Seven Syrian officers announce the formation of a Free Syrian Army
Revlon posted this in the comment section.
The announcement of the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the presence of seven defecting officers:
Some observations on the the officers appearing in this video:
First: Their uniform tells that they are either special forces or Republican guards. If so, the prediction that Qasha3ami made in his last video, that I linked was true.
Second: The name of the appointed acting commander in chief tells that he is very likely a 3alawi officer.
[J.L. As`ad can be both an Alawi or Sunni name. There is no indication that the commander is Alawi by his name or his accent. If I had to guess, at the end, he slipped with one word in colloquial that gives away that he is Homsi. When he pronounced the name of al-Naqiib Ayham al-Kurdi, he said “al-Kurdeh” with a “dummeh”on the “K” instead of a kasra and a long mimicking “eeeeh” at the end instead of a “yah”. This tells us nothing about his religion, as Alawis live in Homs alongside the Sunni majority and Christian minority. ]
Third: here is a summary of the announcement:
– Objectives
To work with the people to bring down the system.
To protect the people from the armored killing machine of the system
– Call all members of the Syrian army to defect and join the FSA
– We hereby declare that all security forces attacking civilians are from now on justified targets to be neutralized by FSA.
– We call all opposition forces to unite
– The statement is hereby Signed by
Acting Commander in Chief of the FSA: Colonel(3aqeed) Riyad AlAs3ad
Deputy of Acting Commander: Colonel (3aqeed) Ahmad Hijazi
Commander of 7amza AlKhateeb Phalange: Colonel (Muqaddam) AbdelSattar Yoonso
(Naqeeb)Ibrahim Majboor: Commander of Al7urriyi Phalange
(Naqeeb) 3ala Eddin: Commander of Salah Euddin Phalange
Ayham AlKurdi: Commander of AlQashoosh Phalange
(Naqeeb) Qays
(Mulazem Awwal) Tayseer Yoonso
(Mulazem Awwal) Ahmad AlKhalaf
(Mulazem Awwal) Mazen AlZein
????? ????? ????? ?????? ????
The Last Tourist in Syria: This is a lovely piece. Emma Sky is charming and smart.
In search of old friends and new realities in a surreal and empty Damascus.
BY EMMA SKY | JULY 28, 2011, Foreign Policy
…. As I sit in the beautiful courtyard of Beit al-Jabri in the old city, eating my last plate of fuul before I depart, I feel sad. Damascus is perhaps the most beautiful city I have visited in the Middle East. Syrians are the friendliest and kindest of people, as Palestinian and Iraqi refugees attest. Will the Syrians be able to prevent their country deteriorating into a bloody civil war, along the lines of Iraq? I hope so. But I really am not sure.
Tahrir Square in Cairo Today as Muslim Brothers and Salafis Chant “there is no God but God”
Islamists Flood Square in Cairo in Show of Strength,
By ANTHONY SHADID, Published: July 29, 2011
CAIRO — Tens of thousands of Egyptian Islamists poured into Tahrir Square on Friday calling for a state bound by strict religious law and delivering a persuasive show of force in a turbulent country showing deep divisions and growing signs of polarization.
The shape of Egypt five months into its revolution remains distinctly undecided, and Islamists have long been the best organized political force in this religiously conservative country. Some activists speculated that their show of strength would serve as a jolt to the secular forces who helped to start the revolution but who remain divided, largely ineffectual and woefully unprepared for coming elections.
Others speculated that it might force groups to pick sides in a country where the glow of unity after President Hosni Mubarak’s fall in February has dimmed amid recriminations over the pace, style and substance of change.
“Islamic, Islamic,” went a popular chant. “Neither secular nor liberal.” …..
We wrote last month about the attempts by an Arab-American group with ties to Syria’s regime to drop a performance of a pro-freedom song by a well-known Syrian-American singer.
The family of the singer, Malek Jandali, were attacked last night, according to a Facebook account which was confirmed by a source familiar with the event. Regime security forces apparently attacked Jandali’s father and mother, wrecked their home in Homs, and locked the couple in the bathroom.
The attack came after Jandali performed at a demonstration outside the White House. The MBC reporter who interviewed him there, Nadia Bilbassy, told me she’d been told the security forces warned his parents that he should stop speaking out.
Bilbassy asked State Department spokesman Mark Toner about the incident at today’s briefing; he said wasn’t immediately familiar with it.
Jandali wasn’t reachable for comment on the incident, but I’m told he’s canceled a performance scheduled for Orlando this week.
The incident offers a glimpse of the high stakes even for American opponents of the Syrian regime, and the context of the move by the American group, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, to cancel Jandali’s performance.
Indeed, two board members of the ADC reportedly recently traveled to Syria to meet with, and express their support for, the embattled President Assad.
Reports: Turkish Military’s Top Brass Has Resigned Due to Tensions With the Government
By Associated Press
July 29 (Washington Post) — ANKARA, Turkey — Reports: Turkish military’s top brass has resigned due to tensions with the government
Tens of thousands of people have packed Cairo’s Tahrir Square, after the first call by Islamist leaders for nationwide demonstrations since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February.
Many protesters – dominated by Muslim Brotherhood supporters – are calling for an Islamic state and Sharia law.
Correspondents say the rallies will be a worrying development for secularists.
The Brotherhood is the most organised political force in Egypt, although it was not prominent in the revolution.
Tensions have been running high between Egypt’s Islamist and secular groups, who are at odds over the transition to democracy in the Arab world’s most populated country.
Turning point? Liberal groups first want guarantees of a constitution that will protect religious freedom and personal rights, whereas Islamists want speedy elections and a recognition of Islam – in one form or another – in the new Egyptian state.
Now, the Islamists want their voice to be heard and are showing their muscle for the first time since Mr Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, says the BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo.
Although the Muslim Brotherhood can turn out huge crowds by rallying its supporters at mosques, it does not necessarily represent the majority of Egyptians and is predicted to win around 20% of the vote in an election, our correspondent says…. There was little sign of any secular groups at Friday’s rally, he says, adding that it will be interesting to see how they re-group after today’s events…. with Islamists and the more conservative Salafist groups now filling Tahrir Square, it could mark a turning point in Egypt’s post-revolution period, our correspondent says.
CAIRO (AP) — Ultraconservative Muslims turned out in force Friday as tens of thousands filled Cairo’s central Tahrir Square in a rally marked by a growing rift in the protest movement.
South of the capital, gunmen fired on a car carrying Christians, killing two. While the motive was unknown, similar events have sparked religious violence in the past.
In one of the largest crowds to fill the square since the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, Salafis chanted for the implementation of strict Islamic law — spurring accusations that they violated an agreement to keep the rally free from divisive issues.
The decision by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s best organized political force, and other Islamist groups to participate significantly boosted the turnout. These groups stayed away from recent demonstrations that sought to keep up pressure on the military council that took power after Mubarak’s fall, leading to smaller crowds.
But the Islamists’ participation also highlighted the growing rift between them and liberal activists. Some Islamist groups rallied their members to the square to oppose the adoption of a set of guidelines for drafting a new constitution after parliamentary elections later this year.
Turkey was quick to cheer the Arab Spring, when hopeful protest seemed to promise a democratic Middle East in Turkey’s own image. But the momentum for reform has stalled, and if developments in Libya, Yemen and Syria are any indication, the Arab world is headed for protracted conflict and instability. That worries Turkey.
However, it is in the interest of both Turkey and the world that the government in Ankara plays an engaged and constructive role during this trying period. …
Turkish officials expect trade with Syria to drop sharply this year. The cross-border commerce — formal and informal — benefits largely the restless Kurdish corner of the country, in southeast Turkey. A revenue decline could upset the fragile lull in hostilities there. …
If protests escalate and the Assad regime responds with increasing violence, Syrian state institutions may collapse. The situation might devolve into a civil war between Sunni Muslims, who are a majority in Syria, and minority Alawites, who control the regime. The Turkish government is hoping that officials in Damascus will avert this outcome by accommodating the protesters through reforms, but so far Turkey’s ability to affect Syria’s byzantine politics has been limited. Still, the dialogue between the two countries is an asset to the international community that the Turks should continue to use in order to press for reform in Syria.
Equally important, before Syrian unrest leads to a Kurdish- refugee crisis, the government in Ankara should take meaningful steps to resolve its own festering Kurdish issue. Many Turks are hesitant to make the concessions necessary to mollify the country’s Kurds, for instance direct talks with the PKK and an amnesty for its fighters, including those in custody. But given the Syrian crisis, Turkey can’t afford complacency. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan should take advantage of the impressive mandate he won at the polls on June 12 to tackle this difficult matter. Doing so would strengthen Turkish democracy and protect Turkey from any fallout from next door. …
The opposition has named this Friday: “Your Silence is Killing US” in reference to the silent majority in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo who have yet to join the demonstrations. The three sacred cows of the Syrian regime are the army, Damascus and Aleppo. So long as they remain united and on the side of the regime or silent, the revolution will have a very difficult time overturning the political order.
In talking to friends in Syria, I am told that the mukhabarat are playing an ever larger role in the suppression of the opposition, as military responses prove ineffective. Particularly in Damascus and Aleppo they are thick on the ground in an effort to keep Syria’s two principal cities from becoming battle grounds and going the way of Hama or Homs.
Correction: in my last post, I highlighted a video of Imam Buti being supposedly “expelled” from his mosque. This turned out to the a faked video. He was not expelled. Read the correction I place above the video.
This video is compelling and fascinating but fails to explain why so many Arab countries have supported authoritarian regimes for so long. The explanation given: “the narcissism of the leaders, evil of leaders, they are from military-authoritarian backgrounds, and the people are gullible and childish.” — may be apart of the story, but not the most important part. Patrick Seale comes the closest to raising the real causes of ongoing authoritarianism in the Middle East, but it is almost by mistake that al-Jazeera includes his analysis. The producers make no attempt to answer the hard and vital questions. Without dealing honestly with the failings of Middle Eastern nation states and societies, solutions to dictatorship will be elusive.
Syrian mobilization against President Bashar al-Assad has followed a weekly cycle, with the biggest rallies taking place after Friday prayers. That may change during Ramadan, which starts next week.
Activists, analysts and Syrian refugees say the uprising is set to intensify during the Muslim holy month. Opposition groups plan to shift from weekly rallies to nightly ones, held after the tarawih, an additional nighttime prayer recited during Ramadan, said Bashar Afandi and Mohammed al-Klesse, who fled Assad’s crackdown on northern Syria and are staying in Turkish camps.
