Dear Dr Landis,
That is one of the best analyses about the different Syrian opposition bodies I heard.
Excellent, short and to the point.
Thank you.

415. ANTON (https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13744&cp=9#comments) said :”[…] Until today he [Mr. ANTON’s son] is calling me very regularly asking me about Syria saying I am missing it too much and hope I can go back for holiday very soon , although sometime he disagree , but he always has high respect for his county men and women , to the Syrian flag and to the president, and never ever said any bad word about his county.”

Dear Mr. ANTON:

I really didn’t want to comment anymore tonight because I am very busy. But your moving comment has made me do it. I REALLY mean it when I say that I am trying to be respectful because you are a father figure. In my culture and yours, we respect our elders-although we don’t have to adopt their opinions. I truly say that you should be proud of your son for respecting his father’s country and expressing, in HIS OWN WAY, his national pride. I guess by your son’s standards, I am very very very bad kid! I WOULD NEVER PUT in my house the picture of King Murderer the Second (Bashar-the killer of Hamza al-Khateeb, somebody else’s son; which leads to the question of how could the Syrian dictator, a father himself, sleep at night), nor that of King Murderer the First (Hafez-the executor/supporter of the Hama Massacre, Tal Az-Za’atar Massacre, the war or siege of the defenseless Palestinians refugee camps by the Lebanese Shia leader, Nabih Beri, of the TERRORIST AMAL Movement; which was first founded by the Shia Iranian/Lebanese Mossa al-Sadr, who disappeared in Libya while on a mission to get money and weapons from al-Qaddafi to use them I don’t know for what!).

No, Mr. Anton, LOVING A DICTATOR IS NOT NECESSARY TO LOVE YOUR COUNTRY. In fact, loving your country means that you should free it! Free Syria!

Still, I believe that you and your son are decent individuals and, as a Syrian-American, I am proud of you.

PS., the computer I am using now does not have ARABIC. Otherwise, I would have typed you a very respectful letter in Arabic because I see you as a father figure. You remind me of my own father, who passed away a few years ago.

Dear Professor Landis:

I agree with your excellent analysis, and I (unfortunately) agree with what you say about Syria’s next leader. Thanks for including Fawa Suleiman’s video in this post. I mentioned it in my email to you, Mr. Ehsani, and Mr. Okraji. I think that it is important because it shows that Syrians could overcome religious/sectarian cleavages. I mentioned to you that in a hypothetical electoral contest between Ms. Suleiman (the Alawi actress who spoke to Aljazeera from Homs’ “trenches”) and Ms. Qadamani (the SNC official who is shown in an old video in France trying to please smirking Zionists), the former would very likely beat the latter and win! Sectarianism doesn’t have to be the case!

Very true that’s what makes the FSA not the representative of the revolution and making FSA irrelevant.
The militia on the ground can be eliminated if the regime uses more force which is happening at the current time.
On a question with Fareed Zakaria i believe it was McCain who said the repression can win for long time from the lessons of the history, especially when you don’t have the support of the upper class in the big cities.
The oppositions in Syria are not looking for the best of the country either, opportunistic accusations is talked about many time accusing each other for being Traitors, thugs, friends of Israel, is not uncommon which make all the oppositions figures not welcomed by the Street, except the radicals who are trying to gain momentum exactly as the situation in Egypt.
Although the Syrian army has not turned against Assad and probably won’t turn easily, until a high ranking officer has the opportunity with a successful coup and probably then we inherit another dictator for years to come.
It is clear for more years to come that the middle east will never have a western style democracy, after billions in Iraq and half trillion in Afghanistan the USA finding itself in the loss loss situation, if it is going to repeat the act with Syria than it has to send american troops on the ground and face another hostile country for years to come given Syrians are not found of the Americans on their sole.
Sending Turkish army is going to be another mistakes and disaster given there is large hate of turkey in Syria currently and Turkish army not trusted to begin with.
Sending no one to Syria means slow death of the regime at best vs complete death of the opposition and the revolution.
there is no answer for the situation and what Mr. Landis is predicting of someone emerge of the grounds means that the Civil war is starting in Syria for years or decades to come.

( reposted from previous thread)
A “sham” in Balad al Sham?

The referendum has had strong psychological impacts both on the opposition and on the supporters. It has shaken the opposition who wanted to convince the world that Syria was in such as shamble that it was impossible for the regime to organize a vote. Yet despite the boycott of the opposition and most of the medias who hated the idea it was happening, it happened and smoothly. For an ’embattled’ government it was an achievement. The media fell into its own trap: By being absent, there is no credibility for the allegations that the turnout was low.
For the supporters, it was the proof that the government and all the institutions were intact and running smoothly in at least in 80% of the country.

The flurry of condemnations, criticism and renewed threats prove that this referendum has disturbed even further the anti-regime international plotters already made edgy by the succession of failures that have tampered their 11 months predictions of doom.
First there was the UN security strong veto to the immature AL plan that was not compensated by the rushed UN assembly vote, symbolic and useless, then the fiasco of the “Friends of Syria” in offering a viable alternative, then the affair of the french reporters that the opposition refuses to release, the alleged military french in custody and now the referendum that in the eyes of most Syrian who voted, is a success.
The coolness and self control of the regime spokesmen offer a great contrast with the hysteria of Hillary Clinton, Hague, HBJ, Davutoglu and most of all, the Saudi foreign ministry who was close to a heart failure. Not counting the minor players, Ghaliun sulking and Basma Qodmani hysterically calling for more violence, when the whole world is calling for a stop the violence in Homs and other places where confrontations between the regular army and the armed militias are taking their toll on innocent civilians

The referendum was imperfect, the new constitution is imperfect but it is a big step forward towards a new regime, certainly more democratic than most of the Arab countries where the word referendum does not even exist in their dictionary. It is a step forward for a country who has always shown its antagonism to the western powers regional designs. The sneaky manipulation they used on Arab “leaders” such as Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi, Mobarak and Ben Ali for their own interests in the region, never worked for the Assads.
After many failed strategies aiming at crushing the ‘rogue’ regime, I am not sure that final one that is manipulating the Syrians and spilling their blood would succeed.

I would love to see the reaction of the police if these thugs did the same thing on a New York or LA highways…
For the ‘just’ west in Syria every terrorists is allowed to do whatever they pleased under the ‘human rights’ protection rules, even Alqaeda…
أخلاق الثوار: قطع الطريق الدولي اتستراد دشق – درعا
http://youtu.be/ItKyzjSXGYI

Syrians vote for democracy and western leaders are unhappy
Monday, February 27, 2012

Syria’s referendum on a new democratic constitution saw a turnout of 57% and out of those who voted 89% voted in favour of the new constitution.

The vote is a historic one, for as Russia Today reports : “it puts an end to five decades of one-party rule”

And what’s been the reaction of western leaders- so keen to trumpet their support for democracy- to this great move forward for democracy in Syria?

It’s ’a cynical ploy’ says Hillary the Hawk Clinton.

It’s a ‘sham’ says Guido Westerwelle, German Foreign Minister.

And the oh-so democratic EU responds to this very positive move by imposing even tougher sanctions on Damascus.

As I’ve said all along, the very last thing the west wants in Syria is democracy. All they are interested in is toppling President Assad and installing a new puppet government in Damascus which will change the country’s foreign policy.

http://neilclark66.blogspot.com/2012/02/syrians-vote-for-democracy-and-western.html

Who is Neil Clark?

“I am a journalist and writer, based in the U.K. I am a regular contributor to The Guardian, The Australian, The First Post, Morning Star, New Statesman, The Spectator, R.F.O., Daily and Sunday Express.”

Q. to Prof. Landis:

The Reuters’ video lists Sunni Muslims as only %65 of Syria’s population. Didn’t you write earlier that you agree with Majedkhaldon that Sunnis are %80, which is the number I think is more accurate?

Ghufran
It seems that every thing happened in Alhamidiyeh is done by those terrorists:

تصوير رائع من عدة محاور للعملية الناجحة في الحميدية

Here is the inside work

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3455

My Reply to # 9. Hans

Although I am an anti-Bashar commentor, I STRONGLY RESENT any advice from an AIPAC-FREINDLY “think-tank,” WINEP. There is a revolving door between the Israel lobby and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). Denis Ross is a former head of WINEP. WINEP would have been more credible had it crafted a policy paper to evaluate intervention in Gaza in 2008/2009 to protect Palestinians from Israeli Whie Phosphorous. But no, WINEP’s “fellows” were all over the media defending Israel!
For more on WINEP and Denis Ross, please see:
Stephen Walt, “Robert Satloff doth protest too much,” Foreign Policy, April 9, 2010, online at: http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/04/09/robert_satloff_doth_protest_too_much

I end by saying that we need to make Syria stronger by making it free from dictatorship. But, we don’t need any hypocritical Zionist advice!

حمص تصوير للصحفي الفرنسي قبل قتله بين الانفجارات

A professionally filmed and edited “dramatic reportage” on inside Homs . Posted on Youtube by al Al Jazeera.
The voice over is NOT from the photograph who is French.
The sound seem to have been heavily edited and dubbed with additional calls and noises to make it more dramatic.

Note the presence of a Afghani or Pakistani man with a “Taliban” look on 7:59 who seems to be an important personality.
Also note the head shaved and bearded men among the fighters who look more Afghans/Pakistanis than Syrians.

Hamad joining calls to arming Syrian rebels:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/feb/27/qatari-syrian-opposition-armed-video

Ghufran #11

Big Bird seems really anxious, worn out and furious after all the slaps he got recently (The failed UN resolution, the failed FOS meeting, the Syria referendum). Now this is the ultimate attempt to remake the “Libya success”” by calling to arm the “peaceful” militias that we see in the video posted on #10 with weapons to “protect themselves”.
He is leaving his post as the AL chairman on the 29th of March at the AL meeting in Iraq, and passing it to Iraq. Therefore, he has around a month to move his dollars into the hands of the arms smugglers and get some results.

For generations to come,free Syrians will not forget what Qater,Turkey and SA have done to them (be advised that this is very gross,the worst):

Turkey,business does not have enemies:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=turkey%20supplying%20weapons%20to%20syria&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDIQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fturkey-turning-a-blind-eye-to-sanctions-busting-arms-trade%2Fstory-fnb64oi6-1226283251441&ei=kVJMT_m8OIr1sQLXwK0H&usg=AFQjCNFbiUaYXzyJ3HSvS_P75oSCifPUCw

Irritated

The only one being slapped and humiliated in this whole process is Bashar al Assad. He was hailed once as a western educated young reformist only to become a pariah who has lost his legitimacy. Hamas dumped him. The AL excommunicated him. The western world declared him illegitimate to rule. He may stay in power for several more months but look at what he is ruling, a burned country of majority people who want him dead. He no longer can go anywhere freely. His children are tainted for ever. He may either end at the ICC, exiled in a remote place, or with an end similar to Qaddafi’s. He will be cursed thousands times by his Allawi sect for dragging them to the mud, and his soul will burn in the lowest part of hell, if there is one. That if the ghosts of the thousands of people he murdered did not hunt him during his living existence. I pity him.

Zoo
I linked the original report last week, it starts at 2:20
It obviously show the terrorist using civilians as hostage and how those criminals work
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAEabvr4~,Wtd2HT-p_Vh4qBcIZDrvZlvNCU8nxccG&bctid=1466681277001

There is a real war in Homs now. The battle that started with al-Assad’s army besieging Bab Amro is going to expand for sure with this incursion by the large contingent of Islamic fighters into the Christian areas.

The fight now is in the open between the Islamist fighters and al-Assad.

Also, in the open now is a Sunni war against the “infidel” Alawis. You can see it all around. More and more this struggle for liberty and democracy is becoming a religious fight. The Islamic fighters never invoke the word “Syria” at anytime in most of these videos. The say they are “the army of Mohammad” (you can see that in the video of the dead western photographer).

The video from al-Husn is very important. (You can see that video in the link Syria No Kandahar had posted comment #14)

More signs about this Armed Islamic movement is going to emerge day after day. Syria is getting into a full mode of a sectarian civil war. The Islamist fighters are killing lots of people. As a matter of fact, I think they are causing the death of, or killing way more people than al-Assad. Most of the world is shying away from this fact. The Media in general is not interested in this fact.

It was obvious what happened in the last two days in al-Hamidiyah:

The Islamist fighters attacked few targets in the Christian area and were able to overrun few pro Assad positions that were barely defended by al-Assad forces as you can see in the videos with the trigger happy Islamic fighters.

They attacked this building

The Islamic fighters claimed they killed 60 Shabih, and the only thing they were able to show is two dead men: one with a white beard: both did not seem to be much of fighters. They got killed anyway.

Here they claimed they killed 60 Shabih while storming this building

Video of one of the pro Assad men killed

Here is the video for the other man killed
http://www.youtube.com/verify_controversy?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3Dih2ZVdCpC0Q%26feature%3Drelated

Here the Islamic fighters has their hands on a BMP (armored personnel carrier) You can see it firing…

This attack on the Church’s area should have been thought off by al-Assad and his planners, but, as you can tell there are many Islamic fighters now with heavy weapons. It is a complicated dangerous matter.

My prediction: there will a big fight in Homs for a while.

Mjabali
I’ll add couple clips to your good documentation of what happened in Alhamedieh:
First it should be clarified that Alhamedieh is a christian neighbourhood, the army didn’t expect it to be a target by the terrorists since it doesn’t have any weapons so the security theire were to the minimum while protecting the Alawites neighbourhood as THE target of the terrorists, which made Alhamedieh a very easy target.

Here is the report after the fight next to the security forces building, check out the lie when the ‘liars’ Omar Tellawi is saying that the security forces were shooting at the residential buildings while in the clip you linked it’s obvious who and where from those terrorists where shooting from:
الجيش الحر يدمر شعبة الحزب و يحرر الحميدية بحمص 25
http://youtu.be/Iaq9kv2iymE

This clip showing where the terrorists stopped their stolen tank in front of Um Alzinar Church and shooting at the army from there to make the Church a target then use the pictures for their sectarian war.
http://youtu.be/WO8W6eUeMcA

This clip showing the strategy of the terrorists how they go in the middle of a residential neighbourhood and start shouting at the army using the civilian as human shields.
http://youtu.be/1qYhnslx7j0

This one too show how those terrorists do the damage and then take footage for it to use it as propaganda that the Syrian Army is the one who did the damage…
http://youtu.be/QN6l5eATPr8
and this one is also the work of the terrorists for footage opportunities…
http://youtu.be/ijkEMUz-9EQ

I certainly hope that the next leader of Syria does not come from the rebels. People who use violence are not uniters and are not able to accept others who disagree with them.
Qatar,and more corrupt players to follow,is dumping the SNC because they see it as ineffective and suspect that the time for politicians in Syria is gone,the momentum now is for people with guns. I agree that we will see more violence in Syria and may be the development of multiple safe enclaves,not all of them will be anti regime.
None of the opposition figures has any real power over the rebels,they live by the gun and they are now dominated by islamists who are more similar to the Talibans than to any nationalist rebel groups we have seen,this is why you will not hear the name “Syria” in any of their videos any more.
The position of Halabis and many urban Syrians regarding those rebels is understood but most Syrians are not as motivated as the regime loyalist forces or the rebels,they will wait and try to survive until there is a victor.Syria,unfortunately,is not likely to make it as a unified and free country,I see no way out.

A secret visit by a Saudi to Damascus, a new government soon:

موفد سعودي زار دمشق سرّاً: حكومة إدارة أزمة قريباً

ثقة النظام بنفسه تزداد يوماً بعد يوم، ومعها تزداد مقاربته للأزمة نضجاً، وشعبية، حتى على المستوى الدولي. يظهر ذلك، على سبيل المثال، من خلال طريقته في استقبال موفد سعودي زار دمشق ليقنع مسؤوليها بوجهة نظر ملكه، فغادرها مقتنعاً بوجهة نظر رئيسها. ومن خلال إعطاء أفق سياسي للحل الأمني، يتوقع أن يُترجم بخطوات ثلاث أخرى في آذار، هي عبارة عن حكومة إدارة أزمة ومؤتمر للبعث وصيغة جديدة للأجهزة الأمنية
دمشق ـــ خاص الأخبار
بعد ساعات من انفضاض مؤتمر أصدقاء سوريا في تونس، وقبل ساعات من فتح صناديق الاستفتاء على دستور الجمهورية العربية السورية الجديد، وصل إلى دمشق سراً موفد عن ملك عربي ـــــ أغلب الظن أنه الملك عبد الله بن عبد العزيز ـــــ وفي جعبته رسالة للرئيس بشار الأسد، مفادها: اختر أنت المخرج الذي يناسبك للخروج من المأزق. والعرض الأساس الذي تقدمه الرسالة هو الآتي: مستعدون لتقديم المساعدة لتأمين خروجك من الحكم وترتيب أمور المرحلة الانتقالية المؤدية إلى ذلك.

ردّ السوريون على حامل الرسالة باستعلاء، لكن بشيء من التروي. فقد نظموا له جولة سريعة على مناطق في سوريا. ووضعوا أمامه وثائق ومعطيات تظهر الواقع كما هو على الأرض. قالوا له إن الحرب في حمص هي بين الجيش السوري وإرهابيين. عرضوا له صوراً لأصوليين عرب وشرق آسيويين، ومعلومات عنهم. وقالوا له إن النظام ليس منهاراً كما يصوره الإعلام في الخارج. وأبلغوه أن الرئيس بشار الأسد يقدم على خطوة الاستفتاء ومباشرة أجندة إصلاحات متكاملة ستظهر قريباً على أرض الواقع، من موقع قوة؛ فالاستفتاء يجري بعد الفيتو الصيني ـــــ الروسي، وبعد السيطرة على حمص بالنار وتنفيذ خطة خنق البؤر الساخنة فيها، وبعد اتضاح ضعف المعارضة السورية واكتشاف مدى اختراق تنظيم القاعدة لها. ويقول السوريون إن الموفد عاد إلى الجهة التي أرسلته، بانطباع يعاكس مضمون الرسالة التي كان يحملها. أكثر من ذلك، يقول مصدر قريب للنظام إن الموفد لم ينتظر حتى وصوله إلى البلد الذي جاء منه، بل طلب عبر الهاتف من دمشق، الجهة التي أرسلته ليبلغها أن الصورة هنا مختلفة تماماً عما نظنه.
لقد تقصد الرئيس الأسد أن يستفتي في مبنى الإذاعة والتلفزيون السوري؛ فرمزية المكان تسمح له بالحديث عن دور الإعلام في تزوير حقيقة الواقع على الأرض في سوريا. قال: «نحن من نملك الأرض». كانت هذه الكلمات موجهة إلى الجهة العربية الخليجية التي أرسلت موفدها إلى سوريا، لتقول للأسد إنه انهار وانتهى، ولا تزال هناك فرصة لإخراجه من المأزق بشرط موافقته على ترك الحكم.
{…}
لم يعد سراً في دمشق الرسمية والمعارضة على السواء أن وزير خارجية روسيا سيرغي لافروف طلب في لقائه الأخير مع الأسد امرين اثنين: تفعيل الحوار الوطني الداخلي بواسطة لجنة الحوار التي يرأسها نائب الرئيس السوري فاروق الشرع، أو عبر وسائل أخرى. والثاني إطلاق الدستور الجديد وعقد انتخابات تشريعية.
{…}
حكومة جديدة

ثمة وضوح الآن لدى النظام، على مستوى تصور أفق الحل السياسي للأزمة. يقول قياديون في السلطة إن الأزمة لها شقان:
1) شق أمني لا تهاون معه، حيث هناك مسلحون قدموا من الخارج بتمويل خارجي ليقاتلونا. وهؤلاء هم البنية الصلبة للعصيان المسلح. أما المسلحون الباقون، فهم ملتحقون بهم، لأسباب ظرفية نشأت خلال الأحداث، وليس عسيراً احتواؤها.
2) شق سياسي يتعلق بمطالب لشعبنا، سنستجيب لها ونتعامل معها بانفتاح كلي. والاستفتاء على الدستور، هو نقطة الانطلاق باتجاه تنفيذ خطوات سياسية عملية أخرى نحو إدراك الإصلاح الشامل.
أما الخطوة التالية بعد الاستفتاء، فهي تأليف حكومة إدارة الأزمة. هذا هو تعريفها السياسي والوظيفي. أما بنية الحكومة، فهي وطنية وتعكس سمة الوحدة الوطنية.
لكن عبارة الوحدة الوطنية لا تتضمن معارضة الخارج، وخاصة «الإخوان المسلمين» و«المجلس الوطني» أو «مجلس إسطنبول»، حسب التعبير السائد في أوساط النظام الذي يرى أن تجسيد الوحدة الوطنية في الحكومة العتيدة يتلخص بمشاركة الفئات الآتية تحديداً: «بعثيون زائد مستقلين زائد ممثلين عن أحزاب معارضة الداخل زائد تكنوقراط».
{…}
https://www.al-akhbar.com/node/44268

The next step is uniting all security branches into one:
صيغة جديدة للأجهزة الأمنية وجيل جديد من الضباط إلى الواجهة
الخطوة الرابعة التي ينوي النظام اتخاذها خلال الشهر الجاري، هي توحيد الأجهزة الأمنية. لكن هذا الموضوع لا يزال محل نقاش، ومفاضلة بين صيغتين:
ـــــ الصيغة الأولى، توصي بإجراء عملية دمج كبيرة للأجهزة الأمنية الـ 17، لتصبح ثلاثة أجهزة فقط، هي جهاز المخابرات العامة وجهاز المخابرات الخارجية وجهاز أمن الدولة، على أن تُشرف على جميع هذه الأجهزة مؤسسة أمنية جديدة، يجري تشكيلها تحت مسمى مجلس الأمن الوطني.
{…}
ـــــ الصيغة الثانية المطروحة هي الأقرب حظاً لتبنيها، وتوصي ببقاء الأجهزة الـ17 على حالها في هذه المرحلة، والاكتفاء بإنشاء مجلس الأمن الوطني ليشرف على التنسيق بينها جميعها. والتعليل الذي تقدمه هذه التوصية هو أن طبيعة المواجهة الأمنية في هذه المرحلة تتطلب عدم تشويش الأجهزة الأمنية عبر إخضاعها لأنماط عمل جديدة، وخاصة بعد أن ثبت أنها خرجت من حالة الارتباك التي واجهتها خلال الفترة الأولى من الأحداث، وباتت الآن تملك ناصية التعاطي بكفاءة وإنتاجية مع حالات العصيان المسلح والتظاهرات، ما دلّ على أنها خرجت من حالة الصدمة والارتباك إلى حالة هضم الموقف واحتوائها والتمرس في مواجهته.
{…}
https://www.al-akhbar.com/node/44265

The Syrian Druz community are against violence and with dialogue and political reforms, similar stand of all other Syrians:

ما قل ودل
قال شيخ عقل طائفة الموحدين الدروز في سوريا، حمود الحناوي (الصورة): «نحن مع الوحدة الوطنية ومع السلم الأهلي ومع تجاوز المحنة وضد الاقتتال (…) لأن الخاسر الأول والأخير هو الشعب السوري». وأضاف: «نحن لا نحبذ أسلوب الاقتتال في حل الأمور الوطنية. لذلك، نطالب بالحوار والإصلاح من دون اللجوء إلى البندقية، وننادي بالاحتكام إلى العقل والحكمة والوعي في معالجة الأمور بين النظام والمعارضة». وأكد أنه حاول «رأب الصدع» بين أفراد الشعب السوري. ودعا السوريين إلى «العمل على تضميد الجراح والمصالحة الوطنية». ويمثل الدروز في سوريا 3% من الشعب السوري، أي نحو 700 ألف نسمة، وهي أعلى نسبة في المنطقة
(أ ف ب)
https://www.al-akhbar.com/node/44262

الشيخ أيمن زهر الدين أحد مشايخ الموحدين الدروز
http://youtu.be/MDjN1fdIG3A

Two British journalists are held hostages in Misrata by the Lybian militias, HRW has asked for their release but of course, you didn’t hear about them!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/2-british-journalists-working-for-irans-press-tv-held-in-libya/2012/02/24/gIQAf5fCYR_story.html

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/HRW-urges-Libya-militia-to-free-journos-20120226

Ah… they work for an Iranian TV based in London… I see. No worth mentioning in the new.

