All advice and no weapons makes
the White House a fickle ally.
Sunday July 29, 2012
Today’s
Death toll: 138. The Breakdown: 111
in Damascus and Suburbs (including 70 in Moadamiyah where 18 where slaughtered
in the fields between Moadamiya and Daraya), 33 in Daraa (most in Sheikh
Miskeen Massacre), 11 in Aleppo, 9 in Homs, 9 in Dier Ezzor (+ undetermined number
of dead bodies found under the rubble today and yesterday), 7 in Idlib, 4 in
Lattakia and 1 in Hama.
Cities
& Towns Under Shelling: Harasta, Arbeen, Moadamiah,
Harran Al-Awameed, Zabadani, Madaya, Eltal, Dmeir, Hameh, Yelda, Rankous,
Qarrah (Damascus Suburbs), Sit Zeinab, Al-Qadam, Modan, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Yarmouk, Kafar
Sousseh, Mazzeh, Qaboun, Barzeh (Damascus City), Daraa City, Khirbet Al-Ghazaleh, Tafas, Bostra Al-Sham, Na’eemah,
Mseifrah, Jimreen, Hraak (Daraa), Rastan, Talbisseh, Houla, Tal Kalakh, Al-Qusayr, Al-Hosn, Al-Ghanto,
Al-Bouaydah, Old Homs (Homs Province), Hreitan, Elbab, Eizaz, Marei, Bayanoun (Aleppo
Province), Haffeh, Jabal Al-Akrad (Lattakia), Deir Ezzor City, Mouhassan, Albou Kamal (Deir
Ezzor Province), Kafar Zeiteh, Hawash,
Shahshabo, Hama City (Hama Province), Jabal Al-Zawiyeh, Ma’rrat Al-Nouman, Saraqib, Maar Shoureen,
Ariha, Kafroumah, Al-Rami, Khan Shaikhoon (Idlib).
While no videos have been
made available, local activists say that pro-Assad militias have committed a massacre
in the town of Sheikh Miskeen in Daraa Province, in which over thirty
people were executed in cold blood. Clashes between rebels and pro-Assad
militias are currently taking place.
News
Syria
rebels say world must intervene to stop Aleppo massacre Some
200,000 people have fled Aleppo in the last two days of battles between the
Assad regime and rebel forces, according to United Nations estimates.
Op-Eds & Special
Reports
Why
Syrian refugees protest While criticism of the AKP is either
ideological or nationalist, the Turkish people’s reactions to Syrian refugees
are marked by anti-Arab sentiments.
Syrian
Rebel Leader Mustafa al-Sheikh Says Victory Against Assad Not in Sight The
general who heads the Free Syrian Army says his forces are dangerously divided
and underfunded, al Qaeda is gaining a foothold in the conflict, and a major
win that could topple the regime, like seizing Aleppo, is still out of reach.
Syria
Faces Economic Endgame Amid Chaos as Sanctions Bite The
Assad regime remains, though its fate appears more precarious with the spread
of the uprising to Damascus and Aleppo, Syria’s largest cities, in mid-July and
after a blast killed four security chiefs.
The
Fate of Syria is in the Hands of … Palestinians? Indeed,
it is already clear that the Syrian conflict has placed Assad's Palestinian
clients into an untenable position. It’s hard for Palestinian groups to claim
they are fighting for justice when their patron is in the midst of slaughtering
its own people—18,000 souls and counting—in cold blood. That is why an ever
growing number of Palestinians are now working to topple the regime that once
supported them.
Manaf
Tlass and the future of Syria A solution that
includes the Tlass family is not worthy of the sacrifices that many ordinary
Syrians have made.
Enough Manaf
Abdurrazzaq Tlas, leader of the Al-Farouq Brigade, an FSA
fighting unit active in Homs and parts of Damascus and Hama, issues a statement
welcoming the defection of his cousins Manaf and Firas, but refutes statement
made by Firas to the effect that they have provided support to Al-Farouk.
