News Round Up (28 December 2012)
Posted by Joshua on Friday, December 28th, 2012
A friend on Alawites:
I remain skeptical regarding the Alawite community’s plan B. in my view there is no plan A, no plan B and no plan C. to make things worse there is no Alawite community. the original community’s communal structures, its forms of leadership, its elites, its identity, its religion and its rapport to its own territory have all been gutted, to a large extent, by the regime. This explains in part why Alawites both loath Bashar and desperately cling to him. they have nowhere to go, no alternative, no ability to organize enough to produce one of their own. They are confused by their absorption into a state that has proved to be a fiction. they are offered no exit by an opposition of eradicators who whisper nice words and think murder. I believe — and was just in Damascus — that the regime will go down fighting, in the capital, which it will destroy in the process. that doesn’t preclude other struggles in other places, such as Latakia. of course, and as always, I hope I’m wrong.
The Secular Idiot’s Guide to Syria’s Jihadist Groups [an absolute must read] Even Syria watchers need an honest laugh sometimes.
The dollar crossed the 100 pound threshold in black market trading this week in Damascus.
Syrians’ Moscow visit seeks Russian rejection of Ibrahimi points regarding limited future Assad authority and ineligibility for third term. — Murhaf Jouejati (@mjouejati) December 28, 2012
Two Syrian Air Force generals, five colonels, two majors, two captains, four lieutenants, three major sergeants and their families entered into Turkey at the border village of Bükülmez in Hatay’s Reyhanlı district. With the latest defections, the total number of defected Syrian generals Turkey is housing has risen to 49. – Zaman
Regime warplanes have carried out four attacks on Darya, rural Damascus, 28-12-2012 so far today, dropping missiles and cluster bombs on residential areas near the town centre. At least one martyr, a youth named as Tariq Mahmoud, has been confirmed killed in the brutal aerial bombardment. Moadamiyeh, Damascus, 28-12-2012: Moadamiyeh is under bombardment by MiG warplanes in conjunction with heavy artillery shelling by the regime’s notorious Fourth Division.
Syria jihadists eye post-Assad Islamic rule – AFP
In an audio tape posted online on Friday the head of the group, Abu Mohammed Al-Jawlani, said clearly – and repeatedly – that Islamists must rule in post-Assad Syria.
Assad’s Roll of the Dice: Is Winter Coming for the Syrian Rebellion? – Dec 24, 2012
By Tony Karon: Time Magazine
…. “The greatest challenge facing the rebels is providing the basic necessities of life to Syrians living in areas no longer controlled by the state,” says Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. “That’s why the regime is trying its best to disrupt food supplies in rebel-held areas. It needs them to fail, even to starve while they’re living under rebel control. The regime can’t allow the rebels to establish a workable alternative that pays salaries and is able to provide for those in its domain in the way that the state currently serves as the key provider to many millions of Syrians.”….
Syrian rebels sidetracked by scramble for spoils of war
Looting, feuds and divided loyalties threaten to destroy unity of fighters as war enters new phase
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Aleppo, The Guardian,
Syrians carry a desk out of a school in the Saif al-Dawla district of Aleppo. Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-AhadIt wasn’t the government that killed the Syrian rebel commander Abu Jameel. It was the fight for his loot. The motive for his murder lay in a great warehouse in Aleppo which his unit had captured a week before. The building had been full of rolled steel, which was seized by the fighters as spoils of war.
But squabbling developed over who would take the greater share of the loot and a feud developed between commanders. Threats and counter-threats ensued over the following days.
Abu Jameel survived one assassination attempt when his car was fired on. A few days later his enemies attacked again, and this time they were successful. His bullet-riddled body was found, handcuffed, in an alley in the town of al-Bab.
Captain Hussam, of the Aleppo military council, said: “If he had died fighting I would say it was fine, he was a rebel and a mujahid and this is what he had set out to do. But to be killed because of a feud over loot is a disaster for the revolution.
“It is extremely sad. There is not one government institution or warehouse left standing in Aleppo. Everything has been looted. Everything is gone.”
Captured government vehicles and weapons have been crucial to the rebels since the start of the conflict, but according to Hussam and other commanders, and fighters interviewed by the Guardian over a fortnight in northern Syria, a new phase has been reached in the war. Looting has become a way of life.
“Spoils” have now become the main drive for many units as battalion commanders seek to increase their power.
The problem is particularly pronounced in Aleppo, according to Abu Ismael, a young lieutenant from a wealthy family, who ran a successful business before joining the fight against Bashar al-Assad.
Many of the battalions that entered the city in the summer of this year came from the countryside, he said. They were poor peasants who carried with them centuries-old grudges towards the wealthier Aleppans….
Fleeing Civil War, Syria’s Kurds Enter Another Geopolitical Minefield
By Jay Newton-Small / Dohuk, IraqDec. 27, 2012 – Time
Samira Selo cradled her 2-year-old on her hip and looked across the low valley toward Syria, a country that until a month ago she called home. Some sheep and goats grazed nearby. Behind her, in the old tiny tent she, her husband and three kids call home, her family’s possessions were rolled up under two thin mattresses still damp from a week’s worth of rain. The floor of her tent was mud, the same mud that formed, often knee-deep, every lane zigzagging through the Domiz refugee camp in the north of Iraqi Kurdistan……
Thus far, the Syrian Kurds have remained somewhat neutral in the civil war ravaging Syria. Some splinter groups seem to be supporting Assad, and others the opposition, but for the most part, the Kurds have sat out the fight. “As far as the Syrian Kurds are concerned, the opposition is as bad as the regime,” Talabani says. Until the opposition pledges to respect Kurdish rights and grant them full representation in the new government, the Kurds will remain wary.
In fact, the refugees are suspicious of anything and everything except the Kurdish government in Iraq. Kurdish flags fly from dozens of tents. “I won’t fight for Assad or against Assad,” says Shanki, “but I will lay down my life for Kurdistan.” The group of men surrounding him all murmur — and some shout — in agreement.
Battle for Aleppo shows both sides’ weaknesses
NYTimes, 28 Dec 2012 Via War in Context
C.J. Chivers reports:…. has also left rebels vulnerable to allegations of corruption, including the theft of much needed food and other aid.
Simultaneously, the fighting has exposed the government’s seemingly fatal miscalculations. For all of its statements to the contrary, and no matter its effort to mass soldiers and firepower here, Mr. Assad’s government has mustered neither the popular support nor the military might to stop the rebels’ slow momentum, much less to defeat them.
These days rumors circulate of Mr. Assad’s dilemma — will he flee Damascus, Syria’s capital, or die behind the palace gate? — while it is rebels who speak with confidence.
“Now we are making very good progress,” said Col. Abdul Jabbar al-Okaidi, a former Syrian military officer who is now one of the senior rebel commanders in the Aleppo region. “Almost all of the military bases and regime forces in Aleppo have been surrounded.”
As winter descends, intensifying the humanitarian crisis for Aleppo’s civilians, the battle’s direction has decisively shifted….
Alawite cleric: Assad duped us into sectarian war
Sharq al-Awsat, 28 Dec 2012 via War in Context
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, an opposition Alawite religious cleric who recently fled to the Turkish town of Antakya revealed that “the Alawite community is living in a state of great fear, after we have become aware that the collapse of the al-Assad regime is imminent, which will […]
Taking Syria back from the extremists
By Mohammed Alaa Ghanem, Thursday, December 27 – Wash Post
Mohammed Alaa Ghanem is senior political adviser, strategist and government relations director for the Syrian American Council in Washington.
The U.S. commitment to aiding the Syrian opposition against the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad has been one of many words and few deeds. Repeated pledges of support absent material assistance have allowed fringe elements to establish themselves in northern Syria. If this trend persists, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s warning of “efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution” will soon become reality.
During a recent three-week trip to the Middle East, I observed both encouraging and disturbing developments. I went into Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and industrial capital, to see how Syrians were coping with chaos. About 75 percent of Aleppo is under opposition control.
I expected to talk to average people overwhelmed with trying to restore order. Instead, I encountered a sophisticated civilian governance structure. The Aleppo Transitional Revolutionary Council, run by a 23-member board of university-educated professionals, has emerged in the liberated areas. To restore critical services to the heavily damaged city, the council has formed 12 committees covering law enforcement, education, bakeries, relief efforts and more. The medical council alone was running eight hospitals. (Shelling by the Assad regime leveled one of those hospitals last month.)
The people I met with impressed me with their professionalism and they way they emphasized the “interim” before their titles. All said they plan to abide by election results once peace is restored to the city.
A few months ago, the majority of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) elements in Aleppo coalesced into the Revolutionary Military Council under the disciplined leadership of Col. Abduljabar Ekeidi. They have shockingly few resources: Because of protocols governing how supplies can enter Syria, the council is able to scrape together enough ammunition for a day’s fighting about every two weeks. Forces loosely affiliated with the FSA make up about 80 percent of the armed groups in the city; the others are undisciplined or hard-line organizations or criminal groups taking advantage of the violence.
Civilian efforts to provide governance and medical care and bring lawless and extremist elements to heel have been hamstrung by lack of resources. Brig. Gen. Adib al-Shallaf, a defector from Syrian security forces, has plans to reestablish a civilian police force for Aleppo. But some weeks he is not able to regularly feed his recruits, much less buy them uniforms. He told me he was not sure how long his effort could survive.
Halab al-Shabaa Brigade, one of the larger FSA units under the military council in Aleppo, is considering disbanding. The unit commander, a moderate, told me he knew that the extremist militant group Jabhat al-Nusra had approached some of his men. Jabhat al-Nusra is well-financed: Many of its cells have more food and weapons than recruits, and they are approaching Syrians to expand. Their obvious advantage is that they can provide what more moderate groups and civilian councils cannot: salaries and weapons.
I was shocked when a liberal commander of a brigade from al-Hasakah, a province in northeastern Syria, told me that he was considering joining Jabhat al-Nusra. His view of why he had “no option” was strategic: “I’m struggling with funding, and if the deal comes through me, I’ll maintain influence over the 20-year-olds fighting in my brigade, most of whom are not terribly educated. If the frustration grows, they will leave me, and they might end up with Jabhat al-Nusra, at which point they might embrace their ideology.”
Since I visited Aleppo, the United States has designated Jabhat al-Nusra a terrorist organization and an affiliate of al-Qaeda in Iraq. While Jabhat al-Nusra leaders undoubtedly profess an ideology similar to al-Qaeda’s, Syria experts agree that the timing of the designation has been disastrous for mainstream Syrians’ perception of the United States. First, Jabhat al-Nusra has helped on the ground in ways Washington has not: The group cooperates closely with the Free Syrian Army; it has achieved military successes and has delivered critical civilian aid. Second, the U.S. designation failed to distinguish between Jabhat al-Nusra’s core of hard-line ideologues and Syrians who join because Jabhat al-Nusra has money, weapons and proven military successes.
When leaving Aleppo, I had an experience that underscores the problem. Our group encountered members of Jabhat al-Nusra at a roadblock. Their respectful treatment and their short beards caught me off-guard. I initiated a conversation with the men manning the checkpoint. They were local people from a village about half a mile away. They joined Jabhat al-Nusra, they told me, because the group has the weapons and supplies necessary to protect their families. One man even expressed sympathy for the Alawite minority, Assad’s sect, and referred to Alawites as his brothers. “We only have a problem with the Assad regime,” he said. These men clearly did not support Jabhat al-Nusra’s extremist ideology, but they see the organization as their only option.
Groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra have been allowed to establish not just a presence but also a foothold. If the civilian councils and other governance structures emerging in the liberated regions can be sufficiently funded, they can provide policing and relief services to stabilize their communities. But without support from the United States and other allies, well-funded extremist groups can continue to recruit fighters from a population that would otherwise ignore them.
As winter sets in, the Syrian people will be in desperate need. The United States must do all it can to bolster the legitimacy of civilian councils and other moderate organizations, including delivering aid through the coalition and regional councils rather than third-party nongovernmental organizations. This would help enable civilians to run their communities and increase the likelihood that a post-Assad Syria will become an inclusive democracy, rather than a failed state.
Read more from Opinions: Jackson Diehl: A jihadist group prospers in Syria The Post’s View: Syria’s war spills into Lebanon David Ignatius: A defector’s account of Syrian chemical weapons
Raqqa Emergency Appeal
Damascus 26-12-2012 – Building the Syrian State
An increasing number of reports indicate that armed anti-regime brigades are surrounding the city of Raqqa in northeast Syria with the plan to enter it. There have already been some attacks on the outskirts of the city. Raqqa is among the few relatively safe areas in Syria that civilians can still to escape to. As a result, the city is now heavily, densely populated hosting nearly three million people more than half of whom are internally displaced living in very dire conditions.
Pushing the city into armed conflict will result in a tragedy to add to the countless tragedies the Syrians are already suffering. It is even more tragic considering that the city will probably not play any strategic role in settling the conflict in Syria.
The location of Raqqa near Tabaqa military airport, which is under the control of the regime, ensures that the city will be under immediate threat of aerial bombardment by regime
Assad Cultivates Support from Minorities. CBS visits Jabal Druze
Syria: interview with a Jabhat al-Nusra official
Time: 26 Dec 2012
Abu Adnan, a 35-year-old religious scholar and Shari’a law official in Jabhat al-Nusra’s leadership in the Aleppo area, gave an interview with Rania Abouzeid for Time magazine.
The interview took place in a town in northern Syria, in the countryside outside Aleppo. I was not blindfolded nor subjected to a physical security check. I was picked up at a northern Syria border post, driven for about 15 minutes inside the country before the vehicle stopped in front of a black pickup truck waiting in the middle of an otherwise empty stretch of road. There were three men in the vehicle, including Abu Adnan, who silently approached the car I was in, and sat in the backseat. He did not introduce himself until I asked who he was later.
We drove to a small cold concrete room with a tiny window that barely let in any light from an already overcast sky. We sat among boxes of long-life milk and bags of blankets and winter clothes waiting to be distributed. Our host, the driver, tried to start a portable gas heater, but there was no gas.
“America has called us terrorists because it says that some of our tactics bear the fingerprints of al-Qaeda in Iraq, like our explosives and the car bombs,” Abu Adnan said, his breath condensing as he spoke. “We are not like al-Qaeda in Iraq, we are not of them.”
Jabhat al-Nusra does count Syrian veterans of the Iraq war among its numbers, men who bring expertise — especially the manufacture of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) — to the front in Syria. Still, Jabhat al-Nusra is not the only rebel outfit to use IEDs and other groups — some so-called moderates operating under the loose umbrella of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have also allegedly used suicide bombers who were either willing or unwilling (i.e prisoners). Like Jabhat al-Nusra, a number of other Islamist groups also want to install an Islamic state in Syria, while even secular rebel units increasingly speak in ugly sectarian terms that demonize minorities, particularly members of Assad’s Alawite sect. Yet only Jabhat al-Nusra’s tactics were designated as “terrorist” by a U.S. administration that admits it is still trying to understand the various armed elements in the Syrian conflict, fueling all manner of theories about why Jabhat al-Nusra was slapped with the description. Also why time the announcement just as rebels as a whole seem to have gained a renewed momentum? The key, it seems, is the alleged links to al-Qaeda in Iraq….
He said that if anything, Jabhat al-Nusra was keeping itself in check. “Many of the people who are wanted by us, who we have scores to settle with, very important people are present in Turkey, in areas close to the border, we can easily reach them. It would be very easy for us, but we won’t do this and yet they still call us terrorists. We are fighting in Syria, and who are we fighting? The security forces, the shabiha [proregime thugs also listed as terrorists by the U.S.] and those who help the regime.”
At the same time as announcing plans for an Islamic state in Aleppo, Jabhat al-Nusra has begun undertaking relief efforts in the neighborhoods of the city it is based in, seeking a stronger foothold in the local community, even though paradoxically like many rebel groups operating in Aleppo, its fighters are largely not from the city. It has distributed much needed supplies of petrol, diesel, and flour to bakeries. “We are keeping the price of bread at 15 lira [about 21 U.S. cents], which was its true price,” Abu Adnan said, adding that transgressors would be punished according to Shari‘a. (Jabhat al-Nusra has also thus far avoided indiscriminate civilian casualties.)
That’s not to say that Jabhat al-Nusra does not have fierce critics, especially within rebel circles. In addition to its civilian detractors, many more secular-minded fighters are wary of the group’s social conservatism, but insist that its brand of ultraconservative Islam will not find a home in any post-Assad Syria. These fighters often say that they will “deal” with conservative groups like Jabhat al-Nusra later, but that right now they need them in the fight against Assad. Other rebels view Jabhat al-Nusra as a transient jihadi group that will move onto foreign fronts like Afghanistan or Gaza after the fall of Assad.
Abu Adnan smirked when asked to comment about such sentiments, especially by fellow Sunni fighters, whom he dismissed as “the brainwashed.” He repeated that “the idea that we are a global organization or that we have some other goal elsewhere after the fall is not true.” He was emphatic: “We are Syrians.” He admitted that “we also have foreigners who came from other countries, but,” he explained, “that is because the wounds in the Arab lands are the same wound, and the oppression is the same oppression.”
Rocky transition expected in Syria
Karen DeYoung DEC 24 Wash Post
Planning for post-Assad transition has become a race against time that proponents of a democratic Syria fear they are losing. …
“Even secular-minded people who acknowledge the jihadis are a potential threat to them say they’re the only people who helped us and you didn’t help us,” said Malinowski, who returned last week from rebel-held areas of Syria. “There is not much time left to demonstrate to Syrians that the United States was with them when they needed it most.”
U.S. officials say they recognize the urgency of the situation, as rebel military forces increase their hold on Syrian territory amid escalating civilian deaths and mounting humanitarian needs. “But there are legal issues involved” in moving beyond humanitarian aid, a senior administration official said.
Providing the rebel military with the same kind of organizational and training aid being given outside Syria to the political opposition is just as illegal as handing over weapons or sending troops, U.S. officials said.
Without an international mandate from the United Nations or approval from Congress, the United States has no basis on which to aid or interact with the Syrian rebels, under the legal opinion on which the administration has based its policy….
“If we speculate that the regime collapses soon, we have to recognize that we would see a period of fairly intense political competition in which actors on the ground who had established credibility would have a significant advantage” over anyone or anything coming from the outside, Heydemann said. “Military commanders in many cases would assert their authority, at least temporarily.”
“Ultimately, I think, this work has to be understood as an effort to avoid worst-case scenarios, not as an effort to develop ideal structures that will permit Syria to transition immediately and seamlessly into a popular parliamentary democracy. I don’t think anyone envisions that.”
‘This is going to be messy’
What worries Rami Nakhla and others is that the hands-off approach adopted by the United States and its European allies may be ensuring the chaotic outcome they say they seek to avoid. Nakhla’s own apocalyptic prediction is that powerful armed elements, including extremists, will look for a new enemy to retain their power after vanquishing Assad and will settle on neighboring Israel. The West will inevitably oppose them, and “the Syrian people will start to view the international community as their enemy,” Nakhla said in a telephone interview from Turkey. A Damascus university student who slipped out of Syria just as the uprising began in early 2011, he spent months hiding from Syrian intelligence in Beirut while disseminating video and updates from protesters inside Syria to the outside world on the Internet….
Recruited to work on USIP’s project, he is now in Istanbul to set up the independent Day After organization to provide technical assistance to the coalition.
No Easy Route if Assad Opts to Go, or to Stay, in Syria
By ANNE BARNARD and HWAIDA SAAD
Published: December 24, 2012
BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria sits in his mountaintop palace as the tide of war licks at the cliffs below.
Explosions bloom over the Damascus suburbs. His country is plunging deeper into chaos. The United Nations’ top envoy for the Syrian crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, met with Mr. Assad in the palace on Monday in an urgent effort to resolve the nearly two-year-old conflict.
How Mr. Assad might respond to Mr. Brahimi’s entreaty depends on his psychology, shaped by a strong sense of mission inherited from his iron-fisted father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad; his closest advisers, whom supporters describe as a hard-line politburo of his father’s gray-haired security men; and Mr. Assad’s assessment, known only to himself, about what awaits him if he stays — victory, or death at the hands of his people…..
Dr. Nikolaos van Dam, the Netherlands’ former ambassador to Iraq, tells Rudaw (listen) that in order to avoid conflict and bloodshed it is better for Iraq’s Kurdistan Region to remain “de facto independent” than to fully claim it. Author of The Struggle for Power in Syria, van Dam believes that, whatever the outcome of the conflict in Syria, the country’s Kurdish population need not fear renewed persecution on ethnic grounds, as in the past. Here is his interview:
The commander of Syria’s military police has defected from President Bashar-al Assad’s government and reportedly fled to Turkey. Lt Gen Abulaziz al-Shalal is one of the highest-ranking officials to join the uprising against the Syrian regime. The army had failed to protect Syrians and turned into “gangs of murder”, the general said […]
Comments (414)
Johannes de Silentio said:
Mr. Assad’s assessment, known only to himself, about what awaits him if he stays — victory, or death at the hands of his people…..
December 28th, 2012, 3:52 pm
Juergen said:
cousin of Asma has written this letter to her:
ا من كنتِ ابنة عمي..
أرجو أن تجمعي أطفالك حولك ثم تبدأي بقراءة سطوري..
انظري جيداً في عين ابنك هل رأيت فيهما طفلاً جعل من الأرض الباردة حذاء له؟؟ وآخر يعانق رغيف الخبز وكأنه عثر على كنز بعد رحلة شاقة؟؟؟ وثالت مقطع الأوصال ورعم ألمه الابتسامة لا تفارق وجهه؟؟؟ ورابع يحتضن أمه الشهيدة ظناً منه أنها ستعود اليه إن شعرت بحرقة دموعه؟؟؟ أنا متأكدة من أنك لم ترِ أي شيء فكل ما تشاهدينه هو عين زرقاء ورثها عن أبيه …
تلمسي رأس ابنتك جيداً هل ما زال مكانه؟؟؟ ما هو شعورك إن جاؤوكِ به منفصلاً عن جسدها؟؟؟ تخيلي فقط ثم أجيبيني…
هل تأكدت من أن أطفالك تناولوا فطورهم كالمعتاد.. أم أنك شعرت بالعجز لأنك لم تجدي ما يسد رمقهم… ولو لقمة خبز!!
ألم تسمعي بمجزرة حلفايا أمس… أظن أنك كنت مشغولة بالترتيب لحفلة الميلاد..
نسيت أن أخبرك يا ابنة الزوات أن حبيبتي حمص تدمرت.. صحيح ولم تهتمي … لم يربطك بها شيء.. لم ترسمي يوماً خطوطاً على رصيفها لتلعبي (الحيز) مع أولاد الحارة.. ولم توصلي يوما (سكبة الأكل) للجيران ولم تتمشي في شوارعها اثناء مراهقتك ويسمعك أحدهم (تلطيشة) لترضي غرورك… ولم تعيشي أول قصة حب فيها… هل زرت يوماً السوق المسقوف وشممت تلك الرائحة العجيبة التي تذكرك بمن مروا به من آلاف السنين..
لقد تدمر كل شيء…
هل وصلك خبر أن الحماصنة الآن مشردين بين نازح ولاجئ وشهيد… يا لغبائي نسيت أنك لا تحبين سماع الأخبار الحزينة فقلبك الرقيق لا يحتمل…
وهلأ خلصت فزلكة بالفصحة وبدي احكي معك جوز كلام بالعامية… ثورتنا رح تنتصر.. ويكون بعلمك إنت مسؤولة قدامنا وقدام ربنا على كل شي صار بالبلد… وربنا رح ينتقم منك ومن كل ظالم.. ووقتها بحب خبرك اني ما رح ازعل أبداً… لأنو دمك ما بقى يعنيني… واذا بقدر غيّر دمي ما رح قصّر أبدا
http://67.159.45.21/Archive/64508
translation:
To my ex-cousin!
Before you read my letter, bring your children to you!
Look at the eyes of your son! You see, in his eyes, like a child make a shoe from the cold ground? You see the second child as happily smiling caring a bread, like it was a treasure. You see, the third child, as it smiles despite its amputated legs? You see, the fourth child sitting crying beside his dead mother and waits until she is awake so that they be comforted? I’m sure that you’ve seen nothing. Because you see only his blue eyes, which he inherited from his father. Touch the head of your daughter! Is he still there? What a feeling you had when the body of your daughter would be without a head? You jus thave to imagine all this, then answer me! Looking after your children if they had their normal breakfast, or would you then feel helpless when you cant offer them any food, not even a bite? Have you heard yesterday from the massacre of Halfaja? I think not, because you were probably busy with the Christmas party. I forgot to tell you, O daughter Az’zu’wat that my beloved Homs is destroyed. Yes, it’s true. But that does not interest you. It connects you nothing with Homs. On its sidewalks you have not painted nor have you played with the other kids there. You did not bring the neighbors food.Not even in your early years of adolescence have you walked on the streets. And no boy has turned on you to satisfy your arrogance.
You have not experienced the first love story there. And you have not visited the bazaar whose scents remind you of the people a thousand years ago.
Everything has been destroyed.
Did you get the message, that the Homsis have become either refugees, displaced or dead people ? Oh! I’m stupid. I forgot that you do not like bad news. For your sensitive heart can not take it. And now an end to the formal Arab language! I’ll want to write a few sentences in our language. Our revolution will triumph. You have to know that before God and us, you are also responsible for what happened in our country. God will take revenge on you and on every criminal. Believe me! I will not be sad about it. For thy blood shed does not interest me. If I had the opportunity to change my blood,I would do it.
December 28th, 2012, 4:23 pm
Juergen said:
Its getting lonely around Bashar nowadays!
AJ great animated tracking of all the high ranking defections in the last months. (74)
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/syriadefections/2012730840348158.html
Here are more images of the Ben Ali auction. Gee the taste of this couple can only be compared with the taste of the Ceausescus.
http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/zine-el-abidine-ben-ali/tunesier-stuermen-schatzkammer-des-ex-diktators-luxus-auktion-27882854.bild.html
December 28th, 2012, 4:26 pm
revenire said:
Wonder how long before the rats bring their revolution to the peaceful Druze communities? They will no doubt be punished, like Aleppo, for not supporting the Salafist apes’ plan to destroy the entire nation.
God help Syria,
December 28th, 2012, 5:06 pm
Tara said:
Juergen
“..لأنو دمك ما بقى يعنيني… واذا بقدر غيّر دمي ما رح قصّر أبدا”
Thanks for sharing Asma cousin’s letter.
December 28th, 2012, 6:02 pm
Tara said:
Juergen@3
Imagine someone put his/her feet in a shoes worn by that former hairdresser, former first lady.
Yuck!
December 28th, 2012, 6:26 pm
revenire said:
Yes, I am sure Asma’s cousin sent a letter to her and then gave it to a Takfiri rat to post online. Sure thing. Happens every day.
Bashar sends me email all the time – so does Makdissi. I have tons of letters from them that I am saving for a book.
December 28th, 2012, 6:31 pm
Tara said:
Reve,
No one cares if you believe it or not. Really.
Your approval or lack of it is completely irrelevant.
Yet please do not stop posting and sharing your opinions or trying to ask questions. Do not be frustrated by lack of responses. Your post are very entertaining.
December 28th, 2012, 6:39 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
AlArabiyeh mentioned 2500 Sunni officer are im Saydnaya prison, and that the TV building has been turned to military base full of Shabbiha,
Mr. Landis friend said
” I believe that the regime will go down fighting, in the capital, which it will destroy in the process”
I sure hope he is wrong.If not Syria population will be one million less.the Assad thugs will sentense themselves to death.
As for the rebels are getting weaker, it is due to the weather,in the spring they will get much stronger specially by then several military centers will be taken by FSA
December 28th, 2012, 6:59 pm
revenire said:
MAJEDKHALDOUN I guess you don’t bother to read the stories Josh Landis posts but if you read them above you can see what the FSA does in Aleppo. Stealing. Looting. Killing each other. Killing civilians. The FSA is hated there.
TARA thanks – that’s sweet – same to you. I love your posts and am amused and delighted you find me so entertaining. Maybe in another world we would have been husband and wife.
The Asma cousin story reminds me of Danny Dayem or the other media freak shows and circuses except this one won’t get any play outside of a few bearded apes. Maybe you should take it to Anderson Cooper.
December 28th, 2012, 7:32 pm
Observer said:
The most interesting parts are the news of Mikdad going to Moscow to ask for pressure on the initiative of Lakhdar which as I said before is giving Athad a symbolic role until 2014 as the best offer on the table. It is also interesting that Russia wants to talk to the opposition.
This means the following:
1. The US and EU are letting Russia find a way out and preserve some presence in the ME.
2. The Russians have concluded that that regime is not going to win, and maybe on the losing side.
3. The regime wants to take the Russians hostage to its survival by threatening a destruction of the country and certainly Damascus.
4. The regime now has only troops that are sure that if they lose they will die.
5. If Russia cannot pull this off then the rebels will receive more support to finish the job.
Now some other interesting news
Iran is willing to open its military facility for inspection if the threat of an attack recedes.
Iran sanctions on the first of the year are going to become more stringent.
The GCC despite the fact that these are clans with flags have enough of military hardware to participate in an attack on Iran if it ever materializes, although I think it will not.
Iran and the US are talking behind the scenes. Turkey is a part and parcel of these talks and the Kurds have just gotten a breathing space with the turmoil in Iraq.
Sunnis in Iraq are smelling blood, and if Maliki does not deliver, there will be a restart of the civil war there. Once the regime in Syria falls the Iraqis will have no support and will have to deal with the Kurds and the Sunnis.
So in all of this dance and dog and pony show the two players that are working to limit the damage of the their policies are the Russians and the Iranians and the former are in a better position than the latter for once Russia gets some quid pro quo in Syria, it will leave Iran to face the music alone.
On the other hand, Russia may sacrifice Syria for a closer relation to Iran for the last thing that Russia wants are pipelines that are not under its control.
Did small Qatar beat the bear at its game?
Now let us see how the community of supporters within the sect is going to turn against the Makhloof Athad mafia consortium.
Buying villas in Mitn in Lebanon is the latest trend by the way.
Cheers.
December 28th, 2012, 8:55 pm
zoo said:
#Majedalkhaldoon
“As for the rebels are getting weaker, it is due to the weather,in the spring they will get much stronger”
Oh, so they did not get the non-lethal influenza vaccine?
It’s a good news that we have to wait for the spring to see the rebels recovering. In the meantime the Syrian army will take a break
Maybe the rebels will find themselves recovering in Turkey’s high-tech camps together with their family.
December 28th, 2012, 8:55 pm
zoo said:
Observer
Your rantings are harder and harder to follow. I think I will add you to my automatic Skip List.
December 28th, 2012, 8:59 pm
revenire said:
Russia has always talked to the opposition. For that matter Assad has offered to talk to them as well. No news there.
Cheers to you armchair analyst.
Next time bring some game to the table or we will laugh.
December 28th, 2012, 9:07 pm
Tara said:
Reve,
“Maybe in another world we would have been husband and wife.”
Ah…And all that time I thought you were a girl…
That is sweet though. Thanks, but no thanks. In another world, I am already committed….
December 28th, 2012, 9:09 pm
zoo said:
@9 Majed
Al Arabya? Seriously? Try DEBKAfiles, it is as accurate.
December 28th, 2012, 9:19 pm
zoo said:
Al Nusra showing off leading the battles. What ever happened to the ‘good’ rebels?
Rebels attack key army base
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-151264-Rebels-attack-key-army-base
Saturday, December 29, 2012
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several rebel groups pounded Wadi Deif amid violent clashes on the ground while regime warplanes launched air strikes around the army base. Two rebel fighters were killed, the Britain-based Observatory said. Rebels on the ground said the jihadist group the Al-Nusra Front was leading the offensive.
…
Elsewhere, Al-Nusra and rebel fighters attacked regime troops guarding Aleppo airport, the Observatory reported, as clashes shook several neighbourhoods in the city, including around a military compound besieged by rebels.
December 28th, 2012, 9:24 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Debka files accurate? That’s hilarious.
@ Revenire
You can read about the many defections on Landis’ blog, the very blog that you’re commenting on. But apparently you don’t read it because you don’t trust it, so whatever. As I’ve said before, there is no negotiations. The two sides can’t even agree on the same facts. It will be settled on the battlefields.
@ Zoo
Al Nusra is better than the regime. The “secular” West won’t help the FSA against the evil regime. So they turn to the jihadists for support. What is wrong with that?
December 28th, 2012, 9:38 pm
revenire said:
MARIGOLDRAN you have no data on defections. Don’t say this site – that is a joke. Most of the blog posts from Landis come from one side i.e. propaganda.
The SAA is intact and fighting and killing Syria’s enemies. Welcome to the New Syria – Assad’s Syria.