3 Hans
we probably agree that for the future of Syrian conflict is better to end the conflict as soon as possible. The Assad isnt able to do that, while oppositon against him is raising day by day. As Joshua Landis stated, the overthrow of Assad is only thing of time. But after it, we can be sure there will be serious sectarian war as few years of fighting will further split Syria along sectarian lines.
The only country able to do something in current situation is Turkey. There is not neccessity to invade a Syria (not even possible due Turkey taking most of its gas from Iran and Russia), but they could move some of the their army to the borders with Syria, close to the borders and threat a bit Assad.
Since regime operates only 20-30 percent of army as they are afraid of further defections, such situation would force them to put their army in 100 percent “modus operandi” and enormously drain the remaining resources.
The 70 percent of army forces staying in barracks are there for a reason, not for Assad trying to crush the rebeles slowly. They are seen as not trustworthy by regime, otherwise they would already use them. To overthrow the regime, its therefore neccessary to put whole army in 100 percent “modus operandi”. Current estimates of 15-20 percent defections during previous operations could be much higher with “not so trusthworthy” rest of army.
The sooner the regime fall, the better possibility of “normal” society in Syria. I am afraid we have already passed that point now…but once regime fall due economical reasons sometimes in 2013 its going to be much worse then as Syria will be already splited along sectarian lines and everybody will seek revenge.

Now this is what I call a fine writing !

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/shortcuts/2012/feb/27/bashar-al-assad-syria-voting

Just another normal day for democracy in Syria
The photograph of president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma voting is a chilling reminder of Syria’s lack of democracy

The stand-out elements of this photograph of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma are, firstly, her frozen expression and posture, concentratedly static, like a performer sprayed silver in a Paris park. Secondly, the way the couple are looking in different directions gives them a wary, hunted aspect – they could be looking for applause or a sniper, but they have no idea where it’ll come from.

It would be chilling enough if this were simply a sleekly dressed, anonymous couple, having a panic attack in a polling booth. The context amplifies the misguidedness to the level of surrealism. The Assads are voting in a constitutional referendum that is meant to pave the way for multi-party elections within three months. The idea of a leader ceding power so politely when he is prepared to quell any challenge with an unremitting bombardment, killing thousands of his own people: it’s unthinkable. Meanwhile his Ealing-born wife stands behind him, dressed as the Banality of Evil for a cliche fancy dress party.

Almost exactly a year ago, Muammar Gaddafi stood in his ochre turban, declaring that his people didn’t really hate him, they just thought they did because someone had “given them pills”. This is distinctively odder: where Gaddafi at least had a siege mentality, Assad looks at the world and thinks it still believes him.

Because I like to support my arguments with evidence, I would like to support my opinion that the Shia Amal movement (a strong ally of Syria’s murderous al-Assad dynasty) is a terrorist group with the following two links:

1) “Shias Lift Three-Year Siege of Beirut Refugee Camps,” LA Times, January 20, 1988, at: http://articles.latimes.com/1988-01-20/news/mn-24965_1_beirut-s-palestinian-camps

Please not that during the siege of the Palestinian camps, which happened long after Palestinian fighters left to Tunisia and else where, the only armed Palestinian groups were those working for Hafez al-Assad, like Ahmad Jibril’s, which the Syrian dictator used to kill other Palestinians and commit acts of terror on behalf of himself and Iran, e.g., the 1988 terrorist bombing of PAN Am 103 in Scotland-which I believe was falsely blamed on the murderous Libyan dictator, al-Qadhafi.

2) Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the Amal movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amal_Movement

As to Ann, who yesterday seemed to care about American lives ONLY when they are killed by al-Qaida’s terrorists, who killed the U.S. Marines in Lebanon? The Shias did.
Thanks Qatar and Saudi Arabia for seeking ways to help Syrians facing genocide defend themselves:

http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/29548086-93b1-41ae-95bc-5c511c10fbfb?GoogleStatID=1
جلسة طارئة بمجلس حقوق الإنسان وعقوبات أوروبية

قطر تدعو لتسليح المعارضة السورية
دعا رئيس الوزراء وزير الخارجية القطري حمد بن جاسم بن جبر آل ثاني إلى تسليح المعارضة السورية في مواجهتها للنظام السوري، بينما يستعد مجلس حقوق الإنسان التابع للأمم المتحدة لمناقشة طارئة اليوم الثلاثاء بشأن الوضع المتدهور في سوريا، وذلك بطلب من قطر.

وقال رئيس الوزراء وزير الخارجية القطري -خلال مؤتمر صحفي مشترك مع نظيره النرويجي ينس شتولتنبيرغ في أوسلو- إن على الدول العربية أخذ زمام المبادرة لتوفير ملاذ آمن داخل سوريا للمعارضين، وعليها المشاركة في ما وصفه بجهد عسكري دولي لوقف إراقة الدماء.

وفي وقت سابق، أعرب حمد بن جاسم بن جبر آل ثاني -في لقاء مع الجزيرة- عن اعتقاده بضرورة نشر قوات عربية ودولية في سوريا لإدخال مساعدات إنسانية ولمراقبة وقف إطلاق النار.

وكانت دول الاتحاد الأوروبي أعلنت الاثنين تبنيها مجموعة جديدة من العقوبات تستهدف البنك المركزي السوري وقطاع الشحن الجوي، بسبب استمرار ما وصفتها بأعمال القمع في سوريا .

وصادق وزراء خارجية دول الاتحاد في بروكسل على العقوبات الجديدة، وتشمل تجميد أصول البنك المركزي السوري في أوروبا, ومنع سوريا من التجارة بالمعادن الثمينة, ومنع طائرات الشحن الجوي من الهبوط في المطارات الأوروبية، كما تتضمن الإجراءات عقوبات أخرى لأفراد ومؤسسات.

ومن جانبها، أوضحت وزيرة الخارجية الأميركية هيلاري كلينتون أنه لا يوجد حماس في واشنطن لدخول حرب، وحذرت -في تصريحات تلفزيونية- من أن أي تدخل عسكري في سوريا قد يعجل بنشوب حرب أهلية فيها.

أما الرئيس الفرنسي نيكولا ساركوزي فقال إن القوى الغربية تتمنى أن تتمكن الدبلوماسية من تغيير وجهات النظر، وأضاف “نمارس ضغطا على الروس أولا والصينيين بعدهم حتى يرفعوا الفيتو”.
[…]

#16 Tara

Whatever you say, Bashar al Assad is still trusted by a large majority of his people, his army is faithful to him, his officials too, his wife too and he has stood defiant in front of the most powerful and greedy countries in the world. Very few world leaders can claim the same.
He has been consistent in his policy in the region and never supported and covered up monstruous Arab dictators like all Arab countries did for Saddamm, Mobarak and Qaddafi for years, causing the death of hundreds of thousands.
These pathetic and dependent Arab countries are crawling in front of the USA for protection when they spend billions for their rusting army and their lavish life style and spend the other billions in supporting and arming Sunni Islamist extremists in the world, in the USA, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon and now in Syria causing havock and death. Syria under the Assads, kept its independence from the USA and rich western power, and never changed despite the variety of plots and sanctions the US imposed on it to tame it, unsuccessfully.

Certainly, it is a great honour for Bashar al Assad to inspire such hatred to these USA puppets and to the western powers that have been exploiting, divided and abused the region for centuries and supported and fed for 60 years the gravest injustice done to the Arabs and to the humanity, the occupation of Palestine that has caused millions of death and displaced.

Time will tell how he will be judged, as how Bush, Obama and others will be judged. Now the large vision is too blurred by the daily events, the biased media and the strong emotions prevailing to make any hasty negative judgement.

24. Tara

Zoe Williams is a columnist who usually write about UK casual small social stories focusing on joblessness and children. She never wrote any article about the Arab world, as I found out.
I wonder how she ended up writing that silly article with a flashy headline. She probably needed cash and jumped on the Bashar bashing band wagon.

Just read the comments to her article to see how “well” it was received by the readers.

Zoo

Thank you for posting the clip taken by the French reporter before his death. I am unable to describe the sense of pride and honor that overwhelms me watching it as a supporter of this revolution. I am walking with my head high in the sky, above the cloud… feeling deep love to Homs and Homsis.

Fearlessness, pride, and caring are what make a man in my opinion..

Who said that Bab Amr was besieged and locked, or was the ‘smuggling’ of Paul Conroy on motorcycles to Lebanon part of a deal?
Paul Conroy is very close to the actual Libyan leaders Belhaj and was supposedly wounded on the leg.

Rebels whisk injured British reporter out of Syria
By BASSEM MROUE | Associated Press – 6 mins ago

http://news.yahoo.com/rebels-whisk-injured-british-reporter-syria-124451667.html

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels smuggled a wounded British journalist out of the besieged central city of Homs Tuesday and whisked him to safety in neighboring Lebanon, activist groups said. They did not manage to evacuate a wounded French journalist or the bodies of two other Western reporters killed last week.

The Syrian opposition group Local Coordination Committees and global activist group Avaaz said Paul Conroy was the only foreign journalist to escape Syria. Rima Fleihan, an LCC spokeswoman, said the Sunday Times photographer was smuggled out by Syrian army defectors. The LCC said other Western journalists are negotiating with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to be allowed to leave Syria without having their videos and photos confiscated by authorities.

All the journalists killed and wounded in Homs were smuggled into Syria from Lebanon illegally.

Dear Irritated

Your reply in regard to the beloved leader amplifies the misguideness to the level of surrealism.

Should emotions dictate the next moves?

Almost all the journalists I know who covered the Bosnian war became advocates of outside intervention. It is the natural human response. You see innocent people being killed, day after day.”

GIDEON RACHMAN: The case against foreign intervention in Syria

Sometimes distance and detachment have their place. The emotional response is not always the right response

Published: 2012/02/28 07:30:35 AM
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=166015
IN AN interview from Homs, just a day before she was killed by a Syrian bombardment, journalist Marie Colvin said: “No one can here understand how the international community can let this happen.” Colvin, a gallant war reporter, put her finger on a recurring dilemma in international politics. Does the outside world have a duty to intervene to prevent the mass killing of civilians? Those who see vicious cruelty up close tend to react like Colvin.

Almost all the journalists I know who covered the Bosnian war became advocates of outside intervention. It is the natural human response. You see innocent people being killed, day after day. You know there is a vast arsenal of military might, sitting back home, that could overwhelm the aggressors. It seems immoral not to advocate stopping the killing. I had a similar reaction after being appalled by a visit to East Timor, when it was under Indonesian occupation.

The human rights workers and journalists who risk their lives to tell the stories of mass atrocities play a vital and honourable role. But so do the bureaucrats and politicians, sitting safely in their offices thousands of miles away, who must try to weigh up a response.

It is their job to balance the humanitarian urge to intervene with the public duty to think through the consequences. They must ask not just “Can we stop the killing?” but “What happens next?” They must also ask: “Is it possible that, in intervening to stop one evil, we will create a greater evil in the future?” This is not a popular question. For while the advocates of intervention deal in moral absolutes, those who hang back are moral relativists — weighing one evil against another. Inevitably, they often sound shifty and heartless. But, if they make the wrong decision, they could be responsible for causing more deaths than they prevent.

The conflict in Syria poses these difficult questions in an acute form. As the killing worsens, the response of the “international community” looks feeble.

It is not just the Russian and Chinese veto of a United Nations (UN) resolution. The Arab and western nations that are strongest in condemning Syria are also hesitating. And for good reason.

The key question for any outside intervention is not just whether it can stop the killing but also whether it can decisively tip the balance in favour of a peaceful and sustainable political solution. If that does not happen, foreign intervention can simply intensify a conflict.

Sometimes intervention has worked. After years of hanging back, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) did ultimately stop the Bosnian war. The effort in East Timor in 1999 achieved its goals. The recent Libyan campaign almost certainly prevented a horrible massacre in Benghazi and still stands a strong chance of leaving Libya with a half-decent government.

Yet a brief glance at the news provides ample reminders of other, less successful, intervention. More than a decade after Nato troops arrived in Afghanistan, they are facing a newly inflamed insurgency. Somalia — the scene of a failed US intervention in 1993 — is now the archetype of a failed state. Iraq turned into a bloodbath.
…
There is also no guarantee of the character of the successor regime. The opposition forces have been endorsed not just by the US but also by al-Qaeda, which must be a first.

But advocates of peaceful pressure should be honest. At this stage, sanctions and condemnatory UN resolutions will probably act too slowly to stop the savagery of a government that is fighting for its life.
….
Supplying arms to the rebels, as advocated by the Saudis, would stoke the conflict. A further unpleasant truth is that, at the back of their minds, foreign-policy makers must weigh the question: “How much is too much?”
….
The death toll in Syria is currently said to be 7000 — and will rise. That is appalling. But it does not yet justify taking on the huge risks involved in outside military intervention in Syria.

I am sure if I had seen first-hand the horrors that Colvin and her colleagues witnessed I would feel very differently. But sometimes distance and detachment have their place. The emotional response is not always the right response. © 2012 The Financial Times Limited
{…}

#29. Tara

I am glad you took the time to read it…

In politics, I prefer pragmatism and realism to emotionalism and idealism. I strongly agree with post #30.

How do you judge Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, Bush who left behind them millions of death and destruction in Vietnam, South America, Iraq?
How many have been condemned for war crimes? None. Their pictures are still hanging in Washington and they are praised for the ‘good’ things they did, the rest is forgotten. That’s the world of politics,

Irritated

I do not see any resemblance to the millions of death inflicted by foreign power in Vietnam, Iraq, or South America. Unfortunately, Wars are as old as history. The difference in Bashar al Assad’s case is striking. Syrians are not slaughtered by a foreign power. Syrians are slaughtered by their own kind.. Bashar will not go down the history in a fashion similar to Nixon, Kennedy, etc.., He will end up written about as the last modern time dictator who slaughtered his own people in cold blood.

I am sorry you are not able to see the difference,

Iraqi PM backs change in Syria – 2012-02-28

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/28/c_122767681.htm

“Iraq backs change in Syria,” a statement by Maliki’s office quoted him as saying during an interview with Saudi newspaper Aukadh.

“Change is necessary and situations can’t be stable without change,” Maliki said in the interview, which is yet to be published by the newspaper.

He said that Syrian “must receive enough freedoms and form a national unity government at the first stage.”

“Free elections should be held under UN and Arab supervision, as well as electing a national council that will write a constitution,” Maliki added.

“The decision not to invite Syria is not ours, it is the decision of the Arab League, and Iraq has to abide by its decision, ” Zebari said, adding that “Syrian opposition is not invited as well.”

[…]

China urges to end violence in Syria in UNHRC – 2012-02-28

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/28/c_131436577.htm

“We urge the government and all political factions of Syria to immediately and fully end all acts of violence, and quickly restore stability and normal social order,” Qi Xiaoxia, deputy head of the Chinese delegation to the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), said during an urgent debate on the human rights situation in Syria.

“We call on the government of Syria to pay serious heed to the people’s legitimate desire for reform and development,” Qi said.

“We do not approve of armed intervention or forcing a so-called ‘regime change’ in Syria,” she said.

“We support the position of Arab countries that violence should be stopped immediately, that civilians in Syria should be protected in real earnest, that humanitarian assistance should be given to Syria, and that external military intervention should be avoided,” she said.

“We hope the Syrian issue will be resolved within the framework of the League of Arab States through political and peaceful means,” Qi added.

[…]

Tara #32
“Syrians are not slaughtered by a foreign power. Syrians are slaughtered by their own kind..”

I am so shocked when I hear that argument.
It makes NO difference to me, this is typically the western attitude all along the history. We divide them we arm them to kill each others and wash our hands.
Sorry, a human being is a human being, there is nothing called ‘by his own kind’, the “kind” is human kind, other ways of looking at it are simply hypocritical and self-righteous. All lives are equal.

Wars are old? They are very recent and some are still going on. You already forgot the millions of Iraqi and Iranians who died in the 8 years war, armed and funded by Arab countries and the West, and the war in Iraq and the war still going on in Afghanistan and the daily killings of Palestinians with US made weapons.

Of course, Western countries do not like to stir their dark criminal pasts, they prefer to accuses the others ‘of killing their own kind’, it makes them feel good and ‘moral’

A new fatwa coming from Hysteriastan

http://www.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?fromval=1&cid=21&frid=21&eid=191509
القرني: قتل الأسد أوجب من قتل إسرائيلي.. و نصر الله آثم
محرر الموقع

عائض القرني\”عائضأفتى رجل الدين السعودي عائض القرني أفتى بقتل الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد معتبراً أنه أوجب من قتل الإسرائيليين. وتهجم من خلالها على أمين عام حزب الله السيد حسن نصر الله واصفاً سماحته بـ “الآثم”.

{…}

After they were expelled from the UAE, the young Syrian opponents to Assad’s regime are invited in Egypt in a gesture of solidarity.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g7SjUKxhL6Bn8bi874TNwkU6-6BQ?docId=CNG.252b6563a32447d99da0140e35d9f220.861

“The Syrian Revolt Coordination Committee, a network of Syrian opposition youths who organise protests and activities in Egypt in support of the Syrian insurgency, said it would support all those expelled from the UAE.

“We have been informed of how the government of the country you live in has failed you and of its unfair decisions against you,” the group said in a statement from Alexandria, Egypt’s second city.

“Our leadership has decided to invite all Syrian youths living in the UAE who will be expelled to come and stay with their brothers” in Egypt.

Committee spokesman Ahmad Balouch told AFP: “We are ready to help them in any way possible.”

“If they need financial aid we can work on providing this. And if all they need is to get connected to people here, we and other groups in Alexandria as well as Cairo can keep in touch with them,” Ahmad Balouch told AFP.

Washington and Cairo: America’s Bitter Awakening
By Zvi Mazel
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2012/02/28/washington_and_cairo_americas_bitter_awakening_99930.html

Western countries, it appears, deluded themselves about the so-called Arab Spring and the compatibility of Islam and democracy.
…
Yet it took only one week of violent street demonstrations in Cairo for America to abandon its ally of 43 years and for President Barack Obama to tell Mubarak to go. He probably thought that freed of the chains of dictatorship, a new regime would turn to democracy and strengthen its ties with America. It was a very bad miscalculation.

There was an outpouring of hatred towards the United States; worse, extremist Islamic parties won 75 percent of the seats of the new parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood, reaping the results of years of grassroots activism and surfing on the wave of a system furthering Islamic education from first grade to graduation, defeated democracy by knock-out.

What now? America watches impotently as the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) now ruling Egypt emulates Mubarak: security forces turn on demonstrators with a vengeance, killing dozens of civilians and wounding thousands as well as imprisoning hundreds
..
As for the Muslim Brothers, though well aware of the importance of American aid, they see in democratic America a major stumbling block on the road to setting up an Islamic regime in Egypt and doing away with the peace treaty with Israel.
{…}

“Tough negotiations”? with whom? What’s the deal behind that?

2 Western journalists evacuated from Syria
Updated 10m ago
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-02-28/syria-british-journalist-rescued/53280616/1

BEIRUT (AP) – Two wounded Western journalists were evacuated from Syria on Tuesday, activists and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said. Britain’s Sunday Times said photographer Paul Conroy is safe in Lebanon, and Sarkozy said injured French journalist Edith Bouvier, who works for the daily Le Figaro, was also evacuated after tough negotiations.
(..)

My previous post is awaiting moderation. I can’t see why. I edited it to to include more statements which haven’t appeared. I’m in a rush and can’t save it anywhere so here goes:

#41 Uzair8

Will Assad and his orks be able to restore control and order quickly? Nope.

Will Mufti Hassoun and Sheikh Buti continue to stand with the regime if it continues its brutality and escalates it for too long? Nope.

Sooner or later they will make noises followed by abandoning the regime. Their equation will change.

Can the regime survive another Ramadan? I don’t think so. This time rund the revolutionaries will be beter prepared. The regime will not be able to surround every mosque for Tarweeh prayers let alone block other newer centres of protest.

Keep an eye on Homs. The regime is gonna suffer a major blow. A setback. Just a feeling.

This is the city of Sayyidina Khalid bin Walid (RA)!

#38

No need for fatwa. Islam has it clear:القاتل يقتل ولو بعد حين!

