Great Friday: Over 80 Killed
Posted by Joshua on Friday, April 22nd, 2011
Maydan in 1840
The Maydan has long been the center of revolutionary activity in Damascus. Salah Bitar, a founder of the Baath Party, was from the Maydan. It is the traditional home of the grain merchants who provisioned the city with crops from Deraa and the bread basket of Southeastern Syria. Attitudes of Sunni Damascus could well be shaped by the way the Maydan responds. One readers sent this note:
My grandparents and their families were all Meedani. My grandmother used to tell me that I have the hands (peasant hands apparently) of the Meedan. Regardless – this is definitely the heart of Damascus… and does not bode well…. My two uncles are visiting here in Boston. They are both well off Sunni business people – one with large business interests in Damas (says everything is tanking right now – and nobody can pay him their debts) and both with property interests…. both are sitting here defending the status quo and repeating some of the gov’t line … can’t afford chaos and vulnerable country without its president.
While at the same time – their sons/nephews are busy posting revolutionary rhetoric on their internet pages… and cussing out the regime to each other (off line).
Syria’s streets seem to be filled with the endlessly numerous youth of the country, who are angry, underemployed and ready for change. As the death toll rises, the likelihood of either side backing down grows smaller and the likelihood of prolonged struggle grows larger.
Demonstrators in Banyas. Central Banner reads: "Where are you Aleppo?"
Demonstrators stormed the mayor’s office near Daraa in what could become a precedent for opposition action in the future. It is not clear what the opposition’s strategy is other than to continue increasing the number of demonstrators. So far, there has been no systematic resort to arms by the opposition in the face of the crackdown or effort to take over government buildings. In Banyas, there seemed to be armed elements that exploited the chaos brought on by demonstrations. But in most cities, this has not been the case. The opposition has been able to retain its discipline behind the call for peaceful protest.
Two Syrian MPs from the protest hub city of Daraa on Saturday told Al-Jazeera television they were quitting parliament in protest at the bloodshed in their country.
Ghassan Ben Jedou, a main TV personality at al-Jazeera has resigned, claiming that the station has become a center of incitement for the revolutions rather than a news agency. [Comment above by JL]
A Question from a reader:
As a foreigner in Syria, I am following the events “on the ground” with great concern. Speaking to members of the diplomatic circuit, it seems to be the perception that until the unrest reaches Aleppo and/or Damascus, the situation is “bearable”, from the embassies’ point of view. In light of that thinking, yesterday’s events, as I see it, were not decisive and we may have to wait yet again for Friday to come to see “what will happen next”. However, in all this there is one thing that puzzles me, which brings me to my question to you: Aleppo seems to be remarkable quiet in all this. There has been some activities on the university campus, but given that we’re talking about Syria’s largest city, it may be considered insignificant. In your opinion, what can be the possible explanation for this?
I am adding two comments by readers because they reflect two different interpretations of the “Great Friday” events:
Souri said:
I am now in Syria. What Joshua Landis writes in no way represents the truth. He has just decided to adopt the opposition’s version of the story for some reason. His last two posts were very skewed and do not reflect the reality on the ground in anyway.
Polarization here is very high. I used to argue that Aleppo and Damascus are mostly Islamist so they must join the uprising at one point, however, this is not the reality on the ground. Most people here are obviously pro-regime, and they are getting very hostile to the demonstrators. I am hearing a lot of people who say the government has been dealing so softly with them. Many people would like the government to act even more harshly against the demonstrators. There is little sympathy with the killed. People are very worried about their future living. It was surprising to me that the poorest people were the most hostile to the demonstrators. One taxi driver told me that he earns his living by day and if he stops working for one day, he will have nothing to feed his family on that day.
When few people tried to demonstrate in Bab al-Hadid in Aleppo on Thursday, they were surrounded by ordinary residents of the neighborhood and they were not allowed to move. The demonstration was so small (definitely less than a hundred). Yesterday, the ‘Great Friday’ demonstration was surrounded by a larger crowed of ordinary citizens who were chanting for Bashar. You could even hear it in the clip that appeared on Youtube.
The same happened in Damascus. The Maydan demo was small, and it lasted for minutes. There were no killings at all, this is just BS like the other BS Joshua Landis has been publishing lately (like for example his claim that the mufti has joined the revolution). Much of Joshua’s information is false, and maybe this is what is making his evaluations unrealistic. I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose or if he has just screwed up in picking his sources. Be careful with picking your sources Mr. Landis. People like Ammar Abdulhamid are not good sources.
The regime decided yesterday to shoot at people because it knew people were ready to accept that. Actually, the majority of Syrians are expecting more use of force from the government and they don’t mind it. We may be heading to some major clash similar to that of the 1980’s, but the regime has most of the people on its side. The media weapon has not been very effective, and foreign intervention does not seem a realistic threat. I believe the regime is willing to take the challenge. Bashar Assad said that he does not fear anything as long as he has the people on his side. He indeed has a majority of the people on his side.
The Islamist insurgents have no chance of controlling a single village in Syria, not to say a city. In Libya, Qaddafi lost control over the eastern half of his country. In Egypt, Mubarak’s police stations were stormed by demonstrators and the demonstrations went unchecked. This cannot happen in Syria for many reasons, the most important reason being that the demonstrators do not have enough manpower to do it.
I don’t know why people were shot yesterday, but it sounds from what they said that they were trying to storm government and security buildings. They totally failed. The regime has huge militias composed of students, workers, and farmers in addition to the formidable security forces. These militias can easily defeat those Islamist protesters. The protesters cannot control a single village in Syria, they are too few and too weak. Like a caller said on Al-Jazeera yesterday, the demonstrators without the media are nothing.
The uprising in Syria is not meant to overthrow the regime because the people behind it know that it cannot. It is only meant to destabilize Syria and force political concessions on it. Just listen to the American statements.
Zenobia, who reacts to another comment:
Spare everyone who just watched those videos above your complete garbage!…
If African Americans had waited for the state or federal government to come to the rescue and win them their civil rights…. there would still be lynchings in Georgia today! They had to go out and risk their lives to seize their rights….so please don’t make ludicrous comparisons. If you think corruption in Norway or even in the United States is on par with Syria, you are in a complete fantasy. Probably most Syrians were willing to wait and be patient, but when the bullets start flying – there is no patience left – there is nothing to lose.
When you watch these videos and the many, many others….have you seen any of these people lying on the ground with a weapon next to them????? NO, none. Was that child with his head blown off….carrying a gun?? NO. he wasn’t. Where are these supposed terrorists? There are now – a zillion videos up on the internet… and nobody has been able to produce any ANYYYYY footage of these foreigner ‘insurgents’… the whole security services can’t name any one of the supposed persons who attacked them or supposedly attacked civilians? Where are they hiding at night! This is insane. These are Syrians laying on the ground…
This president may be opening his mouth and appearing to be “cooperating”…but there is a massive killing machine unleashed at the same time – that he must answer for. And there is not one excuse – any one can use to justify the bloodshed. No vandalism is an excuse, no made up story about people assaulting a church!… You must not have ever traveled to Switzerland…. because this is not what is going on there – politically and in terms of violence. It is not the slow pace of change that is going to bring this gov’t down, if it comes down. What will bring it down is this bloodshed. If you want to compare yourself to the Congo or Ivory Coast favorably, go ahead, but that is pretty pathetic.
Anthony Shadid in NYTimes
Organizers said the movement was still in its infancy, and the government, building on 40 years of institutional inertia, still commanded the loyalty of the military, economic elite and sizable minorities of Christian and heterodox Muslim sects who fear the state’s collapse.
Coming a day after Mr. Assad endorsed the lifting of draconian emergency rule, the killings represented another chapter in the government’s strategy of alternating promises of concessions with a grim crackdown that has left it staggering but still entrenched.
“There are indications the regime is scared, and this is adding to the momentum, but this is still the beginning,” said Wissam Tarif, the executive director of Insan, a Syrian human rights group. “Definitely, we haven’t seen the millions we saw in Egypt or Tunisia. The numbers are still humble, and it’s a reality we have to acknowledge.”
Syria unrest: ‘Bloodiest day’ as troops fire on rallies
22 April 2011, BBC
At least 72 protesters have been killed by security forces in Syria, rights groups say – the highest reported death toll in five weeks of unrest there. Demonstrators were shot, witnesses say, as thousands rallied across the country, a day after a decades-long state of emergency was lifted. Many deaths reportedly occurred in a village near Deraa in the south, and in a suburb of the capital, Damascus.
The US White House urged the government to stop attacking demonstrators. Spokesman Jay Carney said it should “cease and desist in the use of violence against protesters” and follow through on promised reforms.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “extremely concerned” by reports of deaths and casualties across Syria and urged restraint on the country’s authorities. “Political reforms should be brought forward and implemented without delay,” he said. “The Emergency Law should be lifted in practice, not just in word.”..
April 22 (Bloomberg) — U.S. President Barack Obama condemned “the outrageous use of violence” in Syria against protesters today.
One reader writes: worst picture yet just showed up on facebook.com/syrian.revolution. I did not want to put it not to upset u guys.
Another reader writes: You have to watch Syrian tv. It’s been showing even more graphic images for the police and others killed by the demonstrators. It’s extremely graphic and unbelievable.
Another reader: the demonstrations have reached the centers of non-Sunni communities such as Suweidaa [Druze] and Salamiyeh [Ismaili].
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O4XHyxR-_Q
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9QAvr3jP_w
From Suweida:
Dear Joshua, I hope you are doing well. I was reading you page this morning and saw that somebody posted two links pretending that they were from Sweida and Salamieh. I just want to clarify that no protests took place in Sweida yesterday. I am from Sweida and I was in contact with my family there all the day yesterday. Everything is calm there. For those who know Sweida they can discover from watching the videos thatneither the buildings nor the people’s clothing are traditional from Mouhafazat Al-Sweida. It seems that some people want to exaggerate the events, and provocate others. I hope you can add my remark to your page after the links.
Robert Kaplan has always been sensationalist when it comes to Syria’s propensity for dissolution. Syria has come a long way since WWI, but not far enough for what it is about to pass through. (JL)
Syriana: After Bashar al-Assad, the deluge.
BY ROBERT D. KAPLAN | APRIL 21, 2011, Foreign Policy
The late Princeton scholar Philip K. Hitti called Greater Syria — the historical antecedent of the modern republic — “the largest small country on the map, microscopic in size but cosmic in influence,” encompassing in its geography, at the confluence of Europe, Asia, and Africa, “the history of the civilized world in a miniature form.” This is not an exaggeration, and because it is not, the current unrest in Syria is far more important than unrest we have seen anywhere in the Middle East.
“Syria” was the 19th-century Ottoman-era term for a region that stretched from the Taurus Mountains of Turkey in the north to the Arabian Desert in the south, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to Mesopotamia in the east. Present-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, western Iraq, and southern Turkey were all included in this vast area. In other words, the concept of “Syria” was not linked to any specific national sentiment. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I led to Greater Syria being carved into a half-dozen states. Although territory had been cut away on all sides, the rump French mandate of “Syria” that came into existence, nevertheless, contained not only every warring sect and regional and tribal interest, but also the spiritual headquarters in the capital Damascus of the pan-Arab movement, whose aim was to erase all the state borders that the Europeans had just created.
Pan-Arabism — of which the post-World War II independent state of Syria claimed to constitute the “throbbing-heart” — became a substitute for Syria’s very weak national identity. Indeed, Syria’s self-styled “steadfast” hatred of Israel was a way for Syrians to escape their own internal contradictions. Those contradictions were born of the parochial interests of regionally based ethnic and sectarian groups: Sunni Arabs in the Damascus-Homs-Hama central corridor; heretical, Shiite-trending Alawites in the mountains of the northwest; Druze in the south, with their close tribal links to Jordan; and Kurds, Christian Arabs, Armenians, and Circassians in Aleppo.
Between 1947 and 1954, Syria held three national elections that all broke down more or less according to these regional and sectarian lines. After 21 changes of government in 24 years and a failed attempt to unify with Egypt, the Alawite air force officer Hafez al-Assad took power in a 1970 coup. By ruling with utter ruthlessness, he kept the peace in Syria for three decades. To wit, when the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood rose up in Hama in 1982, he killed more than 20,000 Sunni Muslim civilians there in response, according to some estimates. Assad’s son, Bashar, who succeeded his father as Syria’s president a decade ago, has yet to make his bones in such a way. It is unclear whether the son is visionary enough to satisfy today’s protesters, or cruel enough like his father to stay in power. His regime’s survival may require stores of both attributes. A complicating factor is that to a much greater degree than his father, the son is trapped within a web of interest groups that include a corrupt business establishment and military and intelligence leaders averse to reform. So the political crisis in Syria will likely continue to build.
Syria at this moment in history constitutes a riddle. Is it, indeed, prone to civil conflict as the election results of the 1940s and 1950s indicate; or has the population quietly forged a national identity in the intervening decades, if only because of the common experience of living under an austere dictatorship? No Middle East expert can say for sure.
Were central authority in Syria to substantially weaken or even break down, the regional impact would be greater than in the case of Iraq. Iraq is bordered by the strong states of Turkey and Iran in the north and east, and is separated from Saudi Arabia in the south and Syria and Jordan to the west by immense tracts of desert. Yes, the Iraq war propelled millions of refugees to those two latter countries, but the impact of Syria becoming a Levantine Yugoslavia might be even greater. That is because of the proximity of Syria’s major population zones to Lebanon and Jordan, both of which are unstable already.
Remember that Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel are all geographically and historically part of Greater Syria, a reason that successive regimes in Damascus since 1946 never really accepted their legitimacy. The French drew Lebanon’s borders so as to bring a large population of mainly Sunni Muslims under the domination of Maronite Christians, who were allied with France, spoke French, and had a concordat with the Vatican. Were an Alawite regime in Damascus to crumble, the Syria-Lebanon border could be effectively erased as Sunnis from both sides of the border united and Lebanon’s Shiites and Syria’s Alawites formed pockets of resistance. The post-colonial era in the Middle East would truly be closed, and we would be back to the vague borders of the Ottoman Empire.
What seems fanciful today may seem inevitable in the months and years ahead. Rather than face a “steadfast” and rejectionist, albeit predictable, state as the focal point of Arab resistance, Israel would henceforth face a Sunni Arab statelet from Damascus to Hama — one likely influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood — amid congeries of other fiefdoms. The unrest in Syria brings the Middle East perhaps to a precipice. Peaceful or not, the future of the region will be one of weakened central authority. Mesopotamia at least has a historic structure, with its three north-south oriented ethnic and sectarian entities. But Greater Syria is more of a hodgepodge.
For most of history, prior to the colonial era, Middle Eastern borders mattered far less than they do now, as cities like Aleppo in northern Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq had more contact with each other than with the respective capitals of Damascus and Baghdad. The ruins of Hatra, southwest of Mosul in Iraq, a Silk Road nexus of trade and ideas that reached its peak in the second and third centuries A.D., attest to a past and possible future of more decentralized states that could succeed the tyrannical perversions of the modern nation-state system. Hatra’s remains reflect the eclectic mix of Assyrian, Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman styles that set the stage for early Islamic architecture. Then there are the ruins of Dura-Europos, a Parthian caravan center founded in 300 B.C., halfway between Syria and Mesopotamia and known as the “Pompeii of the East.” Frescoes from the synagogue at Dura-Europos grace the halls of the National Museum in Damascus. Both these sets of ruins have a vital political significance for the present, for they indicate a region without hardened borders that benefited from the free flow of trade and information.
But the transition away from absolutist rule in the Middle East to a world of commercially oriented, 21st-century caravan states will be longer, costlier, and messier than the post-1989 transitions in the Balkans — a more developed part of the Ottoman Empire than Greater Syria and Mesopotamia. The natural state of Mesopotamia was mirrored in the three Ottoman vilayets of Kurdish Mosul, Sunni Baghdad, and Shiite Basra. The natural state of Greater Syria beyond the constellation of city-states like Phoenicia, Aleppo, Damascus, and Jerusalem is more indistinct still.
European leaders in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th were engrossed by the so-called Eastern Question: that is, the eruptions of instability and nationalist yearnings in the Balkans and the Middle East caused by the seemingly interminable, rotting-away death of the Ottoman Empire. The Eastern Question was eventually settled by the cataclysm of World War I, from which the modern Arab state system emerged. But a hundred years on, the durability of that post-Ottoman state system should not be taken for granted.
Robert D. Kaplan is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, correspondent for the Atlantic, and author of Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus.
Comments (258)
Akbar Palace said:
Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.
— Hillary Clinton on Bashar al-Assad, March 27
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syrias_reformer/2011/03/31/AFy4JFCC_story.html?nav=emailpage
And Charles Krauthammer is NOT an Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, nor, as you can tell, a mouthpiece of the President-for-Life.
April 22nd, 2011, 10:16 pm
atassi said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek3vD4CNJ8E&feature=feedu
TIME to GO To hell Bashar
and it’s NOT armed elements that exploited the chaos brought on by demonstrations… the killers are Bashar men
April 22nd, 2011, 10:34 pm
why-discuss said:
Instead of one million peaceful demonstrators, we got 80 deaths. What a saddening and depressing achievement for Great Friday
April 22nd, 2011, 10:39 pm
ToGuy said:
@WHY-DISCUSS you got 80 death because of the killers in the regime. Every person who defends this murderous regime has blood on their hands. Shame on you, shame on you, shame on you!!
April 22nd, 2011, 10:46 pm
aboali said:
what kind of deranged mad men shoot children as young as 10 in the head? Bashar’s mad men that’s who. I warn you, you may never get a good night’s sleep after watching this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Jmj3EvJ-g
the kid’s name is Mohamad Ibrahim AlHamoudah, killed in Izraa on April 22. You can hear the screams of his brother at the beginning of the video “akhoya akhoya” my brother, my brother ….
April 22nd, 2011, 10:59 pm
atassi said:
why-discuss
!! The 80 dead are your fellow Syrians..They are your brothers …today was a very sad event for syria….Fear God
April 22nd, 2011, 11:10 pm
Shami said:
تم التأكد ما غالبية الأسماء.
ندعو بأن يتقبلهم الله في أعلى فردوسه وألا يضيع دمهم ويوفقنا لنكمل مسيرتهم.
1. خلدون الدروبي – حمص
2. أحمد الساعور – حمص
3. فواز الحراكي – حمص
4. عمار السلمان – حمص
5. أحمد غسان الكحيل – حمص، الخالدية
6. محمد باسل الكحيل – حمص
7. محمد خضير الشيخ – باب عمرو
8. محمود الجوري – باب عمرو
9. أنس كاخيا – باب عمرو، حمص
10. رامز كاخيا – باب عمرو، حمص
11. سامي حاج حسن – باب عمرو، حمص
12. جدوع العمر – القصير، حمص
13. محمد العيدة – القصير، حمص
14. سالم بكور – تلدو، حمص
15. أحمد الظاهر – تلدو
16. محمد مشيعل – دير بعلبة
17. شادي بوحلاق – حمص
18. رضوان عبد الكريم لالو – الحولة، حمص
19. محمد أحمد المحمد – الحولة، حمص
20. عبد الرحمن الفردوس – تلدهب، حمص
21. علاء عرابي – تلدهب، حمص
22. الصيدلاني سامر بكور – تلدو، حمص
23. ___ حرفوش – تلدو، حمص
24. ___ الطويل – حمص
25. معتز الروبا – حمص، دوار الرئيس
26. صبحي العطار – حمص
27. جهاد ناظم مشيعل – حمص
28. معتز بشار الشعار – الميدان، دمشق
29. كمال بركات – برزة، دمشق
30. زكريا وهبة – برزة، دمشق
31. سامر جوعانة – القابون
32. رفيق عبد الواحد – القابون
33. خالد الهبول – القابون
34. أنس الصغير – القابون
35. عبد المنعم عرعورة (قرقورة) – المعضمية
36. مازن عرعورة (قرقورة) – المعضمية
37. أحمد الشيخ – المعضمية
38. سليمان ابراهيم – المعضمية
39. أحمد الغندور – المعضمية
40. محمود معتوق – المعضمية
41. أحمد معتوق – المعضمية
42. الطفل ضياء هزاع – المعضمية
43. إياد صوان – المعضمية
44. وائل العربيني – زملكا
45. عز الدين النداف – زملكا
46. أحمد المملوك – زملكا
47. أحمد جبارة – زملكا
48. محمد الفتال – زملكا
49. عمر بن أحمد الحمصي – جوبر
50. نزار الفيومي الخطيب – جوبر
51. عمار محمود – داريا
52. وليد خولاني – داريا
53. محمد خولاني – داريا
54. زاهر نصار الشعار – داريا
55. علي شيخ درويش – حرستا
56. محمد أبو دخل الله – حرستا
57. خالد حميد (ورد أيضاً باسم خالد حمادة من جبعدين) – حرستا
58. أحمد جبارة – حرستا
59. محمد الفتا – حرستا
60. خلدون الدروبي – دوما
61. أحمد الساعور – دوما
62. محمد خالد الساعور – دوما
63. محمد الديرواني – دوما
64. سليم طلال القلاع – دوما
65. عبد الله فوزي القلاع – دوما
66. سمير قلاع – دوما
67. مازن برخش – دوما
68. محمد عبادي – دوما
69. محمد الحمزات – الحجر الأسود
70. يمان طراد الآغا – الحجر الأسود
71. ناصر الحوري – الحجر الأسود
72. محمد مصطفى رعد – الحجر الأسود
73. محمد عدنان الآغا – الحجر الأسود
74. عيسى مصطفى الرعد البحتري – الحجر الأسود
75. مؤمن إبراهيم حموده (7 سنوات) طلق ناري في الرأس – إزرع
76. سفيان محمد سليمان عبيد – إزرع
77. عبد الغفار محمد سليمان عبيد – إزرع
78. نزار محمد سليمان عبيد – إزرع
79. سفيان صلاح سليمان عبيد – إزرع
80. إبراهيم القلاب – إزرع
81. طاهر موفق القنص – إزرع
82. أنور فاضل العبيد – إزرع
83. طاهر موفق الحريري – إزرع
84. بلال الشوحة (أو الشوقي) – إزرع
85. حسان علي الحلقي – إزرع
86. هاني رسمي الحلقي – إزرع
87. عبدالغفار شحادة (أبو منير، 70 سنة) – إزرع
88. حسين علي ذياب – إزرع
89. سفيان بهجت الحريري – إزرع
90. إبراهيم القلاب أبو مالك – إزرع
91. الطفل انور فاضل العبيد – إزرع
92. خليل إبراهيم الحمود المسالمة – إزرع
93. أيهم السالم – إزرع
94. لؤي السالم – إزرع
95. أنس الزعبي – إزرع
96. محمد علي ذياب – إزرع
97. أنس الشريف – إزرع
98. قاسم محمد الأسعد – إزرع
99. سفيان الحروب – إزرع
100. جاسم محمد العبيد – إزرع
101. محمد مفلح سليمان الجراد – إزرع
102. الطفل إياد عوض شهاب (10 سنوات) – إزرع
103. مهند إبراهيم الموسى – إزرع
104. عماد أحمد العبد العزيز – إزرع
105. نزار محمد الحروب – إزرع
106. أسامة الحركي (من أهالي المليحة الغربية، 35 سنة) – الحراك
107. محمد الخراط – حماة
108. ___ عثمان – حماة
109. ___ عدي – حماة
110. صهيب سوتل – حماة
111. زكريا حلاق – حماة
112. عبد السلام عبيد – اللاذقية
April 22nd, 2011, 11:26 pm
AIG said:
What a sad day. Again, one cannot but admire the courage of the Syrian people in the face of a ruthless regime. Such brave people will not be denied their dignity and freedom even if it takes a while.
April 22nd, 2011, 11:27 pm
haz said:
Akbar Palace – the US gov. is trapped.Their naivety and bad behaviour in the Middle East now means that their praise is the political kiss of death, while their criticism is oxygen for regimes such as in Syria, who have built their moral power on international ‘resistance’ to the US and Israel. I think vague praise for Assad, and otherwise shutting the hell up was the best they could have done in this situation. The best way to undermine the protesters in the minds of the Syrian public would be to give them strong US support.
April 22nd, 2011, 11:37 pm
Sunny said:
I am so sorry for the people who lost their life. Peaceful protesters do not go into a church during Good Friday and start shooting, and few were killed. The church asked the security for protection, and the security forces did. Some Muslims neighbors came to protect the church too. The president has been reforming slowly, it is not a magic touch. 200 years later, racism in the US is still alive and well! Corruption is in every country…nothing new…freedom and democracy are mirage even in Switzerland. The Syrians asked for a change in a civil manners…and the president is cooperating.
April 22nd, 2011, 11:59 pm
Majhool said:
Atassi,
I have not teared in a while, but i could not help my self after i saw the video.
WD,
what a waste of education you are
April 23rd, 2011, 12:06 am
NK said:
112 Syrians died today and all State TV showed was a 2 minutes video of a burned bus somewhere near Damascus that apparently “armed thugs” all over Syria magically contributed to its destruction, then they moved to more pressing news like Israel BRUTALLY killing 2 Palestinians and injuring 4.
اذا لم تستح فافعل ما شئت …
=====
http://www.the-syrian.com/?p=1408
نفديك يا شهيد
اقتلوني يا أخوتي فالموت لي حرية
و اقتلوا الذل فيني… و امسحوا العار عني… و كفنوا مآقيا الدمية
و اتركوا السجان يرغي… و يزبد… و يصلي النار للشمس السنية
اتركو السجان حيا…. و اتركوا اللص يغفوا…. و اجعلوا الجاني ضحية
وادفنوني هنا… هاهنا أرضي.. هاهنا ياسميني و قمحي… هاهنا أمي الحنية
ادفنوني فدمي لا يجف… و لن تزل عبراتنا زيتونة باسقة أبية
ألم أقل للذل لا؟… و سالت دمائي طاهرة زكية؟
ألم أقل للظلم لا؟… و تعالت للمجد صرخاتي دوية؟
فاقتلوني و سجوا هامتي… فالموت شرف…. وموتي للعز هوية
كتبه BF on April 23, 2011
P.Sبالنسبة لموضوع الشمس السنية الكلمة جاية من السنا…يعني مشان ما يجي شي سيبويه يحط شدة ع النون تصير الشغلة طائفية…شنو كمان خربوط الو ذراع بالمؤامرة ضد سورية…وأبو الحروف بطل وطني من أبطال النظام
April 23rd, 2011, 12:16 am
Zenobia said:
“Sunny”….spare everyone who just watched those videos above your complete garbage!… and your name….
If African Americans had waited for the state or federal government to come to the rescue and win them their civil rights…. there would still be lynchings in Georgia today! They had to go out and risk their lives to seize their rights….so please don’t make ludicrous comparisons. If you think corruption in Norway or even in the United States is on par with Syria, you are in a complete fantasy. Probably most Syrians were willing to wait and be patient, but when the bullets start flying – there is no patience left – there is nothing to lose.
When you watch these videos and the many many others….have you seen any of these people lying on the ground with a weapon next to them????? NO, none. Was that child with his head blown off….carrying a gun?? NO. he wasn’t. Where are these supposed terrorists? There are now – a zillion videos up on the internet… and nobody has been able to produce any ANYYYYY footage of these foreigner ‘insurgents’… the whole security services can’t name any one of the supposed persons who attacked them or supposedly attacked civilians? Where are they hiding at night! This is insane. These are Syrians laying on the ground…
This president may be opening his mouth and appearing to be “cooperating”…but there is a massive killing machine unleashed at the same time – that he must answer for. And there is not one excuse – any one can use to justify the bloodshed. No vandalism is an excuse, no made up story about people assaulting a church!… You must not have ever traveled to Switzerland…. because this is not what is going on there – politically and in terms of violence. It is not the slow pace of change that is going to bring this gov’t down, if it comes down. What will bring it down is this bloodshed. If you want to compare yourself to the Congo or Ivory Coast favorably, go ahead, but that is pretty pathetic.
April 23rd, 2011, 12:24 am
Nafdik said:
Does anybody understand bashar strategy? Why is he resrting to aim-to-kill?
Do you think the level of violence is calibrated or just being left to local security forces?
April 23rd, 2011, 12:25 am
Majhool said:
This for Jad
April 23rd, 2011, 12:28 am
why-discuss said:
Sunny
I am glad there are still security forces to defend churches from fanatics.
Yet, I am sure the opposition sitting in their offices in London and the US will find a way to put the blame on regime elements “attempting to intimidate” the Christians to create sectarian tensions.
So much display of malevolence and the blind desire of revenge would never incite significant number of Syrians to demonstrate.
