Iran, Russia, China, Assad and the rebels are doing their
part, the rest of the world is not. Doing your part is more than an occasional
show of sympathy, occasional infusion of cash, or an occasional shipment of
light weapons and ammunition, a systematic assault on freedom requires an
equally systematic response to make sure that the right side wins. But no one,
it seems, has done his homework. Considering that this is the only consistent response
on part of certain international players, perhaps then, to them, failure in
Syria is something they think they can live with.
Thursday August
9, 2012
Today’s
Death toll: 134. The Breakdown: 47 in Aleppo City, 40 in Damascus City and Suburbs (including
7 unidentified bodies in Kafar Sousseh), 21 in Idlib, 14 in Daraa, 5 in Deir
Ezzor, 3 in Hama, 3 in Homs and 1 in Qamishlo (LCC figures).
Cities
& Towns Under Shelling: Harasta, Arbeen, Moadamiah, Harran Al-Awameed, Deir Al-Asafeer, Ain
Terma, Zabadani, Madaya, Eltal, Dmeir, Hameh, Yelda, Rankous, Qarrah (Damascus
Suburbs), Sit Zeinab, Al-Qadam, Midan,
Tadamon, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Yarmouk, Kafar Sousseh, Mazzeh, Qaboun, Barzeh,
Salhiyeh, Ruknaddine, Dafelshawk (Damascus City), Daraa City, Khirbet Al-Ghazaleh, Tafas, Bostra Al-Sham, Na’eemah,
Mseifrah, Jimreen, Hraak , Saida, Tal Shihab (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).
News
Op-Eds
& Special Reports
Is
Syria's balance of firepower close to a tipping point? As Free
Syrian Army blames ammunition shortage for pulling back in Damascus, regime is
also struggling with logistics issues… What is counterintuitive… is how little
hard evidence there is so far of large amounts of weapons being delivered from
outside. What evidence there is of weapons entering the country suggests that
so far it has largely been small arms.
State
of War: Syria’s Crusader Castles and Medieval Fortresses TIME looks
at a number of Syria's most famous medieval fortresses, some of which are
nearly a millennium old.
Syria
Conflict: Anadan Turned Into Ghost Town After Shelling In this town
near Aleppo, "Freedom Square" has been renamed "Destruction
Square" by a young Syrian activist who once sang to protesters gathered
for peaceful pro-democracy rallies.
Out
of Syria: An Expelled Italian Priest Calls for Peace and Reconciliation A
57-year-old Italian cleric who has lived in Syria for more than thirty years
speaks out on the nature of the conflict and his hopes for peace.
The
real test in Syria is whether fear is at an end All revolutions
against dictatorial regimes are, at some level, about the transfer of fear.
Populations afraid of regimes shift to regimes afraid of populations. The true
test of progress, however, is whether the revolution undermines the use of fear
as a tool of governance.
Iran
preparing for post-Assad era in Syria Though Iran is still loyal to
the Syrian regime, the time has come to start considering other options –
Iran’s recent political maneuvers show that it is doing just that. Syria
captive rift: Iran defiant, Hezbollah silent "The situation in
Syria is complicated and every country is trying to protect its
interests," said conservative Iranian parliament member Javad
Jahangirzadeh. "Syria is Lebanon's neighbor, but not Iran's neighbor. So
it's not surprising they are adopting different policies."
Every piece advice by an official or an analyst, every
warning, every exhortation, every homily, is, by now, academic. Everything about
this revolution and its course was all too predictable, and what needed to be
done to prevent the devolution into mayhem that are witnessing today was known
to each and every expert and politician willing to put ideology aside and see
the facts for what they are: the situation in Syria begged for a combination of
diplomatic pressures, air strikes and a willingness to work with the opposition
on transition planning. Nothing less could have worked, nothing more was
needed. But the powers-that-be have waited too long, each for its own purposes,
and missed very conceivable opportunity to help produce an outcome that was there
for the taking: a democratic pro-western Syria. Achieving this goal is not necessarily
impossible now, but what could have been accomplished in months, and little expense
and sacrifice, will now take years, if not decades, and a heavy investment in human
and material terms. But the same calculations that prevented intervention
before would likely prevent it in the future. Syria is being consigned to
becoming a failed state.