[LINK, please]

From FB

Majd Niazy
وصلت مطار اللاذقية لأعود إلى دمشق … هناك تأخير…. الطقس ممطر بشدة …قد لا نستطيع المغادرة .
علا صوتي متذمرة …لماذا لا توجد أكثر من رحلة ؟؟؟
وجاءني الجواب …شعرت بالخزي …كم أنا تافهة !!!!!
الطائرة الثانية ممتلئة بنعوش الأبطال …
وقفت في المطار وأحنيت رأسي أمام قدومهم ….سبعة نعوش ملتفة بعلم الوطن ….أمهات تبكي …قالت لي إحداهن ، منذ ثلاثة أشهر لم أر ولدي …وهاهو قادم إلي في نعش …أحد الآباء يضع يديه في جيبه …يخرج منديلا …يمسح دمعة حارقة…نظرت الى يد يضعها في جيب معطف قديم …الجيب ممزق …والوالد ممزق ..
لماذا يا إلهي ؟؟؟
لماذا يعودون إلى ذويهم في كفن ؟؟؟
بكيت …وبكيت ..
جنود ينتظرون نعوش أصدقاءهم …وجوههم فيها حزن مليء بالبطولة …أحد الآباء مستندا على الجدار …عيناه حمراوتان …تقدم منه جندي وسأله سننقل جثمان ابنك معا إلى مصياف …قال لا …أخشى أن نذهب لدفنه في مصياف …فأخسر ولد آخر على الطريق …سأدفنه هنا …
خرجت النعوش من الطائرة …كانت السماء تمطر …صوت الزغاريد مع شهقات الأمهات …
شيء ما اليوم اسبيح في داخلي ..

Alqaeda claims Aleppo terrorist attack too in a very long clip showing their disgusting work and ‘training’, no wonder the Americans are cautious:
جبهة النصره في بلاد الشام – حرائر الشام
http://youtu.be/jCV2ipgOI9o

More terrorist’s militias this time they call themselves the ‘slave’ of the BigBird*
تشكيل كتيبة الشيخ حمد بن جاسم في ريف معرة النعمان.
http://youtu.be/mxg4U1BGWeQ

Zoo,
That guy is a thief:
حقيقه اللص عائض القرني الذي يدعي الدين
http://youtu.be/hMQRR7g6NRs?t=21s

#38 Tara

What about Ben Ali living now in the country that holds the custody of the most sacred places in Islam?
What about Saleh safely touring the USA?
I haven’t heard you complain or call for their execution. Aren’t they both sunni Moslems?

Huh!

ساركوزي يتراجع عن تصريحاته حول وصول الصحافية الفرنسية من حمص الى لبنان

45. jad

Oh my God..
Is this caricatural bearded guy proudly living in a million dollar villa, the one sending fatwas all over calling for the death of Bashar al Assad and Nasrallah?
I don’t understand how anyone could bear one minute of having him as his/her representative.

reply to Uzair8

You keep on posting your violent and jihadist points of views in the claim to protect me and other Syrians under the name of Islam. You call for attack. What have I done to you to make my blood ‘halal’. Why do you threaten me? You bring your agenda trying to back it up with what Sheik Nazim said. But what you say is false. There is a video he has(this time do better homework and you look it up)in which he specifically states how is against all this protesting in syria and acts against the govt. He even says that the Prophet Muhammad does not condone this type of anarchy. Yes, he does say in general that there are bad people that should be held accountable for their misuse of power. But he did not say that the whole govt. is responsible. You tell me one country with no corrupt people in their govt. You have twisted what he has said to suit your views to make yourself feel better and to calm your concious. So, is it right what your are doing and propogating? You don’t know much about Syrian society, or even Islam to attempt to justify this destruction. There is no righteousness in you. It is you who will be held accountable.

#47 Jad

Edith Bouvier is ‘somewhere’ in Syria. France’s information channels are in total confusion.
It is quite possible that Paul Conroy was smuggled by the FSA, a fact not confirmed by the foreign office. Maybe the FSA could not smuggle Edith Bouvier on motorcycles because of her condition.
Therefore Edith Bouvier is still in Syria and the object of negotiations. In view of Paul Conroy’s escape, I doubt the Syrian authorities will release here easily. It may end up bad for Edith Bouvier.
Tough time for french diplomacy…

French president retracts remark that French journalist injured in Syria is safe in Lebanon – Tuesday, February 28

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-president-retracts-remark-that-french-journalist-injured-in-syria-is-safe-in-lebanon/2012/02/28/gIQAZx7IgR_story.html

Zoo,

“I haven’t heard you complain or call for their execution. Aren’t they both sunni Moslems?”

Have you asked me?

Zoo, your intellect is something I look up to. You are able to challenge me without sectarian insinuation….I thought you by now know me better… Well, hold on a second.. Raw honest emotion becomes something to avoid at all cost. Sincerety becomes nosiness. Unconditional friendship becomes an attempt to neutralize. Justice becomes a revenge, and the right to hate your killer becomes a deplorable and a non justifiable evilness. Is this called sheltering one’s self? But why? And from what?

I would like to hold onto a mental image. If your comment is out of a ME blood we share, it is ok but you need to acknowledge it as such…

If this sound like a monologue, then may be it is. I know it is not.

What’s the latest on those French mercenary blood thirsty killer captured by the Syrian military inside Syria?

Why isn’t the Syrian government parading them on TV?!

Any news/information?

Thanks

Tara #52

We are in the world of politics, not in the ideal world of normality. The rules are not the same. Human life doesn’t have the same importance, ruthless ambition, greed, revenge, violence and hatred are ‘normal’ in this world.
Setting up moral standards in the world of politics (as the world of business) is desirable but seems impossible.
If you can’t bear its inhumanity, you can accept the way it is, its rules and its amorality and deal with them, you can fight to make it change or you can just ignore it as many people do and as you probably did before the crisis on Syria.

It seems that the detained french soldiers in Syria are going to be used as negotiation cards and it seems it’s working:

مقاتلون فرنسيون في حمص، وجوبييه للفيصل: من يعيد لنا جنودنا؟
إسراء الفاس

{…}
مقاتلون فرنسيون في حمص

وشدّد جمّو على دور الجهات لبنانية متسائلاً “بمساعدة من؟ وكيف دخل الفرنسيون إلى سورية؟”

وكشف أن خلافاً حصل بين وزير الخارجية الفرنسي آلان جوبييه ووزير الخارجية السعودي سعود الفيصل أدى إلى انسحاب الأخير من مؤتمر أصدقاء سورية. وأوضح أن الخلاف نشأ على خلفية إصرار الفيصل بأن يخرج بيان المؤتمر بإعتراف رسمي بالمجلس السوري الانتقالي كممثل شرعي للسوريين.

فكان رد جوبييه: لا يمكننا أن نعترف وجنودنا لايزالون في سورية.. إذا ما اعترفنا من سيعيدهم لنا؟

بدورها، أكدت مصادر خاصة لموقع قناة المنار أن عمليات الحسم الأمني في بابا عمرو أدت إلى اعتقال مجموعات كبيرة من المسلحين، بينهم مقاتلين لبنانيين وفرنسيين! وتابعت أن هناك مفاجآت مهمة سيكشف عنها التلفزيون الرسمي السوري عما قريب.
{…}
http://www.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=192289&cid=21&fromval=1&frid=21&seccatid=23&s1=1

Zoo

Is this how you say sorry for an unjust insinuation? A due acknowledgment does not kill. I want a straight answer. Did you really mean what you insinuated?

British photo journalist Bradely Secker is in Idleb, some nice high res photo series, as well as some commentary.
There are quit a few photo series on his website, including one of the FSA in Idleb as well.

http://bradleysecker.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Syrian-peoples-uprising/G0000VDV0xBF2Wvg/I0000_dPupEuUqo8/3

Patrick Seale –

Deciphering the Qatar Enigma

This past year has seen a major change in Qatari diplomacy: From being an impartial mediator, praised by all parties, Qatar has begun to take sides in Middle East conflicts, explains Patrick Seale.

[…]

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=50905

Tara #56

“Did you really mean what you insinuated?”
What did I insinuate that hurted you?
The fact that Ben Ali and Mobarak are sunni moslems? It is a real fact, isn’t?
No other counties besides Saudi Arabia defended them. Do you think that Saudi Arabia would have hosted Ben Ali and defend Mobarak if there Druze, Christian, Alawite or Shia? or they hosted them in the name of justice and fraternity, then going against what you say the Koran is teaching.

Dr. Landis’s article on the NCB site 🙂

المعارضة الحقيقية في سوريا هي ليست المجلس الوطني وليست جيش سوريا الحر,

إنه لخطأ قاتل أن نضع جميع المعارضة السورية بخانة واحدة. فبعضها أسوأ من النظام، وبعضها تماثله سوءاً، والبعض الآخر ذكي ويمتلك خطة واضحة. بالطبع نحن نسمع دائماً على القنوات العالمية والأخبار عن تلك المعارضة المدفوعة من الجهات الخارجية (كقطر، فرنسا السعودية..) وخاصة المجلس الوطني والجيش السوري الحر اللذان يناسبان أجندة وسائل الإعلام الساعية للأخبار المثيرة. الجميع هنا يتجاهل بقصد شبكات النشطاء الضخمة الفاعلة على الأرض بالإضافة لمجموعات المعارضة السياسية المستقلة داخل سورية والتي لا تشكل صدى لأية قوة عالمية. تلك الأطراف التي يتم تجاهلها لها خطة، وهي تعمل على مرحلة ما بعد سقوط النظام وليس للانتقام كما يظهر لنا من أطراف المعارضة التي نسمع عنها عادة في الإعلام.
إن تبسيط الأمور من خلال استخدام منطق ( النظام ضد المجلس الوطني والجيش الحر) هو تبسيط سطحي ولا يخدم في الحقيقة إلا النظام. وهنا أنوه على أن الإعلام والمفكرين وصانعي القرار يجب أن يتعلموا جيداً عن مدى غنى المعارضة وكيف أنه يجب عليهم التركيز بشكل أكبر على المعارضة الحقيقية، وليس تلك المعارضة التي تنتقيها الجزيرة والتي تحاول فرض الأسطورة التي تبين أن الجيش الحر والمجلس الوطني هما المعارضة الوحيدة والأقوى في سوريا. وهذا التبسيط في الحقيقة لا يخدم إلا أجندات النظام والإعلام وأجندة الإسلاميين على حد سواء. وباعتباري شخص على اتصال مجموعات المعارضة الأساسية، لا استطيع إلا أقول أنني اكتفيت من هذه النظرة المبسطة والساذجة والتكتيكات المتلاعبة بالآراء التي تهدف إلى رسم صورة غير واقعية عن الصراع، والتي تظهر الصراع على انه صراع بين أقطاب معارضة غبية وعناصر مسلحة تحارب نظام متوحش قاتل بالجملة ومستبد. ولكن المعارضة السورية هي أكثر من ذلك بكثير.
{…}
http://syrianncb.org/2012/02/16/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%87%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85/

Let every journalists and photographer of the world make portray for every armed men of the FSA, the fact is simple:
FSA = Terrorists
The US and EU know that very well and they become more vocal about it.

Even their ‘brave’ ‘actions’ are taken from other Jihadists
الحقيقة الكاملة للطائرة التي اسقطها الجيش الكر
http://youtu.be/2s36x607x2Q

@49. Phares

You are entitled to your point of view but you are wrong about me.

What makes you say I was talking about you and why would I say your blood (or anyones) is ‘halal’? Are you a Shabeeha, Fourth Brigade soldier entering Homs right now or a loyal soldier shelling Homs for so many weeks? Syrians have every right to defend themselves when faced with such brutality.

With the tragedy unfolding in Homs right now you have the nerve to get angry at me simply for wanting to lift the morale and spirits of the besieged Homsis and all worried supporters of the revolution.

I have seen or read Sheikh Nazims views that you mention. Here is something I posted in the past: “People of Syria Beware A Heavenly Whipping”
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=11834&cp=all#comment-271674

It would be ridiculous to call sufi masters Sheikh Nazim and Sheikh Yaqoubi as Jihadists. Even soft hearted people on here have come to the recognition that force (FSA) might be the only way to confront the brutality. They have seen enough brutality.

One person I trust is Sheikh Sayyid Yaqoubi of Syria. Maybe it was the Sheikhs fatwa I posted a few days ago that touched a nerve with you. That’s your problem not mine.

My purpose on here? The Syrians are facing my worst nightmare. I can’t stand by and do nothing. I have to contribute somehow. Others on here are doing an excellent job and rather than repeating what they have posted I tend to come at it from another angle.

Sometime I see a drop in morale (incl in myself) so I post something in the hope of lifting morale and also in the hope of damaging the morale of regime supporters. Going by your comment maybe I have succeeded. 🙂 Other times I read something and respond. For example my post #42 was in response to reading the current comment title ‘“Free Syrian Army lacks organization in fight against Bashar Assad” by Landis and Reuters Video”‘

Anyway I’m no Jihadi. Do me a favour Sir? Why don’t you refute the Sheikh Yaqoubi alleged fatwa:

https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13590&cp=all#comment-297181

Irritated, it seems that the French journalist is still in Syria, but with who?

معلومات تؤكد بقاء الصحافية الفرنسية في سورية وعدم مغادرتها الى لبنان
http://alkhabarpress.com/%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%A4%D9%83%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81/

Retreat, Victory and Suicide

By Ghassan Charbel
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Al Arabiya opinion piece.

[Selected quotes:]

Observers sense that Syria is headed for more calamities. The regime is no longer able to retreat in the wake of the damage done to its image, the ruling party, the army, the security services and its economy. Nor is the opposition able to retreat with thousands of victims having perished, and with many cities and villages devastated. Both sides consider retreat to be suicide. The opposition can offer more sacrifices, and the regime more cruelties. Perhaps Syria itself will collapse before either party admits its defeat.

….

– The Syrian authorities spent most of their energies on foreign battles, believing that the policy of resistance offers them immunity against any unrest.

[Read more:]

http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2012/02/28/197470.html

Jad,

The fact remains the FSA whom you keep calling terrorist are willing to let journalists, photographers, activist to be embedded with them so that the world can see their side, why has the Syrian government been reluctant to do the same?

The only time we see Syrian Security service is when they are beating up their fellow citizens into a pulp, or shooting innocent demonstrators, all in the name of Bashar.

Son of Damascus
What fact? Taliban and Bin Laden had many journalists with them taking pictures for them does that make them less evil? No!
How many journalists you want to report from Syria? Isn’t every media on this planet report from inside Syria with or without the government permission?
At the same time we are seeing those terrorists shooting from the middle of residential areas with kids and civilians surrounding them and in their free time they are cutting people in pieces and throwing them in the streets..

Jad,

“What fact?”
Bouvier, Corvin, Shadid, Mani, Conroy to name a few.

Why have NONE of these journalist backed what the Syrian regime is trying to peddle, or why did Conroy and Bouvier risk their lives further by not trusting the Syrian regime and demanding that someone from their respective embassy be present to safeguard their safety FROM THE REGIME if they would be transported by the Red Cross?

I hear you condemning the opposition, but where are your condemnations towards the regime. The real opposition Jad is the one that is mobilizing the demonstrators on the streets even after the relentless killing machine hounding them after each corner, the real opposition is the opposition that is saying enough to Assad and his cronies.

Jad how do you negotiate with a regime that only understands the language of brutality, torture, and murder? What we are supposed to believe after all they have done to protect Bashar, that they have an ounce of humanity left in them that we can appeal to? Or should we plead with his holiness King Bashar the Fashel to be kind enough and hand over his power?

Finaly someone raised the credibility of the numbers of the victims of violence in Syria:

Questioning the Syrian “Casualty List”
By: Sharmine Narwani

“Perception is 100 percent of politics,” the old adage goes. Say something three, five, seven times, and you start to believe it in the same way you “know” aspirin is good for the heart.
Sometimes though, perception is a dangerous thing. In the dirty game of politics, it is the perception – not the facts of an issue – that invariably wins the day.
In the case of the raging conflict over Syria, the one fundamental issue that motors the entire international debate on the crisis is the death toll and its corollary: the Syrian casualty list.
The “list” has become widely recognized – if not specifically, then certainly when the numbers are bandied about: 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 – sometimes more. These are not mere numbers; they represent dead Syrians.
But this is where the dangers of perception begin. There are many competing Syrian casualty lists with different counts – how does one, for instance gage if X is an accurate number of deaths? How have the deaths been verified? Who verifies them and do they have a vested interest? Are the dead all civilians? Are they pro-regime or anti-regime civilians? Do these lists include the approximately 2,000 dead Syrian security forces? Do they include members of armed groups? How does the list-aggregator tell the difference between a civilian and a plain-clothes militia member?
{…}
Around that time, I had come across my first list of Syrians killed in the crisis, reportedly compiled in coordination with the SOHR, that contained the names of Palestinian refugees killed by Israeli fire on the Golan Heights on 15 May 2011 and 5 June 2011 when protesters congregated on Syria’s armistice line with Israel. So my first check was to see if that kind of glaring error appears in the SOHR list I investigate in this piece.
To my amazement, the entire list of victims from those two days were included in the SOHR casualty count – four from May 15 (#5160 to #5163) and 25 victims of Israeli fire from June 5 (#4629 to #4653). The list even identifies the deaths as taking place in Quneitra, which is in the Golan Heights.
{…}
Last Sunday, as Syrians went to the polls to vote on a constitutional referendum, Reuters reports – quoting the SOHR – that 9 civilians and 4 soldiers were killed in Homs, and that elsewhere in Syria there were 8 civilian and 10 security forces casualties. That is 17 civilians and 14 regime forces – where are the opposition gunmen in that number? Were none killed? Or are they embedded in the “civilian” count?
{…}
Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, debunked that version on his Syria Comment website. Another surviving soldier on the bus – a relation of Lt. Col. Yasar Qashur, #6022 on the SOHR list, whose funeral I link to above – denied that they were defectors too. But the narrative that dead soldiers are mostly defectors shot by their own troops has stuck throughout this conflict – though less so, as evidence of gunmen targeting Syrian forces and pro-regime civilians becomes belatedly apparent
{…}
People have to stop this knee-jerk, opportunistic, hysterical obsession with numbers of dead Syrians, and ask instead: “who are these people and who killed them?” That is the very least these victims deserve. Anything less would render their tragic deaths utterly meaningless. Lack of transparency along the supply-chain of information and its dissemination – on both sides – is tantamount to making the Syrian story all about perception, and not facts. It is a hollow achievement and people will die in ever greater numbers.
http://m.english.al-akhbar.com/content/questioning-syrian-“casualty-list”

The European Union has lost the brains!!!! 🙂
EU Council approves new sanctions on Belarus
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/354258.html
Belarus summons its ambassadors to EU, Poland for consultations
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/354415.html

19th French agent arrested in Syria
http://info-wars.org/2012/02/28/19th-french-agent-arrested-in-syria/
a French officer was taken prisoner by the Syrian National Army on Monday, 27 February 2012, at Azouz (Idlib district, near the Turkish border).

The arrest brings to 19 (nineteen) the number of French prisoners held by Damascus.

Negotiations for their release are underway via the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman.

During this period, the UAE distanced itself from from the common position of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and decided to adopt a neutral stance. Hence, they have banned all demonstrations, pro- or anti-Syrian, on their territory.

The Arab world’s first ladies of oppression

Their husbands have run some of the most brutal regimes of the Arab world. But who are the women who stand by the dictators?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/28/arab-first-ladies-of-oppression

Zoo

You know exactly what I meant…. We were not talking about KSA..

Nevertheless, I forgive you..because I want to.
——-

Now if you show me again photos of the beloved and his woman, I have saved many..many elegant photos of of HBJ that I am happy to share. We call this…an eye for an eye..or Justice by the book.

Another photo series covering the plight of Syrians today.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/syrias-long-bloody-uprising/100252/

Scott Lucas speaks to the BBC about the militarization of the Syrian conflict.
(Starts at the 9:50 mark)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00p4d8l

#67 SOD

“Why have NONE of these journalist backed what the Syrian regime is trying to peddle”

Who pays these journalists?

Journalists from other than the old colonialist powers and the new colonialist power, the USA, have supported the regime narrative.
I guess that for you, they are lying…
The world is not limited to the USA and the EU.

#57. Son of Damascus said:

“British photo journalist Bradely Secker is in Idleb, some nice high res photo series, as well as some commentary.”

“Another photo series covering the plight of Syrians today.”

Indeed, nice colourful artistic photos of enrolled kids…

Syria has become a paradise for artistic photographers looking for something different and exciting.
Who will get the award?

Finally my thug boss left the office so I could comment. Since the Arab fall I gained so much new vocabulary ;). We were invited to an art exposition last night and the artist has dedicated 6 paintings to Abeer Qassim (If you don’t know who is she…google it). One of the painting exhibits Iraqi Army soldiers talking to 5 American soldiers who were pointing to the horizon. The real story is that the American soldiers pointed at Sunnis as the perpetrators of the horrific crime.
I’m thinking the whole village must have harbored ill feelings toward Sunnis until the truth has prevailed. The moral of the story: Be careful of the third hand that makes you grow up old with so much loath inside you.

Will Tunisia’s surprising offer convince Bashar to step down?

Report: Tunisia ready to offer asylum to Assad
Associated Press – 2 hrs 56 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/report-tunisia-ready-offer-asylum-assad-161221155.html
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s president has told a local paper he is ready to offer asylum to Syria’s leader Bashar Assad as part of a negotiated solution to end the Syrian conflict, the paper’s website announced said Tuesday.

President Moncef Marzouki said the offer would also extend to Assad’s associates, in the interview set to appear Wednesday in the French-language daily La Presse.

(…)

Irritated,

Was not aware ‘artists’ risked their lives to such a degree that they had to dodge targeted bombs and sniper fire, what you might call art I call journalism.

The menhebak camp is funny, first they complain that the videos and photos that are coming out are ‘grainy and unverifiable’ then when better quality material is provided that is verifiable since they are provided by international media organizations they are ‘staged and artistic’.

Was it all a class rebellion, a fight of the “have not” against the ‘have’?

Syrian capital is a city changed in a year
Associated PressBy ZEINA KARAM | Associated Press – 1 hr 52 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-capital-city-changed-191830709.html

“Among the Syrian upper and middle classes, there is often disdain for a protest movement they see as largely dominated by lower-class, religiously conservative Sunnis. Assad has retained support among the country’s Alawite minority — a Shiite offshoot sect to which he belongs — but also among secular Syrians of all sects, who do not trust the opposition.
“They want to take us back 100 years,” Maha Shujaa, a 38-year-old interior designer and Assad supporter, said of the protesters.

“Who is going to protect me when the president goes, those bearded guys? No thanks,” said Shujaa, who refused to divulge her religious identity, saying she is “a Syrian citizen.”