December 28th, 2012, 10:05 pm
MarigoldRan said:
So I guess you don’t accept any of the major international newspapers, websites, or news feeds, all of which mentioned defections from Assad’s regime. And obviously you don’t read Landis’ blog, which makes me wonder why you’re here in the first place, unless it is to troll.
And I don’t accept any of your sources.
So what is there to discuss? We’ll see how the war turns out and see which side wins.
December 28th, 2012, 10:14 pm
MarigoldRan said:
@Revenire
Haha, now that I think about it, Tara turned you down cold.
That’s hilarious.
December 28th, 2012, 10:23 pm
zoo said:
Where is Makdissi?
More speculations from a Saudi Arabia mouthpiece
Makdissi most likely in al-Assad regime hands – Source
28/12/2012
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=32343
By Mohammed Nassar
Dubai, Asharq Al-Awsat – Has he defected or been sacked? Is he in hiding or has he been kidnapped? Nothing is certain, but what is clear is that former Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi suddenly disappeared, under mysterious circumstances, and nothing has been seen or heard from him in more than one month.
Both Britain and Washington have denied knowing Makdissi’s whereabouts, whilst rumors about Makdissi’s fate abound in Lebanon. As for the al-Assad regime, it has remained silent, insisting that Makdissi is on “administrative leave”. So what is the fate of Jihad Makdissi? Asharq Al-Awsat has obtained important details regarding Makdissi’s movements over his final days and weeks in Syria prior to his disappearance.
,,,
For its part, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper claimed that “Makdissi is co-operation with US intelligence officials who helped him flee to Washington almost one month ago” adding “this has now been confirmed”. The report claimed that Makdissi has undergone “almost a month of debriefings, which have helped intelligence officials build a picture of decision-making in the inner sanctum of the embattled regime.”
….
However the talk that he is on leave – according to newspapers affiliated to the Syrian government – indicates beyond reasonable doubt that he is in the hands of the regime or one of its allies in Lebanon.”
December 28th, 2012, 11:05 pm
zoo said:
Al Kahtib, increasingly looking at Erdogan as his model, refuses the invitation and requests an apology from Russia.
I think he’ll have to wait much longer than Erdogan is waiting for Israel apologies.
December 28th, 2012, 11:13 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
“…as winter sets in, the Syrian people will be in desperate need. The United States must do all it can, including delivering aid through the coalition and regional councils…”
CORRECTION: The USA should do nothing. Let these poor fools freeze in the dark and in the Spring, when the flowers bloom, we’ll find out who’s left and if they learned anything…
December 28th, 2012, 11:21 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
19. REVENIRE
“The SAA is intact”
Intact, in the sense that the SAA poses no threat to Israel. In that sense, you are correct. So it’s business as usual, eh, Revie? For more than 40 years under the Assads, the SAA was “intact” and it still is.
I wondered about you, coming out of nowhere and suddenly making your presence felt filling SC with rants and opinions and insults and I wondered who sent you because turds like you don’t happen by accident. You’re not an accidental turd. No sirree. You’re a Mossad turd.
Welcome to LandisLand, Revenire from Mossad…or shall we just call you Mossie?…
December 28th, 2012, 11:46 pm
zoo said:
For the USA lovers, open your eyes and ears, you’ve been watched and cheated.
Oliver Stone to RT: ‘US has become an Orwellian state’
Published: 28 December, 2012, 20:19
http://rt.com/news/oliver-stone-us-orwellian-022/
….
“Obama was a great hope for change”
RT: It took both of you almost five years to produce this series. And in it you have a chapter called Obama: Management of a Wounded Empire. You give a harsh critique of the Obama administration. What in your eyes has been the most troubling aspect of his presidency, Oliver?
Oliver Stone: I think under the disguise of sheep’s clothing he has been a wolf. That because of the nightmare of the Bush presidency that preceded him, people forgave him a lot. He was a great hope for change. The color of his skin, the upbringing, the internationalism, the globalism, seemed all evident. And he is an intelligent man. He has taken all the Bush changes he basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them. That is what is sad. So we are going into the second administration that is living outside the law and does not respect the law and foundations of our system and he is a constitutional lawyer, you know. Without the law, it is the law of the jungle. Nuremburg existed for a reason and there was a reason to have trials, there is a reason for due process – ‘habeas corpus’ as they call it in the United States.
RT: Do you agree Peter?
Peter Kuznick: I agree, if you look at his domestic policy, he did not break with the Bush administration’s policies. If you look at his transparency – he claimed to be the transparency president when he was running for office. There has not been transparency. We have been actually classifying more documents under Obama than we did under Bush. All previous presidents between 1970 and 2008 indicted three people total under Espionage Act. Obama has already indicted six people under the Espionage Act. The surveillance has not stopped, the incarceration without bringing people to trial has not stopped. So those policies have continued.
Then there are war policies, militarization policies. We are maintaining that. We are fighting wars now in Yemen, Afghanistan, we are keeping troops in Afghanistan. We have not cut back the things that we all found so odious about the Bush administration and Obama added some of his own. The drones policy – Obama had more drone attack in the first eight months than Bush had his entire presidency. And these have very dubious international legality.
OS: Peter was hopeful that the in the second term there will be some more flexibility, we hope so. But, there is a system in place, which is enormous – the Pentagon system.
December 28th, 2012, 11:47 pm
revenire said:
JOHANNES DE SILENTIO:
I’ve heard the trash talk from apes allied to Israel about how Syria is no threat to Israel but we all know the 2006 Hezbollah victory over the Israeli was made possible by Syrian and Iranian support as in MISSILES – 1000s of MISSILES.
Syria is fighting a war against Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
As far as who sent me here: it was God.
December 28th, 2012, 11:53 pm
revenire said:
JOHANNES DE SILENTIO this is how the Israelis see Syria:
Potential Threats To Israel: Syria
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Threats_to_Israel/Syria.html
Overview
Syria is one of Israel’s principal immediate military threats. Syria’s primary military objective has been the destruction of Israel, but since it has been defeated on the battlefield by the IDF in every major military engagement since 1948, in the last decade the country has turned to a new strategy: sponsor and assist terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah while also developing offensive, ballistice missile systems and proliferating weapons of mass destruction.
Since 2008, Syria has spent more than $3 billion on weapons procurement and development, up from less than $100 million in 2002. Syria also reportedly received $1 billion from Iran in 2007/8 to buy surface-to-surface missiles, rockets, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft systems. “Iran and Syria share the same viewpoint regarding regional issues and efforts will be made to strengthen our shared interests and bilateral relations,” said Hassan Turkmani, Syrian Defense Minister, who was dispatched to Tehran after Iranian officials condemned the resumption of negotiations with Israel in 2008.
Israel is particularly concerned with a Syrian request from Russia for long-range S-300 surface-to-air missiles that could threaten IAF jets flying on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. Syria also reportedly wants MiG 29 fighter jets and the Iskander surface-to-surface missile system, which is a longer range and more accurate missile than the ballistic missiles currently in Syria’s arsenal. The Syrian navy is apparently also looking to purchase two Amur-1650 submarines from Russia. The dramatic increase in military spending and effort to significantly upgrade its military capability keeps Syria as a major threat to Israel.
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Though it is party to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Syria was engaged in a covert nuclear program for more than a decade. On September 6, 2007, Israel bombed a site in northern Syria that was later revealed by the CIA as a plutonium reactor being built with the help of North Korea. The possibility that the site was related to a nuclear program was supported by the U.S. intelligence community which released reports that said the covert Pakistani supplier group headed by A.Q. Khan “offered nuclear technology and hardware to Syria.” In February 2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that samples taken from the site revealed traces of processed uranium.
Syria denied the site was for a nuclear facility but IAEA investigators were given very restricted access to the area and the Syrian government quickly destroyed any evidence that remained. Nevertheless, a report was issued on November 19, 2008, which said the IAEA found a “significant number” of uranium particles and concluded, “While it cannot be excluded that the building in question was intended for non-nuclear use, the features of the building…are similar to what may be found in connection with a reactor site.”
In February 2011, commercial satellite photos published by Washington’s Institute for Science and International Security identified another suspect nuclear installation in Syria. The photos provided evidence that Damascus may have been pursing atomic weapons prior to the 2007 Israeli strike and increased pressure for demands for a new round of expansive inspections of suspect Syrian facilities. Another IAEA report issued in May 2011, which cited both physical and photograhic evidence, confirmed that the Syrian project destroyed in the the Israeli air raid was a nuclear reactor intended for making material for nuclear bombs.
Syria was already known to conduct nuclear research at three facilities located at Dayr, Al Hajar and Dubaya. “In 2004, Syria continued to develop civilian nuclear capabilities, including uranium extraction technology and hot cell facilities, which may also be potentially applicable to a weapons program,” the report said. As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Syria is required to submit to IAEA safeguards and inspections. In January 2007, the United States froze the assets of three Syrian entities involved in the development of nonconventional weapons.
According to Gregory Schulte, former U.S. envoy to the IAEA, Syria may be operating more nuclear sites. In November 2011, an AP report seemingly confirmed those suspicions that Syria’s nuclear weapons program was not confined only to the plutonium reactor destroyed by Israel in 2007. Rather, it seems that a suspect building in the northeastern town of Hasaka (about 100 miles from the destroyed reactor) was once a centrifuge plant where Syria intended to manufacture nuclear weapons. Though the building today houses a textile factory, its layout and blueprints match almost exactly with a centrifuge plant built by the Gaddafi regime in Libya. A working centrifuge plant could have produced highly enriched uranium which would have given the Syrian’s an entirely separate route to an atomic bomb other than the destoryed plutonium reactor.
Israel’s attack raised tensions along the Golan Heights where Syrian actions had already provoked concern about the possibility of conflict. In March 2007, it was reported that Syria has positioned along the border with Israel thousands of medium and long-range rockets capable of striking major towns across northern Israel, including Haifa. A division was added to the Syrian army’s forward deployment on the Heights and the production of Scud missiles has been accelerated. Many of the rockets are hidden in underground chambers and in camouflaged silos. This deployment, coupled with other reports of Syrian troop mobilization and television broadcasts during May 2007 dedicated to “Golan Month,” may be an indication that Damascus is preparing for a future war.
Syria also continues to expand its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. The Syrians can now manufacture several hundred tons of chemical warfare agents per year at four separate production facilities. In late 2005, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported that Iran is providing technical assistance to help Syria develop the means to produce VX and Sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent. According to a February 2009 report by Jane’s, Syria has been constructing a new chemical weapons facility in Al-Safir, the home of an existing chemical weapons production facility and a missile base with long-range Scud D ballistic missiles.
Syria and Iran
Under a mutual defense pact signed between Syria and Iran in 2005, Syria agreed to allow the deployment of Iranian weapons on its territory. On June 15, 2006, Syria’s defense minister, Hassan Turkmani, signed an agreement with his Iranian counterpart for military cooperation against what they called the “common threats” presented by Israel and the United States. “Our cooperation is based on a strategic pact and unity against common threats,” said Turkmani. “We can have a common front against Israel’s threats.” In December 2009, Syria and Iran signed an additional defense agreement aimed to face “common enemies and challenges.” In praising the agreement, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, “it is natural for a country like Syria – which has an inhumane and menacing predator like Israel in its neighborhood – to be always prepared [against possible foreign aggression].”
UN officials said in June 2007 the Iranians were preparing to transfer medium-range Shahab-3, Russian-made Scud-C missiles and Scud-B missiles in preparation for military action if it is attacked over its nuclear program. Many of these missiles can be fired from mobile launchers and are capable of hitting targets throughout Israel. Syria has already received, via Iran, hundreds of extended-range North Korean Scud-C missiles, and is reportedly building its own ballistic missiles from imported technology. North Korea has supplied complete Scuds and production equipment to Syria. In 2003, Syria was said to have a new Scud-D missile, developed with Korean assistance, which has a range of 300 miles (sufficient to cover all of Israel). The missile is also capable of carrying chemical weapons. The May 2006 U.S. intelligence report said Syria continues to seek help in building solid-propellant rocket motors, and that North Korea supplied equipment and assistance to the missile program. Syria is building its own liquid-fueled Scud missiles and is developing a 500-mile-range Scud D and other variants with help from North Korea and Iran, the report said.
“Syria test-fired three Scud missiles on May 27, 2005, including one that broke up over Turkey,” the New York Times reported. “These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, and were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and designed to deliver air-burst chemical weapons. The missiles included one Scud B with a range of 185 miles, and two Scud Ds with a range of 435 miles.” Months later, Western experts who examined the remains of the missile that fell in Turkey concluded Syria had introduced significant changes in the advanced model of the Scud D missile that gives it greater guidance capability and accuracy.
Over the objections of Israel and the United States, Russia announced plans in early 2005 to sell Syria advanced SA-18 anti-aircraft missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the weapons were not shoulder-missiles favored by the terror organizations, but rather they would be mounted on vehicles, and therefore they would not endanger Israel. Putin also said Syria’s placement of the missiles would be designed to avoid a change in the balance of power in the area, but would prevent Israeli war planes from being able to fly over Syrian President Bashar Assad’s presidential palace in Damascus. Israeli defense officials still expressed concern that the mounted version could be modified into a shoulder-held version in a relatively simple process. From that point, the officials said, the missiles could easily reach insurgents in Iran or Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon.
Syria now has more troops and tanks, and nearly as many aircraft as Israel. The Assad regime fields armed forces totaling more than 380,000 men, with another 130,000 troops in reserve. Syria’s arsenal includes approximately 3,700 tanks and some 510 combat aircraft.
Though the quality of Syrian forces is regarded as inferior to that of Israel, the deployment of these forces facing the Golan indicates Assad is keeping his military options open.
The Terror Connection
Syria harbors in Damascus representatives of ten Palestinian terrorist organizations including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine all of which are opposed to advances in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. These groups have launched terrible attacks against innocent Israeli citizens, which have resulted in hundreds of deaths. Syria also supports the Iranian-funded Hezbollah.
For more than 30 years, Lebanon was essentially controlled by Syria. With Syrian acquiescence, Lebanon became the home to a number of the most radical and violent Islamic organizations. Hezbollah (Party of God), in particular, has been used by the Syrians as a proxy to fight Israel.
On October 19, 2004, the UN Security Council released a demand that Syria should abide by a resolution calling on Damascus to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon, dismantle the Hezbollah organization and respect Lebanon’s independence. Buoyed by the UN intervention, the opposition in Lebanon grew more vocal demanding an end to Syrian hegemony. After former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005, the pressure on Syria intensified and its troops were finally withdrawn in April.
Nevertheless, Syria continues to exercise great influence in Lebanon. Syria and its allies are believed responsible for a series of assassinations to undermine Lebanese democracy that have eliminated anti-Syrian members of the Lebanese parliament, the most recent attack coming in September 2007. Syria supplied Hezbollah with weapons used in the war fought with Israel in July 2006 and has been resupplying the organization in defiance of the UN since the war ended. Those rockets used in 2006 had ranges of 20 to 60 miles. In April 2010, the U.S. and Israel accused Syria of delivering shipments of long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Scuds have a range of more than 435 miles – placing Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel’s nuclear installations at risk.
December 28th, 2012, 11:57 pm
ghufran said:
Financial Times on the theft of Syria’s priceless treasures:
أفادت صحيفة “فايننشال تايمز” ان “التراث الأثري في سوريا يختفي قطعة قطعة ويجري تهريبه عبر تركيا ولبنان وبيعه إلى زبائن في مختلف أنحاء العالم”، جرّاء الفوضى المدمّرة للحرب الدائرة في البلاد منذ نحو 21 شهراً.
وقالت الصحيفة إن منظمة الأمم المتحدة للتربية والعلوم والثقافية (يونيسكو) دقّت ناقوس الخطر جرّاء الأضرار التي لحقت بالمواقع التراثية في سوريا، بما في ذلك المسجد الأموي والسوق المقبب في حلب، والذي احترق قسم كبير منه في القتال الشرس بين المتمردين المسلّحين والقوات السورية.
وأشارت، نقلاً عن تاجر آثار، إلى أن عمليات سرقة المواقع التاريخية في سوريا “أصبحت أكثر منهجية منذ اندلاع النزاع في آذار 2011 وعلى غرار ما حدث في العراق، بعد أن كانت المواقع التاريخية تحظى بحراسة جيدة”.
وأضافت الصحيفة أن سوريا غنية بشكل غير عادي بالمواقع الأثرية، مشيرة الى انه يجري الآن نهب القطع الأثرية من العديد من المواقع وتهريبها عبر الحدود اللبنانية والتركية، ويقوم خبراء بالتأكد من صحتها قبل بيعها إلى زبائن من جميع أنحاء العالم، بما فيها الولايات المتحدة.
وقالت إن أحد الناشطين من مدينة أفاميا الأثرية أكد أن “عمليات التنقيب وبيع الآثار، وخاصة الفسيفساء، تجري على قدم وساق هناك، وأصبحت مصدراً نادراً للدخل للناس العاديين الذين فقدوا أعمالهم ووظائفهم جرّاء الحرب الدائرة”.
وأضافت الصحيفة أن رئيس الهيئة السورية للآثار والمتاحف مأمون عبد الكريم، اعترف بالمشكلة وشدد على أن هيئته كثّفت عمليات حماية المواقع الأثرية من خلال العمل مع السكان المجتمعات المحلية.
December 29th, 2012, 12:15 am
ghufran said:
(Um Ali is the wife of a rebel leading a group of fighters with ties to the MB, source: The Guardian)
“This is what I know of the revolution,” says Um Ali in her quiet, deep voice. “You run from shop to shop looking for things. But the pharmacies are empty. The grocery stores are empty. We toured half of Aleppo to try to find a bucket of yoghurt. This is revolution.
“You don’t have to work for the regime to be a shabiha,” she says, referring to the hated pro-government militias. “The grocer who raises the price of the vegetables is a shabiha.
“The fighting is there,” she nods her head towards the window, “but how do you feed your kids and give them a normal life in the middle of this? We used to know how our days started and ended. Now I can’t afford to think ahead. We just want to end the day alive.”
December 29th, 2012, 12:50 am
MarigoldRan said:
There’s a good chance that Al Nusra will be like a Sunni Hezbollah of Syria.
It can provide in ways that other FSA groups cannot. Like Hezbollah, it too is blacklisted by the US and is looked in askance by secular groups, but it has now a substantial source of domestic support, probably the most of any FSA group, though far from a majority. Its strength, like Hezbollah, is based on the poor, the rural population and the refugees- the most devout of Syria’s groups- and the ones with the most to gain from destroying the regime.
It also hates Israel, though the regime is currently the greater enemy.
The Aleppines can complain all they want. But they have no say in this war.
December 29th, 2012, 1:13 am
revenire said:
One big difference: Hezbollah isn’t a terrorist group and al-Nusra is.
December 29th, 2012, 1:18 am
MarigoldRan said:
@ Revenire
Shows how much you know about the Middle East. If you’re going to troll, try to do it with a little more intelligence.
Hezbollah is blacklisted by America as a terrorist organization. It was behind the Beirut bombings during the Lebanese Civil War that killed several hundred American marines. Since then, America and Israel have been mortal enemies with Hezbollah, and their allies in Iran.
Look it up.
EDIT: What an idiot.
December 29th, 2012, 1:24 am
MarigoldRan said:
In case you haven’t noticed, Revenire, Hezbollah and Israel have been involved in several wars. The most recent one was only 6 years ago.
Hezbollah gets rockets supplied by Iran, which it plans to use on Israel. One of the reasons Iran cares so much about Syria is because Syria is a supply conduit between Iran and Hezbollah.
EDIT: You may not be a genuine regime supporter, but apparently all you can do is chant slogans too. Even as a troll you are a failure. Get your facts right. I had higher hopes for you.
December 29th, 2012, 1:30 am
Syria no Kandahar said:
سوريه بكل اللغات
Beautiful song in : Arabic,Kurdish,Armenian,Aramaic,sharkas and Assyrian languages.
December 29th, 2012, 1:43 am
Juergen said:
Tara
My tunesian friend told me that the overall opinion of Leila Trabelsi was terrible. Everyone was able to see how the relatives of this hairdresser became involved more and more in corruption and crimes. Tastewise Asma is surely an other class, but when it comes to backing the mafia business and stand by the side of her man, those two are quite similar.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/19/leila-trabelsi-tunisia-first-lady_n_811194.html
December 29th, 2012, 2:11 am
annie said:
A little late but still very good and appropriate
Christmas Night In Syria, A Message To The World
http://youtu.be/PstTOKHOaew
December 29th, 2012, 2:21 am
Juergen said:
Kafranbel
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=467592216610224&set=a.186824541353661.34965.182806365088812&type=1&theater
December 29th, 2012, 2:23 am
revenire said:
I will say it again: Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization – al-Nusra is. Jabhat is a bunch of mercenaries and murderers. Hezbollah are men of honor and courage.
Nasrallah said his rockets came from Syria – the Syria of Bashar al-Assad.
Don’t forget that.
December 29th, 2012, 2:52 am
revenire said:
Know this FSA supporters: Assad is the only one keeping you alive. His soldiers asked to be unleashed but Assad said no. If the man you hate is ever murdered I pity you.
December 29th, 2012, 3:16 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
39. MOSSIE
“Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization – Hezbollah are men of honor and courage.”
Consider the source. This coming from a cynical, hypersensitive, wasted man incapable of making any nourishing relationships and turning finally to a universe beyond eschatology.
40. MOSSIE
“Assad is the only one keeping you alive”
Assad is a dead man walking. Poor fool. He doesn’t even know it.
December 29th, 2012, 4:19 am
Hopeful said:
So here are where things stand after the Brahimi-Lavrov press conference:
– Assad refuses to leave
– Syian Coalition and FSA refuse to start dialogue till Assad leaves
– Russia is against foreign intervention
– US is in no mood for direct intervention
– NATO is in no mood for direct intervention
– FSA cannot win on its own, but it believes it can
– Regime cannot beat the “rebels”, but it believes it can
– The conflict is becoming more and more sectarian
– The Islamists within the FSA are gaining the upper hand
– The regime’s forces are getting more brutal and lethal
So, unfortunately, Syria seems to be entering a new darker phase, with Damascus being the epicenter of the war next. Unless someone within the inner circle of the regime decides to put an end to all of this madness and does something to push Assad out.
December 29th, 2012, 5:40 am
Mjabali said:
الثورة إذ تستجير بالعلويين
http://alhayat.com/OpinionsDetails/466160
December 29th, 2012, 5:52 am
Juergen said:
This report was published in DIE WELT,
http://www.welt.de/print/die_welt/politik/article112286998/Der-neue-Feind-in-Syrien-heisst-Winter.html
Translated:
The new enemy in Syria is the winter
Refrigeration, no electricity for heating, no money for food: A report from the embattled city of Aleppo By Peter Steinbach
Even with school furniture people ignite fire to warm themselves
Yousef sticks the blade, Hassan with a pickaxe in the moist, red earth. A new body has just arrived. Quickly they have produced a new grave. What this looks like is not as important. Aesthetics play no role in these days, and with constant rain, this is also impossible. The soil is a deep, heavy mud. The two gravediggers are still progressing well. They’re a good team, although they do this only since three months. The war has trained them in no time.
The majority of the martyrs cemetery in Aleppo is littered with new graves. There are loveless mound with broken pieces of stone slabs, placed obliquely in the bottom, were the name is written on. Often you can not read them. Rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and soldiers of the government troops are here peacefully. “There we have Amar Sedar, who was killed in the conquest of a military school near Aleppo,” says Hassan. Next to it is an officer of the regime. “Unknown” reads, the sign of his grave. “He was a Christian,” interjects Yousef. “We had him wrapped in a blanket. He might be a martyr, but that decides God.” Yousef points his finger to the sky.
The profession of an gravedigger was for the two men in their mid 30s the last alternative. “Because of the war, there are no more work,” said Hassan, who protects himself as his colleague with a red keffiyeh on his head from the rain. “Although this work is not paid,” added Yousef. “But the mourners give us tip. It’s not much, but it helps to survive.” “Survive” this is the motto of most of the inhabitants of Aleppo. At a diner in Tariq al-Bab: Although chicken are sizzling on the grill,kebab on skewers, potato boiling in fat, meatballs are ready to eat, even salad and bread is available. Next door you can buy on the market fresh fruits and vegetables. Even gasoline you can buy plenty. But few people can afford it yet. The prices have gone up by 10 times.
At the diner dirty children grab the remains of the food into their mouths.In the jumble of garbage men and women are collecting useable goods. Some parts of the city are difficult to access beacuse of the fighting. There are still queues in front of bakeries. Bread is in these bleak times the main food for many – dipped in olive oil or tomato sauce from a can. “The queues are not, however, as long as it used to,” says Suhed, an engineering student. “You need no longer wait for eight hours.”
To the poor supply situation comes the cold. In winter, temperatures can drop to freezing. “When the rain stops, there is frost,” said Mohammed, an English teacher. In the primary school you have got the benches from the classrooms and made into firewood. Electric heaters are pointless. Because electricity is available only a few hours a day, if at all. “And we did not have water for four days,” added the English teacher with a grin, as if the misery could only be endured by self-irony.
The 220 euros he earned before the Civil War let him life barely. “Now I have no income.”
In Bab al-Hadid, one of nine ancient gates to the old city of Aleppo, there is enough to buy firewood. “Quick, quick,” says the taxi driver. “Until the gate we have to run.” The Citadel is in sight. There, the Syrian army snipers are stationed, the street and the square in front overlooking the Bab al-Hadid and fire at any time. An seller in an hardware store shows the bullet hole on the driver’s side of his car . “The bullet of the sniper has gone through and has killed my brother,” says the shop owner. “You have to write his name . His name was Ahmed Kashi and was only 39 years old.”
Under the arches of the old city fire is burning on which tea is cooked. Mohammed, the English teacher, buys an ax to chop wood. He’d like to buy some of the plastic bags, which are filled with chopped firewood. “Much too expensive,” he says. “I look better in the country and cut off olive trees.” A hundred yards away the Citadel comes back into view. You can see numerous holes of the shots that were fired from there. Some passbyers dont care at all whether they are in the firing line or not. “Here, my friend died,” said an elderly man, pointing to the old stone wall with several bullet holes. “Back there 20 people died in a mortar attack,” cries another, referring to the end of the alley. That every moment both could be hit by a bullet seems to them insignificant. Defeatism after 21 months of war. You get used to the daily routine of death. Even the possibility of dying yourself anytime. Fortunately, the snipers on top of the Citadel either drink tea or sit at lunch, maybe they are asleep or just simply have no desire to shoot someone.
In a hospital in the city the manager and senior surgeon receives me in his office. Normally he does not let journalists into the house and insists on not to use names, and especially not to take any pictures. Maybe someone recognize the hospital over the furniture. “Journalists are responsible for the destruction of the Dar al-Shifa hospital,” the doctor says with emphasis, but not reproachful tone. “I do not want the same thing happens with our institution. I am responsible for my employees. We are one family.” On November 22, the Syrian Air Force warplanes bombed the largest hospital in the rebel-controlled part of the industrial city. 15 people, including two children and a doctor, were killed. 40 more buried under the rubble. Since September journalists who reported from around the world about the Dar al-Shifa. Photos of hundreds of injured and dead civilians were seen around the world. A bad publicity for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. On several occasions, the hospital, in the immediate vicinity of a brigade of the FSA was located, had been attacked and damaged. After the hospital was a major attraction of the press it seems that the decision was made to destroy the whole hospital.
A Spanish photographer had in August even asked his international colleagues not to publish names and photos of the building of Dar al-Shifa. But hardly anyone stuck in it. “How can we talk about the misery and injustice, if we have to keep everything secret,” said a French photographer. Immediately after the bombing of the hospital the FSA had to protect journalists against an angry mob. Popular anger had identified those responsible for the deaths of compatriots and the hospital immediately.
“You will understand,” says the head of the still existing hospital, “that my staff and the security guards at the door are instructed to prevent any photo and dismiss journalists.” This press policy has been successful. “All around us, many buildings were bombed, but not our hospital. The less attention, the better.” The manager of the hospital, who worked a long time in the UK assures that one is well equipped for trauma patients. From around the world supply is arriving. The Medical Council established two months ago of Aleppo took over the coordination and would distribute them to all hospitals.
“60 percent of our patients are civilians ” said the clinic director. A majority of the injuries are caused by snipers. “Many of them are very professional and shoot straight to the heart or in the head, and one can only observe the death of the victims.” But there were also lucky cases, like that of a ten year old boy. “The bullet went in the neck and on the other side out again without hurting anything worth mentioning. He was immediately sent home.” The senior doctor is afraid about the possible use of chemical weapons. The United States reported several times about the fact that the Syrian military would provide explosives with the deadly chemical sarin. “A terrible vision to which we must be prepared,” said the chief physician. As he, his staff and the hospital could prepare for this remains his secret. “About our work and our doctors I do not give information.”
In Seif al-Dawla, not far from the front line, Abu Mustafa is sitting outdoors in front of a burning furnace and drinks tea. He is the commander of a brigade of 1200 men, “The people of Aleppo hate us,” he says self-critical. “We have brought them the war, and an early end is not in sight.” In July, the FSA began with the liberation of Aleppo. “It was an ill-prepared foray, without careful planning and sufficient ammunition.” Abu Mustafa lights a cigarette and sips his tea glass. In his opinion, they should have waited a few months more. But from abroad, especially from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, then large arms shipments had been promised. “Once we would have established ourselves in Aleppo,” recalls the commander. “But what was sent was only so much that we could hold our positions.” Thank God we had captured in the barracks of the Syrian army plenty of ammunition and weapons. “Nevertheless, it may be some time before we take the city entirely.”
Neither government forces nor the rebels have in the past six months, profitted from decisive terrain gains. A stalemate has arisen. The population torments this uncertainty, as long as the war and the human distress are still ongoing. “There is no end in sight,” says Mohammed the English teacher. “Many of us do not know how to survive for months.” Day and night you hear the roar of gunfire, tanks, and the firing of mortars. In good weather, bombs could fall from fighter jets at any time. In winter,with the cold and the rain, no decision is in sight. “It’s not so much the fear of death, that demoralized us,” adds Mohammed, “but this utter uncertainty.”
About such thoughts the two gravediggers Hassan Yousef are not speculating. For them there is enough to do in the near future. “We have a crisis-proof livelihood, even if it is not much,” Hassan says with a pickaxe in his hand. We always have 25 free graves, in case thins have to be fast. “For individual deaths we dont use them. As we quickly lift a new one.” In the pouring rain they go back to work.
16 photos of everyday life in Aleppo
http://www.zeit.de/politik/2012-12/fs-aleppo/seite-16
December 29th, 2012, 6:07 am
zoo said:
The rebels have no ability to sustain the areas they ‘liberated’. The wheel is turning.
Assad forces seize Homs district
Fierce assault sparks humanitarian crisis: monitoring group
http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/assad-forces-seize-homs-district-2012-12-29-1.489065
Forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad on Saturday seized a district of the central city of Homs after a fierce assault that sparked a humanitarian crisis, a monitoring group said.
“The army launched an offensive several days ago on the neighbourhood of Deir Baalbeh with heavy bombing, and the fighting and attacks continued until the rebels withdrew,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
December 29th, 2012, 7:42 am
Observer said:
ZOO please skip my posts.
They are meant for intelligent people anchored in the real world.
Majbali that was good news, however. Does this mean that the Alawi community is now fully secular?
Please let me know what you think.
December 29th, 2012, 7:55 am
Observer said:
By the way; Russia thinks that there is a political solution.
Now Russia is also hiding behind a veto: the veto of Freddo refusing to go.
It is convenient to have vetoes to hide behind.
Either Russia is a super power and can influence its allies or it is ineffectual and a second rate pompous ass.
More cynically, Russia is trying to save its interests in a leverage with the opposition for the next phase after the fall of the regime.
Well Lavrov is surprised that Khatib turned him down.
This is not a position of weakness, but one of strength on the ground.
Cheers
December 29th, 2012, 8:01 am
zoo said:
#43 Hopeful
The Coalition is making the same mistake than the SNC by adding their own condition to the Geneva agreement.
Keeping Bashar is not a whim, it is a necessity to ensure the unity of the army and the country and to keep the institutions running, as the international community has become aware of after 21 month. Today, there is no alternative to Bashar al Assad to keep that role at least until the country changes politically with multi parties and elections.
That’s a basic need that the opposition refuses to admit.
Al Khatib has been pumped by Qatar and the recent US ‘recognition’ to believe he is an acceptable alternative to Bashar. Yet, until now he has proved nothing yet, except preaching and whining. He has no control of the armed rebels, the promise of a ‘military’ committee to supervise weapons and money deliveries never materialized. He is just empty and arrogant talk.
Now, he will pay dearly his defense of Al Nusra. The US has not reiterated to him, the invitation to visit Obama and after a moment of excitement, he is gradually been sidelined.
While Ghaliun had France as it protector, Al Khatib has only Qatar whose political weight is zero.