April 23rd, 2011, 12:32 am
Zenobia said:
You two and your stories about churches needing to be defended from fantasized ‘fanatics’ (fanatics we have yet to actually see despite the fact that security services have cell phone cameras as well) are creating sectarian tensions right here and now… you are busying doing the master’s work as you speak…
It seems to me that the guys chanting for Bashar with wooden clubs in their hands… on videotape… for everyone to see…are the one’s thinking about revenge.
but the sad thing is that everyone will reap what they sowed…
April 23rd, 2011, 12:48 am
abbas said:
What a sad day, those criminals who shot at unarmed protesters are criminals that I am sure they will get what they deserve in this life before the after life, I want to mention a story a doctor once told me about an officer in the republican guard whose wife could not come to term in her multiple pregnancies and after the third time she lost the baby he told the dr why is god doing this to me? is it because of Hama? but we were ordered to do that over there ( abd al ma’amoor ).
I also think that the so called activists share some responsibility for the lost of innocent life, I advocated before to pull back a little and work with what was achieved for now, we all know how ruthless they are, we all know they won’t give up their power and privileges easily and they will kill and maim, when protester shout to change the regime all what Bashar is hearing is that we want to kill you and you family and tribe, but I feel it’s too late now and I also hope I am wrong
April 23rd, 2011, 1:03 am
NK said:
Zenobia
Don’t pay much attention to these kind of stories, they don’t even make sense.
“An armed gang tried to storm a church but it was stopped by civilians around the church, then policemen/security forces soon arrived and chased them off”
First how the hell will civilians stop an armed gang ? how come the gang didn’t shoot/kill/injure anyone ? how come the security forces chased the gang off but didn’t arrest any of them ? I mean really ? the police will just chase an armed gang away! and finally no videos or photos of this “foray” ?
The douche bag coming up with these stories need to be fired for no reason other than having an IQ equal to that of the muffin I ate for breakfast, it’s sad that some people actually believe these stories, how tragic!
Nafdik
Did you see the CV of the new Interior minister ?
I’m not sure what else people were hoping for when Bashar put the guy who was the warden of Tadmur prison (in the 80s) and later Saydnaya prison (in 2008) in charge ?.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:15 am
Vedat The Turk said:
@Zubaida and everyone else
I was moved by what Zubaida had to write in his earlier post. I can appreciate how he feels. To me what is going on in Syria today is akin to a warm civil war. There is nothing civil about war. Seeing a country tear itself out is hard to do. It’s like a car crash in slow motion. To think that people were murdered today for just expressing their frustrations with there leaders is saddening.
But none of this is for waste as this is unfortunately how Democracy grows… in violent spurts followed by hard won rights. Surely the US went through this in the US Civil War and the emancipation of black slaves.
The short term future may not look rosy for Syria but for the first time in a very long time there is the hope of positive long term change coming out of all of this. Let’s be realistic, the Assad Dynasty was not going to last an eternity. It had to come to an end sometime. Every regime eventually falls. Especially corrupt one party Soviet inspired socialist regimes. This is the beginning of the end for this phase of Syria’s history and the start of a new chapter. Eventually things will improve and the people who lost there lives attaining this change will be viewed as true heroes.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:36 am
Souri said:
I am now in Syria. What Joshua Landis writes in no way represents the truth. He has just decided to adopt the opposition’s version of the story for some reason. His last two posts were very skewed and do not reflect the reality on the ground in anyway.
Polarization here is very high. I used to argue that Aleppo and Damascus are mostly Islamist so they must join the uprising at one point, however, this is not the reality on the ground. Most people here are obviously pro-regime, and they are getting very hostile to the demonstrators. I am hearing a lot of people who say the government has been dealing so softly with them. Many people would like the government to act even more harshly against the demonstrators. There is little sympathy with the killed. People are very worried about their future living. It was surprising to me that the poorest people were the most hostile to the demonstrators. One taxi driver told me that he earns his living by day and if he stops working for one day, he will have nothing to feed his family on that day.
When few people tried to demonstrate in Bab al-Hadid in Aleppo on Thursday, they were surrounded by ordinary residents of the neighborhood and they were not allowed to move. The demonstration was so small (definitely less than a hundred). Yesterday, the ‘Great Friday’ demonstration was surrounded by a larger crowed of ordinary citizens who were chanting for Bashar. You could even hear it in the clip that appeared on Youtube.
The same happened in Damascus. The Maydan demo was small, and it lasted for minutes. There were no killings at all, this is just BS like the other BS Joshua Landis has been publishing lately (like for example his claim that the mufti has joined the revolution). Much of Joshua’s information is false, and maybe this is what is making his evaluations unrealistic. I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose or if he has just screwed up in picking his sources. Be careful with picking your sources Mr. Landis. People like Ammar Abdulhamid are no good sources.
The regime decided yesterday to shoot at people because it knew people were ready to accept that. Actually, the majority of Syrians are expecting more use of force from the government and they don’t mind it. We may be heading to some major clash similar to that of the 1980’s, but the regime has most of the people on its side. The media weapon has not been very effective, and foreign intervention does not seem a realistic threat. I believe the regime is willing to take the challenge. Bashar Assad said that he does not fear anything as long as he has the people on his side. He indeed has a majority of the people on his side.
The Islamist insurgents have no chance of controlling a single village in Syria, not to say a city. In Libya, Qaddafi lost control over the eastern half of his country. In Egypt, Mubarak’s police stations were stormed by demonstrators and the demonstrations went unchecked. This cannot happen in Syria for many reasons, the most important reason being that the demonstrators do not have enough manpower to do it.
I don’t know why people were shot yesterday, but it sounds from what they said that they were trying to storm government and security buildings. They totally failed. The regime has huge militias composed of students, workers, and farmers in addition to the formidable security forces. These militias can easily defeat those Islamist protesters. The protesters cannot control a single village in Syria, they are too few and too weak. Like a caller said on Al-Jazeera yesterday, the demonstrators without the media are nothing.
The uprising in Syria is not meant to overthrow the regime because the people behind it know that it cannot. It is only meant to destablize Syria and force poltical concessions on it. Just listen to the American statements.
April 23rd, 2011, 2:49 am
yang said:
Please grant me permission to republish some of the content of your website on my website.
I will give you credit and place a source url along with your content.
my website is http://deconstructingislamism.com/
regards,
yang burz home aka M.Hussain
April 23rd, 2011, 3:11 am
Abd AlJalil said:
يقول أوباما : على الرئيس السوري أن يستمع لشعبه! و ان الرئيس السوري غير جاد في الغاء قانون الطوارئ ! أولا ليستمع أوباما الى كل شعوب الأرض كيف أنها تكرهه و تكره ممارسات أمريكا ! أما عن قانون الطواريء فليتفضل الرئيس الأمريكي بكشف سرية ما حاكت أجهزة دولته و ما أنفقت من أموال للحصول على هدا الكم من الدم السوري الطاهر ! سيحاسبكم الله !
April 23rd, 2011, 4:39 am
S.S said:
SOURI
This is a great analysis of facts. I hope every opposition person reads it. Indeed the opposition is few in numbers and are not able to control a single village in Syria. They have no leaders, no vision, no clear honest objectives, and no substance. They are just screaming “We need to end regime”. More Syrians in the opposition will soon stay home, as they will realize that they do not have the majority of people in their sides. People wants to get back to their business as usual and fed up with the chaos. There is no hope for the opposition to advance. The army has done nothing so far. Most Syrian even blame the government for not being harsh on insurgence.
MB has no future or hope in this country and the lions will east them for the second time.
Thank you SOURI for your thoughtful report
April 23rd, 2011, 6:20 am
Sophia said:
Souri,
Thanks for the account.
Do you think that what is happening is an attempt at destabilizing the country?
If so, some answers to these questions may yield some information:
– Are the people protesting in each city indigenous to that same city?
– Are the protesters armed?
– Why there are no women, elderly and children in the protests?
– As most protesters seem to be young men, are they unemployed?
– Are employed people joining the protests?
– As Syria is a country for Iraqi refugees, are these refugees joining the protests?
– Are there people from the official and known opposition leading the protests?
– Do they have someone speaking for them?
In a police country like Syria, the regime must also know if the protesters are ordinary citizen or already known by the security forces.
On the other hand not one journalist covering the protests has provided these demographic information about them
April 23rd, 2011, 6:21 am
Fadi said:
WHERE IS SHAMI AND HIS FELLOW OPPOSITION SYMPATHIZERS. LISTEN SIR: MESSING WITH IRAN’s BACKYARD IS DANGEROUS. READ BELLOW
Obama’s Syria Bind
MICHAEL CROWLEY Friday, April 22, 2011 |
“Obviously, Obama has zero interest in intervening in Syria, not only because Libya is plenty for now–but also because messing around in Iran’s backyard is a very dangerous game. Nor is Obama eager to see Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s demise. The White House worries the result could be a) vicious Iraq-style sectarian violence or b) a radical Islamist regime that causes even more problems for the U.S. than Assad, whom the Obama administration hoped to win over diplomatically before the Arab Spring erupted. (Hence Hillary Clintons’s absurd-seeming labeling of Assad as a “reformer.”)”
Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/04/22/obamas-syria-bind/#ixzz1KLD0mTkr
April 23rd, 2011, 6:34 am
Fadi said:
Intervention in Syria Unlikely
BY NICK OTTENSAPRIL 23, 2011POSTED IN POWER
“Leading a military intervention could backfire however. While America’s supportive role in Libya has been criticized at home, a more aggressive involvement would probably have invited the scorn of other greater powers, notably China and Russia, and possibly bolstered anti-Americanism across the Middle East.Unilateral or near exclusive American action in Syria might not even be acceptable to European allies who remember the invasion of Iraq all too well. Britain and France may be urging their American ally to intensify operations in Libya but Germany and Turkey opposed the intervention in the first place and would almost certainly oppose a similar effort in Syria”.
Daniel DePetris pointed this out earlier this month, warning that the “sudden removal of Assad and his Alawite dominated regime could ignite a sectarian conflict.”
April 23rd, 2011, 6:44 am
Souri said:
Sophia,
It is hard for me to answer most of those questions. I can just say two points that I and many Syrians are sure of.
Peaceful demonstrations? BS… even the clips that they publish show that they are not peaceful. Did you see the video when they were attacking the justice hall in Deraa? The video when they were storming نادي الضباط in Homs? The videos when they were attacking Assad’s posters? The video of the Alawi vegetable seller who was killed and mutilated? etc. There are dozens of videos published BY THE PROTESTERS THEMSEVLES that show that these are not peaceful demo’s at all. The Syrian TV has also been broadcasting very disturbing images and interviews.
A taxi driver in Aleppo told me that his brother’s car was stopped and burnt near Homs because the car had an Aleppo plate. They told him Aleppo was a traitor city.
I was following the websites of the protesters and I repeatedly read calls for storming the security branches. I guess this is the reason for why there were killings. The security personnel have orders to shoot if they were attacked or if they saw acts of vandalism. A witness from Homs said on Al-Jazeera yesterday that the demonstration was going peacefully until the demonstrators reached a branch of الأمن الجنائي when they were shot. My guess is that they must have tried to storm it or throw things at it. Why would they go near it in the first place?
You are Lebanese, right? Syria is very similar to Lebanon. Leave aside all that crap that you read and hear in the media. People here are very sectarianist. Any popular movement must have some sectarianist dynamics. I know that the many reports about attacks on the Alawis are true even without seeing evidence, because I know the Syrian society and I know how the people who are demonstrating think.
You don’t need to be a genius to understand what is going on in Syria. Just ask any Christian or Alawi who live in Syria and they will explain to you. This is a sectarianist Islamist movement. Everybody inside Syria knows the kind of people who live in Duma and the other places where the “revolution” is taking place, and everybody inside Syria knows what this is about, even if they don’t frankly say it.
I talked to a man from Duma in Damascus. He was a supporter of the uprising. He did not have a beard and did not appear religious. As we talked, he revealed to me that he was once summoned by the mukhabarat and asked if he prayed or not (this is a common question that the mukhabarat direct to Islamist suspects). He expressed to me how much he detested this. This is what the revolution is about. Those are Islamist Sunnis who are fed up with the repression of the Nusayri regime and they want their freedom. Every Syrian knows this, even if they pretend otherwise.
April 23rd, 2011, 7:35 am
Souri said:
Well, thanks Dr. Landis for correcting and publishing my post. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Reuters correpondent (Khaled Yacoub Oweis) is based in Amman, Jordan, not in Syria. He was kicked out of Syria for being biased, and this has only increased his bias. His reportering has been retaliatory in nature since he was expelled from Syria. I would not trust anything he writes.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/26/us-syria-reuters-idUSTRE72P1TD20110326
April 23rd, 2011, 8:22 am
Off the Wall said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YISHkAq_o5w&feature=share
No comment
April 23rd, 2011, 8:33 am
qunfuz said:
Souri’s propaganda makes me sick. Damascus was locked down yesterday. People attempting to cross the city were taken to police stations and questioned. There is a funeral in Meydan now. In the suburbs many were killed and injured. Regime barbarians stopped the wounded reaching hospital, and occupied the hospitals. I do not understand those syrians who continue to justify this barbarity targetting their own people. some of them are cowards, some are worse than that.
every shot fired by these regime dogs brings the country closer to civil war. I don’t believe the stupid stories about infiltrators, salafis and armed insurrection, but of course when people are being slaughtered in this way some of them will arm themselves in self-defence.
http://qunfuz.com/2011/04/22/great-friday/
April 23rd, 2011, 8:40 am
qunfuz said:
who would have thought that Bashaar would turn out to be such a criminal and traitor. He, Maher, Assef, Rami must be tried for their crimes.
April 23rd, 2011, 8:41 am
Syria: Blog interview with Opposition activist Ammar Abdulhamid · Global Voices said:
[…] the violence in Syria continues to spread, many uneasy questions remain unanswered. One point that brings all parties in accordance […]
April 23rd, 2011, 8:47 am
Observer said:
I love the comments of Souri! He is so delusional that I think he should be elected to the inner circle of the ministry of information.
Today Sana reported that the security services caught people with “bottles of blood to create fabricated video clips”, just as the other day the clip showing the mistreatment of protesters was attributed to the “US marines and Peshmerga in Iraq mistreating insurgents”.
Yet again, Sana showed clips of the Midan demonstration as people celebrating for “the rain that fell on Syria”.
I would like for Souri to continue to post as often as possible for it is so hilarious and delusional as to truly give a real “insider” view of what goes on in the tortured mind of the regime and its supporters.
April 23rd, 2011, 8:51 am
Off The Wall said:
Dear QUNFUZ
Great article. Thanks for the link. You have quoted a local coordination committee, can you please tell which committee was it that declared:
Freedom and dignity cannot be achieved except through peaceful democratic change. All prisoners of conscience must be freed. The existing security apparatus has to be dismantled and replaced by one with with specific jurisdiction and which operates according to law.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:05 am
Opal said:
Just confirming that there was definitely ongoing gunfire in Barzeh, a northern area of Damascus, around 5:30 yesterday. The media is reporting three fatalities yesterday. Reuters reports three additional fatalities today at funerals.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:06 am
Observer said:
Here is the editorial from Alquds Alarabi and it is really a clear and hard headed message especially for Souri and the ministry of propaganda.
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today\22z999.htm&arc=data\201144-22\22z999.htm
April 23rd, 2011, 9:06 am
Tamar said:
If there is anyone delusional here it is you ”observer.” Apparently not so much of an observer yourself. I’m a Syrian Armenian. From the minorities of Syria. And as all the Armenians in Syria I support the president and the regime. We are allowed to have Armenian schools and Chrches in Syria. We are treated equally as any Syrian. I never not even once felt that I’m treated differently. I have friends from every sect. Sunni, Alaw, Arab Christians, durzi and even an Iraqi refugee who is Shi3a,,Not even once the religion issue was on table. Cause we never cared. And i’m sure all Syrians feel the same way. In fact I consider myself Syrian first and Armenian second. This regime gave Christians the freedom to practice their religion. And for that we thank Syrian government a lot. As most of the Syrians I pray the country will not fall into the hands of Muslim Brotherhoods.
And it’s funny how people are so ignorant of the fact that there is a plot on all Middle East. Do you people really think that suddenly Arabs decided to wake up and start a revolution? This has been planned long ago. To create a mess in Middle East. the approach was though different in each country. And sadly it was so easy to convince few people to join this trend in the name of God. Why would Mosques ask for Jihad if this was not a Muslim Brotherhood movement? Of course with the support of foreign forces who are ready to spread money in order to see Syrian blood.
read this
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syrian-opposition-groups-cables-released-by-wikileaks-show/2011/04/14/AF1p9hwD_story.html
If Syrians will not open their eyes, we will soon will end up in a very ugly civil war.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:11 am
why-discuss said:
The real position of Moscow about Syria, the voice of reason, not the smeared media version.
Moscow calls for end to violence in Syria
English.news.cn 2011-04-23 20:39:22 Feedback Print RSS
MOSCOW, April 23 (Xinhua) — Russia was concerned about the growing tension in Syria and wanted the violence to end, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
The ministry expressed in a statement its concern about casualties among civilians.
The government and all nongovernmental and religious groups of our friend Syria should stop violence and continue looking for fair solutions to the existing problems within the legal framework and based on civil accord,” the statement released on the ministry’s website said.
“We are firmly convinced that the country’s stable and democratic development in the interests of all Syrian citizens can be ensured only through constructive dialogue and acceleration of large-scale political reforms and socioeconomic transformations planned by the Syrian leadership ,” it said.
Large-scale anti-government protests erupted in major Syrian cities Friday, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad approved a decree lifting the country’s state of emergency, which had been in place since 1963, and allowed peaceful demonstrations…. ( more)
April 23rd, 2011, 9:20 am
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
Souri and the rest of the Reactionaries here are hysterically delusional. Their Utopian benevolent dictatorship does not exist. There’s no benevolence in massacring innocent mourners in funerals. This Junta is pure evil. It’s fate is sealed. Down the drain straight to the sewerage of history.
.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:28 am
qunfuz said:
OTW – I think it was a joint statement by the LCCs. I quoted from al-jazeera and the guardian. I don’t know anything about them, but i’m glad to see the uprising is organising itself.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:10 am
N.Z. said:
With each senseless killing the regime is loosing its solid base.
Syrians’ nationalistic character is what keeps this regime in place and not the security apparatus.
What started as a futile incident, grew larger with every killing and abduction.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:12 am
Tamar said:
Amir,
I don’t think someone who’s sitting in Tel Aviv knows better what’s happening in Syria than Syrians ok?
Those so called ”innocents” are anything but innocents. They’re trouble makers destroying cars and hospitals and terrorizing people and killing civilians and security forces. As Souri said, the government has gone too soft on them. If you ask my opinion they need a real ass kick and they need to be put in jail.
People you know what they were asking while protesting? they wanted the Mounaqabat to teach in schools and that they should seperate males and females in different schools. I have nothing against niqab. But we all know that teaching is not just by words. kids interract with facial expressions. It’s not healthy for a child to be tought with a mounaqaba. And there are seperate schools in Syria as well as mixed ones. Those who have a problem in sending their kids to mized school can send them to separate ones. These are simple examples of how things started. Simple exampled of how it was a Salafi movement all along. Untill they proved it by asking for jihad. Jihad against who exactly? Against their own blood?
Rest assured Amir the regime will remain strong. Cause those so called protesters are only 1% of the Syrians. So you got 99% supporting the regime.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:17 am
qunfuz said:
MP Nasser Hariri has resigned in protest at the massacre. So at least one person in that stupid ‘parliament’ has a heart and a brain.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:17 am
trustquest said:
The killing was for a reason, the regime chose to kill as much as they can to prevent the many tries from protesters to reach the Abbaseen Square in Damascus.
Protesters are determined not to stop. Bashar is a dirty name now.
Two parliamentary members resigned today and pointed to regime as responsible for the killing
https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-mCVHH57nyY%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded%23t%3D45s&h=525c3CFyo5APKq7P3bxTIXoGkmA
April 23rd, 2011, 10:21 am
trustquest said:
Bashar present as a reformer to the world on Easter
April 23rd, 2011, 10:23 am
qunfuz said:
the massacre in Izra is continuing. Another 5 murdered there today (so far) and 15 yesterday. This is like a Zionist day out in Gaza.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:30 am
Norman said:
It is not a dispute about reform and the speed of that reform anymore, The opposition has changed that to a war against the Baath party and the president, They do not want equal right to the ballet box, they want to have the only chance and access to the ballet box, it is a military take over .
It is a war that the opposition has declared, the Baath party and the government will not give up after what they saw in Iraq, It is a war till one side wins.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:42 am
Mouna said:
Well, Souri is definitely a regime supporter and a bigoted anti-Muslim, but at least he proposes an argument whether we agree or disagree with that.
Actually Fadi is … [edited for insults… please Mouna, your observations are so good. (JL).]
April 23rd, 2011, 10:47 am
Revlon said:
#30 Dear OFF THE WALL, thank you for the link!
April 23rd, 2011, 10:56 am
Mouna said:
I apologise, Dr Landis. I am actually more into reading than commenting. I call on Aboud and Syrian Hamster to start posting again otherwise this blog will be acquired by state media.
April 23rd, 2011, 11:01 am
Tamar said:
why my comments are not being published?
April 23rd, 2011, 11:04 am
Tamar said:
Well at least you’re reading this Mr Joshua. I just wanna give my opinion about how fake you are. Ypu don’t want the miorities voice to be heard and an Armenians who is supporting the government. Moderation ha? there was nothing in what I wrote except the truth. Or maybe you just wanna keep two or three comments of those who support the regime and spread the negative ones. Well don’t worry.. I’ll help to spread the truth about your blogs
cheers :p
Tamar
April 23rd, 2011, 11:18 am
Honest Patriot said:
WHO is committing all these abominable atrocities shown in the videos? and why? Today’s instant communications bring to the forefront the horrors of war and the horrors of civil strife and civil war.
Powerless as a distant observer is, I nevertheless can at least express sorrow and sympathy to all the Syrian brothers and sisters for the tragedy befalling their dear country and pray in this Holy season for the emergence of a courageous statesman/woman who can inspire a rapid peaceful solution.
April 23rd, 2011, 11:49 am
Louai said:
Souri
thank you souri ,really thank you
April 23rd, 2011, 11:53 am
Norman said:
Thank You HP, But i think that the opposition is not seeking reform any more they are seeking the fall of the Baath party and the president, That will not be allowed in Syria by the Ideological army.
April 23rd, 2011, 11:53 am
Sophia said:
#28 Souri,
Thanks for your attempt to answer my questions.
My point was that we need really to know what is happening based on investigative work that is impossible to achieve right now so we are caught between two opposing narratives.
But I trust that you provided an honest account as an observer.
April 23rd, 2011, 11:55 am
Revlon said:
The silent Syrian public is now forced to identify with:
Those who revere human life and can not condone the regime’s atrocities
The rest, who revere otherwise
April 23rd, 2011, 12:12 pm
Revlon said:
Reactions of the political, security, and media circles of the regime, to events on the ground, are neither random, nor unforeseen.
We are witnessing the escalation of activities of Operation Wa2dulfitnah, masterminded by Jr and communicated to the parliament in his first speech.
The plan has political, military, and information agendas
The political premise is that the system should stay as is; Genuine reforms are incompatible with its survival.
Improvement of public relations would be sought to accommodate grievances
Re-naming emergency laws would serve the dual purpose of re-forming its name while retaining its needed functions.
The security, military and information agendas were leaked in the form of a copy of a confidential directive from General Mukhabarat. It was posted on Syriacomment, a few weeks earlier.
Events on the ground have corroborated the authenticity of that document.
April 23rd, 2011, 12:17 pm
Badr said:
Anyone who has been taking “SOURI‘s” comments seriously ought to consider this:
In this comment of his, he said:
“I am Sunni from Aleppo … I have Wahhabi relatives …”
while in this one he said:
“Growing up as Alawi in a small village …”
It looks he found a way to solve the sectarian issue.
April 23rd, 2011, 12:26 pm
Revlon said:
الثورة السورية || عاجل :: استشهاد ياسين محمد ياسين مواليد سنة 1990 من صيدا درعا ووصوله الى مشفى درعا الوطني الآن حيث قام الأمن باستيقاف سيارة امام المجمع الحكومي قبل قليل و رمي شخص الشهيد ياسين محمد ياسين بداخل السيارة
و طلبو من سائق السيارة ان يرميه بالمشفى الوطني
51 minutes ago
Al Fati7a upon his soul,
May God bless his family with solace and empower them with patience.
April 23rd, 2011, 12:27 pm
why-discuss said:
Norman
Unfortunately for the opposition, Bashar al Asad is still respected by the majority of Syrians and the army is still united and support him.
The opposition has two course of actions:
1- Enter into a new campaign (slogans, Videos of killings ) to blame directly Bashar and the Baath for atrocities, in the hope that more people will call for his resignation. Because there is no alternative face among the rebels, I think horrified syrians will stick to Bashar, especially after the abuses and misinformation coming from Al Jazeera and most News TV are becoming publicly recognized.
Unless the army and the police switch side, on long term, the opposition stands no chance. If they continue, they may end up by being excluded from the new era Syria will move to after calm has been restored and reforms implemented.
2. Renounce to remove Bashar and the Baath party and call for Qatar or Turkey or Moscow to enter into negotiations for a ‘civil accord’. Many things have changed and the government is under serious pressures from its allies to make reforms, so the time is ripe for negotiations.
I know that ultimately they will come to the second, but after how many innocents dead?
April 23rd, 2011, 12:31 pm
Revlon said:
حركة سوريا شباب من أجل الحرية Youth Syria For Freedom
أحداث اليوم من شام
أحداث اليوم من شام || شام : حمص : عاجل : ترفض السلطات تسليم الجثث الا بشرط تسجيل الاهل اعترافات للتلفزيون السوري أن عصابات سلفية قتلت ابنائهم.
2 hours ago
April 23rd, 2011, 12:34 pm
Revlon said:
استقالة النائب ناصر الحريري على قناة الجزيرة
April 23rd, 2011, 12:42 pm
Revlon said:
Chants of Fury at a funeral
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=103166199771408&oid=420796315726&comments
April 23rd, 2011, 12:43 pm
SURI-AMREKI said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADtR0-slBs&feature=player_embedded
The video below is fantastic. In an Almanar talk show, an Egyptian politician (Essam Sultan) is trying to make the point that there can be no resistance without freedom and dignity, that Hezbollah would be much better off without a dictatorship like the Syrian regime supporting it, and that the resistance should be happy that the Syrian people is trying to topple that regime.
The confused moderator again and again tried to cut him off and bring him back to Hezbollah’s paradigm of what resistance is (That Egypt should close the Israeli embassy and cut off gas exports), until Mr. Sultan decided to leave the show in protest.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:00 pm
Souri said:
I am the Sunni from Aleppo. I didn’t write the other comment.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:01 pm
Observer said:
I do believe that the regime has supporters; they can be minorities afraid of a Sunni dictatorship even if it is in their imagination; it is certainly a clique of profiteers from the corruption of the regime; it is certainly numerous judges with decision bought to the highest bidder; it is local mayors who expropriated lands and practiced mafia style imposition of bribes on the local people; it is officers who receive cars (usually stolen by the security) for private use; it is officers who force conscripts to work in their homes and gardens and expropriated lands as slave laborers.
The level of corruption is unbelievable in this God forsaken country. Today two members of parliament resigned over the shooting of mourners.
So I do love to read the comments of Souri and Tamar; their discourse is one of pure sectarianism and that is the tack used by the authorities to paint any dissent. As for the conspiracy, I heard that the there is one to “increase the rate of divorce in the Arab world” and another to “make clouds orange” and a third to cause “baldness in women”.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:03 pm
Sophia said:
#68 OBSERVER,
Your comment on conspiracies is insensitive. Arabs do believe in conspiracies but they are not the only ones. Americans also are always talking about conspiracies. The conspiracy theory is central to political popular narratives in the US, it is even embedded in political ads.
As for conspiracies int he Arab world, their origin resides in the fact that since the end of official colonialism, Arabs have never been able to control their own destinies and they had rulers who conspired with outside powers against them.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:09 pm
why-discuss said:
Observer
If these are a minority, can you explain the scarcity of slogans and posters calling for a regime change and Bashar removal? Egypt and Tunisia demonstrators had these all over: Erhal! Al shaab yurid eskat al nizam! I have no seen/heard much of that during the demonstrations.
Do you think it will come?
April 23rd, 2011, 1:14 pm
Mouna said:
Oops … looks like we have two radical anti-Islam Souris.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:15 pm
Akbar Palace said:
Terror Supporters Complaining of Terrorism NewZ
the massacre in Izra is continuing. Another 5 murdered there today (so far) and 15 yesterday. This is like a Zionist day out in Gaza.