Life in upscale Damascus areas like Abou Rummaneh, Mazzeh and the old city seems relatively normal. But lower-class neighborhoods like Midan, Barzeh and Kafar Souseh — dominated by Sunni Muslims who have been the backbone of the revolt — see frequent, small-scale anti-Assad rallies.

SOD #78

Magazines are full of very well known war photographers. War is unfortunately very esthetic.

“War photography captures photographs of armed conflict and life in war-torn areas.

Although photographs can provide a more direct representation than paintings or drawings, they are sometimes manipulated, creating an image that is not objectively journalistic.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_photography

Irritated,

I see so everything from the West is evil and can’t be trusted, everything is fabricated against Bashar, and the world is blind for not seeing things the Assadist way.

Countless news agencies, NGO’s, human rights groups are all in cahoots with some powerful body that wants nothing but the destruction of Syria, because Syria had the audacity to stand up to Western imperialism.

I’m sorry but I don’t subscribe to this utterly inhumane and disgusting mode of thinking, over simplifying Syrian deaths as a Western Imperial conspiracy is nothing more than a misguided fallacy.

#82

“I’m sorry but I don’t subscribe to this utterly inhumane and disgusting mode of thinking, ”

OK.

Faysal khabaz is probably acting out if a script.  It is a pity that lots of Syrians think something and act the opposite.  I am sure he is fearful for his life and for his family.

Syria storms out of U.N. rights meeting
By Stephanie Nebehay | Reuters – 3 hrs ago

GENEVA (Reuters) – Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva stormed out of the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday after demanding angrily that countries stop “inciting sectarianism and providing arms” to opposition forces in his country.
Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui said sanctions were preventing Damascus from buying medicines and fuel and then abruptly left the Geneva forum’s emergency debate called at the request of Gulf countries and Turkey, and backed by the West.
….

But after hours of debate, it decided to put off action until Thursday on a draft resolution presented by Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey with backing from Western powers including the United States and European Union (EU).

“The Syrian ambassador’s comments (in his speech to the Council) were borderline out of touch with reality,” U.S. human rights ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told reporters.
They were as “delusional” as his government’s holding of a referendum at a time when it was wreaking violence on its own people, she said.
….

The 47-member forum, which has no legal force, looked set to adopt a resolution condemning Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic violations,” including the killing and persecution of protesters, diplomats said.
The draft resolution deplores “the use of heavy artillery and tanks to attack residential areas … that have led to the death of thousands of innocent civilians.”
“There will be a wide majority of states in favor. It will pass easily,” an Arab diplomat told Reuters before the meeting.
“We should expect Russia, Cuba and Ecuador to vote against it. On China, is not clear,” he said.
Israel’s diplomat Walid Abu-Haya told the talks: “Bashar al-Assad is systematically murdering civilians. His forces are shelling their towns and villages and are raping and torturing people with impunity. He has no moral authority to govern.”

…..
http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-rights-forum-condemn-syria-fourth-time-094859791.html

Shambles: ‘Syrian voters non-people for the West’
http://youtu.be/LN86J03ga9M

“Syria has successfully held a referendum on a constitution, but been hit with new sanctions by the EU anyway. Neil Clark, a journalist and contributor to Britain’s Guardian newspaper talks to RT from London.”

Kafr Suseh is not a poor neighborhood. The average apartment price was $400,000-600,000 in 2010. Damascenes like to give it a new name: Kafr Susu.

13 Syrian youth were killed to smuggle the photographer out.  Hilary declaring Assad as a war criminal. 

Syrian activists killed in Paul Conroy rescue mission
Up to 13 activists died smuggling the Sunday Times photographer out of the country, it has emerged

Peter Beaumont
Tuesday 28 February 2012 17.00 EST

The news came on the day the United Nations said “well over 7,500 people” had been killed in Syria during the 11-month government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. This figure is significantly higher than previous estimates.

“While we cannot give exact casualty figures there are credible reports the death toll now often exceeds 100 civilians a day, including many women and children,” said Lynn Pascoe, the UN undersecretary general for political affairs.

Amid the rising death toll, and continuing attacks around Homs by Syrian elite forces, including the army’s 4th Division commanded by Assad’s brother Maher, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said she believed an argument could now be made that Assad was a “war criminal”.

…. .
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/28/syrian-activists-paul-conroy-mission

Palestine invites UN Security Council to visit occupied territories – 2012-02-29

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/29/c_122767930.htm

“I hope that this trip of the Security Council can take place very soon so that the Security Council can shoulder its responsibility in dealing with the issues that they have to deal with and trying to stop the situation from possibly exploding because we live in an area where there are so many explosions around us,” Mansour told reporters outside the Security Council chamber.

Mansour said that Palestine would like to have the council “see with their own eyes, the reality of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territory,” including Israeli settlements, wall construction, and difficulties faced by Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

He said he hopes a trip would encourage the council to gather information and “to decide on a course of action that would be appropriate to bring Israel, the occupying power, to compliance with its obligation under the Roadmap and under international law. ”

“Therefore, the peace process is at an impasse and we believe it is high time for the Secretariat of the United Nations, when they submit reports not to keep reiterating appealing to the two parties to go back to the negotiations without conditions,” he said. “They have to have the courage to tell the international community that the Israeli side is the party that is responsible for not allowing the peace process to move forward.”

[…]

Didn’t NATO Tell us The Same Lie Before They Invaded Libya?!

NATO chief rules out intervention in Syria, Iran – 2012-02-29

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/29/c_122767785.htm

“It’s important for me to stress that NATO has no intention whatsoever to intervene in Syria,” the NATO secretary-general said at a press conference in Washington.

Stating that NATO is monitoring the situation closely and strongly condemns what is going on in Syria, Rasmussen said: “The only way forward in Syria is to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people, and introduce freedom and democracy.”

Cautioning that the Syrian crisis may have an impact on the region’s stability, Rasmussen said: “I do believe that, as far as Syria is concerned, the best way forward would be a regional solution.”

He commended the Arab League for its efforts to find a solution. “I do believe countries in the region should engage actively in finding a solution,” he added.

The NATO chief also said that the military bloc is not involved in arming anyone in Syria. “NATO has no intention whatsoever to intervene in Syria, that also includes arming the opposition,” he said. 8)

[…]

More Divisions Among the Syrian Opposition

The formation of the new Syrian Patriotic Group, announced Feb. 26, represents the continuing discontent and fractionalization among the Syrian opposition. This will make it increasingly difficult for the opposition to receive the international support necessary to overthrow the al Assad regime.
{…}
The contest to become the sole representative of the Syrian opposition will continue, as will the likely splintering and formation of new opposition groups. Depending on each opposition faction’s desired outcome in the Syrian crisis, each faction has different countries in mind for foreign aid and support. The question remains whether the opposition groups can meet those specific benefactor countries’ respective requirements to receive aid.
{…}
http://stratfor.com/analysis/more-divisions-among-syrian-opposition

Syria makes earnest bid to attract Indian travellers – Feb 29, 2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Syria-makes-earnest-bid-to-attract-Indian-travellers/articleshow/12077507.cms

NEW DELHI: Parts of Syrian countryside may be rocked by violent fighting against the current regime, but that has not deterred the country’s tourism department to make an earnest sales pitch to the Indian traveller.

In India to participate in the Outbound Travel Market 2012 that was held at the Pragati Maidan here over the weekend, Syria’s tourism officials are “exploring” the market and have been surprised at the unexpected response. Despite incessant queries on safety among walk-in visitors at the travel mart, Syria’s tourism marketing and promotion director Bassam Barsik is upbeat.

The country’s theme ‘come see for yourself’ is illustrative of their intent. Barsik dismissed the “crisis” being played out on TV as incorrect, and assured that in a few months the nation would be politically stable.

He argued that the “terrorist acts” were from “alien elements” and “linked to foreign agendas” to undermine his nation’s stability and weaken its regional role as a prominent player in West Asian causes.

Barsik added that his government was keen on introducing visa on arrival services or at least providing visa within a day or so for Indian travellers. “We are considering visa on arrival for Indians or provide visa within a day. We would also like to waiver the visa fees or reduce to a minimal,” he said.

[…]

Venezuela to Keep Syria Fuel Exports, Deepen Ties With China – February 28, 2012

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-28/venezuela-to-keep-syria-fuel-exports-deepen-ties-with-china.html

“We’ve sent Syria two cargoes of diesel and shipments will continue as they are needed,” Venezuela’s Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters during a signing ceremony with Chinese officials in Caracas yesterday. “We have a high degree of friendship and cooperation with Syria, a country under siege.”

[…]

Irritated,

“Journalists from other than the old colonialist powers and the new colonialist power, the USA, have supported the regime narrative.
I guess that for you, they are lying…”

Show me one of those journalist that risked their lives to be on the front line trying to tell the actual events on the ground, as I said to Jad before you if the FSA is willing to ‘stage’ events and have those journalist present at the front line why can’t the regime do anything of that sort?

Until those journalists and media organizations actually show real proof of what the regime is peddling (embedding a journalist with the security services for example), I don’t really believe what they have to say, and as long as they choose to regurgitate regime lies with no actual proof that is not journalism it is propaganda.

Lebanon wants Syria back in Arab League – 2012-02-28

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Lebanon-wants-Syria-back-in-Arab-League-20120228

“Lebanon is standing by its position that no Arab nation should be left out of this organisation,” Sleiman told a press conference in Bucharest. “The Arab League does not represent only [political] systems but also nations.”

[…]

84. jadsaid: Shambles: ‘Syrian voters non-people for the West’

Exactly. Between wannabe revolutionary journalists (within a Western reactionary context) infatuated and fantasizing a generalized Arab revolution; and a pro-Zionist “intellectual” class, left, right and center, with a decades old grudge against an Assadist anti-Israel Syria; and an Israeli-American-EU-GCC grouping determined to put Iran in it’s place….they think their own projections more important than the wishes of the Syrian people.

Syrian activists killed in Paul Conroy rescue mission
Up to 13 activists died smuggling the Sunday Times photographer out of the country,
———–
Avaaz has been working on the Syrian Spring since it started and declares on its website that it smuggled international journalists to Syria. So it’s Avaaz responsibility to protect them or free them. It’s not the job of Red Crescent employees to risk their lives in Bab Amr for these ungrateful… people.
Or because the Red Crescent volunteers are Arabs they can perish by the dozen; but a FOREIGNER oh he/she is a Goddess must survive at all costs. For further information, please contact Beirut: Alex Renton on alex.renton@avaaz.org or +447957371902 or +961 71565495. London: Will Davies on will@avaaz.org or +447855 419901

https://secure.avaaz.org/act/media.php?press_id=299

p.s.: Please don’t forget to send a thank you note to Mr. Renton.

94. jna said:

“”” Between wannabe revolutionary journalists (within a Western reactionary context) infatuated and fantasizing a generalized Arab revolution; and a pro-Zionist “intellectual” class, left, right and center, with a decades old grudge against an Assadist anti-Israel Syria; and an Israeli-American-EU-GCC grouping determined to put Iran in it’s place….they think their own projections more important than the wishes of the Syrian people. “””
.
.
Excellent comment. Sums it all up in a few words.

Thank you

Not that we don’t already know the reality of dr. boring Zibaleh being the neo-con servant or ‘Mo’ the wannabe something but this clip shows who the partners of those two really are:

شام-محمد العبد الله و رضوان زيادة يلتقون بالاسرائيليين
http://youtu.be/f8w0iCZCAu8

Latest development regarding Baba Amr:

بابا عمرو… الساعات الحاسمة
الجيش ينفّذ عمليات تطهير للحي ونزوح للمسلحين في اتجاه لبنان وتقدّم عسكري في ريف حلب وإدلب

بعد خمسة وعشرين يوماً من الاشتباكات بين قوات الجيش السوري ومسلحي «الجيش السوري الحر» المتحصنين في بابا عمرو في حمص، بدا أن الأمور في هذه المنطقة تتجه الى الحسم النهائي، وسط تأكيدات بسيطرة الجيش على المنطقة التي قد تعلن «آمنة» في الساعات المقبلة
أكدت مصادر في دمشق لـ «الأخبار» أن الجيش السوري سيطر على غالبية حي بابا عمرو في حمص، ودخل الى شوارعه الرئيسية بعد خمسة وعشرين يوماً من الحصار. وأوضحت المصادر أن قوات الجيش كانت حتى ساعة متأخرة من ليل أمس تنفّذ عمليات تنظيف للحي ممن بقي فيه من مسلّحين، وسط مخاوف من وجود حقول ألغام تركها هؤلاء. وتحدثت عن احتمال صدور بيان رسمي في الساعات القليلة المقبلة تعلن فيه السلطات أن المنطقة باتت آمنة.

وأضافت المصادر أن عمليات عسكرية تدور في المنطقة الجنوبية القريبة من منطقة القصير الحدودية مع لبنان، مشيرة الى «ساعات حاسمة». وأشارت الى تجمع لعدد كبير من المسلّحين، بينهم مقاتلون من ليبيا وتونس، وإلى أن الجيش السوري اعتقل أعداداً من المسلّحين من بينهم لبنانيون دخلوا من منطقة وادي خالد. وسجلت حركة نزوح كثيفة للمقاتلين في اتجاه الأراضي اللبنانية. فيما تحدثت مصادر لـ «الأخبار» عن استمرار وجود مسلّحين في الخالدية وبعض أجزاء الحميدية مع تأكيدها أن التعامل مع هذه المناطق لن يكون صعباً بسبب سقوط «مركز قيادة المسلحين» في بابا عمرو. إلا أن مصادر في «الجيش السوري الحرّ» نفت لـ «الأخبار» سقوط بابا عمرو في أيدي الجيش، قائلة إن المسلحين «تمكنوا من فتح ثغرة في الحصار على المنطقة ويعملون على إخلاء المدنيين عبر الخالدية ــ الوعر ــ القصير وصولاً إلى منطقة عرسال» اللبنانية.
ونقلت وكالة «فرانس برس» عمن وصفته بـ «عضو الهيئة العامة للثورة السورية» هادي العبدالله قوله ان الجيش «استقدم الى حمص تعزيزات من الفرقة الرابعة»، مشيرا الى ان هذه التعزيزات «تزيد من مخاوفنا من حصول اقتحام». وأشار الى ان القوات النظامية أخلت «حاجزين كبيرين على اطراف الخالدية هما حاجزا المطاحن والاطفائية»، مشيراً الى انه «تم توجيه نداءات عبر المساجد الى الاهالي للنزول الى الطبقات الارضية».
{…}
http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/44339

FP, Beware of the Saudi arming of the oppositions

«فورين بوليسي»: حذار التسليح السعودي للمعارضة

حذّر المحلل الاستخباري السابق في الخزانة الأميركية جوناثان شانزر من مخاطر الدور السعودي في سوريا، مشيراً إلى أن في جعبة التاريخ درساً مفاده أن «لا أحد سيكون أكثر خطورة من السعودية»
جنان جمعاوي
خلال «توبيخه» الرئيس الروسي ديمتري مدفيديف، قال الملك السعودي، عبد الله، إن المملكة «لن تتخلى أبداً عن واجباتها الدينية والأخلاقية حيال ما يجري» في سوريا. لكن في آخر مرة ارتأى فيها السعوديون أن لديهم واجباً لـ«إحباط» السياسات الروسية، كانوا قد مهّدوا الطريق لانبثاق «جيل من الجهاديين في أفغانستان، ينشرون الفوضى في العالم منذ ثلاثة عقود وحتى الآن». وفي السياق، نقل المحلل الاستخباري السابق في وزارة الخزانة الأميركية جوناثان شانزر، وهو مسؤول في «مؤسسة الدفاع عن الديموقراطيات»، عن تقارير إخبارية أن الرياض «ترسل بالفعل أسلحة ومعدات للمعارضة السورية، عبر حلفائها من العشائر السنية في العراق ولبنان»، على أن ترسل المزيد. هكذا لمّح وزير الخارجية السعودي الأمير سعود الفيصل عندما وصف فكرة تسليح المعارضة بأنها «ممتازة». بعدها، نقلت صحيفة «سعودي غازيت» عن مسؤول لم تسمّه أن الرياض تفكر بتزويد المعارضة السورية بـ«الوسائل الكفيلة بتأمين الاستقرار والسلام»، فيما بدأ رجال الدين السعوديون يدعون على الملأ إلى الجهاد في سوريا.
هذه النزعة لتسليح المعارضة السورية تعود، حسبما كتب شانزر، في مجلة «فورين بوليسي»، إلى رغبة «الدول السنية (في الخليج) بتقويض نظام (بشار) الأسد، لأنه حليف عدوتهم الشيعية إيران». وتابع أن «حرمان الروس من موطئ قدم لهم في الشرق الأوسط يعدّ مكسباً إضافياً بالنسبة للسعوديين»، فـ«الدولتان تتشاطران عداءً مزمناً».
{…}
http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/44340

Son of Damascus,
This report is talking about the valuable point you raised (many where asking for the exact same idea you are saying from day one, including Bassam Alkadi) that the media needs to exist with the Syrian Army for a better coverage of the situation:

Western media on Syria: selective story-telling?
http://youtu.be/y1-n-RXmpVY

“The government’s refusal to grant foreign journalists unfettered access has deepened the fog of war. Those who get in often do so illegally and as a result are limited to reporting on the bloodshed from behind rebel-held lines. Just last week two Western journalists were killed in Homs – the scene of some of the bloodiest battles between armed opposition groups and the forces of President Bashar al-Asad. Some media executives say the lack of press access is unprecedented. So, what’s with this selective story-telling? And what ever happened to getting both sides of the story? Matt Carr, an author and blogger, is joining RT’s Liz Wahl to answer these questions.”

From Fallujah to Homs – Selective Outrage in the Media Narrative?
http://youtu.be/D0El9rN7Zoc

“The Syrian government’s refusal to grant foreign journalists unfettered access has deepened the fog of war. Those reporters who do get in to the country, often do so illegally and are limited to reporting on the bloodshed from behind rebel-held lines. Their coverage largely focusing on the horrific human toll of the siege, often told from the eyes of the opposition. This is in stark contrast to another brutal siege: Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah, Iraq. Back in 2004, some 50,000 citizens were trapped by coalition forces, cut off from food, water and medical supplies. Countless civilians were killed, injured or sickened by toxic U.S. munitions. But their side of the story was all too often ignored by members of the media who were embedded with U.S. military forces. And amid the violent clashes, civilians suffered most. The difference between Homs and Fallujah is that the civilian suffering in Syria is broadcast to the world, while the stories of Fallujah’s innocents remain largely untold. In 2004, most reporters embedded with U.S. forces. Today, the few western journalists who sneak into Syria end up seeking the protection of the opposition. In Iraq, outlets who showed civilian casualties resulting from the Second Battle of Fallujah were dismissed as propagandists. The senior U.S. military spokesman, Mark Kimmitt, suggested that Iraqis who saw civilian deaths on AlJazeera, “change the channel to a legitimate, authoritative, honest news station” — echoing eerily similar accusations by the Syrian government. It is often said that perceptions form reality, and nowhere does this seem to ring more true than in Syria and Iraq. In one battle, the press told the story of the besiegers. In the other, that of the besieged.”

Jad,

Thanks for the link in post 99.

Son of Damascus
You are very welcome brother 🙂

‘Saudi Arabia Is Arming the Syrian Opposition’

“…According to news reports confirmed by a member of the Syrian opposition, Riyadh currently sends weapons on an ad hoc basis to the Syrian opposition by way of Sunni tribal allies in Iraq and Lebanon. But in light of recent developments, more weapons are almost certainly on their way. After his delegation withdrew in frustration from last week’s Friends of Syria meeting in Tunisia, Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said that humanitarian aid to Syria was “not enough” and that arming the Syrian rebels was an “excellent idea.” Soon afterward, an unnamed official commented in the state-controlled Saudi press that Riyadh sought to provide the Syrian opposition with the “means to achieve stability and peace and to allow it the right to choose its own representatives.” Meanwhile,Saudi clerics are now openly calling for jihad in Syria and scorning those who wait for Western intervention. One prominent unsanctioned cleric, Aidh al-Qarni, openly calls for Assad’s death.
{…}

http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2012/02/saudi-arabia-is-arming-syrian.html?spref=tw

Chinese FM holds phone talks with AL chief, Arab counterparts over Syria – 2012-02-29

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/29/c_122767789.htm

Stressing that China has made efforts to maintain peace and stability in Syria and the Middle East, Yang said it is an urgent task for the conflicting sides in Syria to halt violence immediately so as to start an inclusive political dialogue and discuss reform plans as soon as possible.

The international community should create favorable conditions in this regard and provide humanitarian aid to Syria, said the Chinese minister, who also had phone conversations with his counterparts Mohammed Kamel Amr of Egypt, Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Mourad Medelci of Algeria on Monday and Tuesday.

[…]

Can Syria’s Assad Fight His Way to Political Survival?
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/02/28/syria-can-assad-fight-his-way-to-political-survival/

I think the opposition can proudly have more than one the following characteristic of a failed revolution hijacked radical, narcissistic, grandiose delusional, hypocritical personality disorder sufferers.
In addition to the well know Zionists, Neocon, thugs thieves, Saudi and GCC dirt bags.
It is amazing how the USA is in support of such people but I guess the common theme that the Americans constitution was not created for ” we the Arab people”
BTW where are Norman, Hytham khoury.
I hope the latter find out that his people are not worthy putting his hands in their hands after the finding that SNC is in deep hands with the Israelis.
shalom amigos.

Just When They Needed It Least: The Syrian Opposition Fractures Again – Feb. 27, 2012

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107740,00.html

The timing of the announcement of the new group is inopportune to say the least. As calls mount to arm the FSA, the need for political oversight of any arms supplies is likely to be a key condition for just such a move. Just days ago, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was premature to consider arming the rebels “because I would challenge anyone to clearly identify for me the opposition movement in Syria at this point.” He was speaking about the armed groups on the ground, of course, but perhaps the same question should be asked of the political opposition. “Western diplomats are asking me, ‘Who are we dealing with at the end of the day?'” Hokayem said. “It’s worrisome, I’m not saying the SNC is a dying patient, but it’s in pretty bad shape.”

