشاركة جميع ممثلي المعارضة والحكومة ، فجب ان يتم في اطار هذا الحوار حل جميع القضايا ومنها القضايا حول من سيحكم سورية في الفترة الانتقالية ، وفي الفترة القادمة كما حدث في اليمن. وفي اليمن لم يتحدث اللاعبون الدوليون واللاعبون الخارجيون جميعا بأن هذا يكون الشرط الاولي ، وطالبنا نحن جميعا ، الغرب واوروبا الغربية والولاايت المتحدة وبلدان الخليج العربي وروسيا وهيئة الامم المتحدة والاتحاد الاوروبي ، طالبنا جميعا كافة اليمنيين بالجلوس الى طاولة المفاوضات. وحتى وبالرغ من من استمرار العمليات القتالية وابداء الجميع الصبر الذي لا نراه في سورية ،فأنهم ابدوا في اليمن الصبر على مدى أشهر كثيرة. وعند ذلك فقط اتفق اليمنيون على كيفية تسليم السلطة وبضمن ذلك رحيل صالح ومنحه الضمانات ، وعند ذلك فقط صادق مجلس الامن الدولي على القرار حول اليمن. أما الآن فانهم يحاولون وضع العربة أمام الحصان ويحاولون ان يفرضوا على سورية عبر مجلس الامن الدولي الحل الذي لن يكون مستقرا بل سيستثير فقط تصعيد المواجهة مجددا.
March 20th, 2012, 5:49 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
I was never offended about what you wrote regarding the two holidays, not sure why you thought that. There are far more important things to be offended over than this (at least for me). I was just trying to clarify the difference between the two holidays.
Do I like to back what I say, yes. Am i offended if I am misunderstood, no
As for the Havez Al Assad, he did not establish Mothers Day in Syria. Mothers Day in Syria was established pre-Baath.
Baathist and Assadist like to claim everything good as if they accomplished it, it is as if Syria never existed pre-Baath and pre-Assad. So don’t believe everything Havez said, he is as much of a liar as his son is, if not more.
March 20th, 2012, 5:51 pm
Alan said:
GREAT PUTIN(2012): Putin ‘Wins Election’, Putin President (HD)
March 20th, 2012, 5:52 pm
zoo said:
#276 Tara
Sorry, I never came across Yazidis, so I did have the chance to learn about the particularities of the faith.
March 20th, 2012, 5:55 pm
omen said:
138. Alan said:
no, not principle. russia & china’s veto is a reflection of this proxy war being waged:
from the documentary Iran is Not the Problem:
March 20th, 2012, 5:56 pm
Syrialover said:
#150 Alan said: “The US is concerned about al-Qaida, the latest bombings in Damascus and Aleppo perhaps another example of its role in exploiting chaos”
Hey, I thought Assad’s advisers emailed him to drop the al-Qaida propaganda as it was giving the Amercians excuses.
Not that the Americans or anyone else would be dumb enough to believe it.
Repeating the item posted by Son of Damascus #109 (which gives the same scenario as previous Damascus bombings):
https://twitter.com/ArabSpringFF/statuses/181727942290833408
“For those who are not familiar with the Damascus explosions, the cars that exploded were parked in front of the security buildings. As such it is impossible for anyone to park their car near those buildings with out being asked “El Sayarah La meen” (who does the car belong to) by one of the MANY guards scattered around those buildings.
“If you are a person that does NOT live in the neighbourhood you will NOT be allowed to park your car there, let alone “Saudis” parking their cars there.
“People I love and have known since I was born were directly affected by this bombing, when I asked the father what happened he replied “Since when is anyone allowed to park here that is not from here? What do they think we are idiots?”
March 20th, 2012, 5:56 pm
888 said:
Telegraph article saying Nir Rosen working for Assads is ONE MORE smear by the west. If Rosen is just another reporter, corp outfit like Tele isn’t going to provide him a full page ad to refute any kind of charges- unless Mr Nir has BIG backing.
BTW: Why is Rosen living in countries that it is ILLEGAL for him to be in if he is an Israeli citizen? I ask again, would Hezbollah or Israeli enemy combatants get the same treatment? People who have questions on this issue are banned? Democracy strikes again.
BTW: Rosen is listed as a “staff sargeant” in IDF documents, not just on blogs.
This Broken Home
Revisiting Israel
by Nir Rosen April 23, 2002
Over a year ago, I revisited Israel after a three-year absence. As my El Al plane landed in Tel Aviv, the intercom played an Israeli folk song of my childhood, “Its so good that you’ve come home.” Despite my cynicism, the child in me wanted to cry. I stifled the nascent tears, which I rejected as a vestigial remnant of the nationalist propaganda they had inculcated me with in the summer camps of my coastal village. Just like every other time I came, I was entering a maelstrom, new and unique, yet a mere variation on the same theme of bloody nationalism, paranoid identity and violent religion that defined Israel.
This time it was a literal reiteration of my childhood, when the original intifada (Palestinian uprising that started in 1987)
March 20th, 2012, 5:57 pm
Tara said:
Zoo
😉 thanks for the answer anyhow. I was reading a report About Syrian minorities and they mentioned it. I never knew before that a faith called Yazidi exists.
March 20th, 2012, 6:04 pm
omen said:
@ 283. Tara,
i suspect he is capable. it’s just that he falls into this category:
March 20th, 2012, 6:05 pm
Juergen said:
Tara
I met one Jazidi in army.He was turkish. I dont know if this religion exist in Syria though. It seems that they live in castes like the Indians, he was from a peasant cast, so not allowed to become a priest. To my understanding they hold some beliefs of the Zoroastrians (iran’s old religion). He told me that he has an arranged marriage, and most of the times they marry within their family bounds.
found this on them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi
March 20th, 2012, 6:11 pm
omen said:
thank you, moderator. the site has been having hiccups some unknown reason. after posting a comment, it would say the site was “re-set.” thinking the comment didn’t register, people were reposting the same comment over again instead of waiting until things cleared up. a repeat of same comments apparently gets marked as spam thought it was unintentional.
i have to learn to be more patient. 🙂
March 20th, 2012, 6:14 pm
jad said:
The terrorists are still using kids as human shields in their ‘holy’ mission of killing Syrians on behalf of who pays more, ksa or qatar:
العصابات المسلحة تستخدم الاطفال كدروع بشرية
http://youtu.be/W7y6yybjpDw
March 20th, 2012, 6:36 pm
Tara said:
Jeurgen
Thanks. Interesting. I do not approve of the concept of the “untouchable”.
March 20th, 2012, 6:38 pm
Antoine said:
Jurgen, the Yazidis are ethnic Kurds, they are not Turks.
Btw, Jaddie, another one for you :
March 20th, 2012, 6:42 pm
Antoine said:
Khaled Abu Salah : Alive and kicking, and back in action :
March 20th, 2012, 6:50 pm
Tara said:
Omen@6:05 PM
Not clear to your comment. The number of posts get always messed up. Can you refer to the comment by time instead of the number.
March 20th, 2012, 6:52 pm
omen said:
this one:
Tara @ 5:46
March 20th, 2012, 7:06 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
TARA,
Did you check out the book I recommended ? Al Raheeq al Makhtum ?
Please do so if you have the time, I sometimes used to visit this site when I was banned and I noticed DARYLL was trying to convince you of his Islamophobic beliefs, so did you believe him ?
March 20th, 2012, 7:07 pm
jad said:
The bill of the war on Syria is out for bedding, will see what ksa and qatar can pay out of the $300 Billions and 300,000 troops needed for invading and destroying Syria a l’iraque et Afghanistan:
Syria Invasion Could Cost $300 Billion Per Year
A U.S.-led military operation to topple Syrian President Bashir al-Assad’s regime could cost up to $300 billion a year and require 300,000 troops.
That’s the estimate of the Brookings Institution, which issued a report Monday as Syrian opposition groups continue to plead for Western and regional help as Assad’s forces pound rebel fighters and civilians mercilessly. The Obama administration has, for now, ruled out using American military power to oust Assad.
“The greatest issue in deciding whether to launch an invasion is deciding whether Syria should warrant the resources and American lives such an operation would cost,” the report states. “An invasion and the early months of an occupation would require 200,000 to 300,000 troops to be done properly. That alone should put the bill for a Syrian invasion at around $200 [billion] to $300 billion per year for as long as that number of troops would have to remain.”
That many troops would be required because, like in Iraq and Afghanistan, American forces–joined by Western and Arab troops–would have to stay there for some time to install a new government and keep the peace between competing ethnic and religious groups.
{…}
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/dotmil/2012/03/19/syria-invasion-could-cost-300-billion-per-year
March 20th, 2012, 7:09 pm
omen said:
how many billions has the regime stolen?
we’ll take it out of their frozen accounts.
🙂
March 20th, 2012, 7:17 pm
jad said:
To 6an6oun and Ammouneh, enjoy 🙂
http://youtu.be/N40jxuVFAMM
March 20th, 2012, 7:20 pm
DAWOUD said:
Hizballah will very likely make an alliance with Israel after the inevitable fall of Syria’s murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad!! Sunnis and freedom lovers all over the world will never ever forget nor forgive Hasan Nasr$$$ for siding with the dictator.
http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/01/31/tufaili-hezbollahs-choice-is-either-peace-with-sunnis-or-alliance-with-israel/
Tufaili: Hezbollah’s choice is either peace with Sunnis or alliance with Israel
JANUARY 31, 2012 ⋅ 1:05 AM ⋅
Former Hezbollah chief Mustafa Tufaili told MTV during an interview Monday evening that Hezbollah has committed a grave error in bringing down the government of ( former PM Saad ) Hariri, because it should have anticipated that the Arab Spring will reach Syria.
He urged Hezbollah leadership to mend its relations with Hariri as soon as possible
He also urged Hezbollah to hand over its 4 members who were indicted in the Hariri murder to the UN backed court.
Commenting on the situation in Syria he said ” Syria is heading either towards a change or a civil war if the authorities do not reconsider the crackdown against the pro-democracy protesters .
He told Hezbollah: Today you are allied with Syria and you have been receiving your arms from there but the situation is heading in the opposite direction . The choice in the future is either peace with the Sunnis or alliance with Israel For this reason I urge ( Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah) Khamanei to reconsider his position towards the Syrian regime and the Sunnis.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:25 pm
DAWOUD said:
http://www.statestimes.net/2012/01/tufaili-hezbollah%E2%80%99s-choice-is-either-peace-with-sunnis-or-alliance-with-israel/
Tufaili: Hezbollah’s choice is either peace with Sunnis or alliance with Israel
By SYH – Tue Jan 31, 4:05 am
Former Hezbollah chief Mustafa Tufaili tοƖԁ MTV during аn interview Monday evening thаt Hezbollah hаѕ committed a grave error іn bringing down thе government οf ( former PM Saad ) Hariri, bесаυѕе іt ѕhουƖԁ hаνе anticipated thаt thе Arab Spring wіƖƖ reach Syria.
March 20th, 2012, 7:29 pm
DAWOUD said:
I think Sunnis will never forgive Hasan Nasr### even if he apologizes to the Syria people and asks his supporters/admirers/apologists/propagandists to do the same thing in person, and in writing on all media outlets-including here on “Syria Comment.” 🙂 🙂
March 20th, 2012, 7:33 pm
ann said:
Syria’s Red Crescent delivers relief aid to northern Idlib province – 2012-03-21
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/21/c_131478712.htm
DAMASCUS, March 20 (Xinhua) — The Syrian Arab Red Crescent ( SARC) on Tuesday delivered four truckloads of relief aid to the northern Idlib province, which has emerged as a stronghold of rebels over the past months.
The humanitarian relief materials were delivered as teams of the SARC and the International Red Cross arrived in Idlib to assess emergency needs and health situation, an SARC official told Xinhua anonymously.
Earlier this month, the Syrian army retook control of most areas of Idlib near the Turkish border, dislodging hundreds of rebel fighters out of a key foothold they had held for months.
After being driven out of Idlib, opposition activists said the Syrian army has pushed into eastern Deir al-Zour province Tuesday, seizing parts of the city that had been held by armed rebels over the past days, adding the rebels retreated after brief clashes with the army because of ammunition shortages.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:37 pm
DAWOUD said:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/06/2011618103354910596.html
Hamid Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
Columbia UniversityBooksRSS
Arab Spring exposes Nasrallah’s hypocrisy
The Shia leader is happy to support protesters in Bahrain and Egypt, but he won’t criticise Syria’s violent crackdown.
Last Modified: 22 Jun 2011 16:15
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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has not criticised his Syrian or Iranian allies for their attacks on protesters [Reuters]
Hassan Nasrallah is in trouble. This time the troubles of the Secretary General of Hezbollah, which were hitherto the source of his strength, are not coming from Israel, or from the sectarian politics of Lebanon. Seyyed Hassan’s troubles, which this time around are the harbingers of his undoing as an outdated fighter, are coming from, of all places, the Arab Spring.
The Arab Spring, the transnational uprising of masses of millions of people from Morocco to Oman, from Syria to Yemen, is making the aging warrior redundant – his habitually eloquent tongue now stuttering for words. Two years ago, he thought he got away with rejecting the democratic uprising in Iran (whose brutal ruling regime is his principle patron and financier), as a plot by the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. And he did – aided and abetted by the moral and intellectual sclerosis of a segment of Arab intellectuals who thought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic theocracy were the vanguard of “resistance” to US/Israel imperialism in the region and thus should be spared from criticism. And then Tunisia happened, and Egypt, and Libya, and Bahrain, and Yemen – and then, Hassan Nasrallah and Ali Khamenei’s nightmare, Syria happened. It is a sad scene to see a once mighty warrior being bypassed by the force of history, and all he can do is to fumble clumsily to reveal he has not learned the art of aging gracefully.
Deja vu
When Hasan Nasrallah came to the defence of Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime in Syria, signs of frailty were all over the old fighter’s countenance. He asked Syrians for patience. He admitted mistakes had been made by Syrians in Lebanon. He promised Assad would do reforms. He pleaded for time. Deja vu: For an uncanny moment the Hezbollah fighter sounded and looked like the late Shah of Iran days before his final demise early in 1979: desperate, confused, baffled by the unfolding drama, worriedly out of touch with what was happening around him.
“Hassan Nasrallah,” according to an Al Jazeera report on 25 May 2011,”has called on Syrians to support president Bashar al-Assad and enter into dialogue with the government to end weeks of ongoing protests across Syria.”
This is a far different cry than when the democratic uprising in Iran started in June 2009 and Nasrallah readily dismissed and ridiculed it as an American plot. These were Arabs up against their corrupt and cruel leaders, not “them Persians” whose money was good but their historic struggles for their civil liberties a plot by the Saudis, the Israelis, and the US.
“Bashar is serious about carrying out reforms,” he was now pleading with his audience, “but he has to do them gradually and in a responsible way; he should be given the chance to implement those reforms.” When Nasrallah made these remarks more than 1000 Syrian civilians had been gunned down by Bashar Assad’s army and security forces, serving the Assad dynasty for about forty years.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 7:43 pm
Syrialover said:
# 282. Alan
Do you really think Putin’s on the right track putting 22-year old women in prison for 8 years for being cheeky in a church?
Sorry, I realise it’s much graver than than that. They were being cheecky about Putin himelf!
I’m sure he did wet his pants as the song by the Pussy Riot chicks says.
“Pussy Riot digs claws into Putin” -http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8efa1f1e-6f82-11e1-b3f9-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1ph0BS3uJ
March 20th, 2012, 7:50 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Footage from inside one of the many detention centres in Syria.
(Graphic content)
March 20th, 2012, 7:58 pm
DAWOUD said:
Sorry my brother 309. SON OF DAMASCUS because I forgot to list you as one the comment writers whom I admire!
Keep spreading the truth on behalf of Syrian freedom & Justice!
The YouTube video about the Syrian regime’s torture is very sickening.
March 20th, 2012, 8:03 pm
Ghufran said:
I have been critical of Joshua’s repeated reference to sectarian politics in Syria, now, two bloggers that I personally respect, hamster and otw, came out against Joshua’s observation about the undeniable influence of sectarianism in this crisis.
It was the top brass military committee, dominated by alawi officers,of the 1960s that started the process of alawi domination of the army, and later on security forces,after Assad took over in 1970. What follows was a reaction that got augmented by a new wave of Sunni Wahhabism and GCC dirty oil money.
For the sake of finding a solution,we must face our problems head on,this is why I get discouraged when I see educated Syrians getting their feet wet in the sectarian river, a river that may not be as deep as Joshua thinks but it is certainly deep enough to sink the Syrian ship that lost much of its strength after 1963 and certainly after March, 2011.
March 20th, 2012, 8:13 pm
ann said:
Lack of US-Syria Diplomacy Leads to Dangerous Isolation – 03/20/2012
US stubbornness to engage a state with which it disagrees (see Iran) continues to cost lives and is an immoral and inexcusable policy tack when diplomatic and dialogic alternatives remain waiting in the wings. Whereas dialogue has the potential to impede bloodshed, US obstinacy does not.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shank/post_3145_b_1362643.html
Much of the recent damage in US-Syria relations was accomplished under Bush. While Bush’s Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice claimed that she would “talk to anybody, anywhere, anytime” because she was “not afraid to talk to anyone,” in practice it is quite the opposite. Notwithstanding the potential gains that could have come from engaging Syria – at the time, vis-à-vis Iraq – gains that would have benefited the Iraqi people and improved US-Syria relations, the US severed all communication links with Syria.
The US, under Bush, decided to recall the US Ambassador to Syria Margaret Scobey in 2005, leaving a vacancy in official US diplomatic relations with Syria. I visited with the ambassador in Damascus shortly before her departure and it became clear that her interaction with Syrian government officials was not only minimal but it was painfully inadequate. With over 20 years as a Foreign Service officer in the region, basic language skills and cultural nuances eluded her. The State Department, not Ambassador Scobey, was responsible for this insufficiency as department protocol used to enforce limited parameters on language proficiency — a counterintuitive policy when considering effective diplomatic mechanisms. (Perhaps it is no surprise then, with US-Egypt relations on thin ice, that Ambassador Scobey was the US Ambassador in Cairo during much of Arab spring tumult. There is a trend here.)
The State Department, again under Bush, continued to fail to recognize Syria’s role in calming Iraq. Ambassador David Satterfield, the State Department’s top official at the time on Iraq policy, claimed in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Syria was not part of the solution. In dismissing Syria, Satterfield disregarded potential liaising with, for example, Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Hassoun, with whom I met not long after the invasion of Iraq to discuss opportunities for interfaith diplomacy.
As Syria’s most highly regarded Islamic leader, Sheikh Hassoun had the capacity and the legitimacy to assist in addressing salient sectarianism within Iraq. Ambassador Satterfield’s decision to implicitly discount the grand mufti was detrimental not only to Iraq’s future but also to US-Syria relations, laying some of the groundwork for today’s severed relations.
There is no excusing Assad and the deplorable humanitarian crisis that has unfolded. But the more you ostracize a state and its leaders, the more difficult it becomes to encourage them back from the ledge, and the easier it becomes for them to make even worse decisions. Why, because they have nothing to lose, no international relations to jeopardize, and no global reputation to undo.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:13 pm
Dawoud said:
http://now.msn.com/now/0319-Syria's-real-dictator.aspx?OCID=MSNNow_SEM_Now_10001
Brutal leader’s pretty wife says she’s the REAL dictator
March 20th, 2012, 8:17 pm
Ghufran said:
The car that exploded prematurely in Mukhayyam Al-Yarmouk was supposed to go to central Damascus. The two terrorists that got killed inside the car were Zaher Al-Dusouqi and Abdullah Hussain from Jund Sl-Shaam.
March 20th, 2012, 8:35 pm
zoo said:
Russia: yes to Annan plan, no to ultimatum to Syria
Moscow to support Annan’s Syria plan
MOSCOW / DAMASCUS
Russia says it is ready to endorse a UN Security Council statement backing Annan’s peace mission unless it presents an ultimatum to the Syrian government.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/moscow-to-support-annans-syria-plan.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16485&NewsCatID=353
March 20th, 2012, 8:39 pm
Tara said:
A slap on the face of Fawaz al Akhrass. Well-deserved! All British members of the board as well as the director, a Syrian billionaire of the British Syrian Society resigned.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/20/assad-father-in-law-british-syrian
Assad’s father-in-law under pressure to quit British Syrian Society
Fawaz Akhras’ email advice to Bashar al-Assad on crisis is ‘last straw’ after society’s British board members resign
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Tuesday 20 March 2012 15.02 EDT
President Bashar al-Assad’s father-in-law is under pressure to step down as co-chairman of the British Syrian Society after the resignation of all its British board members over the brutal repression of protests against the Damascus regime.
Sir Andrew Green, a former British ambassador to Syria and co-chairman of the society, admitted it had faced disarray over the past year and that the emails – especially those showing Akhras advising Assad how to rebutt evidence of civilians being tortured – were the last straw.
“This is all very sad,” Green told the Guardian on Tuesday. “The BSS has done a lot of useful work but it’s very hard to see how it can continue. In the light of the recent revelations the five British board members have decided to resign.”
Green and the treasurer, Brian Constant, will leave once their duties have been completed. Sir Gavyn Arthur, a former lord mayor of London, and two others have already gone.
The BSS has been in crisis since the uprising began last March. In September HSBC said it would no longer represent the society and Wafic Said, the British-Syrian billionaire and philanthropist, resigned as a director.
“The problem is that the BSS has buried its head in the sand, maintaining a policy of silence which amounts to tacit support for the current regime in Syria and what is happening there,” Said wrote in a letter obtained by the Guardian. “This is unacceptable. The BSS has lost all credibility.”
(…)
March 20th, 2012, 8:41 pm
bronco said:
#314 Ghufran
Jund Al Islam involved in terrorism?
The Syrian regime narrative is becoming increasingly credible.
March 20th, 2012, 8:41 pm
DAWOUD said:
# 314.
In the same way the murderous Syria regime was killing Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, it is now killing them in Syria. The Raml Palestinian refugee camp in Latakia was bombed from the Sea last Summer! Now, the Syrian regime is prematurely exploding car bombs in the Palestinian al-Yarmouk Ref. camp! These attacks, and the Tal az-Za’atar massacre are a badge of criminality for al-Assad’s murderous dynasty!
Free Syria, Free Palestine!
March 20th, 2012, 8:44 pm
zoo said:
“Turkey seems to be the only country fully focused and devoted to toppling al-Assad’s regime.”
Time to revise Syria policy
SERKAN DEMİRTAŞ
Tuesday,March 20 2012
….
This policy, which has been built in less than a decade, is now passing through difficult times due to Ankara’s miscalculated approach concerning Syria. In addition, Iran’s efforts to keep the Syrian regime in power and to muddle already-instable Iraq make Turkey’s job more complicated. Recent developments fueled concerns that the current political climate in the region could flare up ethnic and sectarian clashes, which no doubt would also destabilize Turkey.
Before questioning Turkey’s Syria stance, let’s briefly analyze the state of the uprising in Syria and the international community’s position. The Syrian opposition is weak and divided; its contacts with the rebels inside the country are not that strong either. Bashar al-Assad manages to control the country thanks to its strong army and intelligence organizations. It’s not so certain how long the Free Syrian Army can stand against government forces.
The international community seems reluctant to take the lead in efforts to force al-Assad to leave power. With presidential elections looming, U.S. President Barack Obama will not roll up his sleeves for Syria. The European Union can hardly find the time and energy to deal with Syria due to the economic crisis shaking the entire continent. Israel, whose target seems to be Iran, would only take advantage of this situation as Damascus will not be able to cause trouble. Russia continues to veto resolutions on Syria at the U.N. Security Council.
In addition, no one has any idea about the period after al-Assad and whether the vacuum to be created would be filled by extremists.
Given this picture, Turkey seems to be the only country fully focused and devoted to toppling al-Assad’s regime. Talks of establishing a buffer zone or a safe haven to protect fleeing Syrians and leading the international community in imposing more pressure are part of this policy. Such interventionist policies would not only break the image Turkey has built in the region but are also inconsistent with its general foreign policy principles, the main pillar of which is peace.
Thus Turkey had better revise its policy toward its southern neighbor, ahead of the second gathering of the Friends of Syria group on April 1 in Istanbul, by placing diplomatic efforts in front of all other options especially at a time when seasoned diplomat Kofi Annan’s initiative is still promising a deal between the government and the opposition.
March/21/2012
March 20th, 2012, 8:46 pm
Dawoud said:
316. Tara
I am not familiar with British law. Given the leaked emails,Batta’s immoral father-in-law would have to register as a “lobbyist for a foreign power” had he been a U.S. citizens. He is already being sued in Britian: المعارضة السورية تستعد لمقاضاة الأخرس في بريطانيا
http://watan.com/news/world-news/2012-03-20/5855
I wonder how many U.S. citizens are giving free advice to Hasan Nasr$$$ ?
March 20th, 2012, 8:51 pm
ann said:
Proposed UN Syria statement toned down – March 21, 2012
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/proposed-un-syria-statement-toned-down-20120321-1vies.html
Western powers have agreed to change a proposed UN Security Council statement on Syria after Russia refused to make any “ultimatum” to President Bashar al-Assad.
A new version of the statement is now to be considered by governments after a day of talks by the 15-nation council.
The proposed statement aims to reinforce international backing for UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s efforts to halt the worsening bloodshed in Syria.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Russia led resistance to references that said the council would “consider further measures” if Assad does not set in motion the envoy’s peace plan, diplomats said. Russia and China have already vetoed two resolutions on Syria.
Western nations agreed to tone down the phrase to “consider further steps,” diplomats said on condition of anonymity. A seven day deadline for the new “steps” was also taken out.
France is to draw up a new text to put to the other 14 members and, if there are no objections, the statement could be adopted on Wednesday, French envoy Gerard Araud told reporters.
Before Security Council ambassadors started their talks Araud had said there were “major political issues” to be sorted out.
The proposed statement does not condemn the violence but would express “gravest concern” at the deteriorating crisis in Syria and “profound regret” at the thousands of dead.
It calls on Assad and Syria’s opposition to “implement fully and immediately” Annan’s six-point peace plan.
Under the revised draft, the council would “consider further steps” with no deadline mentioned. The previous version spoke of possible “further measures” if Syria took no action within seven days of the statement’s adoption.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 8:55 pm
jad said:
Bronco
Here is the news:
سيارة مفخخة خرجت من مخيم اليرموك وانفجرت في منطقة مفتوحة
كان فيها شابان من «جند الشام» وقتلا في الانفجار الذي وقع صباح السبت
http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&article=668712&issueno=12165
Dawood,
“The Raml Palestinian refugee camp in Latakia was bombed from the Sea last Summer!”
You mean the fake story that was already refuted 10 months ago and proved to be another fabrication of Alkhanzeera w akhwatiha?
I guess the box of fake news is empty lately so the need to rewrite about the older ‘lies’ is ‘IN’ and paid for.
March 20th, 2012, 8:57 pm
Tara said:
Bronco @8:42PM
The Syrian regime’s narrative was all along credible to you. What is the difference now? It was, it remains, and it will always be. … With or without evidence, it makes no difference. The Syrian regime could say Tara or Hatahet was the suicide bomber and you will take that as evidence ..they may change their mind a day later and you will too….and sadly to Tara, that is that.