Qunfuz,
You’re forgeting one small item, the Syrian protesters are not firing thousands of mortars and missiles into Syrian population centers.
Your “moral equivalence” barometer is in bad need of repair.;)
April 23rd, 2011, 1:18 pm
SyrianStatement said:
الرجاء من كل سوري التوقيع على البيان
http://www.facebook.com/SyrianStatement
بيان حول الوضع في سورية
فقط الذين لا يرون ولا يسمعون يستطيعون اليوم أن لا يلاحظوا إلى أي مدى وصل التجييش والانقسام في المجتمع السوري، هذا التجييش والانقسام الذي عمل كل من النظام والمعارضة على تعميقه عبر تجاهله، وعبر اعتبار نفسه حقا مطلقا والآخر شرا مطلقا.
والشعب السوري، دون استثناء على أي مستوى، بات قاب قوسين أو أدنى من أن يدفع ثمنا باهظا نتيجة لغياب العقل شبه المطلق، سيبدو الثمن الذي دفعه آخرون في بلدان أخرى مجرد نزهة أمامه. ويكفي لتأكيد ذلك مراجعة ما قاله المعارضون أنفسهم خلال السنوات الماضية حول الواقع في سورية، سواء مجتمعيا، مدنيا، أو قوة النظام وإمكانياته..
وانطلاقا من مسؤولية كل سوري وسورية عن كل قطرة دم تسفح، وعن كل النتائج التي سوف تترتب على ما سيحدث خلال الوقت القريب القادم، يستوي في ذلك الجميع من حيث تحمل المسؤولية..
فإننا، نحن الموقعين/ات على هذا البيان، نعلن موقفنا الواضح والصريح مما يجري:
1- على المظاهرات أن تتوقف فورا لمدة خمس عشرة يوما تشكل نوعا من فرصة للنظام السوري أن يثبت جدية القرارات التي اتخذها، وينجز الإجراءات الأخرى الموعودة. ولا تعود المظاهرات خلال هذه الفترة إلا في حالة واحدة: ثبوت قيام النظام بحملة اعتقالات للنشطاء أو المشاركين في المظاهرات.
وفي حال عدم توقف المظاهرات وإعطاء فرصة للنظام، فهذا يعني أن المطالب لا تتعلق بإصلاحات مهما كانت جذرية، إنما هو إسقاط للنظام ككل، بكل ما يفتحه ذلك من احتمالات بتنا نعرفها جيدا.
2- على النظام أن يبرهن فورا على جديته وعدم رغبته بالالتفاف على القرارات الهامة التي اتخذها، وذلك عبر:
– التعديل الفوري للمرسوم التشريعي رقم 54 لعام 2011 المتضمن تنظيم حق التظاهر، بحيث يكون ديمقراطيا فعلا ومناسبا لتأمين الحق بالتظاهر دون تحويل هذه الحق إلى معجزة غير قابلة للتحقق.
– تعديل المرسوم التشريعي رقم 55 لعام 2011، المتضمن تعديل اختصاص الضابطة العدلية، فهي قد تحولت إلى “حاكم عرفي” جديد باسم مدني.
– إطلاق سراح كافة المعتقلين السياسيين ومعتقلي الرأي، وتحويل كل من اتهم بجرائم جنائية إلى المحاكم المدنية فورا. وتصفية آثار قانون الطوارئ ومحكمة الدولة العليا (الحرمان من الحقوق المدنية والسياسية والحرمان من السفر و..).
– إطلاق مبادرة فورية لإنهاء ملف الممنوعين من العودة إلى سورية.
– إقرار قوانين الأحزاب، الجميعات، الإعلام.. على أسس ديمقراطية حقيقية.
– إطلاق محاسبة واسعة النطاق حول كل من مارس عنفا خلال الفترة الماضية، محاسبة علنية وحاسمة، سواء كان من قيادات الأمن، أو من المتهمين بحمل السلاح في المظاهرات أو حولها.
وفي الوقت نفسه، نطالب كافة وسائل الإعلام، والأشخاص الذين يتكلمون عبر وسائل الإعلام المحلية أو العربية أو الدولية، من الموالاة والمعارضة (ضمنا الإخبارية السورية والفضائية السورية)، التوقف فورا عن استخدام أية عبارات أو كلمات تحريضية أو تخوينية أو تمس بأي شكل باتهام الطرف الآخر بأي شكل كان. والتركيز فقط على مفاتيح الحل الواقعية بعيدا عن الأوهام حول سقوط النظام، أو التمرد السلفي المسلح..
إن غياب الثقة بما يفعله النظام أمر مبرر عبر عقود من غيابها، إلا أن الفرصة الآن ممكنة للتأكد من جدية الإصلاحات. وبما أن الشارع ما يزال موجودا، ولم يعد من الممكن إغلاقه في وجه الناس، فإن العودة إلى الشارع بعد هذه الفرصة، قائمة تماما. وربما ستكون، في حال عدم تطبيق النظام لوعوده بشكل دقيق، أوسع نطاقا إلى حد بعيد..
إننا، نحن الموقعين/ات على هذا البيان، نحمل النظام السوري، وكل من أشخاص المعارضة، وكل متظاهر، كامل المسؤولية الأخلاقية والجنائية ما لم يبادر الجميع إلى تدارك اللحظة التي وصلنا إليها بعقلانية وحرص على وحدة سورية وإيقاف انحدارها نحو العنف المنلفت من عقاله.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:22 pm
SyrianStatement said:
In English:
Only those who do not see or hear today can fail to notice the extent
to which mobilization and division has reached in Syrian society. This
mobilization and division is the result of both the regime and the
opposition alike, since both deepen it by ignoring it, and by
declaring themselves as the absolute right and all others are evil.
The Syrian people, without exception, at all levels, are around the
corner from paying a heavy price as a result of an almost total
absence of reason. The price paid by others in other countries will be
like a picnic compared to this. To be sure of this, we need only to
review what the opposition figures themselves have discussed during
past years about the state of things in Syria, both community-based,
civilian, and the strength of the system and its potential.
Every Syrian shares equal responsibility for each drop of blood that
has been shed, and for all results that come out of what happens
during the next few weeks.
Therefore, we, the signatories on this statement, declare our clear
and explicit stand on what is happening:
1 – All demonstrations must stop immediately for a period of fifteen
days, as an opportunity for the Syrian regime to prove the seriousness
of the decisions made and to perform other promised actions.
Demonstrations must NOT return during this period except in one case:
the Regime is proven to arrest activists or participants in the
demonstrations.
2 – Regime has to immediately prove its seriousness and unwillingness
to circumvent the important decisions made, through:
– The immediate amendment of the legislative decree No. 54 for 2011
that regulates the right to demonstrate, so it is really democratic
and appropriate to secure the right to demonstrate without turning
this right to a miracle that is not achievable.
– Amendment of Legislative Decree No. 55 of 2011, amending the
jurisdiction of the judicial police, as they have turned into a
“martial ruler” under a more civilized name;
– The release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience,
and conversion all criminal offenses of which they stand accused to
civil courts immediately. Also, the revocation of the effects of the
emergency law and the Supreme Court of the State, such as deprivation
of civil and political rights and the denial of travel;
– An immediate solution for the cases of all those banned from
returning to Syria;
– Adoption of laws that regulate the creation of political parties,
associations, and the media on the basis of true democracy.
– The launch of a nationwide campaign to publicly bring to account all
those responsible for the bloodshed in the past weeks, regardless of
whether they acted on behalf of the regime, the opposition, or another
party, and regardless of whether they are leaders of security services
or others proven to own any kind of lethal weapons.
At the same time, we call on all the media and people who speak
through the media–whether local, Arab or international, loyalist or
opposition (inclusive Syrian official TV)–to stop immediately the use
of any phrases or words enticing, labeling, or accusing other parties
in any form. We must focus only on the keys to the solution, not on
illusions of the fall of the regime or of armed rebellion by Islamist
extremists.
Lack of confidence in the Regime is justified, given the decades of
absence of public trust, but the opportunity is now possible to bring
serious reforms into effect. The streets still exist, and since it is
no longer possible to close them in the face of people, the
opportunity to return to the streets still stands. If the Regime fails
to deliver on its promises, this return will likely be wider by far.
We, the signatories on this statement, hold the Syrian regime, and all
of the people of the opposition, and all the protesters, full moral
and criminal responsibility unless all begin to understand this moment
rationally, assure the unity of Syria, and stop the descent into
senseless violence.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:25 pm
Syrian Security fires on Protesters, Kills 90 | Informed Comment said:
[…] Josh Landis points out the significance of protests in the historic Midan area of Damascus, where nationalist crowds condemned French rule. His readers point out how broad-based the protests now are, with Druze and Imaili towns joining in. […]
April 23rd, 2011, 1:25 pm
SyrianStatement said:
En français:
Déclaration sur la situation en Syrie
Seules les personnes incapables aujourd’hui de voir ou d’entendre sont, du même coup, incapables de mesurer le degré de mobilisation et de fracture dans la société syrienne, mobilisation et fracture que le régime et l’opposition à la fois n’ont fait, en les ignorant, qu’intensifier, en se considérant dans le droit absolu et en considérant l’autre dans le tort absolu.
L’ensemble du peuple syrien, sans exception et à tous les niveaux, est sur le point de payer un lourd tribut en raison de l’absence presque totale de la raison, tribut qui fera apparaître comme dérisoires les prix payés par les peuples qui l’ont précédé. Il suffit pour le confirmer d’examiner ce que les opposants eux-mêmes ont dit au cours des dernières années sur la réalité, à la fois communautaire et civile, en Syrie ou concernant la force du régime et son potentiel.
Étant donné la responsabilité de chaque Syrien et Syrienne de chaque goutte de sang versée et tous les résultats découlant de ce qui se passera dans les jours qui viennent, responsabilité qui incombe à tous également,
Nous, signataires de cette Déclaration, déclarons notre claire et explicite position sur ce qui se passe :
1- Les manifestations doivent cesser immédiatement pour une période de quinze jours, de sorte que le régime syrien puisse prouver le sérieux des décisions qu’il a prises et effectuer les autres actions promises. Les manifestations durant cette période ne reprendront qu’en cas d’arrestation avérée de militants ou de manifestants.
Dans l’éventualité où les manifestations ne s’arrêteraient pas et que ce délai ne serait pas offert au régime, cela signifie que les revendications ne sont pas liés aux réformes, aussi radicales qu’elles soient, mais qu’il s’agit bien du renversement du régime dans son ensemble, avec tout ce que cela ouvre de possibilités que nous connaissons bien désormais.
2- Le régime devrait immédiatement prouver son sérieux et sa volonté de ne pas contourner les décisions importantes prises, et ceci comme suit :
– La modification immédiate du décret législatif n° 54 de 2011 organisant le droit de manifester, de sorte qu’il devient réellement démocratique et susceptible de garantir réellement le droit de manifester, non d’en faire un miracle non-réalisable.
– La modification du décret législatif n° 55 de 2011 modifiant la compétence de la police judiciaire, devenue ainsi une nouvelle « autorité martiale » sous couvert civil.
– La libération de tous les prisonniers politiques et prisonniers d’opinion et la traduction immédiate de tout individu accusé d’infraction pénale devant les tribunaux civils, ainsi que la liquidation des effets de la loi d’urgence et de la Cour suprême de sécurité de l’État (privation des droits civils et politiques, interdiction du voyage, etc.).
– Lancement d’une initiative immédiate pour clore le dossier des personnes exilées de Syrie.
– Adoption de la loi des partis politiques, associations, médias, etc., sur de véritables bases démocratiques.
– La traduction en justice, publique et irrévocable, de tout individu ayant eu recours à la violence au cours des dernières semaines, qu’il fasse partie des chefs de sécurité ou des accusés de port d’armes dans ou autour des manifestations.
Dans le même temps, nous demandons à tous les médias, ainsi qu’aux personnes s’exprimant à travers les médias, locaux, arabes ou internationaux, qu’elles soient loyalistes et de l’opposition (y compris les chaînes d’informations et satellitaire syriennes), de cesser immédiatement l’utilisation d’expressions provocatrices, traitant l’autre de « traître » ou l’accusant sous une forme quelconque, et de se concentrer uniquement sur les clés d’une solution réaliste, loin des illusions sur le renversement du régime ou la rébellion armée intégriste.
Le manque de confiance en le régime est justifié par des décennies de son absence, mais l’opportunité est désormais possible de vérifier le sérieux des réformes. Puisque la rue est désormais accessible, et qu’il n’est plus possible de la refermer en face du peuple, le retour à la rue après l’expiration de ce délai est tout à fait envisageable et prendra probablement une envergure encore plus large au cas où le régime ne tiendrait pas réellement ses promesses.
Nous, signataires de cette Déclaration, nous tenons le régime syrien, l’opposition, ainsi que tout manifestant, pleinement responsables, moralement et pénalement, à moins qu’ils ne prennent des mesures rationnelles pour remédier à la situation, et ce dans le souci de maintenir la Syrie unie et de mettre fin à une situation qui ne cesse de dégénérer vers la violence meurtrière incontrôlée.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:26 pm
Austria said:
I strongly belive in the cause of freedom and the fight against poverty. However, what I fail to see is how toppling the regime in this manner will bring about the changes that the demonstrators aspire for. I see many possible outcomes that could transpire if the regime were to fall including a prolonged civil war, religious extremists exploitng the void, chaos, poverty and further economic decline, etc.
Although the worst predictions of what could happen in Syria include comparisons with Iraq. I think that the situation could turn out to be much worse. Syria can be easily divided along sectarian lines and many factors that were invested in stabilizing Iraq are not available in Syria. Such factors as 1) the US military in large numbers backed by 2) huge development budgets to support the building of a new Iraq as well as 3) the huge oil reserves that are second only to Saudi Arabia did not turn Iraq into a more desirable place to live than under Saddam even 8 years after his fall.
Another question is why don’t we see 20,000 or 100,000 man (let alone 1 million man) marches in the main streets of Aleppo and Damascus. If the opposition cannot galvanize such relatively small marhces in largest cities after 3 weeks of uprising and when wall of fear has been decisively torn down, then one starts to wonder if this opposition truly enjoys a silent majority support.
The opposition has two options to spare the country further bloodshed, instability and the potential for civil war:
1. Peacefull demontsration demanding specific reforms that do not escalate to toppling the regime. This has been quite effective and the president has shown great flexibility by lifting the state of emergency, granting citizenship to Kurds, increasing wages and subsidies, etc. This is anyway what one would expect as a natural outcome from demonstrations
2. Orgnaizing, outlining plans and establishing a leadership: the opposition has appoint a leadership and develop a common vision of how to rebuild a new Syria. Is the coutry going to become sectarian or secular? communist or capitalist? who are the leaders of the opposition, what foreign policy will be pursued (peace with Israel, pro US and anti Iran, etc.)?, how will economy be developed? what’s the plan to deal with the increasing commodities prices and fight poverty (this is already challenge for developed European countries, see Greece, Iceland, Portugal, etc.)
Gaining the solid silent majority necessary to unseat the govenrnment will require a leadership and a plan to address the above issues. In the absence of that, option 1 is the best hope for the country.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:32 pm
EYE DOCTOR said:
If 2,000 people came out in Meedan this Friday, then next Friday it will be 20,000. The people can only remain silent for so long. Cracks in the establishment are beginning to form. The writing is on the wall. The regime will fall.
April 23rd, 2011, 1:36 pm
Shami said:
شباب “ثورة 25 يناير” في مصر يتضامنون مع انتفاضة الشعب السوري
الكاتب (رويترز)
السبت, 23 أبريل 2011 17:28
أعلنت أكثر من حركة مصرية شبابية فاعلة في “ثورة 25 يناير” التي أطاحت بالرئيس السابق حسني مبارك تضامنها يوم السبت مع انتفاضة الشعب السوري ضد حكم الرئيس بشار الاسد.
وقالت حركة 6 ابريل يوم السبت في بيان ان مقتل العشرات في ” الجمعة العظيمة” يوم الجمعة هو أول اختبار لتطبيق الغاء قانون الطوارئ في سوريا وان الضحايا الذين طالبوا بالحرية في مظاهرة سلمية سقطوا برصاص الامن السوري.
وأضاف البيان أن هذا “يعني أن بشار الاسد لا يعرف غير لغة الدماء في حواره مع الشعب السوري ومطالبه” مشددا على التضامن مع كافة الشعوب العربية الساعية الى الحرية.
وقال نشطاء من المدافعين عن حقوق الانسان ان قوات الامن السورية قتلت بالرصاص عشرات المحتجين في مدن وبلدات بأنحاء البلاد يوم الجمعة في أعنف أيام الاحتجاجات السلمية التي بدأت منذ شهر.
وأعلن أكثر من عضو في مجلس الشعب السوري يوم السبت الاستقالة من البرلمان احتجاجا على قتل المحتجين المطالبين بالديمقراطية.
واستنكر (اتحاد شباب الثورة) في مصر يوم السبت في بيان “قمع المحتجين السلميين باستخدام القوة والرصاص الحي… بعد أن حطم (السوريون) حاجز الخوف” وخرجوا في مظاهرات حاشدة يوم الجمعة.
وشدد البيان الذي حمل عنوان (الشعب المصري مع الشعب السوري يد واحدة من أجل الحرية) على حق الجماهير في الاعتصام والتظاهر السلمي مطالبا بكشف ملابسات وقوع حالات قتل في الاسابيع الماضية في عدة مدن سورية واعلان نتائج التحقيقات.
وقال المنسق العام لاتحاد شباب الثورة عبد الرازق عيد في البيان ان ان صمود الشعب السوري “سيجبر الكثيرين
April 23rd, 2011, 1:38 pm
why-discuss said:
Syrianstatment
Thank you for this call to sanity. That’s the the first constructive and comprehensive statement I read about the next step in the confrontation shaking the syrian society.
Who do you represent? Who will read it? How can it be implemented? Where would you get the go-betweens to pass it on to the government and the different opposition groups?
April 23rd, 2011, 2:00 pm
Majed97 said:
“Syria’s streets seem to be filled with the endlessly numerous youth of the country, who are angry, underemployed and ready for change.”
Well, whose fault is it that the Syrian population has exploded over the past three decades, all the while its limited natural resources (particularly water and oil) have been depleted rapidly. Since 1979, Syria’s population has grown from 8 millions to 23 millions today; that’s 188% increase. Compared that with a population growth of around 35% in the U.S during the same period, and even less in Europe. This out of control population explosion cannot be supported by Syria’s limited resources, no matter who is in power. Is it the government’s fault that people are acting irresponsibly in having so many kids, expecting God to take care of them. And when God doesn’t come through for them, they blame the government. It seems to me Syria’s biggest problem is public awareness in resource management. There is no system of government in the universe that is capable of keeping up with such irresponsible behavior.
April 23rd, 2011, 2:01 pm
qunfuz said:
Syrian Statement – the growing numbers of protestors will believe nothing the regime says while it is killing and arresting people. It is urgent and essential that security forces are withdrawn from the sites of all demonstrations and sit-ins. If the current round of funerals, and next Friday’s protests, can pass without the regime killing anyone, then protestors can be asked to pause for 15 days to see what the regime’s offers will mean in practice. You can’t expect people to be calm when the cycle of funerals and killings is continuing. Whatever side of the argument we are on currently, we should all be able to understand this obvious logic.
Yesterday in Kisweh or Hajar al-aswad, i can’t remember which, a demonstration of 300 grew to a demonstarion of 4000 after security forces killed a beduin tribal leader. Murdering the people is not in anyone’s interest. Is there no-one in the inner circle who understands this?
April 23rd, 2011, 2:11 pm
Fadi said:
لندن: اعلن المطران فيلوكسينوس متياس الناطق باسم كنيسة السريان
الكاثوليك في سوريا دعم الكنسية للنظام السوري. وقال المطران فيلوكسينوس “نحن هنا في سوريا ليس لدينا مشكلة مثل المسيحيين في بلدان أخرى. وليس لدينا مشكلة مع الرئيس” بشار الأسد.
http://www.elaph.com/Web/Technology/2011/4/648946.htm
April 23rd, 2011, 2:12 pm
Fadi said:
This is for Shami to read and educate himself about the Syrian Christians.
President Bashar al-Assad has protected Christian interests
“At Christmas, he addresses the country’s Christian community ” : MB will never ever do that.
Some people from the opposition are looking for “Democratically elected conservative islamic goverment”. Be careful WEST from bringing radicals
THIS IS FOR THE WEST TO KNOW THE EVIL WE ARE FACING and THEY MIGHT BRING US. THE WEST INCLUDING USA SHOULD NO THAT WE DO NOT WANT RADICALS.
ARTICLE in the Washington post
By The Washington Post, Saturday, April 23, 1:29 PM
For Syrian Christians, protests are cause for fear
“Meanwhile, fear is mounting among the nation’s Christians that the uprising that has rocked this tightly controlled country over the past month will bring them only misery”.
“For decades the government of President Bashar al-Assad has protected Christian interests by enforcing its strictly secular program and by curbing the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. In recent years, Assad has visited the Christian town of Maaloula and other Christian areas to pray and pass on messages of goodwill. At Christmas, he addresses the country’s Christian community, carrying similar tidings. Assad is himself from the minority Alawite sect, a branch of Shia Islam, and many Christians feel they can relate to him”.
WEST READ MORE “Many Christians interviewed said their biggest fear was the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/for-syrian-christians-protests-are-cause-for-fear/2011/04/21/AFtNd3VE_story.html
April 23rd, 2011, 2:26 pm
Brian B said:
A Question Regarding the Events in Syria:
I have been following the events in Syria closely, as close as I can per what is reported in the press, written in editorials in foreign policy publications and what is stated in the comments of this blog. However, there is a larger point that seems to be missing from the debate as to what is transpiring in Syria; will Israel seize the opportunity to finish what it started in 1982, flanking Syria in an attempt to achieve a “Greater Israel”? My question is not intended to undermine the demands of the Syrian citizenry to have an accountable government or to show support for the Asad regime. Rather, my question is based on historical analysis of the Syrian/Israeli conflict and international relations theory, which states that the best time to attack an adversary is at its weakest point. If stability in the Middle East is desired by the international community, then why are authors not concerned with the probable course of events that is likely to follow should the House of Asad fall?
Many who are writing about Syria’s significant role in the region do not address the extent of the relationship between Israel and Syria. I do not think that Israel would invade Syria should the Asad regime fall, but Israel is certain to invade Lebanon, as Hizbollah supply routs, via Syria, will be eliminated in the aftermath of a successful social revolution in Syria. Were Israel to gain significant ground in Lebanon, it would begin a campaign of influence on a new Syrian government.
My aforementioned comments are not intended to diminish the State of Israel or, necessarily, be deterministic on Israeli foreign policy. Yet, such an event might be in the interest of the Syrian citizenry. I wish more scholars and journalists would look to the future of the Middle East if the fall of Bashar occurs. Another question might be: if the collapse happens and Israel gains ground in Lebanon, does Israel return the Golan in exchange for a stable relationship with the new Syrian government?
April 23rd, 2011, 2:27 pm
majedkhaldoon said:
Badr;
thank you for exposing the lies of Souri,it is despicable to lie .
The crimes of this regime make it the worst regime ever,God will rid this country from this evil regime.They who control Syria now , must be treated the way they are treating us now, and those who support this regime,they must stop telling lies,they will be exposed as Souri ,Fadi Why discuss have been exposed.
The regime do not represent Baath party,removing The regime does not mean get rid of Baath party,this is a corrupt murderous regime,has nothing to do with the honest Baath party.
April 23rd, 2011, 2:29 pm
MONTAGNARD said:
The Friday before Easter is traditionally called good Friday. This Friday had nothing good for Syria and the Syrian people. Many were killed as we are witnessing an escalation of the confrontation between the revolutionists and the government.
The rebels have warned us to expect a bloody Friday and they came through, it was a bloody Friday.
The American civil war can be a case study of what might be the outcome of a Syrian civil war.
When the southern states declared their exit from the union and formed the Confederated States, the United States was forced into a bloody civil war that took three years and 638,000 American lives from both side of the civil war. The United States government could not have kept the union by negotiating the outcome with the rebels.
The rebels refused what they perceived as the tyranny of the United States and called President Abraham Lincoln and the Union Army as murderous thugs, wanting to impose their will on the southern states.
President Lincoln considered the rebels traitors and used ultimate force to subdue the rebels and preserve the union.
The Syrian rebels have made it clear that their aim is to topple the government (regime change as called by Bush and the Neocons).
General Sherman in his march on to Georgia did to every town in his way worse than what happened to Hama.
It pains me to see what is happening to Syria. I see a similar pattern between the Syrian rebels and the rebels of the American civil war. They share similar stubbornness, self-righteousness and overconfidence. The rebels in the American civil war wanted and fought for their freedom, but the union government considered them outlaws and crushed them.
The only way out of a civil war is for the honorable opposition leaders to call for a cessation of any provocation including peaceful demonstrations. Otherwise the stage is set for an escalation to a civil war pitting the government/regime against the rebels, with the silent majority on the sideline being the real victim of the civil war.
April 23rd, 2011, 2:32 pm
why-discuss said:
Qunfuz
If the regime withdraws the security elements, do you seriously believe that trouble makers and criminals will not use this opportunity to steal, kill and destroy?
Do you think the opposition will not accuse the regime to have send these trouble makers? its a vicious circle.
The hardliners of opposition are determined to break the ruling party by force, they will never accept a compromise, they said it clearly from their offices abroad. Come on… the only way is the intervention of a third party AND the serious willingness to find a solution instead of making scores. That is presently absent and will cost more lives of which you and every Syrian who wants to continue this cycle of violence bear the responsibility
April 23rd, 2011, 2:42 pm
AIG said:
The Good Friday Massacre will not soon be forgotten by the Syrian people.
April 23rd, 2011, 2:53 pm
why-discuss said:
Brian B
you are absolutely right. Israel will have free hand to impose what it wants on a weak Syria: it could annex permanently the Golan, impose the whole palestinian refugees to Lebanon, adjust its frontiers and more.
The Syrian opposition is either ignorant and shortsighted or manipulated as they now call for a regime change.
In my opinion, with the reforms under way, they should give it a chance otherwise history will judge them.
April 23rd, 2011, 3:09 pm
Ghat Al Bird said:
MONTAGNARD. thought you all might be interested in Good Friday tv fare in the socalled Holy Land.
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/mocking-jesus-on-israeli-tv-צליבת-ישו-the-crucifixion-of-yeshu/
April 23rd, 2011, 3:31 pm
Mina said:
It’s time for Perestroika.
April 23rd, 2011, 3:41 pm
Badr said:
Interesting:
Syria: Is Assad’s Clan Turning Against Him?