[…]

This is a political bomb by Clinton:
اعتبرت وزيرة الخارجية الامريكية هيلاري كلينتون الثلاثاء ان هناك ‘حججا’ قد تتيح ملاحقة الرئيس السوري بشار الاسد بتهمة ارتكاب جرائم حرب، الا ان هذا الخيار قد يعقد التوصل الى حل في سورية.
وقالت كلينتون في كلمة القتها امام مجلس الشيوخ ‘استنادا الى خبرتي الواسعة اعتقد ان هذا الامر قد يعقد التوصل الى حل لوضع معقد اصلا، لانه سيحد من امكانات اقناع قادة بالتخلي عن السلطة
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today%5C28z500.htm&arc=data%5C2012%5C02%5C02-28%5C28z500.htm

More info coming from Homs questioning the allegations that regime forces killed 64 civilians and dumped their bodies on the side of a highway outside the city.
I do not have enough info yet to form an opinion,the story certainly has holes,but whoever committed that massacre had one thing in mind: inciting more sectarian killing and preventing more civilians from escaping the man-made hell in Homs.

Abdel Bari Atwan (English):
Diplomacy may yet break Syria’s deadlock, and avoid a military crisis
A face-saving exit plan might be the only way to remove Assad, and prevent further polarisation of the world’s superpowers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/28/diplomacy-break-syria-deadlock

Former UN chief to be in New York for Syria talks: UN official – 2012-02-29

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/29/c_122767819.htm

“Mr. Annan arrives in New York tomorrow to begin talks with the secretary-general,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe said in his briefing at an open Security Council meeting on the Middle East.

“I hope he will have the opportunity to meet with all members of the council to hear your suggestions on how to bring this terrible situation to an end,” Pascoe told the 15-nation council.

[…]

The number of “killed” in Syria is the whole story of fabrication propaganda.
The Human watch in London is run by two people who are both radical MB who have no credibility or whatsoever.
If there is such high number of people killed than we may have seen more funerals.
It is clear that the fabrication and the Psych operation like an assembly line where each add a piece and the CIA/Brits/French made spread the lie all over the media.
I can’t wait for to see the french who are captured in Syria, one possibility that the terrorists didn’t release the journalists because they are afraid the Syrian army may level the area where terrorists are located after releasing the journalists.
Another possibility that the journalists are not injured and the fabrication machine is to make it sound like that. or they are not in HOMS to begin with!!!!.
Colvin was supposedly buried in HOMS I wonder if anyone really knows where, when and how.
there is lots of holes of all these reports typical stories from the middle east full of holes.
The Alawite are being slaughtered in HOMS and the Syrian army still
refraining from destroying Bab Amr.
I think the Alwite understand very well the devil barbaric wahabi Sunni in KSA who are trying to eradicate the Alwite from existence.
Through out the history the middle east was at the cross point of many ethnic groups which eliminated others for decades or centuries.
Ottoman were evil killers, slayed and slaughtered millions of innocent people.
Arabs doing the same to each others now a days.
people are born without their permission but freedom of living in the middle east is a conditional one depending if you are similar to others otherwise you are persecuted in your own homeland and not welcomed in spite of being a full citizen of your own home land.
The Syrians given they are multi ethnic groups but claim to be all Syrians at one point they are all afraid of the radicalism which is brought to Syria by the devil Al Saud.
no one to see Syria going backward in time but the Wahabi.
Assad my be killed, step down, or captured but Syria is not going to go down in history with traitors like GCC leaders and the criminal Americans, french, Brits who are all acting as the puppets of the Israelis in the middle east.

Update on Mo’s story, it seems that the clip I linked earlier is fabricated by putting different pieces of different events in one, so Mohammad Alabdallah DID NOT ask Ehud Barak any question, his question was directed to Zibaleh.

“Mohammad Al Abdallah
إلى الفهيم اللي قاعد يركب أفلام وقصاصات وروايات عني وعن د.رضوان زيادة…
مؤخراً تم نشر فيديو على يوتوب مركب بطريقة غبية أظهر فيه أنا أطرح سؤالاً عن دور إسرائيل في حماية بشار الأسد لنسمع الجواب لاحقاً من إيهود باراك وزير الدفاع الإسرائيلي السابق.
هذا هو فيديو المحاضرة كاملة… أطرح سؤالي بالتوقيت 1:05:01 (ساعة وخمس دقائق)… وسؤالي كما سيظهر بالفيديو المنشور على موقع المؤتمر كان موجهاً لكل من د. رضوان زيادة، بول سالم من معهد كارنيغي، ديفيد كريمير باحث ومدير فريدوم هاوس وباحث يمني زائر.
أيضاً: سأنشر في التعليق الأول على هذا البوست رابط محاضرة إيهود باراك كاملة. سيظهر باراك في الدقيقة 17 يتلقى السؤال عن سوريا من المذيع في التلفزيون الكندي ويجيب على السؤال الذي قام صاحب الفيديو بالتلاعب فيه ليظهر أني من طرح السؤال على باراك.
واضح أن الواقعتان مختلفتان لكن الغبي الذي منتج الفيديو استغل شعار مؤتمر الأمن العالمي الذي عقدت المحاضرات تحت رعايته ليقوم بتركيب الفيديو بهذه الطريقة السخيفة.
عموماً منتجة الفيديو غبية جداً وتدل على تفاهة صاحبها.
رجاء حار متابعة التعليق الأول الذي يحتوي على محاضرة باراك!”
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=251204181630779&id=590417468

Regardless, that he didn’t ask Ehud Barak that specific question, nothing change the fact of him being spot with an Israeli mossad agent while Zibaleh is very well known of being the ‘boy’ of the Neocon and the Zionists’ lobby clubs in DC
http://www.syriatruth.org/Portals/0/mohammad_abdallah_budabest_1.jpg

At Geneva HRC, Code Words on Syria Range from Ruthless to Regime Change, Saleh and Sri Lanka Not Shown

http://www.innercitypress.com/hrc2syria022812.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 — The debate on Syria at the Human Rights Council in Geneva Tuesday morning proceeded mostly as expected. China and Cuba both used the term “regime change,” at least in translation.

Portugal for the European Union and later EU member Austria both called the Assad “regime… ruthless,” though Portugal’s Foreign Minister pronounced it “roose-less.” (When he referred to humanitarian actors, one wag wondered: George Clooney?)

India’s speech, telling the Arab League that its role is to bring about dialogue in Syria, seemed to some to vary from its recent votes at the UN General Assembly and Security Council in New York.

More clearly inconsistent was Thailand, which called for “strong action” on Syria. The day before, on Sri Lanka where more civilians were killed, Thailand urged a “homegrown” Sri Lankan solution.

Similarly, Maldives even in the midst of what many call a coup d’etat trashed Assad for killing civilians, while in New York it appears to defend Sri Lanka including its appointment, through the Asia Group, of General Shavendra Silva, whose 58th Division is depicted in Ban Ki-moon’s Panel of Experts report as engaged in war crimes, as a member of the Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations.

Speaking for the US was not Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Donahoe, but Esther Brimmer, in from Washington. One wondered, when will Brimmer and the US State Department belatedly send their replacement for UN Department of Political Affairs cheif Lynn Pascoe, left swinging like a lame duck in the breeze for months now?

Mauritania for the Arab Group called for humanitarian corridors. Syria said the head of the International Commission of Inquiry has said such corridors are impossible, that one must talk with the Syrian government as the Red Cross is doing.

Syria also said that it is the Free Syrian Army which blocked the extraction of foreign journalists from Homs. “No Shalgam or Dabbashi, he,” one wag commented, referring to the Gaddafi era Libyan diplomats who defected during that conflict.

[…]

This article may have been posted before but I find it worthy of reposting:
Assafir-Talal Salman
http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=2088&articleId=2873&ChannelId=49742&Author=%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84%20%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86

Syrian Terrorists(FSA) :
اطلبوا الكذب ولو في الشيشان

The Syrian crisis is starting to be reported a bit differently in the European media after Alqaeda threats was echoed a lot in every official statement from the Americans:

The original report in German, (Dr. Meyer sounds like Dr. Landis in this interview)
Syrien und der Westen – Neue Thesen zum Freiheitskampf 2012-02-20
http://youtu.be/UqfSR_wtxXo

In Arabic
سوريا و الغرب. طروحات جديدة حول صراع الحرية
http://youtu.be/RUCTWkZMHcQ

البيت الأبيض: القاعدة تحاول الإستفادة من الوضع في سوريا
أعلن المتحدث باسم البيت الابيض جاي كارني ان تنظيم القاعدة يحاول الاستفادة من اعمال العنف في سوريا، لافتا الى “ان هذا الامر هو احد الاسباب التي تحول دون وضع مسألة تزويد معارضة نظام الرئيس السوري بشار الاسد بالسلاح على جدول اعمال واشنطن”.
واوضح كارني ان عناصر من التنظيم المتطرف “يحاولون تقديم انفسهم على انهم المدافعون عن حرية اكبر وعن الديمقراطية لسكان المنطقة، وعن سوريا في هذه الحالة”، في ما يتناقض برأيه مع “تاريخهم وحججهم وعلة وجودهم”.
واقر كارني بان الولايات المتحدة لم “تحدد بشكل واضح الى اي درجة يتعاون متطرفو القاعدة مع المعارضة السورية”، معتبرا ان “موقفنا لا يعود فقط لهذا السبب، بل ايضا لان الوقت لم يحن بعد لزيادة عسكرة الوضع في سوريا”.

Adopt A Terrorist Give Money To Al-Qaeda 😀

Syrian activists appeal to West to be ‘adopted’ – Updated 3h 39m ago

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-02-28/syria-activist-adopt-revolution/53292692/1

How Pathetic!

Sectarian terrorism at its ugliest, the fsa radical terrorists are now on a mission to target the Syrian Christian communities.
After attacking Alhamidieh neighbourhood in Homs, the next target is now the largest Syrian Christian town in Hama, Mhardeh, the fsa is threatening, through Alarabiya TV, the people there and asking them to leave because the fsa terrorist militias are going to attack Mhardeh.

شـبـكـة أخـبـار حـمـاه | H.N.N
في اتصال له مع العربية : عمر رحمون المتحدث بإسم ما يُسمى بـ”مجلس قيادة الثورة” يهدد بأن ما سماه بالـ”الجيش الحر” سيوجه ضربات الى مدينة “محردة” بريف حماة بهدف استهداف قوات الجيش السوري المتمركزة بين أحياء المدينة على حد تعبيره ، والتي تقوم بالقصف من هناك على بلدة “حلفايا”.
وقد طلب رحمون من أهالي محردة النزوح عن المدينة ، وناشد “البابا” الطلب من الأهالي الخروج من ديارهم.
ننوه الى أن الجيش العربي السوري لايقوم بعملياته العسكرية من داخل مدينة محردة وانما من المناطق المحيطة بها … ونذكر بأن العديد من عائلات بلدة “حلفايا” الأبرياء متواجدين بإستضافة أهل الكرم في محردة .. يسكنون بيوتهم ويتقاسمون الزاد معهم.
وعليه … ولحقن الدماء .. ولعدم ترك أي ذريعة لمن يُسمّون بـ”الجيش الحر” .. نرجو من الجهات المعنية الطلب من قواتنا الباسلة الإبتعاد عن مدينة محردة لكي لا يتأذى الأهالي المسالمين بغير ذنب.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=284646971607419&set=a.136270686445049.29410.135839146488203&type=3

Alaaroor Pigs passed by here:

شر البلية ما يضحك
This terrorist job is protecting Christians !!
He is stating that he released all the Christians kidnapped by the army.
It is a shame that the free world supports such jerks:

One of the holiest churches to the Christians hearts contaminated by these terrorists.Opposition
And MB has lost christian faith for ever,they scored very short and cheep victory at exposed christian neighborhoods to compensate for their loss in Bab Omer ,but they have lost for ever minorities by bringing wars to their Homs and churches :

Friends of Syria: Obama, Clinton, the Saudi King, All Pusillanimous, One Worse Than the Other – February 29, 2012

“So if you’re a military planner or if you’re a Secretary of State and you’re trying to figure out, do you have the elements of an opposition that is actually viable, we don’t see that”

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/101218/marty-syria-saudi

QUESTION: The U.S. has repeatedly said that it’s reluctant to support the direct arming of the dissidents. The U.S. has been reluctant to arm the dissidents. Why?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first of all, we really don’t know who it is that would be armed. We have met some of the people from the Syrian National Council. They’re not inside Syria. This is not Libya, where you had a base of operations in Benghazi, where you had people who were representing the entire opposition to Libya, who were on the road meeting with me rather constantly, meeting with others. You could get your arms around what it is you were being asked to do and with whom. We don’t have any clarity on that. We –

QUESTION: But what’s the – Madam Secretary, what’s the fear?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well –

QUESTION: On the ground, what is the fear –

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first –

QUESTION: – of arming the rebels?

SECRETARY CLINTON: First of all, as I just said, what are we going to arm them with, and against what? You’re not going to bring tanks over the borders of Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. That’s not going to happen.

So maybe at the best, you can smuggle in automatic weapons, maybe some other weapons that you could get in. To whom, where do you go? You can’t get into Homs. Where do you go? And to whom are you delivering them? We know al-Qaida. Zawahiri is supporting the opposition in Syria. Are we supporting al-Qaida in Syria? Hamas is now supporting the opposition. Are we supporting Hamas in Syria?

So I think, Wyatt, despite the great pleas that we hear from those people who are being ruthlessly assaulted by Assad, you don’t see uprisings across Syria the way you did in Libya. You don’t see militias forming in places where the Syrian military is not trying to get to Homs. You don’t see that, Wyatt. So if you’re a military planner or if you’re a Secretary of State and you’re trying to figure out, do you have the elements of an opposition that is actually viable, we don’t see that. We see immense human suffering that is heartbreaking and a stain on the honor of those security forces who are doing it.

[…]

Why Syria’s Christians are angry – Tuesday February 28, 2012

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/28/opinion/moubayed-syria-christians/index.html

Christians make up 12% of the 23 million people in Syria. Even if a Christian has a right to run for president, it is unlikely that he will win since the majority of Syria’s population which is made of 75% Sunni would never vote for a Christian. So, the Muslims should have nothing to fear and allow Christians the right to run for the office of the presidency.

Moreover, Syrian Christians have until now been overwhelmingly supportive of the regime, fearing that if the regime collapses, then Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood would rise to power and focus on marginalizing the Christians. The scenarios in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Morocco have not been encouraging.

[…]

Interpol says suspected Anonymous hackers arrested – Feb 28, 2012

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120229/D9T6NR3G0.html

PARIS (AP) – Interpol said Tuesday that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America.

The international police agency said in a statement that the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol’s Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime.

The suspects, aged between 17 and 40, are suspected of planning coordinated cyberattacks against institutions including Colombia’s defense ministry and presidential websites, Chile’s Endesa electricity company and national library, as well as other targets.

The arrests followed an ongoing investigation begun in mid-February which also led to the seizure of 250 items of IT equipment and mobile phones in searches of 40 premises in 15 cities, Interpol said.

In Chile’s capital, Subprefect Jamie Jara said at a news conference that authorities arrested five Chileans and a Colombian. Two of the Chileans are 17-year-old minors.

The case was being handled by prosecutor Marcos Mercado, who specializes in computer crime. He said the suspects were charged with altering websites, including that of Chile’s National Library, and engaging in denial-of-service attacks on websites of the electricity companies Endesa and Hidroaysen. The charges carry a penalty of 541 days to five years in prison, he said.

Jara said the arrests resulted from a recently begun investigation and officials do not yet know if those arrested are tied to any “illicit group.”

“For now, we have not established that they have had any special communications among themselves,” he said.

Jara said authorities were continuing to investigate other avenues, but gave no details.

Earlier on Tuesday, police in Spain announced the arrest of four suspected Anonymous hackers in connection with attacks on Spanish political party websites. These four were among the 25 announced by Interpol.

A National Police statement said two servers used by the group in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have been blocked.

It said the four included the alleged manager of Anonymous’ computer operations in Spain and Latin America, who was identified only by his initials and the aliases “Thunder” and “Pacotron.”

The four are suspected of defacing websites, carrying out denial-of-service attacks and publishing data on police assigned to the royal palace and the premier’s office online.

Interpol is headquartered in Lyon, France. The organization has no powers of arrest or investigation but it helps police forces around the world work together, facilitating intelligence sharing.

[…]

Kids of civilization mother:

Every time this terrorist movement hits a city,it frees it …..from its people.
When Alaaroor plan is finished…Syria (or what remains of it ) will be in العصر الحجري

Sami Moubayed write for CNN:

(CNN) — In Syria, the Christians are angry. For eleven months, many of their leaders have stood firmly behind the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. However, Syria’s new constitution explicitly says in Article 3 that the president of the country has to be a Muslim, thereby barring Christians from the right to run for the top post.

[…]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/28/opinion/moubayed-syria-christians/index.html

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2012/02/29/saudi-authorities-planning-to-intensify-syria-unrest-report.html

Saudi authorities planning to intensify Syria unrest: Report
News | 29.02.2012 |

Saudi authorities have reportedly invited three senior Lebanese politicians to Riyadh in line with plans to intensify the unrest in Syria.

Informed sources in Syria said on Monday Saudi Arabia has reportedly invited Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party, Samir Farid Geagea, a senior member of the Lebanese March 14 alliance, and former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

The Lebanese politicians will meet with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and security officials in Riyadh later in February to discuss the possible ways of intensifying the months-long unrest in Syria, reports say.

Saudi authorities are also seeking to provide financial support for “terrorist operations” in Syria, the sources added.

The latest report comes a couple of days after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.”

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in favor of President Assad.

Syria: Clinton Admits US On Same Side As Al Qaeda To Destabilise Assad Government
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29524

About the warlord Jumblat ‘new’ plans for Syria after the Syrian Druz ignored his sectarian calls and choose to be faithful to Syria:

سارق أجراس الكنائس ينضم لسعود الفيصل في الدعوة لتسليح المعارضة السورية ، ويبدأ تجنيد …السلفيين الوهابيين!؟

بيروت ، الحقيقة (خاص) : ” الديوث سارق أجراس وخوابي زيت الكنائس ومهجّر المسيحيين” ، كما بات ينعته لبنانيون كثر، وصل به الأمر إلى حد اللجوء إلى شيخ تكفيري وثيق الصلة بـ”القاعدة” وأخواتها ليس لممارسة التحريض المذهبي في سوريا فقط ، انطلاقا من ساحة الشهداء في بيروت ، ومن خلال “الزحف المقدس” إليها، وحسب ، بل أيضا من خلال الدعوة لتسليح المعارضة السورية وتجنيد السلفيين اللبنانيين وإرسالهم إلى سوريا!

إنه آخر خبر في لبنان. فبعد يومين فقط من لقائه مع الشيخ السلفي ـالتكفيري في صيدا أحمد الأسير( 25 /2) ، الذي يتجنب حتى “تيار المستقبل” الاجتماع به نهارا لما يمكن أن يسببه من شبهة، أطلق جنبلاط تصريحا عبر “لوموند “الفرنسية ( التي اشترتها قطر للتو!!) دعا فيه ـ على طريقة معلمه سعود الفيصل ـ إلى تسليح المعارضة السورية. ولكي يكون “صادقا” هذه المرة ، أقدم على وضع مليون دولار نقدا وعدا بين يدي الشيخ الأسير لكي يباشر مهمته المقدسة ، وفق مصادر مختلفة في “الحزب الاشتراكي” و إعلاميين على صلة به.
{…}
أكثر من ذلك؛ فقد بدأت الأنباء تتوالى من صيدا ومن “إقليم الخروب” ، وهو ” الجيب الإسلامي” في المنطقة التي يهيمن عليها جنبلاط، عن افتتاح “الحزب الاشتراكي” لمراكز تطوع “سرية” من أجل تجنيد أبناء هذه المنطقة الذين سبق لهم أن قاتلوا مع”القاعدة” و” أبو مصعب الزرقاوي”، كي يرسلهم إلى سوريا ” ، باعتبار أن دروز سوريا لا يستجيبون لدعواته لهم للانشقاق عن الجيش السوري ، وهم مستمرون بممارسة التشبيح مع آل الأسد”، وفق ما نقل عنه!
{…}

Russia urges Syria to cooperate with humanitarian organizations
Feb 29, 2012 00:25 Moscow Time
Russia calls on Syrian authorities to cooperate with humanitarian organizations, writes Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov in his Twitter microblog.

“The west, however, is in no hurry to send similar signals to the rebels” – he added. The diplomat reiterated that Moscow sees its main task to stop the violence in Syria, no matter where it may be coming from.

Earlier on Tuesday Gatilov discussed with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross the humanitarian situation in Damascus and the organization’s activities on the territory of Syria.