March 20th, 2012, 8:57 pm
Tara said:
Egypt Coptic Pope Shenouda is buried at monastery
The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says there were “almost hysterical scenes” at the funeral
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17437325
Copts were given time off work to prepare for the funeral, and a national day of mourning has been declared.
… .
The Pope was seen as a leader who did his best to protect Coptic Christians at a time when Islamism was on the rise, our correspondent says.
But his deep conservatism – including his opposition to divorce – was not always popular with younger Christians.
(..)
Egypt’s military rulers expressed the hope on their Facebook page that his wish of “preserving the unity of Egypt and the unity of its social fabric” would be achieved.
And a senior Muslim cleric, the Grand Imam of the prestigious al-Azhar university Ahmed al-Tayeb, expressed sorrow and said he “greatly remembers his vision towards Jerusalem and its history”.
(…)
March 20th, 2012, 8:58 pm
DAWOUD said:
322. jad
Brother Jad, please see the following:
http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1077
UNRWA gravely concerned about heavy gun fire into the refugee camp in the Syrian port city of Latakia
Tags: Latakia | Syria
Statement by UNRWA Spokesman, Chris Gunness
14 August 2011
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, is gravely concerned about reports of heavy gunfire from Syrian security forces into the Palestinian refugee camp situated in the El Ramel district and surrounding areas of Latakia, including heavy fire from gunboats. Reports from various sources indicate deaths and casualties among the Palestinian refugee population, although poor communications make it impossible to confirm the exact number of dead and injured.
UNRWA condemns the use of force against civilians.
[…]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14533967
Syria unrest: Palestinian refugees flee camp, says UN
Activist Alexander Page (not his real name) says troops are shooting “anything that moves”
Continue reading the main story
Syria Crisis
Syria turmoil
Year of protest
‘Assad emails’
Opposition failing
Thousands of Palestinian refugees have been forced to flee a camp in the Syrian port of Latakia amid shelling by government troops, the UN says.
A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works agency (Unrwa) told the BBC that more than 5,000 of the 10,000 refugees were on the move.
He said at least four people had died, urging immediate access to the site.
Some 30 people have reportedly died in Latakia in a three-day military attack. Syria says it is tackling gangs.
On Monday, there were also reports of a clampdown in the capital Damascus, with people being arrested randomly in the Jobar district.
Syrian troops have now taken control of Latakia’s Ramel district, activists say
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned Syria that military operations against protesters must stop “immediately and unconditionally”.
Ankara, a former close ally of Damascus, has been increasingly frustrated with its crackdown of the unrest.
The Palestinian authorities urged the Syrian government to safeguard the lives of Palestinian refugees.
In Washington, White House spokesman John Carney said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must “cease the systematic violence, mass arrests and the outright murder of his own people.”
More than 1,700 people have reportedly died and more than 30,000 have been detained in the five-month uprising against President Assad’s rule.
‘Alarming’ situation
On Monday, Unrwa spokesman Christopher Gunness told the BBC that more than 5,000 Palestinian refugees from the camp in Latakia’s al-Ramel district and surrounding areas had already fled.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 9:08 pm
Mawal95 said:
As already mentioned today is Newroz the biggest annual nationalist festive-day among the Kurds of Turkey. Here’s video of the police breaking up a Kurdish street demonstration in the town of Batman in eastern Turkey. Extracts were already linked to by JAD #221 above. I haven’t seen videos of the Syrian police acting as forcefully as the Turkish police are doing in this video. The date of the video is within the past couple of days, not necessarily today:
Here’s another from the town of Cizre in Turkey (near Qamishli). I’m told a policeman was shot by someone among the demonstrators in Cizre; but perhaps he was shot accidentally by another policeman?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-Xu0BTEyiqY#t=56s
By the way and going off-topic, I’ll never forget the following video of a Newroz celebration in year 2009 in eastern Turkey. It is the video that convinced me personally in 2009 that the Kurdish problem in Turkey is very serious and is not going to go away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpYp6UjZyRI
March 20th, 2012, 9:11 pm
ann said:
Suicide bomber detonates himself in Syria’s Daraa, many killed – 2012-03-21
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/21/c_131479143.htm
DAMASCUS, March 21 (Xinhua) — A suicide bomber riding a car bomb blew himself up late Tuesday at an intersection in southern Daraa province, killing an unidentified number of civilians and law-enforcement members, according to state-run SANA news agency.
The bomber targeted law-enforcement forces at al-Jisa intersection in Daraa countryside, said SANA, adding the blast caused damages to nearby buildings.
The report gave no further details on the number of casualties.
The bombing in Daraa is the latest in a string of suicide attacks that have hit the Arab nation lately.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 9:11 pm
bronco said:
Ann #321
The proposed statement will certainly be approved and will signify the demise of the AL plan and its replacement by a UN plan that looks similar to the Russian draft resolution they presented a few months ago and that was rejected.
The Arab league meeting in Iraq will see the AL washing its hands from the situation in Syria. It is now in the hands of the UN as all Arab countries wanted.
The “Friends of Syria” meeting in Turkey may see lots of U-Turns and possibly the reshuffling or the demise of the SNC as well as the retreat of Qatar and KSA from the foreground. Turkey will jump on the opportunity to change its stance on Syria and starts pressuring what is left of the SNC and the FSA present in Turkey to stop any military attacks on the regime and move in such a way that they could be a candidate to participate in the coming dialog.
The Syrian Local opposition has united and therefore is well placed for the dialog.
1th April will be a turning point and hopefully toward a peaceful resolution. It is expected that the armed guerillas , opposed to the dialog, will attempt terrorist attacks to derail the process, confirming the regime narrative and therefore restoring some credibility to its claims.
March 20th, 2012, 9:13 pm
bronco said:
#323 Tara
It is not important if the narrative has been or is credible to me or to you. Our opinion does not count.
What I am saying is that the latest events seem to make the regime narrative more credible to the media and to the political decision makers as they are the ones who can attempt to change something to save Syria.
March 20th, 2012, 9:22 pm
Jad said:
Dawood,
That lie was one of the first to hit the media:
UPDATE 1-US unable to confirm reported Syrian naval shelling
WASHINGTON Aug 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Monday that it was unable to confirm published reports that the Syrian navy has shelled the port city of Latakia.
“We have been unable to confirm, actually, the use of naval assets,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily briefing, saying she was referring to reports of shelling of the port city of Latakia.
“We have seen reporting of this. We have not seen this firing ourselves,” Nuland added, saying the jury was still out on the issue. “However, we are able to confirm that there is armor in the city and that there is firing on innocents again in the pattern of carnage that you have seen in other places.”
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN1E77E13620110815
March 20th, 2012, 9:24 pm
Dawoud said:
330. JAD
Back then I heard activists on Aljazeera and elsewhere saying so. In any case, whether the shelling came from the sea or not, there is no dispute (unless we are talking about SANA, Tishreen, and al-Ba’ath) that the camp was brutally attacked, and that the attacks caused thousands to flee.
March 20th, 2012, 9:27 pm
irritated said:
#330 Jad
Remember…the “reliable” Guardian headline 15 August 2012 and the Al Jazeera report
Syria assault on Latakia drives 5,000 Palestinians from refugee camp
Palestinian refugees in Syria flee attack by Assad gunboats and soldiers on their camp in port city of Latakia
..
More than 5,000 Palestinian refugees have fled a camp in Latakia, Syria, after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces attacked the port city in the latest military crackdown on dissent, the UN said on Monday.
UNRWA, the UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees, said the camp’s residents fled after Latakia came under fire from gunboats and ground troops over the weekend. It was not immediately clear where the refugees were seeking shelter.
“We are calling for access to the camp to find out what is going on,” said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness. “There were 10,000 refugees in the camp and we need to find out what is happening to them.”
(..)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/15/syria-palestinians-latakia-assault
March 20th, 2012, 9:32 pm
Mawal95 said:
Here’s video of a Kurdish demonstration in Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey within the past few days. Please notice that the crowd size is bigger than at any demonstration we’ve seen anywhere in Syria against the Assad regime this past year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjGmXsAWr0A
The population of Diyarbakir is around 840,000 which is about the same as Homs city and not hugely more than Hama city. The turnout for that Kurdish Newroz demonstration in Diyarbakir on 19 Mar 2012 is vastly bigger than the biggest crowds we’ve seen in Homs and Hama demonstrations.
March 20th, 2012, 9:33 pm
Tara said:
morning Atvar
HRW confirming what we already knew, but downplayed in msm; in civil war all sides commit war crimes.
I thought it would be an opportune time to post the International Crisis Group views, as they usually get ignored, that there is a risk it turns into a Vietnam, Lebanon or Iraq:
‘BEIRUT — The Syrian regime will persist with its strategy of bombing into submission pockets of rebel resistance as it remains convinced it alone holds the key to resolving a crisis now entering a second year, analysts say.
“The regime believes that the international community after a while will realise that it cannot be undone, that the pressure will relent and that the outside will reengage,” said Peter Harling, an expert on Syria with the International Crisis Group.
“When we throw envoys at them without a clear mandate, it further convinces them that they are doing the right thing,” he added, referring to former UN chief Kofi Annan’s weekend mission to Damascus aimed at pressuring President Bashar al-Assad to halt his bloody crackdown on dissent.
Experts say, however, that while Assad may have the military might to crush rebel strongholds, as seen in Homs and Idlib in the past two weeks, his regime is nonetheless doomed and waging a losing battle.
“It’s a game of whack a mole,” said Harling, referring to Assad’s bid to root out armed insurgents.
“The regime is waging an attrition war. It needs to maintain the fiction of winning military victories, because that’s important to its power base, but at the same time it doesn’t expect its struggle to end quickly.”
Key factors playing in Assad’s favour are Russia’s steadfast support, a seemingly paralysed international community and a fragmented opposition that has so far failed to offer a viable alternative to the regime.
“International pressure on the regime has eased,” said Fabrice Balanche, director of the France-based Gremmo research centre. “There is a willingness to calm things down because nothing can be done as long as Russia stands in the way.
“The Russians have said that any resolution to the Syrian crisis goes through them.”
[…]
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jgUeAZiQmzYqHqd3wKJPYeCH7Xxg?docId=CNG.803594f3e58a026a9e4a29eb6537b520.351
March 20th, 2012, 9:36 pm
omen said:
hadeel al ali, the naked woman/ regime advisor, sending assad names of dissidents for the regime to pick up…aren’t there sanctions against being complicit in committing human rights violations?
why hasn’t the US government detained and questioned her? what if she has useful information? at the very least, why isn’t tabloid media hounding her, making her life hell?
March 20th, 2012, 9:39 pm
DAWOUD said:
337. omen
Yes, Hadeel al-Ali-the young attractive woman who is trying to gain access to Bashar’s heart and looted/embezzled money-is complicit in the regime’s crimes!
March 20th, 2012, 9:47 pm
Tara said:
A summary of the post @9:36 pm:
The regime believes that the international community after a while will realize that it cannot be undone, the pressure will relent and the outside will reengage. And when the West throw envoys at the regime without clear mandate, it further convinces them that they are doing the right things. [And while all the odds seem to play against this revolution, a steadfast Russian support, a paralyzed international community, a fragmented opposition, and an easing international pressure because nothing can be done as long as Russia stands in the way] yet experts say, however, the regime is nonetheless doomed. Damascus feels empowered to push forward it’s strategy to crush the revolution at any cost but in the long run, it can’t win. The regime’s strategy will not work given the relationship it has forged with it’s own society. Millions are alienated by the brutality of the regime and that what it will bring it down.
—-
March 20th, 2012, 9:47 pm
Jad said:
Dawood
My point was specifically about shelling the camp by gunboat.
Mawal,
It seems that the Syrian Kurds are celebrating Nowruz in Aleppo.
They proved to have real peaceful demonstrations so far and they strongly refused any armed militia or FSA to get near their areas from the beginning until today
حوار توب نيوز مع الاستاذ عمر اوسي رئيس المبادرة الوطنية للاكراد السوريون خلال احتفاليات عيد النوروز في حلب
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTo3F91uBYs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
جيان عمر اوسي والحديث عن احتفالية عيد النوروز للاخوة الاكراد
March 20th, 2012, 9:56 pm
bronco said:
Most analysts unanimously predicted the ‘imminent’ fall of Bashar Al Assad. As these prediction failed, they now project themselves not in the post-Assad era, as they were expecting the country to be by end 2011, but in the post-uprising era if the UN plan succeeds in bringings some kind of peace to the country.
Even if the regime is still in place and working on a transition to a multiparty democratic regime with elections etc, the forecast of the analyts continue to be gloomy, civil war, attritions etc… They are convinced that the violence that happened in the country have left too deep wounds and that the Syrians will not be able to just jump into a political process before long.
The regime seems to think differently. They are acting as if, once basic security is restored, the Syrians who were hesitant, and they represent maybe 60% of the population, would jump in the democratic wagon, become candidates to parlamentary elections and enter into a political process. Compensations will be paid to all people who suffered death and destruction, prisonners will be freed, most Syrians will put these painful events behind them and the uprising will become a bad memory, just like the Lebanese did after their civil war..
They also seem to accept that some hardliners will continue to use violence but that the Syrians are so tired of this adventure that they will support the government tough control on violent dissidents.
Only time can tell who is right, the analyts predicting civil war and continuous unrest or the government predicting a transition to democracy.
March 20th, 2012, 10:04 pm
Syrialover said:
# 337. OMEN asked why Hadeel al -Ali, the naked woman/ regime advisor, hasn’t been detained and questioned by the US government and at the very least, the tabloid media hounding her, making her life hell?
Whatever’s going on, she’s copping industrial-sized punishment and humiliation as a permanent international figure of suspicion, hatred and dirty jokes. Like Asma’s father, the privileged two-faced life she adored in the west has exploded in dirty disgrace.
She’ll be joining her family in a refugee camp in Iran and slinking up to the scruffy little leader, telling Ahmanidijad how cute he is and emailing sleazy photos of herself.
(TARA, just when you thought you couldn’t feel more nauseated, imagine that).
Hi there Hadeel, hi there Scherehazade. We know you’re out there.
March 20th, 2012, 10:04 pm
DAWOUD said:
339. JAD
“تعددت الاسباب (أو الوسائل) , والموت واحد”
March 20th, 2012, 10:11 pm
ann said:
‘THREE AMIGOS’ Eager for More War – March 20, 2012
The “three amigos” – John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham – are the Senate’s top war hawks, widely admired by the Washington Post’s editors and other neocon voices. But the senators also were cheerleaders for the Iraq disaster and other dubious exploits, ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar recalls.
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/03/20/three-amigos-eager-for-more-war/
The tendentious and careless use of historical comparisons and analogies has long contributed to some of the biggest foreign-policy follies, such as the Vietnam War. Seeing a reincarnated Hitler in a two-bit dictator or a reenacted Munich in a decision to avoid a war has perhaps been the most frequent such misuse of history.
Now three U.S. senators, as described in a sympathetic puff piece by Jackson Diehl, are reaching into more recent history to argue that getting the United States involved in more wars is a good thing and that they themselves have been both courageous and insightful in taking the lead to see that this happens.
The senators — Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John McCain of Arizona — whom their staffers affectionately refer to as the “three amigos,” are most immediately interested in getting the United States involved in the civil war in Syria.
As portrayed by Diehl, the trio’s inspired, bellicose leadership keeps running up against others small-mindedly “playing their usual roles,” including the Pentagon cautioning about how tough some of the proposed combat missions are likely to be and “self-styled ‘realists’ ” pointing out how intervention in a civil conflict may only make it worse.
The amigos’ confidence remains undimmed. “We have a record of being right,” says McCain. The lesson of the recent history is quite simple, says Lieberman. “What it shows is that civil wars we get involved in can be settled more successfully than civil wars where we don’t get involved.” Would that it be that simple.
There are at least three major problems with this use of history:
One is that the situations being discussed are not at all similar. Getting Serbs to stop doing what they were doing in Bosnia or Kosovo is not at all comparable to winning a civil war against a Syrian regime that is fighting for its life and still enjoys substantial backing from domestic elements who fear the alternative.
Second, Diehl and the amigos are too quick to declare what is the right or the wrong side of history in the recent cases they cite. Diehl states that “the consensus in Washington” is that the surge in Iraq “rescued the United States from catastrophe in Iraq and made possible the withdrawal that Obama completed as president last year.”
What consensus? Probably the only conclusion clear enough to warrant that word is that the surge contributed — along with other factors, most notably the Sunni Awakening — to a reduction in the violence in Iraq that peaked in 2006 and 2007. But the surge failed miserably to accomplish its principal declared objective, which was to facilitate political reconciliation among the contending Iraqi factions.
Third, the history being invoked is highly selective. Nowhere in Diehl’s piece is there mention of what was by far the biggest act of military intervention that the three amigos supported. They all voted in 2002 in favor of a Congressional resolution authorizing it. That’s right: the original launching of the Iraq War — the intervention with the trillion-dollar price tag, thousands of American dead, tens of thousands of American wounded and even more Iraqis dead, along with more extensive damage to U.S. interests still being incurred.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 10:18 pm
Ghufran said:
I do not know what is the motive behind denying the obvious: there are thugs and terrorists in Syria from all walks of life who, like their brothers in Iraq, have no agenda but to kill and destroy, the events in Syria,and Iraq before and now, are screaming at our faces, but pride and political considerations are preventing some people from admitting that those thugs and terrorists are not just against the regime, they are against life and peace.
This is not the time to stick to the old rule:
عدو عدوي صديقي
I realize that the regime is politically cashing on those terrorist acts but the price of ignoring those terrorists is much higher than the price of taking a clear position against violence and terrorism.
Keep talking about Asma’s shoes while the motherland will be without shoes and…feet.
March 20th, 2012, 10:23 pm
Tara said:
Bronco
“our opinion does not count”.
To the powerhouses and the decision makers it doesn’t. But what seems to be forgotten is that your opinion should matter to me and mine to you..after all opinions in each other was what have composed the fabric of the Syrian society that’s now being shredded to null. You may disagree because you are not at the receiving end, but hatred has already seeded and started to become deeply rooted. One can easily sense it…
Of course, I meant generic you and generic me.
March 20th, 2012, 10:26 pm
Mawal95 said:
I re-watched again the video I linked to at #335, the Kurds demonstrating in Diyarbakir on 19 Mar 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjGmXsAWr0A . It convinces me the Kurdish problem in Turkey is a real serious political problem and is not going to go away for a very long time. By contrast it also contributes to my conviction that the dissident problem in Syria is not a real serious political problem and it is going to go away soon. Terrorism may linger. But the political problem will not, and that’s simply because the dissidents don’t have popular support — it’s as simple as that.
@ JAD: Thanks once again. You’re the main reason I still visit this dungeon of iniquity.
March 20th, 2012, 10:39 pm
Syrialover said:
I am watching a hardening of Sunni identity and statements by some expatriate Syrians I know who were moderate and low key about religion.
When I asked, one explained it is from anxiety and depression with what is happening. It gives him a strength from others and a way to share his frustration and fury against the regime who he regards as aliens who hate Syrian Sunnis. While he lives outside it makes him feel closer to those back in Syria.
March 20th, 2012, 10:40 pm
Mawal95 said:
Joshua Landis in June 2011: “The Opposition if it’s going to be successful will probably have to exploit the sectarian divisons that exist in Syria and try to get Sunnis to abandon the Alawites. They haven’t done it so far…. The majority Sunnis could abandon the regime, which they haven’t done so far.” http://www.economist.com/node/21521962 . Joshua Landis in January 2012: “The need… to shame Sunni supporters of the regime to defect is moving the Opposition toward a sectarian logic.” http://www.dp-news.com/en/detail.aspx?articleid=110084 . Joshua Landis in March 2012: “In order for the opposition to organize an effective phase II insurgency, it will have to embrace guerrilla warfare and greater Islamization of the resistance. This means Sunni sectarian recruitment…. The SNC must be prepared to embrace a much more stridently Sunni insurgency.” https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13864 .
They haven’t followed Joshua’s advice so far. Here’s a dump of text about why they haven’t.
Syria’s new Consitution, which recently passed by a referendum, says in its Article 8: “No political activity shall be practiced, nor any political organization formed, on a religious or sectarian basis.” How much objecting to that important new clause could be heard from Syrians before or since the referendum? Answer: Practically none. Notably, the Sunni clerical leadership in Syria has no objection. Syria’s Sunni Grand Mufti has said it is “harmless to religion”. The minority sects had no objection either. The main political organizations who are calling for the downfall of the regime, namely the SNC and the NCC, did not go on record objecting to it either, nor do they advocate for more Islamization of the Syrian State in their political statements in general. Most of the Sunni religiously conservative classes did not join the anti-regime demonstrations in year 2011. Neither did the clergy. Most of the Sunni clerical leadership went on record as anti-tumult and pro-civil-process. The Sunni grand mufti Ahmad Hassoun and the Damascus-based Sunni religion professor Ramadan Al-Bouti have been prominently and consistently advocating for the regime’s reform program. There are essentially no prominent Syrian Sunni clerics advocating for an overthrow of the Syrian regime. Most of the people who attended the mosque on Friday this past year did not attend an anti-regime demonstration afterwards, not even if a demonstration was conveniently on offer to them at the doorstep. The neighborhoods in Damascus city with a high concentration of religiously conservative people had only small, and few, demonstrations over the last year. One of the Assad regime’s core constituencies is people who are less religious or who have a more progressive, less doctrinaire, take on religion (Sunni or other). So it is a very big and important achievement that the regime has been able to maintain its support among most of the religiously conservative. Or at least the religious conservatives consciously refused the opportunity to rebel when presented with it this past year. Furthermore the anti-regime protesters out on the streets have been largely and basically free of sectarian slogans and sectarian emblematics, despite the fact that the great bulk of the protesters have been poorly educated Sunnis. That’s another sign that a quasi-religious or quasi-sectarian Sunni political party does not attract broad political support from Sunni hearts and minds. The regime’s recent comprehensive reform of the institutions of State includes a renewed legal ban on religious political parties. Bashar Assad said in December 2011 “no movement that acts under religious slogans and aims to split the Syrian society can hope for legalization.” Syria’s Sunni Grand Mufti, Ahmad Hassoun, has said that this renewed ban on religious political parties is “harmless to religion”. Not much disagreement about that can be found among Syria’s Sunnis, neither among the Establishment Sunnis nor among the protesters on the streets. The social Establishment in Syria of all sects — and in particular the bulk of the better educated Sunnis — do not want to support sectarian politics; they have consciously opted to support governmental secularism as the best framework for harmony among the sects. The type of Sunnis in Syria with the sort of opinion that could create sectarianism are a disreputable minority without realistic hope of changing the minds of the rest. Intermittent concrete examples of sectarian sentiment keep popping up as popular news stories but they aren’t stories about fundamentals. Looking at fundamentals, the most important fundamental is that the religious sects, as such, are not in disagreement over any important policy question, at all. You can’t have sectarian cleavage in the absence of an associated cleavage over one or more important policy questions. Especially not when sectarian parties are banned. The anti-regime protesters have been disproportionately Sunni, almost exclusively Sunni, but at the same time the great majority of Sunnis have not been anti-regime this past year in their observable behaviour. Syria’s Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said in July 2011 that Syria is “immune to sectarianism”. President Bashar Al-Assad said in December 2011 that in year 2011 “a sectarian crisis was never present in Syria…. except in some parts of Homs”. The key reason that Syria is immune to sectarianism is that Syrian society is dominated by an Establishment that is predominantly Sunni, in both the government and private sectors, and the Establishment Sunnis do not want to support sectarian politics or Sunni chauvinism — to their great credit. The great majority of the government cabinet ministers, provincial governors, chairpersons of municipal councils, and other visible public figures of the regime are Sunni in their religion. The religious composition of the Syrian Baath Party is at least 80 percent Sunni. Roughly the same is true among the people who manage the larger private enterprises, the trade unions, the legal system, etc. The religious composition of the country as a whole is 75 percent Sunni. Nothing important can happen or be sustained in Syria if most Sunnis object to it. It is a fact that people who are Sunni in their religion are the main plank of the regime’s support. And this has been continuously true since the very beginning of the regime over four decades ago. Here for instance is Patrick Seale talking about the early days of Hafez Assad’s rule in the early 1970s: “Hafez Assad was not an Alawi sectarian, as his choice of closest associates made clear — his prime minister, defence minister, foreign minister, private secretary, speechwriter and personal bodyguard were all non-Alawis. He still depended on the Alawi community for his security of tenure and ultimate survival.” http://books.google.com/books?id=Z_rlPwgezoUC&pg=PA177&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false . To which I add that Hafez Assad depended on the Sunni community for his security of tenure and ultimate survival to a greater degree. If the Sunni merchant class and/or the Sunni religious establishment had turned against Assad, the Alawis wouldn’t have been numerous enough or organized enough to withstand an onslaught. Hafez Assad had a coalition of all sects. But the Sunnis were the most numerous sect in the coalition and they still are.
March 20th, 2012, 10:48 pm
Ghufran said:
اخر الرجال المحترمين
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqBMARLvZPY ]
نحن لا نعيش في مصر
مصر تعيش فينا
[
March 20th, 2012, 10:48 pm
Tara said:
“You are the main reason I still visit..”
Ah…so cool. Sorry Mawal, I couldn’t hold myself from repeating the phrase. It is very appealing to me. The… Tara in me could not resist.
March 20th, 2012, 10:54 pm
ann said:
Satellite images identify early human settlements – March 21, 2012
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/entertainment/21-Mar-2012/satellite-images-identify-early-human-settlements
WASHINGTONAFP) – An American archaeologist has used satellite images and a computer program to uncover thousands of ancient human settlements in Syria, according to a research study published Monday.
Software developed jointly by Harvard University professor Jason Ur and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers can identify the remains of homes from the satellite images.
The software hones in on discolorations and mounds of soil characteristic of collapsed mud brick houses.
The area examined in the project covered about 14,290 square miles (23,000 square kilometers) in northeastern Syria. The software identified about 9,000 potential archaeological sites, which far exceeds discoveries so far, Ur said.
“I could do this on the ground, but it would probably take me the rest of my life to survey an area this size,” Ur said.
The results of the study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“With these computer science techniques, however, we can immediately come up with an enormous map which is methodologically very interesting, but which also shows the staggering amount of human occupation over the last 7,000 or 8,000 years,” Ur said.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 10:57 pm
ann said:
At UN on Syria, 7 Days Out, New Draft Here, Arria Formula on Thursday
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, March 20 — Tuesday night at the UN, Security Council Ambassadors told Inner City Press about their discussion that afternoon on Syria. “The reporting in seven days is out,” one Permanent Representative said proudly, quickly confirmed by two others. “But Kofi’s six point plan remains in.”
Another Permanent Representative emphasized the switch from “further measures” down to “further steps.”
Later Inner City Press obtained a copy of the revised Presidential Statement, and is putting it online below, where it can be compared with the original version which Inner City Press put online here.