April 23rd, 2011, 3:42 pm
NK said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8XMJ0JtU64&feature=player_embedded
Something for some people on this blog to think about
http://www.the-syrian.com/?p=1444
الفرق بين البوق و الطبل
البوق هوي انسان سرخسي… من رتبة الطفيليات الرخيصة… بشكل طبيعي بكون مركون على جنب و ملحوش عالرف و ما حدا شايلو من أرضو و هوي بكون قاعد و مكتفي بأنو يقتات من حشاش الأرض و لعق الصرامي و لحس الطياز…. و لما بتدق ساعة العمل و بصير في حاجة للأبواق فبنادولو و بيعطوه التعليمات و بيكتبولو اياها على ورقة لحتى ما يخربط…. و من ثم بفلتوه و هوي بيفلت بحماس كبير على أساس أنو بفلتو هي رح يصير ألو حظوة عند الشباب الطيبة و بالتالي رح يتسلق السلم أخيرا و ينتقل من مرحلة أنو يقتات على حشاش الأرض الى مرحلة البحبوحة
بالعادة بيتفلت أكتر من بوق بنفس الوقت… و بصير في حالة تنافسية بين الأبواق و بصيرو بدون يثبتو حالون… و كل واحد منون بصير بدو يظهر أنو بوق أكبر من باقي الأبواق… و أنو الضوضاء يلي بيعملها أضخم و أكتر تأثير بالمستمع من غيرو… لأنو اذا طلع مفعولو فاقس فرح تنمسح الأرض فيه و يرجع لحشاش الأرض الى الأبد….. لهيك منشوف الأبواق عم يلبطو تلبيط عالفضائيات…. و برفسو و بحنترو لما حدا بيزنقون و بيسألون سؤال مانون محضرينو أو مو مكتوب عالورقة معون
الأبواق عنا كتار…. أشهرهم كان عماد فوزي الشعيبي… و التحش على جنب لما تبين أنو مجرد بوق صوتو مزعج و مالو طعمة…. و حاليا في بالساحة كزا بوق فلتان منون خالد العبود و مربعاتو…. و طالب ابراهيم… الخ…. و عم يتنافسو… و يلبطو… و يرفسو اذا اقتضى الأمر…
أما الطبل فهوي انسان فاضي من جوا… و ما عندو شي مفيد بحياتو…. و ما بيفهم بأي شي…. .. بس ألو صوت…. و صوتو بالعادة مزعج كتير…. طفيلي و مجبر على طفيليتو لأنو ما عندو حل آخر على اعتبار أنو ما بيفهم بشي…. و هوي بعيش على الفتات تبع حشاش الأرض…. و بيعمل جهدو يلعق أحذية قد ما بيقدر عسى أنو ينرضى عليه و يترقى أو يصير ألو حظوة أكبر من باقي الطبول يلي معو…
الطبل شغلتو أنو يصرع طيزنا ليلا نهارا… ويمقت الشعب على مدار الأسبوع…. لازم يضل عم يطبل طوال مافي جواتو نفس… و لما بيخفت صوتو و بيضعف ضجيجو و ضوضاؤو…. فبيتسرح… و الله يعين أهلو عليه لأنو هوي طبل بالفطرة و مو بالتوجيه…. فهوي طبل بحياتو و ببيتو و مع أهلو و مع أصدقاؤو ان وجدو… و الطبل اذا ساوا شي ينم عن فهم بليرة فيمكن يرتفع لمستوى البوق و يصير انسان سرخسي و يخلص من العيش على فتات حشاش الأرض و يعيش ببحبوحة نسبية
الأمثلة كتيرة عن الطبول…… و حاليا بطل العالم بالطبلنة و بالتطبيل هوي علاء الدين الأيوبي… بالاضافة لاسطول كامل من الصحفيين و المذيعين على مختلف الأقنية و الصحف و المواقع الالكترونية
April 23rd, 2011, 4:21 pm
Souri said:
http://www.syriatruth.info/content/view/2056/36/
April 23rd, 2011, 4:37 pm
Mouna said:
95. Souri said:
http://www.syriatruth.info/content/view/2056/36/
April 23rd, 2011, 4:37 pm
Duplicate comment. It was posted either by the Souri from Aleppo or Souri the Alawi.
April 23rd, 2011, 4:52 pm
abbas said:
I like to hear Dr Landis analysis on what happened in Izraa the past two days, my thinking is that the security forces are pushing the uprising to turn into an armed one so they can use full force to crush it since they know that no one is going to help, people in Daraa are tribal and they have small arms, I don’t know how much longer they will stay peaceful but turning to violence is a bing mistake now
April 23rd, 2011, 5:49 pm
fadi said:
Brian B
Excellent comment
The Syrian Israel conflict is absent from this discussion yet it is very important to mention. It seems few are discussing this issue and the majority discussing local sectarian events rather than looking at the big picture. Certainly the current events will weaken Syria and it may seem an advantage to Israel. I look at the current Syrian unrest as a result of indirect conflict between Saudi and its allies; let me be frank: Sunni allies and Iran with its Shiite allies in the region. Saudi fed up with the perceived threat from Iranian influence and power. Remember Iranian arrested the British sailors and continue to challenge the international community. No Arabic country would dare to do that. Iran has spent the last 30 plus years building their military and strengthening their allies HA-Syria. Syria fall will come with a high tag price:Is USA or Israel willing to pay the price…..Future will judge
April 23rd, 2011, 5:50 pm
Akbar Palace said:
Brain B, Fadi,
You are welcome to discuss Israel all you want. The fact of the matter is, we are witnessing a number of Myths exploding in our face.
The main exploding myth is that the Arab-Israeli conflict is central to peace in the region. That myth, as witnessed by smuggled Youtube video for the past few months, is false.
Secondly, if anyone wants war, it is more LIKELY from the Iran/Syria/Hebollah axis than from Israel. This alliance has always benefited the most by creating an external enenmy in order to justify their lack of human rights at home. Basically, it could be used to take the cameras off the demonstrations.
Anyway, more Arabs are getting killed, and not one death was caused by the State of Israel.
April 23rd, 2011, 6:46 pm
Mouna said:
Dear Dr Landis,
Thank you for yet another truthful observation.
“The government’s paranoid style has become obvious,” said Joshua Landis, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma. “These activists have completely flipped the balance of power on the regime, and that’s all due to social media.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/world/middleeast/24beirut.html?pagewanted=1
April 23rd, 2011, 6:50 pm
مندّس said:
I have been following this website for a while and I did not mind all the academic discussions. But it is just getting ridiculous and unbearable to read all those posts by characters such as the ones from Canada and Australia. I live in Syria and couldn’t wait to leave on a trip outside Syria (I mean Switzerland) to post my thoughts.. I actually couldn’t write my thoughts inside Syria fearing they would go thru my laptop at the airport, because they did it to my kid at the border with Lebanon. By the time I send this, I assure you that I must have read it a dozen times to make sure I don’t expose myself. So first, I wish all those regime defenders living outside Syria the freedom we enjoy in Syria.
Aboud, you’re a better man than I am. You write from inside the country and you are patient trying to explain the obvious. It does not require a Phd to realize the obvious. But obviously you can’t teach common sense.
I will never forget how angry I felt when I read that Australian character call Syria a great country and Bashar a great leader. He has no clue what good governance is and that also shows the depth of his knowledge. I am sure that people in Australia and Canada are praying day and night to have a Baath Party and a gang like the one we have in Syria. Those two countries are such a mess because they are not as fortunate as we are. The one from Australia sounds like a kid whose parents have been telling him how great the old country is to keep him attached to his roots. I know few people like him. All I could tell him is go start a business in Syria and you will not only see sharks but also a lot of barracudas. You will also learn how to whisper because silence or criticism of anything is considered treason. You will find that whatever skills you acquired outside Syria have no value. You will need the skill of having “connections” and it is not what you learned networking was all about. You will find out that you have to pay double what you pay for things outside Syria and, at best, get 1/2 as much. You will learn that things that used to take you a couple of hours outside Syria take you two weeks on the inside. If you are the type that does not mind buying his way thru life, Syria is the country for you.
Reading the back and forth responses, the overall impression is that it is either this regime or destruction. what does that say about the regime. If you have a performance such as the last 50 year performance, what does your employer do? Knowing how shallow some of the posters are, the answer is you get FIRED. There is no difference among Old Egypt, Yamen, Lybia and Syria, same performance, same problems, different packaging. Oh, our little Assad is nice and his wife is cute. Well I am sure you will find Natanyaho nice if you happened to believe in his ideas. His second “speech” is an admission and a confession to what has been done to the Syrian citizen in the last 50 years.
Defenders believe stories produced by the regime and that only shows how gullible and shallow they are. They talk about events as if they were there. We live in Syria and we’re not sure what’s going on. I know people from Daraa and Homs, most say it is the government people who are doing the shooting. And then, others from those towns tell you nothing was happening. Nobody dares to speak their minds unless they really knew you. The shooting is meant to scare people off and fear will make them stay home. For 50 years, people stayed quiet because of fear. And if you believe the sniper and conspirators’ theory. I dare any of you to fire a bullet in the air or a firecracker for that matter anywhere in Syria, and you will see how many undercover gangsters will show up in a minute. All Daraa’s little towns are cordoned and surrounded by the regimes people, and you believe that “S” rated cowboy movie. By the way, “S” stands for stupid. They believe the government organized demonstrations, when I personally know a very pregnant woman who was forced with the rest of the ministry’s staff to go out and “support”. She begged to be excused but to no avail.
I am not going to explain what’s wrong with country, I will ask what’s right? What has the Baath accomplished in 50 years? The numbers don’t lie. I will never forget the slogan of a presidential campaign in the U.S. (I think it was Reagan’s) Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago? The question I pose to my fellow Syrians “Are you better off than 4, 8, 12, or 16,…., 50 years ago?” Fighting Israel? any of us could have done the same job by keeping the border quite. Where does it say they have a monopoly on patriotism? The people are the ones who paid and still are willing to pay the price to fight Israel. Judging from the life style of the regime’s gang, they sure didn’t suffer.
Actually, Baathism is very much like Zionism. A minority that controls, destroys, and misleads the majority.
When you believe all the regime has had to say and the regime seems to make it up as it goes along, then you’re hopeless because you do not understand or see the obvious. For now it is the Salafis, and to give you a heads up UFO’s are next. If you constitute the majority and you choose to be enslaved, then I am so glad I have another passport.
If you really constitute the majority , then Israel couldn’t have hoped and prayed for a dumber and self-destructing enemy. AIG, NOW I understand why you sound so much more relaxed than you used.
Aboud, as to your question about what we would like to see after the regime is gone, the answer is “a good legal system”. But in the meantime, I will add my name to the Syrian Revolution before I go back to Syria and my slogan will be ” ا لشعب يريد اسقاط الصور و مقاطعة كل من يرفعها”.
April 23rd, 2011, 6:58 pm
مندّس said:
To all Christians, Alawais, and all other minorities, I am a Shia, and we have Sunnis, An Alawi and three Christians in the family. As a country, we co-existed for hundreds of years. Stop your paranoia and don’t fall for the regime’s trick. You are being used. My Sunni grand mother asked for Nasrallah’s picture to hang in her house in 2006. But I just took it down in my house and stopped listening and watching his media. I will never excuse anyone who supports oppression.
April 23rd, 2011, 7:19 pm
NK said:
A closer look at the “thugs” attacking/killing demonstrators and “Amn”
April 23rd, 2011, 7:27 pm
Mouna said:
This guy sounds like Wael Ghuneim of Egypt.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13168276
April 23rd, 2011, 7:43 pm
Norman said:
NK,
These are Syrians aren’t they, Why can;t they protest like the others, I did not see them carrying arms but protected by the army and the security,
April 23rd, 2011, 7:49 pm
NK said:
Norman
You did not see the 1000 sticks/clubs/batons in the hands of every single one of them ? you did not see the shotgun and the AK47 in the hands of people dressed in jeans ?
When one of the videos from Jableh showed a few people carrying sticks and metal bars they were Wahhabi/Salafi sectarian thugs but since those are supporters, it’s their “right” to protest like everyone else, and get protected by security forces mind you … weapons!!! , what weapons ?
April 23rd, 2011, 8:07 pm
parviziyi said:
Earlier in the thread Sophia asked: In the Egyptian demonstrations we saw a substantial minority of females in the crowds but we’re seeing virtually no females in the Syrian crowds — why’s that? And in Egypt we also saw a significant minority of males aged 55+ but we don’t see that in Syria — why the difference? It’s a good question (or two questions). I’d be grateful if someone could answer it for us. (Among others, I think NK ought to be able to volunteer to shed some light on it.)
I regard the post from Syria Comment as great. It is the solution, though it can wait for another week or two and still be viable. Both sides need to back off, and Syria Comment has a vehicle for each to do so.
April 23rd, 2011, 8:08 pm
Leo said:
Norman,
I suggest you go to Bashar and have your eyes checked with him. You can’t see the batons and sticks that the thugs were holding? Some were also holding shotguns like the guy at 2:52. It’s becoming obvious to everyone now that the security forces and the thugs are one.
PS: Do not worry about Bashar, he will find employment as soon as he is ousted. It happens that there are a lot of people who need to have their eyes checked.
April 23rd, 2011, 8:16 pm
atassi said:
Norman,
!!!No comment!!
April 23rd, 2011, 8:20 pm
Revlon said:
# 73, 74 Dear SYRIANSTATEMENT
Signatories of the posted declaration have good intentions, Ivory towerites priorities, and naive wishes.
No sane Syrian can now afford to ignore all of the regime’s deceitful lies and fabrications, and still count on true reforms, that will spell the end of its reign and pave the way for bringing its members and benefactors to justice for the 40 year-long record of atrocities..
April 23rd, 2011, 8:45 pm
Norman said:
Leo,
You are right, I was not wearing my old age glasses, but i thought that the people who died from the opposition died from fire arm not by beating ,I might be wrong,
April 23rd, 2011, 9:06 pm
Off the Wall said:
And regime supporters, or murder inc apologist here cares to explain how and why people in civilian clothes got their hands on crack force crowd control shields? or is this also a fake video.
Dear Norman
Did it ever occur to you that the enormity of the Massacre in terms of deaths overshadowed the number of victims of violence with broken bones and other beating injuries. Because the regime’s thugs have occupied hospitals to prevent families from getting the bodies of the dead before they sign fake papers claiming that their loved ones were killed by salafist and to arrest the injured, many of those injured non-lethally did not go to hospitals. The real damage of the thugs we saw will never be known unless an independent trustworthy truth commission is established.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:12 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
Mouna,
All signs show that soon we’ll see Mr. Landis with a bandanna over his head, and a Machete between his teeth, joining the revolution. LOL.
NK,
This video #101 is really disturbing. Whenever I watch those YouTube and FB channels, and I see white buses in the street of Syria, I know decent people are in trouble there.
Norman is a Reactionary. Over a certain age, it’s hard to embrace change.
.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:22 pm
Norman said:
OTW,
They are supporter of the government and having shield only indicate that the Demonstrators are attacking the police and the supporters of the government,otherwise they do not need protection,
Can you care to explain to me how army officers, and personnel in addition to traffic police and in Syria they are traffic police died from fire arm wounds from these peaceful demonstrators.
Isn’t possible that these demonstrators are armed and the army is protecting their lives. i don’t know about you but I think so.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:24 pm
WHY said:
NORMAN
All I have to say is:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
nice one
April 23rd, 2011, 9:28 pm
Norman said:
Amir,
I am all for change to the better but that is not what they are trying to do in Syria,
This is what they want Syria to be, i hope that you can read it.
http://www.alquds.co.uk
نائب المرشد العام للإخوان المسلمين: هدف الجماعة دولة إسلامية وسيادة العالم
القاهرة- يو بي اي: نقلت صحيفة مصرية السبت عن نائب المرشد العام لجماعة الإخوان المسلمين خيرت الشاطر أن الجماعة التي برزت ككبرى الجماعات السياسية المصرية في مرحلة ما بعد نظام الرئيس المخلوع حسني مبارك تستعد لاقامة حكومة اسلامية، لا بل سيادة العالم.
وقالت صحيفة (المصري اليوم) إن الشاطر أخبر مؤتمرا نظمته جماعة الاخوان المسلمين في الاسكندرية ليل الخميس الماضي أن الاخوان يستعدون “للحكومة الإسلامية كمرحلة تالية لتطبيق نهضة مجتمعية على أساس مرجعية إسلامية بهدف الوصول إلى مرحلة سيادة العالم وعودة الدولة الإسلامية”.
ويقول قادة الجماعة التي ظلت محظورة حتى سقوط مبارك ان الحركة تريد المشاركة في الحياة السياسية الجديدة وتدعو الى قيام دولة مدنية ديمقراطية على اساس مرجعية اسلامية.
ووفقا للمصري اليوم فان الشاطر الذي اوكلت اليه الحركة مهمة اعادة تنظيم الحركة أكد أن “دور الإخوان هو تحريك الأمة، لإقامة حياة كاملة على أساس ومنهج إسلامى”.
وانتقد الشاطر جماعت شبابية داخل حركة الإخوان تطالب بالاصلاح ونبذ التزمت قائلا “إنهم نشأوا فى ظروف سهلة، ولم يشعروا بحجم الجهد والمعاناة والتضحيات التى قدمها قيادات الجماعة.
وشدد على أن ثوابت الجماعة غير مطروحة للتطوير، ولا يمكن التنازل عنها.
وأثارت تصريحات بعض قادة الاخوان مثل الدعوات الى تطبيق الحدود واقامة دولة اسلامية انتقادات القوى العلمانية والمدنية والاقباط ومخاوف من نوايا الاخوان في اقامة دولة دينية.
t1
April 23rd, 2011, 9:33 pm
Norman said:
Why,
Be careful, It is Easter , you sound like a lamb and we used to slaughter lambs in Hama for Easter.
April 23rd, 2011, 9:36 pm
nafdik said:
Norman, Revlon, Atassi, OTW, NK, Jad, we have been debating these topics for ages and while we disagreed most of the time we always shared the same objective: a better life for Syrians.
A few weeks ago I made a random comment about Syria needing a freedom charter that could unite us all, and some of you had an encouraging response.
The idea is to have a common ground that all parties agree to and that can allow both the opposition and those who fear the chaos that will result from sudden removal of regime to work together.
I would love to work with you on a document that we all agree makes sense and then propose it to Joshua to publish it in the blog.
If you have the time and the interest email me at nafdik2@gmail.com.
Here is what I suggested then, but I expect to work with you on a more coherent document that has a chance of working for a majority on both sides.
===========
Bashar declares the following:
The creation of a bill of freedoms that overrides the syrian constitution. This bill is only modifiable by a vote of more than 75% of syrians.
The bill guarantees freedoms of press, thought, women, religion and creed, as well as equality under for women and national and religious minorities.
The army is asked to leave the political arena and to protect our borders. The army can interfere only in cases where the charter is broken and then only for a period of x months.
No army officer should present himself for elections, no army unit should intervene in internal affairs.
Amnesty is offered to all except those who are responsible for the death of syrians at the highest chains of command. Army will have its own tribunals for army officers. For corruption there is a sunset of x years and only fines are imposed and the return of monies to the state.
Party rule is open to all and free elections are held within 6 months.
Bashar will not present himself in those elections nor any member of his family.
We can call this document a mithaq wihda wataniya and save syria from civil war and chaos. The mithaq could be presented and signed by many party, tribal, religious, syndicalist and other syrian leaders.
Bashar will go in history as one of the most couragest and nationalist leaders and we might then sing belroh with true enthousiasm.
=========
April 23rd, 2011, 9:54 pm
Norman said:
To all of you, What do you think?.
سقط نظام حافظ الاسد 7…..فهل سيولد نظام بشار الاسد 1 ؟؟
بواسطة admin2– 2011/04/23
نشر فى: غير مصنف
مراسل المحليات : كلنا شركاء
لقاء يتضمن اجوبة هامة لمواضيع يريد ان يعرف عنها الجميع , لقاء مع مصدر مطلع وقريب من مصدر القرار .
اعتمدت خطة النظام على اصدار قرارات اصلاحية يوم الخميس لاستيعاب احتجاجات يوم الجمعة , فقد شاهدنا الخميس 24/3 اعلنت المستشارة بثينة شعبان عن حزمة الاصلاحات التي اقرتها القيادة القطرية لحزب البعث ثم يوم الخميس 31/3 اصدر الرئيس قرار تشكيل لجان لدراسة حالة الطوارئ والاحزاب ومنح الجنسية للاكراد وقبلها بيوم كان قد القى كلمة في مجلس الشعب ومن ثم الخميس 7/4 عزل محافظ حمص ومنح الاكراد الجنسية ومن ثم الخميس 14/4 اعلان اسماء الحكومة الجديدة واستقبال لجان شعبية والعفو عن المعتقلين الذين اختطفوا اثناء الاحتجاجات والخميس الاخير 21/4 اصدر الرئيس مراسيم الغاء حالة الطوارئ ومحكمة امن الدولة فماذا نتوقع ليوم الخميس القادم .
-اعتقد انه لن يتم الانتظار ليوم الخميس لان الاحداث تتسارع بشكل كبير ,واعتقد ان هذا الاسبوع سيحسم الرئيس امره بخصوص افضل طريقة للتعامل مع ما يجري …اذ ان هناك وجهتي نظر الاولى تقول ان استخدام العنف واثارة القلاقل ستدفع الناس للخوف على مستقبل البلد والتحلق حول النظام وبالتالي الهدوء والثانية تقول انه يمكن بتحقيق المطالب المحقة الوصول الى الهدوء …..وقد منحت كلا وجهتي النظر الصلاحيات للعمل حتى تبرز النتائج التي يمكن ان تحققها على ارض الواقع وبالتالي تقييمها بشكل دقيق , لذلك هذا الاسبوع هو الاخير والذي سيحسم سيادة الرئيس رأيه فيه باتجاه اختيار اسلوب واحد .
-اذا هذا ما يبرر ازدياد القمع والقتل من قبل اصحاب الاقتراح الاول للوصول الى نتائج سريعة لضمان استمرار هذا الحل ؟
نعم ولكن النتائج المحققة تبدو كما توقعنا منذ البداية لذلك عرضنا الاقتراح الثاني .
– قلت ان هذا الاسبوع هو الحاسم ماذا ننتظر ؟
ننتظر تقييم النتائج لكلا الاقتراحين واذا تم اتخاذ القرار بدعم الاقتراح الثاني من قبل سيادة الرئيس فان ما سيجري هو التالي :
سيتم اللجوء لتحقيق النصر وتهدئة الفوضى عبر حزمة قرارات اصلاحية تغطي مختلف مناحي الحياة وبطريقة الصدمة بحيث تحقق :
1-صدمة بين اوساط المتظاهرين كونها تفوق ما يتوقعونه وبالتالي لن يستطيعوا الشحن وتحريك الشارع للتظاهر مرة اخرى .
2-صدمة للمواطنين والموالين لانها ستكون بالنسبة لهم اكثر مما كانوا يظنون وبالتالي سيقفون بحزم وقوة ضد التظاهر وسيمنعون هم المتظاهرين لانه لم يعد هناك مبرر لهم لفعل ذلك وتعطيل الحياة الطبيعية .
3-صدمة للاعداء في الخارج لانها ستمنعهم من الاستمرار بمحاولاتهم لعرض ملف سورية على محكمة الجنايات الدولية او مجلس حقوق الانسان في الامم المتحدة وسيمكن اصدقاء سورية في الولايات المتحدة من تخفيف التصريحات والاجراءات التي يمكن ان تتخذها الادارة الامريكية .
4-صدمة لاصدقاء سورية في الخارج والذين فقدوا توازنهم بعض الشيء مما سيجعلهم يعودون لدعم سورية من مثل السيد اردوغان وبعض قيادات دول الخليج .
لكن ما هي القرارات الاصلاحية التي يمكن ان يعتبرها المعارضون والاعداء في الخارج “وفقا لتعبيركم ” صدمة بالنسبة لهم ؟
الحزمة ستشمل التالي :
حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي
1-حل القيادة القومية ودمج ممتلكاتها بالقيادة القطرية .
2-تغيير عقيدة الجيش السوري ( الجيش العقائدي ) كونها تقتضي ان يكون كل الضباط وصف الضباط والجنود فيه اعضاء بحزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي واستبدالها بعقيدة جديدة تبقي تعريف العدو بانه اسرائيل وتبتغي تحرير الجولان .
3-انهاء صيغة مكتب الامن القومي بشكله الحالي والذي يضم رؤساء الاجهزة الامنية الاربعة برئاسة مدير مكتب الامن في القيادة القطرية لحزب البعث واستبدالها بصيغة مجلس للامن الوطني برئاسة رئيس الجمهورية ونصفه للحكومة المنبثقة من مجلس شعب منتخب بناء على قانون الاحزاب الجديد ونصفه من الجيش والقوات المسلحة.
4-الإعلان بشكل سريع عن جاهزية مسودة قانون الاحزاب الجديد وطرحها للنقاش العام مترافقة فورا مع اعلان اعلامي سريع سواء من قبل الرئيس شخصيا او نقلا عنه بانه لن يترأس حزب البعث بعد انتهاء مؤتمره القطري القادم لانه سيكون رئيسا لكل الاحزاب وليس فقط لحزب البعث…. تحديد موعد للمؤتمر القطري ويعلن الرئيس بالجلسة النهائية ايمانه بالقيم العظيمة للحزب ولكن الضرورة تستوجب ان يكون رئيسا لكل السوريين ويترك للمؤتمر ان ينتخب قيادته القطرية ولجنته المركزية بالانتخاب الحقيقي بدلا من تعيينها من قبل الامين القطري للحزب كما جرت العادة.
الجبهة الوطنية التقدمية
-الاعلان السريع بعد عرض مسودة قانون الاحزاب للنقاش عن انتهاء العمل بصيغة الجبهة وترك المجال للاحزاب ان تبقي على تحالفاتها او تختار تحالفات مع الاحزاب الجديدة التي سترخص او أن تحل نفسها .
ولكن الا تخشون من ردود فعل اعضاء القيادة القومية والقطرية والجبهة والمستفيدين من هذه المؤسسات ؟
سيتم اللجوء لنفس الطريقة التي استخدمت قبل المؤتمر القطري الثامن حزيران 2000 حيث جرى نشر شائعات سواء عبر الفرع المختص او بمقالات بوسائل الاعلام تتهم العديد من اعضاء القيادة القطرية في ذلك الوقت بالخيانة والفساد وان بعضهم قد هرب وبعضهم قد سجن وبالتالي ينتهي الامر بانهم لا يريدون اكثر من يذهبوا للمنزل دون ان يتم سجنهم , علما ان الاجهزة المعنية قد بدأت اطلاق الشائعات ضد القيادات الحالية .
هل هذه هي كامل الرزمة ؟
-لا….بل يضاف لها
الاجهزة الامنية
1-شعبة المخابرات العسكرية : وقوامها بحدود( 14000 ) منتسب وهي تتبع حاليا للقيادة العامة للجيش والقوات المسلحة ويقترح بقائها كذلك .
2-ادارة المخابرات الجوية : وقوامها قوام ادارة تقريبا ( 8000 ) منتسب وهي تتبع لقيادة القوى الجوية والدفاع الجوي وفي الممارسة تتبع لسيادة رئيس الجمهورية ويقترح بقائها كذلك .
3-شعبة الامن السياسي : وهي تتبع لوزير الداخلية وفي الممارسة لسيادة رئيس الجمهورية ويقترح ان تبقى مرتبطة بالسيد وزير الداخلية وان تصبح التعيينات والترقيات فيها تصدر بقرار يوقع من وزير الداخلية ورئيس الوزراء ….مع احتمال كبير ان يتم التضحية بها وتحميلها مسؤولية العنف وحلها وإعادة تشكيلها من جديد.
4-ادارة امن الدولة : وهي تتبع الامين القطري لحزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي وفي الممارسة تتبع لسيادة رئيس الجمهورية , يقترح ربطها بسيادة رئيس الجمهورية وان تصبح التعيينات والترقيات فيها تصدر بقرار يوقع من رئيس الوزراء و رئيس الجمهورية وان ترسل تقاريرها لرئيس الوزراء ورئيس الجمهورية .
معالجة الملفات العالقة
-معالجة سريعة لانهاء كل مفاعيل الاحكام الصادرة والمرتبطة بمحكمة امن الدولة بما يعنيه من اطلاق سراح المحكومين من قبلها مترافقا مع عفو عام يشمل المواد بقانون العقوبات و التي تم استخدامها لسجن المعتقلين السياسيين.
-الغاء القانون 49 المتعلق بالاخوان المسلمين .
-معالجة ملف الممنوعين من العودة .
-تسوية وضع المفقودين
ما حلولكم بالنسبة لمستقبل النظام ؟
-هذه الدورة هي السابعة لانتخاب سيادة رئيس الجمهورية اذا اخذنا بعين الاعتبار خمسة دورات للرئيس حافظ الاسد ,ويبدو واضحا ان صلاحية الاطر والتنظيمات والمؤسسات الحالية قد انتهت بل اكثر من ذلك أصبحت عبئا على النظام ذاته .
لذلك سيجدد النظام بنيته وشبابه من خلال بنية ديمقراطية ترضي الشعب والعالم ايضا .
فقد بينت الدراسات في السنوات الاخيرة ان السماح بتشكيل احزاب في سورية يمكن ان يدفع باتجاه تشكيل الكثير منها ولكن اتجاهات الراي العام يمكن توزيعها واستيعابها ضمن الكتل الاربعة الكبيرة التالية التي يمكن ان يدعمها النظام بالطرق الديمقراطية المتعارف عليها ويحصل بالتالي على اكثر من ثلثي الاصوات في اية انتخابات سواء المحلية او مجلس الشعب وتتمحور التيارات الجديدة حول :
-احزاب رجال الاعمال والليبرالية ويمكن تأطيرها ضمن حزبين كبيرين يضم الاول رجال الاعمال من دمشق ( الحريقة ) والمتحالفين معهم والثاني رجال الاعمال من حلب ( المدينة ) والمتحالفين معهم
-حزب قومي – علماني – يساري
-حزب ذو صبغة دينية معتدلة مثل حزب العدالة والتنمية التركي .
ويمكن ان يتم دعم الاحزاب الاربعة الاكبر (او اعادة صياغتها ودمجها بحسب الواقع ) وذلك سواء برجال اعمال كبار من النظام والعاملين معهم وكذلك بوسائل اعلامية واخيرا بشركات الدعاية والحملات الانتخابية والتي نملك معظمها ولا يمكن للاحزاب ضمن البنى الديمقراطية ان تكبر بدون هذه الركائز .
