Dear Dr. Landis,
“I do not know what the truth is, but the sound records opposition elements talking about the bodies as “soldiers – jaysh” and disparaging them.”

The location is in Hama, please check this clip explaining through Google Earth about the location in Hama not Jisr Ashghour

مذبحة حماة-شام المؤيدة تفضح كذب بيان تنسيقية الثورة
http://youtu.be/gbuyAh-ankI

What is disturbing in the clip you linked not only the arms with almost everybody in the street of Hama but also the gallows they erect there in the middle of the street, are those guys executing people now?

After almost 5 months of bloodshed,it is clear that this uprising is becoming a race between two violent factions. Neither the regime,nor the streets have a viable solution.
Political opposition figures do not have any real influence on those who are

carrying arms and are determined to use force to topple the regime. Bashar et al are trying to subue the streets before they can get less militant elements in the opposition to agree to a dialogue,but this strategy has not worked so far especially that most people in Syria do not trust the regime and some are even doubtful that Bashar is relevant now.
Without a coup inside the regime led by alawi officers or a clear military victory on the ground,syria will be pushed into a long tunnel of bloodshed or a full scale civil war.
Hama’s campaign illustrates an alarming degree of lack of wisdom and political savvy,if the army is to win,scores of people will get killed,a lot more than the 150 reported,and if those militants win,the regime will look weaker and possibly face more challenges in other cities and possibly witness the emergence of new revolts in places that kept relatively quiet. Alawis in the army supported by community leaders are the only party that can stop this cycle. Bashar needs to step down in a a way or the other.

I vowed not to post on here, but I will make this one exception.

The person who mistook it for Jisr al-Shaghour was me, as I had transcribed a “revolution”-brain’s title verbatim. I had remembered such an incident being reported by SANA earlier and assumed it was the same incident (and used the same date, in June). In fact, the dead bodies then were of 4 Halabi women the “peaceful” demonstrators raped and killed. I have updated my title since then to reflect the truth, it was in fact in Hama.

I trust you will update your article to reflect this. Farewell, it’s hell out here, but victory is near.

“قائمة العار” تقدم وسام شرف لـ”بسام القاضي”
الكاتب بسام القاضي
02/ 08/ 2011
منذ أطلق هذا القمع الاستئصالي، الذي يدعي أنه يناضل ضد القمع فيما هو يحضر زنازينا ومقاصلا قبل أن يقترب ألف سنة ضوئية عن امساكه بـ”السلطة”، كتبت عنه بأنه وجه آخر للقمع السلطوي، بل هو نفسه بمكياج آخر. وتوقعت دائما أن تقدم لي هذه الصفحة القذرة “قائمة العار: سوريون ضد الثورة” وسام شرف لأعلقه على صدري، مثلما قدمت لي صفحات قذرة تدافع عن النظام مثل هذا الوسام.. وأخيرا ها أنا أناله.

فالحقيقة أن هذه الصفحة، وصفحات قذرة مثلها (شرفاء مع الثورة، المجلس الانتقالي في سوريا، الثورة السورية ضد بشار الأسد)، ومثيلاتها ممن لا أعرف أسماءهم ويعوون كالكلاب في الدفاع الأعمى عن عنف النظام وإجرامه، تشكل دليلا أساسيا ليس فقط على حقيقة ما يخبئه لنا مدعي الحرية والديمقراطية، والأمن والاستقرار، جميعا، بل أيضا على أن الصوت المناهض للعنف بكافة أشكاله وأسماءه بات يشكل شوكة عصية في حلوقهم جميعا. وهو بالضبط ما يجب أن يكون عليه صوت سورية المناهض لعنف النظام وإجرامه وعنف “الثورة” وإجرامها معا.

والحقيقة البسيطة أن عجز هؤلاء جميعا عن نقاش أيا مما يقال، وعجزهم عن الإجابة على التساؤلات الكثيرة التي طرحت حول “الثورة” وسلميتها وارتباطات بعضها وغير ذلك.. وعجزهم عن تقديم رؤية واحدة لها أدنى مصداقية سياسية للواقع الحالي أو للمستقبل، ورفضهم أن يتكلموا حرفا على الإعلام السوري خوفا من الأسئلة المحرجة مفضلين “المدلكين النواعم” على الفضائيات العربية والأمريكية والإنكليزية، وما إلى ذلك.. هذا كله ليعد إثباتا صريحا على أن انقلاب البعض بين ليلة وضحاها من هامشيين في الثقافة والحياة إلى “قادة سياسيين” هي مسرحية عبثة مضحكة ومبكية بآن.

إنها الحقيقة نفسها التي تلطى خلفها النظام وهو قد بنى أدواتها الآساسية وآلياتها عبر عقود، وبات اليوم يقف متخبطا كيف يتعامل مع نتائج مع بذرت ديكتاتوريته وقمعه وبطشه.

إنه وسام آخر يقول:
[بسام القاضي … شبيح مثقف ، يمارس دوراً تحريضياً ضد المدن المحاصرة و خاصة حماة، مقالاته سوف تكون أدلة واضحة لإدانته بعد انتصار الثورة.
هذه عينة من مقالات هذا الشبيح]

وبناء عليه أقول لهؤلاء المجرمين، وبكل وضوح:
أدينوني من الآن أيها المجرمون.. فما أنتم إلا وجه آخر للموت نفسه.
يشرفني أن أكون في صفحتكم، مثلما شرفني أن أكون في صفحة شبيحة النظام أخوتكم في القتل والموت..
فكلكم في الجريمة سواء….

http://www.bassam-alkadi.com/content/view/625/44/

Syrian Commando

welcome back. we havent crossed paths yet but have the same sort of mind frame. we both think that these imbeciles worshiping the salafis are khnazeer. and we both support the great leader of the mother of all countries.

i would like to see more of your posts and comments.
Allah Souria Bashar wbas!

Joshua,

I’ve been looking over the opposition posted videos from Hama; in particular two of them.

The one depicting a SyA armored mechanized unit shows what could be overrun prepared positions. I assume these were armed rebel positions.

The other video I cite, which was also uploaded by Stratfor, shows SyA AFVs firing into (assumed) level 2 firing positions (assumed to be) held by armed rebels.

From a SyA perspective, it is particularly challenging to reassert control over there areas, being occupied as they are by armed groups interspersed among throngs of unarmed protesters.

Comrade Ali,

Sorry I won’t be posting on here, like I said, this was one exception where my own mistake has led to the truth being obscured. There is no way this incident took place anywhere other than Hama and the amount of evidence we have cannot be denied.

I cannot stay on here. This whole place is being used, intentionally or unintentionally, to drive Syrians mad, with sectarian language such as the WSJ quoted (complete rubbish) and posters who try and inflame everyone. They are allowed to do this by moderation and I left in protest of the behaviour of Israelis who will harrass genuine Syrians out of here. The fake Syrians and the Israelis are reguarly seen patting each other on the back, it is revolting. Anyway, You can follow me on twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/Syriancommando or my youtube channel: http://youtube.com/SuriComrade.

I do not recommend commenting on here, many have left with me as they have seen the truth after Sophia and I had already pointed it out. Syrians are united, no attempt to divide us will be successful, as our army proved in Homs and will prove anywhere else.

Stay strong, stay persistent, do not let the sectarian hate mongers get to you, Syrians are one people, we are not Arabs, we are not Turks, we do not identify with any religion, we are Syrians.

Most importantly: we have been and will be victorious, those who opposed us will regret it, sooner rather than later. Mark my words.

*Salute*

SYRIAN COMMANDO AND ALI,

Syria Comment is no longer the non-biased space where you can share your thoughts and reflections. As you mentioned, this is the best place where sectarian incitement is encouraged and intentionally inflamed. This is America my dear. America lived on this fact to keep American People always divided and hence ideologically smashed and raped.

I advise you guys to leave this blog for Israelis and Syrian traitors who live on this trash. If Joshua and his were honest, they could have shut down this filthy website long time ago. It is no longer a source of genuine information, rather a source of intellectual prostitution supporting sectarian incitement.

Syria will always wash away the trash coming from the west. Just be patient and you will see how strong we will get out of this little hurricane.

Again, F–K America and its fake democracy!

Dear Syrian commando

i am glad to read from you again ,regardless of your opinion about Syria comment ,which i completely agree it with it ,i hope you will come back .
all what you said about fake Syrians and the Israelis is true, i must urge you to come back and comment here because the blog has also real Syrians and real friends of Syria ,for my knowledge its the only English website where we read good analysis and comments about what happening in Syria ,Syria comment is not about people who comment only ,its also about the readers who come here trying to get a glimpse of the truth by reading variety of comments and opinions ,
many of us spend alot of time ,reading and watching youtube clips ,we came here to share what we find and hear another opinions .

you are very active, and your comments are great contributions to the comment section and to the struggle of exposing the endless fabrication and the hideous propaganda war against Syria .

i hope you will reconsider .

thank you

the army’s response in hama is taking it’s toll in Damascus. after friday prayers, demonstrations in midan would normally disintegrate a maximum 1 hour after the crackdown, yesterday after taraweeh prayers the demonstration went from 10pm till 2 am. furthermore the imams in the more affluent neighborhoods are getting a bit more harsh in their sermons. yesterday the imam of the sa’ed mosque ( located in malki) condemned the military operation and announced the people of Hama were innocent.i have been to Midan on several occasions, analysts are quick to point out that it is a muslim stronghold, but i must remind you that Michel Aflaq( Christian co-founder of the Baath party) was from Midan. the demonstrations in midan are far from sectarian. i have witnessed them and they are peaceful. the regime’s response? DEMONIC. heres a sample of how the regime’s scum responds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHSmI6B7NBQ . this video was taken infront of the hasan mosque in midan a month ago .

Libya, Syria, Yemen. Next – everywhere else. Nikolay Starikov
http://nstarikov.ru/en/blog/453

Presidents – Get Out – Nikolay Starikov
http://nstarikov.ru/en/blog/458

These are Robert Ford’s peaceful friends:

http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?d=100010&id=77112
http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?d=100010&id=77113

I don’t know why this despicable barbaric terrorist has not been expelled yet from Syria. It is true we can’t impose UN sanctions on the US for sponsoring terrorism, but this terrorist gangster Ford should have been expelled long ago.

Dear Jad

thank you for the link ,very good effort put on this clip
i don’t know how important its where and when this took place ,more important for me is why it did happened ,and who did it .
Why people still need more evidences about the crimes committed by the so called Syrian protestors? we have seen enough from the very beginning of this hysteria , in al Jisr alone, 120 soldiers got killed in one day and many people still have the nerves to say it’s a peaceful revolution and ask for evidences about the armed gangs
i mean how often the criminals record their crimes on a mobile and upload on youtube ,apparently in Syria very often ,but still not enough for some of us .

@ louai,
i have witnessed demonstrations in midan and zabadani. there were no armed men. it was a totally peaceful demonstration but the security forces responded in a a very barbaric way. why do they attack peaceful protesters?
louai maybe you can envisage it by yourself.
i ask you to imagine what would happen to anyone that demonstrated peacefully against bashar, in any part of Damascus. how do you think the security forces would respond?

Apparently, Bashir’s supporters are just as delusional as he is. There are no violence until Bashir’s thugs show up and start shooting indiscriminately. It is the regime that is pursuing a sectarian laden policies by targeting and killing particular communities deliberately and with out just cause. The only victory on the horizon is the one democracy triumphs over dictatorship, good overcomes evil and killers (Bashir and his thugs) are brought to justice.

