With toothless sanctions not yet in place and Bashar Al-Assad spared for some unfathomable reason, more crimes are being committed by Assad security thugs against unarmed civilians.
Since many in the international community know that stories about Salafist infiltrators are lies perpetrated by the regime, then the incursions by armed troops into Deraa, Homs and Banyas can only be classified as war crimes. Since these crimes cannot be taking place without Bashar Al-Assad’s approval, it stands to reason for him to be indicted as war criminal. There is no good reason for delaying this any longer.
I hope members of the international human rights delegation to be sent to Syria know how to spot fake Deraans, because many will be bussed in from neighboring communities and will be made available to talk to them in order to provide testimony as to what happened there. Perhaps the delegation should also speak to Deraa refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, just in case.
In many of videos below, protesters are taking pains to identify the date and the place to add to the credibility of the video.
Homs: Some of the Martyrs of Friday May 6
http://youtu.be/-gkUalIHppo
Homs: funeral. “The people want to topple the regime”
http://youtu.be/agiy-VmMq0Q
http://youtu.be/IiLZIY7uR4U
Deir Ezzor: vigil
http://youtu.be/boRDazols9g
http://youtu.be/C8x0vP71Re8
http://youtu.be/ipoxmSm5p_4
Efrine: Kurds demonstrate in the city of Efrine, North of Aleppo.
http://youtu.be/KK_CJM_PSGM
Hama / May 7: protesters sport snipers on a rooftop and begin shouting: “here are the infiltrators”
Hama: the “cleansing” campaign continues: Assad posters and pictures continue to be removed.
Damascus: Shabbiha wear arm bands to recognize each other (near end of video)
http://youtu.be/vNXEBe6WEEc
Damascus / Mouaddamiyyeh: Banners: “leave” “the people want to topple the regime”. Chants: “He who kills his own people is a traitor” “the people want to topple the regime.” Also there are banners clearly identifying the place and the date.
Nightly demonstration
Damascus / Dmeir
“We don’t love you, so let us you and your party” “the people want to topple the regime”
As you read this, Assad is bombarding Downtown Homs with tanks and artillery. Planes have also been reported overflying the city.
The hours before the bombardment, army units take positions in town
Saturday 7, 2011
6 residents, including 4 women were reported killed in Banyas by security forces seeking to spread terror in the defiant coastal city. Security forces raied as well the nearby towns of Bassiyeh, Baydah and Marqab where they arrested a number of residents, including women and children as well as a local doctor. Navy gunboats continue to patrol the shores off Banyas, while many neighborhoods remain under siege, with residents forming human shields to prevent army tanks from entering. Elsewhere in Syria, there were funerals in Homs, Hama, Lattakia, and vigils in Deir Ezzor Alboukamal, etc. The protesters are not letting go, crackdown, intimidation, arbitrary detentions, and international lethargy notwithstanding.
Since many in the international community know that stories about Salafist infiltrators are lies perpetrated by the regime, then the incursions by armed troops into Deraa, Homs and Banyas can only be classified as war crimes. Since these crimes cannot be taking place without Bashar Al-Assad’s approval, it stands to reason for him to be indicted as war criminal. There is no good reason for delaying this any longer.
I hope members of the international human rights delegation to be sent to Syria know how to spot fake Deraans, because many will be bussed in from neighboring communities and will be made available to talk to them in order to provide testimony as to what happened there. Perhaps the delegation should also speak to Deraa refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, just in case.
In many of videos below, protesters are taking pains to identify the date and the place to add to the credibility of the video.
Homs: Some of the Martyrs of Friday May 6
http://youtu.be/-gkUalIHppo
Homs: funeral. “The people want to topple the regime”
http://youtu.be/agiy-VmMq0Q
http://youtu.be/IiLZIY7uR4U
Deir Ezzor: vigil
http://youtu.be/boRDazols9g
http://youtu.be/C8x0vP71Re8
http://youtu.be/ipoxmSm5p_4
Efrine: Kurds demonstrate in the city of Efrine, North of Aleppo.
http://youtu.be/KK_CJM_PSGM
Hama: funeral for Friday’s martyrs, as city observes a general strike, and people chant “the people want to topple the regime.”
Hama / May 7: protesters sport snipers on a rooftop and begin shouting: “here are the infiltrators”
Hama: the “cleansing” campaign continues: Assad posters and pictures continue to be removed.
Damascus: Shabbiha wear arm bands to recognize each other (near end of video)
http://youtu.be/vNXEBe6WEEc
Damascus / Mouaddamiyyeh: Banners: “leave” “the people want to topple the regime”. Chants: “He who kills his own people is a traitor” “the people want to topple the regime.” Also there are banners clearly identifying the place and the date.
Nightly demonstration
Damascus / Dmeir
“We don’t love you, so let us you and your party” “the people want to topple the regime”
Deraa / Ankhel: a vigil in which people refute claims by Syrian TV that the army went into their town because they have been invited in by local residents to combat armed gangs. Their simple answers: these are all are lies.
Deraa /Abtaa: tanks on the move.
Salamat
ReplyDeleteI'm from Syria and living in Quebec, Canada. I'm wondering why there's no uprising in Aleppo? I did not hear about demonstrations that are going there??
Do you have an idea?
Thank you
Hi Abel, there were a few smaller demonstrations in Aleppo organized by university students, which were brutally put down. There is a huge concentration of security forces in Aleppo and Damascus (around 50,000 officers each), which move quickly to crackdown on any small concentration of people which makes organizing larger demos logically difficult. Also, some in the commercial elite and official Islamic establishment are playing an important role in placating the local population. Still, popular discontent is real, and it's only a matter of time, before protests leaders find a way to organize larger demonstrations.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your hard work and dedication!
ReplyDeleteAs one who 40 years ago exactly this month left Syria and vowed never to set foot on Syrian soil again until the gangsters have left, I am heartened by the courage of the Syrian people and equally outraged at the regime's response after all the rhetoric of reform they were throwing into the world's eyes. One can only hope, almost against hope, that right triumphs in the end.
I do have a question you might help me with, though. This ever growing multitude of opposition groups and their armies of intellectuals and their tv stations and websites...where do they all get their funding from? I even read in one of your interviews that you offered to help find/secure funds for dissidents wanting to organize. Where is all the money coming from, and surely it can't be without strings attached?
مع تحياتي واحترامي
غيث
Salamat and thank you for you answer.
ReplyDeleteI did not know about the security forces. But, I could imagine how corrupted are the official (and non official) religious people: both Muslims and Christian. Very few of them is supporting the upraising.People are afraid... Even here in Canada. We tried to organize a demonstration to help supporting our brothers in Syria and people answered me: what if they (security forces in Syria) see us?
I really have no hope in this kind of people.
To Gaith: You are questioning where the money comes from, I don't know for others, But here in Quebec, Canada each of us paid a small amount of money (less than 100$). We'll try to organize other demonstrations.
Abel
Hi there Gaith. The revolution is totally funded by Syrian sources. My own organization, Tharwa, which is a non-profit organization based in U.S. used to receive US funding, but not since 2009. To my knowledge, neither US nor EU has invested in funding any activities supporting civil society inside Syria since 2009. This is indeed a Syrian revolution in every sense of the word: material, financial and political.
ReplyDelete