وماذا بخصوص رئيس الجمهورية ؟
-كل شيء الان قابل للتفاوض تحت سقف استمرار سيادة رئيس الجمهورية, الذي يحظى بدعم شعبي وهو ضمانة الاستقرار , و للاستفادة من شعبيته سيتم السماح بالترشح للرئاسة بشكل فردي اضافة لترشيح الاحزاب طبعا مع وضع شروط للترشح الفردي كما لن يتم وضع مادة بالدستور الجديد تقييد عدد دورات انتخاب رئيس الجمهورية.
المشكلة الآن ان تنفيذ الاصلاحات الواردة اعلاه وضمان حسن تنفيذها وخصوصا بما يتعلق بادارة عملية تشكيل الاحزاب الجديدة لضمان استمرارية انتخاب سيادة رئيس الجمهورية يتطلب هدوء في كل المحافظات وان تتم الاصلاحات بشكل تبدو فيه كعطاء من سيادة الرئيس وليس تحت ضغط الشارع وهذا ما يخلق ضغط على النظام بجناحيه الراغبين بتحقيق الهدوء .
ولكن كيف ستهدأ الناس وهي ليست آمنة انه اذا عادت للمنازل فيمكن ان يتم اعتقالها او خطفها من قبل الاجهزة الامنية لانها شاركت بالاحتجاجات وخصوصا ان هناك تهديدات من قبل جهات بهذا الامر ؟
-هذه نقطة مهمة و يجب ان تدرس وتأخذ بعين الاعتبار .
( كلنا شركاء) : نتحفظ على التعابير التي استخدمها الضيف من مثل انتصار وفوضى وتظاهرات ؟
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4
April 23rd, 2011, 10:04 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
No Norman.
“They” don’t “want”. Who is “they”, any way? Did you ask “them” what “they” want? what gives you the right to speak for those “they”, and decide for them, what they “want” ??
Enough all ready with this Islamists scare agenda. This is so Baathist and boring.
BTW, with your ugly expressions, “slaughter you like lamb for Easter”, you sound just like “them” who you warn us from.
.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:10 pm
Norman said:
Amir,
You are wrong,
April 23rd, 2011, 10:18 pm
MONTAGNARD said:
NK @#101
Watching the clip and listening to the exchange you hear: “we are all brothers” (kelna oukhwei) and “we came to protect you” (ne7na jeena ta ne7meekon) and the fact that they were hanging around that one story building suggests that they were bussed to form a protection perimeter around that building.
If what we heard about the formation of defense committees to protect public buildings and property from vandalism is true, then these might be who they are.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:18 pm
NK said:
Norman
This is a very weak argument. So the Egyptian MB wants to great an Islamic State, what’s new ? they don’t have any seats in the parliament yet, and these statements surely won’t help them in the coming elections to say the least. You should also notice that this guy was criticizing the young members in the MB who don’t approve of these statements (he literally said that), so the MB can’t even guarantee the votes of its own members, let’s see if they can take over the parliament ( MB represents 30% of Egyptian society at best ). When they do we’ll discuss their ability of establishing an Islamic theocracy!!!
Having said that, I think we can agree that Egypt and Syria are not the same, the Egyptians are way more conservative, and I mean WAY MORE, to suggest the Syrian MB enjoys the same level of support is deceitful.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:19 pm
NK said:
MONTAGNARD
protect “you” and “we” are all brothers, was directed at those standing by and who shouted (belro7 beldam nafdik ya bashar) when he turned around and ordered them to shout (where is belrou7 beldam, let’s hear it) just a minute or so before, just listen how hostile one of them got when he said (Those who love Mr president, do not go out into the streets and demonstrate).
We’ve been hearing for weeks about the buses with security forces armed with all kind of weapons, arriving near places where demonstrations were held and beating the crap out of demonstrators, well now you see what people were talking about.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:45 pm
Norman said:
NK,
They won 70% of the vote on the changes to constitution in Egypt which was opposed by the secular who won only 30% of the vote, Egypt is going to an Islamist state. where minorities have no equal rights,
Syria is becoming more and more conservative, Niqab was not these when i was in Syria now it is at schools , in any election the MB will win, the question is what kind of Syria they want, If they want to be for all Syrians then they should declare equal rights to all Syrians as their intention.
April 23rd, 2011, 10:57 pm
Revlon said:
حركة سوريا شباب من أجل الحرية Youth Syria For Freedom
شام | حماه | عاجل : فوات الجيش تحاصر مدينة حماه بالكامل و تفرض طوقا أمنيا على المداخل و تقيم الحواجز العسكرية …
3 hours ago
April 23rd, 2011, 11:22 pm
Revlon said:
The Video-evidence: “Salafists”, masquerading as Republican Guards, terrorizing demonstrators
Latakia demonstration, Friday, 22nd April
April 23rd, 2011, 11:31 pm
Akil said:
Dr. Landis,
We used to have 30-40 comments with intellectual value and we used to enjoy the heated dialogues and always learn something; now we have 150-200 comments 95% of it is garbage. It seems that some people just want to throw garbage content on the web to prove a point. Both sides of this confrontation are doing a great job of content generation outside this forum so no need to take this game to SC.
Fellow SCrs, please please please stop this nonsense and take it to the hundreds other forums that are dedicated to it.
BR,
Akil
April 23rd, 2011, 11:36 pm
NK said:
Norman
I read this earlier and it really didn’t even deserve a second look, the people won’t accept diplomatic solutions anymore, not unless the solution includes bringing 283 people back to life !!!!
But let me play along, about the SHOCK bundle
1&2- This will have absolutely no effect of the ground. it’s basically changing the names of things while in reality changing nothing.
3- Didn’t we already do that a couple years ago ?
http://www.elaph.com/Web/AkhbarKhasa/2009/7/459340.htm
4- What does “a president for all parties and not just the Baath party” mean exactly ? also instead of naming what corrupt figures get to form the national leadership, the corrupt Baathists get to elect what corrupt figures form it, big whoop!
and the AFTERSHOCK bundle
1- Security branches : what about the other branches ? we have what 17-18 ? he only mentioned 4.
2- People asked for releasing political prisoners and allowing the exiled to return 5 weeks ago. so this might not have that Oomph effect (considering this is the SHOCK plan).
3- The future of the regime, this sounds about right for what to be expected.
4- The future of Bashar, I doubt any solution will be acceptable if it doesn’t include a term limit. and even if it passes now, we will find ourselves in the same position a few years later when the other parties gain more support and when people get fed up with 15-20 years of Bashar.
Anyways, any serious solution should include a few people getting hanged, literally. Do you think those “scapegoats” will be willing to lose their lives to save the regime’s future ? once they feel the danger you’ll see defections/assassinations and a lot of dirt surfacing about all kind of shady deals that go all the way to the top. The regime will never allow such people to stand trial to begin with, and I doubt an exit strategy (Khadam/Rifaat style) will work this time around. Maybe we will see suicides Zou3bi style (with 2 bullets in the head and one in the foot)!.
As for Eygpt, the MB did not win 70% of the votes, they supported the “yes” option, the fact that the referendum passed doesn’t make it Islamic. Here is the changes that were approved, please show me what is Islamic about them, and why they had to be rejected to ensure Egypt becomes secular !
http://bgyc.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-constitutional-amendments.html
Not to forget that the newly elected parliament will have to form a committee of 100 members to draft a new constitution within 6 months.
April 23rd, 2011, 11:59 pm
Norman said:
Today marks the day that the Umayyad Caliph fell to the Abbasid .
April 24th, 2011, 12:00 am
Norman said:
The changes did not take out that Sharia law is what all laws have to comply with .
About Syria, If we do not acceptance by the opposition to the reform plan by the government then Syria is going into a civil war .
Then will be a significant arrests and assassinations It will be an all out war between the Baath party and the government against the opposition, We will have no say at that time as we are not the one who are being killed,
i would say, I tried and failed.and thank God that i do not have to live in Syria.
April 24th, 2011, 12:13 am
NK said:
http://shamtv.net/ was hacked in case you didn’t get a chance to check it out lately (like anyone ever checks it out anyways lol).
Ya habibi ya Norman, in Egypt this constitution and the amendments will not matter once you the new parliament is elected, they have to draft a brand new constitution, only then we’ll see where things stand. Even if they changed the Sharia law bit now, they still have to draft a new constitution so that change wouldn’t have changed a thing anyways.
You’re saying if the opposition doesn’t accept the regimes reforms there will be assassination on both sides, who exactly will the regime assassinate ? the opposition have no leaders so maybe the regime will kill everyone demonstrating, well news flash they’re already doing that anyways, so for those demonstrating it won’t a big change.
April 24th, 2011, 12:15 am
Syrian said:
It is over!!! Assad`s regime will never survive after his criminal actions. Assad himself has lost any respect as a leader in Syria and the middle east! He is nothing but a brutal dictator trying to survive. He might think that he can do what his father did 30 years ago. The world has changed, and the people will never take another 40 years of Al Assad`s family rule! They are digging their graves, because Hafez Assad has died without being punished for his crimes. I guess his kids are going to pay the price of his and their crimes. This time, it is not Ekhwan or Khaddam, It is the Syrian people. Damascus & aleppo will never dictate the fate of the country. The mass demonstration from Hassakah to Daraa will stretch Assad`s security forces! الله يمهل ولا يهمل
April 24th, 2011, 12:25 am
majedkhaldoon said:
Very important news about Libya,Gaddafi withdrew from Misrata,between 40-50% of his army has been destroyd.The US is looking for a country that may take him,Gaddafi is left with Tripoli and Sert,US is sending unmanned planes, which is basically for spying,He must be getting desperate by now.
Why is this important?it is because when Gaddafi leaves ,all eyes will be on Syria
April 24th, 2011, 12:26 am
Norman said:
NK,
You seem willing to give Egypt all the time they need, They did not cancel Emergency law yet but not able to give Syria a couple of months to reform, That is sad,
April 24th, 2011, 12:33 am
syau said:
#128
“the crimes of his father” as you put it prevented deaths from insurgency and all the evil that eluded from the mb against the Syrian people. The eradication of the evil that is the mb is what shaped Syria into the modern diverse nation it is today. Had they been allowed to continue on their destructive path, the people of Syria would be living in an Islamist nation. Do you homework before you rant on with your words of hate and save us your ignorance.
The deaths of Syrians is on the hands of the Syrian revolution, and the terrorists behind the killings who are the armed gangs creating all the chaos. The only criminals are the people orchestrating the Syrian revolution and their co conspirators. Make no mistake about that.
April 24th, 2011, 12:38 am
syau said:
majedkhaldoon,
It seems as though you are advocating outside interference and destruction in Syria if you cant wait for “all eyes to be on Syria”. The situation in Bahrain and Yemen doesnt seem to bother you at all, could that be because you do not despise their government?
Why is this important, becuase it is a perfect example as to why you are constantly defending the Syrian revolution with all your might and refuse to entertain the idea that the terrorists affiliated with the mb, Syrian revolution and so forth are the ones advocating the destruction, killings and mutilation, not to mention their religious leaders and the hate and intolerance against different sects they are promoting.
April 24th, 2011, 1:08 am
NK said:
Norman
What do you mean all the time they need ? I’m not paying close attention to news from Egypt as there are more pressing matters to keep up with, but from what I hear here and there, things are going well over there, corrupt figures are being tried, the NDP is no more, elections are scheduled, new parties are forming and working as they please, the media is totally free, the judiciary is independent, even demonstrations are being held without much harassment, I only heard of a few incidents but they were really minor and it’s really expected in such circumstances. No one is getting slaughtered in the streets!.
You want to give the Syrian regime more time to do what exactly ? plan for more massacres ? 113 people died yesterday, ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN in one day, I think 7 more died today while attending funerals, I believe even Israel allows Palestinians to bury their dead in peace!!!. Meanwhile we get a new demonstration law but the lawyer who tries to get a license gets arrested !!! reports of massive arrest campaigns taking place today all over the country, and intellectuals who were detained since this whole thing started are still in jail even after the state of emergency was lifted and the S.S.S.C was abolished.
To sum the situation in Syria, you have security forces who are above the law and who do as they please without any regards to laws, procedures or human rights or dignity, if you open your mouth you’ll be beaten up and arrested and if you open it a little more you’ll be killed. The value of human life is nothing more than that of a bullet. And while everyone screams MURDER when Israel kills 2 Palestinians, we just “feel sorry” that 283 Syrians died for no reason other than yelling freedom (curse Bandar and his Zionist infiltrators), we also fire security officers pending investigations after videos of them stepping over people, jumping and kicking them in the head spread all over the globe.
But hey, taking everything into perspective, yeah we have the world champion of reforms!.
April 24th, 2011, 1:37 am
Australian -Syrian said:
SYRIAN,
You call yourself a Syrian??!!!!
Go to hell. I cant wait to hear your filthy rampage when the Assad family continue to rule Syria for the next hundred years, hopefully longer. Hafez al Assad, Allah Yer7amu, he has no crimes which needed to be paid for. He did the right thing. Killing off the Moronic Butholes (MB) who were constantly attempting to destroy Syria and turn it into an Islamist state. I do not condone killing of innocent people, but i would have done the same, as they were criminals, murderers, and abominations. Who was it that said “Syria is not a Muslim country. It a country for all”? Was it not the Assads? They want unity. They do not kill sects which are not like them. Oh, now i know why you despise them! You want Syria to be an Islamist country! You want all non extremists dead! That will never happen!
You are an idiot. Cant you see all the people who still love and support Bashar? And Cant you see the lies and fith that people like you are putting forward, in order to condemn the regime?
A man on the news was speaking yesterday, i forgot which arab country he was from, he was saying that he visited a shop near the school he teaches in, and the shopkeeper gave him a disk. He made the man listen to it. A young girl was screaming that she is imprisoned in Syria, and they are beating her. The shopkeeper tells the man to make hundreds of coppies of the disk, and distribute them to his students, and tell each student to make hundreds of coppies and so on, untill millions are made and distributed. The teacher then invited the man along with his family to dinner. At home he tells his wife to listen to the disk and then when the people come for dinner, to pay close attention to the daughter’s voices, to see if the voice on the disk matches. GUESS WHAT?? The voive turned out to be the man’s eldest daughter! They hade recorded lies and filth, pretending that she was a prisoner in Syria, in order to spark hatred and ant-government riots!!!
That tells a lot about how people can also fabricate videos. Open your blood eyes already!
Allah Ye7me Bashar al Assad.
April 24th, 2011, 1:47 am
Souri said:
Like I said, polarization in Syria is very high and people are very emotionally charged. If Assad calls on his supporters to demonstrate now, there will be millions on the streets and it will probably be the largest demonstrations in Syria’s history. People feel very threatened and scared as they are watching this global attack on Syria and they want to do something to defend themselves.
The question everybody is asking here: why hasn’t Assad asked his supporters to demonstrate again?
I think Assad is keeping this as his “secret weapon” that he’s going to blow in everybody’s face at the right moment. It will be a خازوق like we say in Arabic. He will let his enemies believe that he is sinking and that the Syrian government has become delusional etc., but he will surprise them when the right moment comes.
Like I explained before, Assad had first to isolate the protesters, which he successfully did. Most people here do not buy the claims of the protesters anymore and they trust Assad.
After isolating the protesters, Assad needs to quell them, and this can only be done by force. The people will close their eyes and pretend that they are not watching as the government cleans the streets of them. Nobody believes their deceitful rhetoric anymore and people have grown tired of them.
After quelling the protesters forcefully, Assad will declare the new party law, media law, etc. to keep his image clean in front of his people. Like I said before, Assad cannot quell these Islamist radicals forcefully if he does not introduce serious reforms to gain the trust of the rest of the population. He has already announced some of the reforms, and this has worked usefully and helped him gain the people’s trust. After he quells the Wahhabis, he will announce the remaining and more important part of the reforms (party law, media law, etc.) to wipe his image clean.
As for the external players, who are waiting now for Assad to give concessions to them, he will blow in their faces the large demonstrations of support. After Assad declares the new party law and the rest of the reforms, millions will go out to the streets to celebrate. The US and its allies will realize that they actually won nothing and will realize that they, not Assad, have been illusional. The idea of inciting a Sunni revolt against Assad just does not work. They keep repeating this stupid game and it turns against them every time, but they just refuse to learn.
April 24th, 2011, 2:02 am
Revlon said:
Ladies and children of Mu3addamiyyah,
walking down the road of pain,
the blood of their loved ones,
still on the floor tiles,
set them free,
guides to freedom.
Al Mu3addamiyeh, Damascus, Saturday 23rd April
April 24th, 2011, 3:00 am
syau said:
nk,
Please correct me if I am wrong, but are you insinuating that the government is behind the deaths at the funerals? If so, can you please give me you educated opinion as to why. I think you need too try to look through the smoke screen and see what is clear.
There would be no reason for the government to sanction killings at any funeral. Why would they? It would make them worse off in the eyes of their people. Why cant you even entertain the idea that terrorists affiliated with the Syrian revolution movement are behind the shootings in an attempt to incite further hate and uprisings against the government. Ruthless people would do that to their own people to meet their agenda…The end justifies the means to them and their co conspirators.
Why would the governmennt “hide behind the bushes” and have snipers shoot? They have already implemented laws banning unlicensed protests and furthermore, armed protesters of any sort. And have security forces stationed to keep the protesters safe.
Why cant you entertain the idea that the snipers and armed gangs shooting within the protests are the terrorists hired by the revolution and their co conspirators to cause fear, further hate and chaos in order to meet their agenda?
Could that possibly be because you would be agreeing with the government and admitting to yourself that these people are actually terrorists out to destabalise Syria and implement their own evil agenda?
All the while the ones hiding behind the banner of the Syrian revolution, behind the organised shootings, chaos, destruction, murders, mutilation, behind the religious leaders inciting hate amongst sects, are sitting in their houses abroad, watching the situation unfold, rubbing their hands together with glee thinking to themselves that it is going perfectly according to plan.
They wont be rubbing their hands together for much longer, for the game they are playing is unfolding for the people of Syria to see in plain sight. The people of Syria who stand behind their leader are aware of the game that is being played. I think that would be 98.9% of the population because I refuse to believe any more than 1.1% would be so naive not to see through the smoke screen that is being put up in the form of a democratic revolution.
April 24th, 2011, 3:07 am
Revlon said:
حركة سوريا شباب من أجل الحرية Youth Syria For Freedom
الثورة السورية .. عاجل .. حوران .. صيدا
تم خطف طلال صالح من قرية صيدا على حاجز أمني وهو مصاب إصابة خطيرة
سيتحمل النظام وقواه الأمنية الإجرامية المسؤولية عن سلامة هذا البطل
نرجو إبلاغ جمعيات حقوق الإنسان ووسائل الإعلام
10 hours ago ·
April 24th, 2011, 3:13 am
Mina said:
“all eyes will be on Syria”
And when Israel attacks Hezbollah this summer, all eyes will be on what? Japan’s radiations?
April 24th, 2011, 3:28 am
NK said:
SYAU
I’m inclined to believe people in Daraa, Damascus and Homs who were witnesses to security forces atrocities that to believe you (with all due respect) sitting behind your computer screen thousand of miles away and coming up with these “brilliant” theories, how much time did you spend in Syria exactly ? because it doesn’t sound like you know what we’re talking about when we say “Amn”
I’m not going to search for all the videos that show how the security forces treat citizens in Syria, but you can look up the video from Bayda, the video from Mouadamya and another from Douma where people clearly tell STATE TV crew the security forces came out of police cars and started shooting protesters. (the videos that your honest official media chose not to Air!!) Also your theory wouldn’t explain why security officers were fired in Banyas and Daraa, it won’t explain why 2 MPs (maybe 3), 2 Provincial council members, and the Mufti of Daraa resigned over what security forces did to people in Daraa this Friday. It certainly won’t explain how the armed thugs got on top of a Mukhabarat building to shoot at protestors. It’s also extremely hard to believe that an armed gang can kill 113 people all over Syria when you have the army and security forces at full alert and deployed in pretty much every corner of every street 6 weeks into demonstrations.
And oh, the (hide behind bushes) video was proven to be fabricated by State TV, you can also look that video up.
April 24th, 2011, 3:33 am
haz said:
The government says that democracy will lead to sectarian violence. The opposition says it won’t. If there is violence, the government appears correct and a fearful populace will turn to them for protection.
If there is no violence, the opposition appears correct and more of the population will start to believe in them. The government will lose power.
Therefore, violence is good for the government, bad for the opposition.
This is why out-of-uniform pro-government forces attack protesters, and police, and soldiers, and funerals.
Also, the government has the armed forces, the police, and the secret police. The opposition have almost no weapons. In a war, the government will win in no time.
In every case, violence is good for the government and bad for the opposition.
Remember this when wondering who is doing the shooting.
April 24th, 2011, 3:45 am
syau said:
nk,
When I say hiding behind the bushes, I use it in a matter of speaking. Your educated opinion was that the security forces were the ones to attack security and armed personell in Banyas because they did not follow orders not to shoot at civilians. That was proven to be a lie. Many of the sensationalised clips you so often linked were proven to be a lie. Aljazeera were proven to be liars distorting the truth. BBC arabic were proven to be liars and constantly as with al jazerra lying about their “eyewitnesses”
One said yesterday that during a protest there was 12 dead and 200 injured. A few seconds later he stated that they were a group of 200 people demonstrating – do the math.
On live tv the revolutionist have declared that they no longer want any reforms or care about reforms, they will till death to fight for a governmental change.
I have spent many years in Syria and do know it well. I also know that when you are attacked, or shot at in the situations unfolding in Syria, you will fight or shoot back, to protect both yourself and your people. Now if you are an Islamist, I will understand your point of view as one that is clouded by hate and only after revenge. If you are not, then I cant understand how you cannot see further into their sinister plot.
There was a moving tribute to Yasir Qash’ur on Syria tv. His family spoke of the love he had for his country and president. The also spoke about the way the situation unfolded, stating that there were gunshots comming from both sides and on top of their vehicle. They were ambushed by snipers…..Snipers. Some of them were prominent military personell.
Furthermore, for you to search for videos, that is not needed because we all know the truth behind the fabricated videos you have previously linked.
I love Syria, and, my love for Syria and the government allowes me to see the truth behind this so called democratic revolution.
April 24th, 2011, 4:03 am
Revlon said:
صالح قبل بالتنحي والثوار يطلبون محاكمته
http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ED35A6BB-F1FE-49E5-85BF-FFB1A176BDE3.htm?GoogleStatID=9
The Arab revolutions addresse the dictators: First come, first serve
Ben-Ali, Mubarak and Sale7 came first. They will be getting the treatment first.
Soon will come, Qaddafi’s turn
Soon after, the next in turn…
April 24th, 2011, 4:13 am
syau said:
Haz,
Your analysis gets a mark of 2/10….. You get a tick for knowing that the government will win, and a tick for knowing the government has armed forces. As for the rest, incorrect. The government does not look better with the ever growing violence. They are trying to put a stop to it – armed personell at ‘peaceful protests’ to begin with. Death does not look good for a government. That is what the so called Syrian revolution is banking on.
April 24th, 2011, 4:18 am
Mina said:
Interesting article in the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/for-syrian-christians-protests-are-cause-for-fear/2011/04/21/AFtNd3VE_story.html
One just wonders why 1) it was not published a month ago, when most Twitting revolutionaries were very openly presenting themselves as Saudis, Israelis and Americans (just browse Twitter’s hashtag Syria to verify: by the way, Facebook and Youtube have been working in Syria for only a few months, see
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/08/syria-facebook-youtube-ba_n_820273.html and before that although it was possible to get to these with proxy anonymizers, and to use Skype, they were famously super slow); 2) why there is no allusion in the article to the fact that these rumours of coming attacks on the Christians and fear spreading are a copycat of what has been implemented in Iraq in the last few years.
April 24th, 2011, 4:47 am
Leo said:
You guys think state of emergency is lifted?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6es3aZHxEU&feature=player_embedded
Infiltrating the houses of people? I bet you Norman will come out and say that these guys have a search warrant issued by a judge in order to arrest salafi terrorists who attacked them while they were peacefully patrolling the area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv2LsIW9Kbc&feature=player_embedded
What the hell is the army doing? And no Norman this isn’t the army on a training mission to get back Golan.
April 24th, 2011, 5:12 am
syau said:
Leo,
Link 1 – So what, if the security officers have reason there is a terrorist, terrorist organisation or a traitor of the country residing in a certain area, they need to take action. There are times when the American SWAT team raid houses without search warrants.
Link 2- I’m glad to see the army is in action. Maybe now these terrorists destabalising the country will think twice before there next so called peaceful protest. That ofcourse might depend on how much Saad Harriri and Co. are willing to pay them.
April 24th, 2011, 5:54 am
Australian-Syrian said:
The Pentagon just adimtted to paying over 2 illion dollars to the demonstrators, asking them to protest against the government. It admitted to investing its money into these violent “peacefull” protests. What a digsraae! What an absolute disgrace to all those people who call themselves Syrian who have betrayed their country for money!! What garbage the US is for butting its effed up self into the livessof Syrians!!!
And what about the Saudi?? Papers were obtained to prove that he has been paying Syrians to demonstrate. Yet that bastard denies it. Even though there is stone hard proof!! Why should he have something to fear? He has no problem ruining another country, so why deny his efforts??
With this knowledge in mind, i will no longer have any emotions for the protesters who die. I will no longer feel sympathy for them. No longer. As traitors do not deserve sympathy.
And i will no longer comment on this blog. As the truth is clear as ice yet some idiots are blind to it. I have got better things to do than to argue with traitors.
April 24th, 2011, 6:09 am
Off the Wall said:
How prophetic:
“the fear of a tyrant from the indignation of his people is far more than their fear of his harm, because he knows what he deserves from his people and their fear stems from ignorance. His fear stems out of his disability and their fear is from the illusion that they are cowards. He fears losing his life and his power, while his people only fear a miserable life. Usually a tyrant’s life ends in complete insanity. I said complete because a tyrant is always foolish and if it so happens that a tyrant is not foolish, he will quickly die or go crazy.”
Al-Kawakibi, Nature of Despotism.
April 24th, 2011, 6:18 am
syau said:
Australian Syrian,
I dont see why you should no longer put forward you views, on the contrary you should be pulling people out of their ignorance. Some peoples blinkers are too tightly secured and need to be loosened.
Now in saying that, re reading my comments on #142 – responding to nk, I elaborated incorrectly, some of the prominant military personell I was talking about were the ones in the vehicle comming under attack.
April 24th, 2011, 6:19 am
Leo said:
SYAY said: “There are times when the American SWAT team raid houses without search warrants.”
I am not sure if that ever happened. If it did, then it’s definitely against the law. Even if congress would enact a law allowing that then it would be found unconstitutional. Anyways, when and where did this happen because I have a sense that you like to talk from your ass.
April 24th, 2011, 6:39 am
Suri-Amreki said:
In the US, the government (SWAT, FBI, HLS, ICE, …) are not allowed to even spy on residents without an approval from a judge! The agency must justify why and to prove that it is critical for national security!
April 24th, 2011, 6:45 am
syau said:
leo,
In the nicest possible way, shove [Edited for vulgarity and insult…. Any more of these insults and I will stop your posting. Of course tempers are high, but all the more need for control of language and aggression.
http://targetfreedom.typepad.com/targetfreedom/2011/03/swat-team-raids-of-patriot-homes-has-begun.html
I am hoping that the Syrian security officers raid every single house they suspect of terrorism and treason against the country in the same way they did then. Traitors and terrorists need to be taught a lesson.
April 24th, 2011, 7:00 am
Mouna said:
I don’t see how bringing any number of supporters on the street could change matters. Yesterday there was a caller on state TV expressing such outrage that the millions-strong rally did not receive more than 5 minutes’ coverage on “conspirator” channels while the coverage of anti protests is constantly extensive. Few people believe those support rallies are genuine.
And this was before the massacre!
April 24th, 2011, 7:08 am
syau said:
“Few people believe those support rallies are genuine”.
Millions of people turned out to those rallies. My elderly parents in law were unable to go, nobody said they are forced to go or enticed them to go in anyway. If the Syrian population is aprox 23-24 million, they estimated 15 million turnout, that would meas aproximately 8-9 million didnt attend. And that is counting the army within the 8-9 million. Where as the ‘peaceful protesters’ are being paid to protest. Dont you ask yourself why
April 24th, 2011, 7:21 am
Revlon said:
Two poems from Brussels, embody the spirit of the revolution and dedicated to freedom
Part I: Inni 7urron
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1PqPIi4M5g&feature=player_embedded
Part II: Ismi Tha2er
April 24th, 2011, 8:21 am
majedkhaldoon said:
SYAU
Are you the syrian ambassedor?