Dear GUY IN DAMASCUS
i do believe you ,i actually think most demonstrations happening in Damascus are peaceful, i got my impression from the very first demonstration in Hamidiam before any one in Dar’a went to demonstrate , also when the the people surrounded the two police officer who allegedly abused their neighbour merchant, the interior minister had to interfere to release the police men from them ,that time no one attacked the police even if they could have done so .
i never said nor the government that all demonstrators are not peaceful ,in my opinion a large number of the demonstrators and demonstrations are peaceful .
i personally changed my mind after we start to hear the sectarian slogans ,by the way i noticed that no one posted them to you, as you requested earlier , here a sample of what was chanted some times

you ,more than me ,should be offended and angered because of this criminal acts ,because you still have a hope for this revolution to be a civil democratic struggle for better Syria ,i personally completely lost hope after the officers and their children in Homs were kidnapped killed and mutilated !! from that time it become irrelevant to me if 8 out of every 10 demonstrations are peaceful or not , the terrorists are using SOME of the peaceful demonstration as a cover ,i linked yesterday a video shows peaceful people just chanting and walking and later some of them were distributing guns and Dynamite

‘i ask you to imagine what would happen to anyone that demonstrated peacefully against bashar, in any part of Damascus. how do you think the security forces would respond?’
fair question ,I know and admit that the security forces in Syria are not the British or Swedish police (who by the way will never save a bullet to kill any one shooting at them) we know the Mukhabarat can be and is brutal ,we saw samples from the streets of Damascus on youtube as well , the Mukhabarta gently approached the girls to ask them to delete whatever they recorded ,they arrested some guys and apparently beat them up on the van (was not clear to me but I will accept it as a fact)
now ,they didn’t shoot at any one , we didn’t hear that the arrested people were tortured or killed all what we can say ,the Mukhabarat stopped the demonstrators and arrested some of them , let me tell you that I am against that ,but also I am against anyone who keep going to demonstrate knowing that there are armed groups like we see in the video linked by Joshua ,taking advantage of them and their demonstrations .i hope I answered your question .please tell me what you think about the above video from Hama ?

AB SAID:
‘Apparently, Bashir’s supporters are just as delusional as he is. There are no violence until Bashir’s thugs………….’

the only people I know who call Bashar Bashir are Pakistanis,are you a Pakistani brother? if so ,please stick to your Talibani struggle for freedom and democracy and we will deal wit the worse version of Taliban in Syria,we call them here ,the uslim Brothers or al-Ikhwan al mujremeen .

@ louai
you answered the question really well( i upvoted it 🙂 ). i cant watch the video you linked since youtube is’nt working well in syria, but i’l take your word for it. sectarianism is an ugly monster that rears its head during times of national crisis. i will not condone any sectarian demonstration and i strongly condemn any sectarian comment, chant or declaration regardless of source and target. but im sick of the current regime, and im not willing to show bashar any support. the regime has taken the guise of national unity despite being a sectarian regime it self. i bet you’ve seen footage of anti-regime demonstrations chanting slogans that stress national unity with every minority. maybe a bunch of ignorant pricks got together and starting insulting bashar and his sect, but they do not represent anyone but themselves. the syrian revolution facebook group (the engine of the demonstrations) stresses that this revolution incorporates all of syria’s various sects. just read their information on their facebook page.

Professor Landis, it is very easy to ascertain the army’s intentions and objectives in Hama, without relying on either Al-Jazeera or dubious SANA reporting.

Look at the composition of the casualties in Hama; men of all ages, women of all ages, and children. If this were a military operation against specific armed groups, then why are the casualties so widespread all over the city, and consist of numbers one would expect from indiscriminate killings.

Until last night, the people of Hama were coming out and demonstrating against the regime. For a month, they came out in their hundreds of thousands. Can you seriously expect us to believe that the entire city of hundreds of thousands protested as a cover for armed groups? That they would willingly allow themselves to be terrorized by them for a month?

I said it before, and I’ll say it again. If the army was welcome in Hama, tens of thousands of people would have come out in the streets and showered them with roses. But the fact is, the entire civilian population is hiding from the army’s murderous assault. They are not seen as liberators, but oppressors.

Professor Landis, for that video to be remotely true, you will have to assume that the entire population of Hama are sheltering armed groups, which would make the entire city a hotbed of fanatical blood suckers. That is not Anthony Shadid’s impression of the city when he visited it with his camera man.

To the whine @7. Enough with the self pity. Professor Landis is the only Western academic who has no problem in quoting sources from SANA. He bends over backwards to try to accommodate the Baathists, to create an oasis of discussion where no one side dominates the narration. And what does he get for his troubles? Insults from the likes of you.

The menhebaks will never be satisfied with a newspaper of website unless it is sycophantic to the degree of Al-Dunya. They do not have the intellectual maturity to entertain opposing opinions. How many of them have even read the excellent ICG reports?

The mukhabarati menhebak criminals will recognize their ugly faces:

http://all4syria.info/web/archives/20388

Dear AbuGhassan

I always read your posts b/c I believe that you are one of the few on this blog who are objective and your true intention is what is best for Syria and not what is worst for the regime.
But I have to disagree with you on this post.

“Political opposition figures do not have any real influence on those who are carrying arms and are determined to use force to topple the regime.”
So my question to you, If the opposition does not control, Which I agree with, those carrying arms and are determined to use force to topple the regime, who does? And how do these elements define the regime? Is the regime for them only Bashar Assad? Or is it the Alawi dominated regime? Is their killing and the method of only motivated by toppling the regime, or is it motivated by sectarian hatred as well?
” Alawis in the army supported by community leaders are the only party that can stop this cycle.”
So if Bashar were to resign and leave the country, would these elements carrying these kind of crimes be satisfied with Alawis being in control again? And if not would they stop the killing?
“Bashar needs to step down in a a way or the other.”
So how is that going to help in this case?

I m not against the concept of new blood leading the country, but I m not sure how is that going to help in that particular case.

“all what you said about fake Syrians and the Israelis is true, …..and your comments are great contributions to the comment section and to the struggle of exposing the endless fabrication and the hideous propaganda war against Syria .”

I see no difference between a group of their likes and Salafis-takfiris. The first view those who disagree with them as fake Syrians the latter view them as kafir, the regime on the other hand cares of neither, but his survival, even if that translates to killing, maiming, torturing millions of Syrian. There is not one family in Syria who did not suffer at the hands of this autocratic rule, in one way or another over the years.

What I care about is the people of Syria, regardless of their affiliation. This regime is not about the people it is about their closed circle, that will not hesitate to sacrifice the whole country, and they know well, their survival is a matter of time.

Reform a la Bashar is cosmetic, as Aboud described its “hehehehe”.

I understand both sides equally, all Syrians want change but we differ on how to get there. In the meantime, nothing seems to stop the street, the verdict “REGIME CHANGE”, others believe in reform without regime change.

Reform will have been ideal.

Patience and time is running out, on both side, and they both reached the point of no return. The street will always get my support. As a pacifist myself, the least I can do is become their voice. It is a change I always longed for, to see my country as part of the international community, and not monopolized by one family for half a century.

The demand on the street is a legitimate demand. We want change after 40 years of one family ruling us with an iron fist, it is either us or you. He was honest in his speech.

The revolutionist are saying, IT IS ONLY US.

Your time is over, as the late Qashoush said, yallah erhal ya bashar. I can only stand with the victims, will never give a hand to a victimizer.

Fresh news from Egypt:
-still no police after 5 months. they are forbidden to act with the citizens, to make reports etc.
As a result petty crimes are on the rise: killings,thefts, car attacks. People are feared to travel by night.
This does not concern tourists, who stay in locations which are considered strategic and therefore under full control of the army.
-in the countryside, no improvement in terms of services (water).
-prices going up because of the low activity.
-the brothers acting as a state in the state while still not agreeing on anything. contemplate the nicely sounding idea of a “dawla islamiya” but have no answer as to why not just a dawla, of technocrats? their ideas are built on half truths (the muslims are discriminized in the west and it is written so in the constitutions that would give prevalence to christians…) and claim that in such a dawla islamiyya the christians will be given the best rights (!) than in any other places (since they are told that the arab christians are discriminated in western constitutions because they are arabs).

TV is the key. Spreading rumors and false facts. Illiteracy will do the rest.
Happy ramadan to all.

Aboud

Supposedly the video is true. Why would we call them armed gangs rather than ordinary citizens who started taking up arms defending their city. I am not referring to the horrific part of throwing bodies from the bridge here. Beside one particular guy with a fuzzy beard, they looked like ordinary citizens with light weapons. Am I mistaken?

I guess the question here, wouldn’t this be a “normal” expected reaction from a city that was once rubbled by the father?

No wonder people are not coming out on the streets in Damascus….that place is crawling with Iranian operatives.

@Aboud – Do you think the people of Hama will again come out in the 500,000 after Tarawih ? They should just keep up the pace. The regime will shoot anything that moves, but they should keep going. Let them kill 100 more, then there won’t be any moral high ground left for them, and the people can start an armed resistance. And believe me, if the people were armed, most of these sadistic soldiers would run away with their tail between their legs, as they did in Lebanon and Golan.

ROFL @ people who support Bashar on the premise that the “Salafists” are opposing him, please explain how Hezbollah is any different from the Salafists when it comes to minority rights, women rights, etc. (Don;t give me the same old BS that Shi’a islam is more tolerant than the Sunna)

Louie, I am not a Pakistani brother. For the record I abhor the Taliban. All Bashir has to do is allow independent media to cover the events taking place in Syria and the truth will come out. The fact that he is banning free press, cutting water and electricity to places where his army is attacking the populace speaks volume of what is going in Syria. Why do you think he is banning independent reporting?

“Why would we call them armed gangs rather than ordinary citizens who started taking up arms defending their city”

Very true, just like the resistance of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto in 1945. The people in that ghetto knew the Nazis would come for them some day, but they weren’t about to make it easy for them.

The menhebaks have yet to show evidence of any organized militias, equipped with the kind of weapons one would need to overthrow a state. All that they have offered up is, at its very worst, images of civilians with light arms, and who only took up these (very easy to find in Syria) weapons after their friends and neighbors had been massacred by indiscriminate and barbaric shelling.

The menhebaks still cannot explain, how is it possible for all of Hama to come out in protest against junior for a month, if the city was being terrorized by armed gangs. And what of the reception of the city’s population to the army? As of last night they were still coming out and demonstrating against the regime.

Khalid @25, yes they will definitely come out again, after the army leaves. How long was Dar’a subjected to this very same treatment, and yet demonstrations continue at the Omari Mosque. The Besho Brigades cannot stay in Hama forever, there is still the rest of the country to subdue. And when they get the chance, the people of Hama will come out again, and again, and again.

Sa’ed mosque, is in Maliki between Bizm street,and Abdulmunem Ryad Street, it is in the richest section in Damascus, there where the Elite live,when the Imam condemn the Hama Massacre, it is ominous sign for Bashar,The other mosque is Anas Bin Malik,in Abdulmunem Street, it is where the people there support strongly Zyad Ayyoubi,who is now against the regime,previously minister of Awqaf.The Imam reflect the people ideas.

Aboud,

Hey. forgot my name again?

I am taking that personal.

