Is There Anybody Out There!

The killing in Syria is real. The daily massacres are real. The daily bombardment of cities, towns, suburbs and neighborhoods by tanks, heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter jets is all too real. The children who are being targeted, targeted, are real. The women who are being raped are real. The young men who are being summarily executed without even the semblance of a trial are real. This is not a video game. I repeat: This is not a video game. Is there anybody out there? Genocide is taking place.

Saturday September 15, 2012

Today’s Death toll: 164. The Breakdown: 67 martyrs in Damascus and Suburbs (including 20 in a massacre in Tadamoun), 39 martyrs in Aleppo (including a whole family in the town of Daret Azzah), 22 martyrs in Idlib (most of whom fell in Saraqeb), 15 martyrs in Deir Ezzor (most of whom martyred in Buqrus Massacre), 8 martyrs in Hama, 9 in Daraa and 4 in Homs (LCC).

* A Tunisian website claims that members of Ansar Al-Sharia, the Libyan group accused of staging the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi that left the American Ambassador and three other American officials dead, have left the country going to Turkey from where they plan to go join the rebels in Syria.

* Every major town and city in Syria as well as hundreds of villages are now under daily bombardment by heavy artillery and/or helicopter gunships and fighter jets, including Damascus and its suburbs (Zabadani, Madaya, Douma, Harasta, Arbeen, Zamalka, Jobar, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Tadamon , Yarmouke, etc.), Aleppo and suburbs, Homs, Rastan, Al-Qusair, al-Hosn, Talbisseh, Sahel Al-Ghab, Jabal Al-Zawiyeh, Jabal Shahshabo, Saraqib, Daraa City, Bosra, Al-Hraak and Jabal Al-Akrad and surrounding regions.

News

Syria envoy meets Assad, says conflict is global threat

U.N. envoy Angelina Jolie visits Syria refugees in Iraq

Op-Eds & Special Reports

Assad’s Useful Idiots

How prominent commentators from the ‘anti-imperialist’ left have twisted the public discourse on Syria and, in the process, provided intellectual cover for the Assad regime.

In August 2012, my wife, Syrian pro-democracy activist, Khawla Yusuf, and I undertook a three-week long trip to Turkey. The trip was not our first, nor will it be our last. But having coincided with many important developments on the ground and included meetings with so many key activists and rebel leaders from inside the country, we decided to put together this report, based on our impressions, by way of shedding light on an increasingly tragic and troubling situation and in the hope of spurring the international community into adopting a serious policy to address it.

The Shredded Tapestry: The State of Syria Today

Video Highlights

With all the focus on Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs, a second massacre is under way in Hama, the details are sketchy and videos few, but here is one that surfaced today http://youtu.be/xw0q3uYG7X8

The pounding of the town of Saraqib, Idlib Province, leaves a number of dead and injured: http://youtu.be/eSoG5tHF6aU , http://youtu.be/rmCCGPpbfXk , http://youtu.be/uY2vPJjDnG0 , http://youtu.be/sWt-wX7fF3k , http://youtu.be/s3rga3VboHI , http://youtu.be/pw97kqqFU0U

In Damascus, the pounding of the town of Zabadani continues http://youtu.be/Gc5Dij8KLZ8 , http://youtu.be/nkpwojpJb64

In Damascus City, summary executions continue: Jobar http://youtu.be/15Xv-vZrRZU Snipers claim their share as well: Al-Hajar Al-Aswad http://youtu.be/4KWaF7dlwdA , http://youtu.be/vthOpMsESOE The pounding of the restive neighborhood in city continues: General View http://youtu.be/eqKf_L0Qhtk , http://youtu.be/bPL7Lubwzbo Al-Qadam http://youtu.be/RWiVjC2bMc4 , http://youtu.be/9s9_10LYETc , http://youtu.be/lIyQy2Qj4bc Naher Eisheh http://youtu.be/oScut-oqeok

In Sahel Al-Ghab Region, Hama, a family of five is killed in the aerial bombardment http://youtu.be/O-OeaDLPQ6M , http://youtu.be/TaYw-PyBPLo , http://youtu.be/VaVTv9Y1nbA , http://youtu.be/lLx-tD4BjkA

The pounding of restive neighborhoods in Aleppo City continues: Boustan Al-Qasr http://youtu.be/gBTakepuouk In some cases, people are unable to retrieve the dead from the streets due to snipers http://youtu.be/8kjb2Hbfz-w  

In Homs, the pounding of restive towns continues: Rastan http://youtu.be/Vu73GHgXyqo Homs City (Jobar) http://youtu.be/sPjdx_5hqaU