Video Highlights
Aleppo City: The pounding of Salaheddine http://youtu.be/glKafCeL5qc , http://youtu.be/bIPZm7Y6XvY , http://youtu.be/pV1yc1KeLYA Clashes http://youtu.be/NpJonZiiKqI , http://youtu.be/5NlQKM0MBmo
, http://youtu.be/d3RcrYiT7s4 , http://youtu.be/shx5D8JNMJk , http://youtu.be/kAX7TxnS2GU Fighter jets
took part in the pounding http://youtu.be/3Ve6sI7JoeA
, http://youtu.be/Dq0qcRE8vhA Building
catches fire http://youtu.be/CjCOqTBlbZc
Impact of shelling http://youtu.be/p1Ot8F1p9fQ
, http://youtu.be/9CwbiY8qCh4 Building
in Sheikh Faris Neighborhood catches fire on account of continuous pounding
http://youtu.be/5PF4WrVPbVU Civilians
streaming out of the neighborhood of Bab Al-Hadid http://youtu.be/f1xR86d-cBM to escape
these clashes http://youtu.be/KbIBJBVgtVM
At end of the day, local fighters issue a statement saying that,
contrary to new reports, they have not pulled out from Salaheddine http://youtu.be/BAqKMJtxwMs A similar statement
was made by another fighter from a different part of the neighborhood http://youtu.be/HtJIxz29ykk But both statements
were issued earlier on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Aleppo Province, a new fighting brigade is formed and
given the name of the old armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood from back in
1970s and 1980s http://youtu.be/khY60GP0Jz8
Could this be one of the brigades being established
by the Muslim Brotherhood that activists have long been talking about?
Now that Assad has been allowed to use fighter jets with nary a meaningful
reaction from the international community, he using them everywhere and not
only in Aleppo city and Province. Indeed, fighter jets are now used in the pounding
of Mouhassan in Deir Ezzor Province to the northeast http://youtu.be/SwWD4UCnoNI and the
pounding of Kafrenbel in Idlib province http://youtu.be/6L304KZb8bY , http://youtu.be/iLxFCgsvwaw Kafroumah,
Idlib http://youtu.be/ZonQ9hIgYo8
This pattern of tentative use of a certain controversial weapon
(beginning with tanks, mortars, heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and
finally fighter jets) followed by larger scale use is clearly meant to gauge
international reaction, and it’s clear that the lack of reaction is encouraging
Assad to go all out. International dithering has clearly encouraged and fed Assad’s
belligerence.
Despite this, the local rebels in Kafrenbel maintain their Guerilla
attack against pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/JKPaz6bWYtk
, http://youtu.be/rfvu05Zuel0 , http://youtu.be/Wuy_qSDjd2M , http://youtu.be/V16fjzVeBK4 and keep
inflicting losses http://youtu.be/AGhtc9mCYZc
This local activist says that the local rebels have destroyed Assad’s tanks
with weapons they made with their own hands and vows to destroy Assad’s planes
in the same way http://youtu.be/HotAtC6VXAs
The pounding of neighborhoods in Homs City continues: Baba
Amr http://youtu.be/GWQyvXlq5Gw ,
http://youtu.be/wXSl28B31lQ
The pounding of the nearby cities of Rastan, Houla, Al-Qusary, Tal
Kalakh and Talbisseh is continuing as well: Rastan http://youtu.be/RGLi9Vi2SKE
In Daraa City, locals bury 8 unidentified bodies belonging to
rebels http://youtu.be/yJG2XCryKm4
In Lattakia province, local Turkmen clans form a new fighting brigade
to defend their territory against ongoing attempt at ethnic cleansing by
pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/3d-LQ7LDSMU
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