Well put Aboud, The simple questions that none of the regimes supporters can’t answer is why violence flares when the army shows up? The answer is the arm forces are the ones bringing the violence. As I said before all the regimes as to do is allowed the media to report freely and we will see who is being violent.

Sorry Tara, my bad 🙂

AB, indeed. It’s one of a long list of questions the menhebaks have no answers to. Their narrative does not hold up to even the most cursory of analysis.

There were supposedly three “terrorist” attacks near Homs, and yet we do not see any security sweep or hunt for the alleged perpetrators. Instead, the Besho Brigades are deployed to suppress the population centers that came out in massive numbers against the regime.

If I was a menhebak (God forbid), I’d be furious that the regime was doing nothing to catch people who blow up military academies and pipelines. But then, deep down, even they don’t believe that the regime’s version of these events.

Khalid @25 “please explain how Hezbollah is any different from the Salafists when it comes to minority rights, women rights, etc”

Not only that, junior’s best friends are the ayatollahs in Iran, a theocracy whose values very few, if any, Syrian shares.

The Bridge is in Jisr AlShoughour,it is number 4 you can google there
8&rlz=1T4RNSN_enUS399US399&hl=en&tab=wlhttp://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4RNSN_enUS399US399&hl=en&tab=wl

the regime propaganda machine is taking the very same tactics zionists take to taint the Palestinian resistance, but since they are pathetic and dumb they didn’t have the results the zionists had especially when they reported that the midan rallies were nothing more worshipers celebrating the rainfall. there was also that story in daraya where crowds supposedly gathered around a lettuce seller because he was selling lettuce for 1 sp WHAT A BARGAIN!.

bashar al assad: putting ass back into assad

SGID @33 “bashar al assad: putting ass back into assad ”

LOL! Oh my God, how did I miss that one 🙂

@32 majedkhaldoon, thank you. In this day and age, every claim and tale can be scrutinized. The regime’s version does not stand the slightest and the lightest of scrutinies.

Dear Josh

“It is clear that the Sunnis will no longer be ruled by the minorities and humiliated. But whether they can work together to build a disciplined and better alternative remains to be seen.”

I think you hit the nail on the head in your conclusion.  I also think that Syrian Sunnis have not developed a true sense of “community”.  I believe they have collectively developed a profound sense of rage against oppression by what they perceive as ruling minority and that is probably the only unifying factor.  Living in Damascus before I moved to the US,  I personally have never felt that I belong to a Sunni “society”.  Perhaps the sense of Sunni “society” was markedly disintegrated by lack of trust due to a pervasive Mukhabarat apparatus where anyone, Sunni or Alawi, can be a government informant.  You grow up not to trust anyone except close family member, not a friend, not a neighbor.  And, at least from my own perspective, the Sunnis I know never had a true sense of us  “Sunnis” vs. other “Alawis and other minorities”.  My Sunni status was not a membership card to anything exclusive.  And finally, it appears that wealthy Sunnis from Damascus and Aleppo up until this point have only one loyalty that clearly cross religion/ sect status and only focus on their “privileged status”.   

Additionally, from colonialism to dictatorship, there was truly never a real political process where people matured into democracy and learned to accept or tolerate different views.  Sunnis continue to practice what they are revolutionizing against whether it is corruption and bribery, intolerance of the opinion of others, etc..

The task facing the Sunnis going forward of “working together to build a disciplined and better alternative” is enormous one.  I am just hoping that the youth activists will be able to pick up the tab. They appear to be our only hope.

Tara @ 24
It is so disgusting that you are trying to justify the unjustifiable the same way that some of the hardcore regime supporters justify the killing of the unarmed civilians for the sole fault of demonstrating.
So if you are justifying or condoning the resistance, don’t be so surprised if you wake up one day in your nice apt in the city, or in your house upstate and find out that part of the city of Hama was flattened, the other side will just say it is a war and everything is fair and square. You and people like you on one side, and the Allah Souria Bashar woo bas on the other side, are two face of the same coin. You are fueling the situation in Syria and pushing it to a definite civil war. So if you were so astonished by the recent killing in Hama, get used to it b/c it is going to look like a pick nick soon.

MNA,

I have to go to work soon so I can’t be engaged in a long answer. I am not justifying anything. I am just calling spade a spade. I would like the revolution to remain peaceful. There is nobility and romanticism about remaining peaceful and I personally prefer to be the victim rather than the aggressor but the fact of the matter is people being shelled and exposed to bloody violence are not waiting for Tara’s opinion on the matter. At some point, it is inevitable not to take up arms to defend themselves and it is pretty naive to assume otherwise. Don’t you think. Feel free to respond, I will answer when I have a chance.

@36 Spare us your self righteous BS. It is your regime thugs that bought the country to this point. Hama was peaceful for a month until your shabiha scum showed up and started shelling the city.

It is natural for people to use whatever means they have to defend their loved ones and families. Only a menhebak scum would expect people to lie down in the middle of the road and allow junior’s tanks to crush them.

“the other side will just say it is a war and everything is fair and square.”

The scum on the other side have been fighting a one sided war for four months. What the hell do you call 1,600 civilian dead, 12,000 arrests and 3,000 disappearances? Now that a few defectors start to fight back, you people whine about getting hit back.

That pathetic pseudo president of yours wanted a war, someone might very well oblige him. But even in a full scare war (something junior doesn’t dare try against Israel), civilians should never be targeted. But to the Baathist war-crime-apologist scum, every man, woman and child who goes out to Taraweh prayers is an enemy combatant.

I would love for the Syrian people to give junior a taste of his own medicine. Every people have a right to self defense, and the despicable scum on this forum have been cheering the massacres from their homes abroad.

You, MNA, whine about pretend massacres of the children of security officers (not one shred of evidence btw), but disgracefully cheer on the all too real murders of Syrian children by your shabiha scum. You, MNA, do not deserve to be called a Syrian. You are loyal to Assadstan, and you will condone any amount of murder to sustain this unsustainable regime.

Just when you thought the Baathist scum on this forum had outdone themselves, you find them condemning people for defending themselves from tank barrages and murderous militias.

Three shabiha eklab get killed in Homs, and the meti sniffing scum on this forum cheer the subsequent rampage. But an entire city gets shelled and its population under siege, and they piss their panties when some people may or may not be fighting back.

Tara @ 37

So why do we all spend so many hours on this blog if no one is waiting on our opinion and our opinion does not matter? We should be clear in our condemnation regardless and should not try to be understanding to any side that is committing atrocities. We should not promote for strategies that we all know deep inside will definitely lead to a civil war regardless of how good they sound.

If the armed element take over of this movement, who do yo think the winner will be? Remember Algeria?? Who still sitting there after more than 150000 people dead?

@ mna 40
your opinion,my opinion and tara’s opinion never mattered to the regime. and after this whole uprising it was clear. the opposition relishes debate.but can you honestly partake in dialogue with some one that’s killing peaceful demonstrators? how would you react if you found that the assadian army was moving into your neighborhood?

Any one guys knows what the name of the coming Friday. If they did not come up with a name yet, I would suggest to them this one “Fridays’ army kicking your ass”

It looks like the army is not letting them even excute their Jihad.

@40 “We should not promote for strategies that we all know deep inside will definitely lead to a civil war regardless of how good they sound.”

And what do you suggest as an alternative?

The international community has proven completely toothless and gutless in reining in this murderous scumbag. If there were really armed gangs in the country, then more than a few Alawite villages would be getting the treatment Hama has been getting. There would have been a bloodbath in the Alawite neighborhoods of Homs.

Prominent government officials would have been targeted for assassination. Army buses would have been bombed, and Iraqis seeking refuge in Syria would prefer their war torn country. The army cannot be everywhere, putting its tanks in every village and hamlet.

That, of course, is if there were armed elements among the opposition. I suggest that everyone here fervently pray that junior’s murderous incompetence does not push things that far.

Scum @42 ““Fridays’ army kicking your ass”

Another remark for the file marked “menhebaks hang themselves with their own words”

Is that what you call the murderous assault on an unarmed civilian populace? Tell me, why shouldn’t the people of Hama then take revenge on the first Alawite village they come across? You loathsome little slug.

@ss 42
in ramadan everyday is a friday.

I know this town in the video , it is called Kazo , it is on the outskirts of Hama (the city) , most of it residents works as sheep herders and cheese makers, they all have weapon – this is not a secret – to defend their herd from jackals attacks as they go to the mountain to make them prey, ,and the wooden goal like structure is to skin the sheep.
but i know every one there got a GIFT (pump action) , i am surprised to see the AK47 , even if it was just one ,
Anyway , i think they have the absolute right to defend themselves < but nonetheless i think this move is not good for the revolution as whole.

Gave Over Junior

Funeral today for two demonstrators killed last night in the massive post-Taraweh prayers

Do you hear any sectarian slogans? Do you see a hint of fear? How then are your pathetic Besho Brigades actually “winning” this fight? Junior must be channeling Charlie Sheen’s notions of “winning”.

The smear campaign by the menhebek is disgusting. All they are aying is “islamist, Salafist, Jihadust”.

A few questions –

1. Who sent scores of AQ fanatics and Takfiri suicide-bombers to Iraq post-invasion ? Who helped Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri and his gang of fellow-Ba’athists to execute atacks on the Shi’ites of Iraq ?

2. Who armed Salafist terrorists in nahr al bared reefugee camp in Lebanon ?

Anyway, if people of Hama were armed the Army would never stand a chance. they’re ferocious fightesr, the hamwis.

Excellent points Khalid. The Baathist regime has armed numerous militant groups and sent them to do its dirty work in Iraq and Lebanon.

You’d think a regime with so much experience with armed groups, could, when the occasion call for it, be a bit more imaginative and competent when it came to making one up for it to rally its menhebaks around.

The menhebaks cheer Hizbollah, Hamas, and the attacks on Coalition forces in Iraq as “legitimate armed resistance” (something that pussy cat junior would never dream of doing himself). Well, it cuts both ways, and any civilian population under attack has every right to self defense.

46
You must have been watching Fox news too hard
Suicide bombers in Iraq are mainly from the Gulf and they don’t need pocket money from Syria.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR2005051401270.html

Adam Curtis | 18:00 UK time, Thursday, 16 June 2011

What is happening in Syria feels like one of the last gasps of the age of the military dictators. An old way of running the world is still desperately trying to cling to power, but the underlying feeling in the west is that somehow Assad’s archaic and cruel military rule will inevitably collapse and Syrians will move forward into a democratic age.

That may, or may not, happen, but what is extraordinary is that we have been here before. Between 1947 and 1949 an odd group of idealists and hard realists in the American government set out to intervene in Syria. Their aim was to liberate the Syrian people from a corrupt autocratic elite – and allow true democracy to flourish. They did this because they were convinced that “the Syrian people are naturally democratic” and that all that was neccessary was to get rid of the elites – and a new world of “peace and progress” would inevitably emerge.

What resulted was a disaster, and the consequences of that disaster then led, through a weird series of bloody twists and turns, to the rise to power of the Assad family and the widescale repression in Syria today.

I thought I would tell that story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/06/the_baby_and_the_baath_water.html

Adam writes: “This is a website expressing my personal views – through a selection of opinionated observations and arguments. I’ll be including stories I like, ideas I find fascinating, work in progress and a selection of material from the BBC a

@48 Your article is from 2005.