“The mosques will play a pivotal role and every night, when people gather to pray, will resemble what we have seen after every Friday prayers,” said Mahmoud Merhi, of the Arab Organization for Human Rights. A surge in arrests in the past two weeks is probably aimed at heading off the momentum that Ramadan may give to protesters, he said by phone from Damascus.
Syrian opposition ready to lead, 2011-07-29
Photo: Lee Smith. Najib Ghadbian, Associate Professor and author of The Second Assad Regime: Bashar of Lost Opportunities. Ahed Alhendi is a founding member of Syrian Youth for Justice. Radwan Ziadeh is the Founder and Director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies. Abdul Razak Eid is co-founder of the Committees for Civil Societies in Syria.
DAMASCUS, Syria, July 29 (UPI) — The Syrian opposition has entered a new phase of organization with the goal of taking on a leadership position once the regime collapses, an activist said. High-ranking officials in the U.S. State Department told
lawmakers on Capitol Hill that despite the repressive tactics used by Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Syrian opposition is starting to articulate an agenda for Syria’s future. “President Assad can delay or obstruct it but he cannot, however, stop it,” they testified.
Najib Ghadbian, a member of the so-called Syrian Opposition Consultative Council, told London’s pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat the anti-regime movement was preparing to take over the country following the collapse of Assad’s regime….
“The opposition is seeking to show the world’s leaders that there is an alternative to the Assad regime that is capable of filling the vacuum in the forthcoming stage,” Ghadbian was quoted as saying.
Approximately 200 Syrian opposition activists met Wednesday in Istanbul for the first of four planned days of workshops intended to coordinate their efforts against the Syrian regime.
“This will be the seed for future civil society institutions and movements in Syria,” said Moaz Al-Sibaai, the meeting’s general coordinator. He said the goal is “to improve ways to deliver our message to the outside world, ways of documenting human rights violations in Syria and giving coherent political messages.”
The gathering, organized by Syrian Activists Network, is taking place in a hotel on the Asian side of the city.
….On Wednesday, the attendees consisted mostly of young adults, some of them from Syria. At the venue, their general mood was enthusiastic, with many expressing optimism they will achieve their goals.
One young female activist, who comes from a long line of Syrian dissidents, said she was thankful for the opportunities presented at the gathering. “I want to attend the media course, I might attend the charity one, but I would be more than happy to join any of them,” she said….
“It is not about toppling the regime, we are past that,” said Sima Abedraboh, an organizer and participant at Wednesday’s event. “We are building here, thinking about the future of Syria.”…
The U.S. State Department this week said al-Assad is the “cause” of the country’s “instability” and is not “the key to its stability.”
“Some guy in Damascus” writes in the comment section on Thursday.
Just passed by the muhkabarat head quarters in Kafer Suseh. I counted more than 30 buses…..looks like sh*t is going down tomorrow.
DAMASCUS, July 29 (Xinhua) — Thousands of anti-government protestors poured down the streets in some Syrian cities Friday for a new round of protests.
The state television said the protests erupted Friday in areas including the flashpoint cities of Homs and Hama and some suburbs of the northern city of Idleb. The private Sham FM radio said thousands of people staged a protest in Hama’s main Assi square.
The state TV reporter in the southern city of Daraa, the epicenter of protests, disputed what al-Jazeera TV reported as large protests in the area and that Syrian security forces fired at demonstrators in the al-Sabeel neighborhood in Daraa. It showed live footage of the area which seems empty with no signs of protests.
The TV said armed men are firing bullets and hand-made sticks of dynamite at the law-enforcement members in the coastal city of Latakia, injuring one.
Meanwhile, al-Jazeera said a massive protest took place in the city’s main Assi square. Online footage showed a huge number of people gathered at the square, calling for the downfall of the leadership.
According to activists, many anti-government protesters recently chose to hold overnight protests in several cities, aiming for a time when the security presence thins out.
Abdul-Karim al-Rihawi, head of the Syrian League for Human Rights, told Xinhua earlier that security forces were conducting a “pre-emptive campaign” before the start of Muslims’ holy month of Ramadan, while some opposition parties said they would demonstrate daily during Ramadan to increase pressure on the government…..
BAGHDAD — At a roadside station here, where buses bound for Syria leave dozens of times a week, the space between two troubled nations is measured by notions of prosperity and security.
“Here it is very hot and Ramadan is coming,” said Majid Shamis, a middle-aged Iraqi who was headed with his wife and two children, ages 4 and 5, for a two-month summer vacation in Syria. “Electricity is better there. Even the security situation is better.”
… In Iraq, Syria still represents something of an oasis. Iraqis began to flee there years ago to escape the American-led war and the sectarian bloodletting that followed. Now, even as Syria faces its own turmoil, few Iraqis are returning home. In fact, the number of Iraqis leaving for Syria is far greater than the number coming back, said Brian C. Vaughan, assistant representative at the United Nations office.
When balanced against Iraq’s continuing violence, its sporadic electricity that will only get less reliable as summer creeps on and an economy dominated by a corrupt public sector, Syria is seen as a better place to live.
Ali, the barbar, heads for the relative security of Damascus.
“You can relax there,” said Ali Mohammed, a barber, who left the Iraqi city of Najaf for Syria in 2005 after he was threatened again and again for cutting hair in a style that offended the version of Islam adhered to by the Mahdi Army, the militia that answers to the militant cleric Moktada al-Sadr.
“You don’t need to worry about electricity, the heat” in Syria, Mr. Mohammed, wearing a skintight T-shirt and wraparound sunglasses, explained as he prepared to return to his adopted country after a visit with his family in Iraq.
His friend Yasir Rashid, 21, was going along for a vacation. “Life is beautiful there, women are beautiful there,” Mr. Rashid said. “That is the important thing. Freedom and security, everything.”
Four or five buses leave each day for Syria from this station. A ticket costs about $25, and business seems to be booming. “The number of people leaving Iraq for Syria has increased because of the summer holiday,” said a bus company manager, Abu Muhammad. “Families are going there to escape the summer heat, and for tourism.”
Bus drivers complain that the Syrian border guards often demand bribes, usually cash or gasoline, but they say that the political upheaval has not hampered business.
“It’s stable, very normal,” said Farras Ali, a driver who makes the trip to Syria three times a week. “The media is making it look larger than it is.”
Of course, many Iraqis traveling from Baghdad go straight to Damascus, the capital, not to regions north of Damascus that are the sites of many protests and the violent crackdown that has left nearly 1,500 people dead.
But if prosperity and quality of life are measured in relative terms, that could explain why migrant workers from Bangladesh handle the luggage at the bus station here — searching for bombs before loading the bags into cargo holds — and serve chai to visitors. They came to Iraq, of all places, to seek a better life. One of them, Mamun Kalegagus, 25, said he had been working at the station, and living at its rudimentary quarters for immigrant workers, for two years. He is paid $12 to $15 a day, more than the $100 a month he earned cooking Chinese food back home.
“It’s better here,” he said, but far from perfect. “In Bangladesh there is no boom,” he added, referring to the still-frequent explosions heard in many Baghdad neighborhoods….. For Iraqis, Syria’s attraction is a measure of the continuing fragility of their own country…
As Iraqis experience their own slow struggle for democracy and witness similar ones in Syria and other countries across the region, some have been inspired to nourish their own protest movement. Nearly every Friday, groups of demonstrators gather in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.
Other Iraqis, though, especially those travelers here at the bus station, are fatigued from their country’s years of war and failed promises of democracy.
Mr. Mohammed, the barber from Najaf, said of the Arab uprisings: “I don’t care about what’s happening. As a displaced Iraqi, I just want security.”
In the following conversation with Ibtisam Azem, a prominent Syrian opposition figure and Professor of Political Sociology at the Sorbonne, Burhan Ghalyoun, argues that the Syrian revolution has broken the backbone of the ruling regime in Syria. Ghalyun emphasized that the Syrian opposition will not engage the regime in a dialogue that does not lead to a peaceful transition to real democracy. He also stressed that the opposition vehemently rejects military intervention or any use of force, sedition or sectarianism. Read more
Syria News: Mr. Bakhtian, one of the top Baath party leaders, says, “the Baath Party conference will be a pivotal moment in the future life of Syria”
IDLEB, (SANA) – Over 11000 citizens have now returned to their towns and villages in the city of Jisr al-Shughour from the Turkish camps, who were forced to flee their homes by the armed terrorist groups, including the 358 returnees who came back over Tuesday and Wednesday through al-Hassanieh border point.
“The truth was finally revealed to the city’s residents and it has now become hard to believe the lies about homes being destroyed and the absence of security which, we are sure now, are mere rumors and completely false and untrue,” said As’ad al-Bustani, one of the returnees, in a statement to SANA…. Dr. Subahi al-Hamdo, in charge of the popular committees coordinating the citizens’ return, said all the families who were in the Turkish Baqshin camp returned home, pointing out that the Turkish Red Crescent removed all the tents at the camp. He estimated the number of returnees till today at 11000 citizens.
From Derhally in Bloomberg on Syrian refugees in Turkey
Sarya Redwan Hmody, a 33-year-old lawyer, said he attempted to return to his home in Jisr al-Shughour, where he was shot in the leg during the Syrian army attack. When he got there, the village was largely deserted and his home occupied by an army general, Hmody said in an interview in a house in Antakya where he’s now staying. Spray-painted across his front gate was a warning: “We’ll bend to kiss the ground that Assad steps on, we’ll die for him and kill everyone in the opposition, young and old, men and women.”
Hmody said he hasn’t heard anything from 16 friends who went back to Syria after Assad declared an amnesty. Kubilay, a Turk who’s helping to shelter dozens of Syrian families in his village, and who declined to give his surname in order to protect them, said one refugee left his six children and wife in Turkey to check on his property a few kilometers across the border and never came back…
A bomb blast struck a major oil pipeline in western Syria on Friday, causing oil to spill into a nearby lake. State television said the explosion was a “terrorist” attack by a group of “saboteurs.”
HOMS, (SANA) – Saboteur groups targeted on Friday’s dawn an oil pipeline near Tal Hosh Dam in Tal Kalakh with an explosive bomb, leaving a hole of 15-meter in diameter and causing oil leak.
“At 04:00 am on Friday, some citizens heard an explosion near a pipeline for transporting crude oil to Banyias”, Governor of Homs, Ghassan Abdel al-Aal said in a statement to SANA Correspondent.
The Governor added that the terrorist and sabotage act targets two vital sectors at the same time as the saboteurs chose a point near Tal Hosh Dam which irrigates large areas of the agricultural lands.
The saboteurs committed their act with the intent to cause serious damages and losses through disrupting the irrigation operations and polluting the water of the dam and its channels, he said.