(TASS)

يكاد المريب…

نهلة الشهال
زعل وزير الخارجية السعودي، الأمير سعود الفيصل، من «ميوعة» مؤتمر أصدقاء سوريا، الذي انعقد منذ أيام في تونس العاصمة. ويبدو أنه انسحب من الاجتماع غاضباً، شاتماً، قائلاً باشمئزاز إنه لم يحضر الى هنا لتوفير مساعدات إنسانية للشعب السوري، ولا يريد «تسمين الفريسة» ليأكلها بعد ذلك الأسد! وهذه كلمات الأمير حرفياً. هو يريد قرارات حاسمة، ولا يفهم لماذا لا يُتخذ قرار بالهجوم على سوريا ما دام نظامها «فقد كل شرعية وصار أشبه بالاحتلال». مجدداً، هذه كلمات الامير حرفياً.
{…}
يجد الامير سعود «فكرة تسليح المعارضة ممتازة». الفكرة لم تعد فكرة، بل هي قائمة على قدم وساق، بقرار ومن دونه: أنظر «الخبراء» الأجانب الموجودون فعلاً في سوريا وعلى تخومها، يتولون تدريب القوات المعارضة، الجيش الحر وكل من يشاء. وهذا ليس سراً، ليس لأن وسائل الاعلام تتناقل أخباره، بل لأنه معلن كواحد من المطالب السبعة الواردة في بيان المجلس الوطني السوري الى مؤتمر أصدقائه. «الفكرة» هي في الواقع تنظيمٌ لتذابح السوريين فيما بينهم (يسمى ذلك «دفاعاً عن النفس» ويتخذ من بشاعة القتل الذي تمارسه السلطة في سوريا حجة). ويحدث ذلك اليوم ما دام لا جهة قررت ـ حتى الآن ـ إرسال قوات لمقاتلة الأسد. وهذا قد يتغير قريباً إذا صدَّقنا باراك اوباما، فتتجسد أخيراً استخدام «كل الأدوات المتوفرة لمنع المجازر» التي أعلن عنها. تعمل على بناء ذلك لوجستياً تركيا مع فرنسا، وسيتطلب الأمر مساندة من الآخرين، فلكل دوره فيها. وعنوان الخطة هذه هو «الممرات الانسانية». ولكن واشنطن تعمل على خطط أخرى، تحبذها، ومنها تنظيم انقلاب عسكري في سوريا على ما أوحت السيدة كلينتون في تصريحاتها من تونس نفسها، عقب مؤتمر الاصدقاء ذاك. وقد يكون الإعلان مجرد تمنٍّ «تشجيعي»، وقد يستند الى معلومات خاطئة تزود واشنطن بها بعض المعارضة المتكسِّبة، في تكرار للسيناريو العراقي، حيث لعب الجلبي وصحبه في «المؤتمر الوطني العراقي» هذا الدور. والجلبيون السوريون كثر اليوم. ولكن هذه الاخبار لا تفعل سوى دفع النظام الى المزيد من العنف، تطلباً لحسم الامور واستباقاً لتطورات من هذا القبيل.
يضيق الامير ذرعاً بكل تلك المناورات، ومن الاضطرار الى الالتفاف على الفيتو الروسي والصيني بإنشاء «مؤتمر أصدقاء الشعب السوري» كإطار بديل عن الشرعية الدولية حين لا تناسب هذه، في لحظة نادرة، الهوى الأميركي/الاسرائيلي، وبالاستتباع التركي والخليجي. لا سيما أن هناك اضطراراً لبناء «شرعية» هذا المؤتمر بالتدريج: اجتماع أول اليوم في تونس، يليه بعد ذلك بثلاثة اسابيع آخر في تركيا، وبعده ثالث في باريس. هل قلتم باريس؟؟ تستخدم تركيا هذا الخط للي ذراع فرنسا بشأن إقرارها لقانون تحريم إنكار مجزرة الأرمن، فما زال ثمة وقت ليطعن المجلس الدستوري الفرنسي بالقانون الذي اقره السياسيون. يتدلع داود أوغلو مشيراً الى «ظروف» قد تمنعه من الحضور الى باريس، وهذا يسمى في اللغة السينمائية «ترتيبات صغيرة بين أصدقاء».
باريس! ألم يُفبرك من باريس التحالف الدولي/الأطلسي الذي دُفع الى ارتكاب الهجوم على ليبيا؟ وهذه الاخيرة «تتصومل» اليوم (سياسياً فحسب، فالبلد نفطي). وليس في التعبير أدنى مبالغة، بل يشير الى ذلك أركان سلطتها الانتقالية الذين يخرجون من اللعبة الواحد بعد الآخر.
{…}
خائبُ أمل آخر في المؤتمر العتيد هو الدكتور برهان غليون رئيس «المجلس الوطني السوري». فعلى الرغم من قرار المؤتمر «الاعتراف بالمجلس ممثلاً شرعياً للسوريين الساعين للتغيير»، يرى الدكتور أن القرار نسي كلمة «وحيد»، وفوت عليه فرصة التربع على كرسي مطلق التمثيل. ولأن المؤتمرين لا «يثقون» بالتشكيلات الأخرى للمعارضة، إذ لا يتحكمون بمواقفها، بينما هم ركَّبوا المجلس بأنفسهم، أو قل قامت أجهزتهم بالمهمة، فهم لا يريدون السماع ببساطة بوجود أطر أخرى للمعارضين السوريين. وهكذا، حضر ممثلون عن هيئة التنسيق الوطنية للتغيير الديموقراطي للمشاركة، ولكنه قيل لهم إن عليهم قبلاً الانضواء في المجلس، مما دفعهم للإعلان من تونس عن مقاطعتهم للاجتماع. هذا ناهيك عن سائر التشكيلات المعارِضة، وآخرها «المنبر الديموقراطي السوري» الذي تشكل قبل المؤتمر بأيام، وعقد في القاهرة اجتماعه الاول بحضور لافت لعشرات المثقفين السوريين الوازنين، ولمناضلين ميدانيين من الشباب، وعين مهمته الأساسية بأنها بلورة «الخط الوطني» المعارض، ذاك الذي يناضل في آن واحد ضد النظام الفاسد والقمعي، وضد انتهاش جسد سوريا من قبل الطامعين. وأعلن بأن سوريا بلد موحد، لا تدخل في قاموسه للتغيير الوطني الديموقراطي مخططات التدخل الخارجي والتطييف الممارس. وهؤلاء بالطبع يصنفون في باب أعداء مؤتمر تونس.

http://assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=2088&ChannelId=49742&ArticleId=2872&Author=%D9%86%D9%87%D9%84%D8%A9%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%84

Another showdown in the UNSC soon:

البيت الأبيض: تنظيم القاعدة يحاول الاستفادة من الوضع في سوريا
المواجهة تعود إلى مجلس الأمن: مشروع فرنسي لـ«وقف نار إنساني»

لاحت في الأفق نذر مواجهة جديدة في مجلس الأمن الدولي بين روسيا والصين من جهة وبين دول عربية مدعومة من الغرب من جهة أخرى، مع إعلان باريس أمس أنها وزعت مشروع قرار جديد لصالح وقف لإطلاق نار إنساني في سوريا، فيما كرر رئيس الحكومة وزير الخارجية القطري الشيخ حمد بن جاسم بن جبر آل ثاني دعوته إلى دخول «قوات عربية ودولية إلى سوريا لإيجاد مناطق آمنة وإدخال المساعدات ومراقبة وقف إطلاق النار».
وأعلن البيت الأبيض أن تنظيم القاعدة يحاول الاستفادة من الوضع في سوريا، وأقر بأن هذا الأمر هو أحد الأسباب التي تحول دون وضع مسألة تزويد المعارضين بالسلاح على جدول أعمال واشنطن. وقال المتحدث باسمه جاي كارني «من دون التطرق إلى التقييمات التي قامت بها استخباراتنا، فإني أقول بكل بساطة إننا نعرف أن القاعدة ومتطرفين آخرين يحاولون الاستفادة من الوضع الناتج عن العدوان الوحشي للأسد ضد المعارضة». وأضاف إن عناصر من التنظيم «يحاولون تقديم أنفسهم على أنهم المدافعون عن حرية أكبر وعن الديموقراطية لسكان المنطقة، وعن سوريا في هذه الحالة»، في ما يتناقض مع «تاريخهم وحججهم وعلة وجودهم». وأقر بأن الولايات المتحدة لم «تحدد بشكل واضح إلى أي درجة يتعاون متطرفو القاعدة مع المعارضة السورية»، موضحاً إن «موقفنا لا يعود فقط لهذا السبب، بل أيضاً لأن الوقت لم يحن بعد لزيادة عسكرة الوضع في سوريا».
واعتبرت وزيرة الخارجية الأميركية هيلاري كلينتون أن هناك «حججا» قد تتيح ملاحقة الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد بتهمة «ارتكاب جرائم حرب»، إلا أن هذا الخيار قد يعقد التوصل إلى حل في سوريا. وأعلن الرئيس التونسي المنصف المرزوقي، في حديث تنشره صحيفة «لا بريس» التونسية في عددها اليوم، ان تونس مستعدة لمنح الاسد حق اللجوء. وقال ان «تونس مستعدة لمنح الرئـيس السـوري بشار الاسد والمقربين منه حق اللجوء في اطار حل تفاوضي للنزاع السوري».
وفي حين تأكد تهريب الصحافي البريطاني بول كونروي من بابا عمرو في حمص الى لبنان، فقد تضاربت التقارير حول نقل الصحافية الفرنسية اديت بوفييه إلى الاراضي اللبنانية.
وأصدر الأسد مرسوما يقضي بجعل الدستور الذي اقره السوريون عبر استفتاء الأحد الماضي نافذا اعتبارا من 27 شباط الحالي. وأقر السوريون مشروع الدستور الجديد بنسبة 89،4 في المئة من الناخبين الذين بلغت نسبة مشاركتهم في الاستفتاء 57،4 في المئة.
{…}
http://assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=2088&ChannelId=49729&ArticleId=2979&Author=

I have a question (not directly related to this topic):

Why do alawites in Syria consider “Nusayri” as an insult?

In Turkey they actually call themselves that way.

http://www.syriandays.com/?page=show_det&select_page=53&id=30444
الصحفي الفرنسي تيري ميسان بعد زيارة لحمص يسرد حقيقة الأوضاع في حمص وحقيقة الصحفيين المحتجزين من طرف الجماعات المسلحة فيها
في فيديو بث على موقع اليوتيوب وجه الصحفيون في بابا عمر في حمص نداء استغاثة طلبوا فيه وقف إطلاق النار وممرا آمنا إلى بيروت ليتمكنوا من الخروج . فحاول الهلال الأحمر السوري والصليب الأحمر الدولي إخراجهم , لكن المساعي فشلت , فانتقل الصحفي الفرنسي تيري نيسان إلى حمص وكان طرفا في المفاوضات التي لم يكتب لها النجاح/……

Astonishing. The pro-regime propaganda seems to have reached a peak on this page (page3). A deluge.

“137. Uzair8 said:

Astonishing. The pro-regime propaganda seems to have reached a peak on this page (page3). A deluge.”

Still doesn’t balance the anti-regime propaganda!
Shame that people have to die in the name of politics…

to whoever running Syria Comment….it is unfair when I spend the one hour before I go to work writing about the Alawis and the connection to the name Nusayri, then the comment does not appear.

Does anyone know the actual net worth of Rami Makhlouf’s wealth? Can he sustain the economy for the foreseeable future?

Some of us are under the impression the economy cannot survive much longer and is the weak point of the regime.

I know Prof Landis mentioned Rami Makhlouf in regard to the economy in a list on a recent post.

Baba Amr rebels ‘will fight to the end’
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
====================================

A Syrian activist has told the BBC’s Richard Colebourn that around 400 Free Syrian Army fighters, who are under attack by government forces in the district of Baba Amr, “will fight to the end”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9700000/9700751.stm

New US foreign policy at Middle East:

Leave Syria destroy internal opposition to the roots while Israel is allowed to attack palestinians and institutions, now that they are not covered by Syria fakers anyomore. The result aimed is powerful centres of power in both Israel and Syria without mass people disturbing american long term wars plans with Iran.

Every week day morning on BBC radio 5 they have an hourly phone-in on a certain topic in the news. Last friday I woke up with my radio still playing and caught part way thru the programme in which Syria was being discussed. I intended to share it on here but forgot all about it. I can’t remember much about it as I must have fallen asleep again.

Anyway. I’m gonna listen to it later. Here it is for anyone interested. It is available for 2 more days [Note: After the initial intro the news and sport headlines follow. Listen to the intro and then skip to ~5 min 30 sec.]:

A major conference in Tunisia seeks a breakthrough in the increasingly bitter Syrian unrest. Nicky Campbell asks: Is it time to go in?

Guests include Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former ambassador to the UN, Labour MP Mike Gapes from the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and Rime Allaf from Chatham House.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01c6tzl

(They will fight to the end), good.

My last comment today.

The following song I think also applies to the Syrian situation. Perhaps the artist can be contacted and encouraged to do a Syria specific version of the same song with references to regime crimes, Shabeeha and FSA.

Macka B – Who Are The Terrorists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hcCxb2p7ZU

Dedicated to SNK (#144)

Kandahar

That means the revolutionaries will fight untill the end of the regime and it’s last man.

To the Person who earlier criticized my comment on Walid Junblatt and described the Druze leader as “war criminal.” I actually agree that Junblatt committed crimes to a lesser degree during the Lebanese Civil War (lesser than Nabih Berri, Samir Geagea, Eli Hobiqa, Bashir Jimayyil, etc.). I think that ALL SHOULD HAVE BEEN TRIED. However, please re-visit the history of the Lebanese civil war. Junblat’s father, an Arab nationalist, was killed by Syria’s Hafez (King Butcher the First). Walid Junblatt’s militia was very small and ineffective. It was part of larger Islamic/leftist/Palestinian coalition. In 1982, Samir Geagea used his alliance with the invading Israelis and Israeli weapons to attack W.Jun. and drive him out of Lebanon. He fled to Syria. Hafez used the same Palestinian tools that he later used in his terrorist attack on PAN AM 103 (see this WP story:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/panam103/stories/cia0589.htm)to military assist Walid Junblatt return to Lebanon. During this fight war crimes were committed against Christians and their churches. Walid a few years ago apologized and invited the Maronite Patriarch, Sfir, to “al-Makhtarah.” In 2005, a leader of Bashar’s and Hafez’s Palestinian factions claimed that Palestinians lost “200 martyrs” while helping W. Junblatt return to the Jabal (Lebanon).

For a couple of years, I worked for the UN agency tasked with assisting Palestine’s refugees (UNRWA). I visited Lebanon a few times and many Lebanese officials confidentially told me that Lebanon would never grant any meaningful civil rights to Palestinian refugees for SECTARIAN reasons. Surely, refugees would never give up their right of return. But, why shouldn’t they be allowed to work, buy property, etc. while “awaiting” the liberation of Palestine?! Because Hizballah sees them as SUNNI MUSLIMS who should not remotely disturb the sectarian balance favorable to Shias. Christians, who granted citizenship to most Christian Palestinian refugees in the 1950s and 1960s, also don’t want any more Muslims in Lebanon. They all hide behind “the right of return.”
THE ONLY LEBANESE LEADER WHOM I FOUND CONSISTENT AND SUPPORTIVE OF PALESTINIAN CIVIL RIGHTS WAS Walid Junblatt.

It is a new plan for the american administration!
Send Alqaida to Syria, destroy the country and destroy Alqaida, two birds in one stone.
and the losers Arabs pay for it.
what a new war in the middle east, no Americans soldiers are on the ground.
Russia is the backer for the operation using the UNSC is the cover up, therefore, killing Alqaida on a new ground is a admirable act, yay way to go!

Leave Israel out of this. Thank you!
.

Video: Hasan Nasrallah’s terrorists, Shabiha, assisting in the Syrian repression:

دوما: شبيحة حسن نصر الله يقمعون المظاهرات 18/11/2011

149. AMIR IN colonial TEL AVIV
Israel is the biggest belligerent colonial entity. Your PM a few days ago spoke to American Zionists/lobbyists and said that the “Arab Spring” has been a nightmare for Israel. He and Nasrallah see the same nightmare in Syria.

HOwever, Arabs would first free themselves and then seek the liberation of Palestine!

Below is an article that ALL THOSE WHO DEFEND BASHAR WHILE CLAIMING TO SUPPORT THE “RESISTANCE” SHOULD READ:
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/02/20/3091760/israels-defense-costs-rose-due-to-arab-spring-bibi-tells-us-jewish-leaders
Arab Spring inflating Israel’s defense costs, Bibi tells U.S. Jewish leaders

February 20, 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Islamization of the Arab Spring movement has placed “enormous pressure” on Israeli defenses and progress in the peace process, Benjamin Netanyahu told American Jewish leaders.

The Israeli prime minister, speaking Sunday night to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations’ annual meeting in Jerusalem, said his country’s economy must continue to grow to support financing of the increased defense needs.

Netanyahu said that when the revolutions across the Arab landscape began, he heard criticism that he was not optimistic enough.
[…]

#436 Tara

Ataturk’s omnipresence in Turkey
The few middle class and proletarian private houses I have visited had his picture on the wall.

http://suesturkishadventures.blogspot.com/2011/02/all-about-ataturk.html

“It is quite common to see pictures of Ataturk in commercial and government establishments and imposing statues of him in parks, and there is an Ataturk Bulvari (boulevard) in most every Turkish town. The little language school I attended last fall was typical, with a photo of him hanging in every classroom and quotes from his speeches printed on placards in the hallways. Every day when I am out and about, I can count on seeing Ataturk’s picture.”

Why Ataturk’s Image Is Everywhere In Turkey

“When traveling in Turkey, you may be wondering who that man is, his image dotting the landscape in statues, whose picture is in almost every hotel, museum, and bank; prominent as the sun throughout the country. One cannot begin to understand Turkish culture without learning about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, whose ideas flow through the veins of Turkey’s past, present, and future.”

http://foxnomad.com/2010/08/17/why-ataturks-image-is-everywhere-in-turkey/

#141 Uzair8

“will fight to the end”.

There can always be “smuggled out” to Afghanistan, Pakistan or Yemen via Turkey or Iraq, the same way they got in. They can also take with them the adherents to the Bab Amr Islamic Emirate. They won’t be missed.

Bab Amr close to its end? A new UNSC “humanitarian’?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jUkh5NjBItmtjHpcyaufw1U3-9DA?docId=CNG.a2c6398d74224e219834c94f0a38051c.2d1

“Abdullah said activists were “evacuating families because shelling has been targeting places that were considered safe in the past.”

Earlier on Wednesday, activists on the ground in Syria’s third-largest city said that elite troops of the Fourth Armoured Division under the command of Assad’s brother Maher had taken up position with their armour around Baba Amr.’
…
Abdullah told AFP by telephone that it was a likely prelude to a final assault.

Access to Homs has now been completely sealed off, according to rebel commanders, who said the regular army had also blown up an underground aqueduct that had been the last viable route for smuggling in desperately needed supplies.

Abdullah said power had been cut to most of the city, a measure he said was another sign of possible looming attack.”
(..)

February 29, 2012
Smuggling “path of death” a lifeline for Syria revolt
Erika Solomon

http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Feb/29/smuggling__path_of_death__a_lifeline_for_syria_revolt.html

AKKAR VALLEY, Lebanon (Reuters) – Inspecting his machinegun and wrapping ammunition belts around his chest, Samhar braces himself for another night’s work.

The scrawny 26-year-old calls his secret route through the mountainous Syrian-Lebanese border “the path of death.” But for nearby rebel-held areas in Syria, it is their only lifeline.

Samhar brings desperately needed supplies to neighborhoods in the Syrian city of Homs, about 40 km (25 miles) from the border. They are encircled and under heavy bombardment by Syrian troops trying to snuff out the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule. Activists smuggling in aid are also a target.

“We lose double the amount of people on these trips,” he said.

He is from Homs but now works from a Lebanese border town nestled in a valley in northern Akkar region.

“We used to lose one person a month. But since the crackdown got worse last month we already lost seven.”
(…)

A major ground offensive is underway now in Homs and in Rastan,the outcome of this offensive will have immense consequences on future developments in Syria.
(junblaat among others realized that Homs is now the corner stone of efforts by both sides in this conflict to have the upper hand).

Dear Dawoud,

Like you, I hope that the Arabs (all of them!) will get rid of the tyrants who ruled them. When this is done, the Arabs will be so exhausted, that the “liberating” “Palestine” thing – will be forth, fifth, may be even sixth on their to-do list.

First priorities would be to rebuild from the ruins that their leaders left them with.

Also, the HolyLand is already liberated.
.

صحاف الإرهابيين يفتخر بوصول أسلحة الغرب
العلوج مجددا

Terrorists major tactic has been to destroy Syria’s infrastructure ,here they complain about the outcome of FSA crimes:

مسلخ ميداني

Trained by the Egypto US army!
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/35686/Egypt/Politics-/Former-leading-member-of-AlQaeda-arrested-in-Egypt.aspx

The master has talked and obtained
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/35664/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-coming-to-understand-US-is-serious-about-aid.aspx

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/35658/Egypt/Politics-/Judges-in-Egypt-NGOs-case-abruptly-recuse-themselv.aspx

REPLY to 157. AMIR IN colonial TEL AVIV

Dear Mr. Amir:

As I mentioned in my comment # 147 (please see it, if you haven’t yet done so. A “thumb down” from you and IRRITATED, ANN, et al. is my badge of honor), I USED TO WORK FOR UNRWA. I met so may Palestinians, including refugees. These people are incredibly resilient and they never get tired. They still have their houses’ keys (in the “holyland”). The liberation of Palestine is Arabs’ top priority. Too bad for a Zionist, who has just revealed his true intentions: He is commenting here (SC) just to instigate conflict among Arab comment writers and hope to perpetuate the Syrian bloodshed! I thought that Zionists are humanitarian folks 🙂

So I spoke to a close relative of mine in Damascus, he told me last night strong winds and rain blew the giant Bashar poster facing Sabe3 Bahrat (at the Malieyeh) off its hinges.

The moukhabart are now trying to find away to arrest the wind and rain.

Since the Arabs can’t agree on any academic or intellectual (he would be too Shii, too Shafii or too Salafi for any other segment of the population), it was decided that the foreigners would do the job. How kind, respectful, and democratic…

From Angry Arab:http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Colonial powers divide Yemen
France writes the constitution of Yemen, and US handles security, and British handles political dialogue. Long live democratic transition managed by GCC. “Les travaux préparatoires en vue de la rédaction d’une nouvelle Constitution ont été confiés aux diplomates français à Sanaa, qui seront aidés par un juriste venu de Paris. La prochaine Loi fondamentale yéménite devrait privilégier un système fédéral. «Les partis d’opposition veulent tourner la page du présidentialisme, qu’ils associent à la dictature de l’ancien président Saleh», estime-t-on généralement à Sanaa. Les séparatistes au sud et les rebelles houthis d’inspiration chiites au nord plaident en faveur d’un large fédéralisme. Lundi, l’ex-raïs déchu a solennellement cédé le pouvoir au président élu Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Dans le cadre de la transition négociée entre les partisans de Saleh et l’opposition, plusieurs pays occidentaux se sont vu attribuer certains «dossiers» : la réforme de la sécurité a été prise en main par les Américains, très en pointe dans la lutte contre al Qaida au Yémen, et le dialogue politique par les Britanniques.” (thanks “Ibn Rushd”)

164. Son of Damascus said:

“winds and rain blew the giant Bashar poster facing Sabe3 Bahrat”.

A sign of God’s wrath?

164. SON OF DAMASCUS

love your joke, although I heard that Nasrallah’s and al-Sadr’s Shabiha are also joining in to execute the arrest “warrant” against the rain and wind 🙂

Irritated,

“A sign of God’s wrath?”

No, a sign that it was really windy and rainy last night!

HOwever, Arabs would first free themselves and then seek the liberation of Palestine!
———
Thank you Mr. Dawood for being sympathetic about Palestinians. Your article reads:
The Arab Spring movement has placed “enormous pressure” on Israeli defenses and progress in the peace process, Benjamin Netanyahu told American Jewish leaders….
The peace process has progressed toward paying Hanieh 1 billion$ from Qatar, kissing the hand of Kardawi and accepting exclusively 22% of Palestinian lands. After the 20th of Feb which is the date of above stated article Hamas officially declared its stance and last but not least Kardawi yesterday barred people from visiting Jerusalem. Indeed the peace process has been accomplished.
Google has already changed the map of Syria; besieged Gazans will be pushed to Jordan solely but surely. I’d like to reach for the stars but my feet are on the ground. We are at the point of no return might as well save what’s left of the Middle East.