Here is one from February 3, 2011, where non other than Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Malaki accuses junior of arming terrorists in Iraq;

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gR8VxFFbVRim3-hpA2RFw7k44WTQ?docId=CNG.4bf1d9b99ad76d5eb936170dbf8befbe.3e1

This is from AFP. I personally know how stringent AFP are with their sources

“7. Syrian Commando said:

Stay strong, stay persistent, do not let the sectarian hate mongers get to you,”

Syrian Haywano, of course, your beloved Alawi regime which slaughtered tens of thousands of Sunnis so it can stay in power isn’t sectarian! Your one of the most despicable thugs on this blog and your regime will be falling very soon.

” 5. Ali said:

Syrian Commando

welcome back. we havent crossed paths yet but have the same sort of mind frame.”

How true! You both support the slaughter of tens of thousands of Sunnis so your Alawi regime can stay in power.

” we both think that these imbeciles worshiping the salafis are khnazeer.”

Ironically, most of the Sunnis protesting aren’t Salafi and it is you shabiha scum who are the khanazeer. Be careful what you wish for, as thousands of Salafi lions will be coming come to hunt your shabiha khanazeer.

“and we both support the great leader of the mother of all countries.”

You can join him in Iran real soon.

“8. F–K America & its Democracy said:”

Is that why your beloved Hafez collaborated with the Americans in Gulf War I or why it cooperated with the CIA in torturing and renditioning prisoners. Your regime is just as sectarian as it’s opponents.

“9. Louai said:”

Start packing your bags.

“12. Souri333 (formerly Souri) said:”

Don’t worry. They’ll be expelling him and you too. Do you expect to kill tens of thousands and for them to smile at you?!

#46 Khalid Tlass,

Smear campaign? There is no smear campaign; it’s the truth of the situation. The terrorist ‘peaceful protesters’ have smeared their own name.

Another description I can think of that fits this so called revolution perfectly is TERRORISM. That is the vital word you forgot to mention in your post.

To the supporters of the Syrian revolution, therefore supporters of terrorism,

You justify the terror that is unleashed upon the Syrian people courtesy of this terror movement you call a revolution. You justify murders and mutilations, massacres of security personnel and dumping of deceased bodies in the river, justify the use of arms by the so called ‘peaceful protesters’, destruction of infrastructure and cheer on attempts to cripple the Syrian economy. You attempt to shift blame of the blatant sectarianism of this revolution and try to demonise the Syrian army.
Are any of you actually Syrian?

I cannot fathom how someone that is in fact Syrian can support such a movement that is unleashing such terror and destruction against its own people, and belittle or demonise their own countries armed forces.

I have just watched an extremely graphic video of a dismembered body discovered by the Syrian army in a slaughterhouse in Bab Alsbaa. The victims head was completely cut off and his body was chopped up into multiple pieces. How anyone can justify this is beyond me, but I have no doubts you will and one will run away from the situation by ranting on about a character being imprisoned, or insult as many people as he can in attempts to change the topic at hand.

I am not going to link this video due to its extreme graphic nature and out of respect to anyone that is reading SC and possible knows this person, as his face is clearly visible.

Supporting the revolution in Syria is supporting terrorism.

From twitter:

سهير الأتاسي Suhair Atassi
‎#Syria تهريب 23 دقيقية ثورة: فيلم وثائقي مهم جداً مصور في حماه خلال الثورة يعرض على شاشة قناة العربية في السادسة من مساء الخميس القادم 4 آب/أغسطس، ويروي تفاصيل خروج حماه في المظاهرات، واستعدداتها كل جمعة..

Warcrimes support @52 “Are any of you actually Syrian?”

That’s rich, coming from the same people who say “Ramadan Kareen” instead of “Ramadan Kareem”, and who don’t even know what the badal was, or how much it cost.

“I have just watched an extremely graphic video of a dismembered body discovered by the Syrian army in a slaughterhouse in Bab Alsbaa.”

Spare us your BS. Either link it and leave it to the viewer’s discretion, or stop claiming to have watched videos whose credibility you deem only yourself worthy to judge.

“Supporting the revolution in Syria is supporting terrorism. ”

You know, countries all over the world have been known to put sanctions on individual organizations who have been shown to engage in terrorism. Hizbollah comes to mind, among numerous other African and Middle Eastern groups. Where is the anti-junior armed group, or leaders of such group, that you would have sanctions placed on?

See, after five months, you can’t come up with one name or group. And yet it is your pseudo-president and his scum who cannot open so much as a $100 savings account in Europe, Australia or North America. Heck, I can get on a plane tomorrow and travel where I want. Junior and his ilk do not have that luxury.

Poor Asma, this summer’s vacation looks to be in Tehran, if anywhere. LOL!

“ranting on about a character being imprisoned”

Yes, a character being imprisoned. Just like Nelson Mandela was just some black guy in a jail? *faceplam* What does it say that the racist apartheid white-supremacist government in South Africa, displayed more foresight than the Baathist scum in Damascus.

In 46 years of Apartheid, 7000 people died from political violence. That’s 152 per year, average. In Syria, 1,600 Syrians have been murdered in five months alone, and that’s not counting the 3,000 who have disappeared and who are unaccounted for. State terrorism in every meaning of the word.

” 52. syau said:

#46 Khalid Tlass,

Smear campaign? There is no smear campaign; it’s the truth of the situation. The terrorist ‘peaceful protesters’ have smeared their own name.”

Thats rich coming from a menhebek lunatic like yourself. Who killed hundreds of unarmed protestors in the crackdown?!

“Another description I can think of that fits this so called revolution perfectly is TERRORISM. That is the vital word you forgot to mention in your post.”

Of course, your regime’s slaughter, jailing and torture of tens of thousands so it can maintain it’s grip on power isn’t terrorism.

“To the supporters of the Syrian revolution, therefore supporters of terrorism,”

The supporters of the Syrian regime, therefore the supporters of the killing of tens of thousands.

“You justify the terror that is unleashed upon the Syrian people courtesy of this terror movement you call a revolution. You justify murders and mutilations, massacres of security personnel and dumping of deceased bodies in the river,”

You justify the slaughter of tens of thousands so your regime can stay in power. You justify the scorched earth policy of your regime. You justify torture tactics like raping male prisoners with rubber hoses.

‘ justify the use of arms by the so called ‘peaceful protesters’,”

Why should the Syrian uprising be peaceful after the regime has killed thousands.

” destruction of infrastructure and cheer on attempts to cripple the Syrian economy.”

The Syrian regime has a long history in destroying infrastructure in Lebanon and Syria.

” You attempt to shift blame of the blatant sectarianism of this revolution and try to demonise the Syrian army.”

When the Alawi regime stacked with Alawi soldiers slaughters tens of thousands of Sunnis so it can stay in power, why isn’t that sectarian?

“Are any of you actually Syrian?”

Are the millions of Syrians who hate your regime non-Syrian?

“I cannot fathom how someone that is in fact Syrian can support such a movement that is unleashing such terror and destruction against its own people, and belittle or demonise their own countries armed forces.”

Because you have the same mentality as the Zionists. When your regime slaughters tens of thousands, then don’t expect the people to smile at them.

“I have just watched an extremely graphic video of a dismembered body discovered by the Syrian army in a slaughterhouse in Bab Alsbaa. The victims head was completely cut off and his body was chopped up into multiple pieces. How anyone can justify this is beyond me, but I have no doubts you will and one will run away from the situation by ranting on about a character being imprisoned, or insult as many people as he can in attempts to change the topic at hand.”

Have you or any of your fellow thugs ever responded to why your regime has slaughtered tens of thousands, something many of your kind justifies?

“I am not going to link this video due to its extreme graphic nature and out of respect to anyone that is reading SC and possible knows this person, as his face is clearly visible.”

Your regime is an old hand at these tactics.

“Supporting the revolution in Syria is supporting terrorism.”

Supporting the crackdown will get you a one-way ticket out of Syria.

Bashar said he prostrates to Mohammad
We Musslems prostate to God, Muhammad is human,not God
I do not think Bashar knows about Islam.

Palestinian MB (Hamas) is good, but Syrian MB is armed terrorist gangs. What a pathetic bunch of hypocrite mnhebaks.
.

Majedkhaldoon,

President Bashar Assad said he is neither Alawi nor Sunni, he belongs to Mohamad.

Sectarianism does not belong in Syria. Syria is a diverse country which blossoms in the beauty of its diversity. Until of course, the terror of the Syrian revolution was unleashed.

Sectarian feelings in Syria is the result of none other than the Syrian revolution and it’s Islamist sheikhs feeding the sectarian monster with garbage such as Ar’our and his likes, one of which is a member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood by the name of Ali Al Ahmad, who is also apparently a member of The Movement for Justice and Development and resides in the UK. He wrote an article on 14th April 2010, “declaring his wishes to kill all Alawites in Syria”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5tOOIFyHjk

He wrote, and I quote “Lord, let us see your might, such as Haiti earthquake with 70 degree invade the Alawite Mountains and kill them all, or let a flood similar to Noah’s pull them out of their homes and kill their children and elders”.. He goes on to say he wants them annihilated and to leave not one disbeliever in the land.

Such vile creatures do not deserve to be called human.

Syrian Troops Advance in Hama
AP writer Rebecca Santana in Baghdad contributed to this report.
Published: August 2, 2011 at 8:40 AM ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/02/world/middleeast/AP-ML-Syria.html?ref=global-home

BEIRUT (AP) — After killing nearly 100 people in two days, Syrian troops tightened their siege on the city of Hama Tuesday by taking up positions near homes and sending residents fleeing for their lives.

The escalated crackdown on anti-government protests has already brought an international outcry and new European Union sanctions on members of President Bashar Assad’s regime. On Tuesday, Italy recalled its ambassador to Damascus, citing “horrible repression” of citizens.

President Barack Obama called the latest violence “horrifying” and the top U.S. military officer said Washington wants to pressure the Syrian regime. But he added there was no immediate prospect of a Libya-style military intervention.

“There’s no indication whatsoever that the Americans, that we would get involved directly with respect to this,” Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said.

Despite the intensified attacks on dissenters, the uprising that began in March appears to be only gaining momentum, even during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that began Monday with daily dawn-to-dusk fasts.

The most recent military operations appear aimed at preventing protests from swelling during Ramadan, when Muslims throng mosques for special nightly prayers after breaking their fast. The gatherings could turn into large protests.

But the opposition appears unbowed so far. Protests erupted Monday evening across the country, with hundreds turning out in cities including Homs, Latakia, the Damascus suburbs and the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

There were scattered protests in Hama, but shelling kept most people inside. Hama has been the target of the recent operation because it has emerged as an opposition stronghold
more………….

@58 “Such vile creatures deserve to be called human. ”

You can’t even get your feeble insults right LOL!

“Sectarianism does not belong in Syria.”

Of course it doesn’t, it doesn’t belong anywhere. But that hasn’t stopped the Baathists from giving 15 government jobs out of 20 to Alawites, to reserving managerial positions to Alawites, to arming Alawite thugs (aka shabiha scum). The Baathist regime is the most sectarian in the region, and anyone who denies it prefers to live in an alternative reality to the one real people inhabit.

“President Bashar Assad said he is neither Alawi nor Sunni, he belongs to Mohamad.”

Pretty strange way to show one’s devotion to Mohamad by;

1)Sending in shabiha scum to beat up people as they come out of mosques

2) Shelling cities on the eve of Ramadan.

3) Using the army to target numerous mosques.