Earlier, he said that he did not exclude to the possibility of dealing directly with Bashar to find a solution. Now it seems that to keep his job in the coalition and please the Moslem Brotherhood he changed his tune and showed a tougher line, just like the SNC.
In my view, like Ghaliun, he will become very soon irrelevant and will be replaced.
What has been needed all along is a political man who is able to conciliate the demands made by all parties.
Until he is found, for the sake of preserving what is left of Syria, Bashar must stay.
December 29th, 2012, 8:10 am
zoo said:
Did you know that there has been regular flights Cairo-Aleppo all along?
We all thought that Aleppo was in the hands of the rebels and that Egypt had broken its diplomatic relation with the ‘illegitimate’ regime. Well, we were mislead by some doom medias..
Today we learn that such flight has been cancelled. For how long? the media never tell us when it starts again.
Egypt cancels flight to Aleppo as clashes intensify near airport
Published Saturday, December 29, 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypt-cancels-flight-aleppo-fighting-intensifies-near-airport
Egyptian airport officials say Syria’s national airline has cancelled a flight to Aleppo because of fighting near the city’s airport, more than a week after rebel fighters declared a no-fly-zone over the city.
December 29th, 2012, 8:30 am
Juergen said:
Syria envoy warns of Syrian ‘hell’ at Moscow talks
The international community’s envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has stressed the need for political dialogue between the government and rebels. Moscow has called the Syrian opposition’s refusal to hold talks “a dead end.”
“If you have a panic in Damascus and if you have 1 million people leaving Damascus in a panic, they can go to only two places – Lebanon and Jordan. Neither Lebanon or Jordan can support, without breaking, 500,000 refugees.”
http://www.dw.de/syria-envoy-warns-of-syrian-hell-at-moscow-talks/a-16487266
Iran may be reconsidering position on Syria
As President Bashar Assad’s regime becomes increasingly isolated, Iranian officials and clerics appear divided on how to respond to their longtime ally.
“”The debate behind the curtains among experts and officials regarding the Syrian crisis is very hot,” said an Iranian journalist with close ties to the office of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Staunch support for Bashar Assad’s regime is costing the Islamic Republic of Iran a lot.”
“On the surface, Iranian officials stick to the view that Assad remains in control, and they welcome his emissaries. In Friday sermons, clerics close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, accuse Israel and Western powers of plotting to bring Assad down.
But faced with the slow-motion collapse of Assad’s regime, senior Iranian officials and clerics appear to be increasingly divided about how to respond. Under an Iranian peace plan unveiled this month, the Syrian president would remain in power through elections in 2014, although he could run again.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-iran-20121229,0,7524005.story
December 29th, 2012, 8:34 am
zoo said:
Russia’s ‘polite’ remarks about Al Khatib’s political amateurism.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/61482/World/Region/Russia-sees-chance-of-Syria-solution-but-Assad-def.aspx
But National Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib rejected holding any meeting in Moscow. He also said the Kremlin must apologise for its past support of Assad before any meeting could be held in a third country.
Lavrov did little to conceal his fury at Khatib’s response.
“I understand that Mr. Khatib is not very fluent in politics and maybe he could benefit by hearing our position not from the media… but directly from us,” he said.
December 29th, 2012, 8:49 am
zoo said:
Jim Hoagland: A package deal on Iran and Syria
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jim-hoagland-a-package-deal-on-iran-and-syria/2012/12/28/baa00720-5067-11e2-950a-7863a013264b_story.html
….
This is where Syria comes in. It is stomach-churning for me to suggest that Americans should work to salvage any part of Assad’s regime, which has slaughtered tens of thousands of Syrians. But the least bad option available may be for all powers to pursue two overriding, interlocking goals: Syria’s descent into a total bloodbath must be stopped. And Iran must agree to live up to its nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations by forswearing atomic weapons.
This does not mean protecting Assad and those close to him. They have to go. But there are generals and other officials from Assad’s Alawite minority who could credibly stay on in a transitional government. U.N. officials have identified a number of them in private contacts with the U.S., French, Russian and other governments, diplomatic sources tell me.
A Syrian coalition that provides physical and political protection for the Alawites and Syria’s other minorities, while reflecting the Sunni majority’s new power, could convince Russia and Iran that they could maintain some influence — however reduced that influence should and would be. (Paradoxically, such a coalition might also quiet Israel’s apprehensions about the strong presence of Islamic jihadists in the rebel movement and exert moderating influence on Egypt’s growing derogation of minority rights.)
December 29th, 2012, 8:53 am
Tara said:
““I understand that Mr. Khatib is not very fluent in politics..”
As opposed to Lavrov who is very fluent in stupid politics. Russia lost Syria and the people of the ME for generations to come.
December 29th, 2012, 9:06 am
zoo said:
Tara
I understand your frustration, but note that even the UN-AL envoy Lakhdar Ibrahimi was surprised that Al Khatib rejected the invitation.
After criticizing the USA for nominating Al Nusra a terrorist organization and asking Obama to change his mind, Al Khatib has lost his credibility as a peacemaker with the USA and the EU.
By acting as arrogantly with Russia and asking for apologies , he lost his credibility as an valid opposition with the Russian, with the UN and with the AL.
I thought he was immune, but the guy got the disease of paranoia… In my view his days are counted at the head of the Coalition, or if he stays, the days of the coalition are counted.
December 29th, 2012, 9:24 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Muaz Khatib made excellent move rejecting Russia call for dialogue,it was implied recognition by Moscow of the Coalition,it was a blow in the face of Russia,and it was clear message to Brahimi that his plan is not acceptable.
Brahimi said it is either Hell or political solution,he is right,however Hell is the only way since Assad is such a stubborn person,
who will lose in this hell?, it is the minority,it is the Alawi sect where the majority of them supported Assad,because they miscalculated,they deceived themselves,if they are smart,they would have overthrown Assad,
Zoo is typical miserable wretched Alawi .
The battle for Damascus will not start till the airforce is neutralized, The airports Mannagh will soon be destroyed with 25 planes, it will be the decisive turn of events.
December 29th, 2012, 9:42 am
Mjabali said:
Hajji Observer:
Again I answer one of your questions:
You asked sarcastically of course if the Alawi community if fully secular now:
Here is an answer for you:
The Alawis are more secular than what you think. They have been burned by religion since day one so they wish as anyone could tell to have a secular state.
Religion for the Alawis has always been danger from the first degree.
Secularism in Syria is important to keep a state. No secularism means division according to sect or ethnicity. Secularism beats both nationalism and sectarianism any given day. Alawis want a secular state and that is no secret
Can you please speak of the possibilities of Secularism among your the sect you came from?
December 29th, 2012, 9:51 am
zoo said:
Majed
“The battle for Damascus will not start till the airforce is neutralized”
I thought you and your Al Nusra friends announced the victory on Damas twice already in 2012 to end up in ‘tactical ‘retreats to the ‘liberated 70%’ of Syria
I see.. now we have to wait that the airforce is neutralized. When is that, a year, two years from now? Did the increasing dead numbers of ‘commanders’ of the FSA or the Turkish bunker dwellers told you?
I understand by your insults on Alawis that your frustration is growing at the same speed as the FSA and your dreams of a military victory are falling apart.
December 29th, 2012, 9:58 am
revenire said:
Saudi Wahhabi Preacher Issues Fatwa Allowing Jihadis to Rape Syrian Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qvo4_hMrF4
Published on Dec 29, 2012
A Wahhabi religious cleric in Saudi Arabia, Muhammed al-Arifi, who is very influential in Jihadi circles, has recently issued a fatwa (religious edict) that permits all Jihadist militants in Syria to engage in short-lived marriages with Syrian women that each lasts for a few hours in order to satisfy their sexual desires and boost their determination in killing Syrians. He called the marriage as ‘intercourse marriage’. It requires that the Syrian female be at least 14 years old, widowed, or divorced.
Is this the Western-promoted “freedom and democracy” that Syrians want?
Source: Lebanese al-Jadeed TV
December 29th, 2012, 10:02 am
Tara said:
Zoo
If you admit that Al Khatib not only alienated the Russians but also the US, EU, UN, and the AL, so how can you in the same breath declare the opposition to be a foreign puppet to this or that? Shouldn’t one peruse one line of thinking?
December 29th, 2012, 10:03 am
revenire said:
MAJEDKHALDOUN is like the child who keeps asking daddy (Bashar) “are we there yet, are we there yet?”
MAJEDKHALDOUN’s terrorist friends already announced not one – but two – decisive battles for Damascus. The first was the Volcano back in July and the second was a few weeks ago – both times the rats were eliminated in great numbers.
What is funny is Salafists on this forum said Damascus was falling and fighting was near the presidential palace. They were greeted with laughter. God is indeed great friends.
Syria’s air force is being replenished by her true friends. There are no worries there.
For my ape-like friends on Josh’s wonderful forum I have an announcement: Homs is 100% rat free. The human feces has been flushed down the toilet and our army is now searching for those who ran and hid in civilian’s homes. BTW many in the SAA feel that any civilian who hides a terrorist is a legitimate target – Bashar is holding our army back for now but I can’t promise this will hold true next month or even next week.
Praise God. Long live Syria.
December 29th, 2012, 10:10 am
zoo said:
#60 Tara
That’s exactly the point. By acting like that, Al Khatib thinks he can “clean” the Coalition from its ‘shameful’connection to the coward West (that he hates by the way). He thinks that he would show his ‘independence’ and win the hearts and minds of All Syrians opposed to foreign interference and who wants a “Syrian solution”.
Yet, by doing so, nobody is fooled as he is just confirming that he is the exclusive puppet of the Moslem Brotherhood and its main supporter Qatar, just like the SNC was. (Even France and Turkey are not vocal anymore as they know the key is in the hands of the USA and Russia)
Like the SNC, the coalition, after a brief moment of glory, will be repelled by the Western countries as none wants to intervene and even to send weapons. They all made it clear that they want a political solution to the crisis, while Qatar and the MB are still working on helping the rebels of any creed, even Al Qaeeda to win militarily and finish up Bashar al Assad, their Nemesis.
If you think that Qatar’s money and ideology can change the political landscape of Syria, then you should continue to support Khatib and his friends Al Nusra.
December 29th, 2012, 10:30 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo
What you think depends on your brain, on your ability to recognize thimgs mentally, since you lack this you keep on deceiving yourself.
Look around , in the last few months the rebels gained grounds,,so who is retreating, it is Assad forces retreating,your source of informations is a media who is known to lie,lies and stupidity,is a miserable conditions.
December 29th, 2012, 10:37 am
zoo said:
The UN-AL plan, if worked out, will go the UNSC as a resolution. Asking Bashar al Assad to go as a precondition is “wrong” and would cost many more lives.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-brahimi-urge-redoubled-search-for-solution-.aspx?pageID=238&nid=37919&NewsCatID=359
Brahimi said a plan to resolve the conflict could eventually go to the U.N. Security Council for backing, but only if there was confidence it would be effective.
“What we need to have is a resolution that can work, and I think it is possible to get to that stage if =we continue to talk,” he said.
..
But Lavrov repeated Russia’s stance that President Bashar al-Assad’s removal cannot be a precondition for a political solution, saying that such demands were “wrong” and that the opposition’s refusal to talk to the government was a “dead end
…
“When the opposition says only Assad’s exit will allow it to begin a dialogue about the future of its own country, we think this is wrong, we think this is rather counterproductive,” he said. “The costs of this precondition are more and more lives of Syrian citizens.”
December 29th, 2012, 10:39 am
ghufran said:
The attack on Hilfaya was not as simple as aljazeera and alarabiya said,the list of the victims was published by opposition sites and was quickly taken by some regime media.
the story of Hilfaya is the same as many others: an army that bombs armed rebels targets regardless of how many civilians may get killed, and a rebel force that operates in residential areas and have no problem exposing civilians to the dangers of wars and bombs:
ثمانية أشخاص على الأقل من القتلى هم مسلحون في “كتيبة مجاهدي أبي بكر الصديق” التابعة ل “كتائب الفاروق” ، ولـ”كتيبة أبو العلمين” التابعة لجماعة الأخوان المسلمين ، التي يقودها “سامي الرحمون” ، ويمولها شقيقه عمر الرحمون ، مع الإشارة إلى أن عمر الرحمون وشقيقه هما من أبرز ممثلي فاروق طيفور في حماة وريفها .
وهنا اسماء القتلى كما أوردتهم “تنسيقية الثورة السورية في ريف حماة” وهم:
1. عبد الكريم خالد قشلان
2. احمد عبد الجبار الرحمون [كتيبة أبو العلمين]
3. حسام عبد الجبار رحمون [كتيبة أبو العلمين]
4. عبد السلام فايز الرحمون [كتيبة أبو العلمين]
5. زين خير الدين غزول
6. سعيد هشام دعبول
7. حمود مصطفى المرعي
8. محمد نور السلطان
9. محمد سراج الدين صيادي
10. رامز محمد الجمال
11. محمود احمد ابو زيد [كتيبة أبي العلمين ، غير مؤكد]
12. محمد مصطفى العلوي العصفورة
13. جمعة الموجو
14. ابراهيم الحسن
15. احمد طارق الرجب
16. محمد حسين العلوي العفيس
17. علاء بدر الدين رحمون [كتيبة أبو العلمين]
18. احمد علي الهولة
19. عمار احمد النعسان
20. علاء الدين جمعة الجمال
21. احمد خالد كصادو
22. احمد الباع المصري
23. صلاح علي النعسان
24. منار فيصل المجبر [سيدة]
25. خالد علي القشلان
26. زاهر احمد النهر
27. عنايات جنو [سيدة]
28. كسار شنينة
29. رجاء زيون
30. عمار الهواش الغظبان
31. بسام مخباط [كتيبة مجاهدي أبي بكر الصديق ،وهو من بلدة خطاب ، وليس من حلفايا]
32. مصعب عوض الرحمون [كتيبة العلمين]
33. عبد الجبار الرحمون [كتيبة العلمين]
34. خالد السلطان (ابو علو)
35. احمد الغزول
36. نجود الجمال [سيدة]
37. احمد عمر درويش
38. ماجد الصغير
39. مصطفى شريف الدعبول
40. عبد الرحمن محمد الجمال
41. عز الدين برغوتي [كتيبة مجاهدي أبي بكر الصديق ، جاء من حلب للقتال في حلفايا]
42. محمد عوض سليمان الصخر
43. مؤيد احمد الاعرج
A number of western news sites pointed to the fact that pics and videos posted after the massacre clearly show bodies of armed men among other victims.
another issue that received little attention is the targetting of civilian infrastructure installations, I still could not understand how it helps the anti regime forces to increrase the misery of poor syrians,this is a little sample:
ذكر مصدر في وزارة الكهرباء أن إرهابيين استهدفوا أمس ورشة لإصلاح خطوط التوتر العالي عند بيت سحم المغذية بالتيار الكهربائي لجنوب مدينة دمشق ما أدى إلى استشهاد العامل خالد كلوح وإصابة آخرين
(there are almost daily similar stories)
December 29th, 2012, 10:42 am
zoo said:
Majed
“your source of informations is a media who is known to lie,lies and stupidity,is a miserable conditions.”
Contrary to you, who rely exclusively on Al Arabya and Al Jazeera and rumors coming from your rebels and Al Nusra friend, my sources of information are much wider. They include Turkish, UK, US, Saudi, Kuwaiti, Gulf, France and other mainstream medias, most have been supporting the ‘rebels’, while recently subtly are becoming less supportive, in view of the developments.
I am puzzled that, after the two failures of the Damascus ‘victories’ you predicted based on your sources, you still have confidence in them.
December 29th, 2012, 10:48 am
majedkhaldoun said:
S+G+D=MI
S=Stupidity
G=Gullibility believing lies.
D=deceivebility, deceived easily.
MI= Miserable Index.
Zoo has very high MI,the highest is Revenair
December 29th, 2012, 11:02 am
majrdkhaldoun said:
Mr. Bogdanov said “A defeat of Assad goverment could not be ruled out”
this is in contradiction of a statement by Shara,and Lavrove who said neither side can achieve military victory
December 29th, 2012, 11:32 am
Uzair8 said:
Tweet from 2hrs ago:
Rana Kabbani @RanaKabbani54
#FSA attacking where Mukhabarat buildings lie in #Damascus. A friend whose factory was hit says this is a price he will pay 4 a free #Syria
https://twitter.com/RanaKabbani54/status/285022958697717760
December 29th, 2012, 11:35 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Mr. Bogdanov said
A defeat of Assad goverment could not be ruled out
Lavrove and Shara said military victory is not possible for either side.
There is contradiction.
December 29th, 2012, 11:37 am
Citizen said:
11. OBSERVER
Dream of sobriety! You can tell the children in kindergarten! Qatar will soon win the god!is this understanding of geopolitics?
December 29th, 2012, 12:19 pm
Citizen said:
US-NATO-Israeli Agenda: Syria to be Subdivided into “Three Weaker States”
Egyptian media pundit Tawfik Okasha, owner of the Egyptian opposition TV channel al-Fara’een, blamed the Mainstream Media of being complicit with the Muslim Brotherhood in feeding the Egyptian people lies about the Syrian crisis.
He calls for all free Syrians to back President Bashar al-Assad as the issue is not about him but goes beyond to include the destruction of Syria and its transformation into three weaker states incapable of confronting Israel.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-nato-israel-agenda-syria-to-be-subdivided-into-three-weaker-states/5317128
December 29th, 2012, 12:37 pm
5 dancing shlomos said:
the syrian criminals came, the syrian criminals huffed, the syrian criminals die. of course, many run.
cackling witch: “i huffed, i puffed, i fell down.”
nice spirited day. the tel aviv, key boarding monkeys are out and about.
December 29th, 2012, 12:46 pm
Juergen said:
rebels fire at the Damascus airport
December 29th, 2012, 1:23 pm
Tara said:
Excuse the vulgarity
I thought this video was too priceless not to share
http://youtu.be/z6-iaxBDIlc
December 29th, 2012, 1:26 pm
revenire said:
Juergen what is the point of showing terrorists with a rocket launcher? Are we supposed to be impressed? Zzzz to the revtards and their stupid videos. Boring and pointless.
Fail.
December 29th, 2012, 1:40 pm
Hopeful said:
#48 Zoo
I actually do no believe Mr. khatib wants to be the alternative. I also believe that the whole idea of “Syria needing Bashar for the transition” is a big myth that regime supporters like to propagate. Tell me, what exactly is wrong with the notion of Farouk Alsharaa as a transitional figure? Why not? How about other figures in the Syrian government or army who have not been implicated with bombing cities and arresting and torturing demonstrators?
For the opposition, Bashar has become a symbol of brutality and aggression. I can understand their refusal to enter in any negotiation that does not guarantee his removal. What I do not understand is the other side’s insistence that he stays. If you want to find a genuine solution, why not start by taking out the controversial figures, on both sides, from the equation?
December 29th, 2012, 1:51 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
74. MOSSIE
“Boring and pointless”
You should know, girl.
December 29th, 2012, 2:09 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
71. SHLOMO
“cackling witch: ‘i huffed, i puffed, i fell down.’”
No, you dunce. The line comes from the “Three Little Pigs” story, where the Big Bad Wolf says, “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.”
You need to check on this with your pal, Mossie. He knows all about pigs and huffing and puffing…
December 29th, 2012, 2:15 pm
5 dancing shlomos said:
2012 nearly done.
2013 will be blessed by syria.
syria and the assad govt end the jewish west’s “humanitarian wars”.
the govt of syria will defeat the jewish west and its gulf lap dogs. turkey is, well, a turkey. erdogan will not make it to 2014.
the cackling witch will drown from her own spit.
obama surrenders to president assad.
December 29th, 2012, 2:28 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
The govt of Syria can’t even provide firewood and toilet paper for its own Alawite hardcore and you think it’s going to beat the Jews? You need to go back to that asylum for more therapy, Shlomo.
December 29th, 2012, 2:42 pm
MarigoldRan said:
There’s actually a good chance that 15 years from now, Hezbollah and Al Nusra will be allies. This is not going to happen anytime soon: the two sides are technically at war with one another, but Hezbollah and al-Nusra are very similar to one another, more than either would like to admit.
Consider:
1. Both were born from a revolution/civil war.
2. Both use similar tactics: home-made rockets, guerilla attacks, and car bombs.
3. Both are supported by foreign suppliers. Iran for Hezbollah, the GCC for Al-Nusra
4. Both draw their support from the poor, the rural, and the devout of their countries.
5. Both are blacklisted by America as a “terrorist” organization.
6. Both hate Israel.
7. Neither side gets much press from the foreigners. The reason is many of you, Westerners or otherwise, have friends in Syria. But who has a friend that comes from the RURAL areas of Syria?
8. Both fight against the rich for the poor.
9. Both are ruthless and capable.
The only major point of difference between the two groups is that one is Sunni and the other is Shiite. Hezbollah and Al-Nusra are enemies because of Bashar Assad. But after the war is over, it is likely that the two groups will begin to work together against Israel.
The broker could be Iran: once the regime is finished, they will cut a deal with Al-Nusra. In return for the right to transfer weapons and arms to Hezbollah through Syria, Al-Nusra gets a cut of the Iranian supplies.
A deal like that would be good for all three groups. Iran, Hezbollah, and Al-Nusra may be enemies today, but their final enemy is Israel, who will still be around after this war is over.
December 29th, 2012, 3:21 pm
Uzair8 said:
Sorry if the following has already been posted on SC. Google search suggests it hasn’t.
Published on Youtube on 20th Dec 2012. Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP)
__________________________________________________
Is the End Near in Damascus?
[…]
To assess the latest developments and the potential implications of the regime’s downfall, The Washington Institute cordially convened a Policy forum luncheon in Washington, DC, with Andrew J. Tabler and Jeffrey White on Thursday, December 20, 2012,…
December 29th, 2012, 3:33 pm
zoo said:
Hopeful
You said”: “I also believe that the whole idea of “Syria needing Bashar for the transition” is a big myth that regime supporters like to propagate.
Then according to you, Russia and China are stupid enough to believe in this myth and the USA and other coming to believe it too.
Farouk Sharaa or Tlass are light weight, they have zero credibility with the armed forces.
Name just one who could rally the army and reassure the minorities! There are none, that’s the tragedy.
December 29th, 2012, 3:34 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The West’s position has consistently been: Bashar Assad must leave first.
This position has not changed nor will it change in the future. The only place it may have changed is in your imagination.
Russia, the regime, and Iran badly mis-calculated. They thought Bashar Assad was salvageable. He is not.
December 29th, 2012, 3:37 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Qatar and KSA should pay more attention to Iraq,Maliki is a dictator,when dictatorship is hated, people must march toward Baghdad,and kick Maliki out,this guy is sectarian,persian Safawi to the bone,If Maliki uses force against demonstrators a revolution in Iraq will start,and people must defend themselves, if Iran interfere, All Arab countries must help Iraqis and Turkey too,
Maliki is targeting the sunni one by one, and he does not have the military power to fight his people.
Obama will regret not finishing Assad sooner
December 29th, 2012, 3:42 pm
zoo said:
Ironically, despite 21 months of unrest and zillions of sanctions, is Syria’s economy in better shape than Egypt’s?
Egypt’s central bank: reserves at “critical” level
http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-central-bank-reserves-critical-level-164608124.html
The bank says reserves are at the minimum level needed to pay Egypt’s international obligations. It did not give a current figure. In statistics from November, the reserves stood at $15 billion, less than half what they were before last year’s uprising, even with help of deposits from Qatar.
December 29th, 2012, 3:44 pm
Tara said:
Zoo@ 82
“Name just one who could rally the army and reassure the minorities! There are none, that’s the tragedy.”
The real tragedy is that you do not see anyone because you do not want to accept any other than Batta. Let us please face reality. That is what the personality cult is all about, remember?
December 29th, 2012, 3:45 pm
MarigoldRan said:
I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, but at least Egypt has reserves. Unlike Syria.
At least Egypt has bread. Unlike Syria.
Egypt’s Economy: 1
Syria Economy: 0
December 29th, 2012, 3:46 pm
zoo said:
Malaki is a “PERSIAN SAFAWI TO THE BONE”.
Oh! yeah!
December 29th, 2012, 3:48 pm
zoo said:
#88
Read…and inform yourself before exposing your ignorance
Egypt: 15 billions reserves with obligations to pay and 82 millions inhabitants
Syria : 6 billions reserves with no obligations to pay and 20 millions inhabitant
Who appears better?
December 29th, 2012, 3:52 pm
zoo said:
#87 Tara
Ghaliun, Tlass, Hijab, Al Assaad, Sheikh, Sharaa, Sabra, Kodmani, Khatib… please give me any name you believe in.
You made many wrong choices, I give you another chance.
I have cult for no one but you seem to have an obsession: Better chaos than Bashar
December 29th, 2012, 3:57 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Um, where did you get the 6 billion figure from?
The common consensus among analysts and Syria watchers is that the regime is rapidly running out of foreign reserves to fight the war. The Syrian pound is beginning to collapse.
EDIT: pffffft. Who are you to give anyone else another chance? You’re backing the wrong side. Not only that, you’re backing the losing side.
Assad must go. He is an evil and an incompetent man. As many have said before, “no negotiations with the regime.”
December 29th, 2012, 4:00 pm
zoo said:
USA in state of panic: The Iranians are getting closer in South America that the USA have messed up for decades.
Obama signs law against Iran Latin America influence
29/12/2012
WASHINGTON, (AFP) – President Barack Obama enacted a law to counter Iran’s alleged influence in Latin America, through a new diplomatic and political strategy to be designed by the State Department.
The Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act, passed by lawmakers earlier this year, calls for the State Department to develop a strategy within 180 days to “address Iran’s growing hostile presence and activity” in the region.
Although the strategy is confidential and only accessible to lawmakers, it must contain a public summary.
..
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made regular visits to Latin America, though he only toured the region twice this year.
Tehran has particularly close ties with Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, where it has strengthened its presence through investments.
December 29th, 2012, 4:02 pm
zoo said:
92. MarigoldRan said:
“Um, where did you get the 6 billion figure from?”
Do your own homework for a change…
December 29th, 2012, 4:05 pm
zoo said:
Is Western Iraq Moving Toward Secession?
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/western-iraq-moving-toward-secession
Massive protests in the Anbar governorate of Iraq have given rise to the idea of a “State of Western Iraq” that would encompass the country’s Sunni population. Some say this is an unrealistic scheme that will soon be forgotten, but others believe it may soon become a serious proposition.
December 29th, 2012, 4:09 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The general consensus is that the Syrian regime is running on empty on the foreign reserves front. The rise of the Syrian pound to over 100 to the dollar is evidence of that.
As I’ve said before, dialogue is not possible in this war. The two sides cannot even agree on the same facts. Everyone will have to wait and see who is right in the end.
December 29th, 2012, 4:09 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Assad answer to Brahimi,
For him to leave he will be breaking the law, he needs referundum to change the constitution,so he leaves, and he can not run referundun now,because of security concerns.
This guy is so stupid
December 29th, 2012, 4:12 pm
Tara said:
Zoo
What is wrong with Khatib and Sabra along with say Abdul Azim or Dalila?
Lacking the blue eyes and the microephaly?
—–
You have cult for no one? I dare you to say one bad word about Bashar. Forgive my honesty here but none during the last 2years I’ve known you on SC that you have found a single one bad thing about the Batta. Do you deny it? I am sure you can find many defects in people around you but never ever in Batta.
And by the way, the microcephal of Bashar is a medical text example. Not so apparent on TV, but shockingly real when you see him in person. He really really has a very small head.
December 29th, 2012, 4:13 pm
MarigoldRan said:
I second that. In the relatively short time I’ve been here, I’ve noticed this too:
Zoo criticizes everyone except Bashar.
December 29th, 2012, 4:14 pm
revenire said:
I wish he was president of the world. Syria is lucky to have Bashar and his lovely wife Asma to lead them out of this crisis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upZDRkdOIqM
MARIGOLDRAN don’t worry about the finances of Syria. If she needs help her friends will aid her but so far she asks for none.
Egypt is a slave to the IMF and has to obey. That was the freedom the Muslim Brotherhood brought her.
December 29th, 2012, 4:15 pm
zoo said:
The rebels are loosing Homs and other places: No ammunitions.
Rebels pushed out from a district
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/2370ff19-55ef-4217-bf49-f7c6d79d49aa.aspx
BEIRUT: Syrian government forces have pushed rebels from a district in Homs after several days of fierce fighting in the strategically important city, opposition activists said on Saturday.
The army moved into Deir Ba’alba, a neighbourhood on the northeastern edge of Homs, they said, leaving the rebels controlling just the central neighbourhoods around the old city and the district of Khalidiyah, immediately to the north.
…
There were unconfirmed reports that dozens of fighters had been killed in the battle for Deir Ba’alba, the director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdelrahman, said.
Rebels have been gaining ground in recent months, particularly in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, and launched an offensive in the central Hama province which would extend their control south towards Homs and Damascus.
But an activist in Hama province said on Saturday that the army had reinforced its positions in the town of Morek, which lies on the main north-south highway linking Damascus to Aleppo, to push back rebels who were running low on ammunition.
A rebel attack on the military base of Wadi Deif, further north on the same highway, had also slowed as rebels struggled to maintain supplies, the activist who used the name Ali Al Idlibi told Reuters by Skype.
December 29th, 2012, 4:17 pm
MarigoldRan said:
You can believe in what you want Revenire. We’ll see who wins in the end.
December 29th, 2012, 4:17 pm
annie said:
http://www.maysaloon.org/2012/12/the-shape-of-things-to-come.html
“Conclusion
Syria is not the first or last country where warlords have emerged because of instability. Nor is it the first country to emerge from violent revolution, brutal dictatorship and sectarianism. Each of these problems will require creative and intelligent solutions, and whilst they are difficult they are by no means insurmountable. The key is to point out these challenges and not be caught off guard by them.”
December 29th, 2012, 4:29 pm
zoo said:
Tara
I see your logic: if I don’t criticize someone, it means I have a cult.
Then I guess you have a cult for many people: Ghaliun, Sabra, Khatib etc… that you never criticized and loved.
By the way I did criticize Bashar for the mistakes he did at the start of the uprising, but then I stopped as this blog has been overloaded with hatred, sectarianism, vulgarities and insults and obsessed by revenge.
As for the “candidates’ you mentioned, they may be intelligent people, but the declarations that some did show that they are far from qualified to lead. They can’t hardly get along with each others as the “expats” ones have a very inflated ego and their western, Qatari or Moslem brotherhood intimacy is more than suspicious.
December 29th, 2012, 4:31 pm
revenire said:
“You can believe in what you want Revenire. We’ll see who wins in the end.”
Gee, thanks for allowing me freedom of thought – typical terrorist talk. Go live in Saudi Arabia where people have no rights at all and women are treated like farm animals by perverted Wahabi dogs.
Winner? It won’t be the FSA terrorists. Never.
December 29th, 2012, 4:39 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
When the Alawis want to accept someone other than Bashar, they will find someone other than Bashar. The real problem was that the revolution has their candidate and for now it is al Khatib. Let the minorities supporters of the regime name their candidate as long as he/she does not have blood on their hands and let us form a transitional unity government. Now if the Alawis do not have a candidate, then too bad. The onus falls on them not on the revolution. What is so difficult with that?
I propse that al Khatib addresses the Alawis that way and ask them to name their none-blood-tainted candidate and with him forms a transitional government that leads us to a free election.
I really truly hope you have a cult for no one. It so much does not fit you.
December 29th, 2012, 4:50 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Right, Zoo, which you contributed too, with your attacks on Islam and the FSA. Like all regime supporters, you are a hypocrite.
Zoo’s cult, oddly enough is atheism. He is a fanatical atheist! In the way he speaks and talks, he is no better than the religious extremists, except that he’s on the other side.
December 29th, 2012, 5:32 pm
Juergen said:
Orient TV had Father Paolo in their weekly tv talk show
http://orient-news.net/?page=programs_show&id=9
December 29th, 2012, 5:34 pm
MarigoldRan said:
That’s the trick, Revenire.
Keep on repeating the same mindless chant over and over again. That way you can genuinely become a regime supporter!
Try to keep your critical thinking skills to a minimum. True die-hard regime supporters do not have those skills. Assad is an excellent example. The key to being a regime supporter is to be mindless and to chant whatever slogans that you may have heard before.
Congratulations! You’re on the way!!! Soon you will be just like Assad, your savior and thousands of other regime cultists around the world!
December 29th, 2012, 5:44 pm
Citizen said:
83. MARIGOLDRAN
In the West treated the financial meltdowns!President Bashar al-Assad is not your business!And we will not allow you to interfere in our affairs!
December 29th, 2012, 5:48 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Yes, but you’ll let Russia, China, and Iran interfere in Syria’s affairs, right?
