Syria’s Revolution is no danger of being coopted by extremist elements
of any kind at this stage. Protest leaders have too high an IQ to bet on AQ,
and despite their growing frustration they remain focused on the goal of building
a free and fair Syria for all.
Sunday February 12, 2012
Today’s death toll: 36 in
Homs, Deraa, Idlib, Hassakeh and Rural Damascus. 8 loyalist soldiers were also
killed in clashes with defectors in Hama Province.
News
Op-Eds & Special Reports
“Al-Qaeda has no
sympathizers among the protesters,” said Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian activist
and fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. “The
protesters’ goal remains the establishment of a democratic civil state,” he
said, and “they all understand that al-Qaeda involvement would ultimately
undermine this goal.” “Al-Qaeda and the Assads are two faces of the same coin
of sectarian hatred,” said Mr. Abdulhamid, the Syrian activist. “Both seek to
stoke fires that we want to extinguish.”
Indeed, Clarissa Ward
is right in noting that Syria's
rebels "disillusioned" with America, and the reason is
simple, the protesters has expected that America would have made her mind to
stand by their side from the beginning, and they are indeed disheartened by the
continued reluctance of the Obama Administration to lead the way. But, and as Michael
Peel and Geoff Dyer note in Pressure
grows to arm Syria rebels, they are still knocking on America’s doors:
Some of the most
effective advocates for intervention have been members of groups connected to
the Free Syrian Army, whose views have been eagerly sought and who, with the
help of US-based activists, have spent the week appealing directly for help. On
one call organised by a Washington-based think-tank, one of the leaders of a
group based to the east of Damascus, which was affiliated with the FSA, said
that there were several thousand people in the area wanting to get involved but
that only a few hundred were active because of a lack of weapons. Despite the
appeals, the Obama administration has spent all week ruling out any form of
direct intervention, calling instead for a “negotiated conversation about a
democratic transition”.
For clarity and
transparency, the think tank referred to above is the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, and the planners were Khawla Yusuf (my wife and a member of the
Executive Committee of the Antalya Conference for Change which recently evolved
into the National Current for Change) and myself. The event took place on
February 8.
While the politicians
and the analysts might be tilted heavily against military action for now, the
question is whether the appalling scenes in Homs and elsewhere will lead to an
overwhelming pressure to launch it anyway. As the rebel leader on the
Washington conference call, who went by the name of Mohammed, put it: “We can
do the job ourselves if we have more equipment. With more sophisticated
weapons, we can take the fight to Assad.”
More on AQ and Syria
Observation: Majid Abdallah
Smeisim is from the town of Binnish in Idlib Province, but was studying
chemistry at the University of Aleppo. He was arrested a week ago, but on
Friday February 10, he was named by Syrian authorities as one of the victims of
the explosions in Aleppo. Meaning: To the activists on the ground, the
explosions in Aleppo were as staged as those in Damascus.
So, what do we make
of McClatchy’s report quoting unnamed U.S. officials asserting that AQ in Iraq
was behind the attacks in Aleppo and Damascus? Simple. We go back to the
source, to U.S. intelligence community, for clarity, just as the Washington
Post did.
We then discover that the intelligence community has a far more nuanced take on
the events:
“Intelligence
officials told The Washington Post that while the recent bombings in Syria have
the hallmarks of al-Qaeda operations, they have found no conclusive link to
al-Qaeda or its Iraqi affiliate.”
Bear in mind as well
that Assad officials have reportedly released
an AQ mastermind not too long ago. Moreover, in his
call on the Muslim World to support the Syrian Revolution, Ayman
Al-Zawahiri made no mention of the attacks, and took no credit neither for the
Damascus attacks or the Aleppo ones.
Evidence of staging
has been clearly noted in the case of the Damascus attacks, the timing of the
Aleppo attacks are simply too convenient for a regime that is beginning to lose
control of certain neighborhoods, having lost it in rural areas, releasing AQ
masterminds at a time when Assad officials are naming AQ as an enemy and the
party responsible for the attacks… whatever is going here, it has the
fingerprints of the Assads all over it.