169. JERUSALEM

AS Ismail Haniya said in al-Azhar last week while voicing support for the Syrian Revolution, the Arab Spring’s success is the most crucial step for the Liberation of Palestine from Amir in colonial TEL AVIV and his fellow occupiers!

France and US arming Syrian opposition – report – 29 February, 2012

http://rt.com/news/syria-arms-us-france-531/

A general in the opposition militia known as the Free Syria Army has told journalists that the rebels have received French and American military assistance, amid reports of worsening violence in the stricken nation.

­In Homs on Tuesday, a general claiming to be from the rebel group appeared on camera and told a journalist from Reuters news agency that “French and American assistance has reached us and is with us.” When asked to elaborate on the nature of the assistance he added, “We now have weapons and anti-aircraft missiles and, God willing, with all of that we will defeat Bashar [President Assad].”

This is not the first report of the US covertly supplying the opposition with arms. In December, FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds said she believed the US had been training the Syrian opposition in neighboring Turkey and supplying arms to the country from Incirlik military base close to the Turkish-Syrian border.

[…]

Iran, HA and Alsadar ‘terrorists’ and ‘shabiha’ were in the car that has a picture of Nasrallah…I saw that movie before….hmmm, I wonder where:
البرنامج؟ مع باسم يوسف .. الشريفة ماجدة والشريف موباريك
http://youtu.be/-4CUdoTgGys?t=1m

I heard a rumor that in Nasrallah’s bunker in al-Dahiya and in the basement of al-Manar TV there are 2 operation rooms; which are staffed by idealist/brainwashed Westerners (who speak English, French, German, etc.), and whose main goal is to spread propaganda on behalf of Bashar, Hasan, Iran, al-Sadr, Ali Salman, etc.

Do you think any of them are commenting here?

Dear JERUSALEM,

Did you know that Jerusalem is the name given to this city by the Jewish king David? Before it was Jewish, the name was ‘Jebus’ http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0719.htm Judges Chapter 19, 11. AND http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt25a11.htm 1 Chronicles Chapter 11, 4.
.

I think delusion is spreading across this blog at a rapid pace fueled by a conspiracy that sends brain waves to those who are going to win in “space and on earth” as Fredo said.

Switzerland and Russia , among others, have reached an agreement with Syria to exchange oil and phosphate for wheat and other necessities.

I just filed my US income tax and sent a fat check to the IRS! I am glad that some of my tax money is used by the U.S. government to train and arm Syria’s freedom fighters, who are trying to liberate their country from Bashar, Hasan, and Iran. I just hope that none of my tax money goes to supporting the Zionist occupiers in occupied Palestine!
P.S., I filed my taxes online between after writing my comment # 147 and before writing # 173. Free Syria and Free Palestine!

France, US arming Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles – report
http://rt.com/news/syria-arms-us-france-531/

Is the chief of Dubai police a solo singer or is he part of a bigger movement?
http://www.alarabiya.net/mob/ar/197787.html

#177 Dawood

“I just hope that none of my tax money goes to supporting the Zionist occupiers in occupied Palestine!”

You know very well it does..

Observer

I don’t think some commentators on SC suffer from delusion. I truly believe that some are agents paid to spread pro-regime propaganda. Just watch the pattern..the frequency of regime propaganda posted by a certain commentator who claims he has a job somewhere in North America, his access to all sort of propaganda tools to discredit the revolution is beyond the means of just an over
zealous being. This is a Paid PR campaign that he is running. The only delusion he has though is that it is working…it is not.

Also, I think he must have quit his north American job as I do not believe it is possible to maintain a daily job while dedicating all your awake hours to receive and spread propaganda unless you work
for a corrupt company that pay you for nothing.

Dear Dawoud,

Too bad for a Zionist, who has just revealed his true intentions: He is commenting here (SC) just to instigate conflict among Arab comment writers and hope to perpetuate the Syrian bloodshed!

In fact, the reasons for why I follow SC and other blogs which are about Arab politics, are completely different than what you describe.
.

#175. Observer said:

“I think delusion is spreading across this blog ”

and you are one perfect example.

The $ reached 80 lira today and 21 k gold 4000 lira. There are people who made a profit of 3 lira per $ in 12 hours .

#173 Dawood

“Do you think any of them are commenting here?”

Sure, both are, why not?

180. irritated said:

#177 Dawood

“I just hope that none of my tax money goes to supporting the Zionist occupiers in occupied Palestine!”

You know very well it does..

Dear Mr/Ms. IRRITATED

Unfortunately, I agree with you that some of my tax money goes to support Amir and his fellow Zionist occupiers. iF I don’t pay taxes, my wages would be withheld by the IRS! I know that you like me very much and don’t wish me any ill 🙂 That’s why I vote for Ralph Nader! I am an idealist, but I don’t lobby against freedom from al-Manar TV’s basement-which is what I suspect some commenters here (NOT YOU, Mr./Ms.) DO.
Next year I may try to donate money to SC, if I can claim my donation as “tax-exempt!”

@168. Son of Damascus said:

“No, a sign that it was really windy and rainy last night!”

I see, so you work for the Syrian Weather Bureau…

177. DAWOUD

Я также сделаю точно в России только на обороте чтобы Россия нам давало все средства не позволяющие вашим повстанцам разрушить Сирию !

I also will do precisely in Russia only on the back that Russia to gave us all means not allowing your insurgents to destroy Syria!

أنا سوف أفعل كذلك لكن بالعكس وسأدفع الضرائب لروسيا التي ستساند سورية كي لا يدمرها بنتاغون دولتك التي تنفق 800 مليار دولار سنويا على مجمعات تصنيعها الحربية للاعتداء على دول العالم أيها المتغطرسون ستغيب شمسكم ان نظامكم الرأسمالي العالمي في أسوأ حاله

REPLY TO 188. Alan

انا لم اقصدق لانك عربي من “ممانعه بشار وحسن.” انا قصدت الامريكان ممسوحين العقول الذين يسكنوا في لبنان ويدافعوا عن صديق بشار: حسن

186. DAWOUD

You obviously are a fan of SC, despite the fact it is “infested” with ‘anti-freedom” and “pro-Bashar active, paid and delusional” militants.
If you have so much money, be generous, “adopt” an opposition area. Hillary will make sure it is “tax-exempted”

Syrian activists appeal to West to be ‘adopted’

BERLIN – The website pictures show the selection up for adoption: Kobani, Al Hasaka and Barzeh. What at first glance might appear to be abandoned pets in need of good homes are actually the names of Syrian revolutionary groups asking for help from the West. (…)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-02-28/syria-activist-adopt-revolution/53292692/1

REPLY to 182. AMIR IN COLONIAL TEL AVIV

please be nice to me, or you will get no money from my tax check!
If you don’t get my tax money, how can you get F16s, Apaches, F35, etc. to commit WAR CRIMES against the occupied/colonized Palestinians, and against the Lebanese?

Israel without war crimes is like الراعي بلا عصا

189.
أنا سوري لم أكن أبدا تابعا لأشخاص أو أحزاب الا لسورية و أحكم على الأمور بعواقبها ! لن نفرش الزهور لمن يتربص بكيان البلد تحت أية مسميات ! و لن أشارك في مهاترات الأسماء و الأحزاب و المصطلحات التي وردت في هذا الموقع من الهندسة الدينية أو العرقية أو المذهبية! أرجو أن توضح اذا كان هناك سوء فهم !

190. IRRITATED

Dear Mr./Ms. Irritated:

Yes, I am a fan of SC (are you a moderator?). Yes, it is infested with pro-Bashar/Hasan-WHO ARE ENTITLED TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS. I respect their right. I still love them and criticize them.

With Love to all the fake ‘anti-Israel’ agents and the paid fake ‘mothers’
كشف قذارة قناة اعلامية اميركية بتلاعبها في الحقائق
http://youtu.be/rJbxZy21gcE

Irritated,

“I see, so you work for the Syrian Weather Bureau…”

No, was not aware I needed to work for the weather office to tell the weather.

الخارجية السورية تطلب توضيحات حول مهمة كوفي عنان

اعلن جهاد المقدسي المتحدث باسم وزارة الخارجية السورية يوم الاربعاء 29 فبراير/شباط ان وزير الخارجية السوري وليد المعلم اتصل بكوفي عنان مبعوث الامم المتحدة لشؤون سورية وطلب منه توضيحات بشأن مهمته.

وقال المقدسي في مؤتمر صحفي له بدمشق ان سورية “بانتظار توضيح الامم المتحدة لهذه المهمة”، حسبما نقلت عنه وكالة “يو بي اي” الامريكية للانباء.

وتجدر الاشارة الى ان كوفي عنان سيعقد خلال زيارته لنيويورك التي ستستمر من يوم الاربعاء 29 فبراير/شباط الى يوم الجمعة 2 مارس/آذار عددا من اللقاءات مع بان كي مون الامين العام للامم المتحدة، وسيجري مع بعض الدول مشاورات حول الازمة السورية.

وبعد المشاورات في نيويورك من المقرر ان يتوجه عنان الى القاهرة حيث سيلتقي مع نبيل العربي الامين العام للجامعة العربية. كما سيزور المبعوث بعض الدول الاخرى في المنطقة.
{…}
دمشق تحمل المسلحين مسؤولية فشل المحاولات لاجلاء الصحفيين الاجانب من حمص
{…}
http://arabic.rt.com/news_all_news/news/579710/

I think this you tube is sorely needed on this blog.
We are in need of something funny and perhaps relevant to the situation in Syria and yet will lighten us for a few moments in the midst of watching Fredo destroy the country
Enjoy

Tara
I agree with you but alas there is no way to get to these people and it is a dialogue de sourds.
Watch the you tube video and have a laugh at Fredo dressed as Darth Vader.

Since ‘Debka’ is never a ‘reliable’ source, so I doubt that Obama vetoed anything.
The American and the French are already sending weapons to the terrorists inside Syria, while Qatar and Saudi are paying the bill and sending their Alqaeda fighters to kill more Syrians:

Obama vetoed military intervention in Syria?

Sources inside Washington suggest that US President Barack Obama has shot down plans for an American intervention in Syria to aid in the opposition against the country’s head, Bashar al-Assad.
President Obama has already offered harsh words for Assad and his regime, insisting that his reign will soon be halted, even with force, should the Syrian leader chose to continue fighting his opposition with firepower. Last week world dignitaries met in Tunisia to discuss a resolution to the Syrian conflict, and reportedly Pentagon-penned plans for an intervention were offered to Obama after the event. Now, however, the commander-in-chief has reportedly refused to act on the Defense Department’s suggestions.
{…}
http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-intervention-syria-us-545/

Syria welcomes humanitarian work under “umbrella”
2012-02-29 20:36:34
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/29/c_131438558.htm

DAMASCUS, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jihad Makdissi said Wednesday that Syria welcomes any humanitarian work so long as it respects Syria’s sovereignty and is under “its umbrella.”

The spokesman also stressed that if the humanitarian work is with a political aim, “then it’s totally rejected.”

At a press conference held Wednesday, Makdissi said that former UN head Kofi Annan has contacted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al- Moallem and briefed him on the nature of his upcoming mission in Syria after the United Nations and the Arab League appointed him as special joint envoy to handle the year-long deadly Syrian crisis.
Al-Moallem asked Annan for more clarifications on his mission, said Makdissi, adding that “the questions have not been answered yet.”

Meanwhile, Makdissi said that two wounded European journalists who entered Syria illegally have been smuggled out of the Syrian city of Homs into Lebanon, “which fueled our doubts over the nature of their mission and the reality behind their job.”
(…)

The regime is trying to finish off Homs while the world continues to watch and offers sighs of disbelieve and disgust to make itself feel better at the end of the day.

The revolutionaries must change tactic. The FSA should change from defense to offense. The regime is committing “ethnic cleansing” in Homs and nor the regime neither it’s supporters are shying away from using that term. The FSA should launch a massive retaliatory operations against the regime, it’s men, and the occupying army across Syria. No one should feel protected or invulnerable. SNC should dissolve itself and allows a hawkish group to take over. Peaceful is killing Syrians. This is an all out war. Bosnia all over again but in the Arab world. Syrian men must and will fight the fight.

It is a moral responsibility to fight.

“Al-Qaida is an American-Israeli industry and I’m against Israel and the American dominance,” Adel said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/29/c_122773441.htm

CAIRO, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — The alleged Egyptian al-Qaida leader Seif al-Adel, who was arrested at the airport on Wednesday upon his arrival in the Egyptian capital of Cairo from Pakistan, denied having any link with al-Qaida after 1989, official news agency MENA reported.

“Al-Qaida is an American-Israeli industry and I’m against Israel and the American dominance,” Adel said.

“I did not make any contacts with the Egyptian authority, and I came back to Egypt to fight for my acquittal,” he said.
(…)

هيثم مناع: “المال السياسي بدأ يُفسد المعارضة السورية”

أعرب المعارض السوري هيثم مناع، من هيئة التنسيق الوطنية في سوريا، عن اعتقاده بأن “المال السياسي بدأ يُفسد المعارضة” وأن هنالك “من يريد سرقة قرارنا السياسي المستقل”.
ويرى على ضوء المأساة الإنسانية التي تشهدها بلاده أن “الوضع يفرض العودة إلى فكرة التوافق الدولي للتوصل للحل السياسي والحل الإنساني”. swissinfo.ch حاورت الدكتور مناع بمناسبة متابعته لنقاش خاص في مجلس حقوق الإنسان بجنيف.

ينظم مجلس حقوق الإنسان في إطار دورته التاسعة عشرة التي انطلقت بداية هذا الأسبوع في جنيف نقاشا خاصا حول الوضع السوري (من الثلاثاء 28 فبراير إلى الخميس 1 مارس). وقد شهد هذا النقاش الخاص تصعيدا في اللهجة المستعملة من قبل بعض الوفود. كما عرف انسحاب الممثل السوري احتجاجا على عقد الاجتماع.
وما ورد في تدخلات الدول، سواء التي تناصر النظام السوري أو التي ترغب في رحيله، سوف لن يجد فيه الشعب السوري ما يخفف عنه الأوضاع المأساوية التي يعيشها منذ أكثر من عام.
ومع ظهور انقسامات جديدة في صفوف المجلس الوطني السوري، ارتأت swissinfo.ch أنه قد يكون من المفيد الاستماع إلى أصوات سورية تحلل الوضع الحالي، والمنعطف الذي تمر به الثورة السورية، وتحاول تقديم اقتراحات وسطية للحد من المأساة.
{…}
هل تعتقدون بأن هناك متاجرة بالقضية السورية لأغراض ومصالح معينة؟
هيثم مناع: للأسف، أحيانا عندما يتحدث معارض أو مناضل حقوق إنسان سوري، يشعر البعض بأنه معتدل بسبب المزايدات، ويشعر البعض الآخر بأنه متهور بسبب الانسحابات. نحن نعاني اليوم من مشكلة هي أن تصوُّر الآخر للوضع السوري هو الذي يُفرض علينا. عندما يقول الروسي، على سبيل المثال، أن الاستفتاء على بقاء النظام له من يدعمه، يستمع له الكثير. وعندما يقول الطرف الآخر أن كل عملية الإصلاح كذب يستمع له الكثير. وعندما نقول بأننا نريد أن نبدأ عملية سياسية فعلية من أجل المرحلة الانتقالية التي ستكون لا محالة أصعب بكثير من الوضع الحالي، ينظر إلينا الناس كأن هذا الكلام غير قابل للبيع إعلاميا.

فبالتأكيد نحن نعاني من حالتي تطرف، وبحاجة ماسة اليوم للقدرة على التحرك الإنساني العملي. فقد كنت أمس بغرفة عمليات الصليب الأحمر. فلو نتمكن من إيصال مواد إغاثة لحوالي 12 ألف عائلة فهذا نصر كبير. وإذا ما استطعنا إيصال الأدوية للطبيب في غرفة العمليات فهذا انتصار كبير. هذه العمليات هي التي تعزز صمود الناس من أجل الاستمرار في الحراك المدني السلمي. وعندما تضعف هذه الوسائل، يلجا الناس إلى الحلول اليائسة، إلى تفجير أنفسهم، وإلى أي وسيلة من أجل الرد على القمع الوحشي الذي يعيشونه بشكل يومي.
{…}
http://syrianncb.org/2012/02/29/%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AB%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A3-%D9%8A%D9%8F%D9%81%D8%B3%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85/

#201 Tara

“Syrian men must and will fight the fight.”

Why not women?

I guess many of your friends are scrambling to get on the planes to Turkey to join the FSA in that heroic fight.

Irritated,
They need aspirin because the level of hysteria they are in is pretty high today 🙂

Irritated @204

Not in my book. Women are not created to fight. They are created to be protected and taken care of.

If you believe journalists are modern heroes
http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2012/02/29/l-inquietude-grandit-au-sein-du-sun_1649256_3236.html

Three journalists still in Homs, wanabee heroes of the new Spanish civil war?
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2012/02/29/syrie-trois-journalistes-restent-bloques-a-homs_1649735_3218.html

Tara,
People with similar ideas should stick to their religious books and the huge number of theological books written afterwards that always say they should obey the rulers and respect hierarchy!

Tara #206

I see you are exonerating yourself from the ‘moral’ duty of fighting.

What about the Syrian men around you, are they scrambling to get on the flights to Turkey? Are you, at least, encouraging them?

Obama vetoed military intervention in Syria? – 29 February, 2012

http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-intervention-syria-us-545/

According to DC-insiders speaking with Israeli news outlet Debka, the US military submitted plans to Obama for an American military intervention in Syria which would be coordinated in cooperation with other allied nations across the Western and Arab world. The president has reportedly vetoed plans in that incarnation though, instead hoping that by setting up “humanitarian corridors” in the most war-torn section of Syria, the US can aid the Assad opposition without militarizing the rebels.

Debka’s latest reporting suggests that it could be a while before the US officially endorses any military intervention, although others have suggested that States have already, off the record, offered support to the rebels. As RT reported earlier, FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds believes that American forces in conjunction with NATO have already been training Syrian rebels since last year in the Turkish city of Hakkari. Upwards of 10,000 Libyans are also believed to being trained nearby to assist in nearby Jordan. In Washington, Senator John McCain also suggested that the US involve themselves even without officially endorsing the operation, saying, “I believe there are ways to get weapons to the opposition without direct United States involvement.”

Officially, the Obama administration has condemned all bloodshed in Syria but has limited its opposition against to Assad’s regime with words only. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland Wednesday said in January that the White House “made clear from the very beginning that we don’t support violence by any side and we also don’t want to see this conflict further militarized.”

[…]

How did Paul Conroy get from Lebanon to Syria
قصة تسلل الصحفي البريطاني بول كونروي من لبنان
http://youtu.be/2uoi5z3VKUQ

139. mjabali ,

Thank you for your effort answering me.
Too bad the reply did not appear…

Jad

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to discuss Aspirin. It is not used for Hysteria. It is used to protect from heart disease and stroke.
——–
To my dear friend: Baby Aspirin should be used by men above age 45 to protect them from heart attack. If you have a male first degree relative who died or have had a heart attack at age less than 55 (but in your case less than 65 since I care more about you), please take a coated baby Aspirin, a statin, see a cardiologist for a stress test, and do not spend all your time reading about Syria. I know you love Syria but you need to walk at fast pace for at least 30 minutes, five days a week to stay in shape. I want you to be alive for at least 30 more years.
——–
Mina, ok. Will do. I personally enjoy this rule. You may have more Testosterone and enjoy different role? I guess that is ok too? I guess people should be free to choose… That is actually very much consistent with your choice of words and attitude. So I’m glad you are consistent.
———-

Irritated,

Unfortunately, I have a family of hyenas. Not to be proud of..

Jihadi Group ‘Jabhat Al-Nusra’ Claims Responsibility for Damascus, Aleppo Bombings

On February 27, 2012, the newly-formed jihadi group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” (“The Salvation Front”) released a video in which it claimed responsibility for two recent large-scale bombings targeting Syrian security forces in Damascus and Aleppo. The video also featured footage of a string of IED attacks on Syrian forces and of new units swearing loyalty to the group’s leader.

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/41821.htm
Also reported by Al Arabya
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/29/197781.html

Terrorists in Syria are being Armed from Abroad
http://youtu.be/goLRqNiwlIg

“RT correspondent Maria Finoshina, reporting from the Syrian borders, spoke to a Syrian officer about the smuggling of foreign weapons into the country. He highlighted the fact that “advanced, developed weapons like sniper guns and night vision binoculars” which opposition forces now possess, were not freely available in Syria, and a lot of them are actually from types that are not even in the arsenal of the Syrian National Army. Therefore, they must have been smuggled into the country.”

You Syrian gals and guys start to sound and behave like the Lebanese did, during 1975-90.
.

Blocked by Beijing and Moscow, Friends of Syria see options shrink – March 1, 2012

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/ap/2012/03/01/333271/Blocked-by.htm

The goal now, officials say, would be to pass something that advances hopes for peace, even if that means any resolution is significantly less far-reaching than the one blocked by the two powers earlier this month.

But while the international community may talk about humanitarian corridors or safe havens within Syria to shelter refugees, a problem remains: They would require some sort of outside force to ensure security.

It’s not even clear how stockpiles of medical and humanitarian supplies that Washington says are being prepared at Syria’s borders will get into the country without armed backing.

“No matter how artfully these ideas are constructed, you are inevitably involved with military intervention — I don’t care what euphemism you use,” said A. R. Norton, a Middle East analyst at Boston University.

[…]

Amir,

You all along wanted the revolution to stay peaceful. I did too initially…but when the death toll exceeded 5 k and up, I changed my mind. Bashar is enjoying a license to kill I do not think that remaining peaceful is going to bring us anything other than more death with the risk if silencing the revolution. Do you think staying peaceful would have stopped Hitler from continuing the Holocaust until the last jew?

Do we have an alternative?

Tara,

You will not like my answer. I think that resorting to an armed confrontation was and is bad for the the Syrians. This is not because I support the butchery of Bashar. You know I don’t. The armed stage did open the gates of hell, which are very hard to re-close.

Yes, the armed ingredient will shorten the long suffering, But the peaceful struggle, if kept, could have spared the fragile Syrian society.
Now it is too late though.
.

very significant: Alawi officer defects:

I did say earlier it was my last post today but this is related to an earlier comment I posted.