December 29th, 2012, 5:49 pm
Juergen said:
a bit late, but Orient Tv was here in Berlin to interview some of the Syrians who adress on a weekly basis Germans about the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime
December 29th, 2012, 5:51 pm
revenire said:
Did I mention that Homs is now rat free. The people there are celebrating the demise of the FSA and showering our soldiers with treats. Women weep and kiss SAA soldiers.
The war is going well.
Long live Bashar!
December 29th, 2012, 5:53 pm
MarigoldRan said:
That’s it Revenire. Perfect.
Keep it up. We know you’re capable of greater stupidity! You’ve proven it before! We believe in you!
The more the inane mindlessness, the better and the more authentic.
December 29th, 2012, 5:55 pm
revenire said:
Check your sources. I am sure the rats reported another “massacre” in Homs today. Go ahead. I have all night.
🙂
December 29th, 2012, 6:26 pm
Tara said:
‘The people of Aleppo needed someone to drag them into the revolution’
…
Abu Ali goes to the small kitchen and squats before a small stove, boiling another pot of thick Turkish coffee. “Now I will sit with her,” he says. “We will lie on the mattress, turn off the light and talk about what happened today. This my favourite moment of the day.”
He goes back to the room carrying the pot. Um Ali is staring at the floor, her cigarette burning slowly between her fingers. Outside, the pop-pop sound of gunfire has ceased.
“I am scared of the silence,” she says. “I feel something bad will happen. When they are shooting, I know we are safe.”
…
After dinner he becomes reflective: “I mix everything. Filth with honesty. Street language with religion. I have mixed all the revolutions in me. I am the Bolshevik revolution, the French revolution. I am the modern Guevara.
“Do you know, I am so special. My wife hates it when I say this, but I have had angels fight with me. Many times. In battle, I can feel myself flying,” he says. “Flying above the ground.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/28/aleppo-revolution-abu-ali-sulaibi
December 29th, 2012, 7:08 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The massacre was not reported by regime news, SANA or Press TV. It was reported on CNN.
And you have all night? I’m sure you do. Thankfully, I have plans for this afternoon.
Good day.
December 29th, 2012, 7:10 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
Observer thanks Mjabali for the news at #43 — from Al-Hayat website, an opinion piece by Ghassan Suleiman:
الثورة إذ تستجير بالعلويين…
A very bad Google translation provides a sketch of the Arabic story. I post the whole garble, hoping someone can amplify its main points:
ZOO notes the heaving bombing of Homs, finally, and its hideous humanitarian crisis — and cites the Syrian Observatory as grist for his conclusions of a ‘wheel turning.’ This is encouraging. As several here have mentioned repeatedly, agreeing on some basics is essential to dialogue.
(speaking of Dialogue, I urge Syria Comment commentators to check out the Creative Syria ‘Dialogue’ site. Although the mysterious entity Marigoldran says it is irrelevant, the list of names who contributed include ‘inside’ citizens — whether inside the NCB-Binaa/Building-State or independent)
Some of you may remember the grand theatre of the official dialogue sessions that were broadcast on Syrian state TV back many many months. The visuals were striking: a vast room lined along its four walls with massive tables. Flowers. Video displays.
Some will also remember the moments when the agenda was subverted, taken from the hands of the convener and chair: Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa.
Some might remember the few voices who spoke beyond the red line, who spoke of the madness of the ‘security solution.’ One of them was Tayyeb Tizini.
As all will remember, the curtain was closed immediately after this theatre. And all those subversive voices were not heard from again in state-controlled organs.
At the Syrian Dialogue site it looks like some of the self-same insiders thrashed out a general landscape of dialogue. Unless all the participants are killed in a general bloodbath, they will be voices, however small, in the political life of Syria, once the war is over.
Why not give them heed now? Why give heed to a Revenire or the anti-Revenires? These are rootless, nameless internet observers with little stake or residence in Syria, whose relevance to shaping events is marginal today and tomorrow.
As for the al-Hayat story, this is another kind of dialogue, a whisper from mysterious Lattakia. The Alawite folks have refugees in their midst who do not all come from the minorities.
The expectation of savage reprisals and revenge attacks is heightened in the minds of many if not most commentators and analysts, from Landis, White, all the way to Abdulhamid.
Is there a chance that some of the expected deaths can be averted?
What do the Alawites of Lattakia say? We really have no idea. That is one of the tragedies of Syria’s oppressive media regime (SANA-style official media rarely uses the word or cognates to Alawi/Alawite. No mention, no discussion, taboo).
Observer, can you analyze and comment on the ‘news’ introduced by Mjabali? Can anyone place it in context of doom and tell us what it means for the coming months?
Is there no Alawite in our commentariat?
http://alhayat.com/OpinionsDetails/466160
http://translate.google.ca/translate?sl=ar&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Falhayat.com%2FOpinionsDetails%2F466160&act=url
December 29th, 2012, 7:29 pm
revenire said:
It amuses me to no end how the “revolution” is run by the Saudis. How stupid they are to think a backward kingdom like Saudi Arabia can overcome Syria by sending apes to fight her glorious army.
December 29th, 2012, 7:42 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
Here’s context for my mention of the National Dialogue conference chaired by Farouk Al-Sharaa. July of 2011. I can’t recall offhand if ZOO had stopped criticizing ‘mistakes’ by this point or not.
The ‘mistakes’ that cannot now be named by ZOO for some odd reason, were then connected with the ‘security solution.’
These were almost innocent days. Protesters shot by security forces and shabiha were at the level of fifteen a day back then. No bombing yet. No artillery. No jets in the sky. No barrel bombs from helicopters. No summary executions en masse. No tanks firing on Homs.
From the media of the day:
ZOO, any comment on the ‘mistakes’ made in that first attempt at dialogue by the regime, mistakes that should not be repeated in the present attempts at dialogue?
______________________
In other minor league news, the stupidest comments of the day are these:
— Zoo is typical miserable wretched Alawi .
— you and your Al Nusra friends
— your dreams of a military victory
— MAJEDKHALDOUN’s terrorist friends
— Salafists on this forum
— ape-like friends
— many in the SAA feel that any civilian who hides a terrorist is a legitimate target
— They all made it clear that they want a political solution to the crisis
— By the way I did criticize Bashar for the mistakes he did at the start of the uprising, but then I stopped as this blog has been overloaded with hatred, sectarianism, vulgarities and insults and obsessed by revenge.
— Zoo’s cult, oddly enough is atheism. He is a fanatical atheist!
December 29th, 2012, 8:30 pm
Hopeful said:
I agree with Tara #105
This is how civil wars end. When all parties start looking for names that are acceptable to all. Zoo, if you call this a civil war and you genuinely want an end to it, then you (people on your side) need to come up with names. I am positive there are a lot of people out there (Bashar himself said so in one of his interview).
If you keep insisting that Bashar is our savior, even after what happened to Syria under his leadership in the past two years, then you are, forgive me, delusional. I really hope people who take the same stand as you do will wake up before it is too late.
December 29th, 2012, 11:19 pm
Syrian said:
Syrian leader Assad said to be isolated, fearful as regime faces collapse
“Syrian media and activist accounts recorded the shift, describing the president increasing his security detail, moving to a different bedroom each night and tightening controls over food preparation to thwart would-be assassins.”
“Moreover, Middle Eastern intelligence officials, citing accounts from defectors that could not be verified, say Assad has ceased going outdoors during daylight hours, apparently out of fear that he will be hit by a sniper’s bullet or other fire.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/syrian-leader-assad-said-to-be-isolated-fearful-as-regime-faces-collapse/2012/12/28/dd3e98fa-508a-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html?wp_login_redirect=0
December 29th, 2012, 11:29 pm
revenire said:
These are “Hitler in the bunker” psychological warfare stories, like rebel claims of victories. They serve several purposes.
Bashar is fine and looking forward to Spring.
December 30th, 2012, 12:34 am
annie said:
Ammar Abdulhamid on fb http://www.syrianrevolutiondigest.com/2012/12/laughrov.html?spref=fb
Russia’s Foreign Minister says Assad insists on staying in power. Indeed, Assad underscored his determination today by having his militias perpetrate a new massacre against 220 residents of Deir Baalbah. Meanwhile, the self-appointed “heroes” and “guardians” of the revolution, the brave men of Jabhat Al-Nusra were busy fighting against immorality in Aleppo City by emptying Arak bottles into the drains of history, the same drains where their ideas will follow one day. As for Russian officials, it is about time they learned some necessary humility and began coping with blowbacks stemming from their idiotic and murderous policies in our region. While so many leftwing and Islamist pundits keep focusing on America’s alleged role in our misery, it is Russia’s all too real role that is now coming into sharp focus. In fact, it is insisting on Assad’s staying in power and backing that up with weapons and vetoes that has cost us so many lives.
December 30th, 2012, 1:14 am
Juergen said:
Kafranbel
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=468081959894583&set=a.186824541353661.34965.182806365088812&type=1&theater
December 30th, 2012, 2:09 am
Juergen said:
The Assassination of Bashar Al-Assad مقتل بشار الاسد
December 30th, 2012, 2:25 am
Juergen said:
I am not sure if this was posted here yet:
Zabadani women
December 30th, 2012, 2:43 am
Badr said:
Joint UN-Arab League envoy goes to Russia
December 30th, 2012, 3:55 am
Citizen said:
a negotiated settlement is becoming inevitable though it may be a long time coming.
Syria is many conflicts rolled into one. It is also at the centre of two regional struggles
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/syria-is-many-conflicts-rolled-into-one-it-is-also-at-the-centre-of-two-regional-struggles-8433199.html
December 30th, 2012, 7:12 am
Citizen said:
Terrorists Suffer Severe Blows in Several Provinces
Dec 30, 2012
http://www.sana-syria.com/eng/337/2012/12/30/459514.htm
…
The army engineering units dismantled 9 explosive devices weighing between 50- 75 kg each planted by terrorists on al-Jandoryeh-Jisr al-Shoghour highway.
December 30th, 2012, 7:21 am
annie said:
Rather stupid ? I rest my case
#Syria, Ali Kkhuzam (bearded person), after singing for Ali and Mustafa, he admits to the killing of 47 initially out of 50 persons. He said that only 3 are alive
http://youtu.be/GTb9C1vIwwo
December 30th, 2012, 8:23 am
zoo said:
WSS
“But the absence of key opposition figures has already led many to question the credibility of the initiative.”
That’s your answer…
December 30th, 2012, 8:48 am
zoo said:
The perspective of Syria’s future resembling Somalia is offering a stricking dilemma to the Western country. If the West wants a political solution before this happens, they are bound to have to make serious compromises to their egos that mislead them in rushing them into unrealistic geopolitical goals. The regime has nothing to loose anymore, the West has.
Syria War Breathes New Life into Global Jihad
By Tobias Feakin
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2012/12/30/syria_war_breaths_life_into_global_jihad_100438.html
Many felt that the death of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and numerous other key members of the al-Qa’ida leadership had stemmed the tide of the movement and the global jihad. But as terrorism issues appear to be slipping down the hierarchy of perceived risks in much of the Western world, the trends that are emerging from the Syrian conflict remind us that al-Qa’ida is in this campaign for the long term.
Recent reports in this newspaper of the numbers of Australians involved in the conflict in Syria provide further evidence, if it were needed, of the significance of Syria from a counter-terrorism perspective.
December 30th, 2012, 8:56 am
mjabali said:
Jihad Annie
You have no clue what these men are saying in the video you linked to in your post number 130:
First: Ali Khuzam is not the singer but the man with the white suite who was telling the singer what to sing.
Secondly: They sing to Ali and al-Mustafa. al-Mustafa is the Prophet Mohammad.
Apparently you have no clue.
Third: This character (Ali Khuzam) speaks about his unit that was a 50 persons unit where now he has only three men left. Which means that he lost 47 of his men in battle. This means according to this man that the opposition had killed 47 of his men. Not like what you said that he killed 47 men.
Please learn Arabic before you stick your nose into something you have no idea about.
December 30th, 2012, 9:03 am
zoo said:
“Syria will haunt President Obama’s second term”
U.S. impotence on Syria
By Editorial Board, Published: December 29
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-impotence-on-syria/2012/12/29/7d5c1718-5108-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html
AS 2012 COMES to a close, Syria is headed toward a bloody and chaotic end to what began as a peaceful uprising against an autocratic regime. This would be a catastrophe that could destabilize much of the Middle East, provide al-Qaeda with a new base of operations, and lead to the transfer or even use of chemical weapons.
Above all, the crisis is the result of the brutality and ruthlessness of ruler Bashar al-Assad and the family clique around him, and their supporters in Iran and Russia. But it is also reflects a massive failure of Western — and particularly American — leadership, the worst since the Rwandan genocide two decades ago.
…
If that happens, the United States may find itself with little influence. Most rebel leaders, and average Syrians, are furious at Washington for withholding meaningful aid. They may be disinclined to listen to calls for dismantling the extremist groups that helped win the war. One way or another, Syria will haunt President Obama’s second term — and, based on the record so far, it will be recorded as one of his greatest failures.
December 30th, 2012, 9:10 am
Tara said:
“…we should be attentive to the present and its challenges, not chained to notions of the past or bound by ideas of a future we cannot know….”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/30/dont-rely-past-predict-middle-east
Middle East: don’t rely on the past to predict its future
In all likelihood, some end to the regime appears inevitable, if not immediately, then in the not very distant future. The question now being posed is: what happens next? And while the desire to predict and second-guess is hard-wired into our natures, not least the nature of journalists and analysts, it’s probable that we will get it badly wrong.
The tools most commonly used to try to explain complex situations such as conflict, including the predilection for historical analogy to explain current events, are often deeply misleading, as the impressive Kings of War blog of the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London cautioned before Christmas. The reality is that the Middle East is not the Balkans of the 1990s, nor is Egypt revolutionary Iran. “The truth,” the Kings of War concluded, “is we should probably not be surprised by the things that surprise us.”
,,,,
We cannot say whether Syria after Assad, with its specific social and sectarian tensions, will resemble Libya post-Gaddafi or Iraq post-Saddam. All conflicts and all post-conflict situations are unhappy, or unstable, in their own particular way.
What we can say about the Arab Spring is not where we may end up, but where we are now – and that is in the midst of a grand reshaping of all the regional assumptions that have stood for almost a generation.
more……
December 30th, 2012, 9:17 am
mjabali said:
William Scott Scherk:
Please do not use Google translator. It butchered the Arabic text you were trying to translate.
The English translation you put has no meaning (sorry to say that).
For example the first sentence of the article I linked says:
يعيش المجتمع العلوي في المنطقة الساحلية مشهداً يوميّاً، حيث يشيّع الناس أبناءهم، من عسكريّين وشبّيحة، الذين سقطوا في جبهات الصراع ما بين النظام والثورة، فتتداخل مشاعر الحزن والخوف والخسارة مع طقوس تستثير الغرائز وتمجّد العنف، تساهم أجهزة النظام في تكريسها.
According to you, and google translate this sentence became the following in your post:
Live Alawite community in the coastal area scene daily, where commonly people their children, military and Hbihh, who fell in the fronts of conflict between the regime and the revolution, Vttdakhal feelings of sadness, fear and loss with rituals evoke instincts and glorify violence, contribute to system hardware in dedication.
The translation of this long sentence is this:
The Alawi community in the Coastal areas lives a daily scene, where people bury their sons, whether they were soldiers or Shabiha that had died in the battle between the regime and the revolution, where the feelings of sadness, fear and loss are intermixed with rituals, where the regime contributes to solidify, that invokes primal senses and glorify violence.
December 30th, 2012, 9:19 am
Tara said:
Syrian@121
Thanks for the link. So Batta is now afraid from going out in the sunlight, sleep in a different room each day, and paying particular attention that his shawrma is not poisoned? Divine justice, isn’t it?
He is probably sleeping under the bed.
—-
Are the souls of all those he killed haunting him? I wish some one carries a project where the faces of all those who he killed are shown as a small thumbprints in a big poster and sent to him as a new year gift…with a frame from Chelsea to suit Asma’s taste.
December 30th, 2012, 9:30 am
revenire said:
Funny how we believe what we want to believe. Oh well, human nature and even terrorist-supporters like Tara have feelings.
This came across my desk today:
Al-Akhras: ‘I did not post a letter to Asma Al-Assad’
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/29/257699.html
December 30th, 2012, 11:09 am
Tara said:
Reve,
She was probably forced to deny it because of a threat to her life or to her loved ones.
I personally know some cousins of Asma who are very much anti-Batta and publicly
December 30th, 2012, 11:22 am
Sami said:
“According to you, and google translate this sentence became the following in your post”
Sigh…. Did your dog teach you English as well as History?
This is what WSS actually wrote:
Maybe next time you should not make fun of other peoples lack of language skills when you yourself suffer from the same problem.
Oh btw do you have any ACTUAL links that prove your point that Damascenes were talking ONLY Turkish up until WW1? Because as any Damascene would tell you the Turks were seen as INVADERS and only the folks that were in bed with them spoke their language and that Damascus actually decayed under Ottoman rule because its people never wanted to be subservient to their rule. But hey who am I to rebuttal what your dog has to say…
http://books.google.ca/books?id=iYZiQgAACAAJ&dq=isbn:0954641809&hl=en&sa=X&ei=t1zgULHNMpC70AHliIHwAw&redir_esc=y
(Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, AKA Lawrence of Arabia)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=1_bQTrpf62cC&dq=damascus&hl=en
(Damascus: A History by Ross Burns)
In case you would like to learn more about your capital city with some sources that are a bit better than dog….
December 30th, 2012, 11:48 am
Juergen said:
Kafranbel
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=194179320706845&set=a.190650757726368.18268.190416144416496&type=1&theater
“With your bullets you have sent our children to heaven, with our shoes we will transfer you to hell!”
December 30th, 2012, 11:50 am
revenire said:
Again, Tara you believe what you want to believe for emotional and psychological needs. Where are the “cousins” and why hasn’t the press paraded them around? This is the sort of thing the press wallows in and would be news all over the world but there is nothing to it.
Link me to the stories if you have them.
December 30th, 2012, 11:52 am
Visitor said:
The video in 130 reveals many things at once:
1) The FSA is scoring successes against the criminal thugs.
2) The crowd is made up of Alawites, and while it may not represent the mainstream Alawite community (if there is indeed one), the crowd is making a public display of some beliefs.
4) Obviously Ibn Taymiyya was correct in branding those who uphold such beliefs to be non-Muslims.
5) We are just discovering what Ibn Taymiyya already told us 700
years ago.
6) Thanks to the FSA heroes who sent those 47 thugs to lowest hell with highest possible speed.
December 30th, 2012, 12:02 pm
Juergen said:
For those in need of a strong reason this regime has no right to exist in our 21st century.
interview of Michel Kilo, subtitled in English
December 30th, 2012, 12:04 pm
Sami said:
Tara,
Don’t you find it funny when minhebaks use Al-Arabiya only when it suits them?
December 30th, 2012, 12:05 pm
Tara said:
Reve
May be one of those days I’d tell you but for now I can’t .
And when I said publicly, I meant their position is well known to Asma and her parents.
December 30th, 2012, 12:13 pm
Juergen said:
This painting is inside the Umm Rais mosque in Qardaha, as I have experienced, a mosque closed throughout the year, only to be opened by special request.
I mean all dictatorships have their comedy part, but why the heck do all the dictators of this world seem to adore their mothers? Ask a Syrian if he knows when the mother of Hafez died. They all know it, it was publicated all over Syria.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=407630992648628&set=a.148595671885496.37087.148212011923862&type=1&theater
Reve
Lets hope that not all of the family is delusional and some have kept their true human nature, in which you care for the other.
December 30th, 2012, 12:14 pm
revenire said:
If Tara actually knew Asma’s cousins and they had publicly broken with Asma they’d be famous in the press worldwide – all the press, not just Qatar’s Al Jazeera or the Saudi prince’s various news organs. It would be a simple matter for Tara to post links to the news reports so we could verify. I’d love to read about this but understand Tara speaks from emotion and not reason. She stuck her foot in it and can’t get it out.
December 30th, 2012, 12:14 pm
revenire said:
Tara as with most things you say these are rumors are spread on the Internet, like the silly reports of ‘FSA victories’ and ‘SAA defections’. I am satisfied with your half-heated apology. It is like the racist claiming to have black friends, the anti-Semites having Jewish friends or Islamophobes claiming to have Muslim friends. You’ve been here all day, every day for almost two years – bleating like a little lost sheep about how Assad will fall ‘soon’. The pathology is fascinating.
If you actually believed in the ‘revolution’ you’d leave the comfort of the East Coast and go to Syria to fight with your brothers in the al-Nusra Front.
December 30th, 2012, 12:23 pm
revenire said:
JUERGEN every normal boy loves his mother. You look for hidden meaning in things when there is none.
December 30th, 2012, 12:25 pm
revenire said:
أنا مواطن سوري و سأنتخب الدكتور بشار الأسد رئيساً للجمهورية العربية السورية في عام ٢٠١٤.
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/190743_512697878764878_924395123_n.jpg
December 30th, 2012, 12:26 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
138. MOSSIE
“This came across my desk today”
You have a desk? Wow! I had you pegged as one of those dudes who lives in a cave with a bone in his nose. SC is soooo educational…
December 30th, 2012, 12:31 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
134 ZOO
“the United States may find itself with little influence. Most rebel leaders, and average Syrians, are furious at Washington for withholding meaningful aid”
Furious? Then they’re a pack of hypocrites. These fakes and frauds and phonies spent the past forty years heaping insults and abuse on the USA and now that things have blown up in their goofy faces, they expect the USA to be forthcoming? Please. I suggest that they pray to their false God. Perhaps he’ll wake up and throw them a bone.
December 30th, 2012, 12:41 pm
Tara said:
Reve,
You are asking everybody to go back and fight. I suggest that yo go back first, enlist in Shabeehat al Assad, then you may be in a better position. No?
And before asking for people identity, introduce your identity first.
Credibility 101…Did you miss that class or wasn’t it not important in Syria’s al Assad?
And yes, I am planning to continue in SC for years to come. Where else one can get on-demand entertainment like the one you provide?
December 30th, 2012, 12:51 pm
revenire said:
“And before asking for people identity, introduce your identity first.”
I am one of Asma’s cousins and I am glad I can serve the revolution Tara.
December 30th, 2012, 1:07 pm
norman said:
It is true that President Hafiz Assad destroyed the Alaway chance of a separate state because he always believed in Arab Nationalism , while others were propping the Kurds, the Sunni , the Druz and having separate identity president Assad considered all Syrians as Syrian Arabs with equal rights, that explains the reason that the Alawat Area were not developed as expected with Alaway leadership, he always was worry that he will be considered as having difrent rules for the Alawat from the others, He really believed in the Arab Nation that Syria is part of and of peaceful Islam, he was probably wrong.
December 30th, 2012, 1:44 pm
revenire said:
A Poem Dedicated to the Fake “Syrian” Revolution (apologies to PJ Harvey):
All and Everyone
Death was everywhere
In the air and in the sounds
Coming off the mounds of Bolton’s Ridge
Ooh, death’s anchorage
When you rolled a smoke or told a joke
It was in the laughter and drinking water
It approached the beach as strings of cutters
Dropped into the sea and lay around us
Death was in the ancient fortress
Shelled by a million bullets
From gunners waiting in the copses
With hearts that threatened to pop their boxes
As we advanced into the sun
Death was all and everyone
Death was all and everyone
As we advancing in the sun
As we advancing every man
As we advancing in the sun
Death hung in the smoke
And clung to 400 acres of useless beach front
A bank of red earth, dripping down
Death is now and now and now
Death was everywhere
In the air and in the sounds
Coming off the mounds of Bolton’s Ridge
Oh, death’s anchorage
Death was in the staring sun
Fixing its eyes on everyone
It rattled the bones of the Light Horsemen
Still lying out there in the open
As we advancing in the sun
As we advancing every man
As we advancing in the sun
Sing, “Death to all and everyone”
December 30th, 2012, 1:55 pm
Observer said:
In response to the posts above
I had no sarcastic intention in asking the question to Majbali. I genuinely thought that perhaps the Alawi community may have decided that a true civil society is needed now more than ever.
The fact that Majbali posted the story of displaced Sunnis living in Alawi areas was to me a sign of co existence but Majbali can be sensitive to my posts and I have tried to be neutral but alas I have been branded and classified by him.
As for what the other questions posted, I do not think that the inner circle of the regime is driven by pure sectarian thinking, it is driven by pure mafiosi thinking and it does not matter who is sacrificed for the circle to survive.
They will play any card to stay in power. The circle won the war of holding hostages, Syria hostage, Alawi hostage, minority hostage, even Russian interest hostage; but alas they can win these battles and lose the war.
As ZOO pointed out how the US lost in Vietnam I also remind the readers that the US used to destroy the village to save it. These so called victories are phyrhyic ones of no consequence
December 30th, 2012, 2:00 pm
zoo said:
Tara
“So Batta is now afraid from going out in the sunlight, sleep in a different room each day, and paying particular attention that his shawrma is not poisoned? Divine justice, isn’t it?”
Don’t be overjoyed, that be will apply to Al Khatib and his gang of expats the day they will dare put a foot in Syria.
Their fear is already apparent.
Why Al Khatib or Atassi or Sabra have not come to visit any of the ‘liberated areas’?
Who came to visit the camps on the Turkish borders or in Turkey where their ideological and absurd “revolution” dumped millions of refugees to live in foreign land after having lost their homes, brothers and most of all dignity?
Talking about cowardice, we know who they are.
Despite the danger, Bashar is still in his country, Syria.
December 30th, 2012, 2:12 pm
Visitor said:
According to the following report, high ranking military sources in the Lebanese army have concluded the count down for Assad fall (militarily) has just begun. The sources further claim that such fall could happen overnight,
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/ar/nowspecialar/مصادر_عسكرية_لبنانية_العد_التنازلي_لأيام_الأسد_بدأ
This assessment is in in stark contrast to latest predictions by الشرع and similar sources in Russia. Needless to say the Lebanese government and military are both apprehensive about such prospects due to the repercussions on the stability of both. Therefore, such assessment can be considered more realistic than any other that is seeking to project a false image of normalcy and all good in the house of cards while the crumble is imminent.
December 30th, 2012, 2:14 pm
zoo said:
#159 Observer
“the US used to destroy the village to save it”
“mafioso thinking’ too, I guess
December 30th, 2012, 2:15 pm
zoo said:
Visitor
Usually any army is ready for the worst case. It does not make it real.
December 30th, 2012, 2:19 pm
revenire said:
Visitor all one has to do is look at the contributors to that “newspaper” to realize what is afoot. At this point, the propaganda is mainly for the “rebels” sagging morale.
December 30th, 2012, 2:20 pm
Syrian said:
148. REVENIRE said:
“If Tara actually knew Asma’s cousins and they had publicly broken with Asma they’d be famous in the press worldwide – all the press, not just Qatar’s Al Jazeera or the Saudi prince’s various news organs. It would be a simple matter for Tara to post links …..”
“This moving letter filled with rage, frustration, and loathing was published by Rasha Ahras, a close cousin of Asma Assad, wife of President Bashar Assad, on the website of the Network of Syrian Christians in Support of the Revolution. In a short while the communique spread to all the Arab websites and became their most read subject. This is the first time a member of the president’s family has spoken out so decisively and personally against Asma Assad’s personal conduct.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/assad-is-panicking-russia-is-frustrated-and-asma-s-cousin-calls-for-blood.premium-1.490700
December 30th, 2012, 2:23 pm
zoo said:
#154 Silentio
They apparently don’t need anybody, neither Russia, nor the USA.
They have God and Qatar..
December 30th, 2012, 2:24 pm
Visitor said:
Reve (aka Ali from branch 225) @ 163,
I feel obliged to reclaim the expression which I seem to have made popular on this forum as attested by you copying it varbatim as in your comment @ 149: you are bleating like a little lost sheep.
I take it that immitation is the highest form of praise. But coming from such as you I would think of it as less as such. I would think of it as more of some novice trying to rise to the level of a master.
Nevertheless, bleat on!
Zoo @162,
I do not need to repeat. You already know your daily routine!!
December 30th, 2012, 2:36 pm
zoo said:
Erdogan dressed in a Saudi outfit reappears to offer support to Khatib shunned by the USA and Russia.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/news/201212/n_38009_4.jpg
Visiting refugees in Sanli Urfa with Moaz al Khatib at his side, Sheikh Erdogan announces the ‘rebirth’ of Syria.
Curiously, why wasn’t Al Khatib making that announcement in arabic? Is he not the ‘legitimate representive of the Syrian people”? Was he disguised too?
Turkish PM tells Syrian refugees victory is near
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-pm-tells-syrian-refugees-victory-is-near.aspx?pageID=238&nID=38009&NewsCatID=338
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Syrian refugees today that victory over the “tyrant” President Bashar al-Assad was at hand.
“I can see it clearly that the help of God is near,” Erdoğan said in televised remarks at Turkey’s Akçakale refugee camp in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa. Erdoğan was welcomed to the 25,000-people settlement by thousands of cheering Syrians, who were waving Turkish flags and holding a giant portrait of him.
“You have suffered so much but do not despair,” Erdoğan said.
The Turkish leader was accompanied by Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, who flanked the premier along with several of Erdoğan’s deputies.
December 30th, 2012, 2:38 pm
zoo said:
Brahimi says has Syria plan that world powers may adopt
CAIRO – Agence France-Presse
Peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said on Sunday he has a proposal to end the deadly 21-month conflict in Syria “that could be adopted by the international community.” “I have discussed this plan with Russia and Syria… I think this proposal could be adopted by the international community,” the UN and Arab League envoy said in Egypt after meeting League chief Nabil al-Arabi.
…
“There is a proposal for a political solution based on the Geneva declaration foreseeing a ceasefire, forming a government with complete prerogatives and a plan for parliamentary and presidential elections,” he said, referring to a failed peace initiative that world powers agreed to in Geneva in June.
December 30th, 2012, 2:42 pm
zoo said:
Is France remain the best friend of the Moslem Brotherhood inspired “Syria Coalition” lead by a preacher?
French weekly set to release ‘halal’ comic of Prophet’s life
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/french-weekly-set-to-release-halal-comic-of-prophets-life.aspx?pageID=238&nID=37951&NewsCatID=393
Charlie Hebdo, a controversial French satirical weekly newspaper known for publishing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, has announced plans to publish a “perfectly halal” comic series about the Prophet Muhammad’s life starting Jan. 2, 2013,
December 30th, 2012, 2:49 pm
Visitor said:
الله محيي نشامى الجيش الحر
The accompanying video is a must see. From a construction worker to the commander of brigades and the honor of being the first commander to bring down a Mig,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/30/257858.html
It also shows the destroyed depot of ammunition worth few million dollars that the regime scrambled to destroy after it lost it for fear of turning the military balance against it. Nevertheless, the regime also lost the opportunity to use it.
December 30th, 2012, 3:21 pm
Syrian said:
153 Dorothy from Kansas
You are all confuesd mixing up the 40 yrs of the regime actions with the true Syrians
and yes It is true that the Syrians are not the biggest fans of the US policies in the Middle east,but what they did not expect from them was forcing others not help,like by pressuring the like of Qater to not send the Russians S7 from Libya to counter the unrelenting massacres by the regime air force
Listen,this is not your fight, and you dont know what you are talking about,so kick your heals three times and wake up,I know it is hard for you to leave, the flat state of Kansas has nothing but rednecks ,tornadoes, Steers and queers.and this site give you some kind of relese to your living in Kansas delima.
Maybe you sould move outta there, before long this site eventually will not do, and you might go postal on some or on some school
December 30th, 2012, 3:26 pm
Juergen said:
Reve
Normal love to your mother will bring her respect and may be flowers. Corrupt dictators will name streets, places and mosques after their mothers.
See if I would go and name the street after my mother, I think its time for the psychiatrist.( know the story of Oedipus? )
The world has seen where such nonsense lead to.
Souq al Tawil today in Damascus
December 30th, 2012, 3:27 pm
revenire said:
@Juergen you say “tomato”, I say “tomato”. Assad is a man who loves his mother and there is nothing wrong with that. If we listened to you I am certain you would say he is murdering innocent civilians that offer him flowers of reform instead of guns of death.
@Syrian this Israeli newspaper story you posted was posted yesterday, or the day before, and it has already been discredited by a statement from Asma’s cousin. You don’t seem to follow the posts here but react in a knee-jerk fashion.
Allow me to repeat myself: if Tara knew Asma’s cousins – as she claimed – and could offer them as proof (she said they rebuked Asma in public) then we would not need to paste the discredited הארץ “story” would we? I will wait a long time for such news to be posted because it isn’t real (not that this fact would stop Tara but she needs a newspaper to print it and even the Qatari apes and Saudi dogs don’t stoop so low).
