{"id":15027,"date":"2012-06-18T23:38:04","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T03:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=15027"},"modified":"2012-06-18T23:38:04","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T03:38:04","slug":"ajamis-syria-rebellion-homs-bombed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/ajamis-syria-rebellion-homs-bombed\/","title":{"rendered":"Ajami’s Syria Rebellion; Homs Bombed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Fouad Ajami’s new book, The Syrian Rebellion,<\/a><\/em> is reviewed by Dexter Filkins in the New York Times. I have a copy of the book that Prof. Ajami kindly sent to me and have gone through it. It is classic Ajami, an excellent read filled with wonderful details. Ajami knows the region with all its prejudices and over the top characters better than just about anyone. His sense of history and choice of words is unsurpassed. One of the first books I read on the Middle East was The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice since 1967<\/a><\/em> . What a brilliant book. It has shaped the way I understand the ideologies of the Arabs and it introduced me to many of the region’s greatest thinkers, dreamers, and con-men. I am also a great admirer of his, The Vanished Imam: Musa al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon,<\/a><\/em> Ajami exasperated many with his full on support of the Iraq invasion. He is also a supporter of US and Western intervention in Syria following the Libyan and Yugoslav model, which I have argued against. <\/a>Anyone who wants to understand the Syrian Rebellion must read Fouad Ajami.<\/p>\n

“Coming Apart” By Dexter Filkins<\/a>
\nReview of
\nTHE SYRIAN REBELLION By Fouad Ajami
\n240 pp. Hoover Institution Press. $19.95.<\/p>\n

Fourteen months ago, as ordinary Syrians were just beginning to gather in large numbers to call for their leaders to quit power, a cherub-faced 13-year-old named Hamza Ali al-Khateeb was taken into custody after he\u2019d been caught scrawling an antigovernment slogan on a wall at a protest in the town of Jiza. A month later, when Hamza\u2019s body was returned to his parents, it bore signs of the most hideous torture. His face had been beaten purple, his jaw and kneecaps pulverized, his body stabbed and torched. His penis had been chopped off.<\/p>\n

There was a time, and not so long ago, when a Syrian dictator could plausibly assume that such a demonstration of official sadism would silence any popular murmurings for a more democratic form of governance. Brutality always worked before. But by April 2011, the Middle East had changed \u2014 Syrians had changed, even if the regime of Bashar al-Assad had not. The mutilation of young Hamza did not crush the Syrians; it enraged and catalyzed them. The result, little more than a year later, is an epic struggle that horrifies and inspires. It\u2019s hard to imagine that the dictator and his confederates can hang on, but still they do.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Syrian Rebellion,\u201d the Middle East scholar Fouad Ajami weaves the threads of Syria\u2019s past with the events of the previous year to give us a portrait of the country as it hurtles toward its moment of decisive transformation. This is no small feat: Syria is a country of enormous ethnic and religious complexity, and the story is moving very fast. \u201cThe Syrian Rebellion\u201d is an elegant and edifying book, written on the fly, by an observer who retains an almost loving intimacy with his subject. But it is underlain by a sobering subtext: Ajami suggests that the dynamics of Syria\u2019s politics and history are leading inexorably toward a catastrophe, or at least no quick and happy end. If he\u2019s right, we have probably not yet seen the worst.<\/p>\n

Syria is another of the improbable constructions that arose from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The new country was a grab bag of ethnicities and religions, conjured up by colonial mapmakers with little regard for either. In Syria, the dominant group is not the Sunni Arabs, who make up the overwhelming majority; nor even the Christians, a significant minority; but the Alawites, a heterodox Shiite sect that constitutes 12 percent of the population. A largely rural people at the time of Syria\u2019s birth, the Alawites came to dominate first the military and then the country itself. Their ascent was aided by the French, who ruled until the 1940s, and who, in the way of the colonial master, maintained a policy of favoring minorities at the expense of the Sunnis. Hafez al-Assad, a steely-eyed air force officer, secured his hold on power in the 1970s, using the secular-minded Baath Party as his vehicle (its sister party, eventually led by Saddam Hussein, lay across the border in Iraq). When Hafez died, in 2000, he bequeathed power to his son, the London-educated Bashar, age 34.<\/p>\n

