They waited and waited until the task got much more complex, then
they used its complexity as an excuse not to intervene while decrying the lost
opportunity for intervention. Meanwhile, the killing continues, and the
situation gets worse and more complicated. It’s a déjà vu, déjà vu-ed, again
and again, again.
Saturday March 24, 2012
Friday Death Toll: 53,
including 21 in a massacre by pro-Assads death squads in the town of Sarmeen,
Idlib province. The towns of Khan Shaikhoon (Idlib) and Qusayr (Homs) were also
subject to shelling.
In Damascus, Assad security
forces opened fire on protesters in the suburbs of Kafar Sousseh and Qadam
wounding dozens.
In the town of Eizaz,
Aleppo province, clashes between Assad loyalist troops and defectors let 3
loyalists and 1 defector dead. Choppers were used in the crackdown, and one has
reportedly been brought down by defectors.
Saturday Death Toll: 54,
including 25 in Homs City alone due to resumption of pounding of Old Homs
neighborhoods. Ten more were killed in Saraqib, Idlib Province.
An FSA operation in Bdama,
Idlib Province, near the Syrian-Turkish border, left 2 loyalists dead and left
to the capture of 17 more.
Brigadier General Mustafa
Al-Shaikh and Colonel Riyad Al-Assaad announced the formation of united
Military Council to take charge of all armed groups involved in the resistance
movement. Brig Gen. Al-Shaikh will lead the council, while col. Al-Ass’aad will
be in charge of supervising field operations. The Council includes 10 generals
and 6 colonels.
News
Op-Eds & Special Reports
The Tides of Battle in
Syria
The
Free Syria Army remains in the fight and should be sustained and armed to
maintain military pressure on the regime.
For those
who can think, they can circumvent intervention, a little reminder from Bosnia,
where “hapless western leaders trying to broker meaningless ceasefires,” watched
on for three years as “a small, slow genocide” was taking place.
As for
those, betting on Russia’s playing a more positive role in this situation, should
bear in mind that “the Soviet Union lost over 20 million civilians in
the “Great Patriotic War” against Nazi Germany, many millions more died in
Stalin’s purges, and tens of thousands of Russians were killed in two campaigns
to suppress Chechen separatism, so it may be hard to persuade them that the
slaughter of civilians in Syria is somehow unacceptable just because of its
human cost.”
In short,
we don’t seem to be dying fast enough or in large enough number to warrant serious
action by anybody, which is a success to Assad’s strategy and the method to his
madness.
Video Highlights
Brigadier
General Mustafa Al-Shaikh and Colonel Riad Al-Assad unify their groups, the
Free Syrian Army and the Military Council, to create an overarching umbrella
for on the ground rebels http://youtu.be/68dQ2fVN3rM
A new
fighting unit in Ariha, Idlib Province, the Tahrir Brigade http://youtu.be/KSHbtECvauM Another, Al-Alamein
Brigade, in Hama Province http://youtu.be/X5xSVQvKPgI
Muhammad
Abdallah Al-Shaikh, Baath Party Secretary General in Idlib Province, defects
http://youtu.be/h48evT2mC2c
Clashes
between loyalists and resistance members in Rastan http://youtu.be/yOOzAHw6HRY Another defector from
Tlas family joins the local resistance http://youtu.be/QgilqriQRkM
Pounding on Saturday left this child dead http://youtu.be/YBTSWx-3NaY
Farouq
Brigade destroys
a tank in Homs City (Mar 20) http://youtu.be/Lm28kRSNuAs But the main story
remains that of a continuous pounding by loyalist troops http://youtu.be/dbnYj5EckjI , http://youtu.be/gwK_uiF4dpo , http://youtu.be/NEISzjcmJbI , http://youtu.be/PavnD1PWjpE , http://youtu.be/3tJylaHgSMg , http://youtu.be/oq8f1C9oj3w , http://youtu.be/9xoSot8L8x8 And Mosques
get targeted as usual http://youtu.be/i65kHpsU0Lw
And missiles are used http://youtu.be/fP_tHPPlDf8
, http://youtu.be/9941iVLqQYI
Elsewhere
in Homs City, videos show up documenting a massacre that took place on March 12
in Karm Al-Loz neighborhoods, the victims – a family of five http://youtu.be/O4J38hQM3kY , http://youtu.be/jQvTcVccX9s , http://youtu.be/xZd9yEGaghY , http://youtu.be/Mqcc9Itabgk
Hamdiyeh,
Hama City
– Maghawir Brigade launches a rocket against a school where loyalist troops
carrying out operations against the local population are stationed http://youtu.be/2j2Jz5EbHrs Anti-aircraft batteries
are being used to bombard residential neighborhoods http://youtu.be/8kBw7wTegXY
In Madeeq,
Hama Province, Assad loyalists are intentionally destroying the ancient citadel
in a move out of the Taliban’s playbook http://youtu.be/grvzXm3-lfY
The homes near the ancient citadel are also targeted http://youtu.be/1F1REc4dT30
In Qusayr,
Homs Province, the local mosque gets shelled http://youtu.be/KRP6u7sb8Qg Impact of
pounding http://youtu.be/UZlbH8ABo1U
, http://youtu.be/gF_WIMgnMSI
The town
of Eizaz in Aleppo Province is pounded http://youtu.be/24LpO0URlEE
In Ma’arrat
Al-Nouman, Idlib Province, a local minaret is pounded http://youtu.be/MDqHbXxYjwk
In Deir
Ezzor, the under-recorded massacres continue, as more martyrs fall in Mou
Hassan http://youtu.be/FIjF126D2gM
, http://youtu.be/nMXdtTiZFZg , http://youtu.be/-x8sGNzvIMI
In
Damascus City, another suburb joins the revolution: Daf Al-Shawk (Mar
23) http://youtu.be/faVrxQMNW4k
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