If only
freedom could find friends as real and loyal as those who stand by tyranny it would
never be lost. But such is the fickleness of freedom’s friends that it has to
be sought in endless bloodshed and sacrifice, and, once found, protected with
constant vigilance that those who love her can never know rest.
Friday July 06, 2012 – A Week dedicated to the
Popular Liberation War.
Today’s Death toll: 81. The Breakdown:
34 in Damascus (28 in Suburbs and 6 in City), 11 in Daraa, 10 in Idlib, 8 in
Aleppo, 8 in Homs, 7 in Hama and 5 in Deir Ezzor.
News
Op-Eds
& Special Reports
"Don't
try anything with Assad, just military intervention can stop the killing in
Syria," Fares said when asked to sum up the signs' most fundamental
message. "That's it and nothing [else] will help us, just military
intervention."
Although
Syria’s present dictator may still think he can retake control of the whole
country, the nature and locations of the fighting indicate that the regime is
also preparing a Plan B: to consolidate the traditional Alawite stronghold in
northwest Syria. There, Assad loyalists can dig in and conduct a long
protracted fight, as they begin to lose the ability to hold territory in the
interior.
The
fact that our president seems to be biding his time might be understandable
from a policy perspective during an election year, but it fails every other
test the United States sets for itself. Standing on the sidelines while
innocents are being massacred (even if those sidelines involve diplomatic
negotiations behind closed doors) is not unprecedented, but it flies in the
face of our national character and obligations. In fact, we didn't stand on the
sidelines in Libya, a conflict that involved far fewer deaths.
There
is no room for hypocrisy in America’s global leadership when crimes against
humanity are at stake, as they are now in Syria. “America, by deed and example,
led and lifted the world.” Those are
President Obama’s own words in Foreign Affairs outlining the “visionary
leadership” he would provide America if he were elected president.
Signs
of strength within FSA forces and the revolutionary councils that drive the
revolution do not, however, assure an end to the conflict any time soon. And a
possible alternative political structure coming either from a power-sharing
agreement crafted by the Action Group for Syria, or competition for power from
within a successful rebel leadership would also not promise a quick end to the
crisis either, experts say.
It seems
yesterday I put a picture from Palestine thinking it was from Kurdish areas in
Syria. I am sorry about that. There was a crossed wire in communications. The
picture was horrible nonetheless.
Concentration Camps?
Local activists
from the Damascene Suburb of Sit Zeinab (AKA Sayyida Zeinab), say that the
thousands of refugees from Homs City who came to the neighborhood have been
ordered by authorities to leave and go to designated camps usually used for
indoctrinating Baath youth. The move, locals fear, might a first step in
setting up “concentration camps” for refugees in different parts of Syria, as
another measure for dealing with the spreading rebellion.
Defection & Impact
French
Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, seems to have read too much into the
defection of Assad’s Sunni confidant Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, to the extent that
he felt compelled to announce
the matter to his colleagues at the Friends of Syria conference.
But, while
the defection comes as an important indication of how shrunk the
decision-making circle inside the Assad regime has become, it’s not
necessarily, if at all, a sign of its impending demise, at least through an
implosion. For this shrinkage of the decision-making circle came as a result of
forethought and planning months in advance. In fact, in times of crises, the
Assad regime has always fallen on a very small inner circle made up exclusively
of members of the Assad family, and a few trusted security and military
officers, almost all of whom come from are Alawites. Everyone outside that
circle was assigned certain specific duties and tasks and was left out of any
decision-making or even consultation. And everyone outside this circle was
expendable. If Assad felt that they needed advice and assistance at these
particular times, they would try to recruit them from beyond the usual circles.
That is why these times always bring about new faces to the fore, acting in
different capacities. Ultimately, though, the final decisions resident in the small
Alawite circle of family and its few allies.
Moreover,
in these times, the Assad circle dramatically increase the number of informants
designed to monitor state officials, military and political, and end up relying
on second and third and fourth tiers command structures already in place or
that can be put in place in the matter of weeks. The Assads have excelled at
constructing these parallel structures over the years, and can create them
whenever they need to. That’s why despite the shrinkage of the decision-making
process, the Assads always manage to retain control of most institutions. The
fact that high level defections did take place is telling of course, but it
does not denote an impending collapse.