Administration gets fearful on Syria policy: LA Times
Senior State Department officials came under tough questioning by lawmakers Wednesday over the Obama administration’s reluctance to call for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s departure. Despite the Assad government’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators,…
Despite the Assad government’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators, U.S. officials have shied away from calling directly for his ouster. They worry that the United States would end up looking weak if Assad managed to hang on in the face of popular pressure. And with American leverage limited in Syria, they also have been reluctant to raise expectations about what the administration might be prepared to do to unseat the regime.
At Wednesday’s hearing, an unusual coalition of Republican and Democratic members of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee complained that the effort to calibrate a message had failed to make it clear that America stands with pro-reform protesters against an oppressive regime.
“How many must die before we have the courage to stand up and say that Assad is illegitimate and he must go?” asked Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), the subcommittee’s chairman. He noted that the death toll in Syria over the last four months was more than 1,600.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (DN.Y.) accused the administration of holding off on its strongest language until it was clear that Assad would fall. “We’re hedging our bets here on the odd chance that he’s going to be able to hang on,” Ackerman said. Paul Richter reporting.
Al-Qaeda’s newly installed leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is claiming solidarity with Syria’s pro-democracy movement, telling protesters in a new video that they are part of a broader revolution to liberate Muslim lands.
Zawahiri, in a seven-minute monologue posted to Jihadist Web sites on Wednesday, accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of being both a corrupt tyrant and “America’s partner in the war on Islam.”
“The time of humiliation is gone, the time of deceit is over, and the rule of the thieves is finished,” said the Egyptian-born terrorist. A translation of his comments was provided by SITE Intelligence Group.
Al-Qaeda has struggled to adapt to epic changes underway in the Middle East, as Arab populations have ignored the terrorist group’s recipe for violent jihad in favor of peaceful protests. In the weeks after the start of the Egyptian uprising, Zawahiri issued statements seeking to link the movement to al-Qaeda’s quest for a restored Islamic caliphate.
In the new video, Zawahiri contends that the Assad betrayed the Arabs with his “abandonment” of the Golan Heights—the highlands occupied by Israeli in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war—and says the Syrian leader has served since that time as a tool of the United States and as “Israel’s border guard.”
“Washington today seeks to replace Assad, who sincerely protected the borders of the Zionist entity, with another regime that squanders your revolution and jihad in a new regime that follows America, takes care of Israel’s interests and grants the [Muslims] some freedoms,” he said.
Zawahiri, wearing a white turban and his trademark spectacles, expressed regret that he couldn’t be with the Syrian protesters in person. “I would have been amongst you and with you,” he said, but “there are enough and more mujahideen and garrisoned ones.”
Rejecting Zawahiri: A statement by Local Coordination Committees in Syria (LCC), Damascus 28-July-2011
Local Coordination Committees in Syria (LCC) condemned the statement of the leader of Al-Qaeda Ayman Zawahiri and his interference in the Syrian revolution, while the Syrian regime is waging a fierce repression campaign targeting entire neighborhoods in Damascus and its suburbs and invading and besieging the revolutionist cities…..
Mohammad Al-Abdallah, the spokesman of Local Coordination Committees in Syria, said: “Zawahiri is trying to convince the world that he has supporters in Syria, which will provoke the international public opinion against us and give the regime the right to commit crimes against our people. We condemn such statements that are irrelevant to the revolution, Syrians chose the non-violent way for their revolution and they won’t change it, they refuse any practices or speeches containing sectarian or violent properties”.
More than four months after protests began in Syria, Kurdish parties still do not have a clear agenda if the Baath regime falls. Some Kurdish politicians maintain the problem could be solved through a conference to unite the Kurdish front.
Nuri Brimo, spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria, said Syrian Kurdish groups are debating whether to hold a Kurdish unity conference. The groups are divided over who should represent them in opposition conferences and have no clear agenda to push at the gatherings, Syrian Kurdish leaders say.
Over the past few months the Syrian opposition has held several conferences in Turkey. The Kurds have always come out empty-handed, however. Most even withdrew from the most recent conference, held in Istanbul earlier this month, over concerns that their interests were not being represented.
Radhwan Badini, a Syrian Kurdish leader who has attended three opposition conferences in Turkey, criticized Arab opposition groups for not sticking to the opposition’s agenda.
“In most of the conference we agreed on one agenda with the Arab parties, but halfway through the conference they would switch their stance and stand against the Kurds,” Badini told Rudaw.
What effects might television dramas have on democratic revolution?…
Actor Qusai Khouli plays a resident of Damascus's slums in Birth from the Loins. The series was a clear condemnation of the hypocrisy of the Syrian upper class and gross abuses of power at a level that the audience could easily relate to and the censors could begrudgingly let pass. When anti-regime demonstrations broke out in Syria in March 2011, I remembered a quote from Samir: " You can have your revolutions, your socialism, and your rights - do whatever it is that you do. But in the end, everything will return to its natural state. It will always hold true: the son of the Pasha remains the son of the Pasha and the son of the maid will remain the son of the maid."
DAMASCUS- In a statement published on Thursday, the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL) on Thursday condemned the killing, terrifying and sabotage acts committed by the terrorist groups in several Syrian cities, particularly the criminal acts against the army, police, law-enforcement, and security forces.
The statement stressed that the Syrian people’s will for reform, which is among the characteristics of modern democratic and civil country where the citizens participate in making political and economic decisions.
The NESSL called upon the Syrian people to be aware and united to prevent Syria’s enemies from taking this opportunity and achieve their ambitions.
The NESSL warned that the popular demand for reform has changed into armed operations of extremist terrorist nature with the aim of undermining Syria’s stability.
National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL) expressed support to the reform program led by President Bashar al-Assad who seeks to build modern democratic Syria and preserve the national unity, denouncing all forms of foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs.
The statement called upon the churches worldwide to be objective in its view of what is happening in Syria, away from the biased media, and to request their leaders and politicians to support the Syrian people’s interest and not their owns.
Revlon writes about this National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon statement in the comment section:
The statement sets a serious / dangerous precedent in the long history of Muslem-Christian peaceful co-existance in Syria.
The Synod has moved from undeclared neutrality and support of peaceful change to unabashed support of the regime that was declared illegitimate by the demonstrators.
By naming the alleged ”terrorist groups” as the source of violence in this uprising and failing to acknowledge Jr’s responsibility for the thousands of abductions, torture, and killing of men, women and children, the Synod has proven themselves as either notoriously misinformed or plain complacent.
By supporting the aggressor in this crisis, the Synod will be viewed as a party to the ongoing aggression.
Brazil, India and South Africa, which have blocked United Nations pressure on Syria’s government to end repression of protesters, will send envoys to Damascus to seek an end to the violence, according to South Africa’s ambassador to the UN.
The three emerging political and economic powers, which in 2003 formed the coalition known as IBSA, plan to send deputy foreign ministers on the mission, according to South African Ambassador Baso Sangqu.
“The goal is to engage Syria, understand where they are, and see if we can assist them to overcome the difficulties they have,” Sangqu said in an interview. The mission expects to be in Damascus soon, he said.
As elected members of the UN Security Council, Brazil, India and South Africa have combined to put off action on a U.S. and European draft resolution condemning the Assad regime’s attacks on anti-government protesters. Western diplomats say that support from the three might dissuade China and Russia from vetoing it…..
Brazil, India and South Africa are aspiring permanent members of the Security Council that have reshaped the political dynamic in the UN’s principal policy making panel.
“The dynamics of the Security Council are not what they used to be,” Portugal’s Ambassador Jose Moraes Cabral said. “There are new forces, different groupings and, of course, one must take account of them.”
The IBSA nations “reflect a view of the world that is different from the American and former colonialist European view, in that they are very prickly about developing-nation sovereignty,” Jeff Laurenti, UN analyst at the New York-based Century Foundation research group, said in an interview.
Israeli occupation authorities prepare for building a cement wall in the occupied Syrian Golan to separate Majdal Shams town from the suburb of al-Oude and the liberated Ain al-Tinah site.
…the four suspects — identified as Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra. The men range in age from 36 to 50.
Your title “Buti expelled from mosque” is extremely misleading. The clips that you show are from MONTHS ago, when the protests started to spread to Damascus. They occurred AFTER the Friday prayers were finished and when some people rushed the pulpit shouting anti-government slogans. All of the clips that follow took place in the week following that sermon, back in March.
Dear Joshua, The video with al-Buti is an old one, it dates back to the second Friday of demonstrations (March 25). Al-Buti was not expelled from the mosque, he just fled because he didn’t want to appear as a supporter of the demonstrators (which he’s not, of course). His comments on the demonstrators “who do not know how to pray” was broadcasted on TV before the Friday sermon on March 25 (either Thursday 24 or Friday morning). He was commenting on the first demonstration in the Umayyad Mosque on Friday March 18. Best, Thomas
Thomas Pierret writes:
Dear Joshua, The video with al-Buti is an old one, it dates back to the second Friday of demonstrations (March 25). Al-Buti was not expelled from the mosque, he just fled because he didn’t want to appear as a supporter of the demonstrators (which he’s not, of course).
His comments on the demonstrators “who do not know how to pray” was broadcasted on TV before the Friday sermon on March 25 (either Thursday 24 or Friday morning). He was commenting on the first demonstration in the Umayyad Mosque on Friday March 18. Best, Thomas
Dear Scooby and Thomas, many thanks for this correction. I was duped by this well crafted video forgery below. There are many misleading and falsified videos going around. I have frequently criticized the main stream press for not doing due diligence. Now I have been burned. Mea culpa. I have frequently used Buti as a measure of the “Sunni street.” He is a much respected Imam. I know he has many critics today because of his pro-stability stand, but for him to be expelled from a mosque would be big news and a turning point, of a kind. Thanks for correcting me. I count on the collective knowledge of this discussion board. Merci]
al-Buti – Syria’s senior Sunni cleric – was ejected from his mosque for speaking out against the uprising. He said: “Most of the people who come to Friday prayers and then go out to demonstrate, do not know how to pray.”
Syria forces kill eight in Kanaker raid – rights groups – BBCSyrian security forces have killed at least eight people in a raid on the town of Kanaker near the capital, Damascus, rights groups say…. The head of the opposition National Organisation for Human Rights (NOHR), Ammar Qurabi, said the dawn operation had also resulted in some 250 arrests.
International journalists have been denied access to Syria, so the BBC is unable to verify reports. Government forces are said to be intensifying their campaign ahead of Ramadan, when the opposition says it will launch daily demonstrations against the government. The BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones in neighbouring Lebanon says events such as those in Kanaker are no longer unusual…
This is video of a few tanks and soldiers entering the town of Kanaker according to activists. On the tape they call the soldiers dogs and state, “They are liberating the Golan.”