🙂
December 30th, 2012, 3:45 pm
zoo said:
There is no ‘noble war’ that will justify this bloodshed
Charles Glass
Dec 31, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/there-is-no-noble-war-that-will-justify-this-bloodshed#ixzz2GZPhFCTe
After the terrible bloodletting on the battlefields, the fever began to die down. People looked war in the face with cooler, harder eyes than in those first months of enthusiasm, and their sense of solidarity began to weaken, since no one could see any sign of the great “moral cleansing” that philosophers and writers had so grandiloquently proclaimed.
…
A report on the Open Democracy website a few days ago reported that demonstrators in the rebel-held Bostan al-Qasr quarter in Aleppo chanted, “All armies are thieves: regime, Free [Syrian Army] and Islamists.”
Armed militiamen of Jubhat Al Nusra, the Islamist faction backed by Saudi Arabia and deemed terrorists by the United States, dispersed them with live fire. On both sides, those who demand negotiation over bloodshed are marginalised and worse.
….
Syrians who grew up with regime repression are discovering the anarchic brutality of life in “liberated” zones. Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul Ahad attended a meeting of 32 senior commanders in Aleppo last week. A former regime colonel now in command of Aleppo’s military council told his comrades: “Even the people are fed up with us. We were liberators, but now they denounce us and demonstrate against us.”
Read more:
December 30th, 2012, 3:46 pm
revenire said:
Zoo makes an excellent point: The “rebels” claim to control most of Syria so please tell us why the French-US-UK appointed leadership of doesn’t come to visit the liberated territories? Al Khatib-Atassi-Sabra could set up shop in Kafranbrel and enjoy the lovely terrorist artwork. Imagine the morale booster the al-Nusra/FSA rodents would get.
I remember when the Fake Syrian Army said they were moving their headquarters to Syria – except they didn’t. How can you move your headquarters from Paris-London-Washington to Damascus with Assad in power? You can’t. 🙂
December 30th, 2012, 3:53 pm
Juergen said:
Reve
to be precise, Hafez named a mosque after his mother and let the whole nation weep over the deceased, I hope and pray that Bashar will not have the time to think of such measures for Anise. Anyway, the memory of such times and such acts will soon be forgotten when this whole Al Wahash show ends.
December 30th, 2012, 4:02 pm
Tara said:
Jeurgen
Thanks for the link of Souk al Tawil demonstrations? Where are Assad’s shabeehas? Stretched too thin or afraid of being haunted down like the killers of Alahmar family?
December 30th, 2012, 4:10 pm
syrian said:
@Reve
Like Sami said it is funny you used Alarabia when it suits you.
and as if we don’t know how the regime works, they most likely have got someone she really cares about and threaten do to them what they did to the old mother and father of the musician AlJandaly
You wanted a link outside the 2 you mentioned and I got them for you
BTW,I’m Just wondering.Every time you write the word Ape.Do you go back in time to the good old days before the revolution, or to your childhood when you must have used it or heard it about million time from you relative and elders?
edited. I mean you do use the word QURED a lot in your lingo.
December 30th, 2012, 4:16 pm
revenire said:
I didn’t use Al Arabiya when it suited me. Saudi princes are able to buy newspapers and television networks because they have a lot of money – they can also buy defections. Money sways men. Is this news?
I said a LINK of what Tara talked about – the OTHER cousins – not the one already saying she never said such a thing. Tara said she knew Asma’s cousins and they publicly said this and that but could not provide one link. Then she changed her story and said it wasn’t really public but maybe at a dinner party overheard by guests.
Many women are jealous of Asma. It would not surprise me to find relatives who want her life and her man. This happens in families. Of course to you everything is about the fake revolution but ask yourself if these cousins cared why not come out and say it LOUD?
December 30th, 2012, 4:21 pm
revenire said:
Do I need to draw a map?
“139. TARA said:
Reve,
She was probably forced to deny it because of a threat to her life or to her loved ones.
I personally know some cousins of Asma who are very much anti-Batta and publicly”
“142. REVENIRE said:
Again, Tara you believe what you want to believe for emotional and psychological needs. Where are the “cousins” and why hasn’t the press paraded them around? This is the sort of thing the press wallows in and would be news all over the world but there is nothing to it.
Link me to the stories if you have them.”
“146. TARA said:
Reve
May be one of those days I’d tell you but for now I can’t .
And when I said publicly, I meant their position is well known to Asma and her parents.”
Tara shot her mouth off, sitting in a warm home on the East Coast of the US as Syrian children freeze to death, and then Tara was FORCED to back off her ridiculous statement.
Tara knows Asma’s cousins like I know Qatari emirs. In other words, Tara posted more trash talk – like the silly “demonstration” of 20 people someone posted. The important thing about the video is 1.) the shops are open for normal business 2.) people are allowed to demonstrate even with a war going on.
Syria is free and will never be handed over to Salafist apes.
December 30th, 2012, 4:28 pm
zoo said:
Reports: Russia Sends Another Naval Ship to Syria
MOSCOW December 30, 2012 (AP)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/reports-russia-sends-naval-ship-syria-18094788#.UOCzD6x5LPV
Russian news agencies say the navy is sending another ship to the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has a naval base.
The reports Sunday by the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agency cited an unidentified official in the military general staff as saying the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, has set sail from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The ship is expected to arrive in the Tartus area in early January.
The reports gave no information on the ship’s intent. But Russian diplomats have said that Moscow is preparing a plan to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary. The Defense Ministry announced two weeks ago that several ships were being dispatched to the Mediterranean.
December 30th, 2012, 4:34 pm
Syrian said:
174Zoo said
“A report on the Open Democracy website a few days ago reported that demonstrators in the rebel-held Bostan al-Qasr quarter in Aleppo chanted, “All armies are thieves: regime, Free [Syrian Army] and Islamists.””
Here is an explanation of how the regime forged the video from a demonstration against the regime to one against the FSA
http://youtu.be/hucKz61D-kI
December 30th, 2012, 4:51 pm
zoo said:
183. Syrian
The article says the demonstration was against both the regime and the FSA..
December 30th, 2012, 4:55 pm
zoo said:
Bye Bye Ryad al Asaad, Bye General Sheikh wherever you are and Welcome to freshly defected General Idriss who will unify and lead the “supreme” council of the FSA
Syria rebels promote leader Selim Idriss to general
From: AFP
December 30, 2012 12:01AM
THE newly formed supreme military council of the rebel Free Syrian Army has promoted its leader to the rank of general, in the first decision since its creation this month.
“The first decision of the supreme military council, taken on December 26, is to promote Brigadier Selim Idriss to division general,” Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, head of the rebel military council in the northern province of Aleppo, said in a video message posted on the internet.
Brigadier Idriss, a military engineer who defected from the Syrian army in July, had been elected chief of staff for the rebel military council following its formation in mid-December.
The council was created to unify the ranks of the rebellion and falls under the National Coalition, which has been widely recognised by the international community as the legitimate political representative of the Syrian people.
December 30th, 2012, 5:06 pm
revenire said:
TOO FUNNY! LOL THE DESPERATE APES BELIEVE ANY LIE AT ALL.
“Another big lie of Al-Arabiyya exposed: or how Western media once again went along with the media of the House of Saud. On the recent Syrian defector
From Ali, Angry Arab’s chief correspondent in Turkey: ‘Another lie of Al Arabia is exposed
According to Hurriyet Daily, Turkish Foreign Ministry sources deny the defected Syrian officer is ‘the head of military police and Major General.’ They emphasize that Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal is not the head of the military police and even not a major general but a colonel. An opposition source has said that ‘He wants to present himself as a hero but only a swindler’.”
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/planet/22257630.asp
December 30th, 2012, 5:09 pm
Tara said:
Good. That means there is now an internal leadership of the FSA. Anyone has idriss’s profile/picture so we can evaluate the new head if the real Syrian army?
December 30th, 2012, 5:13 pm
zoo said:
#186 Revenire
The microcephales like Hollande a few weeks ago were announcing “high-level defections”. They were dreaming of them.
When they woke-up they got stunned by the unity and resilience of the Syrian army fighting the terrorists that are carrying the “non-lethal weapons” they sent.
All they got as defections are tiny fishes that Al Arabya and Al Jazeera immediately promote to “barracudas”.
Nobody is fooled, these defectors are traitors to both side. For their own security, they better join the others in Bakkourland.
December 30th, 2012, 5:22 pm
zoo said:
Behind the Lines: The revolt of Islam in Syria
http://cpnagasaki.wordpress.com/tag/brigadier-selim-idriss/
The emergence of the Syrian National Coalition means that the West and its regional Sunni allies are now backing a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated coalition as the preferred replacement for the Assad regime.
The intention is to align with and strengthen Muslim Brotherhood-associated elements while painting Salafi forces as the sole real Islamist danger.
At the same time, secular forces are ignored or brushed aside.
This dynamic is plainly visible in the composition of the new military council. The founder of the Free Syrian Army, secular former Syrian Air Force colonel Riad Asaad, is notably absent. Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, the first of his rank to defect to the rebels, is not there either. Sheikh is known for his fierce opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Hussein Haj Ali, the highest ranking officer to defect so far, is absent as well.
A Reuters report on the new joint military council calculated that the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies account for about two-thirds of the 263 men who met in Antalya and formed the new body. Salafi commanders are also there.
The new council is headed by Brigadier Selim Idriss, who is described as a non-ideological military man. But his deputies, Abdel-basset Tawil of Idlib and Abdel-qader Saleh of Aleppo governate are associated with the Salafi trend.
The domination by the Muslim Brotherhood of the new military council mirrors the movement’s leading position in the new civilian leadership body – the Syrian National Coalition. The leader of this coalition is Ahmed Mouaz al-Khatib, former imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
Khatib is closely associated with the Damascus branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
…
A counter-argument could also be made according to which in the Arab world in 2012, a non- Islamist popular force able to rival the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis in commitment and organizational capacity would be highly unlikely.
December 30th, 2012, 5:31 pm
Citizen said:
Americans began their descent into deception and tyranny in the final years of the 20th century with the Clinton regime’s aggression against Serbia and murderous sanctions on Iraq. These war crimes were portrayed by the US media and foreign policy community as great achievements of Western democracy and humanitarianism.
In the first decade of the 21st century Americans lost their constitutional protections and had their pocketbooks opened to indefinite wars. The latest report is that Washington is sending US troops into 35 African countries. http://rt.com/usa/news/us-deploying-troops-order-749/print/
—————————————————-
Alex speaks with Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. about H.CON.RES.107 — a bill that deems the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.
http://youtu.be/g9szk50VQes
December 30th, 2012, 5:41 pm
zoo said:
Erdogan exploding with verbal hysteria next to silent Al Khatib that he introduced to the crowd as their next leader.
Question: Did he shout in Turkish for his own propaganda or in Arabic for the Syrian refugees?
World tells Assad to get out, says Erdoğan
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/world-tells-assad-to-get-out-says-erdogan.aspx?pageID=238&nID=38016&NewsCatID=338
ŞANLIURFA – Doğan News Agency
It is time for Syrian President al-Assad ‘to get out,’ PM Erdoğan says, criticizing the former’s cruelty while hailing the opposition as Syria’s next rulers
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses locals and Syrian refugees in Akçakale on the Syrian border as Moaz al-Khatib, the head of the National Coalition for Opposition Forces and the Syrian Revolution, looks on.
…
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduced the head of the Syrian opposition National Coalition to cheering crowds in Akçakale yesterday while calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit in the strongest terms yet.
December 30th, 2012, 5:46 pm
revenire said:
Some of our boys on their way to clean the rats from Hama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAerPY4lze0
Without NATO’s help the FSA is done for.
December 30th, 2012, 6:00 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
MJABALI, it wasn’t my intent to offer a garbled English translation and by so doing misinform readers. I thank you for offering a better understanding of that one paragraph from the Al-Hayat story, and wish you or others had the time to correct the garble for remaining paragraphs.
As I said, and Sami noted, “I post the whole garble, hoping someone can amplify its main points.”
Why not?
Imagine that the aim was to get this story introduced in discussion, which is mostly conducted here in English. You could do a useful job by fixing the garble in a couple more paragraphs of machine-translation, or help discussion along by amplifying the main points as you see them — the significant points that compelled you to post the Al-Hayat link in the first place.
However, I certainly don’t ask you uniquely. There are plenty of Arabic speakers to provide.
(I asked on Twitter for a translation of the headline:
الثورة إذ تستجير بالعلويين
and got back “The Revolution Seeks Refuge Among the Alawites”)
What I got, was the central point that Alawite communities welcome and are influenced by the refugees/displaced in their midst. That their perceptions and mindsets need to be considered, and that the perceptions and mindset are powerfully affected by the regime control of the machinery and spectacle of death — as well as by the displaced in their midst.
In the end, I guess all I could ask of you is to discuss that Al-Hayat story and make it more meaningful.
Similarly, you make good points in regard to secular orientation among Alawites, reasons and historicity, grounded in your perceptions. These are also points you can amplify for discussion, without necessarily giving weight to Observer, whom you disdain.
You offer a unique perspective and set of experiences, Mjabali, and need not be stifled by those whom you see as opponents …
(thanks, SAMI, for chiming in and offering Mjabali an opportunity to respond further)
December 30th, 2012, 6:00 pm
revenire said:
الرئيس بشار الأسد يستقبل المنتخب الوطني بطل غرب أسيا
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW7Fpdf3vxk
Bashar looks great. So relaxed. Must be those quiet nights of peaceful deep sleep.
December 30th, 2012, 6:09 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
From your article above:
” But even if it was my own father, and he turned cruel, I would not walk the same path with him because consenting to cruelty is cruelty itself,” Erdoğan said. ”
I hope you live healthy and happy till at least 95 but I worry for you when you face God.
December 30th, 2012, 6:09 pm
Syrian said:
185. REVENIRE said:
TOO FUNNY! LOL THE DESPERATE APES BELIEVE ANY LIE AT ALL.
291. REVENIRE said:
“Head of the MPs? Yes, this is going to hasten …
Traitor Al-Shallal had only one month left to retire and is an inveterate gambler. His pension was a paltry £S 16,000 (16,000.00 SYP = 225.354 USD give or take). He was offered a few dollars and took them while he could. For such a man the price is often cheap.
It is of no consequence.”
December 30th, 2012, 6:21 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
I thank ZOO for offering an answer to me:
…
…
…
Nope. That’s a dodge, and very telling one.
Incidentally, I checked against the SC database of comments and was surprised to find that TARA was right. You have never criticized the President for ‘mistakes’ at any time on SC (at least in those words). At best, back in 2011, long after the ‘dialogue’ failure, you did reproduced stories from the media in which the ‘mistakes’ were cited, without comment.
But let’s look at this, ZOO, shall we? TARA claims you have never criticized the Prez. You claim that you did in the early days criticize some presidential “mistakes.”
In fact, you did not.
Does that surprise you, ZOO? That at no time since you joined discussion here have you uttered a criticism of the President of Syria? Even die-hards who fear everything you fear in Syria have managed to utter such things.
Anyhow. In the context of the first failed ‘national dialogue’ in which the bar to discussion by the LCC and other named (but not invited) personages and groups was The Security Solution — the mistake on the side of the government, in your mind, the only ever mistake made by the President was ‘the absence of key opposition figures.’
If my summation is accurate, can we quote you on that going forward?
December 30th, 2012, 6:27 pm
Tara said:
Syrian childhood, displaced
http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs161/1107248863332/img/96.jpg
December 30th, 2012, 6:27 pm
revenire said:
The Syrian Diary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWUjgSmrN7Y
This is the freedom the apes want to bring us. The freedom to die.
December 30th, 2012, 6:29 pm
Syrian said:
President of Syria Muaz Alkhatib with prime minster of Turkey , Mr. Ardugan and his wife visiting the Syrian refugees in Turkey
https://m.facebook.com/aksalser.web.offcial?id=235395973220945&_rdr#!/photo.php?fbid=385106428249898&id=235395973220945&set=a.235630623197480.54109.235395973220945&%24MURI__user=0
December 30th, 2012, 6:56 pm
zoo said:
#197 WSS
Am I on trial? Where you do you think you are? Nuremberg?
Come on, instead of digging old stuff like Mrs Marple and with an elaborate pseudo-intellectual style claim “revelations” or childishly picking on people who disagree with you, try to be an adult and bring some original ideas or else create your own Blog-tribunal : The Bully Scherk where you can bash with the boredom you excel in your enemies.
Go on, dump one more of your presomptuous ‘essay’… Don’t forget to use text formatting gimmicks, it may at least look professional.
December 30th, 2012, 7:00 pm
zoo said:
#200 Syrian
Yes, and note the ridiculous outfit of Erdogan that he claims is a “Syrian traditional clothes”. I wonder if anyone of your family wears that “hat”.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/news/201212/n_38009_4.jpg
http://medya.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/2012/12/30/arab.jpg
Did Al Khatib addressed a word to these poor refugees or he let Erdogan do the talking in Turkish?
December 30th, 2012, 7:08 pm
Citizen said:
Lavrov surprised by the statement of Muaz al-Khatib and called him as not very experienced in politics, and advised him to proceed not from his ambitions but start from the fate of his people!
http://www.vesti.ru/only_video.html?vid=475813
December 30th, 2012, 7:16 pm
Syrian said:
201 zoo
Maybe none of my family wear that outfit, but more than half of Syria do, in all of eastern Syria, damascus suberb and in Dar’a that is their outfit,
At least he is checking on the refugees and giving them some hope and lefting their broken spirit that they are not forgotten
Bashar have not even went once to check even on his suportes refugees not even for photo op.
December 30th, 2012, 7:40 pm
zoo said:
After the greenlight given by Al Khatib to renewed military violence instead of the dialog proposed by the UN envoy, the Syrian army is flexing its muscles.
It has regaining most of Homs and other ‘liberated’ areas. The agitated medias quote ‘analysts’ using again the same cliché of the ‘desperate’ regime killing children, while discreetly mentioning that it is fighting mainly against Al Nusra
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Dec-31/200425-clashes-strikes-kill-23-children-in-one-day.ashx#ixzz2GaNnWGn9
Analysts say the surge in airstrikes by Syrian forces are a “desperate” attempt by President Bashar Assad’s regime to reverse rampant gains by rebel fighters, especially in the north of the country.
Overnight, regime forces battled rebels in the opposition stronghold of Harasta northeast of Damascus and bombarded the town of Moadamiyet al-Sham to the southwest and Bait Saham near the airport road to the southeast, the Observatory said.
…
Opposition fighters, mostly from the jihadist Nusra Front, have been closing in on the base since overrunning the nearby town of Maaret alNuman in early October.
Read more:
December 30th, 2012, 7:51 pm
Syrian said:
And why is it an issue the Turkish language they are inside Turkey the guy will not speak Arabic on Turkish soil even if can speak Arabic , and I’m sure president Alkhatib will address them in Arabic at later time.
December 30th, 2012, 7:52 pm
zoo said:
#204 Syrian
Anyway, Erdogan looked ridiculous.. He took it off very quickly in the other photos with Al Khatib.
Do you know if Erdogan spoke in arabic as I know he speaks literary arabic but not Syrian dialect? I guess most of the Syrians refugees don’t understand Turkish.
Did Moaz Al Khatib the ex-preacher addressed the desperate refugees? If not, why did he remain silent? It would be very bad for his image as he would look weak and dominated by Erdogan. Isn’t he the ‘sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people”?
Maybe that after he defended publicly al Nusra terrorists, criticized the USA and insulted Russia, Al Khatib is exclusively relying and dependent on the Moslem Brotherhood duo: Turkey and Qatar.
If that show in Turkey’s refugees camps was a PR to allow him to become better known by the Syrians others than the expats, it looks like Erdogan stole it.
December 30th, 2012, 8:07 pm
revenire said:
Ha ha Syrian is your rodent al-Khatib the new president of Islamic Emirate of Homs? Does Erdogan let him off his chain long enough to travel to Homs?
In mid-June 2012, a report stated that in March an ill-fated “Islamic Emirate of Homs” was declared by a Lebanese Islamist radical, Al-Boustani, who appointed himself the Emir. Al-Boustani reportedly engaged in kidnapping and murder while claiming to wage jihad against the Syrian government. The “Emirate” lasted only a few weeks. Eventually, a local FSA brigade executed Al-Boustani amidst accusations that the jihadist was not only a traitor to the Syrian opposition but also a Syrian government agent. Al-Boustani had formerly been one of the leaders of Fatah al-Islam.
Anonymous OP Syria – Exposed names and origins of the “Syrian rebels”
December 30th, 2012, 8:13 pm
Syrian said:
ألا لا يجهلن أحد على موسكو!
صبحي حديدي
” سيرغي لافروف، اعتبر أنّ قرار أحمد معاذ الخطيب، رئيس الائتلاف الوطني السوري، برفض تلبية الدعوة”
الروسية لزيارة موسكو (وتشديده، في المقابل، على الاستعداد لحوار يشترط تنحّي رأس النظام)؛ كان مفاجئاً له، وهو قرار ناجم عن انعدام خبرة الخطيب في السياسة.
في المقابل تجلّت خبرات لافروف السياسية على هذا النحو: ‘هدف الائتلاف الوطني السوري هو إسقاط النظام السوري، وهذا يخالف ما اتفقنا عليه في جنيف’، ولا نعرف مَن اتفق مع مَن، على ماذا، ساعة إعلان تشكيل الائتلاف؛ أو هذه: ‘إذا كان رئيس الائتلاف سياسياً جدياً، فإنّ من واجبه أن يسمع تحليلنا’، وكأنّ ذلك ‘التحليل’ لم يشتهر في أربع رياح الأرض، وبدأ وتواصل وانحصر في تأييد النظام، وتسليحه، وتعطيل قرارات مجلس الأمن الدولي.”
http://alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today\30qpt998.htm&arc=data\2012\12\12-30\30qpt998.htm
December 30th, 2012, 8:16 pm
Syrian said:
Zoo
You trying to split hairs all day
As if president Alkhateeb spoke Arabic,annanoced the rebirth of Syria from the libirated areas and Turkish prime minster spoke in Shami dialect and all the of the moons,plants and the stars were all aligned in a perfect order would change your opinion one bit
Again they both traveled thousands of miles to be with the poor refugees , while Bashar did not even travel 2 miles to go to Sebeki or Aljahaz parks to visit ppl sleeping on the ground.
December 30th, 2012, 8:44 pm
revenire said:
Syrian Bashar protected the entire nation. That’s what did.
December 30th, 2012, 8:54 pm
Syrian said:
صالحى يعلن قريباً الإفراج عن الرهائن الإيرانيين الـ 47 فى سوريا
http://www.almustagbal.com/archives/243768
I sure hope they got a good price for them
December 30th, 2012, 9:17 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Clinton fainted three weeks ago,had a concussion,and developed blood clot, now she in presbyterian hospital treated with blood thinner..I don’t remember blood thinner is a treatment for concussion,weird story, they must have discovered the clot 3-4 weeks ago, why hospitalization now?why did they call it stomach flu then?
December 30th, 2012, 9:25 pm
zoo said:
#210 Syrian
Sorry, but the least you would except from someone who claims to be the legitimate leader of the Syrian people and who supposedly want to save these fellow refugees is to adress them directly in arabic instead of letting an egomaniac foreign ruler hysterically announcing the end of their misery, don’t you think so?
For the sake of the remaining credibility of that Coalition in which Syrians put a lot of expectations, I hope he did, but I have not seen it reported in the news
December 30th, 2012, 9:26 pm
zoo said:
#213 Majed
Al Arabya will soon spread the rumors that Lavrov poisoned her…
December 30th, 2012, 9:32 pm
MarigoldRan said:
@ Zoo
And the regime will spread rumors that it did it through voodoo magic.
December 30th, 2012, 9:45 pm
zoo said:
A “civilian massacre” in Deir Baalba or the killing of rebels and terrorists who have been trapped in Homs for the last month and that FSA could not “evacuate”?
http://www.startribune.com/world/185238432.html?refer=y
On Saturday, the government announced that it was in control of Deir Baalba, a suburb of the central city of Homs, after having surrounded the rebel-held town about a month ago. Opposition groups, whose reports cannot be verified, said government forces committed a massacre in the battle for the town.
Walid Faris, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Council of Homs, said by telephone that Deir Baalba is surrounded by villages populated by members of the Alawite sect of President Bashar Assad. During the army counteroffensive, it was hit heavily by artillery shells and mortar rounds, he said, and the rebel Free Syrian Army managed to clear a small evacuation route to get most civilians out of the conflict zone.
But some remained. As government troops moved back into Deir Baalba, Faris said, 150 to 180 people were rounded up and taken to a petrochemical university, where they were executed. Their bodies and houses were burned before dawn, he said. Other reports put the death toll higher, at 220, including women and children.
December 30th, 2012, 9:46 pm
zoo said:
In any case Miss Piggy is history now…
December 30th, 2012, 9:49 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Clinton will out-live Assad.
December 30th, 2012, 9:50 pm
zoo said:
“Arm the opposition, set a no-fly zone, make use of the Turkish Patriots … as history will judge us”
By John McCain, Joseph I. Lieberman and and Lindsey O. Graham,
Sunday, December 30, 8:07 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syrias-descent-into-hell/2012/12/30/abc244bc-511f-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html
…
The United States must rally our allies to channel assistance to the newly established Syrian opposition council for distribution in the rebel-held areas. We must provide weapons and other lethal assistance to the opposition military command. And we must impose a no-fly zone in some areas of Syria, to include using the U.S. Patriot missile batteries en route to Turkey, to protect people in northern Syria from Assad’s aerial attacks.
If we remain on the current course, future historians are likely to record the slaughter of innocent Syrians, and the resulting harm done to America’s national interests and moral standing, as a shameful failure of U.S. leadership and one of the darker chapters in our history. That should unsettle us all as we pray for peace and goodwill this holiday season.
December 30th, 2012, 10:02 pm
zoo said:
Yes, just like Ariel Sharon will outlive us all.
December 30th, 2012, 10:04 pm
Syrian said:
Zoo
Well for such high standees, I expect you to ask the same if not more of Bashar toward refugees 2 miles from his house
Or even going once on TV and addressing the nation or even his supporters directly about the war or anything.
he has never done that for last 12 years.
December 30th, 2012, 10:12 pm
Syrian said:
…..
December 30th, 2012, 10:13 pm
zoo said:
Military map changes in Aleppo
December 30th, 2012, 10:14 pm
zoo said:
222. Syrian
According to the opposition, that includes you I suppose, Bashar al Assad is no more the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, so I guess you can’t ask him much anymore.
Adress your complaints to your ‘sole representative” : Moaz Al Khatib.
December 30th, 2012, 10:18 pm
Syrian said:
Zoo 224
I said I “expect” to you to ask him
Ask yourself why your president never done what your asking of Alkhatib to do!
December 30th, 2012, 10:40 pm
MarigoldRan said:
No, not true at all. Assad’s chances of staying alive in Syria are low and getting lower. He could live in exile, but he chose against that option. Hillary probably has another decade to live, though to do that she should find a less stressful line of work.
Glad you finally recognize that Assad is no longer a representative of the Syrian people. He is, at most, a representative of the Alawites, but even the Alawites are coming to detest him. They’re beginning to realize what a big failure he has been. Sooner or later he’s going to get deposed. Best get with the program now. He has committed too many crimes to negotiate with.
For America’s interests, McCain was probably right. Too late now.
December 30th, 2012, 11:10 pm
Juergen said:
Reve 193
See these shows need to end, what message is that: The President has met with the national soccer team, what relevance has that? I am thankful our media is not showing me the agenda of my chancelor Angela Merkel on state owned tv. Dictators have their kind of information policies, I understand that, the meet and greet shows make most of their day, eventually interrupted by kissing small innocent babys. I was once present when Al Wahash had such a greeting show in the old city at his favorite restaurant, all those to be greeted were carefuly choosen and brought in by buses, so they can meet up with their saviour in front of the restaurant. Well you must be a smart men to believe all that has importance, its at the end a big lie, and I do believe he himself is smart enough to know its a big lie.
December 31st, 2012, 12:29 am
Juergen said:
Syria’s descent into hell
By John McCain, Joseph I. Lieberman and and Lindsey O. Graham
“The United States must rally our allies to channel assistance to the newly established Syrian opposition council for distribution in the rebel-held areas. We must provide weapons and other lethal assistance to the opposition military command. And we must impose a no-fly zone in some areas of Syria, to include using the U.S. Patriot missile batteries en route to Turkey, to protect people in northern Syria from Assad’s aerial attacks.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syrias-descent-into-hell/2012/12/30/abc244bc-511f-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html
In Syria, What’s Left Behind?
Posted by Rania Abouzeid
“There’s a saying in Arabic that we offer to console in times of material loss: “Kuloo be yit’awad”—Everything can be compensated and replaced. But photos are more than things; a child’s toys are more than things, political ideologies mean a way of life not just an idea on paper, and apartment doors that have been kicked in reflect more than just the quality of the lock.”
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/12/in-syria-whats-left-behind.html
December 31st, 2012, 12:36 am
revenire said:
McCain lost his mind after being kept in a cage too long in Nam. He is nicknamed “Hand Grenade” in the United States.
December 31st, 2012, 12:41 am
Juergen said:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=439962276058708&set=a.177018882353050.47869.175539832500955&type=1&theater
December 31st, 2012, 12:49 am
Juergen said:
a new Robert Fisk article:
Does Arab progress founder on an ossified language?
The Long View: We need to understand our history better: why did Arabs disappear from ‘our’ science?
“Arabic culture, according to Iraqi-born journalist and writer Walid al-Kobeissi, is founded upon three pillars: Arab nationalism, Islam and the Arabic language. If one of these pillars gives way, the culture collapses.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/does-arab-progress-founder-on-an-ossified-language-8433446.html
December 31st, 2012, 2:22 am
revenire said:
From our friends at Al Arabiya (they are a little late to report news of beheadings carried out by the FSA animals because this has been going on since Day 1 of the “peaceful revolution” but better late than never I say):
Syrian rebels beheaded Christian, fed his body to dogs: nun
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/31/257933.html
A nun sounded the alarm that the Syrian conflict was becoming sectarian when she said that a Christian man was beheaded by Syrian rebels in the northern town of Ras al-Ayn on the Turkish border, and his body was fed to dogs, a British newspaper reported Monday.
Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix speaking from her sanctuary in Lebanon said the newlywed taxi driver, Andrei Arbashe, was kidnapped after his brother was heard complaining that the rebels fighting against beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad were behaving like bandits, The Daily Mail reported.
The 38-year-old Arbashe, who was soon to be a father, was found headless by the side of the road, surrounded by hungry dogs, Sister Agnes-Miriam, who is mother superior of the Monastery of St James the Mutilated, added.
“His only crime was his brother criticized the rebels, accused them of acting like bandits, which is what they are.”
Mid-December, the newly formed Syrian National Coalition obtained wide recognition including from the United States and the European Union. France and British were one of the earliest countries from the Western world that recognized the coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people in November.
But Western powers until now are hesitant on whether to supply the opposition fighters with weapons. Western support so far has been in terms of non-lethal military equipment.
Meanwhile, the 60-year-old nun condemned Britain and the West for supporting anti-Assad fighters in spite of growing evidence showing human rights violations committed by them. She listed murder, kidnapping, rape and robbery as rising crimes.
“The free and democratic world is supporting extremists,” Sister Agnes-Miriam said from her sanctuary in Lebanon. “They want to impose Sharia Law and create an Islamic state in Syria.”
In December, Washington blacklisted the opposition al-Nusra Front group, saying it was linked to al-Qaeda. U.S. officials fear that groups such as al-Nusra Front to hijack the 21-month Syrian uprising. The Syrian conflict killed more than 45,000 people.
Christians in Syria, who many of them still support Assad regime, were previously given concessions by the Syrian regime to appease them. The Christians, a minority , also skeptical over regime change in the country as they fear the rise of Islamists.
December 31st, 2012, 2:28 am
Juergen said:
I would be very careful to believe what sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix is stating, in my opinion she is on a crusade for her saviour. I wouldnt be surprise to find out that she like many other sisters has regular contacts with Bashars mother.
But, if true this is a undoubtly an atrocious crime.
December 31st, 2012, 2:45 am
revenire said:
So the Catholic nuns are with the “Assad regime” too? Maybe she will get decapitated next?
It is in the British press too:
“Syria rebels ‘beheaded a Christian and fed him to the dogs’ as fears grow over Islamist atrocities
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255103/Syria-rebels-beheaded-Christian-fed-dogs-fears-grow-Islamist-atrocities.html
“Christian Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped and beheaded by rebel fighters in northern town of Ras Al-Ayn on the Turkish border
News came as pro-government forces celebrated their victory against rebels near Aleppo Airport”
You know as well as I do it isn’t the first time this has happened. What kind of animals behead people? These are your freedom fighters?
The world doesn’t give two f0*Ks about Syria and if it did the US Marines would be helping the SAAF drop barrel bombs on these dogs. Instead, the US is helping whacked-out Salafist terrorists murder civilians. These FSA monsters would, and if given the chance, turn their guns on the US in two seconds flat. The only thing these killers understand is death.