Meanwhile it emerged that Germany has scheduled an “Arria formula” meeting of the Council on Thursday morning, with the head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria. “We should schedule our own Arria formula meeting,” a less pro Western Permanent Representative told Inner City Press.
For the record, Syria’s Perm Rep Bashar Ja’afari told Inner City Press that the side “are still far apart,” and predicted that the French “will be surprised when silence is broken,” before 9 am on Wednesday.
The locus of all this back and forth was the celebration of Nowruz in the General Assembly Tuesday night. Attendees, just from among the Council’s Permanent Five, included Vitaly Churkin of Russia, Deputy Wang of China, Deputy DiCarlo of the USA, and Deputy Briens of France, who told Inner City Press he had not heard about the Arria formula meeting about Syria.
Churkin told Inner City Press that he had been ready to agree earlier on Tuesday. Wittig of Germany told other reporters that it was Russia that asked to check with Moscow. We’ll see.
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1germthurs032012.html
March 20th, 2012, 11:11 pm
ann said:
PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT ON THE JOINT SPECIAL ENVOY on Syria
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1germthurs032012.html
The Security Council recalls its Presidential Statement of 3 August 2011 and its Press Statement of 1 March 2012.
The Security Council expresses its gravest concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria which has resulted in a serious human rights crisis and a deplorable humanitarian situation. The Security Council expresses its profound regret at the death of many thousands of people in Syria.
The Security Council reaffirms its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, and to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
The Security Council welcomes the appointment of Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Kofi Annan, following the General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/253 of 16 February 2012 and relevant resolutions of the League of Arab States.
The Security Council expresses its full support for the efforts of the Envoy to bring an immediate end to all violence and human rights violations, secure humanitarian access, and facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition.
To this aim, the Security Council fully supports the initial six-point proposal submitted to the Syrian authorities, as outlined by the Envoy to the Security Council on 16 March 2012, to:
1) commit to work with the Envoy in an inclusive Syrian-led political process to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people, and, to this end, commit to appoint an empowered interlocutor when invited to do so by the Envoy;
2) commit to stop the fighting and achieve urgently an effective United Nations supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians and stabilize the country. To this end, the Syrian government shall immediately cease troop movements towards, and end the use of heavy weapons in, population centres, and begin pullback of military concentrations in and around population centres. As these actions are being taken on the ground, the Syrian government shall work with the Envoy to bring about a sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties with an effective United Nations supervision mechanism, and similar commitments shall be sought by the Envoy from the opposition and all relevant elements to stop the fighting and work with him to bring about a sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties with an effective United Nations supervision mechanism;
3) ensure timely provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting, and to this end, as immediate steps, to accept and implement a daily two hour humanitarian pause and to coordinate exact time and modalities of the daily pause through an efficient mechanism, including at local level.
4) intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons, including especially vulnerable categories of persons, and persons involved in peaceful political activities, provide without delay through appropriate channels a list of all places in which such persons are being detained, immediately begin organising access to such locations and through appropriate channels respond promptly to all written requests for information, access or release regarding such persons;
5) ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists and a non-discriminatory visa policy for them;
6) respect freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully as legally guaranteed.
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 11:14 pm
Tara said:
Sugar coat it all you want. The truth is not going to change and Joshua Landis has it right. He is being velified for calling things by it’s name. This is a sectarian Alawite regime killing extremely tolerant Sunni Syrians. Of course many of those Sunnis are extremely tolerant because they are financially privileged by the mere presence of this corrupt regime. Had the vast majority not been extremely tolerant, the sectarian Alawi-dominated military and security apparatus would not have been established and sustained.
Sometimes it is extremely stupid to be extremely tolerant. This tolerance is what lead our children to be slaughtered without mercy in Karm al Zeitoun at the hands of the Shabeehas. Burrying our head in the sand isn’t going to do it for us. Appropriate treatment is contingent upon appropriate diagnosis. Bashar al Assad’s army remained loyal because of it’s sectarian built. Argue all you want. The tuth, however, is so apparent. Continue not discussing taboo and remain chronically inflicted with diseases thatbwill eventually spdestroy us all.
March 20th, 2012, 11:14 pm
jad said:
Dear Mawal,
I’m flattered by your words, thank you! I too enjoy reading your logical analysis.
What you wrote about the Syrian religious community and how they react in the last year is absolutely outstanding, accurate and very well written, and enjoyable to read and follow, it reflect the true Syrian society that many ‘experts’ fail to see.
Is it ok with you if I share it with my friends?
I’m seriously impressed, this is the best written analyses I came across in a very very long time.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and analysis.
March 20th, 2012, 11:26 pm
jad said:
A new song to Syria, in Arabic, English and French:
سوريا اللي بتنتصر – آنا هاربويان
http://youtu.be/dI62hUZ8opQ
March 20th, 2012, 11:39 pm
jad said:
Ann
Thank you for sharing the UN statement.
I’m speechless, wasn’t those the exact points the BRICS was calling for since day one at the UNSC, why then the West and the AL khalayjeh puppets kept refusing them.
One question though, who will force the armed militia to stop the attacks?
Bronco, you proved once again to know how to read politics better than anybody else.
March 20th, 2012, 11:53 pm
DAWOUD said:
It is not only the dishonorable al-Assad dynasty that hated/hates Palestinians, but also the Lebanese Amal and Hizb$$$ admirers of Imam Musa al-Sadr. See this article on un-related person, although Musa Sadr and his amdirers’ hate for the Palestinians is mentioned in this article:
http://middleeast.atspace.com/article_4147.html
Fouad Ajami – The Native Informant
by ADAM SHATZ
The Nation
from the April 28, 2003 issue
Late last August, at a reunion of Korean War veterans in San Antonio, Texas, Dick Cheney tried to assuage concerns that a unilateral, pre-emptive war against Iraq might “cause even greater troubles in that part of the world.” He cited a well-known Arab authority: “As for the reaction of the Arab street, the Middle East expert Professor Fouad Ajami predicts that after liberation in Basra and Baghdad, the streets are sure to erupt in joy.” As the bombs fell over Baghdad, just before American troops began to encounter fierce Iraqi resistance, Ajami could scarcely conceal his glee. “We are now coming into acquisition of Iraq,” he announced on CBS News the morning of March 22. “It’s an amazing performance.”
If Hollywood ever makes a film about Gulf War II, a supporting role should be reserved for Ajami, the director of Middle East Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. His is a classic American success story. Born in 1945 to Shiite parents in the remote southern Lebanese village of Arnoun and now a proud naturalized American, Ajami has become the most politically influential Arab intellectual of his generation in the United States. Condoleezza Rice often summons him to the White House for advice, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, a friend and former colleague, has paid tribute to him in several recent speeches on Iraq. Although he has produced little scholarly work of value, Ajami is a regular guest on CBS News, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, and a frequent contributor to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. His ideas are also widely recycled by acolytes like Thomas Friedman and Judith Miller of the Times.
Ajami’s unique role in American political life has been to unpack the unfathomable mysteries of the Arab and Muslim world and to help sell America’s wars in the region. A diminutive, balding man with a dramatic beard, stylish clothes and a charming, almost flirtatious manner, he has played his part brilliantly. On television, he radiates above-the-frayness, speaking with the wry, jaded authority that men in power admire, especially in men who have risen from humble roots. Unlike the other Arabs, he appears to have no ax to grind. He is one of us; he is the good Arab.
Ajami’s admirers paint him as a courageous gadfly who has risen above the tribal hatreds of the Arabs, a Middle Eastern Spinoza whose honesty has earned him the scorn of his brethren. Commentary editor-at-large Norman Podhoretz, one of his many right-wing American Jewish fans, writes that Ajami “has been virtually alone in telling the truth about the attitude toward Israel of the people from whom he stems.” The people from whom Ajami “stems” are, of course, the Arabs, and Ajami’s ethnicity is not incidental to his celebrity. It lends him an air of authority not enjoyed by non-Arab polemicists like Martin Kramer and Daniel Pipes. But Ajami is no gadfly. He is, in fact, entirely a creature of the American establishment. His once-luminous writing, increasingly a blend of Naipaulean clichés about Muslim pathologies and Churchillian rhetoric about the burdens of empire, is saturated with hostility toward Sunni Arabs in general (save for pro-Western Gulf Arabs, toward whom he is notably indulgent), and to Palestinians in particular. He invites comparison with Henry Kissinger, another émigré intellectual to achieve extraordinary prominence as a champion of American empire. Like Kissinger, Ajami has a suave television demeanor, a gravitas-lending accent, an instinctive solicitude for the imperatives of power and a cool disdain for the weak. And just as Kissinger cozied up to Nelson Rockefeller and Nixon, so has Ajami attached himself to such powerful patrons as Laurence Tisch, former chairman of CBS; Mort Zuckerman, the owner of US News & World Report; Martin Peretz, a co-owner of The New Republic; and Leslie Gelb, head of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Despite his training in political science, Ajami often sounds like a pop psychologist in his writing about the Arab world or, as he variously calls it, “the world of Araby,” “that Arab world” and “those Arab lands.” According to Ajami, that world is “gripped in a poisonous rage” and “wedded to a worldview of victimology,” bad habits reinforced by its leaders, “megalomaniacs who never tell their people what can and cannot be had in the world of nations.” There is, to be sure, a grain of truth in Ajami’s grim assessment. Progressive Arab thinkers from Sadeq al-Azm to Adonis have issued equally bleak indictments of Arab political culture, lambasting the dearth of self-criticism and the constant search for external scapegoats. Unlike these writers, however, Ajami has little sympathy for the people of the region, unless they happen to live within the borders of “rogue states” like Iraq, in which case they must be “liberated” by American force. The corrupt regimes that rule the Arab world, he has suggested, are more or less faithful reflections of the “Arab psyche”: “Despots always work with a culture’s yearnings…. After all, a hadith, a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, maintains ‘You will get the rulers you deserve.'” His own taste in regimes runs to monarchies like Kuwait. The Jews of Israel, it seems, are not just the only people in the region who enjoy the fruits of democracy; they are the only ones who deserve them.
Once upon a time, Ajami was an articulate and judicious critic both of Arab society and of the West, a defender of Palestinian rights and an advocate of decent government in the Arab world. Though he remains a shrewd guide to the hypocrisies of Arab leaders, his views on foreign policy now scarcely diverge from those of pro-Israel hawks in the Bush Administration. “Since the Gulf War, Fouad has taken leave of his analytic perspective to play to his elite constituency,” said Augustus Richard Norton, a Middle East scholar at Boston University. “It’s very unfortunate because he could have made an astonishingly important contribution.”
[…]
March 20th, 2012, 11:58 pm
ann said:
355. jad said:
Ann
Thank you for sharing the UN statement.
With pleasure JAD
By the way, the video portraying the ANGELS behaving badly reached the 90,000+ viewers mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9WkrEo1O6k
Peace
March 20th, 2012, 11:59 pm
Dawoud said:
p.s.
Dear Moderator:
My last comment on Musa al-Sadr’s troubling hate for the Palestinians is somewhat not published here. Why?
March 20th, 2012, 11:59 pm
Pirouz said:
The SNC’s failure to negotiate with the regime when it could have – based to a large extent on its own fears of losing Western patronage – doomed it to the path of irrelevance.
They bought their own triumphalist narrative. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t factor in the resilience and overwhelming firepower of the Syrian Army. Nor did they adequately factor in the resistance of the Russians and Chinese at the UNSC.
Now the Syrian regime is actively engaged in a hard-fisted military solution.
As I’ve stated previously, supply is a critical shortcoming of the FSyA. Here’s confirmation:
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-outgunned-struggling-supplies-205645118.html
Yes, there will be continued violence in the months and possibly years ahead, the dimensions of which will more closely mirror the Algerian experience of the 1990s, than that of Lebanon or Iraq. And remember who ultimately won that struggle.
March 21st, 2012, 12:28 am
ann said:
Kony 2012 and the promotion of “humanitarian” wars – 21 March 2012
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/pers-m21.shtml
Kony 2012, the 30-minute propaganda video advocating US military intervention in Africa, has become something of a debacle for its creators and media supporters. Millions of people have read and viewed responses debunking the film’s assertions, and some of its early cheerleaders have felt obliged to backpedal and adopt a critical attitude toward it.
The motive for the Obama administration’s endorsement of the Kony video is no different from that which led it to escalate the neo-colonial occupation of Afghanistan, carry out a war for regime-change in Libya, and threaten Syria: the drive to control strategic areas of the world for the enrichment of US banks and corporations.
The US intervention in Uganda is only the continuation of a process that came into full swing with the 1995 bombing by the United States and NATO of Serb forces in Bosnia, the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, the more recent bombing of Libya, and the civil war stoked up by the US in Syria.
The grounds for military intervention under humanitarian cover are being prepared in the same fashion against Syria, where the regime of Bashar al-Assad is being subjected to a barrage of propaganda and sanctions by the United States in preparation for some form of intervention, either through NATO or the Arab sheikdoms.
These wars have been facilitated by the sharp movement to the right of the middle-class political organizations that previously dominated the anti-war protest movement. Since the election of Obama, liberal publications like the Nation and pseudo-left groups like the International Socialist Organization have openly or tacitly supported imperialist interventions carried out in the name of human rights. They have become leading protagonists of imperialist war and neo-colonial plunder, moving into action virtually on signal to oppose whichever regime is newly targeted for removal by the US military and State Department.
Far from being a force for peace, the US government is the greatest propagator of war, poverty and social misery. It does not respond to or represent the humanitarian and democratic impulses of the people, but seeks only to exploit these sentiments and channel them behind support for military conquest.
[…]
March 21st, 2012, 12:34 am
majedkhaldoun said:
There was several bombs, today, in Iraq, many people died, we should not forget that the Arab League summit is going to be held on 29 of March,nine days from today, and let us not forget that Syrian regime is not invited,
Someone must be responsible for these bombs, it is not the work of one person, it is the work of a group that wants the AL meeting to fail, Syria is not invited, more bombs will certainly force Arab Leaders not to attend such meeting, just like Syria is not going to be there.
March 21st, 2012, 12:48 am
ann said:
360. Pirouz said:
They bought their own triumphalist narrative.
.
.
They drank their own Kool-Aid 😀
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
.
March 21st, 2012, 12:53 am
mjabali said:
Comment #353
The Alawis got into the army not because of Sunni’s tolerance. This “tolerance” claim is a fable because the Sunnis were never “tolerant” towards the Alawis. They never consider them Muslims, so where the tolerant attitude is going to come from.
Maybe the era after World War II and up till the 1980’s things were different in terms of the limited popularity of the Salafi ideas we know today.
But, the Alawi vs Sunnis, plus the Sunni vs Shia came back in full swing with the fights between al-Assad and the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1970’s and 1980’s plus with the rise of the Militant Salafi ideas that started gaining popularity helped with the petro dollars. Remember that in the 1950’s the Wahabi oil producing states were getting a cent per barrel from the Western companies that monopolized the whole oil industry. The history of oil in the Middle East should be studied hand in hand with the history of the rise of militant Islam.
The non-tolerant attitude came back to dominate the Sunni’s views about the Alawis and all others. Nowadays I think i live in Ibn Taymiyah 14th C. days because of the hatred coming from certain Muslims towards the Alawis.
The Sunnis and throughout history never let the Alawis get into the army. They never let them do a thing.
France came and let the Alawis for the first time into the Syrian army. France is the one who gave them this chance.
After the independence from France Sunnis dominated the army still. They, as we know, started staging one coups after the other. What made them lose their grip to the Alawis was not because of their attitude but because of historic realities that made the Sunnis lose most of their high ranked officers in the consecutive coups and trouble in Syria. So, when the Alawis officers started getting high positions it was after the 1963 and 1966 events.
One story sticks out from the 1950’s and which is the story of Mohammad Nasser the first high ranking Alawi officer. He was assassinated in Damascus and his killers went free. He was a general when he was killed. Then came the wave of persecution the Alawis got when Adnan al-Maliki was assassinated in 1955.
The Alawis were not a factor in the Army till after the 1963 March “revolution,” which brought al-Baath. Umran and Jadeed came but other than them there were very few Alawi ranking officers, Hafez al-Assad was one of them. He managed to be appointed a Defense Minister. At that moment, the Syrian Army was way too small compared with its size now. Syria was probably around 5 to 6 millions back then.
When Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970/1971, then he started collecting Alawi officers to be his trusted men. He is the first to do this for safety reasons. Remember that in the Middle East the Army is what is going to make sure that you rule.
So, to sum things up: it was because of luck and historic realities that Alawis were able to take control over the Army. The myth of the tolerance of the Sunnis towards them never did and will never exist.
March 21st, 2012, 12:54 am
jad said:
This is a bad news for FSA, because the moment any media link it to Alqaeda it will be the end of its reputation and will taint the reputation of any country that supports it as Alqaeda supporter, (ksa and qatar).
Ghadban was in a bit weak position defending the violence movement, unnecessary denying the advanced weapons the ‘angels’ use and the existence of radical foreign fighters. To top it of he attacked Russia on a Russian TV, how smart is that?
I still don’t understand the useless strategy of many opposition members to deny the obvious when everybody already know the reality.
الجيش السوري الحر والقاعدة
http://arabic.rt.com/prg/telecast/657169/
هل يصِحّ القول بأن الغرب والعرب في الصراع ضد نظام لأسد ومن خلال تأييد الجيش السوري الحر يساهمون في الواقع في جلب القاعدة إلى سورية بشكل غير مباشر، حيث تتسع حاليا دائرة النشاط المسلح لمقاتليها؟ فهل يسيطر المجلس الوطني السوري على أذرعه المسلحة، ناهيك عن جماعات مقاتلة منفردة تدعي الانتماء إلى الجيش السوري الحر، في حين أنها لا تمتّ بصلة إلى المعارضة السورية؟
معلومات حول الموضوع:
غياب الحل السياسي للمأساة السورية واستمرار المواجهة الدموية بين السلطة والمعارضة يوفران، مع الأسف الشديد، الظروف الملائمة لتسلل عناصر “القاعدة” وما يماثلها من الجماعات الجهادية المتطرفة الى البلاد. وتغدو سورية مركز جذب للمقاتلين من العراق وليبيا، بعد ان توفرت لهم فرصة المشاركة في الحرب الجديدة بتمويل وإسناد عسكري من القوى الخارجية. وبالتالي تواجه نية قطر والمملكة العربية السعودية في تسليح المعارضة السورية لمقاتلة الجيش النظامي السوري إشكالية كبيرة، طالما ان قسما من الأسلحة يقع، بقصد او بدون قصد، في أيدي الجهاديين الراديكاليين.
اما المجلس الوطني السوري فهو في الواقع لا يسيطر على عمليات الجيش السوري الحر، ناهيك عن تحمل مسؤولية افعال مقاتلي “القاعدة” الذين يعلنون عن انتمائهم الى جيش الثوار، دون ان تكون لهم في الحقيقة علاقة بالمعارضة السورية.
ولذا تميل الدول الغربية الى الدعم المعنوي والدبلوماسي للثوار السوريين اكثر من المسارعة الى تسليحهم. وقد اعلنت وزيرة الخارجية الأميركية هيلاري كلينتون ان واشنطن لا تستطيع حتى الآن ان تفهم من الذي يمثل المعارضة السورية ومع من ينبغي الدخول في حوار؟ ومن ناحية أخرى يطرح السؤال نفسه: كيف تصل الأسلحة العصرية والمعدات العسكرية الغربية الى الثوار، وخصوصا راجمات القذائف المضادة للدبابات وأجهزة الرؤية الحرارية ومنظومات الرصد والمراقبة عبر الأقمار الإصطناعية.
وقد دفع تصعيد العنف في سورية، وبخاصة تصاعد عمليات مقاتلي القاعدة ، امين عام الأمم المتحدة بان كي مون الى الإعتراف بأن تسليح المعارضة لا يساعد على حل الأزمة السورية. وعلى هذه الخلفية نسقت روسيا وجامعة الدول العربية موقفا مشتركا بخصوص سورية يطالب بوقف العنف من جميع الأطراف ووضع ترتبيات مراقبة والحيلولة دون التدخل الأجنبي ، الى جانب البدء بحوار بين الحكومة وجميع أطياف المعارضة. وإذا طبقت بنود هذا الموقف المشترك فلربما تتوفر الفرصة للعثور على مخرج سياسي عتيد من الطريق المسدود والأزمة التي يدفع فاتورتها وبثمن حياتهم المواطنون السوريون.
March 21st, 2012, 1:01 am
jad said:
Dear Haytham, you may need to take in consideration what Bassam wrote, it’s very true, genuine and original:
Bassam AlKadi- بسام القاضي
كتب أنور يونان (Anwar Younan)
“أنت تطالب بسقوط نظام الاستبداد وتشتم وتسفّه وتخوّن كل يطالب بسقوطه !”
ما فات أنور يونان (وكثيرون/ات غيره) أن إسقاط النظام ليس “غاية الغايات”، ولا هو “الحل السحري”، وليس هدفا لا يعلو عليه هدف.
أي: الغاية لا تبرر أبدا الوسيلة.
بل أيضا: الغاية لا تبرر أبدا غايات أخرى.
وحتى اليوم، أستطيع القول أن أغلبية الجهات التي تقول بإسقاط النظام (الجهات وليس الأشخاص)، هي جهات:
1- لا تمتلك أي تعريف واضح لما يعنيه “إسقاط النظام”.
2- لا تمتلك أي برنامج واضح لما بعد إسقاط النظام.
3- لا تأخذ بالحسبان ملايين السوريين/ات (ملايين حقيقية وليست أوهاما) من المؤيدين للنظام كما هو، ومثلهم من المؤيدين للنظام مع تعديلات أساسية.
4- لا تتخذ أية مواقف واضحة من جهات أخرى عديدة في الساحة (المرتزقة المتسمين باسم “الجيش السوري الحر”، الخونة والعملاء المتسمين باسم “المجلس الوطني”، الوهابية والسلفية وحتى القاعدة التي باتت أصوات أسلحتها تعلو على كل شيء). فيما مواقفها واضحة من كل ما ينسب للنظام، سواء كان حقيقيا أم لا.
وفي أحسن الحالات، هي تتكلم كلاما عموميا غير محدد عن “رفض العنف” و”رفض التسليح”.. كما لو لم يكن العنف وقعا تقوم به أطراف محددة، وكما لو لم يكن السلاح هو الصوت الوحيد الآن على ساحة الفعل.
5- تتبنى، صراحة أو مواربة، مواقف وآراء تتناقض تماما مع مفاهيم الديمقراطية والمواطنة والمدنية (الدعوات والبيانات والمواقف التي تستند إلى “أغلبية وأقليات” دينية وطائفية، البيانات والمواقف الطائفية، والموجهة طائفيا، التي تدعو إلى الانتفاض ضد النظام، العقوبات الاقتصادية التي تطال الشعب وليس النظام….).
6- وغالبا هي لا تقوم بأي عمل على أرض الواقع، ولا تغادر مكاتبها إلا إلى مؤتمرات وما شابه.
إذا: كيف يمكن أن تريد سورية ديمقراطية مدنية، أي تريد إسقاط هذا النظام الديكتاتوري القمعي (النظام وليس الدولة والوطن)، وبناء مواطنة حقيقية، ثم تصمت أو تميع كل هذه القضايا؟!
مثلما لم يكن شعار “الإسلام هو الحل”، وشعار “الاشتراكية هي الحل” سوى شعارات تتضمن أسوأ ما في العقل الغيبي من أفكار وممارسات.. فإن شعارات مثل “الديمقراطية هي الحل” و”إسقاط النظام هو الحل”، هي كذلك..
“الثورة” الوحيدة التي نجحت في التاريخ بدون مثل هذه الاعتبارات هي “الثورة الفرنسية”، أو ما يجدر تسميتها بـ”المجزرة الفرنسية”.
واليوم،أكثر من أي يوم مضى، لم يعد مقبولا مثل تلك “الثورات”. لأن اليوم هو يوم تشابك القوى والعوامل محليا واقليميا ودوليا. وهو يوم أنجز فيه البشر الكثير من التطور على مستوى المفاهيم والآليات معا، والأهم على مستوى الحقوق، بما يتناقض مع تلك الثورة-المجزرة.
البرامج الواضحة والدقيقة، الآليات الواضحة والدقيقة، هي فقط التي تجعل هذا الفعل أو ذاك ديمقراطيا، وطنيا، مدنيا… الخ.. أو لا. وليست الشعارات.
https://www.facebook.com/alkadi.bassam/posts/414499825233976
March 21st, 2012, 1:14 am
ann said:
365. jad said:
This is a bad news for FSA, because the moment any media link it to Alqaeda it will be the end of its reputation and will taint the reputation of any country that support it as Alqaeda supporter, (ksa and qatar).
.
.
JAD, you forgot the FSAs mid-wife our toothless paper tiger erdogan!
.
March 21st, 2012, 1:15 am
jad said:
Ann,
LOLOL…Sorry!!
I totally forgot, Erdo is the ‘Sultan’ of all those ‘angels’
March 21st, 2012, 1:43 am
ann said:
France waters down proposed Security Council statement on Syria in bid to win Russian support – 36 minutes ago
http://www.newser.com/article/d9tkm1qo1/france-waters-down-proposed-security-council-statement-on-syria-in-bid-to-win-russian-support.html
The original draft presidential statement would have called on the council to review implementation of Annan’s six-point proposal in seven days and consider “further measures” _ which could include sanctions or military action _ if there wasn’t sufficient progress.
But a revised draft circulated late Tuesday and obtained by The Associated Press drops this threat and instead asks Annan to update the council regularly on the progress of his mission. “In the light of these reports, the Security Council will consider further steps as appropriate,” the new draft said.
Security Council ambassadors discussed the text behind closed doors Tuesday and then sent it back to their capitals. If there are no objections by 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) Wednesday, diplomats said the statement will be read by the council president, Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, at an open meeting later in the day, signifying its adoption.
A presidential statement, which needs approval from all 15 Security Council members, becomes part of the council’s permanent record. But unlike a council resolution, it is not legally binding.
[…]
March 21st, 2012, 1:43 am
Alan said:
WikiLeaked: Ex-Blackwater ‘helps regime change’ in Syria
A US government-contracted private security firm is helping the Syrian opposition to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime, leaked Stratfor emails indicate. The same firm earlier operated extensively in Libya.
The private military company SCG International had been contracted to engage the Turkey-based Syrian opposition, according to correspondence released by WikiLeaks.
Their assignment was called a “fact finding mission”, but “the true mission is how they can help in regime change,”an email addressed to Stratfor VP for counter-terrorism Fred Burton says.
The source reporting the info is most reliable – it is SCG Chief Executive James F. Smith, who used to be director of notorious company Blackwater, now known as Academi. In a separate message Smith introduces himself to Stratfor as having background in CIA and heading a company “comprised of former DOD, CIA and former law enforcement personnel.”
SCG’s mission with the Syrian opposition is said to have “air cover from Congresswoman [Sue] Myrick,” a Republican lawmaker from North Carolina, who is a member of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The body is charged with overseeing the American intelligence community.
The email adds that Smith “intends to offer his services to help protect the opposition members, like he had underway in Libya.”