Yes I call for the UN security to interfere, because the crimes that the goverment in Syria are committing against unarmed protesters, you are spreading lies and fabrications, you know that those oppression and suppressions forces they belong to the goverment,stop denying the truth,and you see all those videos that show the protesters are not armed,and as for the regime is calling for demonstrations to rally for the president,last time they forced people to go,let me see those people on friday,or saturday,you will not see them because goverment employee are out on those days, and schools are closed.Bashar is not a reformer, he is a head of criminals ,that you are defending.
April 24th, 2011, 8:44 am
Observer said:
This just in:
“The regime is so sure of its popularity and is so sure of the support of the majority of the population to the Baath party and to the late and present Assad leadership that it is organizing a free and fair election with multiparty representation and with presidential candidacy to all eligible according to the constitution”.
” A referendum on the achievements of the late Assad will also be organized with the following questions”:
1. Did he save Syria from the MB or
2. Did he commit massacres
3. Did he abandon the Golan, or was he defeated in 67
4. Did he save Lebanon or
5. Did he occupy Lebanon
6. Did he install the rule of law or
7. Did he corrupt the justice system
8. Did he fight corruption or
9. Did he institutionalize corruption
10. Where people afraid under his rule or
11. Were they free to say what they want
12. Was there freedom of the press or
13. Was there a single source of information
These are just a few of the challenges that face the regime as it moves the country to a stable and multiparty system with clear separation of powers. As a matter of fact, “several delegations from around the world will be arriving to Syria to study the wonderful methods used to achieve this feat although many know that other countries have already gone through the same but not in the most perfect way that the regime is doing”. So India and Indonesia and Malaysia and Kenya and Mongolia and even Russia and the EU countries recently freed from Soviet style regimes are coming to see how the wonderful Syrian regime does his great leap forward.
As you can tell from this sarcastic comment, the regime has proven once again that it is medieval and barbaric and all semblance of legitimacy and restraint and the thin veneer of modernity are gone.
Is it true by the way that the first lady is “visiting her family in London” ?
April 24th, 2011, 8:51 am
Leo said:
SYAY
In the US, the times when it’s legally permissible for a law enforcement officer to enter a house without a warrant are when there are exigent circumstances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exigent_circumstance
What happened to this person in the link you posted was definitely illegal and he will be able to file a lawsuit against whoever falsely testified against him as well as the officers who did not seek the witness’ signature.
In Syria no one dares to question the security forces’ intrusion and raids against people’s homes. There has not been any case against any security force personnel regarding this issue in the past 50 years and after what we have seen yesterday it doesn’t seem like much which change unless this regime is uprooted.
April 24th, 2011, 8:56 am
Mouna said:
Another heartening observation by Dr Landis:
“If there were elections, they would dismantle the Baath Party, the army and the intelligence community,” says Landis. “Hundreds of thousands would lose their jobs. For the president, it’s not just taking the wife and kids to Ougadougou.”
But he adds, the protests aren’t going away anytime soon.
“Syria is a poor country, and it doesn’t have a big cushion. The banking system has come to a stop and the stock market is effectively closed. Lack of tourism and foreign investment has taken a devastating toll on the government’s credibility, and its ability to dig its way out of this. That’s where its real vulnerability lies: in its economic failure.”
April 24th, 2011, 9:05 am
why-discuss said:
Right activists: Syria protest killings ‘must be investigated’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13180847
April 24th, 2011, 9:12 am
majedkhaldoon said:
If the emergency law is lifted, why is the goverment ,now, is arresting people in Halab,idlib and rural Damascus?they are rounding up those who they suspect sympathize with the protesters.
April 24th, 2011, 9:21 am
vlad-the-syrian said:
do you have any proof that the snipers who killed those peaceful protesters are from the police ?
April 24th, 2011, 9:36 am
Syrian said:
TO Australian-Syrian,
#1- You have no right to decide who is Syrian and who is not, if you want, we can go through ALWAHESH family history and see where they come from!!
#2- Calling names is nothing but an evidence of your lack of reasonable argument.
#3- You can make Al-Assad as your god and pray form them for the rest of your life, that will not change the fact that they are dictators and they will be held accountable for their crimes one day.
#4- Syria is a country for everyone but Alassad family hijacked it and build a regime that based on Alwaite rule. They talk about national unity but they have hidden constitution based on sectarianism: President: Alwaite. PM: Sunni, Head of General intelligences agency: Sunni, Head of millitary/Air force intelligences Alwaite…etc
#5- Muslim brotherhood are out of the picture, and out of touch. They cannot be a scare crew any more, the choice is not between brutal dictator and radical Islamists. The choice is FREE SYRIA FOR ALL.
#6- The regime is repeating what they did in early 80`s. They used to kill the innocent people and accuse MB..both the regime & MB are criminals.. but that did not give the right to Hafez Assad or his brother Rafaat to kill thousands of people in the name of fighting MB.
#7- The lies of the Syrian media is disgusting.. Armed groups, prayer for rain, Kurds militia in ALBAYDA town…etc
#8- If we assumed that the official story is true about the armed groups, this is an evidence of the regime failure to provide security after 48 years of the state of security & emergency rule.
#9- The regime is in a state of denial and madness, their actions has forced people like me “never been an opposition” to take sides and stand against their crimes.
#10- They say that the Syrian regime is the center of the resistance. I agree, because they are showing great resistance against the Syrian people, their hopes, their rights, their freedom. The regime is nothing but cowards, The Israeli fighter jets flow over Assad`s palace in Latakia, destroy military sites in Sidnaya & Al Kuber and they did nothing!!
April 24th, 2011, 10:11 am
majedkhaldoon said:
Syrian
The regime is master of deceit and fabrications
April 24th, 2011, 10:43 am
Majed97 said:
Lifting the emergency law at this time was a big mistake
How does it make sense to lift the emergency law during a time of EMERGENCY? This is the time when this law is supposed be enforced in order to stabilize the country and restore order. In fact lifting it now may raise questions about the government’s credibility, as it is sending troops to put down this violent insurgency.
I personally think this law should have been lifted few years ago from a point of strength, after Syria emerged victorious against the Bush administration efforts to isolate it. But now that we are at this critical point, the logical thing to do is to enforce the emergency law, not lifted. Only after order is completely restored, should this law be lifted.
I don’t know who is advising President Bashar during this crisis, but whoever they are I questioned their judgment. Giving in to these thugs little bit at the time has emboldened them into demanding more and more. They now feel empowered enough to destroy the entire country. I question the rationale behind this strategy?
Showing weakness in the Middle East is a losing strategy.
April 24th, 2011, 10:51 am
Souri333 (formerly Souri) said:
What puzzles me is that the government is willing to take the blame for shooting a 100 people but it is not willing to take the blame for imposing a curfew in Deraa on Friday! This is really weird.
Had they imposed a curfew or at least a partial curfew for the young, in Deraa 3 weeks ago, we would not have arrived here. The Syrian government must impose a curfew in Deraa and Rural Damascus next Friday at the prayer time. Only people older than 40 years old should be allowed to go to mosques.
April 24th, 2011, 11:01 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
From the Rat again,
Anyone noticing the panic…
We have several characters here wetting their pants. Fear is what now moves them into incoherent blathers. One after another, leading regime figures and former figuurheads in Daraa are resigning and soon others will follow in from Hums, Hama, and other cities around Syria and perhaps from the army and the diplomatic corps. It may take time, but the criminality of your thugs in Syria will assure that sooner than later.
This uprising is an uprising of the poor. It left the middle class and the traitor upper classes of Syria behind. It left behind so-called Syrian Intellectuals and shamed traditional opposition living as many of us in the safety of exile. This uprising has many enemies including regime intellectuals and others with minimal claim to human intelligence. Those who even after living and studying outside the influence of the thugs after and breathing the air of freedom, fail to internalize any of its precious values. They lie, deceive, and manipulate and they throw immature childish tantrums once cornered. When deconstructed their so called comments have only one message, and that is the message of the slave who refuses the break his own shackle and to convince himself that he is anything but a slave, want to shackle free men and women.
The pathetic behavior of many Syrian intellectuals is easy to understand. Beaten to submission during five decades of murderous regime, its fate was sealed as the cheap make-up of the ugly face of the most oppressive Arab regime. It has allowed the band of thugs ruling, stealing, beating, jailing, and scheming against their fellow Syrians to pretend that there is a civilized cultural life in the midst of the ugliness and ignorance and pain that go hand in hand with despotism. False witnesses they were, and false witnesses they will always be. Their literature, paintings, and monotonously painful to listen screeches they call music will soon be thrown in the same place with the cheap hollow sculptures erected in every single public space in the country. That place is the trash bin of real garbage.
Poor, tortured, deprived, and humiliated Syria is waking up. It multitudes of jobless youth no longer afraid and eager to reclaim their humanity and dignity your thugs have been robbing for half a century in the name of building a future for them are only helping you expose the fraud you and your thugs are. Even after massacres, you insist on defending the murder and murderers of your fellow Syrians and on making sure that we all see your foolishness and your evil souls. I am not guessing any more, you have no shame.
Every drop of blood you shed from innocent peaceful Syrians will become of acid. And like the precious drops of Chirst’s blood from under his thorn crown, It will burn the facade of tranquility and the décor of content you built with the skins your whips and other notorious instrument of torture pealed off the back of brave Syrians in your ugly dungeons of fear. It will chip no longer slowly the fake hollow stones of your idols. In your fear, you will murder many more innocent Syrians. In your panic, seeing how ugly are your inner realities you will try to drag the entire nation into a civil war. In your criminal foolishness, which you insist on demonstrating with the obsession of the hyena, you will kill and maim more children thinking that your lack of capacity to learn from history is resolve and that and lack of humanity is determination. You have no shame.
They know you, you are there amongst them in every sect and ethnicity and in every village town and city. And they will resist and expose your attempts to cause civil war as they will continue to march peacefully in ever growing numbers. We will, in our humble, cowardly ways try to help them expose you. But if you succeed, god forbid, in causing a civil war, we will save not a drop of sweat, nor of blood to ensure that out of the ashes of a beautiful country you have insisted on burning to maintain your privileges, the poor and their new allies from the middle class will rise again, and they will build a free country in which you will as a real poet once said, be fed, clothed, and cared for so that you can constantly view the pictures of those your selfishness has killed, hear the stories of their lives, and listen to real music that will lift everyone’s soul, except for yours.
April 24th, 2011, 11:04 am
majedkhaldoon said:
Syrian Hamster
It is beautiful comment
April 24th, 2011, 11:20 am
Akbar Palace said:
I’m not going crazy afterall
This uprising is an uprising of the poor.
Syrian Hamster,
This is what I’ve beed saying all along.
The pathetic behavior of many Syrian intellectuals is easy to understand.
The “intellectuals” and the Baath supporters are trying to make this a “sectarian” issue.
April 24th, 2011, 11:33 am
why-discuss said:
Majed97
“Showing weakness in the Middle East is a losing strategy”
You are right, we have seen concessions made by leaders in Arab world that lead them to self-destruction.
The trouble is that showing strenght alienates the international opinion. So there is dilemma.
The Syrian government has choosen to declared tolerance zero to rebels. Like Bahrain, it is showing strength and ignoring the international condemnations.
On the other side, the opposition has only brought a few thousands in the street of small cities. It has resulted in a lot of death but nothing like the mass demonstrations we’ve seen in the capitals of Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen. The opposition is getting worried about the unity of the government forces (no attrition) and the massive assaults on the local leaders.
Its new strategy is to call for help to the international organizations under the pretext of ‘investigate the killings’.
The question is what can the international communities do?
The international community, as usual, does not move unless it sees who is winning on the ground and if they have economical interests in the region. Syria is not the case: No winner on the ground and almost no western investments.
Therefore it is a war of attrition between the government and the rebels. The winner will have the international community flip in its favor. Until now nothing is said. Naive civilians are paying the price.
April 24th, 2011, 11:41 am
Norman said:
After all these concessions from the government, The people will see that the demonstrators are after blood and the violent overthrow of the government, then the government will crack down hard and will be an all out war .
The next few weeks are going to be very bloody .
April 24th, 2011, 11:47 am
Ammr said:
e tu brute ? why no one is saying a word about the victims of those brutal terrorists who are shooting randomly ?the police and security forces are being killed and you never hear it in an English page!!!God save Syria
April 24th, 2011, 11:54 am
Norman said:
more killing,
2011-04-24 16:16:18
ارتفاع عدد قتلى الهجوم المسلح بدرعا على عناصر الأمن إلى 7 أشخاص
تشييع جثامين 5 قتلى بطرطوس.. والوضع في حمص بدأ يعود إلى طبيعته
أفاد مصدر مسؤول في الجيش يوم الأحد أن عدد الشهداء الذين استشهدوا برصاص مجموعات مسلحة بعد ظهر يوم السبت في بلدة نوى التابعة لمحافظة درعا من قوى الأمن ارتفع إلى 7 أشخاص, فيما أشار مراسلنا في طرطوس انه تم تشييع جثامين 5 قتلى سقطوا بالأحداث الأخيرة, بينهم اثنان من القوات المسلحة.
ونقلت وكالة الأنباء السورية الرسمية (سانا), عن المصدر قوله, إن “عدد الشهداء الذين استشهدوا برصاص المجموعات الإجرامية المسلحة بعد ظهر أمس في بلدة نوى التابعة لمحافظة درعا من قوى الأمن ارتفع إلى سبعة شهداء”.
وكانت مفرزة أمنية في بلدة نوى بريف درعا، تعرضت بعد ظهر يوم السبت لهجوم من قبل مجموعة إجرامية مسلحة، وقد أدى تبادل إطلاق النار مع أفراد المجموعة الإجرامية إلى استشهاد خمسة عناصر من المفرزة وجرح خمسة آخرين، ومقتل عنصرين من المجرمين المهاجمين وإصابة خمسة عشر آخرين بجراح, وذلك بحسب وكالة سانا.
وأشار المصدر إلى “استشهاد عنصرين من القوى الأمنية أحدهما في بلدة المعضمية والثاني في مدينة حمص”.
بدوره, أفاد مراسلنا في حمص عن مقتل الرقيب المجند دانيال فوزي من كلية الدفاع الجوي، وذلك بإطلاق النار عليه من سيارة تحمل مسلحين أثناء تواجده نقطة الحرس”, لافتا الى أن “الحياة بدأت تعود لطبيعتها والأسواق التجارية عاودت العمل منذ الصباح”.
والمجند دانيال فوزي هو من أبناء قرية (الناعسة) غرب حمص.
من جهته, أفاد مراسلنا في طرطوس إن “منطقة عكار شيعت يوم الأحد الشهداء وائل عيسى وسعيد شاهين وإبراهيم حنش, الذين سقطوا في منطقة جوبر بريف دمشق مساء يوم أمس, أثناء ذهابهم لبيع الخضار في سوق الهال بمنطقة الزبلطاني بدمشق”.
وتابع المراسل, نقلا عن شقيق الشهيد وائل, إنه “تلقى اتصالا من مشفى المجتهد بدمشق أفادهم بوفاة كل من عيسى وشاهين وحنش, الذين يعملون بالزراعة بريف دمشق”, لافتا إلى أن “المتوفين هم عمال عاديون”.
بدوره, قال الطبيب الشرعي احمد عباس إن “الجثث تعرضت للتمثيل بعد القتل بالسكاكين والأدوات الحادة مع وجود غزاره بإطلاق النار على كامل الجسم”.
كما شيع أهالي بلدة حمام واصل في منطقة القدموس وأهالي بلدة بويضة المسَلم في دريكيش في محافظة طرطوس, بحسب المراسل, جثمان شهيدين من القوى المسلحة.
وفي سياق متصل, افاد مراسلنا في اللاذقية أن “المدينة شهدت منتصف ليل السبت- الأحد تجمعا لنحو 400 شخص, وانطلقوا من أمام جامع أبو بكر وصولا إلى ساحة البلدية, كما قاموا بإشعال النار في الحاويات, وهتفوا بإسقاط النظام ثم فرقهم رجال الأمن بإطلاق النار في الهواء”.
بالمقابل, انطلقت مسيرة تأييد بنفس التوقيت خرجت مسيرة تأييد تضم أكثر من 2000 شخص ونادوا بتثبيت النظام ولم يحص أي صدام بين المجموعتين. وأفاد مراسلنا من هناك أن الوضع هادئ الآن.
وتشهد عدة مدن سورية منذ أكثر من شهر مظاهرات تنادي بمطالب عامة كالحريات وتحسين مستويات المعيشة إلا انه تخللها سقوط ضحايا بين المتظاهرين وقوى الأمن والجيش حملت فيه السلطات المسؤولية إلى جماعات مسلحة.
سيريانيوز
copy rights © syria-news 2010
April 24th, 2011, 11:59 am
why-discuss said:
Norman
Agree, it’s is now an all out war, unfortunately many naive civilians and security forces men will die.
Let’s see if the opposition with the help of the media would be able to pressure the international community into actions instead of words.
April 24th, 2011, 12:01 pm
haz said:
No, SYAU, for a generation now the Syrian government has been claiming that it’s either their corrupt ‘peace’ or sectarian slaughter. For them, widespread peaceful protests are the worst thing that can happen – it proves that many, many people do not support the government, and that there is a reasonable alternative. If the people no longer fear the regime, the government will create violence and chaos so that the people will at least fear the alternative.
April 24th, 2011, 12:20 pm
haz said:
And as one of those watching these events from the safety, freedom and wealth of Canada, the US, Australia, I say that I have no right to demand that Syrians go into the street and risk their lives and the lives of their families. However, those who do choose to fight for a better life for themselves and their people have my full sympathy and respect. I really don’t know what decision I would make in your situation, but I hope things get better for you soon.
April 24th, 2011, 12:27 pm
Syria Almighty said:
There is no such thing a ‘peaceful protesters’ in the events taking place in Syria. “Freedom” was nothing but a lie, a bluff, and a buzz word. The president called their bluff, and implemented reforms. Now they say that they don’t care about reforms anymore?
The other day, near where my aunt lives, there was a fire in Jobar. It was ignited by these ‘peaceful protesters.’ They then proceeded to call the fire department. When they arrived to put out the fire, they were met with the bullets of the revolution. They set the fire on purpose, just to drag out the fire department and attack them, to create chaos. And you just know that this crap will be blamed on the Government. Apparently, the government is responsible for the actions of the revolution terrorists.
I was speaking with some family members last night over MSN video chat. These so-called ‘massive protests’ are not as big as the media is making them out to be. You would think that with what the media is saying, that all of Syria is on fire. Protests are actually isolated to small areas (And apparently, the cities in Syria that are mirror images of those in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Tunisia, Lebanon, etc).
Also, the “100,000 people in Sahat al Abasiyeen” was an outrageous lie. I have family that live there, and I asked. Funny enough, Canada’s state-owned news network, CBC, decided to outdo the liars of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, and claimed that ‘Hundreds of thousands of people’ protested in Sahat al Abassiyeen. It is also worth noting that CBC is ONLY talking about Syria and Libya. They mention absolutely nothing about Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, or any other Arab country where there are protests.
Joshua, I advise you not to censor my messages anymore. The people deserve to know the truth.
April 24th, 2011, 12:29 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
SYRIAN HAMSTER,
Now we see what they really care about. Yemeni Abdullah Saleh finally agreed to give up power, but only after his personal safety was guarantied.
Bashar and Co. are watching AlJezeera, and the see what is happening with Mubarak and sons. They indeed “wet in their pants”, as you wrote.
I’m sure that this is the concern of the Syrian Junta and their inner circle- family – clan, their Personal safety !
Those fears will have to be addressed, if you want to resolve the present situation, with less of bloodshed. Hating them is understandable, but you have to give them an assured exit strategy. Putting them with their backs against the wall, is a recipe for more violence. They will drag Syria down with them.
.
April 24th, 2011, 12:39 pm
Australian said:
Dear Syrian-Australian,
Do you think, in Australia, we would ever allow for such events, seen in Syria to ever take place? Can you imagine in the streets of Sydney or Melbourne our demonstrators being labelled as spies and thus qualifiable for execution?
We have the choice to demonstrate and voice our concerns freely and with the knowledge that we will not be harmed – rather protected. These demonstrations should be utilised to listen to the people of Syria, to make appropriate changes to ensure the people of Syria are heard and their requests met – where appropriate. It is a simple human right! A demand for humanity is a demand for life. I don’t understand how you can justify outright murder of unarmed civilians. No matter if it is in Syria or Australia…we are the same people – we are human beings! You think these people WANT to die?
It’s not right and it should not be supported or applauded.
And why just Assad? There is an entourage of people around him, that should be addressed also.
If you are in Australia, enjoy the freedom and security you have to speak out, to earn a fair living, to have access to decent health care, education, social services, unemployment and disability benefits, and with the knowledge that your children will be safe and not caught up in crossfire with unarmed civilians and security forces. Lets hope the shabab in Syria will have those same opportunities one day too.
Open your eyes and ears. Listen and watch.
April 24th, 2011, 12:41 pm
Sophia said:
Saad El Hariri role in the Syrian uprising (this article was posted on Al Tayyar and Al Manar’s websites):
http://www.tayyar.org/Tayyar/News/PoliticalNews/ar-LB/qandeel-hariri-syria-jarah-hasan-zek-183.htm
April 24th, 2011, 12:42 pm
SALAH ADDIN said:
SOPHIA
Here is the original Al-Manar article by Nader Eizz Eddin
http://www.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=38483&cid=83&fromval=18&frid=83&eccatid=23&s1=0
April 24th, 2011, 12:53 pm
teafoe2 said:
Some earlier commentors seem to hold some really incredible illusions about how the state system works in the United States. Illusions like this may contribute to the even more dangerous illusion that Syrian people who may be suffering oppression can hope for improvement by having the UN send military force into Syria.
Yes, the US has this great Constitution with its Bill of Rights — but the minute anyone appears to possibly pose a threat to the stability of the status quo, all those words on paper go out the window. In some cases there wasn’t even a real threat to the system, such as the Waco operation, the MOVE group in Philadelphia, or the rightwing nutcase compound in Idaho.
Do a little research, check out the history of the Cointelpro operation which destroyed the Black Panther Party. And the FBI campaign against the Lakota Nation in South Dakota. The US holds numerous political prisoners who are guilty of nothing but speaking out too eloquently against abuses.
The UN? Ghetto residents in the US are reluctant to call the cops to prevent crime, because they know that when the cops show up they’re likely to do something worse than what you called them about. You may be getting abused by your local strongman, but calling in the colonialists is not the solution.
Never forget the lesson of Lawrence of Arabia. Don’t be a sucker.
April 24th, 2011, 12:57 pm
Equus said:
Libya, Syria and the Road to World War III – Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27845.htm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=home
Ignoring to see the big picture is at your own peril, that applies to France, England, Canada etc.
April 24th, 2011, 1:11 pm
N.Z. said:
1. Daraa, no longer is speaking in these terms… demands, uprising, silmia…. but they call it a “revolution”.
2. Why is the regime using brutal power in the coastal regions?
April 24th, 2011, 1:13 pm
Alex said:
For all those who watch propaganda videos, falsified information about what is really happening in Syria – I present you with two articles, every word of which can find its confirmation in media that advocates reality. Attack on Syria with desperate try to launch internal sectarian war is fully propagated by U.S. Government. And as second article denotes, it might be of a very serious consequences to everyone else in this world. Please, read both of them and judge.
http://www.wawuk.net/information-war-how-it-works-or-fails
http://www.wawuk.net/electronic-warfare-and-real-warfare
April 24th, 2011, 1:18 pm
Sophia said:
From Syria with doubts: leftists not sure about the Syrian ‘revolution’
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/04/from-syria-with-doubt.html
Source: Angry Arab
April 24th, 2011, 1:28 pm
ziadsoury said:
Happy Easter to all.
Also all my condolences go to the brave Syrian heroes and their families.
I have been in a shock the last few days and haven’t been able to write. During the last few days more pro regime voices have been popping up on this blog attacking everyone (including Prof. Landis) and touting the achievements of the Assads over the past 40 years. I started to wonder if these guys are right. I might be wrong. So I decided to list all the accomplishments of the regime and their impacts on the Syrian society over the past 40 years. I came up with a list. To make all the pro regime people proud I came up with the following conclusion based on that list:
The total IQ of the people barking for the regime is equal to the number of achievements of the regime in the last 40 years. This is the best complement I can pay to you and to the regime.
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
April 24th, 2011, 1:29 pm
majedkhaldoon said:
Today I heared ATHAN in church,this is a proof that christians who yern for freedom, they have their hearts with Muslems against tyrany, murders,deceit and fabrications.
What the pro tyrany are saying that Muslems hate christians in Syria,this is absolutely false,we are one ,one syrian people are one
April 24th, 2011, 1:43 pm
Sophia said:
Worrying trends in the Syrian ‘revolution’: Al Jazeera is hiding sectarian slogans from protesters under the rug.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/04/syria-and-aljazeera.html
Source: Angry Arab
April 24th, 2011, 1:45 pm
ziadsoury said:
Norman,
About three weeks ago, Nour and you were asking the Syrians to respect the rule of law and get permits in order to demonstrate. I even told you to stop the charade. You guys kept comparing the system in to the ones in the west. Then we come to find out that there is no permit process in Syria. Surprised?
Last week the regime lifted emergency law (supposedly) and introduced new permit law. Wow! Reforms on demand!. Over the weekend over 100 innocent and unarmed Syrian brothers got murdered by the regime and you are putting the blame again on people.
My friend’s son went to the police station to obtain a permit, he was beaten, his dad was called and told him if he does it again, they will deal with him accordingly. When the father asked does the permit system really work? He was told if he believed that, they have a bridge to sell him.
The people want their dignity and the regime offered them a bribe.
The people want their freedom and the regime is arresting them for daring to ask for it.
The people want to decide their future and the regime is killing them for wanting to.
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
April 24th, 2011, 1:46 pm
ziadsoury said:
Dear Norman,
Three weeks ago or so, Nour and you were asking the Syrians to respect the rule of law and get permits in order to demonstrate. I even told you to stop the charade. You guys kept comparing the system in to the ones in the west. Then we come to find out that there is no permit process in Syria. Surprised?
Last week the regime lifted emergency law (supposedly) and introduced new permit law. Wow! Reforms on demand!. Over the weekend over 100 innocent and unarmed Syrian brothers got murdered by the regime and you are putting the blame again on people.
My friend’s son went to the police station to obtain a permit, he was beaten, his dad was called and told him if he does it again, they will deal with him accordingly. When the father asked does the permit system really work? He was told if he believed that, they have a bridge to sell him.
The people want their dignity and the regime offered them a bribe.
The people want their freedom and the regime is arresting them for daring to ask for it.
The people want to decide their future and the regime is killing them for wanting to.
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
Allah, Suryyah, Hurrieh, wbas…
April 24th, 2011, 1:51 pm
Alex said:
And these are crimes committed by so-called “freedom fighters”, who are in fact either assassins hired by U.S. Government, or Salafyeen, cursed by God sect of disbelievers headed currently by Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shooUecrDqM
We don’t call you for anything, except common sense. See and judge.
Perhaps you’ll then would like to see how Saudi Arabia’s Army massacring people of Bahrain, and EVEN burning Holy Quran?
April 24th, 2011, 2:00 pm
Not souri any more said:
i only dreamed about freedom but i never asked myself ,freedom of what?now i know what availible to me …MB freedome ,i can be free but not liberal i will not be allowed if those people takeover ,i will be free to be a’good Muslim’ but nothing eles
Daraa is not known for being a hotbed for liberal thinking. Al-Tal, Harasta and other Damascus suburbs which have seen big protests are also very conservative. These people are not necessarily calling for democracy and freedom. They have an Islamist agenda. All the protests have come out of the mosques
April 24th, 2011, 2:07 pm
Syrian said:
Muslims, Christians, Alwaite, Kurds and druz are getting closer and closer to stand together, thank you to the regime crimes and mishandling the situations.
The regime has played the religions game forever, and now, they are going to burn themselves.
Obama`s administration is facing tough time, and the pressure is increasing to take tougher and serious action against Assad`s regime. i.e personal sanctions, security council discussions and threat Al Assad with the international criminal court. Turkey & Russia are losing hope in Assad. Israel is reconsidering the idea of having a different regime in Syrian might be a better choice,especially in case of an attack on the Iranian nuclear sites.
The American advisers are starting to talk about the strategic value of getting rid of Assad instead of dealing with him. And the importance of Syria Vs Libya to the US interest.
The problem with Assad, his watch always behind, he waited in Lebanon instead of withdrawing, until the Syrian army was kicked humiliated,it was hurtful to see that. And now, he waited 11 years to do some political reform. He thought that China`s model is going to work in Syria, and we are seeing the bloody results.