Leaked
video
showing the treatment the body of a dead defector is receiving at the hands of
loyalist soldiers, doctors and nurses http://youtu.be/FoCciXmiolE A feminine voice who
seems to belong to a nurse is heard in the background describing the dead man
as a “dog” and a “traitor.” The accent of the nurse and other figures is
coastal which betrays their Alawite background. Many activists suspect that
leaking these videos to protesters is meant to fuel the sectarian tendencies
among them. But it also reveals the depth of sectarian hatred and fears which
allows loyalist militias to carry out the kind of massacres we are currently witnessing
in Homs City and across the country.
Homs
|
||||||
Homs City
|
||||||
Deir
Baalbah:
A massacre http://youtu.be/GhrRaGrKQlI
Leaked
videos show some of the artillery used in pounding Homs http://youtu.be/WctVGuiae9U , http://youtu.be/h8CJIhuBSfw , http://youtu.be/-FeWzKEdbZg , http://youtu.be/K-Xv1tWWh40
Baba
Amr:
The pounding resumes http://youtu.be/jD6-hHQwUoY
, http://youtu.be/zcKkrdj1qq4 , http://youtu.be/jwzp1VOZkig , http://youtu.be/7F7pMUjbCBM Martyrs http://youtu.be/35mlwIXgX-0 , http://youtu.be/HoMqBTajnmI Standing
next to a man taking his last breaths, Dr. Muhammad Ayoub appeals for action
not more rhetoric from the GCC http://youtu.be/FY4bXf3hQA0
Impact of pounding http://youtu.be/49Jf50JLQLY
, http://youtu.be/9zKfI63Dr-Q , http://youtu.be/6gUk2LNNIQk Jouri
Mosque is targeted by the shelling http://youtu.be/8zAI_Gj80cE
, http://youtu.be/RXNIAIYHy6M A
glimpse of life in a local shelter http://youtu.be/F_VO8QQI_Eo
Malaab: lining up for
bread and some basic food supplies http://youtu.be/HDMI0jvJ1LU
|
||||||
Daytime Rallies
|
||||||
Qoussour (all-women) http://youtu.be/fw20n0S0sIA
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Ghoutah http://youtu.be/OJ294YdN-lE Qoussour
http://youtu.be/-K7eFPwD3YU Khaldiyeh
http://youtu.be/p6dOuswD5AQ Wa’er
http://youtu.be/72VOoAmbXVg
|
||||||
Homs Province
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Houleh http://youtu.be/P5gA35sx-kA Talbisseh
http://youtu.be/9L2xYpQOyX8 Tadmor
http://youtu.be/GM7SOWeRznc
|
||||||
Damascus
|
||||||
Damascus City
|
||||||
Naher
Eisheh:
blocking the main highway connecting Damascus and Amman with burning tires
has become a nightly practice for neighborhood activists http://youtu.be/I29D9LS9Af4
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Barzeh http://youtu.be/2SPA-h8xrOw
|
||||||
Eastern Ghoutah
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Arbeen http://youtu.be/WlxPQgr6E4c Yelda
http://youtu.be/S3CS3Yv2eJU
|
||||||
Damascus South
|
||||||
Daraya: local women burn
the Chinese flag http://youtu.be/v7epLC80wic
|
||||||
Daytime Rallies
|
||||||
Al-Hajar
Al-Aswad: http://youtu.be/Oj5Kx7Q98Lg , http://youtu.be/TR5CrXGiAg4 Sitti
Zeinab http://youtu.be/Cl0-zj17DQg
|
||||||
West (Zabadani and Wadi Barada)
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
North (The Qalamoun Region )
|
||||||
Dmeir: Martyr &
Family http://youtu.be/hdj01ZSCS4g Funeral
http://youtu.be/YgmP8LX75IU , http://youtu.be/JpS-h9bCz5E
|
||||||
Hama
|
||||||
Hama City
|
||||||
Gunfire