Smith has an extensive record of sharing intelligence with Stratfor, according the Al-Akhbar, the Lebanese daily newspaper, which is one of the media outlets chosen by WikiLeaks as an information partner for disclosure of private Stratfor emails.
The security contractor provided insider data on services he provided to members of the Libyan National Transitional Council during the 2011 uprising, the search for the portable surface-to-air missiles that went missing during the civil war there, and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, among other things.
The trail on email ends in mid-December, days before Stratfor mail servers were reportedly hacked by the hacking group Anonymous. The WikiLeaks whistleblower website began publishing the emails, apparently handed over to it by the hacker team, in late February.
The US has been increasingly dependent on private contractors like SCG, outsourcing functions to them that were previously fulfilled by regular troops. Employees of these “modern mercenaries” provide services like personal and area security, intelligence gathering and recruit training in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Critics of the practice say such firms lack accountability and allow the government to carry out “black op” tasks while being able to deny any involvement.
http://rt.com/news/stratfor-syria-regime-change-063/
March 21st, 2012, 2:55 am
Alan said:
‘West to launch package war in Middle East’
The West will launch a package war against Iran, Syria and Hezbollah as soon as they decide what to do with the Iranian nuclear program, Abdel Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of a London-based Arabic newspaper told RT in an interview.
Atwan also believes the West is not intervening in Syria because they are waiting to decide whether they are going to bomb Iran or not.
The editor of Al Quds al Arabi newspaper noted: “If they have decided to bomb Iran I think they will bomb Iran and Syria and Hezbollah. I think they will launch a package war.”
“I believe the war will take place, the question is when? The Israeli and the Americans do agree there will be a war. But the difference is about the timing of this war. It could be either before the American presidential election or after it. The Israeli want it before the election, the American will like to wait until they finish this election,” he said.
Atwan explained that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad falls it would be easier for the West to intervene in Iran, as it would mean the West had managed to secure the front against Israel.
“They could neutralize tens of thousands of Syrian missiles and war planes, which could participate in any war against Iran, but in order to that you have to invade in Syria which is a very complicated and costly adventure.”
The journalist is sure that nothing but the Iranian deadlock could make Syria a military target.
“The West intervened in the Arab world to change regime twice – in Iraq and Libya, because there are huge oil reserves there. But here are no oil reserves in Syria, so who will compensate the West their losses?” he wonders.
http://rt.com/news/west-war-syria-iran-065/
March 21st, 2012, 2:57 am
Alan said:
OBAMA EXPANDS USE OF SHADOW SOLDIERS
MARCH 18, 2012
http://americanfreepress.net/?p=3255
•U.S. Special Operations Command: 66,000 elite soldiers to wage covert war
By Richard Walker
Barack Obama’s concept of modern warfare is to wage a global battle of attrition in secret against Washington’s enemies using elite American soldiers. So far, he has authorized the positioning of Special Forces teams in more than 100 countries. The State Department acknowledges that there are 196 countries on the planet. This means U.S. Special Forces are stationed in more than half of the nations around the world.
…………..
March 21st, 2012, 4:05 am
Alan said:
200.
I can not understand! what value has a this comment?
Can on any garbage to a ballot box be nasty phrases
March 21st, 2012, 5:51 am
Alan said:
Toulouse hunt: Kalashnikov-armed ‘scooter-shooter’ trapped in house
http://rt.com/news/toulouse-shooting-police-suspect-076/
Any progress on Syrian track held back immediately
Lavrov calls for preventing arms smuggling to Syria
Special envoy of UN, LAS Kofi Annan to visit Moscow
Moscow ready to support suggestions of Kofi Annan on Syria – Lavrov
http://www.itar-tass.com/
March 21st, 2012, 6:17 am
Juergen said:
Not enough that 1982 the old city of Hama was left in ruins including the old castle, whats left is now subject to shelling.
March 21st, 2012, 6:54 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Comment # 364 has many many wrong informations and Claims.
Mjabali mentioned that Alawis were not tolerated since Ibn Taymieyeh, the facts are that Alawis since then they hated Sunni, and killed many Sunni leaders they made themselves hated, many facts in history proved that they cooperated with Monguls and yes with the crusaders against the Sunni, during Ottoman empire it was not Sunni Syrians against Alawis, it was Turks against Syrians, and after 1945, Allawis were allowed to enter the army and even reach high ranking position,yet Mjabali calls this intolerence,He attribute that to luck, they were not treated differently from people in the northeast Syria, or people in Horan area, Mjabali mentioned that Nasser,Umran Jedid and Hafiz assad were in high ranking position in 1963, yet he calls that sunni intolerence,There were many marriages between Sunni and Alawis, many agriculture projects were done in their area, teachers were brought to their area from educated Sunni to the open schools and allow them to enter equally all kinds of jobs, there was never any bad feeling about them as a sect, during the 40s and up till 1970, the alawi were allowed to be in president position since 1970 till now ,a long 42 years and yet he call that sunni intolerence, the truth is that since 1970 till now the Alawis treated the Sunni in very intolerent way and now the Alawis are killing thousands of Sunni, the Alawis never tolerated sunni in power.
Misinformations will never convince smart people.
March 21st, 2012, 7:31 am
mjabali said:
Here is a link to the massacre that I mentioned yesterday. It happened in Hasibah حسيبة an Alawi village next to the hotbed of al-Qasir. 14 Alawis were killed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkX5akBWtWs
It is obvious also that al-Assad’s army is preparing to retaliate.
Here is a link to an anti Assad news outlet stating what is about to happen:
http://syrfuture.com/?p=26916
March 21st, 2012, 7:32 am
Alan said:
376. JUERGEN
propoganda!
1-damage of a fortress is absent!
2-explosion by the form occurred from the explosive saved up in the earth!
stop to do cheap tricks fondly.
March 21st, 2012, 7:42 am
DAWOUD said:
# 359.: “Thank you for not barking at staff”
Dear Moderator:
No, I don’t bark like dogs. Even if I did, I wouldn’t bark at you and I would leave all the parking to the brainwashed Americans Hasan Nasr$$$ basement, who seem NOT to have a life other than posting pro-dictator propaganda on “Syria Comment!” I work and I have a wife and children. I don’t have time to be “barking” on SC 24/7 like the brain-washed pro-Hasan/Bashar American in Beirut 🙂
March 21st, 2012, 8:14 am
DAWOUD said:
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/847b9216-5de0-45bf-8e14-44c7c716d7c0?GoogleStatID=1
استمرار قصف ضواحي دمشق وحمص وحماة
واصل الجيش السوري النظامي اليوم قصفه أحياء في حمص وحماة في وقت تعرضت فيه المنطقة القريبة من الطريق الدولي في حرستا بريف دمشق للقصف، بينما أفادت الهيئة العامة للثورة السورية بأنه عُثر على 39 جثة في حي الرفاعي بحمص بينها 19 جثة لأفراد من عائلة واحدة. بعد يوم قتل فيه ستون شخصا برصاص الأمن والجيش.
وذكر ناشطون أن قوات النظام واصلت قصفها حيي الحميدية والأربعين بحماة وأن الأهالي لا يتمكنون من نقل الجرحى إلى المشافي التي تعاني نقصا في المستلزمات الطبية.
وبث ناشطون معارضون على مواقع الثورة السورية صورا قالوا إنها التقطت صباح اليوم في حي الخالدية بمدينة حمص، وتظهر الصور تصاعد دخان وأصوات انفجارات يقولون إنها ناجمة عن قصف قوات النظام للحي الذي تجدد صباح اليوم.
أما في دمشق فأكد نشطاء المعارضة أن ضاحيتين كبيرتين من ضواحي المدينة تعرضتا لقصف مكثف بقذائف الدبابات والطائرات اليوم الأربعاء في أعقاب تجدد هجمات الجيش السوري الحر على القوات الموالية للرئيس بشار الأسد التي استعادت المنطقة من المعارضين قبل شهرين.
وقال ناشطون إنه سمع صباح اليوم دوي انفجارات قرب مخفر للشرطة في حي ركن الدين وفي حي القابون بالعاصمة دمشق، وإن الحواجز الأمنية قرب فرع فلسطين للمخابرات أطلقت النار بشكل عشوائي.
وأضاف الناشطون أن قذائف المدافع الثقيلة والمدافع المضادة للطائرات أصابت ضاحيتي حرستا وعربين خلال الليل وأن مروحيات الجيش سمعت وهي تحلق فوق المنطقة على المشارف الشرقية للعاصمة.
عشرات الاشخاص قتلوا في قصف إدلب (الجزيرة)
قتلى
وقالت الهيئة العامة للثورة السورية إن ستين شخصاً على الأقل قتلوا أمس برصاص قوات الجيش والأمن، معظمهم في حمص وحماة وإدلب.
وتحدثت الشبكة عن مقتل 23 شخصا على الأقل في حمص بينهم طفلة ووالداها, وأشارت إلى مقتل خمسة في ريف دمشق, وثلاثة في حماة, واثنين في دير الزور, وواحد في كل من إدلب وحلب واللاذقية ودمشق.
قصف واقتحامات
وأكدت الهيئة العامة للثورة السورية ولجان التنسيق المحلية تعرض أحياء حمص القديمة والخالدية وباب السباع والبياضة والصفصافة للقصف.
وقالت لجان التنسيق إن الجيش قصف باب السباع بصواريخ حرارية، مما أدى إلى تهدم بنايات ومقتل وجرح عدد من السكان, كما استهدف قصف مماثل حي القصور.
وكان عضو مجلس الثورة السورية وليد الفارس قد صرح في وقت سابق الثلاثاء للجزيرة بأن أربعة أشخاص على الأقل قتلوا في حي الخالدية جراء القصف العنيف للحي منذ فجر اليوم بقذائف الهاون.
وبشكل متزامن تقريبا, تعرضت مدينة الرستن وقرية النزارية لقصف بالأسلحة الثقيلة حسب الناشطين.
وقال ناشطون إن القصف تركز على أحياء الحميدية والشرقية ومشاع، وبلدة قلعة المضيق وقرى
[…]
March 21st, 2012, 8:25 am
DAWOUD said:
P.S.,
I hope that the brainwashed American does not have children because posting pro-Bashar/Hasan propaganda 24/7 while neglecting children, is clearly child abuse!
March 21st, 2012, 8:37 am
zoo said:
Turkey impotent and trapped ?
What to do about Syria? Turkey wavers
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA | Associated Press – 37 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-turkey-wavers-072829776.html
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey stands at the forefront of calls for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but there are an awful lot of red lines that it won’t cross to realize that goal.
Like its Western allies, Turkey says it won’t arm outgunned Syrian rebels, and has no plans to set up a buffer zone in neighboring Syria where civilians and army defectors can shelter and regroup.
The result? A stalemate in which diplomacy and ritual condemnations pale alongside the uninterrupted killing, and fears of wider, regional chaos preclude bolder action on the ground.
…
Another commentator, Semih Idiz, wrote in Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News that Turkey had painted itself into a corner on Syria because it wrongly anticipated that the uprising would not last so long and Assad would be toppled sooner.
“The bottom line is that al-Assad — albeit in the most appallingly inhuman way — has thus far outfoxed Erdogan and Davutoglu, and it seems he will be around for much longer than Ankara expected or is prepared for,” Idiz wrote.
March 21st, 2012, 9:02 am
zoo said:
A Sunni Islamist terrorist group claims the attacks in Damascus, with “God’s will”
http://news.yahoo.com/un-chief-syria-unrest-could-global-impact-122318457.html
….
In a statement posted Wednesday on a militant website, an Islamist group called the Al-Nusra Front to Protect the Levant claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings in Damascus on Saturday. The blasts, which targeted the air force intelligence building and the criminal security department, killed at least 27 people, the state-run news agency said.
The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of Wednesday’s statement, which said the attacks were in retaliation for the Syrian regime’s shelling of residential areas in opposition strongholds in Homs, Idlib, Hama and Daraa.
“We tell the (Syrian) regime to stop the massacres against the Sunnis, otherwise, you will bear the sin of the Alawites,” the Al-Nusra Front said. “What is coming is more bitter and painful, with God’s will.”
The group also has claimed responsibility for earlier suicide attacks.
Al-Qaida’s involvement could further fuel the sectarian tensions that the uprising already has stoked.
Al-Qaida’s supporters are largely Sunni Muslim extremists
(..)
March 21st, 2012, 9:07 am
Tara said:
Has anyone heard about Al- Nusra group in the past? Are they just created? How do we know they are not a “fake” group created by the regime to claim responsibility for the attacks?
March 21st, 2012, 9:21 am
zoo said:
“If the delayed Arab Spring eventually reaches Saudi Arabia, it will likely be a bloody affair.”
No Saudi Spring
By Madawi Al-Rasheed
March 21, 2012
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2012/03/21/no_saudi_arab_spring_99971-5.html
…
“Frustration among Saudis has deep roots. Since the start of his reign in 2005, King Abdullah has promised reform. But, despite those promises, Saudi Arabia remains an oil corporation run by a large royal dynasty. The regime has much in common with a private family business: it subcontracts certain functions to outsiders, who in turn develop a vested interest in the firm’s success. For example, Saudi Arabia subcontracts its security to the United States and other Western players that rely on its oil.”
…
Inside Saudi Arabia, the regime’s first line of defense against the planned March 11 protests was to mobilize anti-Shia sentiment and official Wahhabist religion. Religious leaders supported the regime in two complementary ways.
First, Wahhabi religious scholars warned from the minarets that the wrath of God would be inflicted on demonstrators. On March 7, the Council of Higher Ulama, the senior official religious authority, issued a fatwa against protests. Thousands of hard copies were distributed in mosques and neighborhoods, and digital versions made the rounds online. All local newspapers reported on it favorably.
Second, official religious scholars warned of an Iranian-Shia conspiracy directed by Saudi exiles in London and Washington and the Shia in the Eastern Province to cause fitna (chaos) and divide the country. The officials relied on conventional Wahhabi condemnations of the Shia, historically depicted as heretics and more recently as an Iranian fifth column. They reminded the believers of the need for ijma, consensus around the pious rulers of the country, and warned that protests would lead to fragmentation and bloody civil war.
…
In addition to these secular gifts, the king funded new religious centers to spread the Wahhabi message and Hanbali jurisprudence, the predominant school of religious law among Saudi Sunnis. The new facilities will encourage the memorizing of the Qur’an and missionary work inside and outside Saudi Arabia. The goals are not solely pious. The religious police, who saw their own slice of the extra funding, don’t only monitor public morality-they also spy on the population. And, with more jobs available, the religious bureaucracy will be able to absorb religious graduates who are of no use to modern economies.
…
If the delayed Arab Spring eventually reaches Saudi Arabia, it will likely be a bloody affair. Violent opposition is nothing new in Saudi Arabia, where jihadis have fought the state since 2003, and regime opponents took up arms in 1927, 1965, and 1979. In the absence of a tradition of peaceful protest and in the face of religiously sanctioned bans on even nonviolent activism, aggression against the regime and its enablers may again become the only option.
Madawi Al-Rasheed is a Saudi-Arabian-born professor of social anthropology at the department of Theology and Religious Studies in King’s College London.
March 21st, 2012, 9:24 am
zoo said:
“Without willing and capable opposition, tyrannies will remain with us.
Cooper: Tweets and riots won’t stop Syrian tyranny
By Barry Cooper March 20, 2012
….
For the most part, outside observers do not live under tyrants. This helps explain why westerners do not and perhaps cannot understand that tyrannies can be popular. Hafez al-Assad took control of Syria following a generation of postwar instability as a result of a seemingly endless series of military coups and counter coups. Most people prefer stability to disorder, and if the cost is the absence of democratic rights and the deaths of the tyrant’s opponents, then they will gladly pay the price. Or they will leave, which is why tyrannies such as in Syria spawn fragmented expat oppositions, not united domestic ones.
No tyranny exists simply by repressing its citizens. During the early years of Nazi rule, Hitler was popular beyond measure with the German public. Stalin is still the object of nostalgia in Russia and his native Georgia, notwithstanding the ongoing confrontation between those two states.
No doubt the Assad regime has many opponents, but a significant minority supports it with great intensity. Such people can stay in power for a long time if they are prepared to fight and if they have a lot to lose. One reason why the Soviet tyranny ended is that the old men at the top had lost the taste for murdering their opponents. Another was that, even if the Soviet Union disappeared, they would be able to negotiate the transition and prosper under the new management.
In contrast, the men running Syria are fully prepared to extinguish their opponents. They occupy strategic positions in the military and security police and have a great deal to lose if Assad does not survive. True, they have had help from Iran, China and Russia, and as Alawites, they quite properly fear Sunni persecution. But that is secondary. Tyrannies are hardly ever isolated and are almost always run by minorities — ideological, tribal or religious. But minority status neither makes them weak nor easy to remove.
A great 20th century political scientist, Leo Strauss, once remarked that the greatest failing of his contemporaries was their inability to recognize tyranny for what it was. He had Hitler and Stalin in mind. Our problem is compounded by the belief that regime change is easy. Riots, uprisings and endless tweets are not enough. Without willing and capable opposition, tyrannies will remain with us. That is as true for Syria as it was for Nazi Germany.
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Cooper+Tweets+riots+stop+Syrian+tyranny/6332600/story.html#ixzz1pl2NApXj
March 21st, 2012, 9:29 am
Son of Damascus said:
Assad Family Values
How the Son Learned to Quash a Rebellion From His Father
Patrick Seale
March 20, 2012
Ever since the Baath Party came to power in Syria in 1963, it has faced a challenge from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic militants. These Islamists were — and still are — bitterly opposed to the Baath Party’s secular policies and to the prominence in its leadership of Syria’s minorities, notably Alawis, whom extremist Sunnis consider heretics.
The smoldering resentment burst into open conflict during the 30-year rule (1970-2000) of Hafez al-Assad, and again during the rule of his son, Bashar, who took over the presidency after his father’s death. In February 1982, Hafez al-Assad put down a rebellion in the city of Hama by his Islamist opponents. Three decades later, in February 2012, Bashar al-Assad faced down a rebellion in Homs, a sister city of Hama in the central Syrian plain. Both responded with great brutality to these regime-threatening uprisings, as if aware that they and their community would face no mercy if the Islamists were ever to come to power.
[…]
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137338/patrick-seale/assad-family-values
March 21st, 2012, 9:37 am
Tara said:
50 some were killed by Bashar al Assad today. 10 children among them. This is Bashar’ s and Asma’s gift to the Syrian mothers on Mother’s day.
March 21st, 2012, 10:25 am
zoo said:
Syriac leader refuses to move patriarchate to Turkey
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syriac-leader-refuses-to-move-patriarchate-to-turkey.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16491&NewsCatID=352
The head of the Syriac Union Party in Syria stated his opposition to the relocation of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus and the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate in Beirut back into Turkey.
..
“We have a large population in Syria, and the patriarchate is the highest institution that holds them together. The relocation of the patriarchate would be tantamount to our people losing their presence [in Syria],” Echove Gouriye, head of the Syrian Syriac Union Party, told Hürriyet Daily News.
Turkish officials have been holding talks toward relocating the Catholic and Orthodox Syriac Patriarchates back into Turkey, Gouriye said, adding they were under great strain due to the repressive attitude of the al-Assad regime in Syria. Many party members have been arrested, he said.
“If Turkey truly wants to do something, then the restoration of Syriacs’ rights in Turkey would suffice for us,” said Gouriye, who is currently in Turkey for a visit.
(…)
March 21st, 2012, 10:33 am
zoo said:
Violence continues in Syria while int’l powers struggle over the issue
2012-03-21
DAMASCUS, March 21 (Xinhua) — A suicide bomber riding a car bomb blew himself up late Tuesday in Syria’s southern Daraa province, killing an unidentified number of civilians and law-enforcement members.
This was the latest in a string of suicide attacks that have hit the Arab nation lately.
On Sunday, armed “terrorist” groups committed a massacre in the central province of Homs, leaving 14 people killed, according to the pro-government al-Watan daily.
Moreover, an “armed terrorist group” detonated a booby-trapped car in the northwestern city of Aleppo as the specialized authorities found the car suspicious and were trying to pull it out from the area.
On Saturday, two suicide car bombers detonated their explosives near the aviation intelligence directorate and the criminal security department in Damascus, killing 29 civilians and security personnel and wounding 140 others.
Another car bomb exploded Saturday in Damascus at the Yarmouk camp housing thousands of Palestinians in the south of the city. Syrian state-run SANA news agency said two “terrorists” were killed when their bomb-laden car exploded at the camp.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosions, while the Syrian government has accused some Arab and Western countries of providing weapons and financial support to the armed groups in Syria.
(…)
March 21st, 2012, 10:39 am
Equus said:
Prior to the CIA-backed civil war in Afghanistan and the Taliban rule beginning in 1996, 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul University were women, and 70% of school teachers, 50% of civilian government workers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women.
See pictures how modern were the women
http://piazzadcara.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/when-kabul-had-rock-roll-not-rockets/
Let’s see how better Syria is after this civil war …
March 21st, 2012, 10:39 am
admir said:
MAJEDKHALDOUN Comment # 377 I’m not sure if you even read what Mjabali mentioned otherwise you wouldn’t have posted that garbage of a post.
The alawis didn’t hate the sunnis because they didn’t like them, it was becasue the sunnis hated them and persecuted them initially (and implicitly today), it was only after ibn tayymiah and the sunni persecution/hatred of alawis that alawis started hating sunnis and killing their leaders. In other words the hatred was mutual and not one-sided
many facts in history proved that they cooperated with Monguls and yes with the crusaders against the Sunni, but this was because they were being persecuted and killed by sunnis to the point they couldn’t tolerate it and would rather have foreigners liberate and even rule them so they dont have to suffer this tyranny of sunni rule. so it was ironically sunnis who made them turn to foreigners like mongols and crusaders for liberation and revenge. we see this happening today where the tables are turned; sunnis are calling for foreigners to cooperate with and support them (USA and western countries and even israel). dont try to justify it by saying that ‘its only support and not invasion like mongols and crusaders’, why do they call for a no-fly zone when assad doesnt use planes to bomb people? the reason is beacuse they saw how the NFZ in libya was used for justification of a supported bombing campaign against the regime, and want to do the same in syria (in other words, sunnis are cooperating with the modern-day mongols and crusaders and therefore are traitors to syria according to your logic).
during Ottoman empire it was not Turks against Syrians, rather it was turks supported by sunni syrians against non-sunni syrians (and non-sunni turks like kurds and alevis). most historians know that there wasnt a colonial struggle against turks by syrians since the idea of a syria (or even the idea of nationalism) didn’t exist back then. it was only after the non-muslim french began ruling them that it suddenly became a struggle against colonialism and the idea of syria (and nationalism in general) appeared; this further shows the religious bigotry of some syrians. during french colonial rule of the french the roles within syrian society were reversed – alawis (and to a lesser extent christians, druze, ismaili) joined the army recruited by the French, whereas the sunnis resisted (mostly for religious reasons of opposing a ‘kaffir colonial power’).
after 1945, Allawis were allowed to enter the army and even reach high ranking position, but the reason why Mjabali calls this intolerence is because they were still persecuted and negatively viewed in syrian (sunni) society the same way the pieds-noirs were negatively viewed by algerians or how the tutsis were viewed negatively by hutus in algeria (in both cases the former supported and cooperated with the colonial powers just like alawis did with french), this despite the fact that sunni syrians cooperated in the same way with the colonial foreign ottomans. He attribute that to luck because an alawi becoming ruler of all (sunni) syria; this was a precedent akin to a untouchable in india becoming a maharajah (king) or a russian jew becoming czar of russia – it was by luck and historical realities of division among sunnis themselves (which you attribute due to regionalism i.e. northeast, houran) that the alawis had the chance to get into the halls of government military and power – and they seized that opportunity fearing they may not get this kind of opportunity again. the fact is that they WERE treated differently from people in the northeast Syria, or people in Horan area, because they were not sunni yet thye claimed to be muslims – they were considered the lowest of the low among the strata of syrian society (even lower than christian and jews). Mjabali mentioned that Nasser,Umran Jedid and Hafiz assad were in high ranking position in 1963, yet he calls that sunni intolerence, That is because they didn’t get to that position by getting support and tolerance from sunnis its because of luck and the historical reality (as Mjabali mentioned which you ignore), most often they took that position by force (since democratic elections would never allow an alawi to power).
There were many marriages between Sunni and Alawis AFTER HAFEZ ASSAD CAME TO POWER, many agriculture projects were done in their area AFTER HAFEZ ASSAD CAME TO POWER, teachers were brought to their area from educated Sunni to the open schools and allow them to enter equally all kinds of jobs AFTER HAFEZ ASSAD CAME TO POWER, before him these never happened (or they were rare), assad did all these things to make alliances to keep in power and keep country stable – during his rule there started to appear an alawi elite (unheard of before the 60s) and those elites married sunnis to make alliances and eliminate rivalries with some sunnis, yet religious sunnis always had a bad feeling about them as a sect (which is why they started opposing them religiously under the umbrella group of muslim brotherhood). during the 40s and up till 1970, the alawi were allowed to be in president position since 1970 till now – and that is because they came in government and became president by a coup and through force they maintained power; because they got that opportunity during the 60s and 70s (when there were coups among sunnis), a long 42 years and yet he call that sunni intolerence, that is because sunnis never accepted them and they had to keep power by force and authoritarian ways (why all the various intelligence agencies? why all the shabihas? why all the political repression and torture?). sunnis tried to take back power in the 70s through the muslim brotherhood insurgency but they were crushed by the alawis in hama. the truth is that since 1970 till now the Alawis treated the Sunni in very intolerent way, because the sunni treated the alawis in very intolerant ways centuries before. and now the Alawis are killing thousands of Sunni, because sunnis always killed alawis and are still today killing alawis. the Alawis never tolerated sunni in power because they know that if sunni comes to power they will be treated worse than shiites in iraq during saddam, and much worse than copts in egypt after mubarak.
Misinformations will never convince smart people MAJED, next time i suggest you actually read the post you respond to before actually posting otherwise your response will be BS.
March 21st, 2012, 10:43 am
omen said:
prior to the israel waging war, egypt and palestine were mostly secular.
equus, it was the godless russians who offended the islamists.
March 21st, 2012, 10:44 am
omen said:
equus, the westernized afghans were reserved to the city. the rural people were still traditional.
March 21st, 2012, 10:47 am
zoo said:
Text of UN Security Council statement on Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria agreed on Wednesday
2:17PM GMT 21 Mar 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9158161/Text-of-UN-Security-Council-statement-on-Syria.html
“The Security Council recalls its Presidential Statement of 3 August 2011 and its Press Statement of 1 March 2012.
“The Security Council expresses its gravest concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria which has resulted in a serious human rights crisis and a deplorable humanitarian situation. The Security Council expresses its profound regret at the death of many thousands of people in Syria.
“The Security Council reaffirms its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, and to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
“The Security Council welcomes the appointment of Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Kofi Annan, following the General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/253 of 16 February 2012 and relevant resolutions of the League of Arab States.