LONDON (Reuters) – The popular upheaval in Syria is growing bolder and the cracks in the establishment are getting deeper — yet there is a long and bloody road ahead if protesters are to unseat President Bashar al-Assad and end his family’s 40 years in power.
The price of stalemate is rising daily: sectarian mayhem, a growing protest movement and a faltering economy, with no sign that Bashar and his minority Alawite clan are considering an exit strategy after four decades in power.
Yet so far, there is no sign of a tipping point that would assure success for protesters, as in Tunisia and Egypt, where millions took to the streets to topple autocratic leaders.
“The situation has not reached a critical mass,” said Patrick Seale, biographer of Bashar’s father, Hafez al-Assad.
“Damascus hasn’t risen, the security services haven’t split yet, the economy hasn’t collapsed. The regime looks weak and the opposition looks weaker,” he said…..
The barbaric massacre of three Syrian families from the Alawi tribe in the city of Homs, 165 kilometers to the north of Damascus, shows that the demonstrations against the Assad government has been derailed from its legal and legitimate course.
These three Alawi families, who had no political affiliation whatsoever to the Syrian government, were killed in the most callous manner by the Salafis of the city of Homs.
Following the incident, some of the Alawis outraged by the murder attacked the Sunni mosques of the city, causing clashes with the Salafis.
The slaying of the three families also triggered a wave of resentment and enmity among the Shiites and Alawis against the inhumane acts of the Syrian Salafis so much so that it is feared that a religious civil war might engulf Syria.
Syria’s Alawis, which constitute 15 percent of the country’s 25-million population, never had any role in the country’s power structure prior to the 1970 coup de tat, staged by Hafez Assad.
This community, subsumed under the Shiite faith, has always been subjected to the Salafis’ harassment and abuse. A great number of them fearing Salafis’ night raids were forced to migrate to the heights of Jabal Horan in Southern Syria during the Ottoman rule.
The coup mounted by Hafez Assad, Syria’s former Prime Minister, introduced the Alawis into the power structure; they, however, never sought revenge against the Salafis.
DAMASCUS, July 26 (Xinhua) — The Syrian cabinet endorsed late Tuesday the general elections bill as part of the government’s reform program to tamp down more than four months of unrest that swept the country since mid-March.
The endorsement came during a session chaired by Syrian Prime Minister Adel Safar.
The bill aims to regulate the election of parliament and local council members and to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. It also stipulates the formation of the Supreme Commission for Elections to manage the election process.
The move, announced by the official SANA news agency, came two days after the government endorsed a multi-party bill that would allow a political pluralism in the country under the rule of the Baath party for 40 years.
The bill still needs endorsing by the parliament which is scheduled to convene on Aug. 7, before being enacted as a law in a presidential decree, the report said.
The Supreme Commission for Elections is made up of five judges and enjoys full independence. Judicial sub-committees will be formed in each province, which will be affiliated to the Higher Committee and work under its supervision….
Minister of Local Administration Omar Ibrahim Ghalawanji said the law included 71 articles and the most important amendment stipulates for transferring the supervision of elections from the administrative authority to the juridical authority.He indicated that the elections in Syria were always monitored by the Interior Ministry while the Ministry of Local Administration was responsible for supervising the local council elections.
The Minister added that the draft law provides for forming the Higher Committee for Elections, in addition to forming juridical sub-committees in the provinces and each sub-committee includes three judges to supervise the eprocess at the electoral centers.
Minister Ghalawanji said the draft law stipulates for establishing electoral centers in the provinces and cities whose population exceed 100,000, in addition to allowing those who got the Syrian citizenship by the Legislative Decree No. 49 to vote and run for the local council membership.
The draft law allows all the will-be-formed parties according to the new political parties law to present their candidates individually or in collective lists, the Minister added.
He said the elections will be conducted publicly, honestly and neutrally in secret rooms and there will be electoral committees to monitor the elections and candidacy committees to receive and examine the candidates’ applications.
Minister of Justice Judge Tayseer Qala Awwad said the law included new articles on prosecuting manipulation of the electoral process.
The new law requires taht the ministries of Justice, Interior and Local Administration to work on automating the elections.
Minister Qala Awwad added that the new law follows the open-list electoral system,
JERUSALEM – Syrian leader Bashar Assad must step down, Israel’s president declared Tuesday, sending his message to Israel’s neighbor at an unprecedented news conference with Arab media.
Israel’s government has largely kept quiet as anti-government protests swept the Arab world in recent months. While some Israeli officials have predicted the Assad regime will fall, President Shimon Peres’ comments marked the first time an Israeli leader has openly called for the end of the Syrian regime.
Meaningful Political Dialogue Can Only Take Place with an Accounting of the Deaths and Disappearances
Raja AbdulKarim, 25 July 2011
For Syria Comment
Unless the Government Carries Serious Inquiries into the Hundreds of Deaths, Arrest and Cases of Torture, no Meaningful Political Dialogue Can Take Place in Syria
The Syrian Government cannot expect to see its political reform steps taken seriously – supposing it genuinely wishes to reform – when it fails to carry any serious and independent inquiry into the hundreds of deaths, arrests and cases of torture reported by political activists in the last four and a half months.
One of these recent cases is that of Shadi Abou Fakhr, a young cinema producer, who “disappeared” last week while walking in the central area of Shaalan in Damascus and whose case is widely reported and circulation on Facebook and other social media websites.
The author of these lines knows well Shadi. He is probably one of the most brilliant Syrians of his generation. In a recent discussion with him, this young man in his early thirties talked extensively of how he and many men and women of his generations saw the future of their country. Shadi talked of citizenship, of a secular state, of the rule of law. He also talked of his hope that when Syria would get over its revolution it would set an example for neighbouring Lebanon and Iraq that remain plagued by sectarianism.
Of course this sounds very idealistic; but can revolutions be carried without such idealism?
Shadi is no Salafist – he is a Druze; he is not pursing the agenda of any foreign country – he never lived abroad and speaks no foreign language; and he is a pacifist.
In spite of all this he has been arrested, as thousands of his countrymen, in a country whose Government prides itself in the security it supposedly provides to its population; a Government that obviously does not consider in any way that it is its responsibility to carry an independent and serious inquiry in all these cases.
For weeks the Syrian Government and many of his supporters have been putting blame on the opposition for refusing a dialogue; “those who put conditions for dialogue refuse dialogue,” the Government says.
Of course no one must be fooled. Even if some segments of the Syrian opposition refuses dialogue, large segments of it do want it but at a certain number of conditions: the withdrawal of the security services from the street and the end of the shootings on demonstrators; the liberation of the thousands of political prisoners; and the enabling of peaceful demonstrations to take place.
As a matter of principle, putting conditions for dialogue is not in itself a refusal of a dialogue per se, and the Syrian Government knows that better than anyone else. Doesn’t it put a condition of its own for negotiating with the Israeli Government, i.e. the recognition of Syria’s sovereignty on the whole of the Golan Heights? The vast majority of the Syrian population does, actually, support its Government in that stand.
It is necessary to understand at this stage that as long as no serious efforts are made to force the Syrian authorities to carry independent and serious inquiries into all the deaths and arrests that have occurred in the last few months, the Government’s reform claims cannot be taken for serious and no meaningful political dialogue can take place.
Syrians on all sides of the political spectrum need to know what happened to the 1,500 people that the opposition claims have died since the beginning of the unrest; they need to know where are and what happened to the 15,000 or so, including Shadi Abou Fakhr, that have disappeared; why no independent media is allowed into the country; and, in case we get no answer for that, why doesn’t Syrian state TV provide live broadcast of the hundreds of demonstrations that take place every week across the country in the same way that it covers the pro-Government demonstrations.
Many continue to believe the Government’s story of armed gangs and Salafists disrupting the efforts for political reforms and killing civilians across the country. These people, as much as the opposition, have an interest in the Government carrying, with the help of the families of the victims, a transparent and serious inquiry on the arrest, disappearances and deaths of every single one of the country’s sons and daughters.
TEHRAN—Iran’s Islamist government may be public enemy No. 1 at the White House. But in the halls of the International Monetary Fund a few blocks away, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being hailed as an economic reformer. In the face of mounting international sanctions, his government has embraced over the past seven months what the IMF calls one of the boldest economic makeovers ever attempted in the oil-rich Middle East.
Tehran has cut price subsidies on most energy and food products since December in a bid to shave about $60 billion or more off the government’s expenses annually. The move has …
Please be more scrupulous in what you are presenting and how it is being read.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s cabinet yesterday approved a bill to allow independent political parties other than the Baath Party, which has ruled the country since 1963.
The draft law, which has been under consideration for many years, is due to be taken up by parliament Aug. 7. Its stated aim involves “enriching the political life, creating a new dynamic and allowing for a change in political power,” said the state-run news agency SANA.
The move is the latest in a number promises aimed at denting Syria’s popular four-month uprising, which represents an unprecedented challenge to the 40-year Assad regime. But even if the law goes into effect soon, its impact is likely to be limited.
SANA reported that the bill prohibits parties founded on the basis of “religion, tribal affiliation, regions, and professional organizations as well as those which discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or color.”
Those restrictions suggest that Kurdish nationalist parties may not be recognized, along with the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist party currently banned in Syria.
In addition, Article 8 of the constitution stipulates that the Baath Party is “the leading party in the society and the state.” Protesters have demanded that the article be appealed, but so far it remains in place.
Please respect FT.com’s ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/345fc7f0-b6b1-11e0-ae1f-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1T7iGtEHF
Activists greeted the news with indifference. “Who cares?” said Razan Zeitouneh, a human rights lawyer who has emerged as one of the most high profile figures in the pro-democracy movement. “We want to change them, not to change the party law.”
“Iran had to choose between Turkey and Syria, it would choose Syria”
In a sign of growing Iranian misgiving about Turkey’s role in Middle Eastern affairs, Tehran has decided to throw its weight behind the embattled Syrian regime, even if that translates into a setback in relations between Tehran and Ankara.
Iran’s move is bound to represent a new thorn in ties, with multiple potential side-effects, since it comes at a delicate time when Turkey is pressuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government to adopt meaningful reforms and to give legitimacy to the Syrian opposition, which has repeatedly held meetings in Turkey.
Over the weekend, Tehran hosted Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Alaw for the signing of a major trilateral Iran-Iraq-Syria gas deal worth billions of dollars, while showering the Assad regime with unconditional praise as the “vanguard of resistance” that was subjected to psychological warfare and Western-Zionist conspiracy.