is a normal background noise these days http://youtu.be/yIRj-ILg34A
Tanks have to keep patrolling the streets to assert control http://youtu.be/82KBx-QzliA , http://youtu.be/-ix-6Z7jWPg Stopping
to carry out some random pounding here http://youtu.be/isyQaBq7uWs
and there http://youtu.be/st_zB-FBjvg
|
||||||
Hama Province
|
||||||
Daytime Rallies
|
||||||
Kafrenboudeh http://youtu.be/UZB48WbvB_Y
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Taybat
Al-Imam
http://youtu.be/hCOant1lveI
|
||||||
Idlib
|
||||||
Ma’arrat
Al-Nouman:
Tanks and loyalists storm in firing randomly http://youtu.be/Rb74eL0r_WM the
pounding continues http://youtu.be/x9SXVJWQrlM
, http://youtu.be/zvBPWAH6ld8 Snipers
in action http://youtu.be/dw6OZq6JYgM Martyr http://youtu.be/r028u323YTo
Kafroumah: Martyr http://youtu.be/R5JoLIeFpwc Funeral http://youtu.be/8QAPIVhPEXM
Idlib
City:
Funeral http://youtu.be/KK6qXtlJF0M
|
||||||
Daytime Rallies
|
||||||
Ma’arrat
Hourmah
http://youtu.be/qDTsZhZfa3o
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Darkoush http://youtu.be/DELMUrUhKJY
|
||||||
Deraa/Hauran
|
||||||
Deraa City
|
||||||
Sabeel: Funeral for a
martyred girl http://youtu.be/XzliWI3Ja_I
, http://youtu.be/xoxaDih-bNM Another
child martyr (boy) http://youtu.be/If0MzNG_cnI
His funeral http://youtu.be/M3xGtbnmdDg
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Deraa/Hauran Province
|
||||||
Mseifrah: A martyr http://youtu.be/iR0z_nawofg
Tafas comes under fire
at night http://youtu.be/08wafHsBPjQ
Harrah: Martyr http://youtu.be/Xf0exbjNueo Funeral http://youtu.be/zHvYS-NCiyk
Nawa comes under fire
at night http://youtu.be/B5QBdaxr_mY
Bosra
Al-Sham:
Funeral for a martyred defector http://youtu.be/ZxQ0_TUx_ZE
His mother curses Bashar and Maher and says she knows that loyalist killed
her son, not the protesters as the regime claims http://youtu.be/M23Vjl-Gw9Q
|
||||||
Daytime Rallies
|
||||||
Nahteh http://youtu.be/MQwJqr2q6Iw Hraak
http://youtu.be/bw3tV7BVhsk Taybah
http://youtu.be/uq5DSfkossU
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Nasseeb http://youtu.be/9SjadC0Nceo Namar
http://youtu.be/ABnXou-UpY0
|
||||||
Aleppo
|
||||||
Aleppo City
|
||||||
Daytime Rallies
|
||||||
Aleppo
University
http://youtu.be/TJK2-JYdp0g
|
||||||
Aleppo Province
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Anadan http://youtu.be/iFxrxvU6VLA Tal
Rif’aat http://youtu.be/Av_BEwW6gRM
Al-Atareb http://youtu.be/nF0TEgFXukM
Sfeerah http://youtu.be/hw8kpCLdH8g
Al-Abizmo http://youtu.be/KZGzEwqfCcE
Allarmoon http://youtu.be/zFEDre2T2IE
Dar Azzah http://youtu.be/J-8BRm65v8A
, http://youtu.be/AE8_2GEKQks
|
||||||
Deir Ezzor
|
||||||
Deir
Ezzor City:
Funeral http://youtu.be/sdjgocji69M
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Deir
Ezzor City
(Jbeileh) http://youtu.be/NW8amLrIp60
Khareetah http://youtu.be/oPdtAiD53kU
|
||||||
Hassakeh
|
||||||
Deirik: funeral http://youtu.be/7EHopG6oQ_I , http://youtu.be/2opRp5s8PWY
|
||||||
Daytime Rallies
|
||||||
Seri
Kanye http://youtu.be/FzWqyE05Zgc
|
||||||
Nighttime Rallies
|
||||||
Ghuweiran http://youtu.be/TmvdyusRSsE
|
||||||
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