“The Security Council expresses its full support for the efforts of the Envoy to bring an immediate end to all violence and human rights violations, secure humanitarian access, and facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition.
“To this aim, the Security Council fully supports the initial six-point proposal submitted to the Syrian authorities, as outlined by the Envoy to the Security Council on 16 March 2012, to:
1) commit to work with the Envoy in an inclusive Syrian-led political process to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people, and, to this end, commit to appoint an empowered interlocutor when invited to do so by the Envoy;
2) commit to stop the fighting and achieve urgently an effective United Nations supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians and stabilise the country.
To this end, the Syrian government should immediately cease troop movements towards, and end the use of heavy weapons in, population centres, and begin pullback of military concentrations in and around population centres.
As these actions are being taken on the ground, the Syrian government should work with the Envoy to bring about a sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties with an effective United Nations supervision mechanism.
Similar commitments would be sought by the Envoy from the opposition and all relevant elements to stop the fighting and work with him to bring about a sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties with an effective United Nations supervision mechanism;
3) ensure timely provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting, and to this end, as immediate steps, to accept and implement a daily two hour humanitarian pause and to coordinate exact time and modalities of the daily pause through an efficient mechanism, including at local level.
4) intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons, including especially vulnerable categories of persons, and persons involved in peaceful political activities, provide without delay through appropriate channels a list of all places in which such persons are being detained, immediately begin organising access to such locations and through appropriate channels respond promptly to all written requests for information, access or release regarding such persons;
5) ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists and a non-discriminatory visa policy for them;
6) respect freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully as legally guaranteed.
“The Security Council calls upon the Syrian government and opposition to work in good faith with the Envoy towards a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis and to implement fully and immediately his initial six-point proposal.
“The Security Council requests the Envoy to update the Council regularly and in a timely manner on the progress of his mission. In the light of these reports, the Security Council will consider further steps as appropriate.”
(…)
March 21st, 2012, 10:48 am
mjabali said:
Can someone please let us know why a comment would be sent to the spam box if it is not spam at all? I tried to post a response since this morning and never got through…release my comment from the spam (or moderator’s) jail…. Freedom for my words
March 21st, 2012, 10:51 am
jad said:
Alqaeda in Syria
-In Homs as part of fsa terrorist group
تشكيل كتيبة للقاعدة في حمص وظهورها وطلبها الدعم
http://youtu.be/BVCf8Ib0_9E
الجيش الحر الحقيقي أسود التوحيد الارهابية |القاعدة
http://youtu.be/W1GxjlLGgDQ
-Claiming responsibility of the attacks in Damascus:
“جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام” الإسلامية تعلن مسؤوليتها عن تفجيري دمشق وتتوعد بالمزيد من الهجمات
أعلنت جماعة إسلامية الأربعاء مسؤوليتها عن تفجير منشآت أمنية في دمشق الأسبوع الماضي، قائلة إن الهجمات “جاءت ردا على قصف القوات السورية لحمص ومدن أخرى”.
وتوعدت الجماعة، التي تًُطلق على نفسها اسم “جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام”، بشن المزيد من الهجمات على القوات والأهداف الحكومية في المرحلة المقبلة.
وجاء في بيان نُشر على موقع “شموخ الإسلام” الذي يستخدمه الإسلاميون أن “جبهة النصرة تتبني عملية فرع الأمن الجوّي وإدارة الأمن الجنائي بدمشق”.
وقالت البيان، الذي عنونته الجماعة “القصف بالنسف”: “قام جنود جبهة النصرة -أعزها الله – بسلسلة من العمليات العسكرية في عدة محافظات ضد أوكار النظام. وكان أبرزها فرع الأمن الجوي وإدارة الأمن الجنائي في دمشق.”
وأضاف البيان: “نود أن نحيط النظام علما بأن ردنا على جرائمه في كرم الزيتون من قتل للعوائل بأطفالهم ونسائهم وشيوخهم وكذلك اغتصابه للنساء سيكون لاحقا باذن الله.”
ومضى البيان يقول: “نقول له أوقف مجازرك ضد أهل السنة، وإلا فإنما عليك إثم النصيريين ( العلويين )، والقادم أدهى وأمر بإذن الله تعالى.”
{…}
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/middleeast/2012/03/120321_syria_ban_seriousimpacts.shtml
Sunni Islamists claim Damascus bombings
A Sunni Islamist group claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the bombing of security installations in Damascus last week, saying it was a reprisal for the shelling of Homs and other Syrian cities by President Bashar Assad’s forces.
In a statement posted on an Islamist web forum, the “Soldiers of the Assistance Front” vowed further attacks against Assad, whose minority Alawi sect it denounced as heretical.
“The soldiers…have carried out a series of military operations on the regime’s lairs, most notably the air security and criminal security branches in Damascus,” it said.
“We would like to inform the regime that our response to its crimes in Karm al-Zeitoun – the killing of families, children, women, and the elderly, and the rape of women – is coming soon, God willing,” it said, referring to a district of Homs.
“Stop your massacres of Sunnis, or bear the sin of the Nusayris [Alawis]. What is coming will be even more calamitous and bitter,” it said.
{…}
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/sunni-islamists-claim-damascus-bombings
تنظيم”القاعدة” في بلاد الشام (جبهة النصرة) يتبنى تفجيري “الجوية” و”الأمن الجنائي” في دمشق
بيان المنظمة يحذر أبناء الطائفة “العلوية” من أنه سيستهدفهم في العمليات القادمة “ردا على استهداف النظام للسنة” ، ويقول إن المنظمة لم تكن تستهدف “النصارى” الذين سقطوا في العملية!؟
http://www.syriatruth.org/Portals/0/nosra_damascus_explosions_17_3_2012.pdf
http://www.syriatruth.org/news/tabid/93/Article/6979/Default.aspx
March 21st, 2012, 10:54 am
omen said:
equus @ 10:39 am
you shouldn’t wish ill upon a people who only want to be free. it’s not a civil war when most of the civilians are unarmed. and the few who are armed are badly outgunned.
ran across this quote that resonated:
before, syria was fighting to be free. now they are fighting to stay alive.
March 21st, 2012, 10:58 am
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
“In case you don’t know the car that exploded wasn’t parking, it was moving and tried to get into the entry of that building, so please tell your not ‘idiot’ ‘beloved’ friend to wake up and take his dementia piles, he needs couple.”
I find the statement you made above extremely in bad faith on your part Jad, because the person I mentioned is a respected member of his community that lost a close member of his family in that bombing. THE CAR WAS PARKED THERE, there was no shoot out before or after the bomb went off. You are free to believe whatever reporting that Abu Khalil, Nawari, SANA, SyriaTruth want to write, and I will never attack you for believing in them, and I will not call you names or accuse you of apologizing for anyone because you choose to believe in their rhetoric.
“What a disappointing comment, being an opposition to the regime doesn’t mean that you have to support terrorism and defend them.
Where did I ever mention that I support terrorism, or even that I defended terrorist?
Please provide me with a link where I ever said anything remotely like that, you are reaching conclusions that are completely unfounded.
“You obviously have never been to that area, otherwise, you would know that cars there are parked with no question asked, but you obviously on a mission to defend the killers, good luck!”
I know Damascus very well and what I said holds true even before any of these events ever occurred, especially recently because this is more true today than ever. Even the houses of the Masouleen today you can’t park near them unless you live in the building, just ask anyone living in Malki or Mazze. Hanano Street (that leads to Shami Hospital) the whole side road is occupied by armed guards, try to park your car at Zanobia’s and see what happens or near the Moukhabarat in Rawda (all 5 of them), or park close to Mustafa Tlass’s house near Sibki Park. Even Taxi Al Najah can’t park their cars in Sahit el Malki, where they have been parking their cars since they opened.
I am not out to defend anyone but myself, and in the future please attack me and not the person I mention is beloved to me. You have a problem with something I write, express it without the need to stoop to childish accusations and unfounded allegations about my political affiliation.
And for the record I find it odd that you failed to comment on the picture I attached, it shows what the Assadist are willing to do and adds credence to the fact that they themselves would do such heinous crimes.
March 21st, 2012, 10:59 am
mjabali said:
Been trying to post this response every now and then since this morning. Let me try again after spending all of this time on this response…
Comment # 377 You said:
“the facts are that Alawis since then they hated Sunni, and killed many Sunni leaders they made themselves hated”
This is false. Can you name one Sunni leader the Alawis killed from the days of Ibn Taymiyah till al-Assad’s ascend to power?
“many facts in history proved that they cooperated with Monguls and yes with the crusaders against the Sunni”
Again this is a false statement. It is laughable for real.
The Sunnis who said this about the Alawis were Mongols themselves.
Ibn Taymiyah worked for one: Mohammad Ibn Qalawuun. Ibn Taymiyah was issuing fatwas against the Alawis accusing them for aiding the Mongols while he was working for one of them. This historical lie by the Sunnis regarding the Alawis’s cooperation with the Mongols is the brainchild of those who are trying to hide the truth. At the time of the Crusades and the Mongols the Sunnis were supposed to protect the land. The failure of the Sunnis to protect mixed with their accusatory logic made them want to look for an escape goat and is there anyone better to blame than the Alawis. The list of the Sunni rulers of the different parts of Syria during the Mongol and Crusade periods show who was who.
In brief: this is another slander the Sunnis brainwashed the masses regarding the Alawis.
When you say facts in history: I am still waiting to see one.
I can bring you facts from history when the Sunnis cooperated with the Crusades and the Mongols.
3- you said: “during Ottoman empire it was not Sunni Syrians against Alawis, it was Turks against Syrians”
Again you made a historical mistake Majedkhaloun. It was the Sunni Ottomans vs any non Sunni element in Syria.
The Ottomans, and with time, played with the demographic composition of Syria either through massacres and religious/ethnic cleansing (Alawis and Druze were rooted out from many of their spots) or the settlement of the non-Syrians Ottoman subjects in Syria proper.
Majedkhaldoun said :”and after 1945, Allawis were allowed to enter the army and even reach high ranking position,yet Mjabali calls this intolerence,He attribute that to luck, they were not treated differently from people in the northeast Syria, or people in Horan area, ”
France let the Alawis enter the army and not the Sunnis. An example of the Sunnis never wanting any Alawi to reach a high rank was the Assasination of Mohammad Nasser, the First Alawi general in the Syrian Army. Why they killed him in cold blood in Damascus? Why his killers never got any punishment? If you read the Syrian History well you see how Sunni high ranking officers started fighting and staging one coup after the other against each other. The Sunni high ranking officers started losing their grip around 1963. Jamal Abd al-Nasser contributed to their demise too. Read Syrian History. I am not making this up. There are books and there are people who are still alive from that time period.
You said: ” Mjabali mentioned that Nasser,Umran Jedid and Hafiz assad were in high ranking position in 1963, yet he calls that sunni intolerence”
Nasser was assassinated in the 1950’s and when 1963 came Hafez al-Assad was out of the army I think with a mid level rank. Hafez got lucky with the rise Jadeed and Umran who brought him back to the Army. Umran was the first Alawi officer to have a notable position in Syria. He and Jadeed brought Hafez back. See it is luck 101. As for tolerance please go and check what was the reaction of the rise of these non-Sunni officers; case study: Marwan Hadid and the incidents in Hama during Amin al-Hafez days. You will see from this that some Sunnis started noticing this non-Sunni control and fought it right away. Remember there were no petro dollars back then, or Safa TV.
Majedkhaldoun said: “many agriculture projects were done in their area, teachers were brought to their area from educated Sunni to the open schools and allow them to enter equally all kinds of jobs, there was never any bad feeling about them as a sect”
What agricultural project you are talking about? This happened in ghost land. Up to 1959 most of the Alawi villages were owned by some Feudal Landowners from the leftovers of the Ottomans. I remember three or four families in Lattakia owned the whole coast. I can name them to you. None of them is ethnic Syrian or an Arab. Jamal Abd al-Nasser came in 1958/1959 and limited their ownership.
As for the imaginary teachers you are talking about and jobs opportunities they never existed. This could explain to you why Alawis went to the Army when they were allowed to.
Majedkhaldoun Said: “there was never any bad feeling about them as a sect”
To this I say: My generation from Syria was a really good one that was least infected with the Salafi virus. That generation is the product of the good 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s. Other than this generation there was always a look down at the Alawis as if they are mutants or something. Look at how you blamed them for helping the mongols who ransacked Syria and occupied it for hundreds of years. Check this mentality and tell me do you really have bad feelings about this sect or not?
Majedkhaldoun said: ” the alawi were allowed to be in president position since 1970 till now”
Actually no one allowed them. al-Assad saw the chance and took it and established a system to protect him and his interests. If the Sunnis had the power they would NEVER let him get even close to any position in the government.
I say: I have to go to my work and leave this blog and hope I did not waste my time today….
March 21st, 2012, 10:59 am
Tara said:
What does “commit to appoint am empowered interlocutor when invited to do so by the envoy” means? Wasn’t that what the AL called for (specifying Farouq al Sharaa) at that time.
Moreover, the regime has to accept international observers …what a humiliation! It called on the regime to immediately cease troop movements, etc and did not equate the murderer with the victims.
All in all, It is the AL’s proposal now endorsed by the UNSC.
I hope the international observers are al Qaeda expert so we know for sure who was behind the terror attacks in Damascus and Aleppo.
March 21st, 2012, 11:04 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Mjabali
Not only Sunni say Nusayris are not Musslems, everyone who studied Nusayri religion came to the conclusion that they are not Musslems,,
March 21st, 2012, 11:07 am
omen said:
all you have to do is too look at south africa. minority rule is bound to fail in the long run. you can only oppress the majority for so long.
March 21st, 2012, 11:15 am
omen said:
mjabali @ 10:51 am
same thing happened to me yesterday.
if you fear your first attempt at posting a comment has failed, change the wording around a little bit before attempting to repost.
trying to post a comment twice with identical wording gets marked as spam, even though it isn’t.
March 21st, 2012, 11:26 am
jad said:
Son of Damascus
With all due respect, your respected friend is not telling the truth, I was on the phone exactly 3min after the bombing with my…..who lives in one of the burned apt building you saw and who lost everything in the apt with injured son and husband.
You may know about your ‘hood’ Almalki but you apparently don’t know Alkasaa3 well, I do.
When you start easing the blame on the terrorists and start the usual blaming game of ‘Assadists did it’ is called ‘terrorist supporter’ in my book.
So, please don’t be too sensitive if someone tell you something different than what you write and start this endless debate about it, I’m not interested.
March 21st, 2012, 11:32 am
jad said:
Omen, Kol Kh ara ma li khil2ak
March 21st, 2012, 11:33 am
ann said:
407. jad said:
I was on the phone exactly 3min after the bombing with my…..who lives in one of the burned apt building you saw and who lost everything in the apt with injured son and husband.
I’m sorry to hear about your family and friends JAD
March 21st, 2012, 11:41 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Omen #405
i will close my eyes with rapture
March 21st, 2012, 11:44 am
omen said:
is there a word to describe the tyranny of the minority over the majority? a sort of internal colonialism?
March 21st, 2012, 11:46 am
ann said:
410. omen said:
is there a word to describe the tyranny of the minority over the majority?
.
.
BAHRAIN!
.
March 21st, 2012, 11:53 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Mjabali
Therre are many mistakes you said, It is not going to be free I have to respond to them, but I hope no one else bother so i do not bore them.
Mjabali
M Nasser was assassinated by someone whose wife had sex with Nasser, Nasser was womanizer and had sex with several women and some were married.
As for hafiz Assad hewas Mukaddam, colonel, he was in Egypt when Nehlawi staged his coup, and in that time Nehlawi Who is Sunni, he brought him back after he was canned by Nasser, the assention by Assad was a combination of conspiracy and exploitation, he in 1960 held a secret meeting in Qurdaha along with several Nusayri officers,and put a plan to take over.and to do that they exploited the Baath party as a secular party,which has many minorities,
I have to go now the rest will follow
March 21st, 2012, 12:09 pm
bronco said:
#402 Tara
“All in all, It is the AL’s proposal now endorsed by the UNSC.”
Minus key issues: the request for Bashar to step down in favor of the VP, minus the request for a national unity government, plus the request to the armed opposition to stop their violence, plus UN observers etc…
It is totally different from the Al plan, it is more like the Russia resolution proposed 2 months ago.
We will see how Qatar and KSA will accept that the AL plan they fought so fiercefully for at the UNSC is not even mentioned in the UN statement.
March 21st, 2012, 12:16 pm
mjabali said:
Thank you Syria Comment for releasing my post from the Spam jail…
Thank you Omen for your advice…
And Thank you Majedkhaldoun for your brief response in comment # 403 that prove beyond a doubt that tolerance is not in your vocabulary.
Your “tolerance” level towards others is very obvious with every gem of a comment you are posting here. your “tolerance” level is equal to your historical “knowledge.”
بصراحة يصيبني الملل من مناقشتك ياماجد لسبب واحد وهو ضعف معلوماتك التاريخية الواضح
March 21st, 2012, 12:18 pm
ss said:
403. majedkhaldounsaid:
“Mjabali
Not only Sunni say Nusayris are not Musslems, everyone who studied Nusayri religion came to the conclusion that they are not Musslems”
Nusayris are not Muslims
Isma3ilia are not Muslims
Drooz are not Muslims
Chrsitians are Crusades
Jewish are the enemys
Chinese and Indians have no God.
Shia are Rawafed
Only Muslim, Sunnis have the keys to the heaven. They are the right religion and all should follow their steps, if not then enjoy the hell. I wish they leave it to God to decide who is good and who is not, no not at all, they must judge us on earth and we, the free minded people, had to suffer on earth before we meet our creator. We need to get killed, beheadedm, chopped into peices because MB, qaeda alike want to make sure that religion is applied to their delusional rules
and the list goes on and on, this is just to reflect to you how narrow minded some might be in their thinking especially when they cannot acept the others and everything is around religion and only religion. I am amazed how these people got intigrated in the American society. It is indeed unfortunate.
March 21st, 2012, 12:33 pm
irritated said:
Omen
“is there a word to describe the tyranny of the minority over the majority? a sort of internal colonialism?”
The notion of minority is debatable. Are you talking about religious or ethnic minorities?
March 21st, 2012, 12:35 pm
Tara said:
Bronco
The AL never asked Bashar to step down. Show me where it is written in their proposal. The Presidential statement called for International monitors as opposes to low profile Arab monitors sent by the AL, a much bolder step. The military activities of the FSA was negligible then. It intensified after the siege of Baba Amr. It is expected that the UNSC asks the opposition to hold military activities when the regime committs to ceasing movemt of the troops, etc..
Sorry but I see no significant difference from the AL’s proposal.
March 21st, 2012, 12:41 pm
bronco said:
Who bears the responsibility for the non-prevention of this crime?
The USA, The French police?
The US forces in Afghanistan allegedly had send back to France the 24-year-old Muslim shooter, identified as Mohamed Merah, a French citizen of Algerian origin after he was arrested in Afghanistan and detained by the police for bomb making in the lawless southern province of Kandahar in 2007. He is said to have escape from the jail.
Despite the fact he was under french police surveillance for hsi past in Afghanistan and his “radical islamist beliefs”, he was able to perpetrate this hainous crime in daytime.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-sent-suspect-back-to-france-from-afghanistan-official.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16568&NewsCatID=351
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/french-interior-minister-denies-arrest-of-suspected-killer.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16522&NewsCatID=351
March 21st, 2012, 12:50 pm
ann said:
417. bronco said:
Who bears the responsibility for the non-prevention of this crime?
The USA, The French police?
.
.
They were grooming him to send him to Syria, instead he turned on his own handlers
.
March 21st, 2012, 12:55 pm
Afram said:
Syria: 1 Year “Syrian Revolution” or Conspiracy
http://youtu.be/Fz4vggJcnbY
I began to think the Tunnels Found Used By Fake Syrian Army& Terrorists To Smuggle Weapons to Homs were dug and readied way,way before the uprising/it,s huge undertaking to be done without the syrian authority notice.the usual suspects financed this ugly endeavor design…
March 21st, 2012, 12:55 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
Moderator, I protest your decision to kep my comments under moderation for 1 week. I request you to treat my comments on par with normal commenters.
March 21st, 2012, 12:56 pm
bronco said:
$416 Tara
Sorry, are you censoring your memory, or it is just failing?
The issue of Bashar passing on his power to the VP was key in the AL Plan that Qatar was trying to sneak into the UNSC resolution that was vetoed.
Nothing of that has been kept in the Annan peace plan.
This is to refresh your failing memory.
http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-22/middleeast/world_meast_syria-unrest_1_secretary-general-nabil-arab-league-jassim-al-thani?_s=PM:MIDDLEEAST
Arab League calls for unity government in Syria
ARAB LEAGUE
January 22, 2012|From Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, For CNN
Arab League demands al-Assad resign
The Arab League agreed on a path forward in Syria on Sunday that instructs President Bashar al-Assad to delegate powers to his vice president following the formation of a national unity government.
The Syrian government roundly rejected the plan, which it views as “blatant intervention in its internal affairs,” Syria’s official SANA news agency reported soon after the announcement.
The Arab League called for the government to start a dialogue with the opposition within two weeks, and for the new government to be formed within two months.
March 21st, 2012, 12:58 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
MJABALI,
Do not provoke the Sunnis, our people have been too kind for the last 1 year, during this Uprising the Sunnis could have massacred many Alawi civilians if they wanted but they did not do so for the sake of revolution. None is fooled by the fake explpsions in Damascus and Halab, everyone knows that Alawis are the real targets for extremist Sunnis, and so far not 1 Alawi neighborhood or village has been targetted by the explosions, which proves that extremists are not behind this, rather the regime elements.
March 21st, 2012, 12:59 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
MJABALI, however your comments have some logic, I understand you do not like the historical role of Sunnis vis-a-vis Alawis, well then, pls tell your people, take your Alawite State in Latakia and Tartous, make it independent like the Kurds have done in Iraq, do whatever you want there, but leave Syria alone. Since by your logic, Alawis desire security and freedom, they can have that in the Alawi majority provonces by declaring it Alawite State, so why are your leaders holding on to power in Damascus, Idleb, hama, Homs, Deirezzor, Daraa, to the best of my knowledge, the people from these areas are not / will not going to come to tartous villages to attack you. So give us our freedom, and you take yours.
March 21st, 2012, 1:03 pm
Mina said:
Peace!
A Sunni is someone who “imitates the Sunna of the prophet”, i. e. who is afraid for every soul, including that of ants, and lives an ascetic life of prayer and fast.
Not someone who threats his neighbors of “massacre”.
He puts himself outside the category “Sunni”, sorry.
March 21st, 2012, 1:08 pm
omen said:
khalid did you not read the moderator’s notes about not posting too many pages of copy/paste material?
March 21st, 2012, 1:10 pm
omen said:
ann @ 11:53 am
true, true.
March 21st, 2012, 1:12 pm
mjabali said:
Majedkhaldoun:
Again your scientific crime scene analysis is not correct. Mohammad Nasser was assassinated for reasons that has to do with politics and religion. Read this article by Ghassan al-Imam from al-Sharq al-Awsat. You know both of them do not like Alawis but here:
http://www.aawsat.com/leader.asp?section=3&issueno=11858&article=622128
AS for al-Qirdaha meeting: it is one of those fabrications about the Alawis. What gives it out as a fabrication is the fact that the high Alawi officers when this alleged meeting took place were not from al-Qirdaha. Umran and Jadeed were not from al-Qirdaha as you know. Why in al-Qirdaha? Any one care to find a logical answer to this?
March 21st, 2012, 1:20 pm
mjabali said:
Khaled Tlass:
I say the truth and do not intend to provoke anyone. The truth leads to better understanding and probably better future. Secularism is the only way for Syria and Syrians that should be equal no matter what.
March 21st, 2012, 1:24 pm
Leo Syriacus said:
410
Omen the best word would be Oligocracy ( the rule of a minority )
And if you like examples :Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Baathist Iraq
March 21st, 2012, 1:32 pm
omen said:
Khalid Tlass @ 1:03 pm
fascinating idea. an anthropologist i know recommended the same:
are alawites receptive to this?
March 21st, 2012, 1:35 pm
jna said:
“Churkin said Moscow’s stance remains the same – it wants to see an end to the violence and a move toward a Syrian-led political dialogue.”
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/UN-Security-Council-Endorses-Syria-Peace-Plan-143643006.html?c=y&pollSubmitted=y#pollAnchor&mr=1&oid=3&pid=143092956&cid=8500664
An excellent step toward a peaceful democratic transition. But just one step.
March 21st, 2012, 1:36 pm
Mina said:
Spotted by an Angry Arab correspondent:
http://angryarab.blogspot.de/2012/03/aljazeera-english-translates-4-out-of-5.html
Taleb sent me this: “Did you note that aljazeera leak translated the 4 documents into English but they didn’t translate the 5th one and even in the 5th document Enlglish summary they ignored important part???because the 5th document contains clear orders to prevent police and security men to take guns when they are dealing with demonstration in Fridyas !!! Read the last part of the 5th document in arabic.(I don’t think it is professional from aljazeera English)…Besides, the 5th document contains the real number of demonstrators! this will show their lying about Numbers!”
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/2012319182523316314.html
March 21st, 2012, 1:37 pm
omen said:
true as well, leo. although i’m not used to thinking of the US oligarchy as being a different sect than me.
March 21st, 2012, 1:38 pm
irritated said:
For those who were saying that Bashar al Assad will go in the dustbin of history, the Arab League plan has already gone there.
I wonder who will follow, the SNC, Ghaliun maybe?
March 21st, 2012, 1:39 pm
ann said:
BBC, CNN, VOA, TIME, NYT, and all the news wires are desperately trying to hide the fact that killer in France is a member of Al-qada despite his own admission to the fact!!!
Why are they protecting Al-qada now?!!!
So pathetic!
March 21st, 2012, 1:41 pm
irritated said:
#432 Mina
Are we surprised by Al Jazeera manipulation of the information and abusing readers?
This station that started well, is going down the drain.
March 21st, 2012, 1:42 pm
irritated said:
#435 Ann
Admitting that Al Qaeda is still a threat shows that the death of Ben Laden was useless in crushing the movement.
With most Arab countries becoming sympathetic to Salafists and the USA still supporting blindly Israel, it is expected that the movement will get a new breath. The EU and the USA are in denial and then KSA and Qatar are doing good business in France, so why annoy them?
March 21st, 2012, 1:46 pm
Aldendeshe said:
“..Peace!
A Sunni is someone who “imitates the Sunna of the prophet”, i. e. who is afraid for every soul, including that of ants, and lives an ascetic life of prayer and fast..”
Oh Yes, Oh yes, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN_RA to that..just like Mohammed the Prophet of Allah did (PBUH). It is said in the Quran and reported in the Hadith, that he once broke his 2 legs and 2 hands trying to avoid stepping on an ant. Afterward, 72 of his follwers did the same to couple tribes of Christian and Jews to teach them the “Sunna” and compassion of Mohammad (PBUH). Did you read this in the Talmudi Quran in Herzalia Tlass? What would the world be like if Mohammad (PBUH) did not born, it will be full of darkness.