Articulating Iran’s steadfast support for its key Arab ally, Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi used his meeting with Alaw to expel the slightest doubt about Iran’s stance on Syria, by stating that “Iran and Syria are two inseparable countries and allies, and Iran will stand by its friend and Muslim [neighboring] country, Syria, under all circumstances”.
In sharp contrast to Turkey’s support for the Syrian opposition, Rahimi dismissed the current unrest in Syria as “guided by arrogant powers and the meddling of enemies”.
Behind Iran’s new Syria move is a calculated gamble that contrary to some Western perceptions, the Assad regime is not completely isolated and still enjoys a considerable mass following. This is reflected in huge pro-government rallies consistently ignored by the Western media, and that with sufficient internal and regional support, Damascus could survive and ride out the current storm…..
it is not simply Iran but rather the triumvirate of Iran-Iraq-Syria that Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member, has to reckon with.
While Saudi Arabia’s involvement in suppressing Bahrain’s uprising is well documented, it’s behind the scenes role in Syria’s rebellion and Kuwaiti turmoil demonstrates that the monarchy seeks Arab-Islamic rather than Gulf hegemony. The collapse of the Syrian regime would albeit serve as the final blow to Iran’s quest for Mideast dominance, leaving Saudi Arabia the sole superpower. These prospects are troubling, given Saudi Arabia’s singular role in promoting Islamic extremism and its go-to move of creating sectarian tension.
For long it appeared that Iran was gaining the upper hand. By the end of 2008, Iraq’s Saudi-supported Sunni insurgency was defeated and Iraq’s Iranian backed Shia-majority asserted territorial control. In early January, Lebanon’s unity government collapsed, making Hezbollah a kingmaker. Then, on February 17th, Bahrain’s Shia majority, along with equally disgruntled Sunnis, rose up against the Sunni monarchy, presenting Iran with the perfect opportunity to attempt to backdoor into the Arab world.
Saudi Arabia acted swiftly, leading a contingent of over 2,000 Gulf troops to quell the uprising, but seeing a perfect opportunity to gain the initiative, Saudi Arabia went beyond Bahrain. Saudi affiliated members of Kuwait’s parliament, on the behest Saudi Arabia, called for a vote of no confidence on Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, who has good relations with Iran.
Pro-Saudi MPs such as Waleed al-Tabtabaie have called for political union with Saudi Arabia. While Kuwait is a Sunni majority state, it has a large and disenfranchised Shia minority. The second they protest for equality, and they eventually will, the calls for unification will grow louder as Saudi troops will be invited to “secure” Kuwait from an “Iranian plot.”
Already, Saudi Arabia and their Kuwait protégés are constructing a unified foreign policy, which is first emerging in Syria….
Using Saudi-owned television stations, the monarchy has opened the airwaves to carefully selected Sunni Syrian clerics. Adnan al-Arour, for example, has called on his Sunni counterparts to “grind the Alawites and feed them to the dogs.” His calls were recently answered, with Sunni-Alawite clashes in Homs.
These relatively small sectarian clashes are a precursor to what further Saudi involvement entails. A fullscale ethnic conflict has the potential of mirroring the Iraqi civil conflict, especially because what the Alawite minority lacks in numbers they make up for in arms and military training. This is to say nothing, of the possibility of Syria being flooded with Saudi-born jihadists as was the case in Iraq.
Prince Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s de facto crown prince, played a decisive operational role in Iraq’s Sunni insurgency, sending prominent terrorists such as Abdullah al-Rashoud to Iraq. His son has played a similar role. The clerical establishment also involved itself throughout the insurgency by collecting funds and even issuing a fatwa calling on Muslims to join the jihad in Iraq.
The United States cannot sit on the sidelines as Saudi Arabia helps shape Syria’s future. Regime change is desirable. Saudi-sponsored regime change is not. As things stand now, the most active Syrian opposition figures are Saudi-sympathizers. A progressive and democratic Syria aligned with the United States will do the most to contain Iran, not a Saudi proxy….
NICOSIA — Representatives of Syrian anti-regime protesters are to meet on Wednesday in Turkey to discuss coordination and strategy, a Syrian activist said.
Bahiya Mardini, who heads the Cairo-based Arab Free Speech Committee, told AFP in Nicosia on Tuesday that the meeting would be the first of its kind since dissent against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad erupted in mid-March.
Syrian dissidents have already met in Istanbul, but there has been no gathering of people directly connected to the almost daily protests that have shaken Syria since March 15.
The Istanbul meeting will run until Saturday and focus on “developing the coordination between activists and working groups of the revolution,” said Mardini.
She said training sessions will be held during the four-day gathering, as well as workshops covering several aspects of revolutionary work, from the legal, political and media aspects to logistics.
Lee Smith argues that it is unlikely Assad can maintain much of his power through Ramadan, which begins the first week of August.
Radwan Ziadehargued that the stalemate in Syria will only be broken by the international community and the military.
Michel Kilo’s book-lined apartment in a Christian neighborhood in Damascus is a quiet contrast to streets where protesters demand an end to Syria’s repressive regime…..
Long banned from speaking out, Kilo was heard by the Syrian people for the first time last week in a government-sanctioned opposition meeting. Syrian state television broadcast the event. Kilo sent out tweets outlining his recommendations, saying the government must:
-Recognize political parties.
-Allow the opposition to publish a newspaper as a trust-building measure.
-First, send the army back to base.
“They are sending troops to places where we never imagined they would send troops,” says Kilo.
His participation in the opposition conference drew criticism on Facebook sites. Protest organizers said the meeting was a mistake. It gave credibility to the regime. But Kilo says the protest movement makes mistakes, too.
“I think they make a big mistake when they believe that some words are sacred — for example, ‘the people’ or ‘the street.’ They do not represent the whole street.”
Kilo lives in Damascus, where support for Assad is real, but even in the capital the demand for change, for reform, for a new system of governance, is strong. The protest movement opened that debate and there is no going back, he says.
So, is this gentle criticism from an older critic to a new generation?
Kilo’s jowly face breaks into a wide smile, his thick eyebrows move up his face and he laughs. “I am telling you, I am old, but mentally, I am very young. What the youth have managed to do is enormous. They have the right to criticize all of us.”
Kilo’s criticism is focused on a regime that he says still does not believe in reforms, but can no longer suppress a whole country.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—When Khulud Abu-Homos, a television producer at OSN network here, decided to dub the Harry Potter movies into Arabic for distribution in the Middle East, she faced a quandary: which Arabic? The Arab world, it turns out, …
Since Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s sharp words last week, the Obama administration has stopped short of calling for President Bashar Assad to resign and has toned down its rhetoric.
….But Clinton backed off on Saturday, saying the administration still hopes that Assad’s regime will stop the violence and work with protesters to carry out political reforms. On Monday, European Union ministers also called on Assad to implement reforms and made it clear they still hoped he would do so.
The change in tone reflects the continuing debate over whether Syria’s ruler is likely to survive the current turmoil, and how best to use the limited diplomatic tools available to pressure him.
Secretary of State Hillary Clintonemphasized that democratic transitions in the Arab world must be led from within. A State Department spokesperson condemned the travel restrictions on the U.S. ambassador.
The spokesman, Martin Schäfer, said that Berlin’s coordinator for Middle East policy, Boris Ruge, had held talks with opposition members as well as Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on two occasions.
…Germany is one of the first Western countries to announce direct contacts with the Syrian opposition, which has held several meetings in Turkey.
…Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, has stepped up diplomatic efforts in the Middle East and North Africa in recent weeks in response to the wave of uprisings.
“If this regime lasts, there’s absolutely going to be a civil war, absolutely,” said Iyad. Quoted by Anthony Shadid. Syria is awash in stories of solidarity, but older forces — geography, class and, in particular, religious sect — can also tear it apart.
[This is the eighth part of Amal Hanano’s diary of her trip back to Aleppo. You can read previous posts here] By coincidence, I was reading Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections while in Aleppo, although it may not have been pure coincidence, as sometimes books seem to possess magically perfect timing. (Last year’s Freedom may have been the more appropriate title for my trip, but I have a habit of reading books out of sequence.)
the people’s desire to un-correct his family’s corrections. For what is Arab Spring but the struggle to undo the sabotage and abuse of power, inflicted upon the people by their dictators? In the age of the people’s corrections, the salty refusal to deny reality and the bloody refusal to fear the future, have become the strongest tastes on our palette, but we have an intense craving for another, sweeter taste.
The Syrian Revolution is a massive red, reset button for justice, equality, and liberty. We are the corrections, united in our history, diversity, and even dysfunctionality.
nuffsilence writes in the comment section of last post:
It is deeply ironic that the new party law demands that all processes and deliberations within a party be transparent and democratic.
Deeply ironic that the Syrian regime would stipulate this when the regime itself has never practiced democracy at national level or even within the Baath party itself.
???? ????? ?? ?????
True writes:
“A victorious rebellion can put into place the structures it has built in opposition, changing the institutional quality of the whole state. Therefore, a rebellion with strong and coherent authority can be a significant boost to state building if it wins its civil war. However, when a rebel army assumes formal control, it also assumes new constraints and opportunities, deriving from the capture of territory and from the acquisition of membership in the international system, which can reformulate its authority” Theodore McLauchlin
3:16?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ??????? ???… Grisley footage of the dead police and security kill at jisr al Shaghour before they were placed in the mass grave. This footage is much like that famous video of the dead rebel supporters in Deraa who were killed on the rooftop. In both cases the killers feel compelled to kick their victims and denigrate them by calling them bad names. I suppose it helps to assure the killers that they have not committed a crime.
Nicholas Blanford writes in today’s Christian Scientist Monitor that “More than 120 soldiers have also reportedly been killed, although it is unclear whether they were killed by armed gangs and extremists, as the government says, or were shot by fellow soldiers for refusing to fire on protesters.” It is not clear whether this footage proves that rebels and not security forces shot the soldiers in Jisr, but like most of these videos, it would seem to be what it purports to be: video of the recently killed taken by the rebels to commemorate their job.
TEL AVIV – The clearer and neater the narratives presented by the international media, the more suspicious they are. This rule of thumb has retrospectively proved its value in numerous conflicts and uprisings in the past decades, including the color revolutions of Eastern Europe, the conflicts surrounding the break up of the former Yugoslavia, various African civil wars, and the Arab Spring this year in countries such as Libya, Egypt and Yemen.
The pattern is repeating itself in Syria. On the surface, the fault lines appear simple, even though this makes the conflict no less of a quagmire. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is sticking to his guns even as the pressure on him escalates and his legitimacy seemingly declines.