4) Imprisoning and torturing to death sheikhs and religious leaders, for daring to oppose the regime.

It never ceases to amaze me how the menhebaks can be good at only one thing; doublethink. They have mastered it beyond anything George Orwell could have imagined.

MNA

When tanks shelling your city and killing 140 indiscriminately, it is not difficult to find moral justification.

My personal opinion, I wouldn’t not condemn it.

On the other hand, demonstration needs to stay peaceful and I would condemn violent demonstration. Tanks shelling a city is something different.

” 57. Amir in Tel Aviv said:

Palestinian MB (Hamas) is good, but Syrian MB is armed terrorist gangs. What a pathetic bunch of hypocrite mnhebaks.”

The menhebek are just as deranged as your Khazar Zionist ilk who are outraged that the Palestinians refused to become refugees in their own land. We will return and the Zionists who are unhappy about this, should start packing their bags and return to Poland and Belarus. And how about the brazen hypocrisy of the Jewish Neocons who ranted hypocritically for years about democracy while their terrorist government supported dictators in Latin American and elsewhere.

ABU UMAR @55
You and your criminal gangs will have the same fate as FATH AL-ISLAM had in Nahr AlBared in Tripoli by the heroic Lebanese Army. Yap all you can. Your fate is sealed. The heroic Syrian Army will finish its mission of cleansing Syria of the likes of you and FATH AL-ISLAM.

# 54,

It’s easy to understand why people with feeble minds such as those who support a terrorist revolution would be upset. Their constant cry for foreign interference in Syria, via the UN Security Council continues to be blocked.

The countries who opposed the resolution are Russia, China, India, Brazil, Kuwait, UAE and South Africa.

Syau said
” President Bashar Assad said he is neither Alawi nor Sunni, he belongs to Mohamad.”
Syau, stop denying the truth, Bashar is Alawi,and yes the regime is sectarian,It is the sectarian regime that cause the protesters of being accused falsely by being sectarian.

The regime escalate the crisis,by using the army to attack cities in Syria, the security forces are exhausted, and they can not cope with the huge protesters, this is very risky move, and will backfire.

Why does it matter even if he has any religion , people will be valued for their deeds not their religion.

Majedkhaldoon,

You need to stop denying the truth. The fact is that the terrorist ‘peaceful protesters’ murdered and mutilated people based on their sect. They chanted sectarian slogans during their protests, against both Alawi and Christians. Sectarian Islamist sheikhs that are affiliated with the revolution are the driving force behind any sectarianism in Syria and that is a fact.

Syrian state tv muted sectarian comments when airing videos of the terrorists disrespecting their victims after the first pictures of the Jisr Alshughour massacre were released, the one where they deem a soldier Alawi due to his haircut, therefore making it ok to steal his money and belongings.

Terrorist ‘peaceful protesters’ who murdered and mutilated the three farmers mutilated their victim’s bodies and removed tattoos which mentioned the name Ali on their arms.

Terrorist ‘peaceful protesters’ sought out Nidal Jannoud, murdered and mutilated his body, for no other reason than him being an Alawi. Terrorist ‘peaceful protesters’ murdered an officer and his children, thinking he was Alawi, but when they discovered their victims were actually Sunni Muslim, they left them unmutilated.

The Syrian revolution and those who support its terrorist movement are the ones who constantly refer to the Presidents religion. Like that matters, all that should matter is that he is the President, not what his denomination is.

It’s evident who is sectarian here and it’s definitely not the Syrian governmet.

Bashar will not resign because there are people on this blog,me included,who wants him out. You can debate whether his departure will help or not or whether his departure will actually embolden the islamists and the thugs,however,I do not think he is an effective leader,and the opposition to his rule is growing by the day. Because the opposition in the street is not politically mature or ready and because there are armed thugs included,I asked that the army takes over the government if we do not see a swift resolution to this mess. imagine how Egypt,as bad as it is today,would look like if the army was not in charge !!
Syria is even more dangerous because of the composition of the population and the abundance of weapons.

67. Dear Norman, you said:
“Why does it matter even if he has any religion

You bet it does not!
The revolution cares less about Jr’s religion or the ideology of his party.
People are seeking to regain their basic rights and dignity.
Tunisians and Egyptians flushed out their tyrants even thhough they were from same sect.

The Syrian people rose against and brought down Sunni governments in the early days of Democracy.

You said: “people will be valued for their deeds not their religion”

You bet again!
In Free Syria, Jr and entourage shall be judged only by their deeds!

# 66
Can someone explain to me why I should care if the president of my Syria is a Muslim or even a Sunni Muslim?

I send my salutes to all pro-regime Syrians who vowed to not come back to this blog. I made the same vow, under an earlier nom de plume. I’m temporarily back. Very temporarily. Here’s one teeney weeny example of why I cannot stand this blog: Joshaua says above “The Syrian TV clip shows a montage of video from Hama purporting to show armed elements shooting at military from the streets and rooftops.” The word “purporting” is utterly uncalled for.

This Syrian State TV clip was recorded by either (a) a true violent dissident who was subsequently arrested or else (b) a government infilitrator whose dangerous job was to record the video for the sake of getting the seeing-is-believing truth out to the masses in the rest of Syria and beyond. I’d like the Syrian State in future to do more of (b). It shouldn’t be very hard to do it, since the dissidents don’t seem to mind the presence of the camera, and since they welcome and expect new recruits to their ranks.

In reference to Hama on Sunday, the Prime Minister of Canada issued this statement on Sunday night or Monday morning: “The use of military force, including tanks, by the Assad regime to suppress the Syrian people’s calls for democratic reform is utterly indefensible.” If the Prime Minister of Canada had seen that Syrian State TV clip, which, you know, didn’t surface until Monday night, then surely he wouldn’t’ve been so igorant and would’ve not issued the above absurd statement.

Norman on this board said yesterday: “My cousins who lived in Hama left it weeks ago because of their fear.” I assume Norman’s telling the truth. But I wasn’t aware that the situation was deteriorating as bad as that in Hama weeks ago. I’d heard stories weeks ago about dissidents putting up road blocks in Hama. But it wasn’t until I saw that seeing-is-believing Syrian State TV clip last night that I fully appreciated the problem. The foreign affairs advisors of the Prime Minister of Canada were much more in the dark, apparently.

Syrian Commando said: “Syrians are united, no attempt to divide us will be successful, as our army proved in Homs and will prove anywhere else.” F–K America said: “Syria will always wash away the trash coming from the west. Just be patient and you will see how strong we will get out of this little hurricane.” I agree. At the same time though, the Syrian State does aim to explain itself, and inform people in Syria and beyond. And one of the ways to inform people right now is to show us more videos like that one from behind enemy lines.

“Underground in Beirut”
“A Syrian Activist Continues the Fight From Lebanon
By Josh Wood in Boston Review”

I like reading these detailed accounts that helps one get into the real lives of these people. So sad for this good-looking guy, I hope he doesn’t sacrifice his security.

I spent a few hours reading some older entries (under ‘related’ on the right menu), going back to the plight of fleeing people in Iraq, 2007, and about Lebanon in
2008, all the different islamist groups within the Palestinian camps, and the bloody fights with the Lebanese army -2008. And, Syrian meddling (re- Khalid Tlass #47)

It certainly makes one feel totally depressed that sectarian violence will never cease. The only hope is that the new technology revolution in that corner of the world will help prevent these same tens of thousands of massacres. But, we are only at the beginning of coordinating world opinion and action to avoid this.

One step : ban the use of names that give someone’s ethnic, religious, tribal, or town.
second step : ban all religions (serious joke)

69. Dear Abughassan,
You said:
“Bashar will not resign because there are people on this blog,me included,who wants him out”

Is this an inside information or an intuition?
So, according to your logic, the best way to kick out Jr is for every body on SC to beg him to stay!
I thought SC did exactly that, long before I started to write here!

You said:
“Because the opposition in the street is not politically mature or ready and because there are armed thugs included,I asked that the army takes over the government if we do not see a swift resolution to this mess”

What army coup dude?
This army is commanded by 3alwi brothers,
who are kept on a short leash by 3alawis thugs,
who are all wanted by the international couts of justice,
and before that by the soon-to-be civil justice of Free Syria.

They have nowhere to turn to for help,
They have become prisnors to their own security system.
Wherever they look; it is another abyss!

Seeing this famous video of armed men in this town outside Hama, (thanks to #45 Shami Studied in Hama, who gives some info), posted over and over again, I realize that the person filming must be an agent, not one of the protesters, as he films the guns, and only things to incriminate.

And, what is quite surprising, is the use of the other vid, bodies being thrown in the river to somehow relate the two events. (Of course I don’t understand the TV commentator). What is strange too is that they use these videos as huge propaganda, but they should have lots of others, if what they claim is true. Surely, their agents are everywhere.

Abu Umar,

Go drink from the sea of Gaza. It will cool you down.
.

Welcome back, Syrian Commando. We missed your hulking frame in that black leather jacket, Big Guy.

And now this just in from the EU/Jew/CIA/Salafist/Al-Qaeda/Saudi press:

“…there is no daylight between the security authorities in Syria and the political leadership. The security apparatus, the bulk of the security forces, will fight to the end to protect the regime because there is no divide between the two.

More than 50 percent of the Syrian population lives in two cities, Aleppo and Damascus. And so far, neither Aleppo nor Damascus has fully joined the protesters. There is a silent majority there and when and if it joins the protesters, this would mean the end of the Syrian government.

The economic situation is deteriorating very sharply. The next few weeks are very, very critical. If the economic situation deteriorates further, then the silent majority will throw its lot with the protesters and that’s why now it’s all-out war. The next few weeks in particular, during Ramadan, are really critical for both the opposition and the Syrian authorities.

Ramadan is a holy month of fasting and prayer and reflection. Remember, during the protests in Syria in the last few months, Friday is the day because the mosque has served as basically an outlet for mobilization. And what the protesters would like to do is to use Ramadan to turn every day into Friday, to bring more people into the streets, to create a critical mass that tips the balance in power in their favor.

And that’s why the Syrian government is trying to prevent Ramadan from becoming a catalyst – from giving the protesters a critical mass of people. And that’s why they’re trying to crush the protesters – they’re trying to strangle the baby before it develops, before it matures during the next few weeks…”

Ah yes, strangle the baby. Kill it before it grows. Syrian Commando could not have put it better…

Russia says not against U.N. resolution on Syria
2 Aug 2011 14:30
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/russia-says-not-against-un-resolution-on-syria/

MOSCOW, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it would not oppose a United Nations resolution to condemn violence in Syria as long as it refrained from sanctions and other “pressures”.

The comments opened the door for progress on a possible resolution at the U.N. Security Council, of which Russia is a veto-wielding member, on a second day of consultations over how to react to fresh reports of bloodshed.

The Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa Department Chief, Sergei Vershinin, said Russia was not “categorically” against adopting a resolution on Syria.

“We are not formalists, we are not categorically against anything in particular,” he said.

“If there are some unbalanced items, sanctions, pressure, I think that kind of pressure is bad because we want less bloodshed and more democracy,” he told reporters.

Threats from Russia and China to veto a draft resolution condemning violence in Syria deadlocked the U.N. 15-member Security Council two months ago.

Germany, however, requested a new meeting over reports of new violence. Human rights groups, witnesses and residents said at least 122 civilians have been killed since Sunday when Syrian troops stormed the city of Hama to crush protests.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that he thought issuing a resolution would be “somewhat excessive” and that a formal statement calling for an end to violence but urging a peaceful political solution, would be “satisfactory.”