The world should be thanking Assad for bringing all these monsters to one country: easier to kill them all.
December 31st, 2012, 2:58 am
Juergen said:
Reve
Well, they are obviously very silent when it comes to decades of Assad terror and torture. Not a very pleasant christian behaviour, but obviously the Catholic church has an appetite for appeasement if we take Francos rule and Pinochets terrorregime in context, both were highly protected and supported by the Catholic church at their time.
I understand that personal contacts and affiliations help to improve the situations for Christians, but intense contacts and receivement of funds directly from the family of the dictator, or being silent in front of the terror committed by this regime is something else.
December 31st, 2012, 3:17 am
Juergen said:
Bashar should hurry up for getting an visa for Venezuela, Chavez health is seriously deteriorating. A residence on Isla Margarita could be much better than residing in Tehran or Moscow.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/30/business/cuba-chavez-health/
December 31st, 2012, 3:47 am
Citizen said:
Syrian newspaper confirmed the arrest of four Turkish pilots trying Quieres penetrate the airfield in the province of Aleppo/
December 31st, 2012, 3:51 am
Citizen said:
Sharia state and genocide of Christians by the Western money: the situation in Syria
Sergei Shakaryants – political scientist (Yerevan)
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.regnum.ru%2Fnews%2Fpolit%2F1608363.html
December 31st, 2012, 3:55 am
Citizen said:
Syrian people’s struggle against imperialism
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsland.com%2Fnews%2Fdetail%2Fid%2F1100094%2F
The situation in Syria is largely due to external aggression. Syria is in a low-intensity war with Israel and the United States for decades.
Unprecedented in scale crisis, backed by the American ruling elite has reached a cynical by barbarism and disregard for international law, a level equal to that not been the case for the entire series of invasions and wars that the U.S. elite is constantly after the Second World War.
Failure to comply with international law and the Charter of the United Nations leads to the fact that U.S. officials are increasingly not reckon with the rules of the establishment of diplomatic relations between sovereign states, which our civilization has developed over the past few centuries. Their commitment to the law of the jungle approved and adopts their Western vassals, most of whom are ardent Sarkozy, Fabius, Hollande and Juppe.
This situation continues to deteriorate in the past several years, so that no opponent of imperialism can not ignore it, forced Syria to strengthen the sovereign state power, of course, this power is not perfect and not without its flaws, but it allowed her to stay and remain today the only all the Arab countries of the Middle East a truly independent secular country capable of resisting the Euro-Atlantic and the Zionist vandalism, species with the reaction of radical Islam.
Rejecting Vassalization and the destruction of their country, the anti-imperialist government of the Syrian Arab Republic and the people, who for the most part actively supports it, are now bitter struggle and fiercely resist foreign military aggression. The latter was developed and prepared in advance by U.S. intelligence agencies and is the Western and Zionist barbarians with mercenaries from jihadists Wahhabi and Salafi takfiristov.
This aggression role that militants “free Syria” army, is secondary to the terrorist groups were sent from abroad. They are merely auxiliary force and serve to create an illusion to give local color external aggression and serve Syrian alibi.
Despite the severity of the Euro-Atlantic intervention and inhumanity of the military aggression, funded by billions of dollars from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, despite the betrayal and remunerated occupation of Syrian territory by Israel, which claims to be the annexation of the Golan Heights, the Syrians are under legal government still stood at democratization of society and the struggle for independence, sovereignty, civil law and reject the sectarian civil war.
We all see that more than two years in Syria is a sequential formation of people’s power. In contrast to what is happening in France, as well as in other countries – Evrodiktatury vassals whose financial oligarchy destroying the state apparatus, democracy and people’s power, condemning them to social regression, which they always get worse.
In his speech, delivered March 30, 2011 in the National Assembly, President Bashar al-Assad announced reforms that after that he always carried in practice, in spite of the obstacles that inevitably multiplies the military situation in this particularly complex area of democratic freedoms.
Resistance to external aggression and democratic reforms….
December 31st, 2012, 4:02 am
Citizen said:
236. JUERGEN
Where your imagination suggests broad send 400,000 fighters from the Syrian Arab army, who are extremely loyal to their boss?Are you defeat them Mr. Juеrgen?إyour comments are ridiculous!
December 31st, 2012, 4:22 am
MarigoldRan said:
The Catholic nuns have nothing to complain about. As Juergen said, they were silent about the regime’s brutality. They have no right to speak.
@ Citizen
The regime’s army at this point is probably out-numbered by the FSA. On paper they havve 400000 troops. In reality, most of soldiers have either defected, or are planning to defect. The regime’s soldiers have no morale. They are incapable of sustaining any major offensive.
The regime continues to lose ground everywhere. Look at where the fighting is taking place. It has spread to the central provinces of Hama and Raqqa. In the meantime defections are accelerating again.
I’m always amused when regime supporters start talking about international law. It’s not as if the regime follows international law so why should its enemies follow them?
The regime and its supporters have been brutal and violent for 40 years. Now it is their turn to face brutality and violence. Once again, what comes around, goes around.
December 31st, 2012, 4:43 am
Juergen said:
Citizen
“Extremely loyal to their boss…”, that alone is an interessting quote, very sound if we talk about an militia instead of an army.
I would be very cautious about such numbers, I think the world has seen many delusional dictators who always thought they were still widely supported, well history has proven things can get quite fast, especially when folks see more clearly that the ride is ending. And as I have said earlier, everyone likes to be in the winning team.
December 31st, 2012, 4:49 am
Observer said:
The major problem with ZOO is that he assumes that the regime is fully legitimate and that any dissent is by definition illegitimate.
The regime has lost legitimacy a long time ago.
First the current President assumed power when the constitution would not allow it. It was amended by a rubber stamp majlis without discussion. Second he was the only candidate of the Baath party, no other candidates were accepted, third the people voted yea or nay on his candidacy without any other contestants.
Fourthly, he had the constitution changed recently without any discussion from the opposition and we do not have any figures on the percent of participation and the approval of 51% was fake to say the least.
The abrogation of the state of emergency has remained without effect and the use of force is illegitimate to say the least.
The so called internal opposition has absolutely no weight and the freedoms and guarantees are non existent.
These only scratch the surface of the mafiosi nature of the state.
The regime is a criminal one to the core.
WSS when I asked Majbali whether the Alawis have become secular, I did not mean that they were abandoning any religious belief. I know that the sect is not particularly religious and is quite liberal in its outlook and beliefs, my question was as to whether they have stopped thinking as a sect. You can be like me a liberal one and an atheist and still think as a Sunni sect in your feelings and your allegiances. These are emotionally binding sentiments that take discipline to abandon.
I do feel for the Alawis if they were persecuted before and I do feel for the Sunnis in their struggle for freedom but I also recognize the need for a transcendent identity to emerge to save us from this tribalism even if each of us is somewhat victim of its trappings.
Cheers and justice for Hamza and let the illegitimate regimes disappear from the face of the earth
December 31st, 2012, 7:21 am
zoo said:
Presence of extremists in Syria sends chills down Syrians’ spines
Monday, 31 December 2012 10:24
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/20-analysis-opinions/27978-presence-of-extremists-in-syria-sends-chills-down-syrians-spines
With the growing presence of radical Islamists affiliated with al-Qaida in Syria, fear and apprehension have crept up among the moderate Syrians, sending chills down their spines about the vague and uncertain future of their country.
As the crisis in the country is nearing to enter its third year, its complications and repercussions are also growing larger; especially now that the armed rebels’ ranks are overwhelmed with radicals from al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaida terror network in Iraq.
Even the international community, who has for long blamed the Syrian administration for the bulk of the violence in Syria, admitted now the threats of al-Qaida-linked groups in Syria. The US branded al-Nusra Front last week as a terror network, after the group has claimed responsibility for almost all explosions that rocked the government and army forces’ installations over the past year.
…
Some other Syrians firmly believe that a more serious chaos would be the title of a post-Assad era in case he decided to go.
Resentment among the Damascenes has also become on the upswing with daily reports about robbery and kidnapping.
Some believe that the armed militias are lurking for wealthy Syrians for ransoms, as they are running short of funds to buy weapons and ammunition. Others suggest that gangs and thieves are capitalizing on the current chaos to make money by kidnapping rich Damascenes to demand ransom; while some people think that some pro- government armed militias are also carrying out some kidnappings to tarnish the opposition.
“Some people have become traumatized by the losses of loved ones,” Asma said, trying to gather her composure and wipe away tears.
She said a relative of hers had been kidnapped and the captors called his family two days after his disappearance for ransom. “We paid one million Syrian pound and he didn’t show up,” she said while choking back tears.
“Two years ago,” she said, “we didn’t even think or imagine that something like this would ever happen in Syria … we are in a real nightmare.”
With the growing complicity of the crisis, Syrian officials still confirm that Assad still keeps a tight rein on the country and downplay rebels’ accounts of achieving gains on ground.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad told the BBC recently that “The government is strong. The Syrian army is strong, and the Syrian people are still rallying behind President Assad. That’s why President Assad and the political system are still surviving and they will still survive.
December 31st, 2012, 8:49 am
zoo said:
Observer
“I also recognize the need for a transcendent identity”
A surprising U_turn.
No more advocating the splitting Syria in ethnic and religious entities?
That’s a real progress…
December 31st, 2012, 8:53 am
zoo said:
237. Juergen said:
“Bashar should hurry up for getting an visa for Venezuela
Don’t worry too much about Bashar, worry about yourself getting a visa to Syria in the future.
December 31st, 2012, 8:57 am
zoo said:
Erdogan who supposedly speaks fluently Arabic ( because of his islamic upbringing) adresses the Syrian refugees in Turkish with simultaneous translation.
Al Khatib remained silent like a carp, and at the end Erdogan pulls him to kiss him: The Turkish “allegeance” of Al Khatib..
December 31st, 2012, 9:15 am
zoo said:
The Damascus suburbs ‘liberation’ from the rebel in progress?
Assad’s forces push to retake Damascus suburb
31/12/2012
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=32373
AMMAN,(Reuters) – Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Damascus on Monday as elite troops backed by tanks tried to recapture a strategic suburb from rebels in one of the largest military operations in that district in months, opposition activists said.
Five people, including one child, died from army rocket fire that hit Daraya, the activists said. Daraya is one of a series of interconnected Sunni Muslim suburbs that ring Syria’s capital and have been at the forefront of the 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
“This is the biggest attack on Daraya in two months. An armoured column is trying to advance but it being held (back) by the Free Syrian Army,” said Abu Kinan, an opposition activist in the area, referring to a rebel group.
He said that tens of thousands of civilians had fled Daraya during weeks of government assault but that 5,000 remained, along with hundreds of rebels. Daraya is located near the main southern highway leading to the Jordanian border 85 kms (50 miles) to the south.
Activists said the military is trying to push back rebels who have been slowly advancing from the outskirts of Damascus to within striking distance of central districts inhabited by Assad’s Alawite minority sect.
December 31st, 2012, 9:25 am
zoo said:
By becoming ill, Hillary Clinton has avoided the testimony before the Congress where her incompetence in the Benghazi’s bloody debacle would have been made public.
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=32369
Clinton was forced to cancel Dec. 20 testimony before Congress about a scathing report into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The report found that serious failures of leadership and management in two State Department bureaus were to blame for insufficient security at the facility. Clinton took responsibility for the incident before the report was released, but she was not blamed.
Some conservative commentators suggested Clinton was faking the seriousness of her illness and concussion to avoid testifying, although State Department officials vehemently denied that was the case.
December 31st, 2012, 9:30 am
Juergen said:
Zoo,
Dont worry, I have no plans on visiting Assad-Syria again, I will visit Free Syria very soon.
Syria Civil War: Gravediggers Have No Time To Wait For The Dead
“Massacres are happening. We’re putting every two or three bodies together. We’ve been working and digging since 6 in the morning. We’re going to dig 10 new graves today,” he said.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/30/syria-civil-war-gravediggers_n_2384614.html
December 31st, 2012, 9:49 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoo,the sectarian vampire,with very high MI, said
“The Damascus suburbs ‘liberation’ from the rebel in progress?”
Is failure of Assad thugs , is it progress?your lack of intelligence is clear, and your high MI is due to high S
The battles around Idlib are suggesting a major defeat of Assad thugs.
Safawi regime is surprised by the events in Iraq, and Maliki is surprised too,
Revenire is a douch bag
December 31st, 2012, 10:48 am
mjabali said:
ماجدخلدون:
اخيرا تعلمت كيف تهجي هالمسبة . بيني وبينك استخدام هيك كلمة لايليق بك… نصيحة من غريب
December 31st, 2012, 11:14 am
revenire said:
This isn’t from SANA but from the British press. Every British man would take up arms against the Salafists and wipe them off the face of the planet for doing this. Every American man would bring these animals to justice.
This isn’t a revolution. This is sectarian murder. This is genocide. This is a war crime.
The only things protecting minorities from wholesale slaughter is Assad and the Syrian Arab Army.
Syria rebels ‘beheaded a Christian and fed him to the dogs’ as fears grow over Islamist atrocities
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255103/Syria-rebels-beheaded-Christian-fed-dogs-fears-grow-Islamist-atrocities.html
Christian Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped and beheaded by rebel fighters in northern town of Ras Al-Ayn on the Turkish border
News came as pro-government forces celebrated their victory against rebels near Aleppo Airport
Syrian rebels beheaded a Christian man and fed his body to dogs, according to a nun who says the West is ignoring atrocities
committed by Islamic extremists.
The nun said taxi driver Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped after his brother was heard complaining that fighters against the ruling regime behaved like bandits.
She said his headless corpse was found by the side of the road, surrounded by hungry dogs. He had recently married and was soon to be a father.
Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix said: ‘His only crime was his brother criticised the rebels, accused them of acting like bandits, which is what they are.’
There have been a growing number of accounts of atrocities carried out by rogue elements of the Syrian Free Army, which opposes dictator Bashar al-Assad and is recognised by Britain and the West as the legitimate leadership.
Sister Agnes-Miriam, mother superior of the Monastery of St James the Mutilated, has condemned Britain and the west for supporting the rebels despite growing evidence of human rights abuses. Murder, kidnapping, rape and robbery are becoming commonplace, she says.
‘The free and democratic world is supporting extremists,’ Sister Agnes-Miriam said from her sanctuary in Lebanon. ‘They want to impose Sharia Law and create an Islamic state in Syria.’
The 60-year-old Carmelite nun claims the west has turned a blind eye to growing evidence of a ‘fifth column’ of fanatics within the rag-tag ranks that make up the Free Syrian Army that they back to oust Assad.
One of the most effective fighting forces is the Jabat Al-Nusra, which has an ideology similar to Al Qaeda.
‘The uprising has been hijacked by Islamist mercenaries who are more interested in fighting a holy war than in changing the government,’ she said.
‘It has turned into a sectarian conflict. One in which Christians are paying a high price.’
The rebel attacked the northern town of Ras Al-Ayn, on the Turkish border, last month. The fighters entered the Christian quarter, ordering civilians to leave and leaving their homes.
‘More than 200 families were driven out in the night,’ Sister Agnes-Miriam says. ‘People are afraid. Everywhere the deaths squads stop civilians, abduct them and ask for ransom, sometimes they kill them.’
Militants wearing black bandanas of Al Qaeda recently laid siege to the Monastery of St James the Mutilated, located between Damascus and Homs, for two days in an attempt to prevent Christmas celebrations, the nun claims.
An estimated 300,000 Christians have been displaced in the conflict, with 80,000 forced out of the Homs region alone, she claims.
Many have fled abroad raising fears that Syria’s Christian community may vanish – like others across Middle East, the birthplace of Christianity.
Al Assad, a member of the Alawite Muslim sect, claims only his regime can protect Syria’s minorities from domination from the Sunni Muslims majority.
Meanwhile the fighting continues to rage with government forces retaking control of a key district in the city of Homs yesterday.
The latest violence comes after United Nations peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned of ‘hell’ for Syria if no political solution could be found.
Russia has stated the conflict is becoming increasingly militarised and sectarian and risks bringing chaos to the whole region.
Some 44,000 people have been killed since the uprising against the Al Assad regime began in March 2011.
December 31st, 2012, 11:18 am
Observer said:
ZOO if we cannot transcend the sects and the divisions then split.
Majbali and I can do this but you cannot even come close to the intellectual level of Majbali. For you I am not a human and is illegitimate as I question the very legitimacy of your regime.
Your regime is illegitmate and your defense of the regime is illegitmate and your pretzels of arguments and quotes from the web to support your preconceived notion of justice and equity are also illegitimate.
A minimum of acceptance of the role of a leader by a community is what confers legitimacy and this legitimacy rests foremost on trutsworthiness something that your mind is incapable of comprehending.
Please skip my posts for you have not presented a single valid argument. Cut and paste is garbage that follows the regime’s garbage and will join the dustbin of history.
what will be said of the 42 years of Ghaddafi to talk about or that of Saddam for that matter? it will be similar to what Freddo and all the despots of the region will go down in history as nothing more than awful memories.
December 31st, 2012, 11:46 am
majedkhaldoun said:
.. يا رب ليكن عام ٢٠١٣ عام انتصار الثورة وسحق النظام وعودة السوريين اللاجئين والنازحين والمغتربين .. وتاسيس الأمن والاستقرار لسوريا الحبيبة .. ليكن ٢٠١٣ عامك يا سوريا .. عامك أيتها الثورة المباركة المنتصرة باذن الله وإرادة أحرار وثوار سوريا ..
Certainly 2013 will be the year we get rid of this animalistic brutal regime,bloody sectarian lawless regime, in 2013 we will see the light of freedom and justice shining over the plains and moutains of Syria, happiness and security for all Syrian,we need to rebuild Syria and advance it to the 21st century,the new Syria will have the support of other Arab countries, a friend of Turkey,working togather to the betterment of all Syrians and ME people,and justice for all.
This is the greates revolution written by the blood of so many young men and women.
December 31st, 2012, 12:32 pm
zoo said:
After Moaz al Khatib rejected negotiations…
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-12/30/c_132072376.htm
Syrian army deals big blows to rebels nationwide, killing hundreds: paper
• Syrian army has dealt strong “successful” blows to the armed rebels in several areas across Syria.
• Al-Watan daily said the army’s “qualitative” operations destroyed the armed militia’s hideouts.
• The army advanced in the eastern al-Ghouta, Douma and Daraya suburbs of Damascus.
DAMASCUS, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) — The Syrian army has dealt strong “successful” blows to the armed rebels in several areas across Syria, killing hundreds of them since last week, a pro-government daily said Sunday.
“While some pro-opposition Western countries were poising for the downfall of Syria between the 20th and 25th of the current month, relying on reports from the so-called opposition, the Syrian army had big blows to the armed rebels in several parts of Syria, all of which were successful and resulted in hundreds of deaths among the terrorists since last Thursday,” al-Watan daily said.
The daily, a mouthpiece of the Syrian government, said its information were “documented” and obtained from several provinces. It said the army’s “qualitative” operations destroyed the armed militia’s hideouts, operation centers and infrastructure from the southern province of Daraa to the northwestern Idlib province, the eastern Deir al-Zour province and the outskirts of Aleppo province.
It said the army’s wide-scale operations were coupled with raid campaigns in several districts of the capital Damascus, during which many of the rebels were detained.
The army advanced in the eastern al-Ghouta, Douma and Daraya suburbs of Damascus, the paper said, adding that Daraya still had some rebels’ pockets and the army has imposed “suffocating” siege around the area.
Meanwhile, the paper said the road to the international airport of Damascus is “a hundred percent safe,” adding that commercial flights by the Syrian airlines are ongoing.
In the northern province of Aleppo, the paper said, the army advanced forward into the eastern part of the Aleppo city and wrested back control over the Transportation Directorate. It said the troops were also working to secure the surroundings of the airport of Aleppo, the military airbase of Nairab and the Raqaa- Aleppo road.
After the armed groups’ failed attempts to control any of the military targets they attacked and besieged, the paper said, they fired for the second time at the international airport of Aleppo with rockets from the nearby al-Sfaira town.
The paper added that the Syrian air forces have pinpointed the rocket launchers’ locations and flattened them.
In the central province of Homs, the army regained full control over the Deir Balba town and attacked rebels in the countryside of the central province of Hama, according to al-Watan.
On the opposition side, activists reported Sunday airstrikes and ground shelling on several hotspots nationwide.
December 31st, 2012, 12:46 pm
Citizen said:
242.pathetic not consist Balkanian mission pilot!
Why shy away from the answer? Have you the crushing victory on the Syrian Arab army in order to consider the leader Bashar al-Assad for asylum country like Venezuela? When two years passes and the Syrian regime is still intact and when taking into account the size of the attack Western and Zionist and radical Islamic compound at which you must admit strength and the greatness of this army! Every time you will write about the asylum countries, i’ll laugh on you! You are weaker than a verified victory!
December 31st, 2012, 12:50 pm
Citizen said:
208. SYRIAN
العنوان الصحيح على هذا الرابط :
https://twitter.com/Plaid_Lavrov
December 31st, 2012, 12:58 pm
zoo said:
Observer
“Your regime is illegitmate”
Says who? The Syrian government is represented in all the institutions of the UN, and its has diplomatic relation with most countries in the world.
Please tell me in which UN institution the ‘sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people” is represented?
None.
Their alleged “sole legitimacy” is a private matter limited to the US, a few other Arab and Western countries and people like you. It has zero legality in the international politics.
As long as there is no alternative government recognized officially by the UN and the international community, the sole legitimate government of Syria is the current government under the presidency of Bashar al Assad, whether you like it or not.
Go on, repeat all day long your affirmations, they are worthless.
December 31st, 2012, 12:58 pm
Observer said:
Illegitimate says the Syrian people. They have said many times over and over not only over the last 2 years but over the last 50 years many of whom voted with the feet and many of whom refused to die for the mafiosi state and many more refused to serve and many more are fighting a liberation war.
Says who my foot, Your regime and your posts are illegitimate.
Representation at the UN indeed to confer legitimacy.
Beam me up Scottie there is no intelligent life form in this ZOO
December 31st, 2012, 1:10 pm
Juergen said:
Robert Fisk, back from his holidays
Could Saudi Arabia be next?
Nobody can predict which way the ‘Arab Awakening’ will turn this year. But Robert Fisk has ventured a very tentative punt or two…
Syria
‘Yes, Assad will go. One day. He says as much. But don’t expect it to happen in the immediate future. Or Gaddafi-style.’
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/could-saudi-arabia-benext-8434179.html
December 31st, 2012, 1:17 pm
revenire said:
“Illegitimate says the Syrian people.” No, Observer the Syrian people never said that. And terrorist rats with guns won’t ever force the issue. Keep dreaming of victory because it will be as close as you Salafist apes will ever come.
Long live the Syrian Arab Army and long live Syria.
December 31st, 2012, 1:43 pm
Citizen said:
Glory for Syrian Arab Army and Glory for Syria.
many thanks for True Syria”s friend countries especialy Venezuela!
December 31st, 2012, 2:23 pm
revenire said:
And Russia, and China, and Iran, and Lebanon, and Iraq, and most of the planet…
The only allies the terrorist have are their patrons.
December 31st, 2012, 2:38 pm
Juergen said:
Reve
what happen to India? Wasnt that country a part of the Al Wahash coalition?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=542988025730350&set=a.201716413190848.57037.201686009860555&type=1&theater
December 31st, 2012, 2:41 pm
zoo said:
US and EU sanctions are arguably illegal for the International Court of Justice.
Will Syria Go on the Offensive at the Hague?
by FRANKLIN LAMB
31 decembre 2012
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/12/31/will-syria-go-on-the-offensive-at-the-hague/
…Were Syria and others to file an Application for an Advisory Opinion with the ICJ few in the international legal community have much doubt that targeting civilians economically and attempting to destroy the Syrian economy — for no other purpose than to ignite rebellion — would be considered a violation of international law at the International Court of Justice.
….
The ICJ is made up of 15 jurists from different countries. No two judges at any given time may be from the same country. The court’s composition is static but generally includes jurists from a variety of cultures. Among the Principles, Standards and Rules of international law that Syria may well argue to the World Court, may include but not be limited to, the following:
The US led sanctions violate international humanitarian law due to the negative health effects of the sanctions on the civilian population of Syria. This renders the sanctions illegal under international customary law and the UN Charter for their disproportionate damage caused to Syria’s civilian population;
The US led severe sanctions regime constitutes an illegitimate form of collective punishment of the weakest and poorest members of society, the infants, the children, the chronically ill, and the elderly;
The US, France and the UK, as well as their allies, have violated the UN Charter by their imposition of severe economic sanctions and threats of military force. The United States, Israel, and some of their allies, regularly threaten Damascus with the “option” of a military strike. The ICJ has ruled previously that “A threat or use of force is contrary to Article 2, paragraph 4, of the UN Charter and fails to meet all the requirements of Article 51, is therefore unlawful”. It has further ruled that “A threat of use of force must be compatible with the requirements of the international law applicable in armed conflict, particularly those of the principles and rules of humanitarian law, as well as with specific obligations under treaties and other undertakings which expressly deal with threats to members of the United Nations.”
Moreover, unilateral US sanctions, without the imprimatur of the United Nations are blatantly illegal under International Law because they are in fact multilateral and impose penalties on any country which opposes the sanctions or does not choose to participate in them;
The US led sanctions amount to an Act of War given their effects including hardships on the general public and that Syria therefore has a legal right to Self-Defense.
The US led sanctions, given their design and intent, constitute acts of aggression against Syria in violation of Article 2 (4) of the UN charter.
December 31st, 2012, 2:59 pm
Juergen said:
Christians of Damascus form the “Jesus brigade” and join the FSA
December 31st, 2012, 3:00 pm
zoo said:
#261 Observer
You are the illegitimate one. You don’t even live in Syria and you are a citizen of another country.
You are certainly as entitled to speak for the “Syrian People’ as Madonna for the Eskimos.
Let Moaz al Khatib have the guts to accept elections in Syria, then we will know who the Syrian people consider illegitimate. But the confused ex-preacher is too afraid that he’ll be dumped back to join Ghaliun, Khaddam,Tlass and company in Paris. Maybe Baba Erdogan will be kind enough to take him under his wings, if he learns turkish.
Maybe you should to, you’ll be invaluable to them.
December 31st, 2012, 3:12 pm
zoo said:
As Assad Quakes on His Throne, Is Iran Ready to Deal?
Walter Russell Mead
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/12/30/time-for-iran-to-make-a-deal/
December 30, 2012
….
Yet despite the appearance of rebel momentum in Syria, it is still too early to be certain that Assad is on his way out. The rebels have problems of their own, and the longer the war the more opportunities for divisions, brutality, corruption and incompetence to take their toll on the fragile rebel coalition and its civilian support. It is only when and if all hope disappears in Iran that either Assad or his political structure can survive that the real policy debates will start.
December 31st, 2012, 3:22 pm
zoo said:
Warmongering Neocons Demand American Military Intervention in Syria Now!
The reliably belligerent trio of Joe Lieberman, John McCain and Lindsey Graham pen a Washington Post Op-Ed calling for arming the Syrian opposition and imposing a “no-fly zone.”
December 31, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/world/warmongering-neocons-demand-american-military-intervention-syria-now
December 31st, 2012, 3:25 pm
AIG said:
Hey Zoo, why did Assad keep saying for years and years that the sanctions are not hurting Syria? Is he a liar or just an idiot that doesn’t know better? I suspect the latter based on his January 2011 interview where he predicted that the Arab Spring would never come to Syria.
Why did Assad keep sending Jihadists to Iraq and supporting the jihadists Hamas? It seems that Assad really likes them. So what are you complaining about now that they are fighting against you? You did not say anything for years as Assad was formenting religious intolerance and now you complain about it. There is only one person to blame, Assad.
December 31st, 2012, 3:29 pm
revenire said:
“Christians of Damascus form the ‘Jesus brigade’ and join the FSA
LOL
I like how they made the crosses so big. That’s very subtle. Maybe they will do us all a favor and chop each other’s heads off and feed them to the dogs.
I hope to see the “Alawite Lions Against Bashar Brigade” next and then the “We Hate Asma’s Shoes Brigade” followed by the “Cousins of Asma Brigade” – the possibilities here are endless.
December 31st, 2012, 3:29 pm
zoo said:
AIG
Why did Obama and Sarkozy said that Bashar would not last weeks back in 2011?
“Are they liars or just idiots”?
December 31st, 2012, 3:33 pm
revenire said:
AIG World War II was Bashar’s fault. Later Bashar started the Vietnam War. Then Bashar tricked the Americans into believing Saddam had WMDs and caused both Iraq Wars.
Bashar is also behind Hostess Twinkies stopping production.
Yeah, that’s it.
December 31st, 2012, 3:35 pm
AIG said:
Zoo,
Forget about it. There are no deals to be made. This is a fight to the death that Assad started and it will end when he is wiped out no matter how many years it takes. There is no outside force that can enforce a deal on the ground even if politicians outside Syria reach one. So prepare to fight to the death. You know the jihadists are looking forward to martyrdom and there is a unlimited number of them that can be recruited from the 1.4 billion Muslims in the world.
December 31st, 2012, 3:37 pm
AIG said:
Zoo,
Bashar was speaking about his own country, not another country. Shouldn’t a ruler know what was going on in his country? How stupid can you be to say that such a momentous thing as the Arab Spring was not happening in Syria one month before it happened? He just has no clue about HIS OWN country.
Revenire,
Assad is responsible for Syria as he was the leader of that country for 11 years before the revolution. Eleven years in which he did nothing to advance Syria or make significant democratic reforms. Of course what is happening in Syria is his fault. He is the leader of Syria and his stubbornness and stupidity have brought Syria to its knees.
December 31st, 2012, 3:41 pm
zoo said:
Reve
“We Hate Asma’s Shoes Brigade” is a great suggestion
They can ask the artists of Kafranbel to design their flag, they’re good.
December 31st, 2012, 3:44 pm
revenire said:
Here is a just a taste of the idiocy from anti-Assad loons.
February 2012: The U.S. State Department has called President Asad a “dead man walking.” Israel’s defense minister has insisted that Asad will fall in a matter of weeks.
July 2012: Syrian President Bashar Assad’s use of helicopter gunships to counter a civil uprising will prove to be “a nail in Assad’s coffin,” U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday at the outset of a five-day Mideast tour.
Now these ape-like idiots – the MOST powerful nation on Earth LOL – just say “soon” and soon could mean tomorrow or in 2022 or never.
Someone should put together a small pdf of statements predicting Assad’s fall. I am sure it would be a top seller on the comedy circuit.
December 31st, 2012, 3:45 pm
zoo said:
AIG
Thanks for your advices, I am sure Bashar al Assad is sensitive to Israelis suggestion on matter of international justice.
December 31st, 2012, 3:47 pm
revenire said:
The Kafranbel artists are world renowned for their cleverness and sage-like wisdom and could certainly rise to the occasion. They can take photos in front of buildings the FSA blew up and say “Assad’s army” did it (except Assad has no army). I think there are a few here who can get a message to our Kafranbel boys and they can produce something by tomorrow for the Internet.
On a similar topic, I overheard a man at a market last week saying he wanted Asma murdered because of her “Western” clothing. I kid you not friends – he was muttering to himself something about Asam’s fashions being haraam. He had a long beard, like Santa Claus, but no mustache and he smelled as if he had not bathed recently or had been sleeping in a barn with livestock. Go figure.
December 31st, 2012, 3:52 pm
AIG said:
It is quite simple. The people of the US, France and Israel are doing quite well while Syria is drowning due to its stupid leader Assad. You can point fingers at other countries as much as you want, but Obama being wrong did not result in Chicago being trashed like Aleppo and Damascus are being trashed. It did not lead to the economy disappearing. It did not lead to tens of thousands of deaths and sectarian violence. You need a special idiot like Assad who had 11 years to make things better in order to bring about this colossus failure.
And you need blind people to still support him given the harm he has done. People like you only learn the hard way, and the jihadists which you supported and advanced for years will teach you a harsh lesson. Assad needs to leave now for the sake of Syria and its people. But please, fight to the death, let’s see how that works out for you. You know the jihadists are looking forward to it.
December 31st, 2012, 4:37 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Syria’s regime is a failure. Any government that does this to its country does not deserve the title of “government.” As I’ve said before, even PAKISTAN’S government is better than Syria’s.
If the regime wants a fight to the death, then a fight to the death it will be.
The regime does NOT follow international law. Given this, why should its enemies follow international law? What comes around, goes around.
Bashar Assad does not follow anyone’s advice on international justice. The regime is blind and deaf to anything except violence. The regime is nothing more than a mad dog that needs to be shot and killed.
December 31st, 2012, 5:10 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
“Rebels have seized oil fields and launched other attacks on economic lifelines to try to starve the Syrian government of funds. Syrian Prime Minister Wael Halqi told lawmakers Monday that such attacks, combined with “unfair economic sanctions” imposed by the West, had triggered a diesel and gas crisis, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.”