Mr. Bashar, you need to fire all your advisers, and your top military officers… oh by the way your fake radical islamists groups “ALSHABE7A” too!
ALLAH SURRYAH HURRYAH WBAS
ALLAH SURRYAH HURRYAH WBAS
ALLAH SURRYAH HURRYAH WBAS
ALLAH SURRYAH HURRYAH WBAS
ALLAH SURRYAH HURRYAH WBAS
ALLAH SURRYAH HURRYAH WBAS
ALLAH SURRYAH HURRYAH WBAS
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
ZANGA ZANGA DAR DAR RA7 NSHELAK YA BASHAR
April 24th, 2011, 2:11 pm
Souri said:
Well, I would not at all dismiss the possibility of foreign involvement, but to say that Hariri and Saudi Arabia are responsible for this uprising is untrue. This uprising is an attempt at freedom by a segment of the Syrian society that has long been oppressed, that is, the Islamists.
Those are people who have relatives that have been imprisoned, exiled, or killed by the regime during the 1980’s events or later. They are people who have had the experience of being summoned by the secret police and investigated for growing a large beard, attending mosques too much, or having Wahhabi books. They are people who feel alienated in a society that does not comply with their social/religious views, which they believe must be enforced because they believe themselves to be a majority in the society, and thus have the right to impose their own views rather than being subjected to the secular system which they believe to be unjustly imposed on them by the Alawis.
This uprising has nothing to do with poverty. The poor people I have seen were all antipathetic to it. This uprising is about freedom as the Islamists understand freedom.
In the first days of the uprising, I expected all the Islamists to join the uprising at one point. I estimated the people who would join to be no more than 50% of the population. This is the maximum support this revolution can have in Syria. The disaster is that the Islamists refuse to accept this reality and they insist on believing that they represent 85% of the Syrian population. This is the reason for why they have always sought to start a sectarian war in Syria. The Islamists consider themselves to be representatives of the “Sunnis,” and the Sunnis according to them are 85% of Syrians, so a sectarian war for them sounds like a picnic. If you have noticed, SHAMI kept always saying on this blog that a sectarian war was not possible in Syria because there was no other faction to take part in the war. This is the mentality of all the Islamists. They refuse to recognize that there are other communities in this country that can stand up to them.
Some people wonder why Aleppo has not joined the uprising. The main reason is that Aleppo is more “mature” than the other southern cities. The provinces that participated in the major clash with the government in the 1980’s were Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama. The southern provinces, especially Deraa, did not see major clashes at that time (Deraa was rewarded and was given a big share in the regime by Hafez Assad for being loyal to him). The people in Deraa, Damascus, and Homs still have the “Sunni arrogance” that Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama lost during the 1980’s. There is an obvious difference when you talk to an Islamist from Aleppo and another from Damascus. The Islamists in Aleppo (except the young generation) are very humble compared to the Damascene ones. People in Aleppo are less sectarianist than the Damascenes, because what they witnessed during the 1980’s taught them a lesson that they still remember well. The Islamists in Aleppo understand that a civil war is not a picnic and that the outcome is not guaranteed for them. Many young people in Aleppo would like to join the uprising, but their parents are holding them back. People in Aleppo are very apprehensive of any civil strife with the Alawis.
The Islamists are not a homogenous block. The Wahhabis are definitely leading this uprising from its first day. They have already put in their maximum strength—all the Wahhabi towns have acted, even those located near Aleppo. I was told that Al-Bab and Manbij (both Whhabi strongholds) had demonstrations last Friday, but they were not mentioned in the media for a reason I don’t know. Almost every Wahhabi town in Syria has seen demonstrations (famous Wahhabi locations include Duma, Jayrud, Tall Kalakh, Al-Bab, Manbij, Ar-Raqqa, and Deir Az-Zor).
The Wahhabis have reached their full capacity and they cannot add any more strength into the fray. What can change the balance now is the regular Islamists who dwell in Damascus and Aleppo. From what I know, it is likely that more people in Damascus will join the uprising. The Maydan has already seen a demonstration. I talked to an Islamist from the Maydan few weeks before the uprising. He told me that the people in Maydan cannot stand Assad and the Alawis and that it was the Maydanis who were going to topple the regime. I also talked to other Islamists from Damascus who were supportive of Assad.
April 24th, 2011, 2:23 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
The tireless Souri, the Sunni Alawi from a small village big city.
Most probably a regime bot. Ignore.
.
April 24th, 2011, 2:54 pm
Norman said:
It looks more and more as a shia, Sunni war with a clear goal to weaken the resistance camp that is helped by Iran, on the American TV, Lieberman is calling for US intervention to push for the fall of President Assad because of his support for Hezbollah, Hamas,
(( I was listening to BBC and Al Jazeera, two notes from two different people got my attention, One from Homs where a caller said that the demonstrators captured a lieutenant but let him go because he was Sunni, and another one near Damascus where a caller said that they were tired of people who speak with the Q , the dialect of the Alawat,)))
That is for all of you to reach your own conclusions,
April 24th, 2011, 2:57 pm
hans said:
@SOPHIA #188
You like quoting Angry Arab, this arrogant man had the tenacity to call President Chavez of Venezuela a clown. Chavez who has dome more to his people and to rest of Latin America then the AA. If he is so smart then he should move to his Palestine and lead his people from the clutches of the crazy Zionist. I guess his arm chair is too comfortable!
April 24th, 2011, 3:22 pm
N.Z. said:
Norman,
We all know that the regime is made from an Alawite majority. They are as Syrians, as any Syrian can be, This is a fact.
We, Sunnis, Shiites, Christians Alawites are all culprits in how our lovely country is crumbling in front of our eyes.
We, the people are no better than the regime, we hastened in advancing this autocratic, corrupt regime.
Syria will remain united with all its people, and will remain he heart of national Arabism.
Those who are talking in sectarian terms are talking from anger, and not from a true belief.
Any person who is treating another fellow badly, regardless of his affiliation is hated. It has nothing to do with sectarianism, but everything to do with dignity.
April 24th, 2011, 3:28 pm
Sophia said:
Easter celebrations in Syria:
http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2011/04/24/343123.htm
Easter celebrations in Iraq:
http://www.newser.com/article/d9mq2sbg0/bomb-explodes-outside-baghdad-church-on-easter-sunday-wounding-7.html
April 24th, 2011, 3:49 pm
Norman said:
N.Z ,
You Said (( Those who are talking in sectarian terms are talking from anger, and not from a true belief.))
I think that at the time of anger people’s inhibition vanish and say what they believe in .
April 24th, 2011, 3:53 pm
vlad-the-syrian said:
Hi dr Landis
why are you removing my comments ? i do not insult anybody here
i am a syrian fro aleppo and this is what i think :
this a ZOMBIE revolution led by the ZOMBIES INC. CAPITAL RYAD SAUDI ARABIA
April 24th, 2011, 4:22 pm
Austria said:
To Moundass “Comment 101”
You make it sound as if overturning the regime will solve all the problems Syria is facing from poverty to economic development to unemployment. The reality is that a democratic Syria is a very unlikely outcone of the revolt. It is much more likely that we will end up with a chaos, civil war and a high level of insecurity.
Where is the leadership of the opposition? what are their economic plans? how are they organized? What are their specific demands and agendas? With such unclarity and probably disparity, who will fill the void and force the democratic reforms? How will syria be rebuilt?
One of the negative side effects of democracy is that it empowers quantity over quality. In a situation like that of Syria this side effect may lead to a situation like Iraq or Palestine (both countries enjoying the fruits of democracy to the extent that 1.5 million Iraqis and half a million Palestinians ended up in less democratic Syria).
My point is that full democracy is not enough nor is it a priority. The priority is stability and economic development. Without them even the best democracy is not going to fulfil any of the demonstrators’ demands for eliminating poverty and increasing employment. What is also important to note is that large segments of the population believe that poverty will be eliminated overnight upon a fall of the regime. There seems to be no awarness that the growth rates required to reduce unemployment in Syria (where population growth rates top the world charts) would have to be phenomenal. No one seems to register that the commodity price increases are caused by global demand and supply laws and not by any governments. Such inflation will not stop if the regime were to fall. That’s the reality we face and the opposition leaders or great thinkers, if they exist, should be honest and straightforward about it.
April 24th, 2011, 4:29 pm
Mouna said:
Vlad-the-Syrian,
Maybe you can compare notes with the other Armenian lady who posted here a couple of days ago.
April 24th, 2011, 4:33 pm
MONTAGNARD said:
ZIADSOURY
Your wishes of happy Easter are rejected. This can never be a happy Easter. Your problem is not your IQ. You have a high enough IQ to at least articulate your opinion and your beliefs. The fact that you can not stand Norman for his opinion and beliefs and can not be tolerant enough to accept his arguments, gives me the chills of what the rebels are all about. You have repeated a beautiful slogan many times above, which you render to empty words when in fact you show that you can not be tolerant and inclusive to accept Norman’s opinion, which he articulates out of conviction and not out of hate or fanaticism, and his passion for his Syria is so obvious.
I hope this dark cloud will pass and may Syria have a happy Easter next year.
April 24th, 2011, 4:34 pm
fadi said:
My message is for the WEST: The Syrian Revolution goal is to let Syria will fall into the hands of Evil Radical Islamist. Listen to this radical. I will give you many examples of the type of people you will bring us.
خطبة شيخ سلفي ارهابي من شيوخ الثورة في درعا
April 24th, 2011, 5:03 pm
Norman said:
Mont,
Thank you, Let me make it clear to Ziadsouri, we want Syria to have as much freedom as the US, Syria is as diverse as the US, The us is a country of laws and so Syria can be but safety for all the people and the chance for free election so the people can decide not what some revolutionaries want, We want the chance for all Syrians to be all what they can be no matter what their religion, ethnic background or for that matter the color of their hair, skin, or eyes,
Yes , Syria need to have reform as fast as possible but this is what these revolutionaries want and some people are warning about,
((( From Syria with doubt
A leftist comrade who I trust sent me this (I cite with his permission but I will keep him anonymous): “Hi As’ad,
I have been going to Syria for several months now due to my work….i am …; So part of my work is to go to the client’s company…. I have been to Aleppo, Rakka, Hasaka Damascus and also the rural part of Aleppo and Damascus.
Except for Damascus and the Christian neighborhood of Aleppo you would think you are in Kandahar under the rule of Taliban (especially in the rural parts_…As’ad what you see there is scary…burqa3 everywhere…women are barely seen in the streets and the overwhelming majority is covered from head to bottom.
Now I have been thinking about what is happening in Syria…and I have been trying to support the protesters…but I cannot…those people will only bring Taliban alike into power…Saudi Arabia will have the upper hand in the region and Syria will be divided between sects in the best case scenario. (Not to mention that the arms route toward Hezbollah will be cut).
Yesterday in doma the chants were “Alawiyye bi eltabout…w masi7iey 3a Beirut”!! how can we ever support those guys….
I agree that there is another Syrian opposition but these are a minority….those leading the demonstrations are islamists – Saudi style….
All I am saying is that are you sure you want the Syrian regime to collapse…because the more I look at the “rebels”….the more I doubt the whole future of the region…..for the first time in my life I am doubting my decision to live in the region.”
April 24th, 2011, 5:08 pm
fadi said:
PART 2:
The Syrian Revolution goal is to let Syria will fall into the hands of Evil Radical Islamist.
This Muslim clerk is teaching us that a daughter should not wear shorts or T shirts in font of her father as her father may feel raping her. This is exactly the type of people that we should clean from the world
April 24th, 2011, 5:10 pm
Fadi said:
Part 3:
A Saudi clerk advocating JIHAD in Syria. Guess what, you will be next. Do not get fooled with this bunch of cowards. You will be next as these people cannot survive without Jihad
http://www.aksalser.com/?page=view_news&id=1a50d67c97223ac0cb1bd221a80167f6&ar=74400555
April 24th, 2011, 5:13 pm
Fadi said:
part 4:
To the USA and the west
Look at this Egyptian clerk who is asking rather forcing Obama to convert to Islam. He even trashes other religions claiming that the heaven is not for Christians, Jews, etc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj29Df-fy5M&feature=related
April 24th, 2011, 5:23 pm
Fadi said:
Part 5;
This documentary is about Radical Islam. Please compare some Syrian demonstration clips to the demonstrations revealed in the current clip and judge for yourself
ALERT: Do not bring Radical Islam to rule
April 24th, 2011, 5:28 pm
Fadi said:
Part 6:
More and more people are finding comfort and inspiration in religion and, even in secular Syria, religion is becoming more important.
More Syrians are going to the mosque, more women are wearing the hijab and underground women’s religious discussion groups are mushrooming even though they are banned.
The austere Wahhabi brand of Islam practised by Osama bin Laden is also growing more popular and clerics are calling for jihad in Iraq and Palestine.
The same article {2004} stated “Syria remains one of the countries in the region where moderate Islam is still thought to be the dominant trend as Christians, Sunnis, Shias and Alawites continue to co-exist”
LET US ERADICATED THE RADICAL MUSLIMS
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2004/05/radical-islam-spreading-in-syria.html
April 24th, 2011, 5:33 pm
Mouna said:
Fadi,
You sound like panicking!
Unfortunately, religious extremism has risen in the past decade, but not only among Sunnis. I know many people from different sects, including Christians, who have noticeably become more religious, apparently in an attempt to counter Sunni religiousness and show the Sunnis that, “Hey, we are as proud of our religion as you are of yours”!!
I was on a bus in Jaramana this last October and one lady stood up and started telling passengers they must embrace Jesus before it’s too late. Just last week I saw someone walking by the main church in Qassa, rubbing sand from the church doorstep on his hand and kissing it. Also Druse, Alawis, and Ismailis have recently started professing their religions with such forcefulness.
I guess you will rejoin by saying non-Sunni (non-Muslim) extremism is benign given the history and track record of the latter, or because Islam is an inherently violent ideology.
I say self-righteous over-religiousness is not good regardless which party it comes from.
April 24th, 2011, 5:56 pm
majedkhaldoon said:
Fadi
Most Syrian are musslems,but they are against MB,however this revolution is not about radical Islamists,it is about freedom and dignity,it is against one family enslaving the rest of the population, Alawite has nothing to fear, it is the Asadists who will loose,and this revolution is not against Baath, those in power now are not true Baathist, true Baathist are for freedom,not for tyrany,those who love Baath has nothing to fear.
Fadi your frivulous attempt to tell us that radical islamists will be in control,will not succeed.
Alex
This video you showed us is from Syrian TV, they have zero credibility.I am sure you agree that verification is needed by third party, these demonstrations are peaceful,we have never saw any one with weapons.
I d believe that if killing continues,syrian must defend themselves,and must carry arms,this will only expedite the regime fall, If the regime is smart,they would stop allowing those thugs from killing innocent people,if the regime is serious about reform,they should resort to measures that help them gain people trust,violence is not the way to do that,
April 24th, 2011, 6:29 pm
Fadi said:
Mouna said
“Religious extremism has risen in the past decade, but not only among Sunnis”. Ops did I mention Sunni in the last 6 threads. Not one time. But good to know from you that Radical Islam stems from Sunnis but you try to defend that by stating that other secs are becoming radicals.
“I was on a bus in Jaramana this last October and one lady stood up and started telling passengers they must embrace Jesus before it’s too late”: Give me examples of radical christians killed people in Syria in the name of God. Please provide us
“I saw someone walking by the main church in Qassa, rubbing sand from the church doorstep on his hand and kissing it”: Do you call this Radicalism. Is this your example of radical christians. I think your pocket is empty dear. We may kiss hands, Alawi may kiss tombs…but no one reach your level of killing people in Syria, middleast, and the world as you did, Soi stop defending yourself and your religious sec
You say “Islam is an inherently violent”
April 24th, 2011, 6:33 pm
vlad-the-syrian said:
to MAJDELKHADOOM
what freedom ? what dignity ?
can you be more explicit about that ?
give us some examples please instead of making your beautiful assertions
and why should the official TV be biased ? do you mean that security men killed or injured by scores are fake ?
what is the interest of the regime in shooting at demonstrators ? i dont get it
besides, i ask you WHAT FREEDOM AND DIGNITY COULD THERE BE FOR THE ZOMBIES ? the answer is : NONE
i’m sure that you and your likes you have understood
ALLAH WA AKBAR !
April 24th, 2011, 6:38 pm
why-discuss said:
Grim Easter: Syrian Christians Caught in Conflict
NPR
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/24/135687107/grim-easter-syrian-christians-caught-in-conflict?ft=1&f=2&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NprProgramsATC+%28NPR+Programs%3A+All+Things+Considered%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
April 24th, 2011, 6:42 pm
ziadsoury said:
Montagnard,
First, I was not talking to you and I didn’t address you.
Second, where on earth did I attack Norman’s believes and/or fait? I was following up on a previous argument we had before. Actually, I have a lot of respect for Norman and I only address people who I respect. But you have to play the fear and religion cards. It is in the DNA.
Third, you have no clue who I am and what are my believes. You still attacked me anyway. Sound familiar?
Fourth, all these innocent people (rebels) that died over the weekend didn’t bother but repeating that slogan hit a nerve really hard.
Finally, if you are really concerned about our Syrians brothers (all of them) why don’t condemn all violence and demand an independent investigation into the killings. I want to know. I don’t believe anyone so I want an investigation.
April 24th, 2011, 6:49 pm
fadi said:
WD
I would quote this from the great link you provided
“Amos says many Christians in Syria are wealthy, educated and disproportionately serve in senior government positions. They are largely supportive of Assad, who has gone out of his way to reach out to them”.
April 24th, 2011, 6:50 pm
Real Syrian said:
خطبة شيخ سلفي ارهابي من شيوخ الثورة في درعا
It is A SHAME
This Islamic Terrorist Sheikh in Daraa has accused the Druze women and described them as prostitutes.
He has been announced as Amir of Darr Islamic Imara……..shame of such terrorist and such disgusting Islam.
How minorities in Syria feel about this revolution????
I think, not only the regime will fight but all respectful Syrian should do……..
April 24th, 2011, 6:52 pm
Mouna said:
Fadi,
Your answer came as expected. It is benign for others to be as religious and bordering on radicalism simply because they never got to express this radicalism violently. Whatever happened to “principle”?
And please be careful with the vitriol you’re spewing. It doesn’t help your cause as the mouthpiece of persecuted peaceful minorities. I guess you could be an arch-radical yourself, were you given the chance.
Perhaps I should start calling you Terry Jones?
April 24th, 2011, 6:56 pm
ziadsoury said:
Let’s assume the followings:
All videos coming out from the demonstrators are fake
All demonstrators are whabi and salafi (including the dead Christians)
All demonstrators are under Saudi, Lebanese and Israeli control (or drugged just the Libyans)
The demonstrators goal is the fall of the regime
The government media outlets are god’s gift to media around the world and never fabricate or lie
Bashar is very sincere about the reforms
The Asad clan can’t wait to have multi-party fair and monitored elections
The regime is 100% behind Bashar and his clan
The Mukhabarat and all security services can’t wait to give up power and become accountable to the people
Why shoot to kill?
Why can’t they go to the streets and voice their opinions?
What did the 12 years old boy do to deserve death?
Please spare me the argument: 12 year old boys should be at home. How come it was OK for families with toddlers to go out in support of Bashar but not otherwise?
April 24th, 2011, 7:04 pm
Real Syrian said:
to mouna
What is your problem with Terry Jones?????????
Terry Jones is the Lord of your radical Muslims….
April 24th, 2011, 7:07 pm
fadi said:
Mouna wants to educate me and the world about Radical Christians and Alawi. She went to provide me example of people kissing the sands in fornt of church, or a lady who might be old saying follow Jesus before it is too late.
I want to inform the WHOLE WORLD that Alawi which are being a target in other blogs and in the Syrian rebolution and in free Syria websites do not know what is the meaning of radicals.
I want to inform the WORLD that Alawi have been victims of GENOCIDE throughout history similat to the Holocaust. I like examples:
“Alawites in Turkey have suffered from massacres throughout their history in the country. The best known massacre was in 1938 in Dersim-Tunceli where a great number of Alawites were killed and their children, especially girls, were adopted mostly by soldiers to be raised as Sunni citizens of the state”. Link: http://diclehaber.com/2/22/viewNews/232446
“Alawites were actively persecuted under Mameluke rule from 1260 onwards”
“When Ottoman Empire took over in 1516, they killed over 90,000 Alawite”
April 24th, 2011, 7:13 pm
Syrian said:
Norman said: It looks more and more as a shia, Sunni war with a clear goal to weaken the resistance camp that is helped by Iran
Syrian said: Old scarecrow, why do you threat us with the civil war when we want some freedom & dignity! What resistance camp? The Iranian regime, who killed his own Shia people after the election, and they are killing the Arabs in Ahwaz right now? or Hezbollah who might be involved in Al Hariri`s assassination? or Assad`s regime who kept the border with Israel very quite for 40 years? We will always remember that Nasrallah has betrayed the Syrians blood by supporting the regime`s story, actions and killing innocent people!
Norman said: another one near Damascus where a caller said that they were tired of people who speak with the Q , the dialect of the Alawat,)))
Syrian said: Do not you think that the regime & some Alwites did abuse their Q to show the sign of power for more than 40 years in Syria? Do not you think that the rule of one family, one sector MUST go?
The regime has abused the people & the country for many many years, and it is the time for them to go!
Hafez Assad died but Syria alive,
Bashar Assad will go and Syria alive
Assad`s regime will go and Syria alive
WE WANT FREEDOM, WE WANT DIGNITY!!! WHY DO NOT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?
WE DO NOT WANT A LEADER FOREVER, WE DO NOT WANT ALBAATH PARTY RULE ANYMORE. ALWAITES HAS NOTHING TO FEAR UNLESS THEY COMMITTED CRIMES!
FREE SYRIA IS A BETTER & A STRONGER SUPPORTER FOR OTHER ARABS IN PALESTINE & LEBANON!!
The choice is not between brutal regime & radical Isalmists. The choice is FREEDOM & DIGNITY!! HOPE YOU WILL GET IT ONE DAY!!!!
April 24th, 2011, 7:15 pm
ziadsoury said:
Syrian,
Syria is not a family controlled. Syria is controlled by a gang of all different religions and believes and the Asads are the leaders of this gang. That is why it is very convenient to divide the country and play the fear card. There are more sunnis with blood on their hand and money in their pockets than 3lawis in that gang. That is why I want the eradications of all these thugs including the ones outside the country (Khadam and …).
I know of a lot of sunnis that are benefiting greatly from being in this gang. That is why they are happy with the status quo.
I can’t speak for Norman but I believe he is a very good person that wants nothing but the best for our beloved Syria but have been caught in the fear cycle.
April 24th, 2011, 7:39 pm
fadi said:
Mouna wants to educate me and the world about Radical Christians and Alawi. She went to provide me example of people kissing the sands in fornt of church, or a lady who might be old saying follow Jesus before it is too late.
I want to inform the WHOLE WORLD that Alawi which are being a target in other blogs and in the Syrian rebolution and in free Syria websites do not know what is the meaning of radicals.
I want to inform the WORLD that Alawi have been victims of GENOCIDE throughout history similat to the Holocaust. I like examples:
“Alawites in Turkey have suffered from massacres throughout their history in the country. The best known massacre was in 1938 in Dersim-Tunceli where a great number of Alawites were killed and their children, especially girls, were adopted mostly by soldiers to be raised as Sunni citizens of the state”. Link: http://diclehaber.com/2/22/viewNews/232446
“Alawites were actively persecuted under Mameluke rule from 1260 onwards”
“When Ottoman Empire took over in 1516, they killed over 90,000 Alawite”
Look at another link:
http://www.allaahuakbar.net/nusayri/index.htm
“…Is it permissible for a Muslim (man or woman) to marry them (Nusayris)?
Answer:
All Praise is for Allah, Lord of all worlds. These people named “Al-Nusayriyyah”, and other groups from among the Qaraamitah and Baatiniyyah, are greater disbelievers than the Jews and Christians. Nay, they are greater disbelievers than most of the mushrikeen (polytheists from other than Ahl ul-Kitab), and their harm to the Ummah of Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, is greater than the harm of the disbelievers who are in war with Muslims, such as at-Tatar, disbelieving Europeans and others.
April 24th, 2011, 7:50 pm
Syrian said:
Zaidsouria, you are absolutely right! me too, I knew many Sunnies who are nothing but members of Al-Assad`s Gang. I just hope that the people will understand that Syria was there before Al-Assad`s gang, and will be there strong and free after ending this gang`s rule!
As Mr. Burhan Galyoun said, it is a miracle to protest against this brutal regime!!
We are not going to let it go….FREEDOM & DIGNITY NOW OR NEVER!!!
April 24th, 2011, 8:05 pm
Norman said:
Ziadsouri,
The problem is that the opposition is not providing comfort to the minorities and others in the government by claiming war against corruption and calling for equal rights to all regardless of their religion or ethnic background, I was there in Syria in the seventies and the people who were killed by the MB were not the corrupt, they were the Alawat and the christian university teachers and army officers, so history is not comforting that anything changed if we do not hear a clear assertion by the opposition of their view to who is a full citizen and who is not and that what they want is equal right to management not the only part to management,
If they do that the president and many people will support them,
April 24th, 2011, 8:11 pm
syau said:
Dear Dr. Landis,
I know you are very busy and cannot afford to micro manage everybody’s comments, and, I apologise that I made comments that you had to delete. I am not defending my comments in any way and I’m sorry I let my emotions get the better of me, but my comments were a result of Leo’s comments in #156. It might be that you possibly didn’t notice what he had to say, but over the passed few weeks I have been subjected to such comments, and, comments being made about the Alawi.
Aboud in previous comments called people from the Alawi religion “unwashed illiterates, and, filthy scum”. Mouna made fun at the use of the letter Quaf in the Alawi dialect and said that we cluck away. I think they are comments that should be monitored. It also goes to show that hatred against the Alawi is still alive and well with the Sunni. Unfortunately my efforts (reflected in my comments) not to have this go down the ugly path of a sectarian issue, it seems as though that is what it has turned to, and, anyone that is not hardcore anti Bashar as others on the blog are seen to be either Alawi or Islamaphobic Christian.
April 24th, 2011, 9:06 pm
syau said:
Alex, #197.
The link you provided is extremely saddening to watch. Unfortunately those rebels are seen as “freedom fighters” by some. They look past the execution and mutilation and look into believing the outright lies broadcast on Aljazeera or BBC arabic.
One mans freedom fighter is another mans terrorist and the evil people doing and condoning such acts will be rightfullly punished.
Information has also surfaced that many of these rebels which are on the run are hiding in some villiages. People are afraid to let their children outside the house and those with adult children who go to work are constantly worrying that their children will be caught by these rebels and subjected to such atrocities.
It is a sad situation and one that does definately warrant intervention by security services and the army. There are some here that think not, but they are very mistaken.
Majedkhaldoon, #162 –
I thank you for seeing me fit to be an Ambassador to Syria, as it would be an honour to serve Syria and Bashar Assad. Unfortunately I am not.
#167, Some protesters are legitimate protesters, but, after Bashar put forward and implemented the reforms they were asking for, there would be no need for them to protest further. The ‘peaceful protesters’ who are ‘unarmed’ are not interested in reform, they want to continue on with their original plan. That plan does not include reform or a peaceful Syria with diversity and mutual respect for the various religions and sects. These people need to be addressed and if rounding up the suspects is one way to do it, they need to in order to re gain stability in the country.
April 24th, 2011, 9:32 pm
NK said:
http://bit.ly/expUgk
A hundred Syrian writer and journalist accused the official media of misleading, and hold the Syrian authorities responsible for the violence.
We are Syrian writers and journalists make this statement protesting against the repressive practices of the Syrian regime against the demonstrators, we wish solace upon all the martyrs of the uprising against the Syrian regime, and emphasize the right to demonstrate, all the slogans of national unity, the claim to freedom, leading to the most important demand which is to start an inclusive national dialogue of all spectra of the Syrian society to achieve peaceful change in Syria.
In this statement we condemn the practices of the Syrian media disinformation and lies, not to reveal the truth. We call upon the honorable journalists in the Syrian media institutions to stop the performance of their official jobs, and to declare their withdrawal from the Union of journalists in Syria, in protest of this failed and security controlled Union, to preserve the honor of the profession, which requires standing by the people, and showing the facts as they are, and not to participate in deception. On this occasion we condemn the silence of a lot of Syrian intellectuals who did not break the constraints of fear yet, and we call on them to declare a clear position regarding the repressive practices of the Syrian regime, as part of the heroic Syrian People, and an elite that is supposed to be the first to tell the truth rather than remaining in the back of the convoy, otherwise they will remain outside of History
and its movement.
