When
regime propagandists begin describing the majority population in their country
as Relics, especially after their president declared war against said majority,
chances for the success of a new plan that lacks enforcement mechanisms drop to
null, while those for ethnic cleansing on an even larger scale than witnessed so
far increase to 100%. But if world leaders expect the relics to go gently into
that good night, they are as delusional as Assad and his militias.
Thursday June 28, 2012
Today’s Death toll: 139. The Breakdown:
59 in Damascus Suburbs (mostly in Douma), 26 in Homs, 17 in Daraa, 15 in Deir
Ezzor, 9 in Hama, 9 in Idlib, and 2 in Aleppo.
Lebanese police is reportedly increasing its crackdown against
Syrian anti-regime activists living in Lebanon, with new arrests reported. Previously
Lebanese authorities surrendered Syrian activists to the Assad regime despite
their refugee status. International community should act now to pressure Lebanese
authorities into complying with all norms and regulations pertaining to treatment
of refugees.
News
Op-Eds
& Special Reports
The Massacre
of Douma (Damascus Suburbs)
Victims: 38 dead, and 150
wounded. Most died in the continuous shelling of the town, but 14 people were
executed when pro-Assad militias stormed their neighborhoods, they belonged to
one family: Al-Tomei. The dead included 7 children and a 90-year old
grandmother
http://youtu.be/3LQpsWk-qzE The victims http://youtu.be/OH2l_6ma1qE , http://youtu.be/KyEySQA_0Zc The fridge http://youtu.be/86_YL2gdnDI The pounding
sets buildings on fire http://youtu.be/k_tN8xJ_pn8
The invading tanks pound their way into the neighborhood http://youtu.be/P50ZWFyQoTg , http://youtu.be/e0zxDte4WcY Helicopter
gunships took part in the pounding http://youtu.be/M9c_2nWuzSk
Tank in action http://youtu.be/TLVANdGP9pc
Nearby Kafarbatna is also pounded http://youtu.be/8X83i9CofDo
In Arbeen, helicopter gunships take part in the pounding http://youtu.be/Ij2b3tUZ_hA
Unfortunately,
what could have been a good point to make on the need for providing structural
and constitutional protections to the country’s minorities in the future reads
like an exercise in pro-regime propaganda. The authors, self-proclaimed
intelligence analysts focusing on Syrian-Lebanese issues, adopted regime line
on the expulsion of Christians from Old Homs and the nearby town of Qusayr.
Rather
than attributing the exodus of 80,000 Christians to the same reasons that paved
the way for the simultaneous exodus from adjacent neighborhoods of over 500,000
Sunni inhabitants, that is:
indiscriminate and well-documented shelling of neighborhoods by
pro-regime troops, our “intelligence” analysts claim that Sunni fighters took
the time to risk their lives to go on a suicidal house-to-house mission to
order Christian families out. The presence of Christians in the middle of areas
targeted by pro-regime militias was a major complicating factor for the regime,
their departure facilitate the intensification of the bombing campaign. Yet,
our intelligence analysts want us to believe that local Sunni fighters made
this major miscalculation not once but twice: in Old Homs and Al-Qusayr.
A
better take on the threat to Christians in Qusayr can be found here.
To date,
experts simply refuse to see the real patterns emerging on the ground, patterns
which denote active planning for the creation of a future enclave in the
coastal and central parts of Syria where the overwhelming majority population
is made up of Alawites and Christians. The only beneficiaries of massive
population shifts in the country are Assad and his loyalist militias. In fact,
most Christians who left Old Homs went to live in Alawite-majority
neighborhoods in Homs City and most those who left the town of Qusayr went to
live in towns and villages close to majority Alawite towns and villages,
although some escaped to Lebanon, and from there to western countries.
Syria’s Turkish Relics
But the
most telling development of late is the declaration of war enunciated by Bashar
Al-Assad against his enemies, i.e., the majority of the Syrian people, even as
world leaders keep speaking of political solutions and peaceful transfer of
power. Assad is not interested in taking part in power-sharing arrangements
even if they keep him in power for a while or afford him a face-saving exit to
U.K. Whether as President of the country, or a warlord with his own major turf,
Assad wants to stay in Syria, and no amount of coaxing, plans or talks can
change his mind. His bombs speak louder than all words, and his propagandist
are already trying to draw a scenario that can justify further ethnic cleansing
in the country, on a more mass scale.
