Sunday, July 8, 2012

Madness & Indifference!

In Syria the madness continues as usual, because elsewhere the indifference does.

Saturday July 07, 2012

Today’s Death toll:  71. The Breakdown: the toll includes 10 defected soldiers. 21 were killed in the shelling of Deir Ezozr City, 12 in Aleppo, 11 in Idlib, 6 in Homs, 5 in Hama, 7 in Damascus (5 in Suburbs, 2 in City) and 4 in Daraa.

Doctors from the Damascene Suburb of Douma report that many dead bodies are still lying un-reclaimed in many side streets, and that the stench of decomposition is filling the air. They caution locals from attempting a return to the suburb at this stage and until such time as local activists have finished cleaning up, a task complicated by patrols and sniper activities by pro-Assad militias.

News

Op-Eds & Special Reports


Deir Ezzor

For months now, the city of Deir Ezzor in the northeastern parts of Syria has come under sporadic bombardments by pro-Assad troops and militias, without showing any signs of weakness or surrender. On the contrary, in recent weeks, local resistance groups managed to take over most loyalist checkpoints in the city establishing de facto control over it. This led to an intensification of the bombardment by loyalist militias. For the most part, the regime relied on recruits from Sunni tribes in the adjacent provinces of Raqqah and Hassakeh, but tribal loyalties continued to trump regime loyalties, and the rates of defections continued to increase daily, leading the regime to realize that the situation can never be brought under control under these conditions. For this reason, the regime has been sending reinforcements made up mostly of Alawite recruits. As of yesterday, the numbers of the reinforcements reached over 3,000 troops, backed with tanks, armored vehicles and heavy artillery. As a result, the pounding has escalated to a dramatic degree, and loyalist troops seem poised to invade the city any minute now.

The fall of Deir Ezzor, should it take place, is unlikely to end the resistance, as local fighters are bound to withdraw in time and fall back on the usual and proven tactics of Guerilla Warfare. Nonetheless, a regime that is still willing to send 3,000 Alawite troops as far as Deir Ezzor City is not one that is crumbling. Alternatively this could be a major miscalculation on part of whoever is in charge of military operations at this stage. 

A tank belonging to pro-Assad militias is destroyed as fierce battle rage around Deir Ezzor City http://youtu.be/sUSjCdg5qTY , http://youtu.be/163o7pgj_14 The pounding of Rasafah Neighborhood http://youtu.be/5NanbyGtBas The weeks-long bombardment has reduced many neighborhoods to rubble http://youtu.be/1VNj_dlWp0o , http://youtu.be/wWeY0cy7ES0 , http://youtu.be/mF9xDDzoNVE , http://youtu.be/swF_5Bo30sE , http://youtu.be/a1nhlLEPY0A The tanks and troops laying siege to the city http://youtu.be/KllwTYD2Uts

Other towns in Deir Ezzor Province are not spared: Mayadeen is pounded by helicopter gunships http://youtu.be/_zfYQBl2ZbY  IN the nearby town of Khraita, local fighters create a checkpoint to prevent passage of further convoys in the direction of Deir Ezzor City, as this local fighter tries to explain in broken English http://youtu.be/hjYG8iTgotQ

Video Highlights

Thuwaiba Kanafani, a Syrian-Canadian activist crosses the Syrian-Turkish borders and joins the ranks of the local resistance groups operating in Aleppo Province http://youtu.be/CY4G0F98M_A

A new clip showing the massacre that took place in the Damascene suburb of Zamalka when a car bomb that blew up in the midst of a funeral procession and claimed the lives of over 80 mourners http://youtu.be/m5KgMRyc_pg This is an independent report prepared by ITV on the situation in Damascus suburbs, including Zamalka and nearby Irbeen http://youtu.be/csvYVedCpws

Mourners in the Damascene Suburb of Babbila http://youtu.be/Ro5on74XUfM come under fire http://youtu.be/EogS2Wq4WC4 , http://youtu.be/oJkPrB_WVnw

Towns under bombardment

Daraa

Hraak, Daraa: bombardment takes place at dawn http://youtu.be/-zESHnxwBlc , http://youtu.be/3CV7j1Zul4Y Some of the martyrs http://youtu.be/aT4qOPRwZ2U 

Mseifrah, Daraa: sporadic nighttime bombardment http://youtu.be/Jq4RtYw8DLk

Bosra, Daraa: sounds of nighttime clashes http://youtu.be/j2UcXi3nj98


Abtaa, Daraa: impact of shelling http://youtu.be/39vHcxJR3XM



Idlib

Idlib City, Idlib Province: sounds of nighttime clashes http://youtu.be/4iQWQfIF5oA

Bsheiriyeh: helicopter gunship takes part in the pounding http://youtu.be/sG5sX_q-9hs

Aleppo

Deir Jammal, Aleppo: A helicopter gunship sprays the town below with automatic gunfire http://youtu.be/Psp1RRDNvyc

Eizaz, Aleppo: impact of shelling http://youtu.be/-M1GL-gdq8Y New kind of helicopter gunships detected overflying the town http://youtu.be/8a9SBApXeLI

Bayanoun, Aleppo: pro-Assad troops stand at the outskirts of town, as pounding continues http://youtu.be/goBjDWEGw9E Impact of pounding http://youtu.be/mB4dx8JAEpY , http://youtu.be/tRxRd1oEM3A

Tal Rifaat, Aleppo: helicopter gunships take part http://youtu.be/4ZUNzTpvxVE , http://youtu.be/Lxg7lLCXWh4

Hama

Sahel Al-Ghab, Hama Province: Helicopter gunships continue to rain terror on this valley long reclaimed for farming from the swampland http://youtu.be/xBxYUBmtPJE , http://youtu.be/BmzY1slVZVk , http://youtu.be/wHwsC7aRJys , http://youtu.be/Mg6I2fkUnzY


Homs


Rastan: the pounding with missies takes place more often at night now http://youtu.be/nrVpuaMXlXk , http://youtu.be/amAfpVf58KY

Houla, Homs: impact of pounding http://youtu.be/G0jifwwZRWw

Lattakia

Salma, Al-Akrad Mountain, Lattakia Province: one of the last Sunni redoubts in a region where the majority population is Alawite continues to be bombarded by local pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/reV8D34MjDs , http://youtu.be/_xvsaRgY6R4

Jankeel: lands set on fire by pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/9zuoQj_b_4M


No comments:

Post a Comment