…..Conversely, al-Jazeera and other protest-friendly media may have labeled the pro-Assad demonstrators as “mnhebak” (“we love you,” or political Hare Krishnas of sorts), but this does not erase the fact that said “mnhebak” represent a legitimate Syrian political voice. There is every indication that they are not simply regime-paid thugs, as some accusations against them have it. Neither is the opposition as democratic and unified, and nor is the conflict as simple as many reports have it. [7]
….The most optimistic scenario currently being discussed involves some sort of a gradual transition to democracy in Syria and a broad and lengthy reform implemented by the Assad government and accepted by the protesters. Such a reform would necessarily require the removal, and perhaps exile, of key regime figures such as the president’s brother Maher, the hardline commander of the feared 4th Armored Division.
….Such simplistic narratives have been known to serve very well complex geostrategic games and foreign interests. Judging from ample past examples, this will bring nothing good to Syria and to the region; it may, however, signal the onset of a new international stage in the Syrian conflict.
Trade Government Reduces Import Tariffs on Food Items, Manufacturing Inputs – (Syria Report)
The Syrian government has reduced import tariffs on a wide range of consumer products and manufacturing inputs in a bid to reduce costs, as the month of Ramadan, a period of the year when demand peaks and prices rise, is set to begin.
Telecoms & IT Facebook, Twitter, Gmail Blocked by Syrian Government (Syria Report)
Access to Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and many other social media has been blocked for weeks in Syria, in a measure by the government to limit the supply and transfer of information to the outside world and within the country.
Oil, Gas & Mining Iraq to Export 10,000 Barrels of Oil a Day to Syria (Syria Report)
Iraq and Syria are finalising a deal for the export of 10,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil a day to Syria, according to news agencies.
Iran will sign a $10 billion contract tomorrow to export natural gas to Iraq and Syria, the Oil Ministry said on its news website, citing remarks yesterday by Javad Owji, National Iranian Gas Co.’s managing director.
The gas will be shipped from the South Pars field via a new pipeline route that may take three to five years to build and will be mapped once the agreement has been signed, according to the report on the Shana website.
Iran and Syria signed a preliminary agreement on Jan. 19 for the construction of a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) network to carry Iranian gas via a 56-inch (142-centimeter) pipeline.
Iran holds the world’s second-largest gas reserves. The Shama report didn’t disclose details of the contract.
The Voice of Russia – ?5 hours ago? Iran, Iraq and Syria have signed a memorandum on laying a pipeline. Its resource base is the South Pars gas field in Iran. It is planned to lay the pipeline through Iraq, Syria and further Lebanon and Europe under the Mediterranean Sea. …
Economy Oil Subsidies at USD 2.5 Billion in H1, 2011 Syria Report
The Syrian government spent USD 2.49 billion to finance the cost of oil products subsidies in the first half of this year, according to Abdullah Khattab, Director General of Mahrukat, the state monopoly in charge of distributing oil products.
Does Rami Makhlouf only own 40% of Syriatel? If one adds together the shares owned by his brother and his subsidiary companies, Rami controls 79% of Syriatel, not 40%
Syriatel to Double Capital by Offering Free Share for Each Held
By Lina Ibrahim, 2011-07-24, Bloomberg
July 24 (Bloomberg) — Syriatel Mobile Telecom SA, one of two mobile operators in Syria, received approval to double its capital by offering one free share for each share held. The company made the announcement in a mobile-phone text message. Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, owns 40 percent in the company.
Deir-ez-Zor Chamber of Commerce Blames Security Services for Deepening Crisis (Syria Report)
The Deir-ez-Zor Chamber of Commerce and Industry blames the government’s security services for the “unjustified use of arms and the brutal crackdown on protesters” in one of many signs of growing unease in the business community over the mishandling by the authorities of the revolt gripping the country.
The show is hosted by Salah Basalamah and produced by Maher Arar
The guests begin talking around the 8 minute mark. That is a good place to begin.
The order of speakers is:
Prof. Fred Reed – 8:00
What is Syria? What is the Baath Party? Are Alawites Muslims?
Haytham al-Malah – 17:30
The history and reasons for the uprising
Joshua Landis – 31:00
The State of US-Syria Relations. What dos the US want in Syria? Where is US policy heading? Israel? Iran? Are Alawites Muslims and why that question is important?
Question and answer period at the end
Can dialogue with the government be carried out or is regime-change necessary – 58:30 minutes
President Bashar al-Assad’s once unshakable grip over Syria appears to have slipped further after suspected opposition sympathisers attacked an army college in Homs.
Residents in the city, Syria’s third largest, said two loud explosions at the compound were followed by the sound of sustained gunfire. A number of ambulances were later seen driving into the college.
“Smoke rose from inside the premises,” one resident was quoted as saying on Saturday. “The injured were taken to the military hospital. It looked like an operation of some sort.”
Later in the day, a passenger train was derailed in central Syria, an incident the government blamed on saboteurs within the opposition, although it provided no evidence. The train, which was carrying troops and civilians, crashed after a section of track was torn up, killing the driver and injuring a number of passengers.
But it is the attack on the military college in Homs, the first of its kind since the Syrian uprising began in March, which will most alarm the Assad regime.
It raised renewed fears that elements within the opposition are increasingly determined to challenge the regime with force, even if the majority of protests still remain largely peaceful….
HOMS, (SANA) – A group of saboteurs on Saturday targeted a train in al-Souda area in Homs at 03:00 am while it was traveling from Aleppo to Damascus with more than 480 passengers onboard most of them are children, women and patients who were traveling to undergo surgeries.
SANA Correspondent mentioned that those terrorist groups loosed parts of the railway as the train derailed and its cabin was burnt and the driver was martyred while a number of the passengers were injured.
Official source: the sabotage act aimed at committing massacre against innocents
An official source at the Interior Ministry announced that the sabotage act aimed at committing a massacre against 480 innocent passengers traveling from Aleppo to Damascus.
“The Ministry urges all citizens to cooperate with security and police apparatus to give any information available about the saboteurs and criminals who exploit and hide behind demonstrations to carry out terrorist acts that target civilians as well as damaging private and public properties,” the source added.
It underlined that the authorities will firmly and decisively deal with those saboteurs.
Homs Governor Ghassan Abdul-Al described the sabotage act as a heinous crime against a train which transports women, children and patients who were heading for Damascus for treatment.
In a statement to SANA, Abdul-Al referred to the existence of railroad pieces that were loosed by the saboteurs, clarifying that a freight train had crossed from an opposite direction from Homs to Aleppo before 1.00 a.m. when the railroad was safe and tight, adding this leads to the fact that sabotage happened between 1.00 and 3.00 a.m.
About the motives of saboteurs to select this spot to commit their crime, the Governor said that the area of the incident is considered as an arch for the railways from a mechanical point of view, so any derail or sliding will be deadly, but the care of God has rescued that train.
He pointed out to the presence of tracks for motorcycles’ tires near the bride that was selected to derail the train, particularly the road is very slippery here and might lead to a huge number of losses.
Director of the Railways’ General Establishment George Makaabari added that selecting this place to carry out the criminal act by saboteurs indicate their plot was targeting to kill all passengers, particularly they have loosed the links of the railroad and a number of beams to a distance of scores of meters.
68 gunmen arrested in Homs on Friday and a large amount of weapons confiscated which include 800 Kalashnikov (ak47) rifles, 250 sniper rifles and 4 RPG launches.
Also, Aldounia tv reports in Al Areeda, one of the Syrian/Lebanese borders, border control officers confiscated 556 hi-tech mobile phones, in addition to $110,000 hidden inside a water tank onboard a bus travelling from Lebanon to Aleppo.
HOMS, (SANA) – Two citizens from Homs Governorate on Saturday said they were kidnapped and severely tortured by armed terrorist groups.
One of the kidnapped citizens, Ali Sharif al-Jirdi, told the Syrian TV that while he was on his way back to his house in al-Abbasyyah district in Homs, an armed gang of around ten terrorists armed with rifles and knives kidnapped him.
He added that he tried to escape but they tied him up and blindfolded his eyes before moving him to a cache in the district along with other kidnapped citizens.
Al-Jirdi pointed out that while he was detained he heard moaning voices from neighboring rooms, adding that he saw a corpse while he was transferred to other room.
“I heard members of the gang agreeing on hitting us with stones on our heads and throwing us in trash containers”, he said.
Al-Jirdi indicated that the terrorists took their IDs and cell phones. Al-Jirdi added that after the gang left him he heard moaning voices from a nearby citizen, adding that he tried to untie him but he couldn’t.
“After a while, army personnel saw us and asked for medical help from the National Hospital of Homs, they told me later that the person who was near me, Thaer al-Ali, was martyred because of the severe torture he suffered”, he said.
For his part, Yasir Hashim al-Ali, said that while he was on his way back to Homs city, a group of armed people kidnapped and tortured him.
Al-Ali added that they took him to the second floor of a building before moving him again to another house where they hit and tortured him on the pretext that he is dealing with the army.
Trouble began in the Syrian town of Al-Bukamal this past weekend. Like in so many Syrian cities and towns, people took to the streets in protest against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
And, like in so many protests, security forces from the central government are accused of responding brutally, surrounding the town and, activists say, killing a handful of protesters, including a 14-year-old boy.
But this time, soldiers in a local battalion defended the protesters. Activists say more than 100 soldiers joined their cause.
Now authorities in the central government are offering a deal to the tribal leaders of Al-Bukamal: Hand over the defectors, they say, and we’ll leave you alone. Activists say negotiations are ongoing.
….The tribes of this region, though, are not just confined to Syria — the same tribes span into Iraq, too. All that separates them is a border fence — albeit one with razor wire and Hescos, a type of sand-filled bomb barrier.
The border is so fortified now because during some of the most violent years of the Iraq war, it was here that militants and weapons crossed from Syria into Iraq.
Syrian state TV recently claimed that route is being reversed, and that the guns and fighters are now coming into Syria, to help in the fight against the government.
NPR asked a local border commander, who did not want to be identified, about the claim. Through an interpreter, he said they are trying to do their best to protect the borders. But, he adds, it is a long border — there must be some cases of infiltration. He says they’re doing their best with the little they have…
Resistance On The Iraqi Side
Driving away from the border into the town of Qaim on the Iraqi side, there’s a dusty strip of vegetable stands, mini-markets and car-parts shops. This is the wild west of Iraq. People say it’s the kind of place where, just a few years ago, when you walked outside, you’d say a prayer as if it was your last prayer ever.
At the time, al-Qaida and insurgents were very active here. The area has calmed down now, but just across the border, with the troubles in Syria, things are starting to flare up again.
