Damascus Under Siege!

The Poverty Belt around Damascus explodes into deadly protests. Deraa shows support by going on strike.

Deadly overnight clashes in Mouaddamiyyah led to daytime protests and tearing down of Assad posters and chants of “The People Want To Topple the Regime.” Despite the conservative nature of Mouaddamiyyah,  women participated in droves, often leading the chants.

Douma’s protests also witnessed significant participation by women, a trend said to be a new tactic that will from now on be employed by protesters.

The Damascene suburb of Harasta also witnessed large overnight protests.

Kafar Batna and Saqba also witnessed overnight protests leading to several fatalities, including among security officers, a development which also might denote the emergence of new trend: a tit-for-tat, or an eye for eye, just as the protesters in these two communities shouted.

The situation in Kafar Batna deteriorated fast in the afternoon when authorities refused to release the bodies of the fallen. Clashes ensued, prompting mourners in Douma to come to the aid of their neighbors, passing on their way in the suburbs of Harasta, Sqba and Irbeen and recruiting more protesters.  We still have no words as to what have transpired since.  

Damascus is now virtually besieged by rebellious suburbs: to the North Al-Tal, to the East Kafar Batna, Douma, Harasta and Saqba, to the West Mouaddamiyyah and to the South Kisweh. What has long been known as the Poverty Belt is now the Revolution Belt.

Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the Deraa City returned the favor and went on a general strike in solidarity with the people of Douma.

In Homs, a morning sit-in in Al-Bayadeh and Deir Baalba neighborhoods developed into a large funerary procession for a Female martyr that fell in earlier clashes.  The inhabitants of the Talbiseh Town, south of Homs, also witnessedmajor protests as inhabitants took to the streets, as they have been doing every day since Friday. The town continues to be surrounded by armored vehicles and under de facto isolation.

  

Videos from Mouaddamiyyah

Mouaddamiyyah:  Tearing Down Bashar’s Poster during a funeral for a fallen protester who was killed during clashes with security on the previous night. Chants: “God, Syria, Freedom and Nothing More” “He Who Kills His Own People Is A Traitor”

Longer low resolution videos of the same funeral-cum-protest

“People Want to Topple the Regime”

Women: “He Who Kills His Own People Is A Traitor”

Douma Videos

Douma: Listing the name of the Martyrs. At the end of the clip, you can hear the speaker asking for people to go to Irbeen and Saqba

Douma Streets, earlier in the day

Douma Speech: “We wish for mercy for our Martyrs, recovery for our sick, and freedom for Syria. Today is wedding for Martyrs. WE celebrate the martyrs who were felled by traitorous hands… they were not killed by gangs as the media claimed, but by traitorous hands who came to Douma to kill us. We had prepared flowers and roses for them… but they insisted on shooting at our chests… We won’t accept condolences, but we celebrate our martyrs… They said we are paid gangs, they lied, we are not gangs, we call for just rights, we call for freedom… I want to ask the ulema in our midst, aren’t the people who died martyrs?... I swear to God, I thought Israel was invading Douma… One Hand, One Hand.”

Deraa on strike in solidarity with Douma

Miscellaneous Videos

Harasta

Dounia TV Report: this is the reports that name me among other dissidents as being the masterminds of the current protests in cooperation with CIA and Mossad. At the end of the report, the commentator promises to do a special report on the Tharwa Foundation, which I have founded to promote democracy in MENA region. I wonder if they would mention that we operated openly in Syria until 2005!