Abdurrazzaq explains that Al-Farouq was built and is being funded by honest
people, and that, for this reason, it’s completely independent in its
decision-making, and that its particular position vis-à-vis a political solution
can only be enunciated by its political cadre http://youtu.be/qteey2O9md0
Meanwhile, in Talbisseh, fighters from Al-Farouq repel a tank
attack on their city http://youtu.be/m5GUgCfce9Q
Curious Conversion: A Buddhist Defection
A Japanese journalist fighting in the Turkmen Mountain in Lattakia
converts to Islam in a ceremony supervised by the Mamdouh Jolhah Brigade
affiliated with the FSA. His Muslim name is Moustafa. He doesn’t seem to have
done it under any duress http://youtu.be/pBIGJOZGDZc
Moustafa then proceeds to learn how to perform ablutions http://youtu.be/10y58J_hK-0
Iran and Russia
Some still advocate
a role for Russia, even Iran, in diplomacy concerning Syria. But considering
that some Russian officials, according to other Russian officials, are
telling Assad to “to adopt much harsher methods, carpet bombing, total
destruction,” while Iranians are busy supplying him with drone and funds to buy
Russian weapons, it’s really surreal to keep advocating such an approach. For
Iran and Russia, the endgame they want is clear: defeating the revolution or
partitioning the country.
US Policy
According to U.S. Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta, Assad’s attack on Aleppo “will be a nail in Assad's own coffin.”
With the attack, Mr. Panetta noted, the regime has “lost all legitimacy,” and the
question ahead is “no longer… whether he's coming to an end, it's when."
Well, Assad has lacked legitimacy from the day he came to power, yet he
is still with us. Despite the advances made by the opposition, including the
attack that left 5 security chiefs dead, and the “liberation” of Aleppo, the
end of Assad rule, as General Mustafa Al-Sheikh explained
yesterday, “is not in sight.” As much as Obama officials want to, the end of
this regime cannot come without actual involvement by U.S. the kind of weapons
the rebels need to get the job done cannot be acquired without at least a tacit
approval from the U.S. that approval, as can be deduced from Mr. Panetta’s
responses is not there.
There are so many experts and officials out there who seem to think
that the rebels will be able to topple the regime on their own and without U.S.
involvement, thus justifying the do-nothing approach by the Obama
Administration. Well, it won’t happen. The price of waiting and betting on this
policy is inheriting a bloody mess, and having to midwife processes down the
road that will drag the U.S. back into the region from which it is trying to
disentangle itself. It’s the do-nothing approach of the Obama Administration
that will make its nightmare scenarios come true.
Video Highlights
The pounding of Deir Ezor City continues for the 6 consecutive
week. Away from the spotlight, her people are dying under the shelling http://youtu.be/nuaMohQnzKo , http://youtu.be/6NyklPw9Gz4
But local fighters keep trying to fight back, with the few weapons they have http://youtu.be/hoI24j9cfCg , http://youtu.be/8I02Jy2VJ0o , http://youtu.be/7Zeezh4L9TY Offering
more martyrs http://youtu.be/3lS7cD1fbBI
, http://youtu.be/874NLyTsC6Q Still,
many neighborhoods now look like this http://youtu.be/k3MFKKdJJ0I
, http://youtu.be/YcBynbTSpGE The
pounding of the city continues http://youtu.be/Xqw2HVS_PSQ
And more people get killed. These bodies belong to people shot by a tank as
they tried to cross the street http://youtu.be/2e4PjYPFdEs