24/4/2011
Signatories
الموقعون:
1- حسام ميرو
2- حسين الجمو
3- عبد الرزاق اسماعيل
4- حكم البابا
5- ابراهيم اليوسف
6- وليد عبد القادر
7- جمعة عكاش
8- حفيظ عبد الرحمن
9- مروان علي
10-محمد سليمان
11-جيانا محمد شيخو
12-لافا خالد
13-ثائر عبد الجبار
14-عبد الباقي حسيني
15-بهزاد عمر
16-صادق عمر
17-محمد منصور
18-بسام بلان
19-مصطفى الجندي
20-حسام عرفة
21-يمان الشواف
22-فراس كيلاني
23-وائل التميمي
24-صادق أبو حامد
25-شعبان عبود
26-رزان سرية
27-راشد عيسى
28-سليمان أوصمان
29-غالية قباني
30-عبد الكريم العفنان
24-محمد العبدالله
25-خطيب بدلة
26-يعرب العيسى
27-رضوان زيادة
28-خولة يوسف
29-عمر الأسعد
30-رائدة دعبول
31-خلف علي الخلف
32-يارا بدر
33-غسان العبود
34-جهاد صالح
35-علي ديوب
36-ياسين الحاج صالح
37-فادي عزام
38-محمد الحاج صالح
39-محمد علي الاتاسي
40-عامر مطر
41-محمد علي
42-ثائر علي الزعزوع
43-سعاد جروس
44-رابطة الكتاب والصحافيين الكرد في سورية
45-خالد عبد الواحد
46-هالة محمد
47-خالد خليفة
48-محمد داريوس
49-منذر بدر حلوم
50-منذر خدام
51-ندى منزلجي
52-نجيب عواد
53-سمر يزبك
54-تمام تلاوي
55-زياد العبد الله
56-خضر الآغا
57-أميرة أبو الحسن
58-خولة غازي
59-كندة قنبر
60-صخر الحاج حسين
61-منير شحود
62-منذر المصري
63-حازم العظمة
64-أميرة أبو الحسن
65-حسان الصالح
66-مرح البقاعي
67-حسام الدين محمد
68-محي الدين اللاذقاني
69-فراس حسين
70-سامر رضوان
71-حسين الشيخ
72-مصطفى حمو
73- عبير اسبر
74- بسام جعارة
75- سناء العلي
76- ياسر خوجة
77- إبراهيم العلوش
78- صالح دياب
79- ناصر ونوس
80- أحمد الخليل
81- تمام التلاوي
82- نجيب جورج عوض
83- ماهر شرف الدين
84- بدرخان علي
85- ممدوح عزام
86- روز ياسين حسن
87- لؤي حسين
88- رشا عمران
89- لينا الطيبي
90- د.احمد الموسى
91- باسل علي
92- فدوى كيلاني
93- منظمة صحفيون بلا صحف
94- جوان أمين
95- مسعود حامد
96- د. علي الشرابي
97- د. عامر الأخضر
98- د. ويران علي
99- ديلاور سليمان
100- ديلاور ميقري
101ـ عدنان العودة
===
مئة كاتب وصحافي سوري يتهمون إعلامهم الرسمي بالتضليل ويحملون السلطات مسؤولية العنف
نحن الكتاب والصحافيين السوريين نوجه هذا البيان الاحتجاجي ضد الممارسات القمعية للنظام السوري ضد المتظاهرين، ونترحم على جميع شهداء الانتفاضة السورية ضد النظام، ونؤكد على حق التظاهر، وكل ما يطرح من شعارات الوحدة الوطنية، والمطالبة بالحرية، وذلك وصولاً إلى المطلب الأهم وهو إجراء حوار وطني شامل يضم جميع أطياف الشعب السوري يحقق مطالب التغيير السلمي في سورية.
وندين في هذا البيان ممارسات الإعلام السوري بالتضليل والكذب وعدم إظهار الحقيقة، ونهيب بالصحافيين والإعلاميين الشرفاء في المؤسسات الإعلامية السورية أن يتوقفوا عن أداء عملهم الرسمي، وأن يعلنوا انسحابهم من اتحاد الصحافيين في سورية احتجاجاً على هذا الاتحاد الفاشل والأمني، حفاظاً على شرف المهنة الذي يقتضي الوقوف إلى جانب الشعب، وإظهار الحقائق كما هي، وعدم المشاركة في التضليل، وندين بهذه المناسبة صمت الكثير من المثقفين السوريين الذين لم يكسروا بعد قيود الخوف، ونطالبهم بإعلان موقف واضح من الممارسات القمعية للنظام السوري بوصفهم جزءا من الشعب السوري البطل، ومن نخبة يفترض أن تكون
سباقة إلى قول الحقيقة وألا تبقى في مؤخرة الركب، وإلا فإنها ستبقى خارج التاريخ
وحركته.
April 24th, 2011, 9:41 pm
Maha said:
الى جميع المتحاورين على هذه الصفحة وبينهم صاحبها اطلب منكم وبكل محبة ان توقفوا الاتهامات التي ليس لها اي فائدة على الاطلاق والتي لا احد في النظام يهمه رأيكم او انه من الممكن ان يطلع على رأيكم.فلا احد في سوريا له رأي وكلنا نعلم ذلك بكل ما لهذه الكلمة من معنى فنحن كلنا وكل الشعب السوري يستهان به لاقصى الحدود وانتم هنا تتحاوروا على مواضيع لا اهمية لها عند النظام على الاطلاق ولا احد الان حتى ا صف شوكت لايؤخذ برأيه كفاكم وفقط حاولوا التحاور على كيفية انقاذ هذا الشعب العظيم بجميع اطيافه وطوائفه.
والله لو كان لاحد منكم اي راي سوف يؤخذ به للكثير من المثقفين كانوا شاركوكم ولكن انا متأكدة مليون بالمئة ان لا احد في سوريا يجرؤ على شئ.عاشت سوريا وشعبها حرة ابية.
April 24th, 2011, 9:55 pm
Fadi said:
I obtained this clip from the facebook of Syrian Revolution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiQHWwvcdGI
Look at this person. Does he look peaceful to you?
Do you want these types of people to lead Syria?
Do you want these types of people in your countries?
Do you want these people to overcome a secular country and then declare Jihad on you the people of the free world?
This is another one for those who believe that these thugs are peaceful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM0MnJsT6rc
April 24th, 2011, 9:59 pm
Syrian said:
Mr. Norman, You are taking the regime`s story about what happened in Syria late 70`s and early 80`s. We knew that the MB has committed crimes, and their biggest mistake at the time is being armed by Saddam Hussain and they used it against the regime. I just wanted to let you know that, there was no independent investigation took place for what happened in Syria at that time. Many of the alwaits & christians were killed by the regime gangs who dressed and acted like MB, to terrorise the people of Syria and make them afraid to death of MB. Also to make the Syrian people stand with the regime against the MB.
Dr. Mohammad Alfadel was killed by the regime forces and they made up the story of MB.
They are doing the same and they are repeating the same story, This time there are videos showing their lies.unfortunitly in the 70`s & 80`s cell phones cameras were not available.
I am not sure if you know that the regime talks about national unity and at the same time they have a published and hidden constitution that will never allow any Syrian christian to be a president or a prime minister.
Thanks
April 24th, 2011, 10:01 pm
Fadi said:
I am sorry but what I can say about this person who is another member, ops, sorry, another leader of this peaceful Syrian demonstration. PLease review the clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO1uUGLB7lo&feature=related
Tell me one thing: Does he really looks a peaceful person.
This is why we should eradicate Radical Islamist. I call this person Terrorist.
You people in the free world have suffered enough from them. Your turn is soon if secular countries in the middleast started to fall.
I do not want to sound fearful as some people describing me. Actually I AM TOTALLY CONFIDENT THAT THE ARMY WILL CLEAN SYRIA FROM TERROR, AND TERRORISM.
I just want all the free minds in the world to see the facts behind what is called peaceful revolution. I do not see anything peacful about it rather I see terrorist faces here. THIS IS THEIR REVOLUTION
April 24th, 2011, 10:09 pm
Akbar Palace said:
Infiltrator NewZ
Alex,
I noticed this paragraph from one of the articles you linked to:
This time they have approached the heart of Arab resistance – Syria. Terrorists, backed up by US Government and Israel, headed by famous Saudi – mad Bandar bin Sultan – have infiltrated this beautiful country. They’ve begun to sow the turmoil, breaking private and public property, burning cars and crashing shops, raiding the cities shelling civilians with sporadic machine gun fire, recording these “heroic” activities for Zionist media.
So now I’m thinking to myself, how did so many “terrorists” infiltrate Syria? Doesn’t Syria guard their borders? Why didn’t Syria capture some of the infiltators and show them on YouTube including videos of their interrogations, passports, etc?
And why do I hear all these pro-Assad posters talk about Islamists/Muslim Brotherhood/Wahabbis/Salafis? Aren’t Syria’s friends in Iran and Hezbollah both Islamist too? What’s the difference?
I just can’t believe all those demonstrators I’ve seen on TV are foreign “infiltrators”.
April 24th, 2011, 10:12 pm
Fadi said:
For all the peaceful people and free minds in the whole world especially the west. Look at comment 240. ONe of the revolution leader defending Muslim Brotherhood that took lifes of brilliant Syrians’ scholars in the 1970s.
He call himself Syrian which is degrading to the name Syria and to the history of Syria and to the people of Syria. We see the revolution leaders again and again defending and protecting Terrorist organizations like Muslim Brotherhood and AlQaeda. Do you, the free people of the world, still have any faith in their (opposition) claims. I have provided you some video clips from their websites advertising terror to the free people of Syria
April 24th, 2011, 10:14 pm
majedkhaldoon said:
Should we have a committee representing the revolution, if so I like it to include,Hytham Maleh, Aref Dalileh, Suhair Atassie,Razan Zaitouneh,and certainly Tayyeb Tizini
April 24th, 2011, 10:16 pm
ziadsoury said:
Dear Norman,
I was there too in seventies and I remember crimes committed by both sides. Yes both sides committed atrocities. Nothing happens in a vacuum. We have to get past that ugly and dark period of our history.
The Ba3th came to power in the sixties and declared marshal law. They took away people’s wealth by implementing the Tas7i7 Elzera3i. Land and factory owners became servants in their land and property. Then Hafez came and he was ruthless. No one was allowed to vent and complain. Anyone who spoke out was locked up. What do you expect as a result of that? The brain drain started to happen and there was a big vacuum. Most people who left (just like the 2 of us) never came back. Yeah we visit but that is all.
So the country was left with a gang running the country and the poor and with no or very small middle class. The poor with only the mosque to turn to became very radicalized and they had their reasons. I am not justifying what they did, I am trying to understand why and what we should not do to replicate that period of time.
I was never a religious boy and my family was not. My father was highly educated and made a good living. At the beginning, I was hearing the fight between the evil Asad and the heroes of the MB. Like everyone else, I wanted the MB to win not because they are in the right but because everyone I know hated the government. Then, one of my teachers, a sunni, was killed by the MB and because he was a Ba3th party member. That turned me against them. At the same time my best friend was arrested and taken away and we have not heard from him since. That turned against the regime. So I was against both sides.
More assassinations from the MB and more brutality from the regime kept going on until the Hama massacre (yes it is a massacre). The brain drain accelerated during that period of time and continues to this date. Anyone who had a chance to leave the country left with a big smile on their face.
Forward 29 years and what has changed in Syria other than normal progression. Almost nothing. After 30 years of Hafez and 11 by Bashar, are you, a doctor, willing to leave your life in the US and go back to Syria? I remember you even have the rest of the family in the states and they all are doing well (happy for you and very proud of you).
Bashar and the rest of his gang saw this coming but were in denial. People in Egypt and Tunis got their freedom and dignity (or on the way their). Why can’t we get the same?
Then came the demonstrations. This time around I see a major difference between what happened in the 70s and now. People are sick and tired of corruption and lack of freedom and respect. I do not get the same vibes I did back then. The only similarity to the last time is the regime’s response. Force and more force. Lies and more lies. Yes you will have extremist who will stand and demand the killings of all. Just look at what Syria Almighty was lobbying for. He wanted to kill everyone that disagreed with the government even if it meant killing 10 Million Syrians. Here in the States we have extremist but they are allowed to speak and most people make fun of them. If we allow that in Syria and educate the public, the same would happen. Maybe not right away. But eventually it will. It is human nature.
I, just like you, want to adopt the US constitution. I also told you before I would like to add to it “freedom from religion”. The US constitution is the best one around because it protects minorities first and allows personal freedom second.
I want the reversal of the brain drain to happen and I want to make Syria a haven for intellectuals. There is no way for that to happen under the current regime. Not now, not tomorrow and not in 20 years.
Sorry for boring you.
April 24th, 2011, 10:25 pm
Maha said:
To Fadi:
He’s a young Syrian, and all the people on the ground are Syrian. They’re human beings being slaughtered like animals. Shame.
One thing that amazes me is that people who live and were educated in the West don’t care about people’s rights back home; meanwhile, prominent people like Robert Mali – who had ties to the regime – weren’t afraid to condemn the atrocities. Each of those regimes across the region obviously don’t care about their people at all, and never have.
Fadi, realize that the Egyptian web-leader – who was awarded most influential person in the world, according to Time – looks no better than the Syrian one. I take this quote to heart: “Never judge a book by its cover”
April 24th, 2011, 10:52 pm
Norman said:
Ziadsouri,
Then let the opposition say that and do that that they want to build a secular state where everybody is equal and full citizen and people will be only rated by what they do and who they are not what their religion is or what family they come from or any ethnicity , no set a side or quotas but equal rights to all with anti discrimination laws in housing and employment , where people register where they live and vote there in small districts where people will vote for people they know and can advance their needs and represent what they stand for, only peaceful change will lead to peaceful change , any forceful change in power will replace this regime with another that does not want to leave,
April 24th, 2011, 10:52 pm
Syrian said:
vlad-the-syrian said: what freedom ? what dignity ?
Syrian said: Maybe you do know what it means to be a free man, with dignity. So I will try to explain to you, like 5 years kid. freedom means that Syria, is a country for all Syrians not a farm for a gang.
Freedom means, we can make our choices and elect government to serve us the people instead of being servers for the regime. Freedom means, The law above all not a piece of paper that does not apply to AL Makhlouf and Assads.
Freedom means you do not have Ba3thi or Alwait or la2lo2 for the Mukhabarat to run for office or to become anything you want. Freedom means a freedom of speech, so you can point out the corruption without being afraid of Mukhabarat or death..
Dignity: Means respect, honor, opening business and dealing with a police officer or Mukhabarat without being afraid of being taken to the under ground and got beaten to death.
I think these are just few things about freedom and dignity, maybe people like you cannot not understand!
vlad-the-syrian said: and why should the official TV be biased ? do you mean that security men killed or injured by scores are fake ? what is the interest of the regime in shooting at demonstrators ? i don’t get it
Syrian said: No they are not fake, they were killed by another security forces DUH.. The Military and Air forces intelligence branches are responsible for the killing and they will be held accountable in the international criminal court. They are doing that to prove their disgusting story about wahabis and to make the people live in fear so they do not go out and protest ” OLD GAME”
vlad-the-syrian said:besides, i ask you WHAT FREEDOM AND DIGNITY COULD THERE BE FOR THE ZOMBIES ? the answer is : NONE
Syrian said: Dying for freedom with dignity is better than living like a zombie, where your elementary school kid got arrested and you cannot do anything about it.
April 24th, 2011, 10:57 pm
Syrian said:
just in, Daraa under attack…….. Assad`s are digging their graves and it is not going to be good for them!!!
April 24th, 2011, 11:30 pm
ziadsoury said:
Norman,
Most if not all of the demonstrations have been very positive. People want to change the system peacefully. The government is the only party that is using force and killing people. Please point me to slogans that are against any minority. Have you seen any sign carried by the people advocating any killing or persecution of any minority? I have not and believe me I am looking. It is the opposite. All I have seen so far are signs demanding national unity.
Now don’t ask for the leaders of this revolution to come through and declare what you want to hear. The leaders are the people on the street and they are trying to voice their opinions under heavy gun fire by the regime’s thugs.
April 24th, 2011, 11:36 pm
NK said:
‘No humanity left’ in Syria
By Cal Perry on April 24th, 2011.
Every other journalist is trying to get into Syria, but on Saturday I was trying to get out. The government had made it perfectly clear: My visa was expiring and unless I left on April 23, I would “face the full force of the law”.
I had agreed the night before with my cameraman, Ben Mitchell, over a drink that neither of us wanted to discover what “full force of the law” meant. So the debate was really whether I should fly out from Damascus or drive to Amman, Jordan, and fly from there.
The decision was made that he would fly out from Damascus, the Syrian capital, with the gear and I would drive to Amman. I had left my second passport there with a friend. One for Arab countries and the other for Israel. Welcome to 21st century diplomatic relations.
I decided to wait until after noon prayers before setting out south to the border. If the roads were going to be blocked with various pieces of burning detritus, as they had the day before, I wanted to know first. It’s about 125km from Damascus to the Jordanian border – a drive that should only take an hour or so, especially with the way Syrian drivers tend to step on the gas.
I was in a really bad mood on this particular morning as I was by default being expelled from the country. I said very little to the driver as we set out, which is unusual for me. I’ve been grilled in the old school style of journalism: I can still hear the voice of one of my mentors saying “eyes and ears Mr Perry … eyes and ears”.
The only two questions I asked my driver as we left Damascus were his name, and where he was from. “Abdel … from Daraa,” he told me.
“Beautiful city,” I responded.
Truth was: I didn’t know if it was beautiful or not. It was less than four weeks ago when I tried to access the city (which lies right against the Jordanian border in the South) and was turned back by the army. It was my first week in Syria when we tried to cover the initial protests in Daraa. I remember coming across that army checkpoint and two machine-gun positions had been “pre-sighted”.
‘Kill zone’
An old military technique that I learned from the US Marine Corps about after years in Iraq: Soldiers will simply take two posts, put them at approximately “two o’clock and ten o’clock” as your eyes would scan the horizon: a certain distance out – fire off a few rounds until you hit the post. Then mark that spot on the machine guns sightings – and just like that … you’ve got yourself a “pre-sighted kill zone”.
A kill zone. The name says it all. US marines have a particular knack for naming things that describe exactly what they really are.
I knew that day, seeing those posts and that “kill zone” that the government was taking these small demonstrations (at the time) very seriously. Syria up until these past five weeks had been a quiet country, while the rest of the region seemed to continue to burn.
Of course it became clear the day before, on April the 22nd, that the government would no longer stand for the type of dissent that had spread: clear opposition to the regime. Over a hundred people were killed across the country on a bloody Friday, the bloodiest since the protests began.
I tried to get out of the hotel and around the country as best I could throughout my month there. But as I told a colleague: “I don’t blend in really well – and this government is rounding up journalists.”
It was really that, and a few bad incidents I had come across while trying to get out and about. Be it my camera being wrested away from me outside the main mosque in Damascus or my drive through the neighbourhood of Barza in Damascus the previous week.
Barzah: A bad neighbourhood to begin with … it had gone from bad to worse the Friday I decided to drive through and take a look. Men with metal pipes were in the middle of the street beating people.
At least a dozen walking wounded were headed away from the main mosque there, some bleeding from the head; others had their hands bandaged. Clearly there had been a hand-to-hand brutal battle. Ambulances raced away from the scene – and each time I would have the driver circle back they would wave the pipes as if to say: “We dare you to get out of that car.”
Gunfire raining into crowd
My grumpy attitude, Abdel [the driver] and I were approaching the city of Izraa when something immediately clearly horrible was unfolding down the road directly in front of us. People, mostly truck drivers, were standing on the highway … yelling at the cars approaching – telling them to pull over.
Screaming and waving widely. I saw one making signs with his hands. He was mimicking the motion of a machine gun firing. I got my bearings, noticing right away two road signs: one pointing to the right that read “Izraa: 1km” and the other pointing to the left that read “Daraa”.
It dawned on me at that moment that I had been here before. We were just outside the “kill zone” I had seen weeks earlier on the outskirts of Daraa.
About 50 metres from where we pulled over was an overpass that connected Daraa to Izraa. I could see clearly a crowd of people marching from my left to my right over the bridge.
Suddenly gunfire rained into the crowd. The truck drivers dove for cover. And, for what seemed like an eternity, I sat there in the car, stunned and frozen. People were falling on top of each other, being cut down like weeds in a field by what I think must have been a mix of both small arms fire and machine gun fire. I saw at least two children shot. They fell immediately. People were screaming. Gunfire rattled on.
Two cars tried to gun it under the overpass and continue down the highway, even with the gunfire continuing to cut people up. One of the cars got hit immediately before it passed under the bridge and ended up slamming into the embankment on the right side of the road. Someone fell out of the passenger side and scrambled under the bridge and crawled into a ball … just hoping for survival, I suppose.
I’ve been playing it through over and over again in my head for the past 16 hours and I still do not know where the gunfire was coming from. It seemed to be coming from a field that lay off to my right – on the Izraa side of the bridge. I could see some muzzle flashes, but I’ve never in my life seen people walking, and just shot at indiscriminately.
I could not take my eyes off what was quickly becoming carnage. One of the last things I remember seeing clearly were people lying flat on the road, taking cover behind those who had already been wounded or shot dead … lying in what must have been pools of blood to avoid a hail of flying hot hell.
Abdel’s brain finally switched back on and he flung the car into reverse and headed backwards down the highway, laying on his car horn the entire time, weaving backwards through the cars that were now slowly approaching the spot where truck drivers were taking cover in the ditch. I was gripping the handle of the door so hard, I noticed my knuckles had gone totally white.
Mini-massacre
Abdel spun the car around, drove over the median and started driving back to Damascus. There was really nothing to say at that point. But out of immediate instinct, I rang our news desk in Doha. I can’t remember what I said initially, but clearly it was enough for the editors to get an anchor up immediately to tape an interview over the phone, getting my fresh reaction to what I had seen.
I didn’t know what to say honestly except it was clear security forces [or Assad loyalists, who are now, based on behaviour, part of the security forces] had just carried out a mini-massacre. I’m sure I repeated myself too many times, something you try not to do … but this was unlike anything I had ever seen. After covering seven separate wars in as many years, I’ve never seen people march directly into a hail of gunfire.
As the interview was rapping up, we came across a heavy army checkpoint. We had driven through maybe a dozen on our way down, and the further we headed south, the more frequent they became. It was as if around 25km north of the Jordan border there was an invisible military zone that had been put up.
I didn’t notice the ones on the other side of the highway, but as soon as we started approaching one (now driving back north), Abdel and I looked at each other. Immediately I apologised to Tony Harris [our anchor] and shoved the phone into my pocket, bringing a quick end to the interview.
Being seen talking on the phone as a journalist, right after fleeing that scene, we would have ended up in detention, there is not a doubt in my mind.
As we passed through the army checkpoint, the soldiers were smoking and laughing; looking at each other; smiling, waving us through various barriers. I can only describe it like what it felt to me: an evil grimace of enjoyment was on their faces. We were maybe, at the most, 3km from where I had just seen people cut down, bullets tearing their bodies into pieces. It was disgusting.
I turned to look at Abdel, to begin asking him a series of questions about the best way to proceed from that point on – and I saw a man of maybe 40 years old with a single tear running down his cheek. “Are you ok, habbibi,” I asked like an idiot.
“Yes … yes – but shou (what) … shou,” he repeated … what do we have? There is no humanity here anymore.”
‘No humanity left’
After a few minutes of silence and many cigarettes passed back and forth we debated the best way for me to get out of the country. We debated it all the way back to Damascus.
In the end, Abdel and I agreed: make a run for the Lebanese border now, spending another night in Damascus; overstaying my visa to face the “full force of the law” after reporting what we had both just seen was not a smart idea.
So, off to the Lebanese capital Beirut we went.
Ironic that a place where I’ve seen a war and many clashes break out before was suddenly a seven-hour refugee for me as I waited for the first flight to any European city so I could then connect home to see my elderly and sick grandfather on Easter.
As I sit at this airport in Paris, writing this piece, watching people come and go, I am haunted by two thoughts: The first is a question I cannot answer. How can you shoot people like that? Just watch a crowd march towards you; sit in a firing position, wait … watch; then fire directly into a crowd of civilians.
I did not see a single shot fired from the crowd in the few minutes we sat there watching people flail without any place to hide – a gut wrenching pink mist spraying strait in the air.
It is that thought, and the words of a young man from the southern city of Daraa speaking about the country he once loved, a country that has forever changed asking me rhetorically: “What do we have? There is no humanity here anymore.”
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/04/24/no-humanity-left-syria-0
April 24th, 2011, 11:36 pm
Chris W said:
#252 was a highly emotive piece. Although it contained rather fewer facts than suppositions. An example of the “I, I, me, me” style of journalism.
Concerning enough, however.
April 25th, 2011, 12:15 am
why-discuss said:
La crise syrienne place Obama en position délicate
… Les États-Unis estiment ensuite qu’ils ont peu de leviers sur un pays qui ne reçoit pas d’aide financière de leur part et est déjà soumis à un régime de sanctions économiques, difficile à durcir, selon eux. Enfin, vu de Washington, la Syrie n’est pas la Libye ni l’Égypte. La Maison-Blanche considère que Damas est l’une des clés du processus de paix israélo-palestinien et de la stabilité au Moyen-Orient. Elle pense aussi que la Syrie pourrait être plus dangereuse sans Bachar el-Assad qu’avec lui.
…. Elliot Abrams, du Council on Foreign Relations. Obama devrait, selon lui, rappeler l’ambassadeur américain à Damas et demander à l’ONU d’imposer des sanctions au régime syrien. L’ancien ambassadeur américain à l’Otan Nicholas Burns suggérait enfin dimanche sur CNN que c’est en affaiblissant la Syrie que les États-Unis réussiront à affaiblir l’Iran, le vrai problème dans la région…
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2011/04/24/01003-20110424ARTFIG00160-la-crise-syrienne-place-obama-en-position-delicate.php
April 25th, 2011, 12:25 am
vlad-the-syrian said:
Syrian (false)
your reaction is not surprising
do you have any proof that security men were killed by other security forces ?
and maybe those poor farmers from Tartouss were also killed and mutilated by “other security men” ?
we know your modus operandi for slaughtering innocent people who do not share your satanic beliefs, its the same everywhere else (Iraq, Somalia, India, Pakistan, not to mention Israel etc…)
you have been doing your ugly sabotage in Syria for years now and now you feel its the end for your and your likes, the islamists bugs
when i say ZOMBIE you know very much what i mean
ZOMBIES inflamed by THE MB and wahhabi hatred, full off this so partcular thirst for blood , that is what who you are, you have no dignity nor pride nor any right except to disappear and burn in hell with your beloved Satan
ZOMBIES GET OFF YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF MY COUNTRY
what you deserve IS going to happen : we the syrian patriots will crush you like BUGS and this time its gonna be once for all
ALLAH WA AKBAR !
April 25th, 2011, 11:20 am
vlad-the-syrian said:
this is scenario of the shooting of innocent
– Mahmoud from the crowd of peaceful protesters chanting peaceful slogans like ALLAH WA AKBAR using his satellite cell phone provided by us agents, calls a fellow posted atop of a building armed with a precision gun : hey Ahmad do you see me i’m wearing the red tee shirt at the corner of the street, do you see me ?
– yes i see you
– dont shoot at me you idiot
– laughgs ….
– mahmoud : do you see the child before me wearing a yellow jacket
– yes
– i’m going to tell him not to move so that it’s easier for you
– ok
– mahmoud : ya walad stay still so i can get you on my phone camera
– the boy : yes here i am
– mahmoud to ahmad : now shoot
ALLAH WA AKBAR ALLAH WA AKBAR
April 25th, 2011, 11:43 am
Syrian said:
vlad-the-syrian, you need your brain examined!! I am not going to waste my time with someone like you. Syria is not Assads and Assads will never be Syria. Hafez died, and Bashar will be punished then die and Syria will be alive!!! The Syrian heroes are cleaning the streets, buildings & squares and taking down the pictures and statues of your despicable gang`s leaders “Hafez and Bashar” HA I wonder who is the real bug!! Oh wait more thing, you should apply for the Syrian official TV because your imagination and story is nothing but a trash! similar to the prayer for rain, I bet they will hire you because they need more idiots! I will be sheering for you 😉
April 25th, 2011, 10:53 pm
Can Assad Survive? « Washington Notes said:
[…] uber-informed Joshu Landis reports on current conditions in Syria. Here is a small clip but I highly recommend reading entire long […]
April 27th, 2011, 12:30 pm
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