After the assassination of his brother-in-law, and
regardless of the uneasy nature of their relationship, the struggle in Syria
for Bashar Al-Assad became that much more personal. The mixture of spite,
contempt and vindictiveness that has always colored his view of dissent and
dissidents will now drive him to commit even more massacres and spread more
mayhem. Going gently into that good night has never been a favorite choice of
Middle Eastern dictators. Spite, rather than bravery, has made it so. Assad is but
a case in point.
Thursday August
2, 2012
Today’s Death toll: 145.
The Breakdown:
50 in Damascus City and Suburbs (including 20 in Yarmouk Neighborhood), 30 in
Daraa Province (including 4 children and a woman), and 17 in Homs, 7 in Hama
and 5 in Aleppo.
Cities & Towns Under Shelling: Harasta,
Arbeen, Moadamiah, Harran Al-Awameed, Ain Terma, Zabadani, Madaya, Eltal, Dmeir,
Hameh, Yelda, Rankous, Qarrah (Damascus Suburbs), Sit Zeinab, Al-Qadam, Midan, 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).
More
clashes have been reported
along the Syrian-Jordanian borders. President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud
Barzani, met with SNC leader, Abdulbassit Seida, to discuss the
situation in Kurdish areas in the region, and the prospects of unifying the
Syrian Kurdish opposition.
News
Op-Eds
& Special Reports
Rebels
give inside account of Damascus fighting "We
never had enough ammunition to capture the entire city, so how could that have
been our plan? We withdrew when we received the order, not because we were
forced."
After
Assad Falls: When his regime ends, will a new slaughter begin? Syria
is a mosaic of ethno-religious communities. Good fences will be required to
make them good neighbors. Start with Syria’s Kurds, who have been aloof from
the fighting, relatively safe in their northeastern territories. In a
post-Assad Syria, they’ll want substantial autonomy. They should have it within
a federal Syria that guarantees minority rights — to Alawites, Christians,
Druze, and other groups. Al-Qaeda won’t like that, Iran and Hezbollah won’t
like that, and some in the Sunni majority won’t like it either. But those who
hope to rebuild Syria as a decent country, independent and at peace within its
borders, should readily grasp the benefits.
Washington,
get ready for more Iranian influence after Bashar al-Assad falls in Syria After
the fall of Bashar-al Assad in Syria, Iran will compensate for its lost ally by
strengthening its influence in Lebanon alongside its affiliate Hezbollah – the
Shiite militant group that now dominates the country. To prevent this,
Washington must take a leadership role in the Lebanon.
Resigning
as Envoy to Syria, Annan Casts Wide Blame …“without
serious, purposeful and united international pressure, including from the
powers of the region, it is impossible for me, or anyone, to compel the Syrian
government in the first place, and also the opposition, to take the steps
necessary to begin a political process.”… “It is clear that President Bashar
al-Assad must leave office,” Mr. Annan wrote. “The greater focus, however, must
be on measures and structures to secure a peaceful long-term transition to
avoid a chaotic collapse.”
Leading
from behind? Syria's invisible president "Until
the regime feels it has the upper hand, I don't think we will see him
again," he said. "His style and personality is one that only engages,
whether with his own people or the international community, from a position of
strength."
How
to stop al Qaeda in Syria “The number is
relatively small now,” Benjamin said. “I would put the numbers in the dozens to
a hundred, a hundred plus. We don’t have that much granularity that we can say
with any certainty how many there are.”
Syrian
human rights activist Ammar Abdulhamid, with the Washington-based
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, says his contacts in Syria tell him
there is no evidence of a surge in aid to the rebels. “I do not really see any
intensification of these efforts. I see
a lot of leaks, it seems to me, that were sort of primed to show that something
is being done. But the reality is, so
far on the ground, we have not detected any real involvement by the U.S. in the
ongoing military operations in the country,” Abdulhamid said… Human rights
activist Ammar Abdulhamid says he expects much of the new aid to go to refugees
in camps in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, as well as to those trapped in
Syria. “But I will also imagine that they will try to send some aid to local
communities who are cut off and have been cut off because of the fighting, and
where food supplies are getting more and more scarce,” Abdulhamid said.
Aleppo’s Berri Clan and Summary Justice
While we have every reason to be appalled by the summary executions that
have taken place in Aleppo, we still have the responsibility to put things in
perspective. For such acts of retribution remain pretty isolated and have been
widely condemned by opposition groups and known dissidents and activists. More
importantly, it’s important to point out that the victims were not some
randomly chosen individuals, nor was the motivation involved sectarian in nature.