It is winter,cold, and lack of gas to cook,and to heat their houses is hurting people in Damascus, electricity is available only six hours a day, today gas lines are damaged,there will be no gas in Damascus soon,
December 31st, 2012, 5:23 pm
Tara said:
Happy new year to Habibti Syria and to all. Inshallah, we will celebrate the ousting of Bashar in my parent’s house in Halaya next year.
December 31st, 2012, 6:03 pm
Visitor said:
I tend to agree with AIG.
Come on guys. Zoo, Revenire (aka Ali), Citizen, Ghufran and few others are just plain brainless.
Since I began reading this blog, they have been going in circles and offering nothing but the stupidest of all arguments.
It takes a lot of patience to keep up with such a bunch of bone heads!!
They made this site so dull. I am not sure it is worth wasting one’s time reading their trash.
December 31st, 2012, 6:20 pm
Ghufrzb said:
“It is winter,cold, and lack of gas to cook,and to heat their houses is hurting people in Damascus, electricity is available only six hours a day, today gas lines are damaged,there will be no gas in Damascus soon”
It is particularly nauseating to hear complaints about gas and electricity from people who supported economic sanctions and advocated suffocating supplies of gas ans electricity, it is like a guy who killed his parents then asked the court for
mercy because he is now an orphan.
happy new year to a country that was betrayed by many and to millions of Syrians who suffered enough and deserve a break.
December 31st, 2012, 6:25 pm
Ghufran said:
“It is winter,cold, and lack of gas to cook,and to heat their houses is hurting people in Damascus, electricity is available only six hours a day, today gas lines are damaged,there will be no gas in Damascus soon”
It is particularly nauseating to hear complaints about gas and electricity from people who supported economic sanctions and advocated suffocating supplies of gas ans electricity, it is like a guy who killed his parents then asked the court for
mercy because he is now an orphan.
happy new year to a country that was betrayed by many and to millions of Syrians who suffered enough and deserve a break.
December 31st, 2012, 6:27 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Tara
Happy new year,
I am sure Assad will not last long anymore, things are pretty bad, If Assad loves Syria he would have left more than a year ago, but this murderous evil beast,Bashar Assad, he chose to destroy Syria,with Iran and Russia help, but we will build it,better than before.
Brahimi must quit,he failed to come with a solution that Syrian will agree on, after over 100,000 martyrs,after complete destruction of Syria,after two years of suffering, we deserve better,and Syria deserve better future,with freedom,justice and modified democracy
For those who believe in secularism,they must understand, secularism must never depend on sectarianism.
December 31st, 2012, 6:43 pm
Tara said:
Look at the determination on the face of the FSA fighters and compare it with the hollow yet sinister looks of the traitors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2012/dec/30/syria-civil-war-aleppo-photographs#/?picture=401713274&index=13
December 31st, 2012, 6:48 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Ghufran
It was your regime that you support, and supported by your relative who are officers in his murderous regime that should be blamed for the misery of Syrian people, you can not stand people asking for freedom, you insist on killing the Syrian, but you would not support freedom or dignity, you should be full of shame, but your morality is so low,and non existance that you blame free Syrians,this is criminal personality and your relative will pay for supporting this evil regime.
December 31st, 2012, 6:57 pm
Juergen said:
Happy new year everyone, hopefully Syria will finally be really khair.
December 31st, 2012, 7:02 pm
revenire said:
“Look at the determination on the face of the FSA fighters and compare it with the hollow yet sinister looks of the traitors.”
Is Tara is really Lawrence of Arabia?
“The people of the US, France and Israel are doing quite well while Syria is drowning due to its stupid leader Assad.”
@AIG nah, those nation’s people are not doing well at all. Each of those nations has a stupid leader and many in all three countries want new leaders. Thus far, none of them have taken guns and started shooting innocent policemen, soldiers and civilians to demand change.
“It is winter,cold, and lack of gas to cook,and to heat their houses is hurting people in Damascus, electricity is available only six hours a day, today gas lines are damaged,there will be no gas in Damascus soon,”
@MAJEDKHALDOUN Someone I know has an eating establishment in Damascus. It is open for business despite the war.
If your terrorist friends had not brought on this war at least 45,000 Syrians would be alive today.
The terrorist bombs don’t just hit minorities. All Syrians die from FSA bullets. None escape.
December 31st, 2012, 7:02 pm
revenire said:
“VISITOR said:
I tend to agree with AIG.
Come on guys. Zoo, Revenire (aka Ali), Citizen, Ghufran and few others are just plain brainless.
Since I began reading this blog, they have been going in circles and offering nothing but the stupidest of all arguments.
It takes a lot of patience to keep up with such a bunch of bone heads!!
They made this site so dull. I am not sure it is worth wasting one’s time reading their trash.”
So democratic. You will go far in New Syria. Wishing only the terrorist side told and trying to stop truth from being spread. Typical and why you will never win.
Long live Bashar! Long live Syria!
December 31st, 2012, 7:05 pm
Tara said:
Reve
You are the guy who once pretended on SC to be Persian then disappeared for a while. I remember your story about visiting Damascus and eating ice cream at Damer. What was your name then?
December 31st, 2012, 7:16 pm
Tara said:
Jeurgen@290
What was that?!
December 31st, 2012, 7:21 pm
Uzair8 said:
A peaceful, free, just and Happy New Year to all. I hope and pray it is a year of healing and recovery for the suffering. I hope their tears and sorrows are wiped away and victorious tears of joy come in their place.
My prediction for the regime’s fall passed by a couple of days ago (27th). It was an arbitrary date I put out there a couple of weeks ago. It was partly based on Sh. Yaqoubi’s prediction on Norwegian Tv that the regime would probably fall in 2-3 months.
Shortly after posting the prediction I went back to the Norwegian Tv clip and found it was aired on 4th October. So technically speaking 3 months would be complete on 4th January. On top of that give or take a week or two.
At the time of prediction I said that if Assad makes it to the new year I give him no more than two weeks.
Whatever the case, he hasn’t long left. InshaAllah.
December 31st, 2012, 7:46 pm
Uzair8 said:
I was going to post this comment with LOL’s and some humour but I heard some sad news thus I’ll keep it plain.
What does 2013 hold for us? I had (an early) surprise. It’s 12:50 am UK time. A couple of hours ago (a little before 10:30 pm) guess who I heard on Radio 4’s ‘The World Tonight’?
Haven’t heard her for ages. Probably over a year now. Reem Haddad!
(Comical Sally). Ok it was still 2012 in UK at the time of broadcast of the recorded message but in Syrian time I’m sure it was 2013.
Listen from 20min 20sec
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01phfq7
December 31st, 2012, 8:02 pm
Syrian said:
Happy new year to Syria ,the Syrians and their true friends
Also to Pro. J.L and his family
December 31st, 2012, 8:22 pm
Visitor said:
Reve (aka Ali) @292,
In the new Syria, brainless idiot supporters, like the ones I mentioned in the previous comment (you included of course) of brainless thugs will have no rights whatsoever. In fact, they will be purged to the dustbin along with their idol.
The reason for that is very simple. New Syria will be made up of brainfull peope only. While brainless worshipers of idol have to remain with that which they cannot live without. It is hard for you to understand and we do not expect you to do so. But it is all connected to the simple motto that you guys keep nauseating: lov-u-4ever-die-without-u.
So, we will give you your eternal love and prevent you from dying without it.
That’s the simplest I can simplify things for your micro head(s)
December 31st, 2012, 8:28 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
At #268 the mysterious ZOO said to Observer:
Still a bit shaken by his experience with Miss Marple in Nuremberg, ZOO now makes an issue of citizenship and residence.
Is this ironic, or what?
Meanwhile, ANN, here are a few corpse links for your fetish:
This is mutilating bodies, ANN, by the forces of Syria’s Assad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BHctiJ5kyk&list=PLAABBA8402C670B14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x4__9cVgJc&list=PLAABBA8402C670B14
This is a headless child torso rendered meat by regime bombing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZE_nJVi68U&list=PLAABBA8402C670B14
This is three teens field executed by SAA/allies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mneV0150jrA
These are injured ‘rebels’ being abused by Assadist forces:
December 31st, 2012, 8:32 pm
revenire said:
?
December 31st, 2012, 8:42 pm
Warren said:
Syria rebels ‘beheaded a Christian and fed him to the dogs’ as fears grow over Islamist atrocities
Syrian rebels beheaded a Christian man and fed his body to dogs, according to a nun who says the West is ignoring atrocities committed by Islamic extremists.
The nun said taxi driver Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped after his brother was heard complaining that fighters against the ruling regime behaved like bandits.
She said his headless corpse was found by the side of the road, surrounded by hungry dogs. He had recently married and was soon to be a father.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255103/Syria-rebels-beheaded-Christian-fed-dogs-fears-grow-Islamist-atrocities.html#ixzz2GgW27Ddq
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
__________________________________________________________________
Soonites once more show the world what barbaric creatures they are!
December 31st, 2012, 8:55 pm
revenire said:
More FSA crimes against humanity:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4828840554145
“All Christian quarters in Aleppo are in lock down after receiving FSA threats to bomb them at midnight new years Syria.”
December 31st, 2012, 8:57 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Happy new year, Mr. Landis
Happy new year Ehsani
Happy new year Alex,Norman
December 31st, 2012, 9:49 pm
Tara said:
Happy new year to you to Majed.
On call or having a party?
December 31st, 2012, 9:58 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
Happy New Year, Bashar. And remember, Asma wears Prada.
December 31st, 2012, 10:24 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
293. TARA
“Reve, you are the guy who once pretended to be Persian on SC then disappeared for a while.”
He disappeared because his parents sent him to one of those military prep schools to “straighten him out.” He’s back on SC because he ran away and he’s living with a girl named Meredith in the East Village who’s a beauty school dropout. During the day they go to Times Square and panhandle and fuck when no one’s looking. At night when she’s stoned, he gets on the Internet on her laptop and pretends to be a hardcore Assadist.
December 31st, 2012, 10:33 pm
norman said:
Happy new year Majed, hope next year will be peace in Syria so we can visit, Inshallah.
December 31st, 2012, 11:38 pm
Juergen said:
Tara
Sorry , I thought we see and hear so many horrible things, so I wanted to post something lighter. This video is running allover arabic newssights. I think they are Yemenite. I have no clue why the camel had to be carried, may be it was sick or the ghut those guys had was pretty strong.
January 1st, 2013, 2:15 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
From the Times Article quoted by the Prof.
How informative?!
January 1st, 2013, 5:30 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Aha’ a snake, or is it a scorpion? has just come out of dormancy… Sister Agnes… the well known misinformation operative sectarian agitator fraud.
Every single assertion from this hateful woman who shames the habits she wears was proven unreliable, deceitful, and unworthy of anything but contempt from Christians before anyone else.
January 1st, 2013, 5:42 am
William Scott Scherk said:
The leader of the National Coalition posts a New Year message. It is as if he was speaking directly to ZOO:
January 1st, 2013, 6:06 am
Citizen said:
Who is Maaz Khatib this? Personaly he was not known to the Syrians before the start of the Western colored program ! There are thousands of intellectuals in Syria highest affair and more ability than this American drummer!!! There is nothing wrong for Maaz to be a school helper in a popular neighborhood in Damascus, and not more than!
January 1st, 2013, 8:26 am
Citizen said:
Irony: the West advocates multi-culturalism but supports militants who are intent on destroying multi-cultural Syria.
If the world is really going to tackle the roots of international terrorism and religion extremism, then there must be focus on Saudi Arabia
January 1st, 2013, 8:44 am
zoo said:
Happy New year 2013
The Rise of the Sunnis and the Decline of Iran, Iraq and Hizbullah: The Middle East in 2013
http://www.juancole.com/2013/01/decline-hizbullah-middle.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29
2013 will see Iranian influence in the Middle East continue a decline that began with the Arab upheavals of 2011. Iran’s two major allies in the Arab world are Syria and Lebanon. In Lebanon, Iran arms the Shiite party-militia Hizbullah, and does so overland through Iraq and Syria. Since Israel controls the Mediterranean off Lebanon and can, when it wants to, control Lebanese air space, the land corridor for Iranian supplies to Hizbullah is key to the latter’s ability to confront Israeli expansionism into Lebanese territory.
Hizbullah could well have its Iranian lifeline cut. Its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrullah, has come out strongly in favor of the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, because both of them are Iranian clients. If Syria falls to the Sunni Arab revolutionaries, the latter will have a grudge toward both Iran and Hizbullah for supporting the Baath government, and will likely cut the latter off from resupply through Syrian territory. Instead, Syrian support will go to the Sunnis of Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli, Akkar and the Biqa Valley.
…
A new, Sunni coalition in the Levant would group Lebanese Sunnis with Palestinians (whether PLO or Hamas); would rule Damascus and Cairo; and might well given extraordinary support to the Palestinians, especially to Hamas (an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood itself). It may be that not Sidon but Khan Yunis is the greater security threat to Israel in the new Middle East that is forming before our eyes. Sunni activists may well be much more committed to giving practical help to the PLO and Hamas than was al-Assad, who merely paid lip service to the plight of the Palestinians.
A Sunni, and possibly Muslim Brotherhood Syria could thus emerge as a major player, in Arab-Israeli affairs but also in northern Iraq. And, the salience of the Jordanian monarchy is reduced in case things develop in this direction.
A Sunni-dominated Levant would not necessarily be hostile to the US, though it is likely to bear some grudges for US inaction in Syria. But it would likely be severely hostile to Israel. A galvanized Syrian population and a revolutionary government, plus their support for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, could introduce dangerous new frictions, at a time when the Likud Party in Israel is moving even further to the right. Increased Syrian-Israel tension is likely to be one outcome. A strengthened Hamas might well be another.
Iran is far from Israel/Palestine and has limited clients in that region. If it is forced out of the Levant, it will lose a talking point in domestic elections at most. Israel on the other hand is rather outnumbered by Egypt and Syria, both of them immediate neighbors.
January 1st, 2013, 9:10 am
zoo said:
Game (not) over?
1 January 2013
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2013/January/editorial_January2.xml§ion=editorial&col=
Just when reports about the impending collapse of Assad’s regime had begun to make headlines, the Syrian regime has again demonstrated it’s resilience.
After weeks of fierce fighting, Assad’s tenacious forces have coerced the rebels to retreat from Deir Baalbeh district located in the strategically important city of Homs. Being the heartland of the uprising against Assad’s regime, Homs has been constantly bombarded with mortars, sniper bullets and mortar ever since February 2011, plunging the city into a humanitarian crisis. Media reports in February 2012 alleged that over 6000 people had been killed in Homs during the Arab Spring.
…
Lakhar Brahimi is right — it will be hell if a political solution to the 21-month long conflict in Syria does not materialise. And it’s the ordinary citizens that will bear the brunt of that hell.
January 1st, 2013, 9:15 am
zoo said:
Turkish Journalist predictions
Tuesday,January 1 2013, Your time is 9:18:38 AM
MEHMET ALİ BİRAND
Let’s do some fortunetelling for 2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/lets-do-some-fortunetelling-for-2013.aspx?pageID=449&nID=38060&NewsCatID=405
Crisis and danger of war in the Middle East
The thing I am most afraid of in 2013 is the possibility of a war that might erupt nearby us.
The confusion in Syria will go on, but I don’t expect a military intervention from the U.S. It seems al-Assad will maintain his rule .
An armed conflict between Syria and Turkey, on the other hand, is not very probable unless a provocation is made. However, the number of refugees coming from Syria will rise, leading Turkey to face many difficulties.
The other two dangers are Iran and Iraq.
Iran’s nuclear program will reach its last stage in 2013. However, Israel allowing that is quite out of the question. It is very probable that Israel will shoot Iran’s nuclear plants either by itself or with the U.S., and this would be more than enough for a conflict in the region.
The only way to get out of this vicious cycle is a joint solution offered by the U.S. and Russia.
In case Iraq is divided into three, or the tension between the autonomous Kurdish administration in Northern Iraq and the central government in Baghdad turns into a war, the country that receives the most harm will be us.
To sum up, in 2013, our region could turn into a field of fire in any case.
So, hard times are waiting for us.
January 1st, 2013, 9:24 am
zoo said:
WSS
Do you have a video of Moaz Al Khatiob talking directly to the Syrian refugees as he claims it in this letter ?
I hope you do. Nevertheless, the only videos that the media published show the ‘great’ Erdogan addressing people in Turkish and the people shouting واحد واحد while Moaz Al Khatib is only agitating his hand.
Were mobile phones and journalists forbidden, or Moaz is referring to Erdogan’s speech? Is it بدأت or بدأ ?
وعندما بدأت أتكلم عن الأوضاع في سورية وأن هناك أيد تمتد لتتدخل في حياتنا ومصيرنا .. وفجأة دوى هتاف مجلجل .. الآلاف صاروا يهتفون: واحد واحد واحد … الشعب السوري واحد ..
January 1st, 2013, 9:42 am
Sami said:
How to defend Bashar Assad in 10 easy steps
by Borzou Daragahi on Monday, December 31, 2012 at 11:34am ·
1. Keep mentioning Jubhat al Nasra and other Islamic jihadi groups without mentioning that the vast majority of armed groups are not nearly as extreme, are mostly locally based folks defending their towns and villages.
2. When referring to the armed opposition keep using the magic word: AL QAEDA
3. Make cursory mention of the regime’s brutality (you won’t have any credibility if you don’t) but avoid resurrecting the roots of the conflict in peaceful opposition to Bashar’s dictatorship. Avoid mention of wanton use of air power against civilians in bread lines and in their homes.
4. Keep talking about NATO, the Gulf countries and Western support for opposition; that will boost Bashar’s anti-imperialist creds among the campus leftists.
5. Focus on faults of incompetent and disorganized Syrian opposition abroad instead of networks of activists and homegrown civil society already establishing governance inside.
6. Frame Russia as an honest broker trying to peacefully resolve conflict instead of a shrewd chess player that doesn’t give a damn about Syrian civilians and murdered tens of thousands of Chechens in an attempt to put down a rebellion in the 1990s.
7. Keep warning about consequences of Syria state’s collapse: sectarian war, refugees in Europe, rise of an Islamist state.
8. Keep raising rare instances of rebel misconduct and faked videos and frame them as emblematic of the overall opposition.
9. Make the opposition look intransigent; they’re the ones who won’t agree to a peaceful settlement, not the president who did no reforms for 10 years and dispatched shabiha to murder peaceful protesters when they spoke out.
10. Pray to God (even if you are an athiest) that the rebels don’t get to Damascus, open up the files and find out what you did for the regime, the details of conversations on how you got your visas and your access to officials.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/borzou-daragahi/how-to-defend-bashar-assad-in-10-easy-steps/10151186147897286
January 1st, 2013, 10:27 am
revenire said:
Has Assad been overthrown yet?
January 1st, 2013, 10:48 am
Juergen said:
Al-Ibrahimi Inside HOMS
January 1st, 2013, 10:52 am
revenire said:
Foreign fighters are not welcome in Syria.
January 1st, 2013, 11:02 am
Juergen said:
news on Bashars best buddy:
Dictator Chavez health condition: critical, the regime has halted all new year celebrations, and the regime has asked that the people pray for “El Commandante”.
Rumors that Chavez has already died were dismissed
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/01/20131103735575119.html
Why Russia Won’t Help on Syria
“In the case of Syria, Moscow cannot be convinced that U.S. motives are driven purely by the humanitarian calamity that Assad created. Instead, the Kremlin sees sinister geopolitics at play, with Washington moving to get rid of a government whose foreign policy long contradicted U.S. interests, particularly by aligning with Iran. So when President Obama proclaimed on Aug. 18, 2011, that “the time has come for President Assad to step aside,” thus making regime change an official U.S. priority, the window for common ground with Russia at the U.N. closed. The fact that the texts of the proposed resolutions did not reflect that priority was irrelevant, given what Moscow saw as Washington’s now openly stated ultimate goal.”…
“If there is one palpable outcome to all the recent diplomacy, it has been Moscow’s empowerment. This may prove fleeting, but in the meantime the international community’s time and energy are better spent on efforts that have the potential to produce a resolution in Syria.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/opinion/global/why-russia-wont-help-on-syria.html?_r=0
January 1st, 2013, 11:03 am
zoo said:
In 2013, these are 13 easy advices to defend the opposition’s legitimate and moral war against the ‘evil’ regime.
1. Keep mentioning ‘freedom and dignity’. Avoid totally the word Al Nusra and if you are asked, insist that it represents only a very small group that will vanish when the democratic and secular Coalition will take over.
2. When referring to the armed opposition keep using the magic word: Freedom fighters. When you refer to the Syrian army, use the magic word: Shabbihas.
3. Avoid mentioning the decapitation, the kidnapping and the looting in the 70% rebels ‘liberated’ areas. Insist that the car bombs are the work of the Syrian mokhabarat to discredit the freedom fighters.
4. Avoid mentioning Turkish borders where terrorists from Libya and other foreign countries are allowed free passage. Insist that salaries of the fighters is paid by honest Syrians and not by Qatar and KSA.
Also the weapons are all taken from the Syrian Army stocks. The opposition got nothing from non-syrian sources.
5. Don’t mention what happened to Ryad al Assad, Sheikh and other ‘high rank’ defectors? Just insist on the new ones.
Just say that Turkey and Qatar are not helping the opposition, just supporting it morally.
6. Focus on faults of the incompetent and brutal Syrian government compared to the impeccable organization of the FOS meetings in touristic resorts with 5 stars hotels.
7. Frame France and Qatar as honest brokers trying to peacefully resolve conflict instead of a shrewd chess player that doesn’t give a damn about Syrian civilians and murdered tens of thousands of Libyans as well as Qaddafi to get hold of the oil.
8. Keep warning about consequences of Syria state’s persistence: sectarian war, revenge on activists,refugees in Europe, rise of an Russian modelled state.
9. Keep raising rare instances of rebel misconduct and faked videos and frame them as exceptions in the overall noble opposition.
10. Make the government look intransigent; they’re the ones started it and who won’t agree to a peaceful settlement, not the Coalition who only put the moral condition of the removal of Bashar al Assad who killed 45,000 syrians.
11. Pray to God (even if you are an athiest) that the government does not stay and ask yourself what you did against the regime, the details of conversations on how you got your visas and your access to rebels and activists.
12. Keep reminding the “massacre” of Hama, that would make the Assad family look bad.
13. NEVER NEVER mention the Moslem Brotherhood. It will be plenty of time to talk about how good they are when they’ll lead the country.
January 1st, 2013, 11:07 am
zoo said:
Juergen
…neither the USA..
January 1st, 2013, 11:18 am
zoo said:
The making of The Islamic Republic of Egypt
As Al Azhar is thrown to politics, extremists are the only winners
Hassan Hassan
Jan 2, 2013
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/as-al-azhar-is-thrown-to-politics-extremists-are-the-only-winners
The spread of extremism in Muslim societies in the past century can be attributed to a largely overlooked trend: the demise of religious institutions that once had global reach.
Moderate, diverse and transnational learning centres became localised and inward-looking because of momentous events such as the abolition of the caliphate system in Istanbul, the occupation of Jerusalem, the monopoly of Wahhabist ideology in Mecca and Madina, the dominance of the Khomeini doctrine in Qom and the weakening of the Najaf learning centre by Baathists and Khomeinists. These institutions have in many ways lost their religious global reach and yielded to provincialism.
Al Azhar University in Egypt, arguably the last bastion of pan-Islamic rationalism, appears to be facing a similar fate.
..
Al Azhar traditionally has been an antidote to fundamentalist and sectarian trends. For decades, “moderate Islam” was attributed to groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, but true moderation is represented by fundamentally rational institutions such as Al Azhar. The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies do not ascribe to an ideology that upholds moderation and rationalism.
The Brotherhood, for example, is essentially a strand of Salafism, which is pragmatic only in its tactics; its susceptibility to extremism, fundamentalism and sectarianism is clear. Many committed members of the Brotherhood hold extremist and sectarian views, and groups affiliated with it have endorsed violence as a political strategy.
Al Azhar, on the other hand, is a truly rationalist and moderate school. If extremist ideologies take over the institution, they are likely to tamper with its curriculum, which would have global implications: the Asharite school has played a significant role in curbing extremism in Islamic societies for centuries.
What makes the eclipse of Al Azhar a deeply worrying possibility is that it is part of a wider trend, along with the rise of religious extremists. Mecca and Madina used to be places where Muslims exercised tolerance and coexistence through tutoring circles that represented all schools of thought; they are now exclusively Wahhabi requiring strict compliance with that definition of pure Islam.
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/as-al-azhar-is-thrown-to-politics-extremists-are-the-only-winners#ixzz2Gk5bqQCy
January 1st, 2013, 11:32 am
majedkhaldoun said:
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/01/258145.html
Salhiyeh/Damascus. this is what the majority of Syrian feel,
January 1st, 2013, 11:42 am
AIG said:
One simple advice to the regime supporters:
Make people forget that Assad was in power 11 years and had all the time in the world to make Syria a better place and advance democratic reforms. He did nothing for 11 years. All the fault is his. He had the power for 11 years. He could have done so many useful things. He did nothing but bring ruin on Syria.
What is happening in Syria is a direct result of Assad’s disastrous 11 years in power. When the opposition are 11 years in power and show no results then maybe they will be as responsible as Assad.
Assad in 11 years created a huge divide between the rich and poor in Syria while not making real democratic reforms, he strengthened jihadists by allowing them to freedom to operate in Syria and gave them money and he decided that it is smart to go against the West and the Gulf (and let’s add Turkey to the list). So, disastrous internal policies and disastrous foreign policies. No one but Assad to blame for them.
January 1st, 2013, 11:53 am
AIG said:
And of course the Islamist rise is the DIRECT fault of Assad.
1) He supported and funded jihadist groups when it suited him thus giving them legitimacy.
2) He did not allow Syrians to meet anywhere except in the mosques. How did he expect secular parties to rise?
By stopping any budding democratic or secular movement that could be seen as an alternative to him, he brought on the inevitable. The rise of Islamism. Stupid strategies lead to horrendous results and it is all Assad’s fault.
January 1st, 2013, 11:58 am
Juergen said:
Lets hear what 11 Syrians in Syria wish for in 2013:
translated from the TAZ newspaper,31 Dec 2012
“Maybe a blanket.”
“I am quite sure that our victory is emminent at the beginning of the new year. Once Assad is gone, immediately the great relief and human rights organizations must enter the country in order to collect all data and figures: the refugees, prisoners, the dead and the disappeared. That’s the first thing we must address. Before, we can not rebuild our country. This must happen first. Otherwise I have no desire.
Except maybe a blanket. It’s now become very, very cold here, and we do not have enough blankets. At the moment I am hiding in the outskirts of Homs, but never staying long in one place. It’s too dangerous. I have hardly had time to sleep, because I’m always with the camera on the way to document the crimes of the regime. Often I make jokes in front of the camera, the videos are supposed to be funny. So it is with us Homsis, it is in our nature to be funny.
I want them all to see that this joy of life we have not lost. But the situation is tough. We are hungry, the internet is often very bad, mostly it is just enough to upload the videos.
I’m not very literate, I did not even go to a secondary school. Before the uprising, I worked in an electrical goods store. If, after the fall of the regime I have the chance, I’d love to do high school, maybe even study and work as a real journalist. Then I would watch our new government, because there should never again anyone be able to abuse his power in Syria.”
ABU JAAFAR, 31, is a citizen journalist and Youtube performers in Homs
( here is him at work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6FV2LPKDe4)
————————————————–
“I want a secular state”
“Syria is facing a difficult transition. All the sectarian conflicts that have been suppressed by the regime will only be solved with a lot of energy. Nevertheless, reconciliation is possible, but only if the new government can convince the individual groups, that the regime has depended on those conflicts – and that their disputes with one another is going nowhere.
I dream of a secular Syria, where all citizens have equal rights and obligations. I dream of a pluralistic democratic state, because only it guarantees equal rights for ethnic minorities.
I perceive myself as a Syrian Christian While not exactly a minority, because we come from this country. So we want to be equal partners, we will accept nothing else. It is our right to fight for our rights in the new Syria.” Hanadi *, Syrian Christian
————————————————–
“I want an Islamic state”
Unfortunately I can not do much at the moment. I am in Turkey to have to recover. Not that I’ve been hurt in the fight: I have brought ammunition to Deir Assur. This is not easy, because Assad’s troops have surrounded the city. Therefore, we have to walk, with the heavy boxes, often more than 20 kilometers. And I got myself stupidly sprained in my back.
I long that we can finally live in peace. This is of course until we have defeated Assad. What has to happen also is that everyone who was involved in the bloodshed, is brought to justice. That goes for both sides. But really only one side committed crimes: the regime. Sure, we execute prisoners, that is the law of the battlefield. What should we do otherwise? Are we supposed to serve our enemies a glass of wine?
What a country Syria will be in the future, should the Syrians decide. But why should we be not an Islamic state? What’s wrong with that? We’re Muslims, religion is important to us. I think if we are able to establish an Islamic state, we could be an example for the whole world. Because the Syrians are creative people, we would find a solution for every problem. AMER *, 25, a rebel fighter from Deir Assur
————————————————–
” We were dreamers”
Most of all I am longing to see my family.
I had to flee in the summer from Syria and now I live
in Houston, Texas. I am alone here, my parents and my
little sister are still in Damascus. When I will see them again
I dont know. Often I can not even reach them.
The whole situation is very difficult for me, because the situation in our neighborhood in Jaramana is very bad. Bombs detonate everywhere. My uncle has been recently arrested. but
My parents refuse to flee. What must happen in 2013?
Assad must disappear,and all weapons with him. the uprising is now really islamistic. I was from the start of the protests present.
I went to demonstrations and co-organized them, and therefore was in prison.
Today I wonder if this is still my rebellion, if this uprising is of all Syrians,whatever Religion they belong to.
When it all started, I had no doubts: Islamists in
Syria have no chance, I thought. I believed firmly that we can build up an new civil society. We were dreamers. Now for the first time in my life I am afraid as a Christian.
Sometimes I think in spite of everything,that our dream has still some value,that the Islamist tendencies are just a phase
which will pass. But in other moments I think that the World is really ugly an that our dreams are worthless.
NOUR SAAD, 26, STUDENT FROM
DAMASCUS, NOW IN THE USA
translated from their paper version, I will translate the other accounts in seperate posts.
http://www.taz.de/Wuensche-aus-Syrien-fuer-2013/!108219/
January 1st, 2013, 12:08 pm
Citizen said:
The comments come as the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that Syria is preparing for, what he called, a sacred birth that will replace Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile Syrian Army troops have reportedly arrested four Turkish fighter jet pilots near a military airport in Syria’s northwestern province of Aleppo. Tensions have been running high between Syria and Turkey, with Damascus accusing Ankara — along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France, and the United States — of backing deadly militancy that has claimed the lives of many Syrians, including security and Army personnel.
http://youtu.be/oPG9fZgjXTM?t=4m10s
January 1st, 2013, 12:25 pm
Citizen said:
Syrian troops chasing militants near Damascus
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_01/Syrian-troops-chasing-militants-near-Damascus/
Syrian government troops are chasing armed extremists in the suburbs of Damascus.
Terrorist strongholds were destroyed and dozens of mercenaries were killed and wounded during an operation in the Daraya, Diyabiya and Babilla neighborhoods, the Syrian television reports.
Fierce clashes continue in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus following an attack by Al Qaeda militants, according to the Al Mayadeen TV channel.
The Jermana Christian neighborhood adjoining the road to the Damascus international airport has also come under fire.
In separate incidents, militants have attacked army posts in Sabena and Aysh Wurur north of Damascus.
Voice of Russia, TASS
Syria’s govt troops repel attack near Jordan
Syria’s forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have repelled a rebel invasion attempt near the border with Jordan eliminating several militants.
Border police also managed to seize a large pile of weapons, some of them Israeli-made, designated for the Free Syrian Army in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.
The government troops are also chasing rebels in the southern neighborhoods of Damascus, claiming heavy casualties and losses among the militants.
4 Turkish jet-fighter pilots arrested in Syria
Syrian Army servicemen have arrested four Turkish jet-fighter pilots in Aleppo Province.
January 1st, 2013, 12:27 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
A new year’s wish for Prethident Athad
May God reunite all of your family with your father and brothers this year.
January 1st, 2013, 12:32 pm
revenire said:
“ABU JAAFAR, 31, is a citizen journalist and Youtube performers in Homs.”
I hope he’s been arrested. “Citizen journalist” in Syria usually means terrorist.
January 1st, 2013, 12:34 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Mig 23 was downed 3 hours ago over Reef Damascus
January 1st, 2013, 12:50 pm
Tara said:
Neron and Assad . Any other example in history?