The recent
dismissal by pro-Assad ideologue on Addounia TV, the network owned by Assad’s
cousin, Rami Makhlouf, of the Sunni inhabitants of Homs as “Turkish Relics”
from Ottoman times comes as the latest attempt at justifying the ethnic
cleansing that took place there. The Assad regime has moved from blatant denial
into defiant admission and justification of the crimes its militias are
perpetrating all over the country. This is both a sign of weakness and
strength. Assad and his advisers know that they are losing the country, they
also know, however that their plans for the creation of a loyalist enclave on
most ethnic lines are progressing nicely. Putin is buying them the time they
need for that.
Power Sharing
In this
light, plans for unity government proposed by Kofi Annan seem completely
unrealistic, especially considering the absence of any enforcement mechanisms.
What would make an Assad who just declared war against 80% of his people and whose
militias are busy ethnically cleansing huge swathes of lands from native
Sunnis, now deemed as Turkish Relics, stop and decide to allow for such unity
government to take place and to pave the way for his replacement, absent any
serious threats to is very existence?
The War in Videos
In Khan
Al-Sibil, Idlib province, where fighters managed to take control of an
anti-aircraft battery, they now target the helicopter gunships targeting their
community http://youtu.be/UDkLOYVs52o
Dead and
wounded in Da’el, Daraa http://youtu.be/wX5h_LWx33c
, http://youtu.be/ds2NB8jVQXk , http://youtu.be/G9CP4uowta8 , http://youtu.be/n1XbT1zl3oY , http://youtu.be/Psib_9CPi0A The mass funeral
http://youtu.be/Y8FJYArtP7o
Basra
Al-Harir,
Daraa, comes under fire at night http://youtu.be/u7nPZWd84jo
Al-Hraak gets pounded at night http://youtu.be/fTNyaS3ZI-w
Daraa City (Sadd) comes under fire at night http://youtu.be/DRVjuOLHODQ , http://youtu.be/lWRuLgJdBqQ , http://youtu.be/8MD1Rhk3DNM
Zamalka, Damascus Suburbs,
comes under fire at night http://youtu.be/WLNtD3L6Bg8
, http://youtu.be/ctFdQtnCwI8
The sounds
of war in Deir Ezzor City http://youtu.be/os9DlVXzw68where
, http://youtu.be/TIHCt2PcldI local
fighters destroyed three attacking tanks, and mass defections continue to take
place on a regular basis. Pro-Assad militias in these parts often draw on
members from Sunni Arab tribes in Hassakah and Raqqah which is why defections
are quite common. The aftermath of pounding http://youtu.be/dk--JjUQVz8 Helicopter
gunships take part in the pounding http://youtu.be/ZHQ_u5wdIrk
The tanks taking part in laying siege to the city http://youtu.be/sW8ibkRtu4o
In Homs
Province, the pounding of Talbisseh continues http://youtu.be/i7COl3Q4S_c , http://youtu.be/cii6BMh_Ocs and the
pounding of Houla http://youtu.be/XLdeOc_TKng
and the pounding of Rastan http://youtu.be/aX0GbRIwLuQ
The pounding of Old Homs continues (Jouret Al-Shayah) http://youtu.be/l08ueytnkOg , http://youtu.be/p_Q-wkZH0qI , http://youtu.be/qHNEdwlaM68
The pounding
of Jabal Shahshabo, Hama Province, continues http://youtu.be/sJFxdC_TjRI
Lattakia, Jabal
Al-Akrad, the pounding continues http://youtu.be/mtQuri00GX4
Still,
whenever people have the chance to demonstrate peacefully, they do in droves:
In Damascus:
Daraya http://youtu.be/aQ9HzUhifCQ
Dafalshawk http://youtu.be/g4Kgi4KxGgY
Barzeh http://youtu.be/O0_64MvOssQ
Qaboun http://youtu.be/qrgdaT-nhhQ
Halbouni http://youtu.be/iucP9OOxZcQ
In Hama: Bab
Qibli http://youtu.be/ZWOvTM6vIPQ
In Aleppo:
Salaheddine http://youtu.be/Id_NIa0ENKI
Bza’ah http://youtu.be/rsFZOjmN_3g
Boustan Al-Qasr http://youtu.be/iYHSZWJtMCk
Manbej http://youtu.be/-x9ZOQ0BSzw
In Daraa: Abtaa
http://youtu.be/XNs5K8edbyc Ghariyeh
http://youtu.be/hjOLeyaPBt4
In Homs City,
Wa’er http://youtu.be/jYLaCSAnVho
In Idlib: Marrat
Al-Nouman (funeral) http://youtu.be/SO88LjB-OjY
Kafar Ouaid http://youtu.be/gYZvRa7QRR8
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