The
tipping point with the Assad will be reflected not with major defections among
Alawite generals, as some are hoping, but with continuing defections among
lower and middle ranks, coupled with continued and more effective activities by
local resistance as a result of greater arms flows and coordination, leading to
overstretch and an inability to maintain operational potential in all restive
areas, at which time the Assads will fall back on their Plan B: the creation of
an Alawite-majority enclave along the coasts and in central parts of Syria.
Video Highlights
Eyewitness
testimony on the massacre of the Damascene Suburb of Douma (English
subtitles) http://youtu.be/kOdg3G4ttUQ
Known
Homsi activist, Khalid Abou Salah, was invited to address the Friends of
Syrian gathering, and he delivered an explosive message demanding weapons and
no-fly zone, saying we don’t need another statement, we need an action plan
http://youtu.be/0kSQNowoeIA
In Rural
Aleppo, an entire pro-Assad military convoy made up of tanks and armored
vehicles is destroyed by local resistance groups, outside the town of Eizaz
http://youtu.be/lcmJFSz-eZE Not too
long, local resistance groups managed to destroy a missile base station over Mount
Sheikh Barakat http://youtu.be/YRZRDpbcKH0
Local resistance
in Baba Amr Neighborhood, Homs City, claim that this wreckage is the
result of bringing down a chopper over the local railway station http://youtu.be/pi4Lrn9noF0
Local
resistance in Khan Al-Subul, Idlib Province, transform their town in a
graveyard for Assad’s tanks http://youtu.be/W99fUxgKYso
A tour of the town shows where battles have taken place http://youtu.be/Gidgn8K4gwA
But Assad’s all-out war against restive
towns and cities continues with shelling taking place around the country:
Idlib: Ma’rrat Al-Nouman
http://youtu.be/K18DiL_3iN8 , http://youtu.be/hWGwN0XtHUg Eltaman’ah http://youtu.be/13r4CJ8s6Jc Khan
Shaikhoon http://youtu.be/PTtjGQXdVYw
Aleppo: Bayanoun http://youtu.be/3R74EmO1W6E
Homs: Tal Kalakh http://youtu.be/aISDIL0-eeg , http://youtu.be/eSg--GV5IiM , http://youtu.be/-5z5WWwRSuI Homs City
(Khaldiyeh) http://youtu.be/eUNvhq-JVhM
, http://youtu.be/KJfZxoGSQ-A (Jouret
Al-Shayah) http://youtu.be/9uYsH0ot4Nk
Rastan http://youtu.be/EQha1P3UgZc
Daraa: Khirbet Ghazaleh
http://youtu.be/AA7wl-KkmJQ Bosra
http://youtu.be/se515My7cqk Ma’rabah
http://youtu.be/-T4yBSUzGSA , http://youtu.be/KHcJvR2r32A
Aleppo: Bayanoun http://youtu.be/94WdXzp8S_Q Anadan
http://youtu.be/8h1_IvkEm04 , http://youtu.be/5M0No8V0Jp8 Hayan
http://youtu.be/qd0esQ2s5wU , http://youtu.be/bcn8NevcYw0
Damascus
Suburbs:
Zabadani http://youtu.be/C09iJqP3F3Q
, http://youtu.be/Qp1898DWPHQ , http://youtu.be/msJ6dT3kIYE