March 21st, 2012, 1:47 pm
Mina said:
Irritated
Indeed, the dots connect: the Taliban office in Qatar, a mad French soldier who has been making explosives in Afghanistan, the ultra Sunnis gathered in Syria, the blackout on Yemen.
They think no one is seeing their total incompetence or what?
If one could give an advice, it is: just change the script and the scriptwriters.
March 21st, 2012, 1:48 pm
omen said:
mina @ 1:37
did the angry arab acknowledge he was wrong? he originally argued the leaked emails were fake.
what’s the timing of the 5th page? the official who leaked these emails said the regime suspected there was a mole a month before he left.
if the regime suspected there was a leak, they’re going to plant favorable evidence in attempt to cover their rear-ends.
March 21st, 2012, 1:51 pm
Tara said:
Bronco,
Failing memory? والله عسل as my Egyptian freind likes to say.
No. I don’t think so. Not in my thirties.
This is thae actual AL’s proposal not someone’s interpretation of the proposal as you liked to post. Check out page 2
http://www.arableagueonline.org/wps/wcm/connect/76a9db8049e4238ba551bd526698d42c/res7444+%281%29.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
Moreover, Nabil al Arabi has repeatedly stressed (to my dismay) that the AL’s proposal did not ask for resignation of Bushbush.
March 21st, 2012, 1:54 pm
omen said:
mina @ 1:37
the 5th document also detailed how assad’s security forced treated the “terrorist” protesters to tea and cake!
🙂
March 21st, 2012, 1:55 pm
Mina said:
Omen
You are mixing two things. The Guardian so called leaks of Asad personal emails, on which he was not wrong but gave the name of who is actually Sam (just read his blog, you’ll find it), and the al Jazeera leaks, which are official documents.
Just read the links provided and get an idea by yourself.
Ann
The BBC has it on its frontpage now “French prosecutors say the Toulouse shooting suspect, now surrounded in his flat, planned more killings and admits being trained by al-Qaeda. “
March 21st, 2012, 1:59 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
TARA,
I would like to respectfully ask you ;
What is the reason for some of your relatives on your mothers’ side for supporting Bashar ? What reason do they give ? Are they practising Sunnis ?
March 21st, 2012, 2:01 pm
omen said:
ann @ 1:41
bbc america reported this is how the french shooter characterized himself.
March 21st, 2012, 2:01 pm
zoo said:
Are the armed rebels who withdrew from Bab Amr now in Khalidiyeh?
Homs toll up, Syria activists fear ‘new Baba Amr’
By Haro Chakmakjian | AFP – 2 hrs 21 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/homs-toll-syria-activists-fear-baba-amr-153218530.html
Syrian army troops rained shells on the Homs district of Khaldiyeh on Wednesday, as the casualty toll from two days of bombardment rose to at least 19 dead and dozens wounded, activists said.
“Khaldiyeh is being bombed, with shells and rockets, for a second day,” Hadi Abdullah of the Syrian Revolution General Commission told AFP, reached by telephone from Beirut.
…
Abdullah said he feared a repeat of the month-long battering that killed hundreds in the Baba Amr district of Homs before the army moved in on March 1 after a pullout by the Free Syrian Army (FSA), made up mostly of army deserters.
(..)
March 21st, 2012, 2:01 pm
bronco said:
#441 Tara
4.b says exactly that
تفويض رايس الجمهورية نائبه الأول بصلاحيات كاملة مع حكومة الواحدة الوطنية…
You know very well what was meant and what it meant to Qatar and the others who wanted it him out.
What about the حكومة الواحدة الوطنية
It is not in the Annan plan.
Don’t try to convince yourself to save face to the AL.
The Annan plan is not a regime change plan, it is peace plan.
March 21st, 2012, 2:13 pm
Leo Syriacus said:
Mjabali and Majedkhaldoun
Thank you both for your “protracted” discussion about the Sunni-Alwai relations history and allegations of treason and mutual mistrust.
No one can deny that for about 700 years of Mamluk and Ottoman rule the state had episodes of discrimination against all religious minorities all over the Levant and Mesopotamia.
While such persecution never amounted to the atrocities seen during European sectarian wars such as the Thirty Year War and it was mostly during apocalyptical and difficult times ( the Crusades,the Tatar invasion, and the last 60 years of Ottoman rule)it should be said that Alawis,Ismailis,Shiaa,Druze,Jews, and Christians have seen less of political and economic rights during some stages of Syria’s history.
This has improved greatly over the last 90 years, first during the French Mandate, then after independence, and particularly under the Assads, and Hafoozah-Yellan Rohoh-Assad did a lot to “Sunnify” Alawis and other non-Sunni Muslims so a moderate, inclusive, modified form of Sunni Islam prevails in Syria.
The rise of Alawis in the state and army positions was first because they were excluded from the economy and they in turn did the same and excluded Sunnis from the security apparatus.
I am totally against the Lebanonization of Syria, and against the thugocracy of Iraq..I want to see a democratic Syria, for all Syrians, with a share of power and wealth to every Syrian that will become a beacon of democracy in the region
March 21st, 2012, 2:19 pm
zoo said:
The witch hunt for Bashar Al Assad supporters in the UK
Assad’s father-in-law under pressure to quit British Syrian Society
Fawaz Akhras’ email advice to Bashar al-Assad on crisis is ‘last straw’ after society’s British board members resign
Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 March 2012 19.02 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/20/assad-father-in-law-british-syrian
March 21st, 2012, 2:20 pm
irritated said:
#444 Khalif Tlass
Show me the money.
March 21st, 2012, 2:23 pm
jad said:
Ann, Thank you.
Zoo,
Yes, they are the same group of criminals who left Baba Amr, along the same liars of the ‘media’ gangs.
After their defeat in Baba Amr, they occupied Al7amidiyeh, using residential houses and churches to launch their attack after cleansing the whole neighborhood from its residents, and now they are doing the same thing to Khaldiye and Bab Sba3.
They are a group of paid criminals who are moving from one neighbourhood to the other bringing death and distraction wherever they go, the exact same strategy they did before in every neighborhoods they go into first they attack the army, then the army retaliate, then they took footage and clips and sometimes they even make the fire themselves, then they commit a massacre by killing some innocent family to use it as a cover for their dirty works and after they destroy the whole neighbourhood they move to the next one to continue their ‘Holly’ attacks against others.
March 21st, 2012, 2:25 pm
zoo said:
Assad and His Army
By: Nicolas Nassif
Published Wednesday, March 21, 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/assad-and-his-army
Syria’s Western and Arab adversaries were hoping the Syrian army would split or mount a coup. Instead it has been spearheading the campaign against rebel strongholds.
The role of the Syrian army in the crisis besetting the Syrian regime that began last year seems simple enough to describe. It is the army that has prevented the regime from collapsing and its president from being toppled or forced to step down. Yet this role has raised some perplexing questions too.
(..)
March 21st, 2012, 2:29 pm
omen said:
mina @ 1:59
as’ad’s “sam” claim was debunked.
March 21st, 2012, 2:30 pm
ann said:
WikiLeaked: Ex-Blackwater ‘helps regime change’ in Syria – 21 March, 2012
http://rt.com/news/stratfor-syria-regime-change-063/
A US government-contracted private security firm is helping the Syrian opposition to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime, leaked Stratfor emails indicate. The same firm earlier operated extensively in Libya.
The private military company SCG International had been contracted to engage the Turkey-based Syrian opposition, according to correspondence released by WikiLeaks.
Their assignment was called a “fact finding mission”, but “the true mission is how they can help in regime change,”an email addressed to Stratfor VP for counter-terrorism Fred Burton says.
The source reporting the info is most reliable – it is SCG Chief Executive James F. Smith, who used to be director of notorious company Blackwater, now known as Academi. In a separate message Smith introduces himself to Stratfor as having background in CIA and heading a company “comprised of former DOD, CIA and former law enforcement personnel.”
SCG’s mission with the Syrian opposition is said to have “air cover from Congresswoman [Sue] Myrick,” a Republican lawmaker from North Carolina, who is a member of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The body is charged with overseeing the American intelligence community.
The email adds that Smith “intends to offer his services to help protect the opposition members, like he had underway in Libya.”
Smith has an extensive record of sharing intelligence with Stratfor, according the Al-Akhbar, the Lebanese daily newspaper, which is one of the media outlets chosen by WikiLeaks as an information partner for disclosure of private Stratfor emails.
The security contractor provided insider data on services he provided to members of the Libyan National Transitional Council during the 2011 uprising, the search for the portable surface-to-air missiles that went missing during the civil war there, and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, among other things.
[…]
March 21st, 2012, 2:33 pm
Uzair8 said:
Remember my comment about the length of the revolution and the ‘incrimination’ of those involved?
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13964&cp=all#comment-300978
Throughout the revolution people have speculated about the position of Asma al Assad and her family on the unfolding events.
The length of the revolution has exposed Asma (via leaked emails) and we finally have Fawas Akhras come on record thus leaving little doubt about his position.
While there was still the shroud of speculation regarding their true position there was the remotest possibility they could have come out of this situation with some excuse or the benefit of the doubt.
March 21st, 2012, 2:38 pm
jad said:
More claims that alqaeda is infiltrating fsa in Syria:
تنظيم القاعدة يعلن ان الجيش الحراحد فصائلها في سوريا
http://youtu.be/3H9ovvS_0wY
Syria# هام جدا عندما نقول ان القاعدة موجودة منذ بداية الازمة في سوريا فنحن لا نتحدث ونجلب كلاما من محض الخيال كما يصفنا بعض الاغبياء من جماعة الفورة الاجرامية بل نوثق كلامنا بالادلة والبراهين القاطعة
اليوم وبعد ان اصبح موضوع تورط تنظيم القاعدة فيما يحدث في سوريا واضحا وجليا لدى الجميع اصبح الان الارهابيون المنتمون لهذا التنظيم والذين كانوا يتسترون تحت غطاء ما يسمى بالجحيش الكر والانشقاقات الوهمية يتبجحون ويطلقون الفيدوهات علانية انهم تابعون بكل فصائلهم الى هذا التنظيم الاجرامي الكافر والذي لا يعرف من الله سوى كلمة التكبير
هذا الفيديو نشر في الشهر الماضي قبل دخول الجيش العربي السوري الى حمص وهو الدليل على ماهية الجماعات التي كان جيشنا الباسل يتصدى لها في حمص ومازال وكل من يحاول ان يكذب هذا الفيديو انصحة ان يضع راسه في سطل البرسيم خاصته ويتابع النهيق بعيدا عن مسامعنا فلا ماكان لتلك الفصيلة من البشر بيننا”
March 21st, 2012, 2:39 pm
Leo Syriacus said:
Why separation projects are defeated in the parliaments in Texas, Quebec, Scotland, Bavaria, Corsica, Flemish land, Catalunya and Basque and these people stay within the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain whereas in former Yugoslavia, Sudan, Iraq, and now Syria the ‘projects’ escalate to anything from civil war to NATO bombardments??!!
In the advanced countries countries unite to creat bigger and more integrated markets and in the Thirld World we strive to create more failed states
March 21st, 2012, 2:41 pm
omen said:
if that’s true about blackwater, ann, they’re doing a s***y job of it. FSA aren’t even adequately armed!
March 21st, 2012, 2:47 pm
Uzair8 said:
410. omen said:
“is there a word to describe the tyranny of the minority over the majority? a sort of internal colonialism?”
That’s a good one…lol.
Funny too. Made me laugh. One to share elsewhere. Thanks Omen.
March 21st, 2012, 2:49 pm
Mina said:
#453
Sorry but the arguments alined on this website do not make sense to me. But As’ad Abu Khalil’s arguments do.
“Debunked”?
March 21st, 2012, 2:51 pm
omen said:
uzair8, you’re never at loss for a word?
March 21st, 2012, 2:54 pm
Antoine said:
376. JUERGEN said:
“Not enough that 1982 the old city of Hama was left in ruins including the old castle, whats left is now subject to shelling.”
Indeed, but this is not the Hama Fort, it is Qalaat al-Mdeeq, an ancient Roman fortress in the Governorate of Hama, but some distance from Hama City, infact closer to Edleb. The Army has been shelling the Roman columns for some days, infact a few days ago there was a video in which a Tank was shelling the fortress and trying to climb the hill and was was attacked by the FSA with RPGs.
March 21st, 2012, 2:56 pm
omen said:
ann + jad = blackwater working with alqaeda in FSA??
o.O
March 21st, 2012, 2:59 pm
omen said:
leo, it’s assad whose reducing the country to piles of rubble.
March 21st, 2012, 3:07 pm
Uzair8 said:
461. omen said:
“uzair8, you’re never at loss for a word?”
Well you may be right in more than one way. The ‘internal colonialism’ (miniority rule) is said to have been deliberately left behind by the former colonialists. A legacy of colonialism.
I’m reminded of a previous main post on SC:
“The Assads stand atop the last minoritarian regime in the Levant and thus seem destined to fall in this age of popular revolt. When they do, the post-colonial era will draw to a final close. Following World War II, minorities took control in every Levant state thanks to colonial divide-and-rule tactics and the fragmented national community that bedeviled the states of the region. ”
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13243
If you’re asking me for a ‘word’… I can’t think of one at the moment. Perhaps later.
March 21st, 2012, 3:14 pm
Mawal95 said:
On or about 18 Mar 2012 Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi, whose fluency in English is first rate, did an interview in the English language. The person asking the questions was deeply ignorant and deeply disgusting to my mind. But clear and patient statements of the government’s position were given by Maqdisi, and the 15-minute interview video is worth watching for that reason: http://nieuwsuur.nl/video/353158-volledig-interview-met-syrische-regeringswoordvoerder.html . Maqdisi says and I believe he’s right, “Syria is not heading toward civil war. Syria is a tolerant society.” It does not have the cultural potential for a civil war of the type Joshua Landis dreams about. “What you have been seeing is a bad side of some Syrians because they are angry.” An anger arising from failure of the unconstitutional agenda of their street protests, and incited by foreign mass media. “Starting one year ago the Syrian Street has awakened and we welcome this. But we make a very big distinction between legitimate demands and those who are trying to militarize the situation,” said Maqdisi speaking on behalf of the government.
Thanks to http://www.facebook.com/lists/247693938657345 and http://www.facebook.com/SyDFuture for the link.
March 21st, 2012, 3:25 pm
ss said:
403. majedkhaldounsaid:
“Mjabali
Not only Sunni say Nusayris are not Musslems, everyone who studied Nusayri religion came to the conclusion that they are not Musslems”
Nusayris are not Muslims
Isma3ilia are not Muslims
Drooz are not Muslims
Chrsitians are Crusades
Jewish are the enemys
Chinese and Indians have no God.
Shia are Rawafed
Only Muslim, Sunnis have the keys to the heaven. They are the right religion and all should follow their steps, if not then enjoy the hell. I wish they leave it to God to decide who is good and who is not, no not at all, they must judge us on earth and we, the free minded people, had to suffer on earth before we meet our creator. We need to get killed, beheadedm, chopped into peices because MB, qaeda alike want to make sure that religion is applied to their delusional rules
and the list goes on and on, this is just to reflect to you how narrow minded some might be in their thinking especially when they cannot acept the others and everything is around religion and only religion. I am amazed how these people got intigrated in the American society. It is indeed unfortunate.
March 21st, 2012, 3:27 pm
Mawal95 said:
Earlier I gave a link to a video of a HUGE Kurdish protest rally in Diyarbakır in Turkey on 18 Mar 2012. Here are seven more videos from that event in Diyarbakır, plus the one I originally linked to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3-ZBKZWJWQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoA4cQghXh8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT_ohPQpG-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lRJXLJ0_Xx8#t=462s
Repeating what I said earlier, that Kurdish protest rally in Diyarbakir on 18 Mar 2012 is VASTLY bigger than any anti-regime protest anywhere in Syria anytime over the past year. Watching all of the above videos has strongly reaffirmed to me the weak state of the anti-regimers on the ground in Syria all this past year.
March 21st, 2012, 3:41 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
I had asked you once before to stop your baseless accusations about me. Whether it is in your book or not frankly I don’t care, nor does it matter to me.
I will not bother to waste my time with your convoluted and twisted arguments. You don’t like what I post fine skip it, or even skip every post I write.
I have nothing to hide, and I am not ashamed of a single thing I ever posted. What I wrote is not a lie, nor is it a fabrication.
And in the future before you go and claim anyone is an apologist take a hard look at yourself in the mirror, because I am definitely not the wolf parading in sheep clothing around here.
With all due respect of course…
March 21st, 2012, 3:49 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
MJABALI,
I think that massacre is a fake one, there isn;t any Alawi village within a 50 km radius of Qseir. However, all the dead bodies were those of adult males, which probably points to the fact most of them were Shabbeeh, killed by the FSA in Homs or Idlib and shown by the regime to have been “massacred” , all fake.
March 21st, 2012, 3:55 pm
omen said:
mina 1:59
You are mixing two things.
thanks for the correction.
March 21st, 2012, 4:30 pm
omen said:
obama to meet with erdogan on the 25th of march.
March 21st, 2012, 4:36 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Mjabali
Ibn Taymiyeh was not Qalawoon sheikh like your Hassoon and Bouti, who they clearly sheikhs who do everything Assad tell them to do, Ibn Taymyeh was independent sheikh honest and courageous, he was famous for saying that the best JIHAD is to say a word of truth infront of unjust ruler, you know or should have known the story about him he did not say or do what the king wants, he was not afraid of being killed by the ruler, he was admired by everyone who read his story, your attempt to taint him as Imam for the sultan is wrong and you know it.it only reflect your hatred for sunni.
As for the Nusayri area ,I know for sure that the Sunni developed areas in Nusayri mountain improve agriculture, as far as irrigation projects and soil analysis, I know that for sure since my brother was agronomist and worked there, and I visited him for a month there, please dont ever deny it, and I know of a teacher in the year 1954 who was Sunni and worked as a teacher in that area..
As for M Nasser, look at the circumstances about his assassination, they found him without his pants and without his underware, and with a woman who was married and she was not his wife..
As for your arabic writing where you insulted me, I ask the moderator to delete those words you wrote in Arabic, it only indicates that you deserve every words I said to you in the past.
March 21st, 2012, 4:47 pm
kHALID tLASS said:
Majedkhaldoun, how are you doing ? Do you agree about helping the Free Syrian Army with money and weapons ? I think it is time for all Sunnis to take back Syria.
March 21st, 2012, 4:52 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Khaled
I am glad you are back, I am going in May to work in Antakya area.,We want freedom and democracy not sectarian ruler by Assad mafia, we will be much better than them.
March 21st, 2012, 5:02 pm
omen said:
ann @ 12:55 pm
while tempted, i’ll resist inquiring about your theories re 9/11.
March 21st, 2012, 5:07 pm
Antoine said:
JAD, enjoy this, for you with love :
March 21st, 2012, 5:15 pm
Antoine said:
Dr. Kahldoun, I have also thought many times of visiting Antakya, and refugee camps for Syrians in Turkey to help with field work. I am especially concerned about setting up temporary schools for the children, as Syrian children cannot attend Turkish schools. I wonder what will be better destination, Turkey or Lebanon, I have heard Lebanon is no longer safe for anti-regime activists due to thuggish activities by Hezbollah, Amal, and SSNP.
March 21st, 2012, 5:19 pm
Mawal95 said:
@ Antoine #476: JAD was the very one who originally posted that video on this board back on 12 Feb 2012. JAD expressed his disgust at the time. I expect and hope that the brute in that video is dead by now. Can you not link to something more up-to-date and something more interesting, Antoine? By the way, Antoine on this board linked to the following video on or about 5 Feb 2012. Can anyone give any update about what happened to the prisoners in the video? If they were all killed I would’ve heard about it, I think. So I suppose they were probably rescued. Unless it’s a fake. — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVBw1qIAybM .
March 21st, 2012, 5:38 pm
mjabali said:
Khaled Tlass:
I think you are joking when you say there is no Alawi villages in a 50 km radius from al-Qusair.
The bottom line is that 14 Syrians got killed at the hands of other Syrians for sectarian reasons.
As for your call for the Alawis to establish a state and separate themselves from the Sunnis, I say that I am Syrian and love Syria as a whole and would never be for anything like that. But, if things get bad why the hell not save bloodshed and future pain and have people live in a place they feel comfortable.
If this hatred coupled with the increasing violence continue there will be separation and Syria we know today may become a number of entities.
The Alawis should live with the other minorities in one state if ,as I said, this hatred can not be controlled. The minorities of Syria should think together and find a way out of this chaos. The Sunnis should take this into consideration and help.
March 21st, 2012, 5:42 pm
irritated said:
#477 Antoine
Qatar could be a good safe place where anti-regime will be warmly welcomed.
March 21st, 2012, 5:52 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
MJABALI,
I did not say Alawis should establish a “separate state”, they should have their own semi-autonomous entity like Iraqi Kurdistan, and no Alawi shouls be employed in the Army or security forces in Syria proper, and no Sunnis should be sent to Tartous ; Christians can be given a choice to live in any territory and free to work anywhere. If Alawis from autonomous province want to visit Syria they should get a permit , similarly if a Sunni want to go to tartous he can get a permit from Alawi authorities. However Syria should have unhindered access to the commercial ports in Latakia. If the Sunni population of Latkia-tartous-Banyas-Jableh-and a few Sunni villages are expelled by the Alawis (as I;m sure they will) they can be accomodated in the vacated houses of Alawis in Alawi neighborhoods and villages of Sunni Syria.
That way every body can be sure there will be no oppression and attacks against the other sect.
Sorry mate I know its painful but that is the only way to stop the chaos, we Sunnis will not be humiliated and killed by non-Sunnis and will not live under Baath rule any longer, while I know Alawis do not want to live under Sunni majority rule. This arrangement has been suggested by many ppl before, Alawis never wanted to join Syria anyway in 1945, they were forced to, they deserve to live under their own, and Sunnis deserve to love under a Muslim pro-islamic government.
Infact majority of Alawis will be happy with this arrangement, the problem is the power-hungry regime elites ( of all sects) who still think they can hold on to power and keep on with the good life at the expense of the lives of ordinary Syrians of all sects.
March 21st, 2012, 5:57 pm
Tara said:
Khalid @444
They are with the regime because they were given the riches, the power, and the social status through various relationships with the regime whether it is through marriage, freindship, joint venture, etc.. Some of them are part of the regime, the Sunni part that is…They are all opportunistic.
I don’t know what is your definition of practicing Sunni. But yes, they fast Ramadan and some of them do pray. And just FYI, Tara has had much more “liberal” upbringing than most of her Sunni relatives who support or are part of the regime..this is why I always insisted, this isn’t an “Islamic” movement. This is a revolution for freedom, dignity, and equal opportunity.
March 21st, 2012, 5:59 pm
zoo said:
A flashy headline for an article that says nothing new.
Just count the number of “should.. must…might .. but.. if.. and although”
Preparing for Failure in Syria
How to Stave Off Catastophe
Daniel Byman
March 20, 2012
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137339/daniel-byman/preparing-for-failure-in-syria?page=3
March 21st, 2012, 6:11 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Jad,
I am sorry for attacking you in my last post, I will send the MOD a note asking him to take down what I wrote.
I wrote out of anger, but that is not an excuse for me to personalize my post.
I am sorry again, difference of opinion should not result into mud slinging, and I was guilty of that in my last post.
I sincerely hope we can continue to keep our lines of communication open and civil.
Regards,
Son of Damascus
To the rest of SyriaComment commentariat,
My sincere apologies for drifting from the real issue and turning this forum momentarily about me.
March 21st, 2012, 6:14 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
SOD, you are too polite and soft.
March 21st, 2012, 6:19 pm
irritated said:
#481 Khaled Tlass
Great idea indeed..
Maybe you should move all the Alawites to Iraq and in exchange you bring in the oppressed Sunni Iraqi minority. Then Syria will be all Sunni and live happily ever after, with Saudi Arabia as the angel to protect it.
Christians, invited by Sarkozy, will go to France or Lebanon, Circassians will return to Russia, Turkomans to Turkey, Armenians to Armenia and everybody will be happy and safe.
Maybe you should suggest that to Kofi Annan
March 21st, 2012, 6:21 pm
mjabali said:
Majedkhaldoun:
Ibn Taymiyah and al-Buti and Hassoun are the sheikhs of the ruler. There is no doubt. Respect yourself and this conversation I am having with you and stop referring to them as “my” sheikhs. I am not a Sunni so I have nothing to do with Hassoun and al-Buti, and I have nothing to do with al-Assad and his crew. I have said this before many times and you insist onto using this type of language neglecting the facts.
Nevertheless, I will gladly respond to your “argument” for the sake of letting people know different sides of the story. This mean I will bypass your insults here and there and will introduce my argument.
Ibn Taymiyah worked for the Rulers of Damascus like his father. He was from that establishment which was all non-Syrians or Arabs. Ibn Taymiyah himself was not a Syrian or an Arab, which explain the ease in which he deemed the real population of the land unworthy of living.
The Mongols who invaded Damascus during Ibn Taymiyah’s days were Muslims also. They were fighting over Syria and the loser was the real population (Druze, Alawis, Christians, Ismailis..) These Mongols established the Sunni creed as you know. So it was Mongols vs Mongols and Ibn Taymiyah was caught in the middle of all of that.
The militancy within Ibn Taymiyah’s teachings can overcome any good quality this man has. Yes, some people said that Ibn Taymiyah said that the best Jihad is a word of truth in front of an oppressive ruler, but wasn’t the same Ibn Taymiyah forgot about all of that when Ghazan surrounded Damascus.
Ibn Taymiyah did not say the truth when he went outside Damascus to welcome Ghazan. He kissed ass the same way al-Buti and Hassoun do now to al-Assad. There is no bravery in front of ruthless fighting ideology.
Ghazan was busy so he left Damascus and went to fight somewhere else. Ibn Taymiyah worked with the old rulers to fight the deputy of Ghazan. He was around when the mongols of Ghazan were defeated and the Mongols coming from Egypt (yes Egypt) under Mohammad Ibn Qalawuun came to rule both places.
Here at this stage, the Mongol Mohammad Ibn Qalawuun wanted land and who was around: Ibn Taymiyah to issue his decrees. Which means Ibn Taymiyah was like al-Buti and Hassoun. No difference.
If you read the works of Ibn Taymiyah please count how many times he uses the word “to be killed.” Also please make a list of the people that Ibn Taymiyah said they could and should be killed.
Ibn Taymiyah was deemed dangerous by the Sheikhs of his age. His danger is felt from his days till now.
PS: will continue with the other points later…
March 21st, 2012, 6:21 pm
Tara said:
I like polite. I don’t like soft when it is not reciprocated.. It becomes then Not indicated
March 21st, 2012, 6:24 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
TARA,
Do they say La ilaha ill’Allah Muhammad Rasoul Allah ?
If they do, have they or have they not seen the video of the Mosque minaret being shelled and toppled in Deirezzor ? the countless numbers of Mosques being shelled, destroyed and desecrated all across Syria by the Assad Army. Have they not seen the blaspemous things written on walls of Mosques by the shabbiha ? Do they not know of the Hama Massacre ? Have they heard about the massacres in Karm el zeitoun ? I am not even talking about Baba Amr. 100 ppl have died in Karm el Zeytoun, mostly women and children, all slaughtered at the hands of Alawi militias.