President Dmitry Medvedev had strongly suggested in June that Russia would not back any resolution on Syria in the U.N. Security Council but stopped short of threatening a veto.

Moscow, a close ally of Damascus in Soviet times, currently has $4 billion worth of arms contracts with Syria, according to Russia’s Vedomosti newspaper.

Russia remains wary of Western intentions in the Arab world. It abstained in March from voting on a U.N. resolution that authorised limited military intervention in Libya and has often criticised the scope of NATO’s bombing campaign in that country.

Rights groups say 1,600 people have died during the five-month uprising against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, editing by Gareth Jones)

Dale,

Do you like, hate Syria as a country or are you indifferent?

Mubarak trial may scare Arab rulers, placate Egyptians

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=preview-mubarak-trial-may-scare-arab-rulers-placate-egyptians-2011-08-02

…..Many suspect the military of foot-dragging over Mubarak, in hospital since April in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort.

“The army has interests with the old regime. They are not doing anything for the people. They worked with Mubarak. They will not harm him, I swear,” Safa Mohamed, 41, said in Suez, scene of some of the worst violence in the 18-day uprising.

If convicted, Mubarak could face the death penalty. But few expect that outcome, even if some protesters want it.
….”The trial of Mubarak is a lesson to candidates for the presidency to know the fate of those who try to violate the freedom of the people or become autocratic,” said senior Muslim Brotherhood member Essam el-Erian.
He was speaking to the state-run daily Al-Ahram, a newspaper that would never have run a statement from the group while Mubarak was in power and the Brotherhood was banned. The group has now emerged as one of several influential political forces
….
Concessions

The trial will have a wider impact in the region too.
“It is also a warning message to all Arab rulers who use the same methods as Mubarak that they have to guard against a popular uprising, because if it succeeds then they are going to face the same fate,” said political analyst Mustapha al-Sayyed.

The message may have already reached Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, who have shown no sign of quitting. Nor have they offered concessions akin to those Mubarak offered in vain in his final days in office when he named a vice president and pledged not to seek another term.

Gulf Arab states may also have been watching Egypt closely. An army source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia and others were quietly pressing the army to spare Mubarak, a former ally. His trial sets an uncomfortable precedent for Arab autocrats.

….more

Jr’s Killing Machine ought to be stopped by revolution activists.

Most of the deadly casualties are not random hits.
They result from targetted sinping.
The aim is usually the elimination of leading or daring activists or the inciting of fear by targetting children and women.

The revolution need to come up with solutions to neutralize this method of aggression.
– One way is to form specialised revolutionary surveilance units to track snipers down, publish their names, and hold them personally accountable for their murders.
– High definition / high zoom video-cameras ought to be used to capture their facial details .
– Another, is to target the government buildings whose roof tops or high floors are being used for such purpose and render them unusable. People’s lives are more precious than the bricks of buildings that serve the tyrant’s killing machine.

أموي حماة الأبية قناصة بشار الأسد الصهيوني على أسطح المباني الأحد 31 7 2011 جزء 2

Ya Mara Ghalba, You don’t need the Syrian TV to infiltrate the protestors and risk their lives, Journalists will do that for them for free. The fact that the Syrian regime is barring all independent journalist from covering the situation tells me all I need to know. The only thugs in the arena is the regime.

Revlon

If the killing is not random, and only targeting the leaders, then the regime is aiming to finish off the demonstrations by physically eliminating all daring activists so no one left. This is more than sinister and changes in revolution tactic is warranted.

Norman, Syau
It does not matter if he is musslem or christian or jew,as far I am concerned, as long he is elected in true and free election,however jewish,christians and Musslems they are afraid of God,so they will not kill ,arrest and torture people, they will not steel people monies, they respect justice,and they are honest in governing the people, that is why religion is important.

What I said before when he ,Bashar, said he prostrate to Muhammad, while he calls himself Musslem, he obviously has no idea about Islam,that is why I refer to him as not intelligent , not educated, he does not watch his words, he is incomptent.

@65 “The countries who opposed the resolution are Russia, China, India, Brazil, Kuwait, UAE and South Africa. ”

*facepalm* Seriously dude, seriously? The UAE is not even on the Security Council. That’s Lebanon, who of course with its non-secular, very sectarian Hizbollah government, will never say a word against the fellow sectarian terrorist junior.

And as AB pointed out, the government doesn’t need “undercover agents”, if its version of events is even half true. It could allow in the independent press and they could see for themselves. That’s if junior didn’t have anything to hide.

A couple of observations from Angry Arab

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/08/syrian-regime-tv.html

“Syrian regime TV
It is torture. To watch Syrian regime TV lies as much as it does. They claim that there is a conspiracy by roving armed terrorist groups all over Syria, and then they introduce a singer and a dancer. I just watched a show on the many kind of insects in Syria. The anchor marveled at “God’s creation”–which is the name of the show. Like all falling dictators, Bashshar is particularly religious these days through his media. I have to say that the lies of the Syrian regime during this chapter of its oppression is one of the worst (or best from its perspective) that I have seen. ”

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/08/syrian-regime-tv_02.html

“Syrian regime TV
Some outlandish stuff on Syrian regime TV. Did you see when Bashshar visited a wounded “soldier”? The guy was so terrified and barely said a word to him. He did not seem like a fan. Also, the “footage” showing “armed protesters” are rather odd: some of those armed men seem to willingly smile to the cameras and many of the shots are close-ups. That is very suspicious to me. And the regime TV claims that Hamah protesters are using Molotov cocktails against government buildings, and yet they later say they have automatic weapons.”

About the difficulty of an official communication

Every New Year day , a Syrian was used to call his friend in a Western Country and ask anxiously if his friend’s car was OK
because he watched LIVE last night on his preferred satellite channel that “an enormous number” of cars in the country has been maliciously burnt by young people.
The number increased each year.

This year , his friend told him that his government decided that it will not release any official figure for the number of burnt cars.

The government found out that groups of young people at a loose end have set up a competition between the towns of the country.

These young people did not even realize that they were burning the cars of their not very affluent “fathers”

—————-
Disclaimers
Discussing anonymous fabricated Youtube videos is like building on quicksand.
In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes .
( or 15s on Youtube )

al jazeera reported the thugs only had rocks. america now arming thugs with rocks? get serious.

elliot abrams, wsj,jeffrey white, winep: all israel first, all liars.

the govts in both syria and libya will win.

kindness should not be shown to thugs intent on destroying a nation, its history, its culture.

Why Damascus, Aleppo are silent for now
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/why-damascus-aleppo-are-silent-for-now-1.845867
The business elite in these Syrian cities have myriad overlapping interests with the political elite

* By Sami Moubayed, Special to Gulf News
* Published: 00:00 August 2, 2011
To date, most residents of Syria’s two main cities, Damascus and Aleppo, have tried to look the other way vis-à-vis the uprising that has broken out in every town and city across the country since mid-March. In these two cities, the markets are still open, banks are still in operation, merchants are still trading, entire families are dining at restaurants, young couples are getting married and, in many cases, enjoying the summer in complete denial of what is happening throughout the rest of Syria. So long as Damascus and Aleppo remain quiet, or neutral at best, the Syrian authorities believe the situation will be under control.

A closer look, however, shows that this argument — although applicable four months ago — is now nothing more than wishful thinking. First, it is wrong to compare Damascus to Aleppo because sympathy with the Syrian uprising is high in the Syrian capital, but low and close to non-existent in Aleppo because of the city’s distance, its relative immunity from the economic crisis (thanks to flourishing business relations with Turkey), and the unique relationship the city has had with President Bashar Al Assad, who has paid it plenty of attention since coming to power in 2000. Additionally, Aleppo paid a terrible price for its support of the Muslim Brotherhood uprising of 1982, and sees how the state is retaliating in other cities today, like Hama and Deir Ezzor. It does not want to suffer a similar fate.

It would be wrong to imagine that residents of the old quarters of Damascus — Shagour, Bab Sharki or Bab Srijeh — would be seen on the streets of the Syrian capital, demonstrating against the regime. This is not French Mandate Damascus, after all, where these quarters are filled with swashbuckling quarter bosses like the ones we see in the popular TV series Bab Al Hara. The reason, basically, is that these quarters in the Old City are now empty; the original residents sold their property years ago, transforming their homes into trendy restaurants and boutique hotels. They collectively moved to the suburbs of Damascus, and today, the original inhabitants of the Syrian capital reside in hotspots like Muadamiyeh, Zabadani, Qaboon, Harasta and Duma. It is the Damascenes then who are demonstrating in these districts, in addition of course, to the original inhabitants of these districts. The sameapplies to Aleppo and its suburbs.

Within the new districts of Damascus and Aleppo, the business elite has been staunchly pro-regime although, ironically, it was the business community of both cities that suffered most from socialism of the Baath Party when it first came to power in 1963. That will likely remain the case for now, due to the weight of their clerics (who are allied to the state), along with the political, social and economic interests of their nobility and business community. In many cases, that nobility is “new money” and rose to power and fame only after the Baathists took over in 1963. The have overlapping interests with the political elite and are often allied to them through business partnerships and marriage, giving them no reason to demonstrate against the existing order.

Article continues below

Historically speaking, however, both cities can make or break any political movement — but rarely have they been part of anything that threatens stability and their commercial interests. In 1925, for example, rural Syria erupted in revolt against the French Mandate. Damascus very unwillingly joined the revolt of 1925, and when it did, suffered punishment greater than that of all other Syrian cities combined. It was shelled continuously for 48 hours and entire neighborhoods were set ablaze and looted. And Aleppo was not even part of the revolt of 1925. To be fair, although we make reference to the “Aleppo Revolt” in history books, it was the suburbs of Aleppo that revolted against the French. Aleppo itself remained silent. When the revolt calmed in 1927, it was the business elite of both cities that devised the theory of “honorable cooperation” with the government—diplomacy to extract political change, rather than armed revolt.

In Damascus, the merchants used to moan and groan whenever political parties, or youth movements, called on them to close down their shops for anti-government protests in the 1950s. Simply put, as far as the businessmen were concerned, all that meant was financial losses. That mentality still prevails in the old bazaars of Damascus and in the new posh and trendy corporate culture that has mushroomed around banks, insurance companies, advertising and media firms all over the Syrian capital.

The silence of both cities, however, won’t last for too long, for three reasons.

1) Unemployment: The moment rising unemployment kicks in, young people will take to the streets in both Damascus and Aleppo, regardless of what city elders tell them. Many young people are already jobless since March, and if the stalemate continues, they could start finding themselves penniless as well. Ramadan, no doubt, will be a turning point for these two cities.

2) Lack of community leaders: Back in the 1980s, for example, community leaders like Ahmad Kaftaro (the Grand Mufti) and Bader Al Din Al Shallah (doyen of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce) used their influence to pacify angry citizens in Damascus when they sympathised with the Brotherhood. People respected them, listened to them, and often carried out their without any questions. When Shallah famously asked shopkeepers to break the Damascus strike of 1982, they immediately answered his call. Today there are no community leaders with similar clout and standing in Damascus and Aleppo because the Baathists have not allowed any such independent leaders to emerge.

3) Demographics: Damascus, more so than Aleppo, is a melting pot for all Syrians. It is packed with people from rural Damascus, Daraa, Homs, Hama, Idlib and rural Idlib. It is those people who are likely to demonstrate in Damascus, rather than the Damascenes themselves, and those people, naturally, do not take their orders from the business community of Damascus.