Ahmed Abdulkadir, the owner of a shop that sells curling irons and toasters, was part of the original resistance to the U.S. occupation here. That resistance later turned against more extreme insurgents from al-Qaida who’d come by way of Syria.
Abdulkadir says everyone here has a relative across the border in Al-Bukamal, and everyone is waiting to see if the tribal leaders will reach a truce with the government or if security forces will crack down again. He says the Syrians have now closed the border, and that means a lot less business for him.
Asked if former resistance fighters in Qaim will find ways to help support the resistance in Syria, Abdulkadir says, with a wink: What goes around comes around.
A Better Life In Syria?
The troubles in Syria are not just affecting businesses and tribes. They’re also affecting the thousands of Iraqis who fled to Syria during the war’s most violent years.
One woman, who goes by the name Umm Salwan, fled Iraq when insurgents fired a rocket at her house. She says life in Syria has been hard. But until recently, it was still better than Iraq.
That changed with the protests and the crackdowns.
Through an interpreter, she says that she told her husband: “Listen, I have suffered enough. Five years is enough. I want to go see my family and see what I have to do … to find a solution.”
Umm Salwan and three of her four children took a bus back to Iraq, where her parents’ house has only a few hours of electricity a day.
She says she came here to find that things are much worse — that there is nothing here.
For now, Umm Salwan says she wants to return to Syria. But with the land border closed, she’ll have to spend her savings on plane tickets.
DAMASCUS- The National Forum for Syrian Expatriates on Saturday started activities at the Sheraton Hotel under the title “My Motherland Syria” with the participation of more than 150 expatriates.
The event aims at supporting the comprehensive reform led by President Bashar al-Assad rejecting any foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs.
It also stresses complete adherence to the national cohesion as a basis for all the Syrian people.
Also in Damascus, the 1st National Conference for Administrative, Economic and Social Reform focused in its final session on the legal rules and their role in modernization, as well as the objective view of administrative reform. …..
… More than six months has passed since the revolution began. In that time, over 90 political parties have been licensed to operate, and many figures from the old regime have been removed.
But there remain innumerable issues which have not been resolved, and new problems have arisen, beyond the unemployment, corruption and financial crisis which already occupy our attention here.
The debate now is about religion versus secularism….
“This situation is getting worse – and rather ridiculous – because there is no intelligent analysis or discussion of the real problem, only the creation of antagonism and contempt between groups of people with different opinions.
“For 23 years we didn’t know about politics; we used to talk only about football,” Hassen Aldawess, an activist in his twenties, said. “Now everyone thinks he is some kind of genius, and what was a solid stand by a united nation [during the revolution] has become a weak population divided by religious and cultural differences. The only side who will profit from this is the current government who gain more time to continue with its failures.”
…. If the Tunisian youth allows extremist groups to win power, and don’t fight against the sham of the transitional government – then we won’t win the rewards of our revolution.
…Najdat Anzour, the drama producer – long considered critical of Syria’s autocratic regime – was among those outraged by what he derisively called the “milk statement”.
In response, he and 21 production companies issued a notice of their own, announcing they would never again work with anyone who had signed the petition, saying they had “offended both the Syrian nation and its government”.
“The milk statement lied about the situation in Deraa,” Mr Anzour, now viewed as firmly pro-regime, said in an interview. “There was never any shortage of food or milk. It was a political statement. The authorities were dealing with armed terrorist groups in Deraa.
Tens of thousands of people protested undeterred in Hama on Friday as a government crackdown in Homs, where sectarian violence and defected military conscripts pose a new threat to the government, drew a stark contrast between the two epicenters of Syria’s uprising.
President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces showed relative restraint Friday, with seven people reported killed across Syria, including one in Homs, compared with at least 24 killed the prior Friday, which has become the biggest day for protests on the Arab street.
But the regime’s withdrawal six weeks ago from Hama, the site of a brutal crackdown in 1982, remains a central question in its response. Some diplomats and analysts say a national revulsion of that event has repelled the regime from acting in the city. After prayers Friday, large crowds of protesters lined up Hama in coordinated attire of red, white, and black in a human formation of Syria’s flag.
Thirty miles south, in Homs, smaller crowds of protesters dodged gunfire Friday, with many residents staying home after a bloody week in which activists estimate as many 40 people were killed. Tanks fired mortars in two Homs neighborhoods on Thursday, residents said.
Unlike Hama, which has a conservative Sunni population, Homs is a microcosm of Syria’s sectarian makeup, with a mix of Alawites and Christians among its Sunni majority. Their largely calm coexistence appeared to implode last weekend, when armed sectarian fighting drew a harsh response from Mr. Assad’s forces, who also faced off against some mostly Sunni army defectors, residents said.
One of those defected soldiers said a town north of the city, al-Rastan, has turned into a de facto base for young army conscripts who have defected to avoid orders to shoot protesters.
“There are daily fights between the defected men and the army in al-Rastan, just small bouts of 15 or 20 minutes,” First Lt. Housam, who consented to giving his first name only, said by satellite phone from Homs.
On Thursday, a group of 14 defectors fought the army and security forces in the Bab Siba’a neighborhood of Homs, killing 20 of them and destroying four of their tanks and seven armored personnel carriers, Lt. Housam said. “We decided to intervene on behalf of the people,” he said.
He said the group of defected conscripts, which includes three soldiers, are fighting with the light weapons—machine guns, Kalashinkovs, and rocket-propelled grenades—that they kept with them.
It wasn’t possible to independentLY confirm his account.
Army defections remain limited across Syria, and have so far only drawn from the low ranks, leaving the largely-Alawite and higher ranks loyal to the regime.
But Hom’s sectarian fighting and volatile religious mix appears to have served as a pretext for the regime to strike the city again rather than try to negotiate a truce as it is attempting in Hama.
Both Homs and Hama, Syria’s third and fourth largest cities respectively, are strategically located between the capital Damascus, and Aleppo, two bastions of loyalty to Mr. Assad’s government.
Losing control of both cities would hamper the ability to move troops from Damascus to Aleppo, creating “an island in the country that is completely out of the regime’s control, which would be unprecedented,” says Exclusive Analysis, a London-based intelligence and political risk firm.
Taking no chances with its strongholds, the regime tightened its grip on Damascus on Friday. Residents of the capital’s Qaboun district said machine gun-wielding security forces lined the streets and the entrances to the area’s two major mosques, to prevent protests after the Islamic prayer.
Mr. Assad has struggled to formulate a clearer response in Syria’s other major cities to over four months of antigovernment protests, especially as international pressure has mounted to stop the violence. The protests have posed the biggest challenge to Mr. Assad’s 11-year rule, and his family’s four-decade grip on Syria.
That family legacy is partly why Hama developed into an exception in this uprising, diplomats and analysts say. In 1982, Mr. Assad’s father crushed an uprising there led by the Muslim Brotherhood that left at least 10,000 people dead. When Mr. Assad’s forces killed at least 72 people in one weekend in June, the outrage visible in reactionary protests across Syria forced a withdrawal from Hama that has left its residents to manage the city’s affairs largely free of security oversight since then.
“What saved Hama in 2011 is the 1982 massacre, the heavy history behind the regime,” said Wissam Tarif, head of the Syria-focused rights group Insan. “Homs does not have 1982 hanging over it, so the regime continues the crackdown.”
Hama is still seen as a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, though members of the banned party live largely in exile or are imprisoned in Syria. The unusual coherence and organization of Hama’s street protest movement—from neighborhood councils to civilian checkpoints—appear to reflect the organizational capabilities of Syria’s largest and best-organized opposition group, once a political party represented in parliament.
Young protest coordinators deny that the Brotherhood in Hama has any organizational role, and even say they harbor anger towards the movement for creating the rebellion that led to the harsh crackdown in the 1980s. Other Syrian activists attribute Hama’s success in sustaining the country’s largest peaceful protests to a sense of community forged out of a scarred history, and efforts by moderates from both sides of the political divide to make sure the regime doesn’t strike it again.
Some residents in the city say attempts to negotiate with delegations of local leaders led by Mustafa Abdel-Rahman, the imam of Serjawi mosque, may have some success. But others remain adamant that nothing short of regime change will stop protests, after past negotiations brought limited results.
One businessman in Hama who supports the protest movement pointed to a deal last week by which some checkpoints were removed from the main roads but only 50 protesters were released of the hundreds detained.
“We do not trust the imam,” he said. “He does not speak for us all.”
Video of a “special forces defector” in Rastan telling his story. This “defector” from the special forces in Rastan says he personally has witnessed the killing of some 500 innocent civilians in Rastan by Syrian forces, Shabbiha and Iranian snipers. He says he has joined other soldiers in Rastan to fight the Syrian Army.
Ibrahim Hamidi, bureau chief of al-Hayat in Damascus, and three other journalists met with vice president Farouq Shara. Here is what he said about article 8 of the constitution, which states that the Baath Party is the leader of Syria’s state and society. It explains President Assad’s “road map” of reforms that should be finalized by the end of year. [The following is a very loose translation of the al-Hayat article. I used Google translation, changed a lot, and erase repetition and filler in the interest of saving time. This is not a word for word translation.]
Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa explained that Syria must turn the crisis into an opportunity by consolidating «reform» and to become «more democratic».
Sharaa indicated that the «road map» announced by President Bashar al-Assad will lead to a basket of reforms being adopted by the end of the year. This will include a national conference and adopt of the new political party law, election law, media law and new People’s Assembly (parliament) early next month and the formation of a Higher Council for Human Rights. He said: »Let their be political action instead of people trading rumors».
The Syrian Vice President speaks in an interview with four journalists, including Director of the Office of «life» in Damascus after the consultative meeting that took place at the invitation of «the national dialogue» set up by President Assad a few weeks ago. And the holding of «consultation» for three days with the participation of 180 personal parties «Progressive National Front» The Party «Baath», including the heads of trade unions of workers and peasants, students and lawyers, in addition to the independent and opposition figures and youth.
Was issued at the conclusion of the meeting, which was attended by a number of opponents, a closing statement, the 18 items, including that the dialogue is «the only way to end the crisis» and the «stability should be a higher national and a guarantee for deepening reforms,» and to consider the «liberation of the Golan from the national targets which represents a consensus». As requested «dialogue committee» of the relevant committees to prepare draft laws in preparation for release «as soon as possible», and to recommend the establishment of the Commission’s «Constitutional Review PROCEDURE all, and to make proposals to ensure the formulation of modern constitution».
Recent days have seen the issuance of public statements from unions, peasants and students about the consequences of «consultation». The General Union of Peasants stated that “the gains of the masses of the toilers were the result of a long struggle.” The National Union of Syrian Students made a statement that “any review or amendment to the national Constitution or any change or innovation” must be achieved in a democratic fashion that reflects the will of the people according to the rules and constitutional principles.”