Hama: Ellatamneh http://youtu.be/2ENN3dqNWAQ
But Rallies took place everywhere
Aleppo: Elbab http://youtu.be/91m-tJ_CQls El-Mashhad
http://youtu.be/9_APH2wLylY Manbij
http://youtu.be/qVBlOYpH2p8 Marei
http://youtu.be/T7WKkmbnsWE Sfeirah
http://youtu.be/-PZmKKcY9Sw Aleppo
City (Sukkari) http://youtu.be/rOIdzJaF0Ag
(Salaheddine) http://youtu.be/agAKDdUvIEI
, http://youtu.be/0Oe2XI7rfD0
(Boustan Al-Qasr) http://youtu.be/eVXHaVhNKVY
Al-Atareb http://youtu.be/yAqY4ivzOOM
Kobani http://youtu.be/SAHFMw9NqK0
Idlib: Salqeen http://youtu.be/qFOQiRvdvjo Ma’arrat
Al-Nouman (nighttime funeral) http://youtu.be/IVlSO69eEbA
Kafar Takhareem http://youtu.be/fsZk3ph9SMo
Sfohen http://youtu.be/a7cqpdHHwZM
Sarmeen http://youtu.be/BWvWYppIOoc
Haass http://youtu.be/W2hSwDu4kDY
Habeet http://youtu.be/ROuaVISRPiQ
Talmens http://youtu.be/GSjUrgM6mCI
Ariha http://youtu.be/DDpGVsZb5Nk
Elteh http://youtu.be/UXqNAcAveC4
Binnish http://youtu.be/oaKBaV2Tdr8
Ma’arrat Masreen http://youtu.be/PO9QaPYmaVQ
Kafrenbel http://youtu.be/wHj83y18wQk
Sarmada http://youtu.be/o-kGhE0ntZo
Kinsafrah http://youtu.be/VagTFXrRL-k
Isqat http://youtu.be/S6RPJrsqDgg
Kafar Ouaid http://youtu.be/FApRL0XDXl0
Kafar Sajneh http://youtu.be/jLpzvHDVdiU
Ma’arrat Hourmah http://youtu.be/hYfVtVdmQyk
Courine http://youtu.be/PSp8by1aIb4
Hama: Kfarzeiteh
http://youtu.be/AZFVP3YQFew Karnaz
http://youtu.be/8QSIrmQWA5s Khattab
http://youtu.be/AfzcN1zNi24 Ellatamneh
http://youtu.be/zwZ0xoTjkg0 Madiq
http://youtu.be/hhOO-sg0Mn0 Salamiyeh
http://youtu.be/si0powN4Nas Sauran
http://youtu.be/tfpxLfwrRGs Taybat
Al-Imam http://youtu.be/rQ3A6gZfswA
Hama City (Hamidyeh) http://youtu.be/01XlHTvyeac
(Faiha) http://youtu.be/_D3o8cuhUJo
(Arba’een) http://youtu.be/as1BxgPIVuY
(Bab Qibli) http://youtu.be/VO0KDhvzhe8
Damascus
Suburbs:
El-Hameh http://youtu.be/sIoAGWaFp0g
Qarrah http://youtu.be/zlxvjgTUX4c
Arbeen http://youtu.be/TE0dSyShWOk
Zabadani (funeral) http://youtu.be/Wr2FYEvNAIo
Damascus
City: Barzeh
http://youtu.be/77A6wjuCyaw Shaghour
http://youtu.be/oTMBcuMbNEY Tadamon http://youtu.be/QkW7S1mTETg Sit
Zeinab http://youtu.be/xnVbr0ygLHQ
Kafar Sousseh http://youtu.be/0MaAki0c8Lk
Daraa: Tseel http://youtu.be/nUww7GwCXjA Daraa
City http://youtu.be/vBHoBbo0H1w Mseifrah
http://youtu.be/3PheBsliBwc Nahteh
http://youtu.be/AAugrlih7xU
Al-Hassakeh: Ghuweiran http://youtu.be/X6OJbpqyILI Dirbassiyeh
http://youtu.be/zlxvjgTUX4c Amoudeh
http://youtu.be/fm8WP_lZwPk Qamishlo
http://youtu.be/NlJKrm7SIuE
Deir
Ezzor: DE
City (Jourah) http://youtu.be/iAPhbJHPdQ4
Qouriyeh http://youtu.be/Lm10y7SARTA
Homs
City: Mal’ab
http://youtu.be/0xYjvR7vlvs Wa’er
http://youtu.be/bmi3webxgJU
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