Sami Moubayed is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine in Damascus, Syria

The Bashar supporters yhere have absolutely NO moral high ground to preach secularism to us or to accuse us of being Jihadists. Their Hizbullah and Iranian cronies aren’t secular by any strecth of the imagination. The status of women rights and minoroty rights in Iran is nothing better than Saudi Arabia, and worse than most Sunni-majoroty countries like Jordan, Egypt or Turkey. Ask Ayatullah Khamenai his opinions about Hijaab, Shari’a, and minority rights. Hassan Nasrallah is no diffrent. Ask Michel Aoun in private what he thinks about Hizbullah. The 2 biggest friends of Bashar are HIGH PRIESTS of Jihadism and sectarianism. HOW DARE the regime calls us terrorists when its two biggest friends are terrorists ? the Menhebak on here who swear by secularism consider Hassan Nasrallah as their demigod.

When Syrian Sunnis shout “Allahu Akbar” in a protest rally they are bloodthristy fanatics, but when Hizbullah and Iran put this “Allahu Akbar” in their Flag, they are a great friend of the Syrian people ?

AND the Sunni eltes are horrible hypocrotes. Ironically it was a handful of Sunni businessmen and landowners who oppressed the ‘Alawis during the Ottoman years. Ordinary ‘Alawis when they talk about “Sunni oppression” should realize majority of Syrian Sunnis are poor and working-class. Those Sunnis who used to oppress them are the ones who are the biggest supporters of the regime and who give their dauighters in marriage to the Assads and Makhloufs.

Clinton meets Syrian activists as U.S. calls for more sanctions mount

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/clinton-meets-syrian-activists-as-us-calls-for-more-sanctions-mount/article2117149/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2117149

…..Ms. Clinton sat down at the State Department with members of the Syrian-American community to discuss what the department calls “the urgent situation” in Syria, where rights groups say security forces have killed nearly 100 people in two days as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. Syrian troops on Tuesday tightened their siege on the city of Hama, an opposition stronghold, sending residents fleeing for their lives.

President Barack Obama on Monday called the violence “outrageous” and Ms. Clinton called on the Assad regime to “stop the slaughter” of its own citizens. Ms. Clinton also urged the UN Security Council to act and implored council members who have opposed action to reconsider their positions.

U.S. officials said the need for a strong UN response was clear given the growing evidence that the Assad regime is prepared to use disproportionate and extraordinary violence against civilians. They said Security Council action was “long overdue.”

…..

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is currently in Washington for consultations and is expected to return to Damascus next week although the State Department said Monday that that could be delayed depending on developments. Mr. Ford met with Mr. Obama at the White House on Monday to brief the president on the situation and was due to testify before Congress on Wednesday.

In Congress, increasingly incensed lawmakers are demanding that the administration impose additional sanctions on Mr. Assad and his inner circle. The administration has already hit Mr. Assad and a handful of senior Syrian officials with penalties and has said it is looking at more, including targeting the country\’s oil and gas industries.

On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of three senators said they would introduce legislation to ramp up pressure on the regime by penalizing foreign companies that do business in Syria\’s energy sector, which is responsible for about a third of Syrian export revenues.

83. Dear Tara, I agree that there should be a change in tactics.

I also believe that it is time that the civilan activists and defecting elements of the army move from mutual verbal support to formulate a strategy and a workplan on the ground to offset the vicious regime.

If the number of defected elements is adequate to form three phalanges, as the FSA acting commander in chief suggested in his announcement, then the opposition on the ground and in exile should lobby for international help to provide the FSA with needed logisitics.
Such help would be needed to start operating on the ground in engaging regime forces away from cities and providing a working alternative to wanabe defectors.

I see this option as strategically and tactically necessary to both save civilians from the wrath of the merciless regime and to pre-empt any potential emergence of armed resistance.

#88
This article is on the money. I am originally from Aleppo and come from a big family. I can assure everyone on this blog that Aleppo is boiling under the calm surface. It is only a matter of time before the city erupts. Mark my word.
Look at the pattern in this revolution: it starts with one stupid act by the regime in one of the villages, the village is up in arms, the surrounding villages come to the rescue and then the central city starts demonstrating.

Ya Mara ghalab

I read your post. Your first statements are interesting. You vowed not to come back but you did temporarily. Can you enlighten us why you reversed your decision?

You also said you are having problem with professor Landis, an academic, choice of words. I just do not understand when lay people having problem with the choice of words of an academic? Care to share your credentials with us?

And after 5 month into the Syrian crisis, has any Mnhebak learned what freedom of expression means?… I am just losing hope here.

Tara @93 “And after 5 month into the Syrian crisis, has any Mnhebak learned what freedom of expression means?”

Yes they have. To the menhebakites, freedom of expression means the freedom to praise junior, and the freedom to call for the deaths of those who don’t praise junior. Or, as we have seen in the case of their resentment against Syria Comment, to condemn those who don’t praise junior enough.

Khalid Tlass

Aside than the compulsory hijab issue, are women’s rights oppressed in Iran? Is it really similar to KSA?

I believe there are multiple irreconcilable revolutions going on in Syria today; but two of them garner most of the Syrian people’s support. First, a secular revolution which I think is supported by most people on this blog, including me. This revolution wants a secular multi party system not dominated by any particular party; free election; free speech; equal rights for ALL and end of corruption. This revolution does not believe in violent means, but rather change through dialog and engagement with a set time table for concrete steps toward reform. I think it is fair to say that most people in Syria back this revolution; particularly in cosmopolitan cities like Damascus and Aleppo, which explains why those cities have been reluctant to embrace the riots that are destroying the country.

Second, the Islamist revolution which is capitalizing on the unrest and people’s frustration to seize power by force, and impose its will on all Syrians through an alternative dictatorship system called Islamism inspired by Shariaa. I believe this revolution does have strong support in conservative cities like Hama, Homs, Daraa and Deir Alzor. Anyone who knows anything about Hama, and I happen to have roots in that city, knows that it is a hotbed for MB’s; and anyone who knows anything about MB’s should know they will settle for nothing less than an Islamic state guided by Shariaa law, clean of all infidels. I don’t believe Bashar’s departure will calm this revolution down, as some have suggested. On the contrary, I believe it will only embolden the MB and give them hope and momentum to go full speed after the jack pot. Compromise is not part of their belief system, as they are inspired and guided by an uncompromising faith.

The goal for both revolutions is change, but that’s where the similarities end. Secularists need to be very cautious and remember that the kind of change Islamists are seeking will leave them “hanging”, literally. Islamists despise secularists and have no tolerance for their ideology. Lessons should be drawn from the Iranian revolution where Iranian secularists, who fought hard along with the Islamists against the Shah, found themselves facing execution squads after the revolution was won. Similar scenarios are emerging today in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya where Islamists are flexing their muscles and revealing their true agenda.

Not all roads lead to Damascus; some are heading straight toward Mecca…

I am neither Sunni nor Alawi, I am Syrian. Souria Akbar!

Memo To: TARA

RE: “…do you like, hate Syria as a country or are you indifferent…”

No, I don’t like Syria. It’s not a country an outsider can easily like. Syrians are a lot like Serbs and Croats and Bosnians, loud, nasty, cruel and vicious. There’s not a lot to like there, unless you’re one of them.

History and drama are my passions. I especially focus on the breakup of countries. I visited Yugoslavia just before it broke up into six pieces. That was a bloody affair with lots of tribal hatreds exploding into wars, massacres and ethnic cleansings. I visited Czechoslovakia just as it was splitting up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. By contrast, that was relatively bloodless.

It looks like Syria will go the way of Yugoslavia. Too bad about that, but perhaps Syria as a nation-state was never meant to be. After this breakup is done, I think the losers will be the ones who throw themselves wholeheartedly into the notion that a nation is something that is forever. It’s not. It lasts as long as it can hold together in one piece. Take the USSR. The Czars of Russia spent centuries expanding its borders. And then in one short decade, it broke apart. Poof! And now it’s referred to as the “former USSR.”

Syria will not disappear. There has been a Syria for thousands of years. But it will change. And all the anger, frustration and paranoia on SC won’t stop the process.

So ask yourself this question, Tara. What would the greatest Syrian of them all, the Empress Theodora, do, were she alive today? I think she’d catch the last train to the coast, board a tramp steamer, head for Italy, find a nice guy and settle down and forget about all pain and misery that is the Syria she left behind.

Theodora was smart. The smart ones do what Jim Morrison advised. They “learn to forget”…

http://mysticmedusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Empress_Theodora.jpg

@Tara – Lets not get into the women righst issue in Iran or the Hijab issue. Honestly I don’t care about Iranians or Saudis. What I was trying to point out is the same people who are calling us terrorists and Jihadists are best friends with terrorists and Jihadists like Hizbullah and Iran. The same people who support the Assad on the excuse that they are secular, forget that the best friends of Assad – Iran and Hizbullah – are not secular by any standard. Which country is the greatest friend of the great SECULAR Assad dynasty ? The “ISLAMIC REPUBLIC of Iran”.

So if a Syrian protestor shouts “Allahu Akbar”, obviously he’s a Jihadist. But when Hizbullah shout “Allahu Akbar” thats okay.

On a lighter note, I don’t think Junior will flee to Tehran after he’s deposed. His wife will be arrested on the spot at the airport for not wearing al Hijab. So if Junior would have to stay in his best friend Khamenai’s home in Tehran, he will have to sacrifice his cherished “secular” values.

I don’t think it will be easy to implement Shari’a in Syria since 25 % of the people are not Ahl al-Sunna. But atleast the new regime should notdiscriminate the beliefs of the majority by disparaging it as “Islamist”

Dale,

Thank you for your honesty. I do not know who impress Theodora is,…. but she looks pretty…

@97 “It’s not. It lasts as long as it can hold together in one piece.”

Your entire post, in fact your entire line of study, can be debunked with just one word.

China

The article in post 88 is another “hitting the nail on it’s head”‘ says Tara, a Damascus expert. Thank you.

About meeting of a big family in Aleppo

There are all educated : sunnis , alawis, armenians, kurds , maronite , catholic , atheist , asasiyun in the extended family.

Last year , during the meeting , they were not talking politics.

Now they all stopped to talk politics because they could disagree too “vehemently” and endlessly on whether the President is a great or efficient or good leader , and what are the solutions for the government.

They agree quickly only on : they don’t want the disorder from the fanatic islamists and their thugs.

Disclaimers
Ce qui est à redouter, à mon sens, après ma disparition , ce n’est pas le vide politique, c’est plutôt le trop plein !
De Gaulle

Tara wants to exercise her freedom of expression:

My personal view in regard to Iran is not a hostile one.  I am amazed with Iran’ loyalty to Bashar even though I do not approve of it , as in my opinion it is turning a blind eye on our oppression.  My views are shaped by having been exposed to many western Iranians.  They come across as progressive, cultural, sophisticated, entertaining, and also loyal.  I must say I prefer to interact with Iranians than with Saudis and other Arabs from the gulf.  I hope one day, Iran too get rid of its theocracy and become a more open society and that the new free Syria maintains a strong relationship with Iran as I like loyalty.

“Now they all stopped to talk politics because they could disagree too “vehemently” and endlessly on whether the President is a great or efficient or good leader , and what are the solutions for the government.”