The old man, as Ajami shows, pursued his designs with a brutal logic, setting up a ruling class of Alawites, some Christians and a select number of Sunni businessmen, stifling dissent, stifling the Sunni majority\u2019s yearnings for a freer expression of their faith, offering instead the slogans of Pan-Arabism and permanent war with the Jews. \u201cLet them eat anti-Zionism,\u201d is how Ajami describes it. There was little flexibility in the regime, little color, no air. The defining moment came in 1982, when an uprising broke out in the predominantly Sunni city of Hama, led by the Muslim Brotherhood. Assad crushed the revolt with savage finality, leveling entire blocks and killing as many as 30,000 of his countrymen. For 29 years, Hama stayed quiet.<\/p>\n

Then, in 2000, came Bashar, the heir with the British-Sunni wife, the not-quite-favored son (the chosen, Basel, died in a car accident), the ophthalmologist with no chin. Ajami makes it clear that Bashar was not his father\u2019s equal \u2014 neither in competence nor in temperament \u2014 and that an already despotic regime transformed into a decadent enterprise without the self-discipline that had once checked its worst abuses. \u201cPity the Syrians,\u201d Ajami writes. \u201cThey had been raised on the legend that their country was the \u2018beating heart of Arabism.\u2019 They woke up amidst the debris, and this squalid kleptocracy was what they had gotten in the bargain.\u201d I can personally attest to the decadence: In the summer of 2003, I spent many sleepless nights at the Sheraton Hotel in Damascus, then the city\u2019s main social spot, kept awake by the boisterous up-till-dawn partying of the Syrian elite. Creepy indeed, in a police state. There were widespread doubts about Bashar, whether he had the necessary character to rule Syria, whether he had the guts.<\/p>\n

Well, now we know. Bashar al-Assad seems every bit as willing as his father to destroy the country in order to save himself. In December, after Bashar\u2019s military had killed its 5,000th fellow Syrian, the United Nations announced that it was no longer able to count the victims. (How many are there now?) Not long after, Bashar gave a speech ruthless enough to put a pit in your stomach. \u201cThose states that counsel us to reform have no knowledge of democracy whatsoever,\u201d he said. On the walls of the Sunni mosques, the ones he hasn\u2019t ordered to be shelled, the government\u2019s thugs scrawl: \u201cYour God is Bashar.\u201d In Hama, which came alive again after so many years, crowds carry placards: \u201cLike Father, Like Son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where does it end? Ajami leaves no doubt that the Assad family project, especially Bashar\u2019s, was an essentially sectarian one. In this respect, Syria resembles its neighbors, Lebanon and Iraq, the former once ruled by a Christian minority, the latter by the minority Sunni Arabs. Remember what happened in those places? In Syria, the Alawites stand as a sort of palace guard, with everything to lose. (So far, very few have defected to the rebels.) It is not hard to imagine a fight to the death.<\/p>\n

That dark prospect surely explains the reluctance of the Obama administration to try to stop Bashar\u2019s killing machine, even as the Syrian rebels beg for our help. It\u2019s too easy to envision an Iraqi-style blood bath after Bashar\u2019s demise. Ajami is frustrated by Obama\u2019s passivity, and indeed, as the killing goes on, it is getting harder for all of us to avert our eyes. Why is Syria different from Libya, where Obama and NATO, at very low cost, stopped an almost certain humanitarian disaster? Why is it different from Yugoslavia?<\/p>\n

We may find out soon, whether we like it or not. As Ajami says, Bashar\u2019s regime is in a race against itself. It must crush the rebellion before it ruins the economy. Even the Russians and the Chinese, faithful fellow oppressors, are embarrassed by the butchery. At some point, it seems likely, the regime will crack. It is then, and only then, that we will discover the true Syria, whether it was just an improbable creation set on the banks of the Euphrates, or a real nation after all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Dexter Filkins is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He is the author of \u201cThe Forever War.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The Syrian government increased attacks across the country, particularly in Homs, which sustained a massive shelling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