The three victims of yesterday’s execution, as reported by local
activists, were high ranking members of the Berri Clan, including its leader
Zeino Berri. The Clan is Sunni and is known for its involvement in drug-trafficking
and gun-running, among other illicit activities. The Clan is known as well for
its affiliation with Maher Al-Assad and, before him, with his late brother,
Bassil. This connection has served to guarantee Berri elders at least one spot
in the parliament, and has allowed them to make a mockery out of the legal
system in Syria for decades. In fact, many of their members have multiple death
sentences issued against them. Naturally, the sentences were never carried out.
The worst thing that has ever happened to a Berri clansman, before yesterday,
was spending few months in prison for offences that by law warrant execution.
Zeino Berri himself is known to have had three death sentences issued against
him. It was the fourth one that finally killed him.
Early in the revolution, members of the Berri Clan went to Damascus
where they met Bashar Al-Assad and pledged their loyalty. Almost every member
of the delegation had at least one sentence of one type or another hanging over
his head. That didn’t seem to bother Assad who is said to have given a carte blanche
to the Berris in Aleppo. On their return, the Berri Clan became more vicious
than ever and served as the de facto pro-Assad militia in the city, spreading
terror by jailing, torturing and killing activists, as well as extorting local
businessmen and merchants. By the time the rebels entered Aleppo City and clashed
with the Berris, the level of popular animosity against the Clan was simply too
high. Commanders of Al-Tawhid Brigade were simply ill-prepared to deal with
such volatile situation.
The positive thing, however, is that FSA commanders have now become
aware that simple assertions and exhortations are not enough to deal with such
eventualities, and have promised to establish special courts and prisons for
dealing with likes of Berri in the future.
Should the U.S. and other western powers become more closely involved
in supporting the FSA, their ability to prevent similar occurrences in the future
and to encourage the adoption of a more institutional and legal approach to captured
pro-Assad militias will increase dramatically. Crying foul from the sidelines
has not stopped the Assad and will not affect the rebels. Only friends and
allies can influence the rebels’ behavior. Considering the identity of current
backers of the rebels, preventing such scenarios in the future will not
constitute a priority for them. By continuing to stand on the sidelines, the
U.S. and E.U. will have little influence in this matter. Their condemnations
will ring hollow and hypocritical and will have little effect. The more they balk
from intervention the worse the situation will get and the more necessary and complex
intervention will become.
Damascus
The indiscriminate shelling http://youtu.be/vs1fnoXZ7qI
of the Yarmouk Neighborhood, Damascus City, leaves 20 locals dead http://youtu.be/GvV4OnNuiN4 and scores
wounded http://youtu.be/w4889Te2waw ,
http://youtu.be/5cgpbxvE8lI
The pounding http://youtu.be/6hf77KZlSo4
of nearby Tadamon Neighborhood left several dead as well http://youtu.be/PFm1QqS8HWE , http://youtu.be/-D35-CJX9L4 , http://youtu.be/XjT73WhoWNU
The suburb of Zamalka came under intense gunfire during the day http://youtu.be/9QJqC2csbmA Clashes left
a number of casualties http://youtu.be/fS70-dT7-JI
The shelling of the town of Zabadani to the West continues http://youtu.be/YfuRUhk1u1g , http://youtu.be/-Ir6IFhzLTU , http://youtu.be/G29XxzhvHeg , http://youtu.be/7FwXh_8MaT0
Elsewhere in the province, rebels form a new fighting unit http://youtu.be/CqQB0498w3Y
Homs
The pounding of Talbisseh continues http://youtu.be/cTjURKknV-U And Rastan http://youtu.be/mADhw4D2I_8 In Qusayr,
the pounding left 7 dead that were buried in a hasty funeral http://youtu.be/67QMERZrjEg
Aleppo
Pounding Aleppo City with MiGs continues http://youtu.be/ZV5UMeWauTU Helicopter
gunships are also taking part http://youtu.be/iVBkS-9hM8Y
Colonel Ammar Al-Wawi, recently interviewed
by the Daily Beast while on a stop in Turkey, is taking part of the battle in
Aleppo City with his brigade, Al-Ababeel http://youtu.be/Oks0ixZVemU , http://youtu.be/izsE6Od_xXI
Hama
In Treimseh, the pounding resumes, and local FSA members rush to
save the civilian inhabitants http://youtu.be/wbPFvJVRNHs
Raqqah
Local defectors form a military council for the province http://youtu.be/yNRaMsy7QRI
Deir Ezzor
Locals in the town of Asharah form a new fighting unit under the
banner of the FSA http://youtu.be/4GOxhY8UXxc
More to the east, closer to the border with Iraq, another group is formed http://youtu.be/BZUCZ25b2ns
The Reason for Annan’s Decision to Resign
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