Prelude to Mayhem!

Unless world leaders make up their minds and decide that intervention to prevent a crisis is better than intervention to manage it, the powder keg that is today’s Syria will surely explode and soon. Yearend could signal the beginning of an extended period of turmoil for our beleaguered country. Syrians deserve better than this. Freedom has a tax, we all agree on this, but this is simply put usurious.     

Thursday 8, 2011

29 people reported killed by pro-Assad militias: 16 in Homs City, 6 in Idlib Province, 4 in Hama Province, and 1 in the town of Marei in Aleppo Province … 6 locals were reported injured in crackdown in Houleh in Homs Province … Clashes reported between defectors and loyalists near the town of Madaya in Damascus Province. Meanwhile, in nearby Zabadani, similar clashes left 6 loyalists dead … Sweep operations by loyalist militias continue in the Idlib Province … Mass detention campaigns are underway in the Deraa/Hauran Province. 

Security forces blew up a pipeline in Baba Amr Neighborhood in Homs City. Syrian TV blamed the incidents on insurgents, but locals contend that security forces were behind the explosion as a form of collective punishment against the city and her people who will be hurt most by this. Local activists even uploaded a video showing tanks standing opposite the pipeline claiming that the tanks were responsible for the attack.

Syrian Actor, Muhammad Ala Rashi was reportedly detained by security forces on leaving his home. Ala Rashi had come out in support of the Revolution calling on Assad to step down.

Links

Syria Comes of Age

On the Front Line with Syria's Free Army

Syrian oil pipeline hit by explosion

Syria not in civil war but situation grave: ICRC

Syria's Kurds Divided On Syrian Opposition

Indeed, and as I tried to explain yesterday, the attempt at a rapprochement between the Syrian National Council and the Free Syrian Army seem to be backfiring, as this New York Times article demonstration: Factional Splits Hinder Drive to Topple Syria Leader . The problem is of course, the lack of any strategic thinking. Indeed, it is important for the political wing to assert its authority over the military wing. In fact, this was my recommendation for weeks. The question, however, is how to do this without creating dangerous frictions and losing credibility. The matter cannot be resolved in one haphazard meeting, and it cannot be resolved without developing a clear understanding on goals.

Meanwhile, the country continues to seethe. From Idlib to Deraa, and from Rural Aleppo to Rural Damascus, protests and bloody clashes are taking place around the clock. Even the allegedly quiet regions of Central Damascus and Aleppo City are witnessing more and more demonstrations, small and furtive, rowdy and brazen. And the tension in the coastal regions is so palpable, it is suffocating. The powder keg is about to blow.

Featured Videos

Leaked video shows convoy of tanks carrying out operations against residential neighborhoods in Homs http://youtu.be/4b_txFQl3gI This is a look at another convoy from the point of view of the protesters in Bab Al-Sibaa Neighborhood http://youtu.be/TEvO6M85XnY And yet another that has not yet entered the city http://youtu.be/BAltc3KcFPM And another that enters Qoussour Neighborhood http://youtu.be/WRHvIehbOCM

Khaldiyeh Neighborhood comes under heavy gunfire http://youtu.be/Q7pg4QR3ALE But in Baba Amr, FSA insurgents manage to destroy a tank http://youtu.be/BcTs0vq6V_E People trapped by sniper in Matahin Neighborhood http://youtu.be/bTo9HzUwWDg People trapped by snipers in Cairo Street http://youtu.be/7eLlmyIT1xg

Tanks pay a visit to the nearby region of Houleh as well http://youtu.be/GIL4Bk_JsBk The ensuing crackdown leave 6 injured. Still, locals come out at night and under the rain to show their defiance http://youtu.be/ei2IFiAaCvc

Retrieving a body from the streets of Bab Dreib Neighborhood in Homs City http://youtu.be/PfcnmHNf-9k Mourners in a nearby cemetery come under fire http://youtu.be/ySmUYKnxtsM

Adnan Ghalioun, cousin of SNC leader Burhane Ghalioun, is laid to rest in Homs City http://youtu.be/abYepDJHs8w

Baba Amr: security forces blow up the pipeline that runs through the neighborhood

http://youtu.be/J-pi42_VSYM , http://youtu.be/3Qwg0eq2Faw This is the tanks that was actually used to blow the pipeline, according to the locals http://youtu.be/Y_nutDRGKeQ

In Homs’ Bayadah Neighborhood, locals break branches for use in heating http://youtu.be/bQ2fOrL-psg

Syrian intellectual Yassin A-Haj Saleh and LCC leader Razan Zeituneh attends a rally in Harasta Suburb in Damascus http://youtu.be/dkQe9h5srtQ

Security forces break a nighttime demonstration in downtown Damascus, near the Russian Cultural Center http://youtu.be/T7u8CgHsXz8

In Zamalka Suburb in Damascus, local held a funeral for a defector who was shot by loyalists for refusing to fire at the unarmed protesters http://youtu.be/entHZvbAsHo

Residents of Morek in Hama Province hold a mass funeral for two local martyrs http://youtu.be/LsMUMlpTujA

A funeral for a local activist in Marei in Aleppo Province http://youtu.be/X5aNiAgMhjs

December 8 Videos

HOMS CITY: Khaldiyeh http://youtu.be/6sR4YGcot6Q Bayadah http://youtu.be/E2YrwPDI5sI Deir Baalbah http://youtu.be/q9moNLRceK8 , http://youtu.be/tj7GY5heHgA Karm Al-Zeitun protesters chant against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah http://youtu.be/g_zXwMsTH7A Jouret Al-Shayah http://youtu.be/lhePT4I5USA Insha’aat http://youtu.be/tLwZHautlUQ Ghoutah http://youtu.be/wnOkigEvCw4 Wa’er Sign says “Assad is crazy, save us” http://youtu.be/futU_souGzc

HOMS PROVINCE: Tadmor (Palmyra) http://youtu.be/nUJ5NedVdqs

DAMASCUS CITY: Douma mourners come under heavy gunfire http://youtu.be/Xx5q6Jpjg1s but keep chanting anti-Assad slogans in defiance, http://youtu.be/az97pZAvN6U Protesters from the suburbs of Saqba, Kafar Batna, Harasta, Douma, Hamouriyeh, Jisreen, Zamalka, Jobar, and Daraya of eh Eastern Ghoutah region in Damascus gather for their nightly protest carrying banners calling for the execution of Assad http://youtu.be/2vnEqwBmCrw 

DERAA/HAURAN: Mleihah http://youtu.be/cQF_F0R-f1o Hraak http://youtu.be/iQ5HrewGGI0 Da’el http://youtu.be/G3zMKfn0IvM Kafar Shams http://youtu.be/hke39nDzC4I Basr Al-Harir http://youtu.be/UlqvC4pQlRM Abtaa http://youtu.be/cwSndm4lCK8 Ankhel teargas used against local protesters http://youtu.be/1HARDSJOtC0

DEIR EZZOR: Qrayah http://youtu.be/xHYSJcPmQ84