See this video made by???? ????? who is shot while filming it…..
\n<\/object><\/p>\n

The United Nations’ human rights head recently said that government shelling of civilian areas amounts to war crimes<\/a>. Opposition groups claim more than 14,000 civilians and 3,400 soldiers and militiamen loyal to Assad have been killed since the revolt began in March 2011.<\/p>\n

Where is the Truth in the Battle for Syria’s Narrative,” <\/a>by Sakhr al-Makhadhi<\/p>\n

Obama fails to secure support from Putin on solution to Syria crisis<\/a>
\nUS president sought pledge against Bashar al-Assad at G20 summit, leaving Syria facing the prospect of increasing violence
\nPatrick Wintour in Los Cabos and Ewen MacAskill in Washington, guardian, Monday 18 June 2012<\/p>\n

Barack Obama and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin completed a bilateral meeting on the margins of the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Monday with an agreement that there should be a cessation of hostilities in Syria.<\/p>\n

But, crucially, Obama failed to secure the support of Putin for regime change in Syria. The US president had been seeking Putin’s help in trying to persuade Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power and leave the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The author of the blog “China Matters” writes:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
In case you haven’t caught it, Xinhua News Agency Damascus bureau is filing detailed reports<\/a> (go to end of post) on a daily basis now after months of just regurgitating agency reports.\u00a0 I think this represents a conscious decision by Assad and the Chinese to get the regime story out since nobody pays attention to SANA and the Western media coverage is heavily weighted toward opposition sources.\u00a0 Similar thing going on with Russia’s RT Novosti.\u00a0 As you may know, Xinhua has historically served as the party’s white intelligence and policy arm, especially in situations and jurisdictions where Chinese diplomats couldn’t operate freely.\u00a0 So there’s more going on than just propaganda.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Russia Sending Missile Systems to Shield Syria<\/a>
\nBy ANDREW E. KRAMER, June 15, 2012<\/p>\n

MOSCOW \u2014 Russia\u2019s chief arms exporter said Friday that his company was shipping advanced defensive missile systems to Syria that could be used to shoot down airplanes or sink ships if the United States or other nations try to intervene to halt the country\u2019s spiral of violence.<\/p>\n

“I would like to say these mechanisms are really a good means of defense, a reliable defense against attacks from the air or sea,\u201d Anatoly P. Isaykin, the general director of the company, Rosoboronexport, said Friday in an interview. \u201cThis is not a threat, but whoever is planning an attack should think about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the weapons systems are not considered cutting edge, Mr. Isaykin\u2019s disclosures carried greater symbolic import than military significance. They contributed to a cold war chill that has been settling over relations between Washington and Moscow ahead a meeting between President Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin, their first, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit meeting in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos next week.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Russia and China Mull Syria … and Saudi Arabia<\/a>, By Peter Lee<\/p>\n

Robert Fisk, Nikolaos van Dam, and Russian specialist Anatol Lieven<\/a> discuss the ongoing troubles in Syria – can world powers stop the killing? Colm \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in on RT\u00c9 Radio 1, 17 June 2012.<\/p>\n

mohammad-al-attar-play-explores-syria-uprising<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0NYTImes Blog photos of Syrian Uprising<\/a><\/p>\n

Jerusalem Post: Kurds could hold key in Syria<\/a>, 2012-06-18<\/p>\n

In an effort to broaden its appeal among Syria\u2019s diverse ethnic groups, the largest Syrian opposition group has selected a Kurd as its new leader. But it is not yet clear whether it will be enough to convince Kurdish political parties to be more …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fouad Ajami’s new book, The Syrian Rebellion, is reviewed by Dexter Filkins in the New York Times. I have a copy of the book that Prof. Ajami kindly sent to me and have gone through it. It is classic Ajami, an excellent read filled with wonderful details. Ajami knows the region with all its prejudices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nAjami's Syria Rebellion; Homs Bombed - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/ajamis-syria-rebellion-homs-bombed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ajami's Syria Rebellion; Homs Bombed - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fouad Ajami’s new book, The Syrian Rebellion, is reviewed by Dexter Filkins in the New York Times. 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