Syrian Revolution Digest: It's On! What's On? The Revolution.

Yes! It’s now about toppling the regime.

Breaking 1: A video that purports to show Maher Al-Assad, Brother of Bashar Al-Assad, is creating quite a buzz now. The video is said to be showing the aftermath of the Seydnaya Massacre that took place in July 2008. You can see bodies of dead inmates, most of whom political prisoners, hear shots that seem to be meant to finish off wounded, then, near the end of the clip, you can see a copy Quran on the ground, with a man, the video claims to be Maher Al-Assad standing next to it holding his cell phone apparently taking a picture. The likeness to Maher Al-Assad is amazing. We have sent this video to many who know Maher intimately to try to verify the matter. Even if it’s not Maher Al-Assad, the images are gruesome, and since the results of the supposed inquiry into these events at the time were never announced, and no such inquiry seems to have in fact taken place to begin with, one can understand why dissidents view regime promises of investigating the events at Deraa with so much suspicion.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=108616612552725&oid=173132032739195&comments (the YouTube version was removed due to the graphic nature of the video).

Breaking 2: Eyewitnesses report that major protests have erupted in Midan District in Damascus. Protesters shouted Silmiyyah Silmiyyah (Peaceful Peaceful) but authorities met them with gunfire, 20 are said to be killed or injured. Clashes stopped shortly after midnight local time.

Breaking 3: Eyewitnesses speak of major protests in Qamishly with security forces withdrawing from the streets after the first hour. The protests were in part spark by a call issued by the respected Muslim Scholar Murshid Al-Khaznawi, albeit it was addressed mostly to other Muslim scholars and Imams in Syria.

(Murshid's Video)

Breaking 4: The pro-government rally that was shown on Syria’s state TV and was supposed to be taking place in Deraa is actually from two years ago. There were major protests taking place throughout the city at the time where these pro-government celebrations were supposed to be happening. Unfortunately many international news media were fooled, including CNN International.

Deraa and Nawa witnessed mass demonstrations this morning and throughout most of the day, as people attended funerals of various martyrs from March 23 raid on Alomary Mosque and Al-Karamah Square. The protests included clashes with security forces who used tear gas, no reports of injuries or casualties available.

Riots were also reported from the Ghazar prison where most jailed protesters were help. Flames could be seen rising from the building, as well as smoke. No further details are available.

Meanwhile, and as number of the fallen from the March 23 Massacre continued to climb, exceeding a hundred by some reckonings, the Assad regime tried to placate the national tempers by making “concessions” even as its spokeswoman Bouthaina Shaaban insisted on accusing foreign elements of being behind the troubles. Bouthaina announced that salaries of public sector employees will be raised, and the state of emergency will be reviewed. It was later announced as well that jailed protester will be released. We could not confirm if any indeed were.

The Friday of Pride (Juma’at-ul ‘Izzah) is now the name assigned to tomorrow’s protests scheduled to take place after Noon Prayers, all over the country. Judging by the protests in Qamishly and Midan, tomorrow will likely mark a watershed moment.

Deraa Videos: