Are we there yet?

So long as world leaders still believe that a political solution to the Syrian crisis is still in the realm of possibilities, the killing will continue, and with it the slow motion implosion of a country.

Sunday April 15, 2012

Death Toll: 26, including 11 in Homs City as the pounding of the Old Town intensified, and 7 defectors who were executed on the spot by Assad loyalists in the town of Jassem, Deraa. Three more were killed in Hama, 2 in Aleppo City who died of injuries sustained on Saturday, 3 in Wadi Barada and 3 in Douma in Rural Damascus.

News

Syria says must be involved in monitors' "steps on the ground"

McCain Presses for Arming Syrian Rebels

6 U.N. observers arrive in Syria

German ship reported carrying arms to Syria diverted

Op-Eds & Special Reports

No matter what the UN “peace” monitors will try to accomplish at this stage, Assad is all set on raising parts of Homs City to the ground. The idea of repeating the Hama scenario and getting away with it, again, has become something of an obsession and a challenge for him and the family, ever since Erdogan said that he won’t allow another Hama to take place. Now, it’s a matter of pride: they want to show everybody inside the country and outside, that they can get away with it again, and that no one can stop them.

Video Highlights

On the today’s martyrs in Damascus – a child from Douma suburb http://youtu.be/8hc1MaO-ZGs A funeral takes place for another martyr http://youtu.be/XM6PsHnN1j4

Homs City: the pounding of Khaldiyeh resumes http://youtu.be/QM6iwK4S7C0 , http://youtu.be/tBmgGLNuJtw , http://youtu.be/yJ25PVAMM9o , http://youtu.be/PyV_FUBiptY Setting buildings on fire http://youtu.be/drMzG3V46A8 The pounding continues at night http://youtu.be/zotBACvgZ_0 The pounding also touched Qarabis http://youtu.be/8XNxOB0U7i0 Sultaniyeh http://youtu.be/sQP5d3T8MPk Qoussour http://youtu.be/-DhcFfs680w Warsheh http://youtu.be/_YfZF-4QWQ0 Bodies lie in the streets of Bayada http://youtu.be/a95ktZjXeJ0 Local activists risk their lives trying to reclaim them http://youtu.be/W6kb-8koTM4 Jouret Al-Shayah http://youtu.be/iRMnPDGuvZE

Despite the pounding, elsewhere in Homs City, locals keep organizing their anti-Assad rallies http://youtu.be/blCsMb7IdT4

The nights of Hama City are marred by pounding http://youtu.be/7hXmS5wsaRo , http://youtu.be/IFIfRM14EX0 , http://youtu.be/S5cBa3hbrbA

In Salqeen, Idlib Province, protesters come under heavy automatic fire http://youtu.be/JCbRzzsyhmA 

And lest people think that rallies are not taking place anymore, simply because I am not covering them as much as I used to, they are actually happening all the time:

Day: (Hama) Hama City http://youtu.be/s2GNsYqunjw Ellatamneh http://youtu.be/Eue89ovD_8I Hilfaya http://youtu.be/TNZyVYTzn94 Karnaz http://youtu.be/wxDB_aN1DGM (Idlib) Maasarran http://youtu.be/FfzKU8TxzBU Khan Shaikhoon http://youtu.be/BnUBfB3pFk8 Rakaya http://youtu.be/t5vA5_N0l18 Maardibseh http://youtu.be/IYol4w3M7Mo Haass http://youtu.be/0oNHGPyxCHw Sarjeh http://youtu.be/_mUywtuEGFY Kafrenbel http://youtu.be/XiYXm44dY0Y Kafarouaid http://youtu.be/3L5K_8EOal0 Kinsafrah http://youtu.be/C6pFSS5bZwY Heesh http://youtu.be/KmZebGXTmK0 (Daraa) Daraa City http://youtu.be/ToFlAaZ3sgo , http://youtu.be/OwzNYGCwmJc (Deir Ezzor) Deir Ezzor City http://youtu.be/lYIkdcHAILE (Homs) Qusayr http://youtu.be/J8-mzhAs1cc (Damascus City) Midan http://youtu.be/YFS8HBBDdMM Khalid Bin Al-Waleed Street http://youtu.be/nyci0PAUuGo

And night: (Idlib) Binnish http://youtu.be/P3s_1hwmSts Ma’arrat Al-Nouman http://youtu.be/LovXcdCQEBk Sarmeen http://youtu.be/dlEEszBps7w Zardana http://youtu.be/SmRFX5ueThY (Aleppo) Marei http://youtu.be/ncLm1s9kIIo Ibeen http://youtu.be/-g7Y7lLLs7E Aleppo City http://youtu.be/SDjjmqb0uCA (Deir Ezzor) Deir Ezzor City http://youtu.be/_h_IoNb34RA (Damascus City) Kafar Sousseh http://youtu.be/YKXwg35j3yc Al-Hajar Al-Aswad http://youtu.be/GQOFe_Ai4HY Midan http://youtu.be/hhaNaxM7kOU Jobar http://youtu.be/WXzax-dYg4k (Rural Damascus) Harasta http://youtu.be/n8iwfBHWSUs Eltal http://youtu.be/uyQmdP2OYgk Zamalka http://youtu.be/I17HlVeDRqM Daraya http://youtu.be/z-zrpNMwlrg Hamouriyeh http://youtu.be/1WV5fdWUCoI Douma http://youtu.be/ufkayh8fK-Q (Hama) Morek http://youtu.be/rYA8GPlWViM Hama City http://youtu.be/98pKqRTvYvg Kafarzeiteh http://youtu.be/4ewR0v7JYPk (Homs) Houleh http://youtu.be/s9HBjIHXS2w (Hassakeh) Ghuweiran http://youtu.be/gOvqUPdW5ds Seri Kanye http://youtu.be/83EOooo3vMA  (Daraa) Deraa City http://youtu.be/Ru66L1T4NUM , http://youtu.be/7oQmxRVK-e4 Khirbet Ghazaleh http://youtu.be/dDZUEtvtz24