ROFL! Sounds like a typical Baathist get together. Their only disagreement is how “great” a leader junior is.

Tell me, after five months, and all the resources of the state on his side, how is it that Besho the Great Magnificent Cuddly God’s Gift to an Undeserving Universe Bungling, could not subdue this alleged Salafi uprising? Sounds less like Alexander the Great, and more like George Custer.

http://yallafinance.com/2011/07/31/how-much-does-a-thug-earn-in-syria/

The Shabi7a is about to form a Union.
They are complaining about working conditions and very soon they will have their own demos for their rights.

BTW, who said wages are low in Syria?
http://yallafinance.com/2011/07/31/how-much-does-a-thug-earn-in-syria/

About the difficulty to stop sectarian conflict

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe.

The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast “Good Friday” Agreement of 1998.

Throughout this period, the modern constellation of paramilitary ( catholics ) organisations began to form and fought against the UK government and its powerful British army.

Disclaimers

Kritisieren ist leicht, aber besser machen schwer.

Ce qui est à redouter, à mon sens, après ma disparition , ce n’est pas le vide politique, c’est plutôt le trop plein !
De Gaulle

Dear Joshua,

96. Majed97 draws a brilliant and remarkable summary of the current revolution in Syria worth to be highlighted .

I will add

Third the armed gangs of petty criminals , robbers , murderers , smugglers etc on the loose

( self edited for discretion )

To be continued ..

Disclaimers

Kritisieren ist leicht, aber besser machen schwer.

Ce qui est à redouter, à mon sens, après ma disparition , ce n’est pas le vide politique, c’est plutôt le trop plein !
De Gaulle

Memo To: ABOUD

RE: China

China is 96% Han. The minorities (Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongols, etc.), constitute four per cent of the population. The Han culture is so overwhelmingly suffocating that no other group can state its case except in reference to the Hans.

Syria, on the other hand, has minorities that constitute large segments of the country.

Tara, how can you claim to be Syrian (and educated) and not have heard of Theodora? Here is a new book about her. It’s a best-seller in the West >>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theodora-Actress-Empress-Stella-Duffy/dp/1844082156

103. TARA said:

Tara, this is the best post you have written. Through my engineering career, I worked with Iranians and still deal with them, they were most open minded, had excellent diligence, very professional and easy to work with.

BTW, if you are into Arabic music (I am a self taught and amateur Qanoon and Persian Tar player), most of the Arabic maqams (music scales) in use today and note names that were used by the early musicians like Al-Farabi have Persian names and I think they invented them. They are very capable people, this is one reason they are scaring the living crap of the Israelis.

A thought just occurred to me, their was a thread going about your name, are you named after the musical instrument Tar by any chance?

Darryl

Ah, finally someone on SC sharing my Persian taste. Tara is a Persian name but has nothing to do with Tar. I like maqam Kurd.

Tara, I love Maqam Kurd too and it sounds hauntingly beautiful when played on the Tar starting from the note “Mi” (E in western system). On the Qanoon, the maqam Rast makes the spirit rise from the ashes. This is the reason that the 2nd Athan) (2nd prayer) in Islam is composed with maqam Rast as it wants to make you rise and start the day.

Darryl

Mnhebak with great music taste? How could it be??

I thought you’d only enjoy wallah mnhebak ya Bashar songs?

Just kidding….

Darryl,that was refreshing,oriental music is wonderful..

Iran is a damn nuisance. It only pretends to fight Israel. Its real aim is to make Iran a great superpower and destroy the power of the Sunni Arabs. They want to avenge al Qadisiyyah. Israel is not scared of Iran becoz it knows that Iran’s main enemy is the Sunni Arab, not the Jew. Iran has a fascist dictatorial ideology in “Wilayah al faqih”. Wilayah al faqih means all Shi’i are supposed to follow the orders of “Wali” or “Rahbar”, i.e, Ayatullah Khamenai sitting in Tehran. That means Arab Shi’i cannot be loyal to their Sunni brethren but to Qum and Najaf. Iran wants to “export the revolution” to Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. They caused the Iran-Iraq War and the Civil War in Lebanon. Even the 3alawi community has been infected with this virus. Thus, even if BASHAR kills 50,000 people, destroys Mosques, does open blasphemy, no believeing Shi’a can protest against him as long as Ayatullah Khamenai does not allow them to. Sickening. Iran cannot be forgiven. they have a religious agenda and they are oushing this agenda on the Middle East for the last 30 years. How can you not see this, Tara ?

Thanks AbuGassan, The Maqam system is very powerful and unlike the western system which is based on Major-Minor transpositions. Our ancestors in the ME developed these concepts in the 9th century or before and today, I am sorry to say, we are stuck in religious nonsense.

I have been uneasy about Iran’s religious establishment for years and I spoke about it on this blog,but Tara is right,Iranians ,most of whom are not supportive of the regime,have proven,unlike Arabs and Saudis in particular,that they have the will and the means to be a great nation. Being suspicious of the Mullah’s intentions does not mean that we can rewrite history. Iran did not start the war with Iraq or ignited the civil war in Lebanon,which started in 1975. I am sorry to see some educated Syrians becoming victims of their emotions to the point that they are now declaring hizbullah as the enemy instead of Israel .this is not funny any more,it is tragic..
Glasses will not cure intellectual nearsightedness…

I’ve said before I Do not know much about Shiaa. Can Wali al Faqih be Arab Shiaa? Why is he always a Persian shiaa? Who appoint him? A religious council? If so, are there Arab Shiaa in that council? If not, how would Arab Shiaa be comfortable with this?

^ Look, the ideology of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on exporting the “Thawra Islamiyya” to other countries in the Middle East. This is completely unacceptable. And our secular rulers in Syria are their wilful allies in accomplishing this objective.

Its not a case of Arab vs. Persian. Its a clear case of pushing a religious agenda as a foreign policy tool. And our rulers are offically a part of this. And they accuse us of having a religious agenda and preach us about secularism.

Wilayat alfaqeeh is not supported by all Shia Arabs who have suffered from discrimination for centuries but are not willing to move from one bad system,wahabi gulf-style,to another.The theocracy in Iran is bad enough that most Syrians and Lebanese have,and will continue to,reject it. However,a Dollacracy ,Hariri-type,is not the answer either.
Gulf countries are ruled by a middle-ages style governments who only survive because of oil and US support,they are next as soon as money begins to run out,or even sooner.
Shia Arabs in Iraq who oppose wilayat alfaqeeh are targeted by Iran and,sadly enough,are also targeted by al-Qaida too. Having a moderate view in the dark sea called the middle east is not good for your health nowadays.

Friends being shot at and killed in Midan, Damascus, yesterday night. Normal, middle-class people like you and I. This is the reality.

118 Tara Honey-pot, kindly implementing US agenda,
how do you call someone who has a Persian and an Arab parent?
You can talk music, pose as a woman, there is no reality in the character you post for. Another Scottish failure after the Lesbian girl of Damascus (you showed up just as she vanished…)

Mina

It appears I trigger intense emotion in you. I do not understand the relevance of your questions? I don’t know what you call someone with Arab and Persian parent and how I am implementing a US agenda. I also do not understand why a woman can ‘t like maqam Kurd? I find it hauntingly sad for the most part and I like it for this. What is the problem with that?

“Another Scottish failure after the Lesbian girl of Damascus”

This from the same people who say “Ramadan Kareen” instead of “Ramadan Kareem”, and didn’t even know what the badal was. If I had a suspicious mind, I’d say we have more Iranians than Syrians here on the regime’s side.

” 35. Ali said:

abu umar

(edited for personal insults. This is your first warning)

have a nice day ”

Keep stewing in your rage. When you kill tens of thousands, don’t expect the people to smile at you. Read what your fellow menhebek thug, Rifaat Eid, whose group was involved in massacres in Tripoli, said:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2008/0924/p06s03-wome.html/%28page%29/2

“Although the feuding factions in Tripoli formally reconciled two weeks ago, Rifaat Eid, son of the leading Alawite politician in Lebanon, says that, as a member of a pro-Syrian minority in Lebanon, he fears the potential of the Salafis.

“The Salafis are like kittens when they are weak, but when they are strong they become like tigers,” he says.”

Thousands of tigers will be coming to hunt your shabeeha khanazeer.

“43. Ali said:
by posting these wicked comments you are waking up sleeping elephants… so prepare to be trampled”

By supporting the regime and it’s killings, you are waking up sleeping tigers, so prepare to pack your bags.

” 45. aboali said:

I can not for the life of me understand how you can equate the systematic, methodical, regimented violence of the military, para-military and Security forces of the this regime, with the tribal justice vengeance of the rural clans in Syria.”

The violence of the regime is A-ok to the menhebeks, but when people fight back and refuse to go their graves like sheep, then they start to whine just like their Zionist cousins.

“57. Majed97 said:

There is no amount of evidence in the world that will convince some people of how ugly this “revolution” has become”

Of course, you don’t talk about the ugliness of your despicable regime. The people won’t go to their graves like sheep. Keep preach secularism to your Shi’ite allies.

” 65. Real Syrian said:

The truth about what is named Syrian revolution that the rebels want to replace the president because he belongs to Alawaite group…..”

which slaughtered tens of thousands of Syrian Sunnis so it can maintain its grip on power. Stop pretending that only the opposition is just sectarian.

” The rebels will be satisfied if they bring even a Sunni Monkey to be the president…….”

Better a Sunni monkey than an Alawi baboon. Did you the Alawis prostrating to Bashar?

“This basic truth is leading the radical street in Syria”

Is that the only basic truth? What about the more important truth of the oppression of your regime?

” though the president is not acting in a sectarian manner”

So why are the majority of divisions and shabiha stacked with Alawis?

“and his wife is from a known Sunni family….Most of the ministers and governors are Sunni and even Albaath leaders.”

Saddam had his Shi’ites too.

“Outsiders including US has planned well to weaken Al-Assad regime using all our society diseases like sectarianism and poverty……….”

Hafez had no problem collaborating with the US in Gulf War I.

“These rebels should realize that in their fight to bring a Sunni leader to rule Syria they are actually acting like donkeys that has been used by the west who will get rid of them when a good result is obtained from the negotiations with Al-Asaad regime.”

No, you should realise that your Asad mafia will pat for their crimes.

“70. Samara said: The sectarian people are those like Abu Omar, who would rather see all that are not Sunni extremists dead.”

Your regime is the one which slaughtered tens of thousands so it can maintain its grip on power.

“Is the fact that you call “nusayri” religion not sectarian to you?”

Like you used “Umariyyeen”! What do Alawis have to do with Ali ibn Abi Talib?

“71. Jasmine said:
The west still can not understand the complexity of the situation,and the culture of sectarianism which is leading this uprising.”

So when the Alawi regime slaughters tens of thousands of Syrian Sunnis, that isn’t sectarian. Your Iraqi Shi’a allies said the exact same thing and I didn’t see any menhebek lunatics having a problem with this.

“74. mjabali said: There are reasons to be against al-Assad, and these reasons are legit like corruption and nepotism, long terms of leadreship, no improvement in education…etc but let us say the truth here Mr. Shami: you hate al-Assads: father and son, because they are Alawis.”

Why do you ignore the main reason you Alawi thug, the slaughter of tens of thousands of Syrian Sunnis by your Alawi regime so it can maintain it’s grip on power, with a specific sectarian context. Why the hypocrisy?