Before that I want to say that we need Revlon back quick with his reports of FSA activities and successes. The pro-regime on here are currently openly enjoying themselves at what they percieve as regime successes and an apparant shift in momentum in favour of the regime (in short the siege and flattening of Bab Amr).

Earlier I posted the one hour radio phone at #143. If you didn’r/or don’t have time to listen to it all then you can skip later on in the show and listen to Rime Allaf of Chatham House have her say.

Go to 45 min.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01c6tzl

# 181. Tara

A couple of Syrian friends who looked at SyriaComment for the first time said they will not read the comments section because they believed some people are using it to give messages from the regime. They also felt suspicion of some (and named them) as they were posting too much and cannot have another job.

A pity as I have been recommending SC many times and forwarded to them some excellent comments. I said will keep looking among the weeds and sending them some of the quality and thoughtful things that are posted.

Five Years in Damascus

Stephan Starr – Foreign Policy

A bloated dead donkey greeted me as I entered Syria in January 2007. “Welcome to Assad’s Syria” read a huge billboard hanging over the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey.

The first person I spoke to upon arriving in Damascus was a machine gun-toting soldier guarding a government building. “Where is the Harameih hostel?” I asked. He had no idea what I was saying, never mind what I wanted.

[…]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/02/29/five_years_in_damascus

‘Russia, China push for dialogue in Syria, US fuels violence’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOEstFbjApI
A prominent political analyst says Russia and China favors a dialogue between the Syrian people and the government, while the US uses the civil unrest to topple the regime.

China and Russia have criticized the West over its stance on Syria, with Russian Prime minister Vladimir Putin calling the Western stance on Syria cynical.

42. Uzair8 said:

Keep an eye on Homs. The regime is gonna suffer a major blow. A setback.
.
.
Any more intelligent predictions?! 8)
.

ستغرب شمسكم !
‘Pentagon knows China will be US enemy No.1 starting in 2017’

VIDEO: Russia, China Confirm Boycott of NATO’s “The Enemies of Syria” Conference
Goal is Bombing, Civil War, Failed State, Warlords on Libyan Model
by Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29548

The regime machinery* is (and has been) operating on all cylinders. It has its hands full. Keep the pressure up and something will have to give.

* Politicaly, economicaly, diplomaticaly and in terms of security, Intelligence and propaganda wise to list afew.

One can argue about militarily what percentage is being used. The percentage would be deceptive as it is suspected the loyalty of a large portion of the military isn’t guaranteed and also the regimes reluctance to use them fearing defections thus militarily the regime may be limited.

ستغرب شمسكم
China: Reform in a Resilient Political System
February 29, 2012 |
http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/china-reform-resilient-political-system

Swiss embassy in Damascus closed for security concern – 2012-03-01

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/01/c_122773588.htm

The closure, said the Swiss government on its official website, was expected to be temporary.

[…]

Regardless of the usual whiners’ complaint, Syria Comment strength and success is because it doesn’t show one point of view as other sites hence people on here are more realistic and less delusional than those who radicalize themselves by insisting on reading the same tone so when reality hits they go hysterical.

IT’S OVER

Rebellious Baba Amr area in Syria’s Homs largely under control: media reports – 2012-03-01

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/01/c_122773593.htm

The Ekhbaria TV said many armed men were killed as others have turned themselves in to the authorities in Baba Amr.

Meanwhile, the Syria Now website cited what it called “security sources” as saying that army troops carried out mass cleansing operation in the restive neighborhood, adding that the soldiers are searching all the cellars and tunnels in Baba Amr in search of weapons and “terrorists.”

“Baba Amr is living the last hours of fighting and cleansing the area completely is around the corner,” the report said.

[…]

#225 Ann.

As you adressed me I will respond. I hope I don’t get into trouble and I don’t mean to be sectarian. This is an observation. If the moderator deems it sectarian it can be deleated.

I don’t claim to know the future. It was just a feeling. Perhaps seeing the onslaught of Homs and remembering the oath taken by the brave Homsis I was seeking inspiration (for the Homsis) in their hour of need.

As you know Homs is the resting place of of the blessed Companion, the warrior Khalid bin Walid (RA). Homsis like to refer to themselves as Ahfad Khalid (descendants of Khalid).

We know what the Shia people think of the majority of the Prophetic Companions. They have a particular issue with Khalid bin Walid and his well known title ‘The Sword of Allah’. They probably feel this somehow affects the status of the great Companion, warrior and champion Ali (RA) who is known as the ‘The Lion of God’.

Now here we have the ruling Alawi, said to be an off-shoot of Shiaism, supported by Iran and HA brutally attacking the city of Khalid (RA). Put all these ingrediants in the bowl and maybe a little spirituality and…

Wouldn’t it be ironic if the City of Khalid successfully resisted the onslaught and perhaps eventually lead the revolution to victory against the regime and its allies?

Turkey has the blood of 2 million Christians and 50000 Kurds on it’s criminal hands.Now Syrians blood is on their hands.

UN humanitarian chief not refused entry to Syria: UN spokesman – 2012-03-01

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/01/c_122773605.htm

“I think we need to be very clear that the Syrians have delayed making a decision several times,” said Nesirky, adding “They have not so far refused entry, but they have not agreed on a date.”

[…]

Dr Nabil Fayyad on sham fm
A lot of people disagree with his anti religion views but I think he adds a dimension to the discussion about the role of religion in Muslim and Arab communities.

@232 Ann.

I don’t believe this news. It is probably Psyops. I would expect

Dirty Criminals called Revolutionists,if you support them taste their criminal acts:

On Syria at UN, Some Cite Sovereignty to Give Visas, Amid Homs Crackdown

http://www.innercitypress.com/syria3amos022912.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 29 — Problems have emerged in the UN Security Council with the draft press statement, which Inner City Press obtained and put online at 1:40 pm calling for Syria to grant the coordinator [Valerie Amos] immediate and unhindered access.”

As the Security Council met about Sudan, one Council member told Inner City Press that visas are a matter of sovereignty.” This member, it seems, would agree to a statement wanting Amos to get in, but not a demand.

Another member scoffed to Inner City Press that no one should be talking about visas amid the type of crackdown going on in Homs. Another opined to Inner City Press that Syria is trying to gain time for the crackdown, not wanting Amos in the country while it is going on.

Ironically, Syria has written to the UN not only to complain about sanctions but also to ask for help with health care services. One wag, remember the Kofi Annan era “Oil for Food” program, mused of a possible “Oil for Medicine, Kofi II.” Here again in the statement:

DRAFT PRESS STATEMENT

The members of the Security Council express their deep disappointment at the Syrian Government’s failure to authorize the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator’s visit to Syria, despite repeated requests and intense diplomatic contacts aimed at securing Syrian approval. The members of the Security Council demand that the Syrian authorities grant the coordinator immediate and unhindered access.

The members of the Security Council deplore the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, in particular the growing number of affected civilians, the lack of safe access to adequate medical services, and food shortages, particularly in areas affected by fighting such as Homs, Hama, Deraa, Idlib.

The members of the Security Council demand that the Syrian authorities immediately allow immediate, full and unimpeded humanitarian access for all populations in need of assistance, and call upon the Syrian government to cooperate fully with the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations to facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance and allow evacuation of the wounded from affected areas.

[…]

في ظل الغياب القسري لمنظّرالجيش الكر و داعم أعمالهم القتالية و الإرهابية عن ساحة التعليقات يسرني ان اقدم لكم هذا المقال عن اهم و أقوى و اعظم و افظع كتيبة من كتائب القتل، كتيبة
Fatbird HBJ…

عربي برس تلتقي عناصر مقربة من كتيبة “الشيخ حمد بن جاسم ” في الجيش الحر وقائدها يقول : سنقلب موازين القوى العسكرية في إدلب
كتب ماهر العظمة – إدلب
 
بعدما تمنى المحامي وعضو تنظيم المجلس الوطني المعارض هيثم المالح ”  لو يقبل الأمير سعود الفيصل رئاسة الجمهورية في سورية ، ها هم القطريون يردون عليه بـ  “تطور نوعي خطير وسيخل بموازين القوى لمصلحة الثوار ولتبدأ معه بداية نهاية حكم العصابة الأسدية العميلة لإيران و أمريكا و إسرائيل ” … وأما هذا التطور النوعي والخطير فهو إعلان ميليشيات الجيش الحر عن تشكيل كتيبة بأسم حمد بن جاسم في مدينة معرة النعمان في إدلب .
  مصدر مقرب من تنسيقية معرة النعمان، رأى في التسمية أمرا طبيعيا رافضا الحديث عن لا وطنية ثورية تبدأ بمطالبة المعارضين بتدخل جمعية خيرية تدعى حلف الإطلسي لنصرتهم عسكريا على السلطات ولا تنتهي عند تسمية كتيبة مفترض أنها ثورية بأسم ديكتاتور قطري يشارك في حكم بلاد يساق أهلها كأنهم ملك خاص لأميرها مرورا بتمنيات هيثم  المالح بأن يحكم سورية أمير المبادرة العربية السلمية مع إسرائيل وقطع رؤوس السوريين بين بعضهم بعضا تيمنا ربما بتاريخ فتح مكة والمدينة على يد المسلمين (الوهابيين) حيث أبادوا في مطلع القرن العشرين حكم أصحاب البدع الكفرة من علماء (المالكية والشافعية والأحناف من الأراضي المقدسة) .
  يأتي تشكيل كتيبة بإسم حمد بن جاسم صاحب إستراتيجية ” نترجى إسرائيل ”  بالتزامن مع إعلان الأخير عن ضرورة تسليح المعارضة السورية الأمر الذي يرد عليه مصدر في المعارضة السلمية في إدلب بقوله :  ” إن تسمية عصابة مسلحة من قطاع الطرق باسم الشيخ حمد ليست إلا نوع من الاستجداء الرخيص من قبل المسلحين للدعم المالي وللسلاح الذي يوجهونه إلى ظهور إخوتهم” ، في حين يرى معارض آخر ”  أن المعرة التي تظاهرت بسلمية في بداية الثورة  وساهمت بإسقاط استبداد المخابرات عليها الآن أن تسقط حكم  العصابات المسلحة التي سرقت الثورة وحرفتها عن أهدافها النبيلة.
{…}
الشخص الذي قدم نفسه بأنه ضابط منشق برتبة نقيب، ويدعى هاشم الحسن،برر تشكيل كتيبة الشيخ حمد (الذي وصفه بأمير قطر خالطا بينه وبين وزير خارجيته )  بأنها “نتيجة لما تعرض له الشعب السوري من ظلم وانتهاك للأعراض، وقتل للمدنيين الأبرياء من قبل عصابات الأسد المجرمة “.
 {…}
وكان حمد بن جاسم  وزير خارجية قطر تعهد مع سعود الفيصل وزير خارجية السعودية  بتسليح المعارضة السورية ودعمها حتى إسقاط النظام الحالي، في خطوة رأى فيها مراقبون تعبيراً عن العجز عن التدخل العسكري المباشر، إذ أن تسليح وتمويل قطر والسعودية    للمسلحين الذين يواجهون الجيش السوري،هو أمر أصبح معروفاً ومعلناً منذ شهور.
مصدر مقرب من تنسيقية معرة النعمان يدعى ” هـ –  الشحنة ”  قال لعربي برس “إن تشكيل الكتيبة تطور نوعي خطير، وسيخل بموازين القوى لمصلحة الثوار .
و أضاف :
 ” الكتيبة التي تتشرف بحمل اسم الشيخ حمد،الذي وقف مع ثورتنا في وقت خذلتنا فيه دول العالم كلها، وبالأخص أوربا وتركيا و أمريكا عدوة الإسلام وحامية الأسد ، التي تدعي الحرص على حقوق الإنسان، سينضم إليها فرقة كاملة تستعد للانشقاق عن كتائب الأسد كما سمعنا “.
 
المصدر أكد أن  ” وعوداً تلقتها رئاسة أركان الكتيبة من دولة عربية بتزويدها بصواريخ مضادة لطيران، وصواريخ أرض- أرض ،ستقلب موازين القوى في جبهة إدلب ،وتحولها إلى بنغازي سورية ،وبغير ذلك لن يكرر الناتو التجربة الليبية “.
{…}
و قال المصدر في تصريح خاص  لعربي برس  إن مجموعات المسلحين هم من أرباب السوابق والسلفيين وبعض المغرر بهم  وقد  شكلوا معاً هذه العصابة، التي تأتمر بشكل مباشر بالمخابرات التركية و القطرية، عبر الضابط الفار مصطفى الشيخ ، وهم يغيرون على طريق عام حلب دمشق ، على السيارات العامة والخاصة، ويخطفون الجنود وبعض المدنيين للحصول على فدية، أو إشباع غرائز طائفية تغذيها الفتاوى الوهابية ” .

http://arabi-press.com/?page=article&id=25083

Syrians will eventually “cleanse” Syria from Assad and everyone who took role in the carnage.  Read in it’s entirety.  The best article written today.  

Syria’s uprising is being crushed but Assad cannot escape his fate

Wednesday 29 February 2012 12.30 EST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/29/syria-uprising-assad-fate

The fall of Baba Amr, when it happens, will be a serious blow to the morale of protesters throughout Syria and abroad. The Baba Amr district of Homs has come to symbolise the Syrian people’s defiance against the dictator, and if President Bashar al-Assad manages to crush this centre of urban revolt he may feel emboldened to carry on wherever else mass protests threaten his rule.

In fact, Assad’s army has been methodically crushing each urban centre of protest that has emerged over the past year. It began with a ruthless military campaign against the city of Deraa. At the time Syria’s artists and actors still had the self-confidence to organise such efforts as “Milk for Deraa” and to call for an end to the armed campaign.

In those days there was still a naive hope that Assad was a reasonable man who could be appealed to. Of course, those days are long gone and we saw last summer how, during Ramadan, Assad’s forces began shelling the city of Hama for daring to field demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people.

Over the course of an entire month, Hama was subjected to a systematic campaign of brutal repression. The result is we hardly see any demonstrations from that city any more; certainly none that are near the size of the early demonstrations. Rastan, Latakia, and Deir al-Zour, all shared the same fate, each in their own way, but it is Homs that has remained defiant, and it is Homs has been a thorn in Assad’s side throughout the uprising.

Soon, this will no longer be the case. At the time of writing there are reports that more than half the district is now under the control of Assad’s divisions, who are conducting door-to-door searches. It would have been naive to expect that the elements of the Free Syrian Army, and any other local militias, would have been able to hold out against Assad indefinitely, but this is not the end of the revolution.

Assad’s regime is being balanced precariously like a table with wobbly legs. One leg is the security situation, and it is clear that his forces are stretched and unable to impose his will throughout. The second leg is domestic unrest, and again his secret police have been unable to prevent unrest from happening, even in Aleppo and Damascus.

Only two weeks ago a funeral procession in the heart of Damascus escalated into a massive demonstration. This showed that, at the first sign of Assad’s grip weakening, there is a strong chance that we can see similar protests in future.

The third leg is the media, and Assad is also desperately failing on that front. With journalists routinely crossing Syria’s porous borders to report from trouble spots, he cannot impose the kind of media blackout that his father took for granted during the Hama massacre in 1982. The tragic deaths of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik are a poignant reminder of that.

The final leg is international intervention, whether diplomatic or otherwise – and this is the only front where Assad has proved resilient. The backing of Russia and China has thwarted every attempt at the UN security council to condemn his regime, and his regime has powerful domestic allies with Iran and Hezbollah.

Regardless, it appears that a strong consensus is meticulously being built up internationally – which is building pressure upon his regime in a way that no ally could stop for ever. The United States and France are pushing for a security council resolution demanding humanitarian access to areas in Syria, something over which China and Russia would find it difficult to justify a veto.

Ultimately, the Syrian people did not wait for the international community before starting their protests, and they chose to topple the regime knowing full well that a fate similar to that of Hama in 1982 could befall them. It is this determination, more than geopolitical considerations and intrigue, that will topple Assad, whether this year or in 10 years to come.

Assad can keep trying to prop up the individual legs that hold up his regime, but at some point he won’t be able to keep up and then it will all come crumbling down. Whether he ends up in the Hague or a morgue, Assad will have nobody to blame but himself for the fate which befalls him.

Fake news being circulated about Baba Amr lol. They did not even manage to enter the perimeter as of now.

I wonder who the dumb thug wuth the red epaulettes and red beret was who claimed at least 12 hrs ago that “50 % of Homs is under Government control”, ROFLOL.

A UN resolution will force the reluctant Opposition to the negotiating table with the current governement.

Russia and China plan ‘balanced’ Syria resolution
Agencies
Oct 11, 2011
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/russia-and-china-plan-balanced-syria-resolution
MOSCOW // Russia and China are ready to propose a UN resolution on Syria that is more “balanced” than the West’s draft that they controversially vetoed last week, Russia’s minister of foreign affairs, Sergei Lavrov, said yesterday.at the Moscow-drafted version would condemn violence carried out both by the regime of Bashar Al Assad and the rebel opposition.

His comments came as the Kremlin’s Africa envoy, Mikhail Margelov, and Qadri Jamil, a communist and member of the so-called “internal opposition” in Syria, urged all conflicting parties to sit down for talks.

Russia and China last week blocked a UN resolution against Mr Al Assad’s crackdown on protests, even after the West dropped the word “sanctions” from its draft.

“We propose to adopt a balanced resolution that would condemn violence from both sides,” Mr Lavrov said. “We need to encourage the Syrian opposition to come to the negotiating table … Together with our Chinese partners we are ready to offer such a resolution.”

حمص بابا عمر 29-2-2012
http://youtu.be/PROl1opn-RI

#241 Tara

We read these repetitive predictions months ago. Nothing is new here despite the journalist’s efforts to show that something has changed.

Bashar al Assad will leave when the majority of the Syrians will ask him to not when the Islamic Emirate of Babr Amr will ask him.

Newfolder

Thank you for posting the link of the defected Alawi officer. I certainly hope he is Alawi. I do want to hold onto the remnant of an image I once held for some educated Alawis and some high rank military commanders I once met.

The Egyptian government bows to the USA’s blackmail of stopping the billion dollars military aid to Egypt, the yearly royalties for the peace treaty with Israel.

Egypt lifts travel ban on US activists on trial in NGO case
Bradley Hope
Mar 1, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/egypt-lifts-travel-ban-on-us-activists-on-trial-in-ngo-case
CAIRO // Egypt has decided to lift a travel ban preventing American pro-democracy activists on trial for allegedly receiving illicit foreign funding from leaving the country.
(…)

Irritated

You need not to use terms coined by low esteemed people. You are smart on your own. Believe me. It will subtract rather than add.

There is no Islamic emirate in Baba Amr.. It is a creation of the regime to discredit the revolution. Baba amr is as much Islamic as Tara is, and most Syrians want to execute Bushbush.
—-

Amir

I hear you and I know you are against Bashar’s butchery. A year ago, I would’ve laughed the “fragility” of the Syrian society off claiming that we, Syrians, are different. We are not..The brutality demonstrated by “we Syrians” is unthinkable, so we are as ruthless as everyone else. I still think after so much brutality, the militarization of the revolution was inevitable. It was the natural course.

Pray for Homs?  Sorry but I am not going to pray.  Pray all you want but praying is not going to make a difference.  God is in a watching mode…Sorry God.     

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/29/syria-arab-and-middle-east-protests

Espinosa’s escape follows that of Colvin’s colleague, the Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy, who was smuggled to safety on Sunday evening after the journalists were split up during their escape attempt while under attack by government troops. Thirteen activists were killed trying to get them to safety.

The fate of two other remaining journalists – Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and William Daniels, a photographer based in France – was uncertain. Some reports said they remained trapped in Baba Amr. Bouvier broke her leg badly during the attack that killed Colvin and the French photographer Remi Ochlik last week.

Espinosa’s escape came as the situation in Baba Amr grew more precarious amid claims by a Syrian government official that it was preparing to “clean” the rebel-held areas of Homs.

Sources of reliable news from inside Homs were also scarce on Wednesday as activists in the city were cut off for long periods from communicating with the outside world.

The rebels have sworn to fight to the last man, according to Ahmed, an activist who said he had just left Baba Amr. He said other opposition areas of Homs were also under attack but gave no details of casualties. “Pray for the Free Syrian Army. Do not be miserly in your prayers for them,” activists in the city said in a statement.

“We call on all Syrians in other cities to move and do something to lift the pressure off Baba Amr and Homs. They should act quickly,” Ahmed said via Skype.
….

Libya will donate $100m (£62m) in humanitarian aid to the Syrian opposition and allow them to open an office in Tripoli, a government spokesman said, in a further sign of its strong support for forces fighting Assad.

Representatives from the Syrian National Council visited Tripoli this week after Mustafa Abdel, chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), made the initial offer earlier this month to host an office there.

(…)

#250 Tara

I am not misusing the terms. I am convinced that there are elements among the rebels that want exactly that. I am also convinced that the armed rebels are heavily infiltrated with islamic extremists from Libya and Saudi Arabia and other countries. Even Edith Bouvier wrote about the Libyans high level commanders who were in Edlib in december as she got in with them.
The chaos that prevails is allowing just anybody to get in with his own ambitions. This has to stop now.
The bearded Pakistani/Afghani religious I have seen in the the HOMS video that made you proud convinced me that of it is real.
What is he doing in Bab Amr, touring?
I know you prefer to idealize the opposition… but the reality is much darker than you think.

#250 Tara said:

“I still think after so much brutality, the militarization of the revolution was inevitable. It was the natural course.”

You are right.

What is NOT a natural course is those people commenting here who are outraged that this is happening. They angrily mock and criticise those who are fighting back.

They feel nobody should DARE react or defend fellow Syrians against the regime’s criminal violence. It upsets their world badly that Assad has this problem.

It seems that Syrian Govt. do not understand what is demanded from them. It will make it very difficult for them in coming future. This is a test of Arab world resolve to make United decisions for their regional issue. Right now is the need for Humanitarian Assistance to the people who are caught up in the fighting. There is a need for arming those people who are being killed without reason. There is no need for foreign interference right now. Let all Arabs irrespective of sects resolve this issue. All those who want to help Syria should help Joint Arab Decisions. ANYBODY shedding of INNOCENT blood will not have any Support. This means all sides. The Syrian Govt. better understand where peace and stability lies and where anarchy and DESTRUCTION lies!