If they know all this, how can a Sunni Muslim worth his salt still stay with this regime ?!? Infact how can they not fight against this regine !! I am not just talking about your relatives, Tara, I’m talking of all Sunni collaborators and Menhebaks starting from Dr. al-Akhras (though we know he’s an unbeliever).
Show them what sectarian Alawi militias have done to Sunni religious beliefs and life and property of Sunnis, then ask them, are you a Muslim, if yes, how can you stay with a regime that does this ? many non-Muslims are fighting against the regime, many non-Muslims have been martyred by the regime, how can they as a Sunni Muslim stay with this ? Are they not afraid of the afterlife ?
March 21st, 2012, 6:27 pm
irritated said:
Khaled Tlass #489
As you seem to be a practising moslem, can you enlight me on what is the minimum that a moslem should do, believe and fear during his life to be considered as a moslem in faith not just by birth?
March 21st, 2012, 6:28 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
MJABALI,
You are saying that all the minorities are the “real peoples of the land”, so why are all Syrian Sunnis “foreigners” ? Can you explain why ?
Also you said before that ppl from western Syria are descended from Turks, ppl from al-Jazira are descended from Arabs, so what is the origin of the ppl of Horan and Daraa eh ?
Do any DNA tests back up your claim ?
( Btw there are Turkmen settlements in Syria and Iraq, like Houla, Tal Afar, Kirkuk, Telkalakh, but how can you say the whole Sunni population of Western Syria is Turkish in origin ? )
March 21st, 2012, 6:33 pm
Syrialover said:
Ordinary Alawites are also now entering hell as innocent victims of the Assads.
This article “Alawites trapped in existential struggle” by Roula Khalaf shows the Assad regime’s own policies and propaganda are making it impossible for ordinary Alawi to reach out to fellow Syrians, and it’s increasinbgly putting peaceful low-key Alawi at risk
Points include:
– The perceived power of the Alawites masks a growing sentiment of isolation and fright
– The deliberate regime strategy has depicted the uprising as a radical Sunni insurgency that Alawites must mobilise against
– The Assads’ system has weakened the Alawi’s cultural identity – so lack of religious and community leadership is a complicating factor in attempts to win over Alawites to opposition
– Alawis who support peaceful protests etc take a higher risk than most of being pursued by the regime. It is hunting down Alawite actress Fadwa Suleiman who made an anti-sectarian video calling for “brothers in blood” to band together in Homs
– Current regime propaganda is now deliberately fannning the flames of sectarianism. Assads Snr’s earlier crushing of the MB also consolidated, rather than weakened sectarianism.
– The Assad regime’s placement of Alawis at the head of army and security and at the heart of cronyism aned corruption has fanned political resentment against the community, hardening sectarian lines
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/416b2786-734a-11e1-9014-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1pmrBbmDa
March 21st, 2012, 6:34 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
@ Irritated 490.
There is no such thing as “Muslim by birth” it is a fictitious thing, we become Muslim by our beliefs and our actions.
March 21st, 2012, 6:34 pm
mjabali said:
Khaled Tlass
Syria now is a very strange mix of people. You have to start with this point in any argument. The Sunnis became a majority because of the Ottomans, I wonder what was the percentage of Christians in Syria in 19 C, 15 C, …etc
March 21st, 2012, 6:35 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
492. Syrialover said:
“Ordinary Alawites are also now entering hell”
IF ONLY !!! I feel all the massacres of the last 40 years cannot go unpunished.
But still we should give them a chance to make a graceful exit, keep their life and property intact. Thats why we should propose the Coastal Autonomous Region. We are still giving them a chance,if they do not see the light a time will come when they will be begging to accept this solution.
March 21st, 2012, 6:39 pm
irritated said:
Khaled
I agree, but what are the minimum actions and beliefs expected from a moslem?
March 21st, 2012, 6:41 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
Okay Jabali,
What do you think is the percentage of Sunni Syrians having a high amount of Turkish genes ?
And why have they remained separate from the Syrian Turkmen community ?
And do you consider Kurds to be part of the original Syrians ?
And what about the Sunnis of Iraq and Palestine ?
Btw Sunnis were atleast 50 % even in the 10th century AD. Conversion occurred very fast and usuaslly the lower class, poor Syrians convered first. Islam is a salvation for the poor, it is a religion of Mustadafeen.
March 21st, 2012, 6:44 pm
Khalid Tlass said:
IRRITATED,
The Sunnis of Iraq deserve their own autnomous region in Anbar, Mosul, Salahediine, Diyala, infact they have already applied for it.
Sunnis will not live under Shia or Alawi IN THEIR OWN LAND.
March 21st, 2012, 6:46 pm
Tara said:
Khalid
How can you be a human being and support the regime. This is rather the question.
There is no relationship between being Sunni and being anti regime. These two status are not exchangeable. Fawaz is Not non-believer. I know this as a fact. Asma as far as I know was praying 5 times a day when she married Bashar. Her family background is conservative Sunni. Did that make her inclined to defend her people? As long as she got her shoes and fine jewelry, the status, and the power, who cares about the lives of others? Wealth, social status, and power corrupt. Being religious and practicing rituals do not make you corruption-proof. Sometimes it is the exact opposite. You become corrupt and self-righteous… A weird combination.
March 21st, 2012, 6:48 pm
Halabi said:
So it’s Ibn Taymiyah. Now I understand why we need to support another 40 years of a sectarian, racist government that kills its own citizens and steals the country’s wealth. Because the Sunnis will unleash such evil on Alawites and other minorities and finish the job they have been reluctant to do for the past five centuries.
One year ago, when menhebaks were already calling the people of Daraa armed gangs (check SC and SANA), the free Syrian people rejected all the labels and decided to follow the example of Arabs who took to the streets in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco and parts of Saudi Arabia. Assad and his thugs, who only know how to steal and kill, went out to crush the rebellion and rushed to the airways to say
خلصت وسورية بخير
One year later and there is no end in sight, just more killing of innocent civilians, from both sides but the vast majority of the dead and injured are revolutionaries, and the continuation of a sick propaganda campaign that Assad and his soldiers are conducting targeted shelling of terrorists in civilian neighborhoods. And the menhebak marches on.
As for the Kurdish demonstrations in Turkey, I support it 100% and have always condemned the sectarian Assad regime for denying the Syrian Kurds their full rights as well as Turkey’s discrimination against the Kurds. But to compare the turnout in a country that doesn’t massacre peaceful protesters on a regular basis is intellectually dishonest. Just the fact that the Kurds can gather in such numbers in Turkey disproves that the Turks are currently committing an indiscriminate genocide of the Kurds, as menhebaks believe – by comparison, when the NCC, the regime’s favorite opposition group, took to the streets last week they were beaten and arrested.
To my Kurdish brothers and sisters: Newroza we piroz be.
March 21st, 2012, 7:01 pm
Tara said:
80 killed in Syria by Bashar and Asma al Assad on Tuesday. Alfatiha upon their souls.
March 21st, 2012, 7:11 pm
omen said:
Son of Damascus @ 6:14 pm
damn, now i feel bad.
/grits teeth
sorry, jad.
March 21st, 2012, 7:12 pm
Syrialover said:
# 495. Khalid Tlass
Dear friend, Khalid, I don’t oppose you, but I ask you to join me in trying to dial down the temperature and see this as the human situation it is.
1. Not all the Alawites have their snouts in the trough (while some fatbellied Sunnis, Christians and others are guzzling there too). There is real poverty, real intellectual political dissension, real anti-sectarianism, real wish to be included and tolerance in their population like there is in the Syrian population as a whole. They should not be made guilty by enthic association – that is not the true Syrian way.
2. Talk of creating separate relgious-based areas is talk of chopping up Syria into unviable economic units, low tolerance zones, backsliding development and all the rest. That is failure and would mean a very traumatic change for all Syrians.
2. Any talk of population origins and genes is being sorted out by new DNA technology. It is finding a very surprising amount of homogeneity and long-long-term stability in the population mix of areas even where everyone expected the opposite. I suspect in Syria this is going to prove even more so than most other parts of the world.
March 21st, 2012, 7:16 pm
Halabi said:
Khalid Tlass is not Syrian. Very few Syrians on this blog use his sectarian language, which is apparently the reason why the revolution is weak according to Dr. Landis. I reject it and I believe the majority of Syrians reject it.
There is nothing inside of an Alawite that makes him a killer, just like not all Sunnis are willing to blow themselves up for Bin Laden if they get a chance. The crisis in Syria is more complex, with the regime drawing on multiple sects/social classes to stay in power and the opposition, which is trying to dislodge them with a mixture of peaceful and violent means, sometimes feeds on the sectarian underpinnings of society.
This constant bickering is exhausting and solves nothing. Khalid, do you know that most of the sheikhs in Syria are silent or with the regime? Not just the famous ones, but most imams in neighborhood mosques and so-called “3ulema” at the teaching institutions. Are they all infidels? I think they are, but I am an atheist so I can’t really judge.
All these clerics (and priests) have remained silent for decades as the country was systematically pillaged, when people of all faiths were thrown in jail for decades due to their political beliefs. Where was Khalid Tlass then?
The fall of Assad doesn’t mean the rise of the Ummah or the annihilation of Alawites. As for your beloved Salafists, I promise that in a free Syria, where we can publish what we want, there will be enough opposition to them to hold them in check. Of course they have the right to live and vote, rights that I’m willing to die to defend, but they won’t be able to impose their way of life on the country.
Of course this all depends on how much longer Assad supporters allow this conflict to go on. The longer it takes the more radical the opposition becomes. And then the Khalid Tlasses of the world will take power. At least there will be less violence – history has shown that Assad’s soldiers have killed far more people then Salafists and Al Qaeda combined. Wake up menhebaks, your god has killed more people than Bin Laden.
March 21st, 2012, 7:34 pm
irritated said:
Khaled Tlass
This is the third time I am asking you this question, are you avoiding to answer? If you don’t want to reply, just tell me so.
I am more specific since you claim to be a practising sunni:
What are the minimum actions and beliefs expected from a Sunni moslem?
March 21st, 2012, 7:36 pm
irritated said:
#503 Halabi
The Syrian army was in Lebanon for 25 years. While the Lebanese christian militias ( Geagea and Cie) perpetrated horrible massacres in Sabra and Chatila, the Syrian army was never involved or accused of massacre on families like the ones we have seen in Homs and Karm al Zeytun, raping and slitting throats of children.
These massacres have only one signature: Islamist extremists.
March 21st, 2012, 7:43 pm
omen said:
re “Alawites trapped in existential struggle” by Roula Khalaf
is it true when assad was bombing the rebel neighborhoods, some of the sunnis escaped to alawite neighborhoods next door? where, presumably, they found shelter.
they should make youtube videos telling that story.
March 21st, 2012, 7:45 pm
Aldendeshe said:
@IRRITATED
Ask Tlass about the Talmud, he will reply right away, Sunni Islam, he would have to Google first. How could a Sunni Moslem from Syria beg for Independent Alawites State or separation of Syria along sectarian lines as he does.
March 21st, 2012, 7:49 pm
Ghufran said:
This is the six points UN declaration:
1- الالتزام بالعمل مع المبعوث في اطار عملية سياسية جامعة بقيادة سورية لمعالجة التطلعات المشروعة للشعب السوري وشواغله، والالتزام، لهذه الغاية، بتعيين محاور تخول له كل الصلاحيات عندما يدعوه المبعوث الى القيام بذلك.
2- الالتزام بوقف القتال والتوصل الفعلي على وجه السرعة وتحت اشراف الامم المتحدة الى وقف كافة الاطراف للعنف المسلح بكافة اشكاله لحماية المدنيين واحلال الاستقرار في البلاد.
ولهذه الغاية، ينبغي ان تقوم الحكومة السورية بالوقف الفوري لتحركات الجنود نحو المراكز السكنية وانهاء استخدام الاسلحة الثقيلة فيها، والشروع في سحب الحشود العسكرية من المراكز السكنية وحولها.
وفي الوقت الذي يجري فيه اتخاذ هذه الاجراءات في الميدان، على سوريا ان تعمل مع المبعوث من اجل ان تقوم جميع الاطراف بالوقف المستمر للعنف المسلح بجميع اشكاله تحت الاشراف الفعلي لآلية تابعة للامم المتحدة.
وسيسعى المبعوث الى الحصول على التزامات مماثلة من المعارضة وجميع العناصر ذات الصلة لوقف القتال والعمل معه لكي تقوم جميع الاطراف بالوقف المستمر للعنف المسلح بجميع اشكاله تحت الاشراف الفعلي لالية تابعة للامم المتحدة؛
3- ضمان تقديم المساعدة الانسانية في حينها لجميع المناطق المتضررة من القتال ولهذه الغاية اتخاذ خطوات فورية تتمثل في قبول وتنفيذ هدنة يومية مدتها ساعتان لتقديم المساعدة الانسانية وتنسيق الوقت المحدد لهذه الهدنة اليومية وطرائقها من خلال آلية فعالة بما في ذلك على المستوى المحلي.
4- تكثيف وتيرة الافراج عن المحتجزين تعسفا بما في ذلك الفئات المستضعفة من السكان والاشخاص المشاركون في احتجاجات سلمية وتوسيع نطاق ذلك الافراج وتزويد المنظمات الانسانية دون تاخير بقائمة تتضمن كافة الاماكن التي يحتجز فيها هؤلاء الاشخاص والشروع فورا في تنظيم سبل الوصول الى تلك الاماكن والاستجابة الفورية عن طريق
القنوات المناسبة لكل طلبات الحصول على المعلومات المتعلقة بهؤلاء الاشخاص وسبل الوصول اليهم والافراج عنهم.
5- ضمان حرية تنقل الصحافيين في كافة ارجاء البلد وعدم اتباع سياسة تمييزية في منحهم التاشيرات.
6- ضمان حرية تكوين الجمعيات والحق في التظاهر السلمي المضمونين قانونا.
Comment: this is NOT a copy of the AL plan,it is a recognition by ALL major governments that the old plan which excluded the regime from dialogue is no longer endorsed by the US and the EU. Notice the absence of any call for Bashar to step down.
Syrians will either talk and compromise or continue to kill each other and end up living in small dysfunctional emirates.
March 21st, 2012, 7:52 pm
Mawal95 said:
As linked at #483:
That was another clueless commentator in Washington for you. The fundamental problem with such commentators is that they do not have the wherewithal to look into the crucial question of the extent to which the people of Syria bestow legitimacy to the Assad regime. They have no convincing evidence from Syria about “lack of legitimacy”; they don’t even try to present any. All my hard evidence convinces me the regime is 100% legitimate in Syria. It does not have a legitimacy problem; it has a violent insurgency problem from illegitimate rebels. As a simple proof of its legitimacy, it is clear that the regime’s party is going to be the winner in Syria’s parliamentary elections on 7 May 2012. Those will be free and fair elections (with religious and tribal parties banned).
Several times before on this board I have given links to many videos from music concerts in Syria dating from years prior to 2011 which I uphold as good evidence that the legitimacy of the regime runs deep. In those concert videos, the audience is gathered for music and dining, and not for politics, but the singer says words in support of Assad, and that is the evidence that the support for the regime runs deep in the society. Or at least in the more-liberal, urban population anyway; the religiously conservative and rural populations are underrepresented in such audiences. Here are three more examples I incidentally came across while browsing music at Youtube within the past few days. These come from three different years and so have different audiences, although it’s the same singer in each case (Nirmin Ibrahim):
Pro-Bashar anno 2004: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=P8BSboE9pE4#t=448s
Pro-Bashar circa anno 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wcHVPBeM3ys#t=410s
Pro-Bashar anno 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f-7yccJKpGU#t=225s
PS: Commentator “Halabi” doesn’t sound like any Syrian I know. So I think he’s not a Syrian. Either that or he’s been gone from Syria for a very long time.
March 21st, 2012, 7:57 pm
omen said:
irritated: These massacres have only one signature
that’s a bigoted statement.
US troops have slaughtered children in cold blood. are US troops islamic extremists?
assad’s bombs killed those children. assad’s jails employ rape as a tool of torture. by your logic, assad is an “islamic extremist”!
March 21st, 2012, 8:03 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Irrittaed,
“the Syrian army was never involved or accused of massacre on families like the ones we have seen in Homs and Karm al Zeytun, raping and slitting throats of children”
Then what was Hama circa ’82, another cleanup and disinfection that involved the death of over 10,000 Syrians?
Talk about revisionist history eh!
March 21st, 2012, 8:11 pm
Halabi said:
I know menhebaks only watch Addunia and read Syria Truth, and only mention deaths that they think are committed by the opposition (I say think because murders haven’t been investigated in Assad’s Syria since March 18, 2011), but here are some clips of the suffering in Syria.
Who is being buried in this mass grave? Who killed them? Why aren’t the crimes being investigated? Are they all militants? I don’t know, and the media and authorities in the country aren’t telling us.
http://youtu.be/1G3M-fVYMwU
Homs, a Christian man’s house is damaged. He freely talks to Omar Tellawi who the Assad regime believes is the worst Sunni killer in the world. http://youtu.be/zpmTpLabJgI
And now something less depressing. Syrian Kurds celebrating freedom. Assad thought he could silence them after killing Mishaal Temmo and paying lip service to their long neglected struggle, but they know better. http://youtu.be/lbxUM17GnRo
March 21st, 2012, 8:11 pm
Jerusalem said:
ابتلاع فيل صار أسهل من ابتلاع بيانات المعارضة السورية
هذا هو حالنا مع مانسمع من تحليلات الثورجيين عن انتصاراتهم وعن تسارع وتيرة انهيار النظام السوري بعد كل هذه الهزائم الأخلاقية والسياسية والعسكرية والاقليمية والدولية التي حصدتها الثورة في زمن قياسي .. وربما كان من حسن حظ ألبرت اينشتاين (واضع نظرية النسبية) أنه توفي قبل أن تظهر الثورة السورية والا لاستولت الثورة على انجازه العلمي وقالت ان اينشتاين انضم الى الثورة السورية لأنه اكتشف أن هناك ماهو أسرع من الضوء ..ألا وهو سقوط النظام السوري الذي وعدتنا الثورة بسقوطه منذ 365 يوما على أنه واقع لامحالة في اليوم التالي .. ومن حسن حظ اسحاق نيوتن (مكتشف قانون الجاذبية) أن سقطت تفاحة على رأسه بفعل الجاذبية الأرضية قبل ظهور الثورة السورية .. بل ومن حسن حظه أنه رحل قبل ظهور محطة الجزيرة الفضائية والا لكانت قناة الجزيرة الفضائية قد قالت ان ماسقط على رأس نيوتن هو النظام السوري ..وربما الرئيس بشار الأسد نفسه ..
http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/article_display.cfm?ArticleID=26397
March 21st, 2012, 8:14 pm
Tara said:
Never confuse a love of Louboutins with western values.
Asma Assad’s modern style led people to think she was not a typical dictator’s wife. How wrong they were
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/18/catherine-bennett-dictators-wives-fashion-values
Can Louboutins be recycled? And if so, via which bin? Not long ago, of course, any charity shop would have fallen upon them. But what woman, however desperate for chic, would now want to advertise, along with Louboutin’s ever more vulgar red soles, a shared, “as worn by” aesthetic with Asma al-Assad, wife of the Syrian opthamologist-turned-assassin?
….
.. While Mrs Assad hinted at a democratic passion simply by wearing the same platforms as Victoria Beckham, Angelina Jolie and Carla Bruni, Mr Louboutin responded with sympathy for Syrian materials and culture. Asma was spotted with “a Syrian silk Louboutin tote”. Louboutin went one better with a Syrian house, in Aleppo. “Darling,” he told a US interviewer, “I am totally broke, but it was love at first sight”.
…..
Happily for Mr Louboutin’s post-Arab Spring weekend breaks, the town is reported to be so loyal to the Assads that rebels in Damascus have reportedly held up signs reading: “Aleppo wouldn’t rise even if it took Viagra.”
……
Though it’s possible Louboutin executives are celebrating this uncovenanted global publicity, so recent that the relevant trotters must still be in stock, it is easier to imagine them scouring the literature on brand damage limitation for appropriate strategies when a luxe name becomes aspirational only to would-be torturers.
Read more…
March 21st, 2012, 8:19 pm
omen said:
irritated, speaking of the civil war in
lebanon:
March 21st, 2012, 8:20 pm
ann said:
‘West to launch package war in Middle East’ – 21 March, 2012
http://rt.com/news/west-war-syria-iran-065/
The West will launch a package war against Iran, Syria and Hezbollah as soon as they decide what to do with the Iranian nuclear program, Abdel Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of a London-based Arabic newspaper told RT in an interview.
Atwan also believes the West is not intervening in Syria because they are waiting to decide whether they are going to bomb Iran or not.
The editor of Al Quds al Arabi newspaper noted: “If they have decided to bomb Iran I think they will bomb Iran and Syria and Hezbollah. I think they will launch a package war.”
“I believe the war will take place, the question is when? The Israeli and the Americans do agree there will be a war. But the difference is about the timing of this war. It could be either before the American presidential election or after it. The Israeli want it before the election, the American will like to wait until they finish this election,” he said.
Atwan explained that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad falls it would be easier for the West to intervene in Iran, as it would mean the West had managed to secure the front against Israel.
“They could neutralize tens of thousands of Syrian missiles and war planes, which could participate in any war against Iran, but in order to that you have to invade in Syria which is a very complicated and costly adventure.”
[…]
March 21st, 2012, 8:20 pm
Mawal95 said:
The bogusly named“Halabi” said at #512 “Assad thought he could silence them after killing Mishaal Temmo.” It is a scurrilous falsehood that the murderers of Mishaal Tammo were agents of the regime. See e.g. http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2011/10/09/374306.htm . I will not be reading any posts by “Halabi” in future, if I return to this dungeon of iniquity again.March 21st, 2012, 8:21 pm
omen said:
makes me sick to say it but, yes, US christian troops have raped and killed children.
no religion, no ethnicity, no nationality is exempt from committing such atrocities.
March 21st, 2012, 8:27 pm
Tara said:
Mishaal Tammo was indeed killed by the ophthalmologist-turned-assassin. Just like 7,0000 other Syrian. It is a common knowledge.
——
Bye Bye.
March 21st, 2012, 8:30 pm
irritated said:
#511 SOD
You are conveniently mixing up different cases and circumstances to blur the reality.
I never read about US slitting the throat of children and whatever acts of killing families by western soldiers were exceptional and usually by mentally deranged soldiers.
The bombing of Hama was a war with heavy weapons to stop terrorists that were hiding among the civilians, like they did in Bab Amr. It was not directed to civilians and it never involved raping and slitting the throats of whole families in cold blood, face to face.
Rape has been used in torture everywhere, Syrians are no exception but this does not qualify as a cold blood massacre.
Many young Lebanese soldiers had their throat slit while sleeping by Islamists and that started the months long conflict in the Palestinian camp a few years ago. The pilots of the planes in 9/11 had their throat slit.
It seems to be a trademark of Islamists terrorists, their signature.
March 21st, 2012, 8:32 pm
Halabi said:
Thanks Mawal95 – I’m glad I don’t sound like people you know. The reason for that is because in your mind all Syrians see Bashar Al Assad as the democratically elected eternal leader of the country. I never did and never will.
I imagine you spend lots of time debating people’s patriotism and identity. Some of them must cause you some headaches. Rifaat Al Assad is a Syrian, the brother of Hafez, a former vice president and the butcher of Hama. You view him as a traitor. Same with Khaddam.
Remember, your lord chose these men and gave them incredible power and wealth and allowed them to live out their days in luxury. That alone makes the Assad’s unfit for office.
Of course you can fix all of that with some conspiracies and other intrigue. Just remember: خلصت
March 21st, 2012, 8:37 pm
CHRIS said:
TARA
so how many of the 7000 were soldiers?O
OBAMA and Western Countries plotting against syria are the real murderers.
Journos are also to blame.
I just looked at the statistcs for assylum seekers in australia for the past few years, seems suprising syria did not make the top 20! if the country has been soo opressed as the opposition and west claim why have they never tried to escape?
March 21st, 2012, 8:39 pm
CHRIS said:
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-december-quarter-2011.pdf
March 21st, 2012, 8:41 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Irritated,
“The bombing of Hama was a war with heavy weapons to stop terrorists that were hiding among the civilians”
Lies, pure distasteful lies. At the very least 10,000 killed and you still claim civilians were not targeted ?!
Kilshi bi kheir Irritated, keep believing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54EHiLzTHx8&feature=related
https://7ee6an.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/stories-from-hama-memories-of-painter-khaled-al-khani-part-1/
https://7ee6an.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/stories-from-hama-memories-of-painter-khaled-al-khani-part-2/
March 21st, 2012, 8:42 pm
irritated said:
#507 Aldendeshe
“How could a Sunni Moslem from Syria beg for Independent Alawites State or separation of Syria along sectarian lines as he does.”
He is not the only one, just read OBSERVER’s comments. He goes even further: mini states, christians, kurds, assyrians.
One wonders how these people call themselves syrians with suchh idea about destroying their nation.
March 21st, 2012, 8:45 pm
irritated said:
#532 SOD
Heavy weapons in 1982 were not as precise as now, they were lots of civilians casualties but the innocents civilians were not the target.
…and you keep hating and calling for revenge.
Hatred will surely save Syria.
March 21st, 2012, 8:47 pm
Tara said:
If Alawis want to fight until last man to oppress the Syrians, go ahead. Have an independent Alawi state. Will drop by and visit. We will keep the Christisns. We love them.
March 21st, 2012, 8:49 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Irritated,
I never mentioned anything about US soldiers, I think you are mixing two people up.
And show me where I ever called for revenge, Stop making things up so I fit whatever mould you want to fit me in.
March 21st, 2012, 8:50 pm
omen said:
irritated,
whatever acts of killing families by western soldiers were exceptional and usually by mentally deranged soldiers.
the US has been waging a senseless war for 10 years and you don’t find anything exceptional? how many families has the US killed from drones alone in afghanistan? murders in iraq get written off as “collateral damage.”
if you want to dismiss that, how can you ignore the atrocities the US committed in vietnam?:
March 21st, 2012, 8:51 pm
irritated said:
#527 SOD
read #528 about US soldiers
March 21st, 2012, 8:55 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Irritated,
“One wonders how these people call themselves syrians with suchh idea about destroying their nation.”
Same could be said about you, for you are the one calling for the cleanup and disinfection of the Syrian people.
Talk about hateful and revengeful language.
Allah Souria ou el Batta ou Bass!!!!
March 21st, 2012, 8:56 pm
omen said:
chris @ 8:39
poor people can’t make it all the way to australia!
takes money to emigrate.
March 21st, 2012, 8:56 pm
Halabi said:
Mishaal Temmo was a member of the SNC and could have been an excellent leader for our country. He was also jailed for many years with other Damascus Declaration members.