Local parks have been transformed into makeshift cemeteries http://youtu.be/I2ydJljbfX8
In Damascus, a
number of massacres perpetrated by pro-Assad militias took place in different
suburbs and neighborhoods
The suburb of Moadamiah witnessed the largest massacre, over 70
locals, including women and children were slaughtered in their homes and nearby
fields, some were burnt alive. Pro-Assd militias entered some neighborhoods in
the suburb following hours of intense pounding: Some of the homes where the
bodies were found http://youtu.be/7orROt8HC9M
, http://youtu.be/S68-XxC5oqs Two
martyrs being transported in the back of truck http://youtu.be/5S-VGIWHWd4 Some of the
dead bodies prepared for burial http://youtu.be/H4VIqDEnglQ
, http://youtu.be/ywl3KXcXgtk Impact
of pounding http://youtu.be/qb4-IPDceqI
The nearby suburb of Daraya witnessed a smaller scale massacre:
5 men and two women, slaughtered by pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/iVyyY5r83ko
Diyabiyyeh Suburb (Also Ziyabiyeh), Damascus: a new massacre http://youtu.be/b8gg96lmtbc , http://youtu.be/QlUKafXKWDc , http://youtu.be/qA8CMeLtvng , http://youtu.be/o_C27OWwbFw
Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Damascus City: a new massacre http://youtu.be/uP7W2sv_4NU In Al-Qadam
Neighborhood local find two unidentified bodies that bear the signs of
torture http://youtu.be/l2pzrO5czic In
Kafar Sousseh, locals uncover a new mass grave http://youtu.be/8IgGbSHwgfE
From the beginning of the revolution, local activists throughout Syria
have been claiming that doctors working for pro-Assad militias often harvest
the organs of the martyrs without any consent. This case comes from Yelda,
Damascus Suburbs http://youtu.be/SwGtcyKv3hk
In Aleppo, the
shelling and clashes continue claiming many lives and leaving many injured.
Airplanes take part in the
pounding http://youtu.be/a2s60mO1eqs of
Al-Sukkari Neighborhood http://youtu.be/tQuMGuQRQC4
among others http://youtu.be/VP1_z8iA2LM
Black smoke rises over Boustan Al-Qasr http://youtu.be/YHQaEepKjIY A helicopter
gunships pounds Salaheddine http://youtu.be/1YZi9mqZXJ0
Zaydiyeh Neighborhood: trying to rescues an injured little girl
even as the shelling continues http://youtu.be/kT96Rzrs_lQ
The local mosque is hit http://youtu.be/AT11g_iS62Q
Salaheddine Neighborhood: Tanks and armored vehicles storm their
way in http://youtu.be/zXm_bY7JZ50 bodies
lie strewn in the streets after Assad troops passed on their way to the Old
City http://youtu.be/ULggkcS6QzU , http://youtu.be/cOxLJ1AnCqE
Some were killed in their home http://youtu.be/CciM0J2goNA
Local fighters hang on amidst the ruins http://youtu.be/5OUCx79ROL4
The sounds of automatic gunfire from a helicopter gunship taking part in the
pounding http://youtu.be/Em_TuzXs8Fs
In Mashhad Neighborhood, rebels trap a few pro-Assad militiamen
inside a local structure http://youtu.be/bjU2z4DtgUU
then proceed to blow it up http://youtu.be/G2Dbho0DZ04
One of the pro-Assad snipers is captured http://youtu.be/F_0v6lHEb4o
Local rebels target a helicopter gunship http://youtu.be/91mTKHN2vrs
One of the local fighters is injured http://youtu.be/25BXDgPa9xY
Some of the pro-Assad militiamen who were captured http://youtu.be/ZEOY1nzZUmQ
A building catch fire in Boustan Al-Qasr Neighborhood http://youtu.be/DSLUcsQyg6E
The campus at Aleppo University is now being used to house
refugees http://youtu.be/vkWvHIjuIBo
Mounds of garbage fill the streets of Al-Sukkari Neighborhood http://youtu.be/JAkl8EnhUYk Local
fighters survey the scene and promise victory http://youtu.be/Du6NTuzQ-I4 Parts of the