The Syrian Vice-President stressed that it is necessary to “defend the gains” that have been made in Syria over the past decades, including in education and health. He explained that what Syria is going through «is not a revolution, but the process of repair and restoration». “There are gains to preserve and errors to fix. The late President Hafez al-Assad had his “corrective movement” (in 1970). Why? At the time, it was not possible to progress without corrective reform.” He added: “We expanded the base of power.” Those who argue that we relinquish past gains are wrong.” …
He said that based on President al-Assad’s speech at the University of Damascus all articles of the Constitution would be subject to review, including the eighth, which states that «the Baath» is the leader in the community and the state…..He added that the Regional Conference for the Tenth Party «Baath» which was held in 2005, included many of the recommendations for reform. He stressed that everyone should support the reform project led by President al-Assad. He noted that many Baathist leaders support the reforms, pluralism and democracy……
The next phase includes a series of steps. It conducted a «dialogue committee» after the end of the «consultation» a number of meetings with Syrian dissidents accept «the dialogue under the roof of the nation», to complete a dialogue with the formation of a preparatory committee for the conference. He also participated in discussions to enter about 70 thousand people, a website devoted to dialogue.
….He explained that the dissidents interviewed by «the dialogue» are not involved in the foreign plots. They want reform, but not the destruction of the country. He expressed his conviction that dialogue leads to the «calming of the street».
Al-Shara said that Syria is «immune to sectarianism». The experiences of the last century and the beginning of the Syrians rejected the attempts of the French mandate to divide the the country. He warned of Israel’s efforts to «play the sectarian card» in the Middle East. He added: «a program of reform to the citizen, make him feel safe. We must fortify the citizen and the nation the national dialogue and reforms ». He compared Syria to the color spectrum, saying that it is difficult to separate any color from the rest of the spectrum. …
Sharaa explained that the US position on its surface seems to be about human rights and democracy, but at its core it is about US national «interests» which are closely connected to those of Israel.
Shara, in response to a question by al-Hayat, stated that there would be a Constitutional Review in the coming months after the formation of a political committee, legally established for this purpose, in parallel with the adoption of draft laws in the coming days. With the return of the People’s Assembly (Parliament) on the 6th of next month, new representative bodies will be elected.
Photo taken by protester in Hama after Friday prayers, July 22.
Syria’s security measures are failing. Each week more Syrians join demonstrations and become participants in the general uprising. The Jazirah region become a new center of disturbance recently. Many inhabitants of Deir ez-Zor have joined protests and smaller towns, such as Bukamal, have also become centers of turmoil.
Homs was not peaceful. It is very hard to get an a accurate picture of events there. Activists paint a dire picture of a city under attack, where five civilians were shot on Friday and one or two during the week, as Nada Bakri describes in Syrian Forces Crack Down in Restive City With Raids and Gunfire. She writes that three buildings were destroyed by artillery or tank fire. Al-Jazeera also went with the artillery story, but government officials deny that tank fire was used in Homs. Activists claim that tanks fired on this mosque and hit its minaret. See the video. Activists state in the video that it as an example of the “hatred for Islam,” of the soldiers who fire on mosques. Others argued the video was a hoax and fabricated because no damage was done to the minaret. Videos, such as these, make judging any given event very difficult.
Syrian state sources give a very different view of events. They describe an army that is being frequently sniped at and ambushed; rather than one that is victimizing Syrians. The task of urban policing is overwhelming soldiers who are sent out on patrol and told to keep roads open and make sure that barricades do not block streets. Sana interviews soldiers who claim that 32 law-enforcement members and 8 civilians have been wounded in Homs recently. Other soldiers were killed outside Homs near Rastan, when their bus was strafed by activists hiding in surrounding orchards along the main highway.
In Deraa, activists complain, “The many [government] check points prevent us from gathering in large numbers.”
No mater how one interprets the conflicting reports or how one counts the number of protestors in each city, it is hard to escape the conclusion that Syria is becoming more divided, more sectarian, that more towns and cities are becoming involved in demonstrations, and that the government is not getting control of the uprising. On the contrary, the government does not have a military answer to the problems and is hesitant to use lots of force. When it does use force, things become worse. When it does not, things become worse. In Hama, where the governor withdrew the military, demonstrations grew. The government has so far pursued political solutions – dialogue and compromise – without conviction and little real compromize. It is not willing to open up the political arena to real competition.
The opposition also seems to be divided and largely improvising as it feels its way forward to ever larger demonstrations. This is a success, but it does not point the way toward an end-game. Perhaps an end-game will materialize if numbers of protestors continue to grow. The danger of this lack of leadership and unity, is that as the opposition grows, it will be unable to restrict its members to non-violence. Elements of the opposition are getting arms and becoming militant. In Militias may form and take maters into their own hands, pushing aside the pacifists.
This al-Hayat correspondent states that most Arab papers are hostile to the Syrian government, particularly those based in London, including al-Hayat. They are invested in providing negative views and news of the Syrian regime, he says.
The embattled regime’s use of violent gangs is stoking sectarian fears
REVOLUTIONARY fervour in Syria has shifted back from Hama—last week’s hotspot—to neighbouring Homs. At least 33 residents have been killed by security forces and government thugs in the city in recent days. Several were shot at funerals. Others died in what are described as sectarian clashes. On July 16th the mutilated corpses of three regime supporters were found in the outskirts. In retaliation, gangs allied to the ruling Assad family from the minority Alawite sect smashed up shops in districts dominated by the Sunnis. Residents have also reported indiscriminate shooting from unmarked, speeding cars while security forces looked on.
Since the start of protests in mid-March, Syrian activists have repeatedly complained about thugs working alongside the security forces in a crackdown that has now killed more than 1,500 civilians. Amateur video footage from various cities shows plain-clothed thugs—known as “shabiha”—committing atrocities. Many are members of the Assad clan or smugglers and racketeers from the coastal region. The leaders are thought to be Munzer and Fawwaz Assad, first cousins of President Bashar Assad. Both men were targeted by European Union sanctions in May.
Gangs are a useful tool for the regime. They make up the numbers when exhausted security forces take a break after more than four months on duty. They also allow officials to deny responsibility for some of the worst killings. Perhaps most important, the gangs raise the spectre of sectarian war, as seen in Iraq or Lebanon. The government hopes this might frighten people off the streets. In Latakia, a coastal city in the Assad heartland, residents have seen shabiha groups attack Alawite and Christian districts posing as Sunnis. This has helped to rally some support for the regime. Meanwhile in Homs, anti-Alawite feeling has intensified.
Yet fears of a sectarian meltdown are overblown. Anti-regime protests do not spring from religious differences. Indeed, it has been striking how secular, or at least ecumenical, the uprising in Syria has so far been. Sunnis have called on Christians, Alawites and other minorities to join them on the streets. Protesters have shouted “Muslims, Christians and Alawites are one” and waved crosses. After the latest killings in Homs, several prominent Alawites circulated statements condemning the damage done to Sunni shops.
Comments from the last Post
Revlon writes in the comment section:
The ratio of commentators on SC is still in favor of the regime. Such also reflects the current balance of physical power on the ground.
However, over the last couple of months, several pro-regimers have either withdrawn or announced the intention to, from SC.
The reasons given have been:
Tired, disgusted, futile discussion,—–.
This is the 4th stage of Grief in Kübler-Ross model; The depression; ” I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”
It is hitting supporters at various speeds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model.
SC commentators’ current standoff, in someways reflects the bigger picture on on the ground.
A large segment of the regime leadership and supporters have indeed lapsed into depression.
The good news is, they have finished 4 of 5 stages.
One more and they will be in the final stage: Acceptance — “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
SC will be around to host the resolution phase! Revlon will be around to read AlFati7a, only this time to celebrate the renewal of our friendship in a framework of respect for human and civil rights.
Majedkhaldun writes:
No Syrian will accept European or American interventions. The US will not give permission to Turkey to invade Syria. More demonstrations, as the regime resort to violent crackdown,,economy will deteriorate,inflation will hit hard as the Lira will loose its value,people will start complain publicly,more demonstrations will ensue,this will not lead to Bashar resignation, the elite will feel the crisis, as it will hit there pockets, they will talk to Bashar, he will decline,finally the protesters will recognize that they have to bear arms, to defend themselves, this will lead to much more casualties, among Shabbiha and security forces,they will run away, Bashar will be left with only the army to depend on, he will need more than 4th brigade,and republican guards, then the troops will start defecting in large numbers, army officers will separate creating cantons,they all will have one goal , to change the regime, but they all will be independent,pressure will mount on Bashar to quit,internal division will end the regime.new dictator will appear,we will not get our democracy that we yearn for,a lot of blood will be spilled, a lot of properties will be destroyed.
Louai writes:
Let me tell you about Bab el-Sbaa [in Homs, the center of the demonstrations]
it’s a wonderful neighbourhood , there are Christians and Muslims there living together without any problem there are two churches in that small neighbourhood and Muslims are conservatives but they do respect our freedom and traditions for example, almost every muslime girl there is wearing Hijab but if some one harassed a Christian girl because of her liberal outfit a conservative Muslim will deal with hem in case none of her family is there , it’s a wonderful and safe place unlike its recent reputation , the problem about Babelsbaa is its connected to ALwarsha Babeldreeb and bab el Turkman, people in Bab elsbaa believe that the armed gangs don’t belong to their neighbourhood (almost every one knows every one there ) they come from babeldreeb or other places because they take advantage of the small alleys passages and old Arabic houses in there plus they managed to close the neighbourhood using barricades ,the people of Babelsbaa DO demonstrate but I refuse to think they are using any arms as I do know my people plus my family never recognized any of the armed men but recently it become terrorists safe heaven because of the blocked neighbourhood and the rumour that the army will not enter there but the situation is unbearable now Babelsbaa is Babeldreeb and Alwarsha and babelturkman ,things are mixed up the army had to put an end to this rebels who converted the neighbourhood to a hub and a Refuge to terrorists ,my own family is under siege ,I cant call them or communicate with them but I am happy because I read the army is there hopefully it will manage to bring back peace and safety.
Most experts believe that one of the most catastrophic mistakes made during the U.S. occupation of Iraq was the decision to disband the Iraqi armed forces in May 2003. The question is not merely of interest to historians and those writing “after-action” reports on the Iraq invasion. After all, other Iraq-style regimes — most notably in Syria, Libya and North Korea — are likely to fall in the near future.
Photos of the derailed train
Syria Conflict May Be Shifting Flow Of Fighters