SANA is not the arbiter of truth (because it doesn’t have truth in its name). Here is the man, a hero to all Syrians, in his own words. It’s worth spending time on this special day to see what this great man, who comes from a people that suffered more than anyone else under this regime and were oppressed by previous rulers as well, had to offer.
An interview on Al Arabiya
http://youtu.be/3zLIg4GnJfA
Mishaal demanding the prosecution of Bashar and all the killers in the regime at a protest http://youtu.be/tpLRKqklzTE
Not exactly his words, but these are the people who were at his funeral http://youtu.be/mUb2FZ1z5VM
March 21st, 2012, 9:00 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Irritated,
What other people write is not my responsibility, maybe you should have addressed your concerns to the relevant party.
I believe Omen can back up his/her own statements much more eloquently than I can, I am not Omen nor am I speaking on his/her behalf.
March 21st, 2012, 9:02 pm
CHRIS said:
OMEN@ 8.56PM
when ur desperate there is a way out! look at the link
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-december-quarter-2011.pdf
how did these other thousands get here?
my family has visited oz over 20times if they were soo desperate why did we not keep them here?
the only poor are the ones who have sat on thier asses the last few decades. other hard working christians muslims alawis have done so. sure their are people not happy in syria or dont agree with the ruling geovernment. that is normal just look at the protests in the US at the moment!
but it doesnt mean we overturn the government.
Normal people form an opinion have a plan and cast their votes. these thugs of the FSA give bashar no alternative but to defend.
March 21st, 2012, 9:07 pm
zoo said:
“Look at his panic. The meeting has not convened yet but he is already annoyed. He is irked because people will be told the truth about Syria,” Kılıçdaroğlu said at his party’s parliamentary meeting,
(Turkish) Gov’t slams CHP meet on Arab Spring
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/govt-slams-chp-meet-on-arab-spring.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16594&NewsCatID=338
Prime Minister Erdoğan criticizes an upcoming CHP-led Socialist International meeting on Syria, arguing that the participants will ‘defend the brutality in Syria’
….
The CHP will host a meeting of the Socialist International’s (SI) Special Committee on the Arab World on March 23-24 in Istanbul, to discuss social-democratic approaches to the transformation process in the region. Representatives of social-democratic parties from many countries, as well as bloggers from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria are expected to participate.
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu retorted that the meeting had annoyed Erdoğan because in it “the truth” about the situation in Syria would be discussed.
“Look at his panic. The meeting has not convened yet but he is already annoyed. He is irked because people will be told the truth about Syria,” Kılıçdaroğlu said at his party’s parliamentary meeting, adding that the meeting would also raise the issue of the two Turkish journalists missing in Syria.
Kılıçdaroğlu warned the government that the creation of a Turkish “buffer zone” inside Syria would amount to “war and occupation.”
…
In an apparent reference to the Alevi faith that CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad share, Erdoğan said: “Don’t forget that a person’s religion is the religion of his friend. Tell me who your friend is and I’ll tell you who you are.”
March 21st, 2012, 9:07 pm
irritated said:
#530. Son of Damascus said:
“Same could be said about you, for you are the one calling for the cleanup and disinfection of the Syrian people.:
Who’s talking about distorting statememts?
The only Syrians that should be cleaned up and desinfected are the ones who are calling for the destruction of their country to satisfy their hatred and their desire of revenge.
March 21st, 2012, 9:12 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Omar Offendum – #Syria
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXjEWrhkb6g&feature=player_embedded
Al Sha’ab ureed isqat al Nizam!!!!
March 21st, 2012, 9:13 pm
Tara said:
Zoo
Look at Zoo@449 and Tara @317
I like to copy you too.
March 21st, 2012, 9:15 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Irritated,
“The only Syrians that should be cleaned up and desinfected are the ones who are calling for the destruction of their country to satisfy their hatred and their desire of revenge.”
Nobody deserves to die to satisfy Assad’s quench for his illegitimate power, asking for the butcher to leave his throne does not equate to destroying Syria. Him and his blood stained family are the ones destroying everything good about Syria, all for the sake of Assad.
March 21st, 2012, 9:18 pm
Halabi said:
Son of Damascus.
There is no use debating. Their narrative of history is that Sunni Muslims in Syria who held power for over a thousand years have always wanted to destroy every minority, or at least enslave them. Somehow the minorities were able to survive, some even flourished, and finally one family from a minority sect was able to control the country.
Of course the Assad family has to kill or sideline anyone who doesn’t want to be obedient to the regime. There is the historic animosity, and the regime also fears retaliation for the crimes they are committing. So the killing and the lies to cover it up continues. And then there is a conspiracy led by Hamad (what happened to Bandar? it used to be all Bandar all the time last spring).
When people base their arguments on such a flaky and false premise, it is futile to engage in debate. But I respect and enjoy your efforts.
On another note, damage control for Asmaa http://youtu.be/cPG4xOwPJIg
March 21st, 2012, 9:21 pm
zoo said:
More trouble for Turkey looming
US Senators launch new ‘genocide’ bill
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-senators-launch-new-genocide-bill.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16571&NewsCatID=358
Two influential pro-Armenian senators have formally launched a new effort for the passage in the U.S. Senate of an “Armenian genocide” resolution, the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) reported late Tuesday
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials say Turkey would do all it could to avoid the passage of the resolution while US diplomats telling “US would think twice at a time when it needs Turkey on Syria and other matters
(…)
March 21st, 2012, 9:37 pm
zoo said:
#537 Tara
Evidence of emails will not stand any trial. No handwriting, no signatures, just allegations and possible fabrications.
UK justice at its best.
It is better that the UK Syrian Society be disbanded. It is worthless.
March 21st, 2012, 9:47 pm
Tara said:
A camel dressed in a bondage outfit?
Syria: Bashar al-Assad nicknamed ‘duck’ by wife
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9156325/Syria-Bashar-al-Assad-nicknamed-duck-by-wife-Asma.html
Opposition websites and Facebook pages have become strewn with jokes at the expense of the Syrian president. One doctored photograph depicts pro-regime followers on their knees kissing the image of a duck.
A picture apparently sent by the daughter of a Syrian diplomat depicts a cartoon of a camel dressed in a bondage outfit, with a black whip round its neck, its eyes covered in a black mask and wearing high-heeled black leather boots.
(…)
March 21st, 2012, 9:50 pm
zoo said:
Nowruz a Syrian Kurd national day?
In September 2009, the UN cultural agency UNESCO included Nowruz in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in February 2010 to declare March 21 as the International Nowruz Day.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/culture/2012-03/20/c_131478606.htm
March 21st, 2012, 9:51 pm
zoo said:
Masks are falling to the dismay of the international community.
Islamists seek influence in Syria uprising
By LEE KEATH and ZEINA KARAM | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago
http://news.yahoo.com/islamists-seek-influence-syria-uprising-193750923.html
BEIRUT (AP) — The gunmen in eastern Syria, wielding grenade launchers and assault rifles, announced on the Internet they were forming the “God is Great” Brigade and joining the country’s rebellion. They swore allegiance to the Free Syrian Army and vowed to topple President Bashar Assad.
But unlike many other rebel bands, they wrapped their proclamation in hard-line Islamic language, declaring their fight to be a “jihad,” or holy war, and urging others to do the same.
“To our fellow revolutionaries, don’t be afraid to declare jihad in the path of God. Seek victory from the One God. God is the greatest champion,” the brigade’s spokesman said in the January video. “Instead of fighting for a faction, fight for your nation, and instead of fighting for your nation, fight for God.”
As Syria’s uprising evolves into an armed insurgency, parts of the movement are taking on overt religious overtones. Islamic movements in and out of the country are vying to gain influence over the revolt in hopes of gathering power if Assad falls.
The Islamists’ role complicates choices for the United States and other nations who say they want to help the opposition without empowering radicals; a string of anti-regime suicide bombings have raised fears of al-Qaida involvement.
The groups diverge from violent jihadi movements to political moderates like the Muslim Brotherhood, which has already used the Arab Spring revolutions to vault to power in Tunisia and Egypt elections.
…..
A video posted on YouTube last week showed a former Syrian Brotherhood leader, Ali Sadr el-Din Bayanouni, admitting the Brotherhood nominated Ghalioun as council leader merely as a “front” more easily accepted by the West.
“We did not want the Syrian regime to take advantage of the fact that Islamists are leading the SNC,” Bayanouni says in the video.
…
Khalaf Dahowd, from the opposition group the National Coordination Body, said Brotherhood domination of the council “has led to doubts and suspicions among the more secular factions in Syria about the post-Assad period.”
It is unclear how much weaponry is reaching rebels, most of whom complain they receive no outside help. That illustrates the difficulty of any group dominating the opposition amid the divisions and regime onslaught.
But Islamists appear to be maneuvering for their chance, said Bilal Saab, a Middle East expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.
The Brotherhood “are lying low, waiting to see how events unfold and reap the fruits of the fight.”
(..)
March 21st, 2012, 10:02 pm
Ghufran said:
لماذا تخاف أنظمة الخليج من الاخوان
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today%5C21qpt480.htm&arc=data%5C2012%5C03%5C03-21%5C21qpt480.htm
The almost daily statements by Dubi police chief,who is very close to the UAE leader,goes under the same umbrella. This year will not be easy for the GCC especially if ,a big if,the regime and the opposition decide to sit down and talk peace.
The GCC is unsure whether to support bombing Iran or not,they have a lot to lose either way,but they will most likely wait until Israel and the US make the decision ,then they will follow their lead.
March 21st, 2012, 10:03 pm
Tara said:
Zoo
The justice in this case is going to be a divine one. I have no doubt about it. The leaked emails tarnished the family’s reputation and that is enough.
Joshua posted an article that Alarabys deleted thousands of intimate inappropriate emails.
Why? I just don’t believe that they would delete them..perhaps they want to trickle them one after the other? I would do the same. Prolonged humiliation that is well-deserved.
March 21st, 2012, 10:04 pm
ss said:
This is our first lady.
This is the first lady of Syria.
Her speech on mothers’ day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ZT2helPgg
March 21st, 2012, 10:07 pm
irritated said:
I guess that some Asma-bashing commenters should open a new blog
Asmacomment.com where they can dump all the rumors, shopping addresses and tabloid reports about the titillating details of Asma’s and her family private life.
That would be a big relief for the fingers of the Syriacomment commenters.
March 21st, 2012, 10:09 pm
Tara said:
Photo of the Camel Bondage Cartoon is provided. What is exactly the psychology behind an image like this?
Syria: Bashar Al-Assad’s Leaked Emails Reveal Camel Bondage Cartoons
The Huffington Post | By Charlie Lindlar
Posted: 21/03/2012 10:54 Updated: 21/03/2012 11:01
(..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/21/syrian-president-al-assad-email-reveal-pet-names-bondage-camel-cartoon_n_1369113.html?ref=uk
March 21st, 2012, 10:13 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
If Assad wants to have his Nusayri state, let him go to Israel, Natanyaho loves him and he is the one supporting him, Latakia and the syrian coast is for Syria and for real syrians not the Nusayri
March 21st, 2012, 10:13 pm
Ghufran said:
دور و اهمية سوريا
Historical analysis
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today%5C21qpt699.htm&arc=data%5C2012%5C03%5C03-21%5C21qpt699.htm
March 21st, 2012, 10:15 pm
ss said:
Dear Moderator I noticed that you are not posting my comments????
Did I write anything offensive. Am I baned??
Have a look at comment 552. by majedkhaldounsaid????
March 21st, 2012, 10:16 pm
ann said:
Islamists seek influence in Syria uprising – March 21, 2012
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2012/03/21/islamists_seek_influence_in_syria_uprising/
BEIRUT—The gunmen in eastern Syria, wielding grenade launchers and assault rifles, announced on the Internet they were forming the “God is Great” Brigade and joining the country’s rebellion. They swore allegiance to the Free Syrian Army and vowed to topple President Bashar Assad.
But unlike many other rebel bands, they wrapped their proclamation in hard-line Islamic language, declaring their fight to be a “jihad,” or holy war, and urging others to do the same.
“To our fellow revolutionaries, don’t be afraid to declare jihad in the path of God. Seek victory from the One God. God is the greatest champion,” the brigade’s spokesman said in the January video. “Instead of fighting for a faction, fight for your nation, and instead of fighting for your nation, fight for God.”
As Syria’s uprising evolves into an armed insurgency, parts of the movement are taking on overt religious overtones. Islamic movements in and out of the country are vying to gain influence over the revolt in hopes of gathering power if Assad falls.
The Islamists’ role complicates choices for the United States and other nations who say they want to help the opposition without empowering radicals; a string of anti-regime suicide bombings have raised fears of al-Qaida involvement.
The groups diverge from violent jihadi movements to political moderates like the Muslim Brotherhood, which has already used the Arab Spring revolutions to vault to power in Tunisia and Egypt elections.
Their growing influence is seeding divisions within an already fractured opposition. A week ago, several prominent figures quit the Syrian National Council, the body of exiles that has tried to emerge as the opposition’s political leadership. They complained the fundamentalist Brotherhood dominates the group.
The council is “a liberal front for the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Kamal Labwani, a veteran secular dissident, who broke away. He said the Brotherhood was trying to build allegiances on the ground in Syria.
“One day we will wake up to find an armed militia … controlling the country through their weapons,” Labwani said.
[…]
March 21st, 2012, 10:24 pm
Ghufran said:
The verdict is out,many will finally be able to breathe after receiving the brilliant assessment from top “thought leaders” on this blog who concluded that millions of Syrians are not real Muslims or even real Syrians. My Nusairi half could not be happier today,I also finally managed to “relieve” myself after being fearful of using Bayt Al-Raha بيت الراحة since it may be a trap and not the real “thing”.
SC is reaching a new low,our moderator needs to look at this garbage and clean the site again,this is rather disgusting.
March 21st, 2012, 10:25 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Zoo,
“Evidence of emails will not stand any trial. No handwriting, no signatures, just allegations and possible fabrications.”
According to the BBC, email can be used as evidence in a court of law in the UK as far back as 1998.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/146437.stm
Even those laws have been updated since in the UK, I would recommend checking out UK ACPO guidelines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_evidence#UK_ACPO_guidelines
Although in the case of Asma the crown prosecutor might have a hard time building a case for the origin of the email was not in the UK, they would need both the UAE (where the email server is hosted I am presuming) and Syrian ISP to cooperate.
They would also need the originating hard drives to be able to prosecute.
A tall order on all accounts.
March 21st, 2012, 10:30 pm
Tara said:
Irritated
No. I like it here. If your fingers are getting tired, remember this is an at-will blog. No one is holding a gun at some one’s head to cleanse or disinfect him/her if interested in defecting. Please feel free to defect if that is what you want to do.
It strikes me that you like using same vocabularies Bronco uses. Why? Even you refer to Istanbul as Istambul just like him. What is the reason for that. The last words you borrowed were titillating and Tabloids. Any explanation for that? I am just curious. Btw, I am not insinuating that you are one person. I know you are not. Sorry for the direct question.
March 21st, 2012, 10:43 pm
ann said:
An Islamic militant group, the Al-Nusra Front, on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing that killed 27 people in Damascus over the weekend. The group appears to be a front for al-Qaida’s Iraq branch, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence.
Opposition activists are reluctant to talk about any Islamist role because Assad’s regime depicts their movement as solely a campaign by terrorists and Islamic radicals. Such rhetoric is highly effective in scaring religious minorities and moderate Sunnis away from supporting the uprising.
Ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis are gaining ground among some factions. Salafis preach a strict doctrine similar to that in Saudi Arabia and contend that no law but Islamic Shariah law is permissible.
Sheikh Adnan al-Arour, a Syrian Salafi cleric based in the Gulf, regularly appears in fiery monologues on Saudi TV channels calling for jihad against the “infidel” Assad regime.
His influence is shown by the open allegiance declared by several rebel brigades. One, called the “Supporters of God Brigade” in Hama, praised him as “the leader of the revolution” in February.
— Finally, there is the Syrian National Council, the 270-member group made up mainly of exiles headed by secular dissident Burhan Ghalioun. It has tried with little success to gather the opposition under its umbrella.
A video posted on YouTube last week showed a former Syrian Brotherhood leader, Ali Sadr el-Din Bayanouni, admitting the Brotherhood nominated Ghalioun as council leader merely as a “front” more easily accepted by the West.
“We did not want the Syrian regime to take advantage of the fact that Islamists are leading the SNC,” Bayanouni says in the video.
The Brotherhood has had no organization on the ground since the 1980s, when it waged a violent campaign, assassinating regime figures. Assad’s father Hafez Assad retaliated by almost destroying their main stronghold, the city of Hama, killing thousands and sending members fleeing abroad. Since then, mere Brotherhood membership has been punishable by death.
Ex-council member Labwani and others in the opposition say the Brotherhood is using the council to rebuild by distributing money and weapons, key levers for influence. The Brotherhood has a powerful donor network among members in exile and supporters in oil-rich Gulf countries.
Khalaf Dahowd, from the opposition group the National Coordination Body, said Brotherhood domination of the council “has led to doubts and suspicions among the more secular factions in Syria about the post-Assad period.”
[…]
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2012/03/21/islamists_seek_influence_in_syria_uprising/?page=2
March 21st, 2012, 11:24 pm
Ghufran said:
This is a letter from Bashar’s instructor when he was studying ophthalmology
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/21/bashar-ghosts-syria-bahrain
March 21st, 2012, 11:26 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Ghufran
I thought you are half Alawi, Nusayri are persians Alawis are Arab
Mjabali thinks that we, Arab Syrian, are not the real people of the land, I hope you disagree with him
March 21st, 2012, 11:30 pm
Observer said:
First the UNSC statement. It is a slap to the regime but with enough mild language to allow for a face saving out mainly for Russia and second for the regime leader.
The language has just enough of a hint of further action if the plan is not implemented. The regime if it abides by the points of removing the army and the security services while the resistance stop attacks and recruitment and organizational efforts will be followed by allowing demonstrations without hindrance.
This will mean millions of people that will pour into the streets not on Fridays as organized by the regime but rather spontaneously. The reason I believe it will be in huge numbers is two fold the first is the fact that when allowed to do so in Hama huge numbers came out likewise in Homs. I also think that more people that used to be sitting on the fence and were watching how the wind blows are now truly disgusted by the terrible performance of the regime: the veneer of modernity has fallen, the crass self preservation has shown its ugly face, the utter disregard for the basic demands of human and humane treatment have gone out the window, the similarity with Ghadaffi shocking. Moreover, the fall of the purchasing power of the people by more than half is devastating while the latest e mail leaks paint a picture of Marie Antoinette to the general public.
If the regime refuses then I do think that it will be left with Iran only as the supporter because as I predicted the status of Russia as a remaining superpower despite its significant decline will not be sacrificed by Putin for the blue eyes of Fredo the Duck. Also, Russia would like to be able to host the dialogue so as to preserve its interests in Syria, preserve the role of Iran as a semi ally and a thorn in the side of the West, and most importantly to preserve its monopoly on the gas and oil routes through Russia and not Iran or Turkey for European energy needs.
Now let me say this again and again: there is a very weak sense of a true national identity as being Syrian. I would argue that there is a stronger sense of being an Arab than being a Syrian especially since Vito Corleone used to be alive. He made sure that the rule is concentrated in the hands of key figures from the Alawite community. The alliance with Iran in the Iran Iraq war had one element based on denying the aggressor the right to invade, another element was based on pure power calculations as the Iraqi Baath party was a rival to the Syrian and the claim to Arab leadership by Saddam would have eclipsed the claim of Assad. However, after the invasion of Iraq and the marginalization of the Sunnis it appears in our days to have been all along a sectarian move. Whether it is true or not is beside the point. In the effort of Syria to find patrons to protect it against a US led effort to subjugate the region, the reliance on Iran has further exacerbated this view. What did not help the regime was the overt support it got from both Iran and HA who at the same time as they were defending the brutality of the regime have voiced support for the Shia led revolt in Bahrain and in KSA. The regime being an expert pyromaniacal arsonist threatened the region with a sectarian spill over to cow its opponents into leaving it in power. This however backfired with the determination of KSA and others not to let that happen and to fight back. Hence, Russia coming to the rescue as they and the regime are deathly afraid of an armed rebellion. The Russian change of heart came about when the fiasco of BA happened with the regime not able to enter until it destroyed the quarter and was held at bay by a mere 180 fighters for about four weeks.
I posted this before and will do again and again; once the regime starts a single genuine meaningful dismantling of one element of the security house of cards it will collapse either slowly or suddenly. Already there is internal dissent as to the running of the single non flexible strategy adopted by the regime. So much so that some are touting the UNSC as a victory for the regime as it insists on dialogue and does not mention the removal of the leader. This I read as a sing of some to want to get out of this mess with some face saving.
Be that as it may, it is a rope with which the regime can do two things, either hang itself with it if it continues to use violence, or a rescue to get out of the hole it keeps digging itself into.
If the regime thinks that it is of such vital importance to the West or to Russia it is sorely mistaken. Russia used the card and is now finding it difficult to keep playing with it as the West and the Arabs did not think it had any bargaining power.
Finally, let me say again and again, the following: I do believe that the majority of the people in the ME, the Arab world, and the wider Muslim world have much more in common and that their current corrupt inept brutal regimes have left them without any institutions or recourse to advance their lot along national identity lines and has caused the natural instinct to go back to the clan, sect, ethnicity to take precedence. Therefore, until and unless we can come together along the great common denominators of what constitutes our culture, history, tradition, philosophical outlook, our sense of right and wrong, of justice and equity, in short our Muslim Arab heritage we should accept to live apart on the political level.
Let me remind the audience that the Turks and the Kurds had no written language when living a nomadic life and that their conversion to Islam created the great Ayoubid dynasty that liberated Jerusalem and the Ottoman empire. The same Ottoman empire that was described by the Austrians as ” their way is that of success, of confidence, of a belief of the righteous glory that their way of life is the right one, of their confidence in effective rule etc…..” One has to read and listen to Persian and Kurdish and Turkish to find not only the dominance of Arab language but of Arab notions and concepts.
So when I advocate separation of the people of Syria I do this with full realism. At this time of our history we are finding common ground in differing amongst ourselves. So let us be divided into stupid and non viable entities and let us come to realize that we have gone into a dead end. For all those who on this blog are calling for Syrians to live together they are talking into the wind as there is clearly not a single idea of what is Syria and how it should come about. Look no further than at the new joke of a constitution. Fredo thought like his dad that he can throw the Sunnis a bone in the form of the religion of the President being a muslim and by the same token slapped the Christians in the face for supporting him.
Therefore we should separate as entities that are finding ever more difficult to live together. If we are forced to live together by a brutal Vito it will explode down the line with ever more violence. Trust is broken, the Sunnis will arm and bid their time, the Alawis will entrench further into their sect, the Christians to our great loss will leave, and the Kurds will learn never to trust an Arab again. If we continue along the path of civil war, it will result in huge killings and one of two outcomes will occur, one side will win and massacre the other, or both will be utterly exhausted and the country will be in ruin.
When people ask me where are you from I reply from Damascus for I do not recognize the artificial borders of Syria Iraq Lebanon Jordan etc… all the way to Marakesh and to Kabul and New Delhi.
Glory to the days when a muslim used a “SakK aka Check an English word derived from the Arabic” to travel from Sind to Morocco and do business without carrying any money and without having to have any passports or border controls or tarifs and where he could stay in hostels and mosques and know that what he is eating and where he is praying and how he is dealing and wheeling is part and parcel of a single unifying liberating civilization of faith brotherhood equity and justice and prosperity with social responsibility.
This is the same civilization that called on Umar to give a Christian beggar food and clothing and a home for he felt it unjust to tax the community and leave one member of it to beg, the same civilization that called on Khalid Ibn Walid to return the Jezziah to the people of Homs when the Romans took back for he failed to protect them from an invasion.
Our civilization and our sense of justice and of equity and of social duty is rooted in our very essence. Granted we are not perfect and like all other civilizations have committed crimes and used fallacious and superiority arguments to justify our actions but again even amongst the most determined supporters of the regime there is ever more a call for equity and justice despite our difference in how we see it and interpret it.
I am certain that this regime is finished it is on the wrong side of history on the wrong side of our basic belieft and our basic outlook on the very idea of equity and justice and prosperity.
I used to be a pessimist but today I am an optimist as the youth of Syria have broken my very own fear that Vito has instilled in me during my years of growing up under this brutal degrading corrupting regime. The determination of the people to force their will on the regime is absolutely breath taking.
March 21st, 2012, 11:33 pm
Ghufran said:
I am sorry,majed,I tried real hard over the last few months to find common grounds with you only to discover that there is none. You are entitled to your own opinion and have the right to speak,but I am not obligated to have a conversation with you,good luck.
March 21st, 2012, 11:36 pm
Halabi said:
Bashar Al Assad wasn’t in London in 1980s, it was the 1990s. How much credibility should I give someone who doesn’t even remember when he tutored a future president? As for Syria and Bahrain, I agree that Shiites in Bahrain are being oppressed and more than 30 people have been killed in the past year. I follow the news there closely – here’s the latest from a great reporter who is on the ground and is free to move around as he wishes.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-bahrain-saudi-syria-idUSBRE82K15720120321
Al Jazeera English produced an award winning documentary on Bahrain last year that is fantastic. http://youtu.be/xaTKDMYOBOU
I didn’t see much coverage by Addunia or Syria Truth on the plight of the Shiites in Bahrain or Iraq, or the endless strikes on Gaza. I do recall that Addunia aired fake reports on the Qatari revolution and spends countless hours working on conspiracy theories.
March 21st, 2012, 11:58 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Ghufran
i do not want to have coversation with you either, but dont you ever provoke me, do you understand, do you understand. I am Syrian I am Arabic I am musslem and whether you agree or not I don’t care.
Observer
Dividing Syria is not possible, we are a country of different sects and we will stay united
Unjustice will never last, and the majority can not tolerate being controled by small minority for ever,in a democracy and freedom we will survive togather.
March 22nd, 2012, 12:05 am
Son of Damascus said:
873,
Regarding your accusations about Nir Rosen
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13864&cp=all#comment-302365
Did you omit the rest of the article on purpose that explains not only his political views (which would put him at odds with Mossad) but as well he explains the fact that he is not able to join the army:
“Now I was returning as a man, having swallowed years ago from the painful chalice of truth and realized that my whole conception of good guy and bad guy, of victim and victimizer, was backwards, and I belonged to the onerous Goliath asphyxiating the Palestinian David. I was also returning with the knowledge that whereas once I had dreamed of joining Israel’s elite special forces, now, even if I wanted to I could not. An Israeli foreign service officer had informed me of a file possessed by the Israeli government identifying me as pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist and an “enemy of the state.” ”
http://dissidentvoice.org/Articles/NirRosen.htm
How about the fact he has defended Hizballah and called them a resistance group:
“Hizballah is not a terrorist organization. It is a widely popular and legitimate political and resistance movement. It has protected Lebanon’s sovereignty and resisted American and Israeli plans for a New Middle East.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2007/12/01/quot-iraq-doesn-t-exist-anymore-quot/
Does that not seem odd to you, that he is on the record defending an