neighborhood get pounded http://youtu.be/f_am7CqMV7M
, http://youtu.be/BZhBWk_1Z10 Locals
stream out of the neighborhood http://youtu.be/GzFcyH8ZUpo
In Bab Al-Hadid Neighborhood, local rebels direct traffic http://youtu.be/ik7VEoEKhI4
In a video that surfaces now, the leader of Al-Tawhid Brigade is
seen given a speech to some of his lieutenant before they were sent to fight in
Aleppo City. He says that the legitimate targets for their operations are the
police, the military and gun-toting pro-Assad militias. He forbids them to
assault civilians or take part in robberies, and insist that protecting public
institutions is one of their main duties
http://youtu.be/gRSfwTiruus Another
Al-Tawhid leader tells his soldiers the eyes of the world are on you http://youtu.be/zybI8acUbOM More
fighting units join Al-Tawhid http://youtu.be/eqk7pH7-xyg
, http://youtu.be/sLyAw2tMZZo
Other Videos
The Syrian Council in Armenia, Muhammad Hussam Hafiz, joins the ranks
of defectors http://youtu.be/FNpUwTZEfRE
In the Eastern Ghoutah Region of Damascus Suburbs, more
defections and new brigade is formed http://youtu.be/c5qGJ5SnL6U
Douma was pounded by a helicopter gunship http://youtu.be/LsTsuV-NV9M
In Lattakia, a military council affiliated with the FSA is
formed http://youtu.be/eRS1bI-F1UQ
In Dmeir, Damascus Suburbs, a leaked video shows some of the
artillery and cannons used in pounding the town http://youtu.be/O6aKN0z1-y0
In Qaboun Neighborhood, Damascus City, authorities continue to
raise down parts of the neighborhood as form of mass punishment http://youtu.be/MNFiCqjttLo , http://youtu.be/Tu2ScS7Rias
Hama City comes under heavy nighttime shelling http://youtu.be/0wvE11nnxD8 , http://youtu.be/yOO8eqdRAFs
In Daraa, captured militiamen explain how they liquidated local
civilians held at a detention camp in the local stadium http://youtu.be/GZN2WAuVLg8
A leaked video from Bosra, Daraa province, shows tanks pounding
the city http://youtu.be/WEQdGRuB0JQ
Fighters from Al-Motassim Brigade near Maarabah, Daraa,
clash with loyalist troops to repel an attack on their town http://youtu.be/ajH8a9ceedU , http://youtu.be/EAdPp39lk0A This was how
the rebels approached the positions of the loyalist troops http://youtu.be/P8me5F0x5iI Here we see
some rebels using a local abandoned home to mount their attack http://youtu.be/5xiQe38TpzI , http://youtu.be/ZAOiteq8Vbc
A video edited by local activists in Al-Rami village, Idlib
Province, showing scenes from as recent battle with loyalist troops http://youtu.be/7GBLy0vUzyE Elsewhere in
the province, in Saijar Region to be particular, a new fighting unit is
formed funded it seems by a French engineer, of Syrian origins, Abdel Rahman
Ayachi http://youtu.be/RUuP6xI81HU
In the village of Dourine in Al-Akard Mountains, Lattakia
Province, clashes between local rebels and pro-Assad militias trying to take
control, of the town left many militiamen dead http://youtu.be/zyynWZT7PtI , http://youtu.be/4xki8bFp4pw The nearby
village of Qassatel comes under heavy pounding http://youtu.be/q1-w5gj2ffw Shalaf
as well comes under pounding http://youtu.be/3_2Ehe_CM_s
The pounding of Homs City continues: Qarabees http://youtu.be/tnA9uAEJ7bI Khaldiyeh
http://youtu.be/RCIwmOHZRLA And the daily
street battles between rebels and loyalists http://youtu.be/Qo7XhaYLzz8 Occasionally,
the rebels manage to retake some of the buildings used as headquarters by
pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/9lsnYU-t110
As the slow-mo Dresdenificaion of the city continues http://youtu.be/GzV09erDxyA
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