January 1st, 2013, 12:56 pm
Uzair8 said:
Yesterday we saw the reappearance of the former Director of State TV, Reem Haddad.
Today SANA is back.
Coincidental?
January 1st, 2013, 12:57 pm
Juergen said:
“Assad should not be killed”
2011, the Syrians have decided to overthrow their dictator, and they have started the revolution. They fight for dignity, human rights and a better country. Since then, they pay the highest possible price for this very simple request – every day.
Thousands have been murdured by the Assad regime. Now, when 2013 is coming, I desire that Assad and his gang would be arrested. They should be tried by a special national court. For I would not that Assad and his men end up like Gaddafi or the Yemeni President Saleh. All Syrians could follow the trial on television-just
as a World Cup. Furthermore, I hope that every single Syrians participates in the reconstruction of our country and that we all can bring up an civil society. And then, all my friends who were forced to leave our beautiful Syrien, can come back.
On that we are all together again to start projects that interest us. Just as in the beginning of the revolution. 2013, however,the new Syria will not emerge.The real revolution is indeed
still to come. What will come next year, is, I think, this: first of all all will fight against all, do similar things like Bashar al-Assad and his father, regardless of whether they are Islamists or atheists now.
But we have started a revolution to end any kind of dictatorship and to build up a civil society. For that we will fight to the end, until we manage to achieve that.
OULA R., 29, ARTIST FROM
DAMASCUS
——————————————————————-
“I want to go back office”
I hope that Assad will finally leave and Syria will be free.
However, I think the new year will continue like the old year.
The noise of the fighting stops no longer day and night we hear gunshots and explosions strike. In Daraa fighting is every day, Therefore, we need to stay at home. I havent worked now since more than a month. my office is only a kilometer away, but I can not reach it. I have four children, the youngest is ten months old, the oldest ten years. They dont go to school for quite some time
now.That makes me very unhappy. I try to teach them at home, but it is difficult, because our concentration is lacking. Most of them are just sitting around. They did not even play anymore, and if so, they play war. Sometimes I wish I could have some qietness just for a short while! I’d love to go for a walk once. But above all, I want this war to be over. I want to help rebuild our country again. I’m a civil engineer,for me, there will be a lot of work.
AHMED (NAME CHANGED), 42,
CIVIL ENGINEER, Daraa
——————————————————————-
” Still many will die”
I think at the end the insurgents will win. But I assume that in 2013 a lot more people will die. The regime is indeed continue to do everything,to survive. Apparently it has no other strategy,
survival is everything for Assad. Nevertheless, the rebels will conquer the coastal areas in the new year and arrest Bashar alive. I hope so much that he will be alive. Then they will finally conquer Damascus, and the Free Syrian Army will administer the state temporarily, so no chaos arises.
That’s about how it will come.
W., OPTICIAN IN ERBIN
——————————————————————-
“We need new pictures”
What needs to happen in 2013 is that we eliminate this regime and that each of us do something for the revolution, not only contribution to the rebels. It would be good if the whole world would be our partner in this triumph. Also, we artists have a role to play, the core of the Art is opening new, unfamiliar perspectives. Artists are urgently needed to voice criticism and also to make public what is currently happening in Syria I have been arrested in August and spent 22 days in jail.
Since then I stay in Cairo and try to support the revolution from here. Sure,as an artist I am thinking about the influence of Islamists. But what does that mean? Does that mean that I must be panicking? Does that mean I have to be an accomplice of repression?
For me it means that I must put myself on the street, next to the jihadists, and claim my space. If we go the distance and only criticize, then we are lost. We must get involved.
I wish to see more hope in the eyes of the Syrians in the new year. People should once again laugh wholeheartily again. I hope that we can take over our own cultural life and that we
can really take the initiative to create a new Syria, with
a new theater, new pictures and new literature.
Orwa NYRABIA, 35,
FILM PRODUCER, ACTOR
AND FOUNDER OF
INTERNATIONAL
DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL DOXBOX
FROM DAMASCUS, CURRENTLY IN CAIRO
January 1st, 2013, 1:02 pm
Observer said:
The very concept of legitimacy is beyond the grasp of the regime.
What is the constitution saying about accountability separation of powers the rule of law and what does the reality of how the institutions are completely non functional
THIS IS A MAFIA NOT A STATE
January 1st, 2013, 1:03 pm
zoo said:
#329 AIG
The Islamist rise is the DIRECT fault of Assad.
Oh yes? Islamist appeared in the region much more than “11” years ago when Bashar came to power.
Look more toward Israel and the other friends of the USA like Saudi Arabia.
January 1st, 2013, 1:14 pm
zoo said:
#339 Observer
The very concept of legitimacy is beyond your grasp.
January 1st, 2013, 1:16 pm
revenire said:
Bashar al-Assad is still president of Syria in 2013, Hillary Clinton is gone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igbJp8MFZXI
Since early 2011 the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeatedly called for the legitimate president of Syria – Bashar al-Assad – to surrender power and let a gang of al-Qaeda supporters known as the Syrian National Council (later Syrian National Coalition) replace him and destroy Syria. However, the repeated battlefield defeats of her “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) and their al-Qaeda Jihadi assistants have caused her much frustration, culminating in a blood clot behind her ear. She will be replaced this month by John Kerry.
January 1st, 2013, 1:21 pm
zoo said:
#327 Majed
They certainly beat Erdogan’s bedouin disguise in ridicule..
Thanks al Arabya.. for once, it’s funny.
Maybe BABA Erdogan would have better wear a BABA Noel disguise instead…
January 1st, 2013, 1:21 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Bashar’s regime is prototype illegitimate regime. He did not come to power via free election. He inherited it from Daddy. It is a well known fact and not admitting it affects your credibility tremendously.
January 1st, 2013, 1:25 pm
zoo said:
After the disappearance of the successive FSA commanders Ryad El Assaad, Sheikh and other FSA heroes in a Turkish bunker, I am worrying about the HOMS hero: Abdel Razzak Tlass? After he was allegedly caught red-handed on a hot Skype conversation, he is not visible on Youtube.
Is he in Bakkourland too?
January 1st, 2013, 1:28 pm
Tara said:
Majed,
Loved the originality of Baba Noel slogans. Creative Syrians!
January 1st, 2013, 1:31 pm
zoo said:
#344 Tara
Funny that it took 11 years for some Syrians, the AL and some foreign countries to realize that. Sarkozy even invited Bashar al Assad at the 14 July celebrations.
I guess that soon the leader of ‘sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people’ Moaz al Khatib will be labelled as “illegitimate” as he was elected by less than 300 Syrians…
The ‘legitimacy’ depends on the eyes of the the beholder..
It has become a ‘cliche’.
January 1st, 2013, 1:34 pm
zoo said:
#338 Juergen
It is such a democratic choice to let the anti-regime Syrians express themselves and shut off the pro-regime Syrians as if they don’t exist.
They do and they are not going to disappear.
January 1st, 2013, 1:41 pm
zoo said:
Examples around are hinting to the answer.
Is Islam compatible with democracy?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/is-islam-compatible-
with-democracy.aspx?pageID=449&nID=38057&NewsCatID=416
….
In addition to all this there is hardly any indication to show that what will come out of Syria once Bashar al-Assad is toppled is democracy. The opposite is more likely. In the final analysis, deeds, not words, will show if Islam is compatible with democracy. So the answer to this question has yet to come.
But the indications are not encouraging for the Arab world, and worrying as far as Turkey is concerned.
January 1st, 2013, 1:48 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Grabbing power with fake election is never legit. It has nothing to do with the eyes of the beholder…you know that.
If Al Khatib becomes the next Prez, it will be a temporary appointed position until free election.
January 1st, 2013, 2:00 pm
revenire said:
Anti-Syrian anti-Assad members here: you have no credibility at all. Syria doesn’t need or want your kind.
You say nothing about the beheadings. The FSA rats have used CHILDREN to cut the heads off people and FILMED it for YouTube. What did they hope to gain other than attracting other sick people to go to war killing people?
You can’t be that deluded to believe Syrians would accept that? Don’t talk about sectarian things – most of the army is Sunni and is fighting the terrorists every single day.
January 1st, 2013, 2:01 pm
zoo said:
WSS
Is Moaz al Khatib lying or it is a typing mistake?
Until I see or read a proof that Moaz al Khatib addressed directly the Syrian refugees in Sanli Urfa as he is claiming it in this greetings, I’ll stand by my impression that he is blatantly lying to hide his error and boost his own image. If it’s not a typing mistake, it’s impossible for anyone to trust such a leader.
البارحة ذهبت مع رجل تركية الكبير الطيب أردوغان ، وزرنا مخيما للاجئين السوريين فيه حوالي سبعة وعشرين ألف إنسان، لم اشعر في حياتي بمثل ذلك الدفء والحب .. وعندما بدأت أتكلم عن الأوضاع في سورية وأن هناك أيد تمتد لتتدخل في حياتنا ومصيرنا .. وفجأة دوى هتاف مجلجل .. الآلاف صاروا يهتفون: واحد واحد واحد … الشعب السوري واحد ..
January 1st, 2013, 2:07 pm
zoo said:
#350 Tara
“If Al Khatib becomes the next Prez”
Would you trust a guy who starts his political career by lying?
January 1st, 2013, 2:15 pm
Badr said:
From the archives (February 28th, 2009):
“In the next 2 years Iran will be attacked or it will have nuclear weapons.”
AIG,
You got the timing of your prediction wrong. Assuming the message would materialize before the end of Syria conflict, would you like to hazard a guess on what effect there could be?
January 1st, 2013, 2:16 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
You have no proof he is lying. Batta lies all the time and sadly enough believes himself.
January 1st, 2013, 2:19 pm
zoo said:
Tara
I am in favor of elections without preconditions. Let the Syrians decide, not the USA or France or Qatar.
Before accepting elections, Al Khatib wants to eliminate his strongest opponent, Bashar al Assad as he knows that if Bashar is a candidate to election, the opposition and Al Khatib have no chance to win.
If he is so sure he’ll win, then he should put no pre-conditions. She should accept to negotiate a peace deal and ensure the coming elections are supervised.
January 1st, 2013, 2:26 pm
Tara said:
Reve,
I remembered your name. It was SS. So how was Damer’s ice cream? Is Batta afraid of earring Damer ice cream now lest he gets poisoned? What about Asma?
Ah. I almost feel bad for them. From going across the globe, walking freely in Paris and visiting South America, etc to not been able to taste ice cream or even worse Fatta or Shawrma. Divine justice I call it.. They can wear Prada but can’t eat …what a pity…
January 1st, 2013, 2:28 pm
zoo said:
#355 Tara
Al Khatib lied in writing his greetings. Read what he wrote and show me any media report that confirms it. Even Al Jazeera and al Arabya did not dare.
Are you putting the same standard on Bashar al Assad and an islamic preacher?
January 1st, 2013, 2:29 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Elections will not be free when Assad is at the helm. It will be coerced. Atef Najeeb will be lurking at the corner. And ballot boxes will be changed to 98% in favor of Batta and stamped “Yes” with blood. Dictatorship never short on election. Do you not see that?!
January 1st, 2013, 2:36 pm
zoo said:
#359 Tara
Elections under UN supervision will also prevent Qatar and KSA from buying votes and Moslem Brotherhood agents to preach for themselves.
January 1st, 2013, 2:53 pm
Hopeful said:
Mr. Al Khatib will not be a president. His role is to lead an entity which will help establish a transitional government. Once the transitional government is established, this entity will dissolve itself and is no longer needed. The new government will oversee writing a new constitution and will oversee new free elections. I doubt Mr. khatib would want to run. He will most likely go back to his preaching.
This is the blueprint that is agreed on by almost all countries by now. The only remaining obstacles seem to be what role Assad will play, or not play, in the transitional government, whether or not he should be allowed to run for president, and if he will stay in the country.
In the meanwhile, Syrians continue to suffer, and die.
January 1st, 2013, 2:53 pm
AIG said:
Zoo,
Assad had 11 years to have free elections. If he was so sure he was going to win, why was he afraid to make democratic reforms?
Unless you can answer this very simple question, all you say has zero credibility. Isn’t it strange that now he want free and supervised elections? What has changed his mind?
January 1st, 2013, 3:12 pm
zoo said:
#361 Hopeful
Al Khatib has started on the wrong foot: He opposed and criticized the USA about Al Nusra, he rebuffed the Russia’s invitation, he made a pathetically silent first public appearance in front of Syrians in Turkey while Erdogan was vociferating against Bashar al Assad in turkish, he failed to establish a ‘military’ council to supervise the armed rebels, he failed to bring in the local Syrian opposition in his coalition etc…
I seriously doubt that he will be around for long….
January 1st, 2013, 3:15 pm
zoo said:
#363 AIG
Ok, Ok, it’s now 12 years… please don’t forget to change that in your future repetitive songs
January 1st, 2013, 3:19 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
AIG beat me to the point. How come If Batta is so confident of the election results, he never conducted free elections before? Please spare me the line that says ” he was too busy.”
Syria is a police state. Unless the security apparatus is dismantled, nothing “free” can happen. How many UN supervisors needed to ensure free election in a police state? 100k? And who guarantees the ramifications of saying no to Batta on the ballot? You vote no and escorted to the prison a day later..
January 1st, 2013, 3:22 pm
mjabali said:
Mu’az al-Khatib used to kiss ass to Bashar al-Assad not too long ago.
His history is not that good. Suddenly these days he is talking in the name of Syrians.
His intellectual knowledge does not go beyond marriage certificates, helping people get rid of bad spirits (He is a Shaman of a sort), and giving the token sermons that always appeased the ruler, no matter how bad the situation is.
Syria has way better people. For example, he can not be compared to Burhan Ghaliun at any day. Syria has many Ghaliuns for sure. Let the people chose one of those. Let those who want to rule and speak in the name of Syrians write what he wants to do.
PS: happy new year to Prof. Landis for hosting this crazy bunch on his blog.
Happy new year to everyone here no matter what you think or believe in.
January 1st, 2013, 3:27 pm
AIG said:
Zoo,
Just answer the simple question:
Why weren’t there free elections for 11 years? What made Assad change his mind? How was he “transformed” into a “democratic” leader from a dictator?
Then number is 11 and not 12 because for 11 years no one was stopping Assad from doing whatever he wanted in Syria. So, why no free elections during these 11 years?
January 1st, 2013, 3:29 pm
zoo said:
Tara
Why ask, when you have your AIG answer ready?
January 1st, 2013, 3:29 pm
revenire said:
360 “This is the blueprint that is agreed on by almost all countries by now.”
HOPEFUL outside countries can’t impose their wishes on Syria. This goes against national sovereignty. Only Syrians can decide via a ballot box – once the rats have been eliminated we will hold elections and if Assad loses he will step down as all do in democratic societies. 😀
356 “I remembered your name. It was SS. So how was Damer’s ice cream? Is Batta afraid of earring Damer ice cream now lest he gets poisoned? What about Asma?”
TARA I’ve never been here before and don’t know any SS. As far as ice cream goes, I imagine they enjoy their favorite flavors like all of us do. I like vanilla best.
361 “Assad had 11 years to have free elections. If he was so sure he was going to win, why was he afraid to make democratic reforms?”
AIG Syria is far more democratic that any other Arab nation – 100s of times more democratic than any of the Gulf dictatorships that attempt to lecture Syria on democratic rights. Women in Syria enjoy far more rights than their counterparts in Saudi Arabia or Qatar. Syria will not allow am Islamic dictatorship – as in Egypt – to be forced on us by terrorists. It’s that simple.
January 1st, 2013, 3:29 pm
zoo said:
AIG
Your “11 years” mantra is becoming extremely boring… Try another tune for a change.
January 1st, 2013, 3:31 pm
Hopeful said:
Zoo,
This is not about Al Khatib. People are not dying by him and because of him. This is about Assad and the gang around him. The longer he hangs on to power, and the longer his supporters hang on to the delusion that Syria will fall apart without him, the longer Syrians will suffer. I am positive that Syria will produce not one or two, but ten candidates who would make you proud to have as presidents. Syria desperately needs to join the 21st century like the rest of the world. Enough!
January 1st, 2013, 3:32 pm
AIG said:
11 years Assad had to allow free elections. Not 1 or 2 or 5. 11 years. Who cares about other countries? Why didn’t Assad during those 11 years make reforms that would lead to democratic elections?
You are not answering the question and it shows that even you do not believe that Assad is sincere about “free” elections. All he wants are elections he can manipulate. There is a huge difference between allowing democratic elections, which Assad did not allow for 11 years, and allowing Islamic dictatorship. In fact, if Assad had allowed free elections, the chances of an Islamic dictatorship would be much reduced.
January 1st, 2013, 3:34 pm
Tara said:
Reve,
You never been here before?
Sure thing….
I would have been surprisingly impressed if you admitted it… But I knew you wouldn’t.
January 1st, 2013, 3:35 pm
AIG said:
“Your “11 years” mantra is becoming extremely boring… Try another tune for a change.”
Not until you give an answer:
Why didn’t Assad allow free elections during his 11 years in power? What changed his mind?
If you want to be credible, you need to address this question. Otherwise, you are just a propaganda peddler.
January 1st, 2013, 3:36 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
What does “your AIG answer ready mean”?
AIG did not answer my question? How many UN supervisors needed in a police state to conduct free election? Who would guarantee that if I fly to Syria to vote no to Batta, I would not be arrested? Can the UN guarantee the well being of citizens when they vote no?
January 1st, 2013, 3:39 pm
AIG said:
“Syria will not allow am Islamic dictatorship”
The more time Assad stays in power, the more jihadists will flock to Syria and the greater the chance for an Islamic mess.
What do you mean “Syria will not allow”? Assad does not control much of Syria. But please be my guest, fight to the death against the jihadists. You know they are looking forward to martyrdom, I hope you are too. The fact is that the Syrian elite has fled already. Those with money are in Beirut and elsewhere. You are probably outside of Syria also and do not plan to fight. You just encourage others to die for you. Good luck. But remember, the more this goes on, the more blood there is, the more chance that when Assad is gone, they will come for you in the diaspora. Being out of Syria will not help you.
January 1st, 2013, 3:45 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Is the UN capable of personally running free election in a police state? Any historical precedent? This is the real question.
January 1st, 2013, 3:45 pm
Hopeful said:
#368 Revenire
Syria also agreed on this blueprint. Both the regime and the opposition did. The only stumbling block is Assad’s future.
What you are failing to see is the fact that people will not trust Assad to preside over free elections, especially if he is running. Would you blame them after 50 years of fake elections run by this regime? Or are you going to argue that those elections were honest and free?
Why not, for the sake of the country, have Mr. Assad step aside while free elections take place? Have we run out of people who qualify for the job? Why wouldn’t he make this sacrifice for the sake of the country?
January 1st, 2013, 3:46 pm
revenire said:
370 “This is not about Al Khatib. People are not dying by him and because of him.”
HOPEFUL people are dying every single day in Syria because of Al Khatib: civilians, soldiers, police, the sick and starving are all dying because of this US puppet.
What planet are you on? Who wants your FSA NATO death squads in Syria? Not Syrians that’s for sure. If they did the SAA would put down their weapons and surrender instead of dying at the hand of Al Khatib US funded mercenaries.
PS – Bashar has not had 50 years of fake elections BTW. You can argue that Bashar needs to leave for ________ (fill in the blank) or be murdered but that won’t solve anything at all and all we will end up with is 100-200 thousand dead Syrians while the US-UK-France and their Israeli allies laugh.
PPS – Set up your candidate in Syria for 2014. If he wins Assad leaves, as he has said dozens of times. If he wins – he is president. Simple
January 1st, 2013, 3:47 pm
AIG said:
And as for your property in Syria, well, you can forget about it already if Assad stays in power. Either Assad goes now and there will be some reconciliation, or he goes by force after bloody months or years, after which there is no reconciliation. You will have nothing left in Syria. So make the right choice. If you choose all or nothing, you will end with nothing. You can’t win, as the opposition have mostly nothing already.
January 1st, 2013, 3:49 pm
AIG said:
“Set up your candidate in Syria for 2014. If he wins Assad leaves, as he has said dozens of times. If he wins he is president.”
Why didn’t Assad accept this formula in the 11 years he was in power? What made him change his mind? Why should he be trusted now?
You and Assad had 11 years to implement your “simple” plan. Yet, anyone suggesting it in Syria was thrown in jail. Care to explain why?
January 1st, 2013, 3:54 pm
Syrian said:
+18 for men only
In this video that was found in one of the regime soldier’s phone in the city of Doma
The regime soldiers capture 2 men,and rather than kill them with Ak 47 they have on them, the take out knives and stabbed them over 70 times in a way to keep them alive ,then they carried large building bricks and throw it over their heads
This posting not to show the animalistic nature of the regime soldiers but to let them know through their friends and relative in this site that their faces have been shown and it is a matter of time to get captured, same like many others shabihas that have been cought
http://youtu.be/X6HjDf9OC8Y
January 1st, 2013, 3:57 pm
Tara said:
Dear Syrian
Thank you for the warning. My heart sank reading your post. I would not be able to open the link. I wish though it get sent to all news outlet….inshallah, Bashar will soon face a worse fate.
January 1st, 2013, 4:07 pm
Syrialover said:
“This revolution must not get stolen from the original clean hearted reformist Syrians who started it all.” – Aida Dalati
(From Women: The Forgotten Victims – SyriaComment ttp://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=17255)
Say it, and say it again!
January 1st, 2013, 4:08 pm
Syrialover said:
“… blind, hateful sectarianism, which is very damaging to this revolution and Syria as a whole. It is the opposite of what the Syrian people need and ask for, and in contradiction to their tradition and culture, not to mention our religion in general. The consequence of such a mentality becoming widespread in Syria is civil war, and if it will ever come to dominate the next government, another revolution could be expected sooner or later.
The Syrian regime is well aware of this, and considering that its only way to survive is through war and chaos, this sectarianism is their policy, it has been from the very beginning and only increased more and more” – Hamoudeh Al-Halabi
(From Free Halab blog:http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/05/)
Say it, and say it again!
January 1st, 2013, 4:11 pm
hopeful said:
# 378 Revenire
I do not have a candidate for 2014. What I care about is having truly free elections – ones that everyone in Syria believes in. This is the only way out of this mess, and this is an impossiblility under the current regime and current circumstances.
Frankly, I do not care if Assad runs, or even if he wins. What is important is a legitimate process that everyone believes in.
January 1st, 2013, 4:12 pm
Syrian said:
Tara
Parts of the video was shown today on aljazeera.You don’t really need to watch anymore, their beastly nature has been exposed to all Syrian long time ago,
I was not going post it,but Reve. Keep bringing up that beheading story by the kid who was taking revenge on the Shabih that killed all his family,so I wanted to show him the actions and deeds of his grown officers and soldiers wearing the his “SAA” uniform.
And for him and his likes to warn his buddies back home
January 1st, 2013, 4:35 pm
Visitor said:
When Ali, who is now Revenire, showed up on this forum, I told him this revolution will have to be resolved in the field by defeating the criminal Nazi regime.
I find it appropriate to repeat this simple truth in order to awaken some who think that there could be other options. There are none.
The regime must be defeated in the field.
That is why we must continue to support all those brave heroes who are making victories possible.
January 1st, 2013, 4:48 pm
Warren said:
It’s 2013 now, and Bashar Al Assad is still at the helm of the Syrian Arab Republic! Who would have predicted that? Certainly not the radical soonite insurgents and their cyber jihadi cheerleaders on here. What happened to all those boasts and predictions of imminent soonite victory? Whatever happened to Operation Damascus Volcano and Operation Zero Hour?
The Turks now have their Patriot Missiles to protect them, yet they still refuse to directly attack Syria? Instead the Turks invite the Israeli Air Force for joint NATO exercises. So much for the champion of the Pallie and Soonite causes.
January 1st, 2013, 5:00 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Assad will not be able to run for election,because he is criminal, and because he will be dead long before election is held,
In a free election the majority of Syrian will not vote for him,he will get 10-12% vote, if you believe it is more,then allow free election under UN SUPERVISION,AND WE WILL SEE, WOULD YOU ACCEPT FREE ELECTION RESULTS ?
Assad is unable to walk through crowds to campaign, he will be shot dead
Zoo asked is Islam and democracy compatible? Look around you have Turkey , Egypt, and Iran, look at Tunis,the answer is clear yes.
Zoo if it is funny to hear people shouting Yal3an rouhak ya hafiz and ya bashar, you will have a lot of fun.
January 1st, 2013, 5:03 pm
AIG said:
Wait, wasn’t Assad the champion of the Palestinian cause? So, he was lying to us all the time? Who would have expected the Rabbit of the Golan to also be a liar in addition to being a coward? Why didn’t Assad attack Israel in the Golan? Why is it the most quiet border? Why is the Syrian army being used just against its own people? Because Assad is a coward that has humiliated himself in front of all the Arab world. People are now seeing that all his brazen talk was pure nonsense, just to stay in power.
And just as he talked about Palestine and didn’t fire a shot against Israel, or talked about international law and human rights while torturing his own people, he now talks of democracy without meaning it.
January 1st, 2013, 5:08 pm
Warren said:
Syria government forces retake Homs district
30 December 2012 Last updated at 12:47 Help Syrian government forces have pushed rebel forces out of the Deir Baalbeh district of the city of Homs after several days of fierce fighting.
One activist group said that more than 200 civilians were killed by regime forces after the fighting, but the claim cannot be independently verified.
The death toll across Syria on Saturday was reported to be as high as 400.
The strategically important city of Homs has seen much of the heaviest fighting in Syria’s 21-month conflict.
Gordon Corera reports
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20869448
__________________________________________________________________
Now the Western media is reporting on the successes of the Syrian Army: Homs has been liberated from the rats that have infested the city.
It’s funny how every time the Syrian Army engages and defeats the soonite insurgents, the SOHR propagandists start screaming “massacre”?
January 1st, 2013, 5:16 pm
Warren said:
Syria Breaking News- More then 10 Al Qaeda Terrorists Terminated by Syrian Soldiers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7J3TxDUcPo
__________________________________________________________________
Soonite insurgents screaming & crying! lol
January 1st, 2013, 5:27 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=4253439490621&set=vb.1124809121&type=2&theater
January 1st, 2013, 5:33 pm
Warren said:
Popular Egypt satirist accused of mocking president
A popular Egyptian political satirist is being investigated by prosecutors for allegedly insulting the president.
A formal complaint was brought against Bassem Youssef for “undermining the standing” of President Mohamed Morsi in his television show.
Separately, an independent newspaper says it has been accused by the presidency of “circulating false news” and is being investigated.
The cases come amid increasing worries about press freedoms in Egypt.
Many journalists have joined critics of the new Islamist-backed constitution, saying it does not offer enough guarantees of press freedoms.
Witty lampooning
Bassem Youssef is a doctor who shot to fame after winning a huge number of followers with his witty lampooning of public figures in amateur videos posted on the internet following the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
He became a household name when his satirical show – likened to Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show in the US – began to be broadcast three times a week on one of Egypt’s independent satellite stations.
He has poked fun at everyone from fellow television presenters to well-known Muslim scholars and most recently President Morsi himself, the BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil reports,
But sketches in which he portrayed Mr Morsi as a pharaoh, calling him “Super Morsi” for holding on to executive and legislative powers, and, separately, putting the president’s image on a pillow and parodying his speeches have angered one Islamist lawyer, whose formal complaint has resulted in the investigation.
Meanwhile, the independent al-Masry al-Youm newspaper said on Tuesday that Mr Morsi’s office has filed a complaint accusing it of “circulating false news likely to disturb public peace and public security and affect the administration”.
The paper said it related to an article in which “well-informed” sources were quoted as saying that Mr Morsi was due to visit the same hospital where Mr Mubarak is currently believed to be receiving treatment.
The story was subsequently updated to say that the visit had been cancelled and Mr Morsi’s wife visited a relative at the hospital, the newspaper said.
However, a reporter and editor have been summoned for questioning, the paper went on to say.
Egypt’s controversial new constitution, which became law last month, has sparked huge protests from opponents who say it favours Islamists and does not sufficiently protect the rights of women or Christians as well as press freedoms.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20884036
__________________________________________________________________
Now it’s a crime to criticize and mock the Ikhwani dictator! This is the “democracy” the soonites have brought to Egypt! As you can see from this board soonites won’t tolerate criticism of their new caliph Moaz (who is an ikwani)!
January 1st, 2013, 5:38 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=4253579654125&set=vb.1124809121&type=2&theater
January 1st, 2013, 5:46 pm
revenire said:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/393161_331691446944270_1860186252_n.jpg
War between the Alawites and the Sunnis
😀
January 1st, 2013, 6:08 pm
Syrialover said:
The youngest teacher in the world, found some books and started a class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-v0jgDXdKY
This is the true spirit of Syria and what will rebuild it.
January 1st, 2013, 6:12 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The Assad regime spent billions of dollars on weapons so that it can use those weapons on Syrians. That’s what the regime is like.
January 1st, 2013, 6:49 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
…..
January 1st, 2013, 6:50 pm
Syrian Atheist Against Dictatorships said:
For those who want Syria to stay under the Assadist Dictatorship.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PBHtjwXQUCQ
As for me, I can only say that I am ashamed to be of the same biological species as these “Abtal al Assad” or their opposite numbers in the “Jihadist” camp.
January 1st, 2013, 7:22 pm
revenire said:
396. Do you ever stop moaning about the same thing? If you feel so strongly get a gun and go offer yourself to Yaqoubi. Help him make his predictions come true (he was wrong).
To suggest Syria spent billions to shoot its own people is nuts. Syrian soldiers don’t shoot their own people – they shoot terrorists: foreign backed and foreign armed terrorists.
January 1st, 2013, 7:28 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Radwan Ziadeh, in his facebook,has two videos show Assad Thugs slaughtering Sunni in a very ugly disgusting way stabbing them to death and while they are dying throwing over them large huge piece of stone, this is to show the criminality of this group and we can not live with them anymore,large number of them must get punished by death,this community are murderers,they can not be rehabitated,clean Syria from them is a must.
January 1st, 2013, 7:50 pm
revenire said:
Oh hell 399, atrocities are part of war. You are at war. You can’t overthrow the Syrian army with a bunch of drugged-up apes shouting God is great and chopping heads off. It is a joke.
These idiots and their propaganda of “regime atrocities” reminds me of Gay Girl in Damascus i.e. a total fraud.
January 1st, 2013, 7:58 pm
Syrialover said:
JUERGEN
Thank you very much for translating and sharing those items in #329 and #337. Interesting and worthwhile reading.
And as ever, thank you also for keeping it coming from the brave and brillaint poster makers in Kanfranbel.
January 1st, 2013, 8:06 pm
Tara said:
One can really really have extreme difficulty not to generalize, hate all Alawis, and feel the need to kick them out after knowing their last atrocities stabbing and throwing bricks at Syrians.
I pray to God everyday to give me the strength not to hate.
January 1st, 2013, 8:13 pm
revenire said:
Too late Tara. I’ve seen you wish death on Syrians many times. You’re no better than the worst “Assad animal” you’ve created.
January 1st, 2013, 8:17 pm
Tara said:
القاتِل يُقتل ولو بعد حين
We shall never forget. These killers will be haunted one after one wherever they go, and shall be brought to justice. There will never be reconciliation before that happens.
January 1st, 2013, 8:23 pm
Syrialover said:
The last sentence says everything. FACTS for the history books:
“The Observatory for Human Rights said nearly 90 per cent of the 45,000 people killed in the conflict died in 2012, putting this year’s toll at 39,362 people, mostly civilians.
“The uprising began in March 2011 with peaceful protests inspired by the Arab Spring but escalated into an armed rebellion following a brutal government crackdown.
“The sharp increase in the death toll came in the face of an escalating resort to air power by the Assad government against densely populated areas, the Observatory said.”
From AFP story: New atrocity report amid Syria peace bid
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/new-atrocity-report-amid-syria-peace-bid/story-e6frg6so-1226546016681
January 1st, 2013, 8:30 pm
Syrialover said:
TARA, experience elsewhere shows that the killers who do the most depraved and debased actions in war time later find themselves marginalised and displaced in their own society.
They are not shown any gratitude or loyalty by those who supported their actions at the time.
January 1st, 2013, 8:40 pm
Syrian said:
@400Reve.
You live by the “atrocities”you die by the atrocities
And time and numbers are not on your side!
January 1st, 2013, 8:40 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
If we don’t rid the world of those evil people,Assad thugs,we will live to regret that,it is for the safty of our children and future generation,we must punish them for their evil deeds, they are the worst human ever created,justice is not hate, not all alawis are bad, some sunnis are bad,those I call Assad thugs are both Alawis and sunnis helping Assad.
Justice is not hate, even if they are related to us,they must be punished
January 1st, 2013, 8:40 pm
Syrialover said:
New post by Joshua Landis and new thread started
January 1st, 2013, 8:52 pm
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