Anymore delays and the world will have to come up with a
eulogy for Syria rather than a policy. But even then, one’s still has to wade in
blood to attend the burial ceremonies. The fact that the world has chosen to
turn its back on us does not mean that it will not be sucked, back first, into
the developing black-hole.
Saturday October
20, 2012
Today’s
Death toll: 123. The Breakdown: Toll includes 6 women and 5
children: 67 in Damascus its Suburbs (including 14 in Saqba and 10 in Arbeen),
19 in Aleppo, 14 in Deir Ezzor, 9 in Homs, 7 in Idlib, 4 in Daraa, and 3 in Hama.
(LCC)
Other
Developments: LCC counted 70 points
of indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets including 8 shelled by fighter
jets, and 5 with TNT barrels. Meanwhile, the FSA reported clashing with loyalist
forces in 14 locations, carrying out 7 operations against regime loyalist
positions.
News
Special
Reports
Locals in eastern Turkey, bearing the
brunt of the fallout from Turkey's involvement in Syria, believe Ankara is
merely a pawn in US plans to foment conflict in the region.
Leading from the front against Assad,
Hezbollah, and Iran, Wissam al-Hassan was an American ally.
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria has a long and
tumultuous history of meddling into Lebanese affairs. For much of the past 30
years, the seven-times-smaller Lebanon has lived under Syrian military and
political domination.
The blend of poverty, religious piety
and anger could define the future of Aleppo, and perhaps the rest of Syria, if
the rebels take over the country's largest city, which is also its economic
engine. They may be tempted to push their own version of Islam, which is more
fundamentalist than what is found in the city. Their bitterness at the business
class may prompt them to seek ways of redistributing the wealth.
THE government of Syria, trying to
contain a rapidly expanding insurgency, has resorted to one of the dirty tricks
of the modern battlefield: salting the ammunition of anti-government fighters
with ordnance that explodes inside rebels' weapons, often wounding and
sometimes killing the fighters while destroying their hard-found arsenals.
Reporting from inside Syria is
becoming increasingly difficult for foreign journalists. But all forms of media
- particularly Syrian state TV - are strictly controlled to serve the interests
of the regime, and Syria currently ranks 176th out of 179 countries in the
International Press Freedom Index. BBC Monitoring's Mike Linstead explains how
social media sites are becoming the new battleground for control of news and
information as pro-government and anti-government activists use the internet to
get their side of the conflict across.
Syria as a nation-state is crumbling….
The United States and Europe, in partnership with key regional states, must
play a larger part in stemming the increasingly dangerous dimensions of the
Syrian conflict. The reluctance of the United States to pursue difficult – but
likely more effective – policy options, as well as the obvious divisions within
the international community, are making a bad situation worse. This paper puts
forward five policy principles to help revitalize the partnership between
Syrians fighting for change and their supporters in the international community.
Op-Ed
Assad’s aggression is an expression of
his contempt not just for Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan but, in addition, the
United States. He sees, on the one hand, Iran rallying all the members of its
alliance network in the region (Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militants, and Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki) to prop him up and to isolate their common adversary,
Turkey. On the other hand, Assad sees the US leaving its Turkish ally and the
Syrian opposition alone in the cold.
Ammar Abdulhamid & Khawla
Yusuf: The
Shredded Tapestry: The State of Syria Today
Video Highlights
Leaked video shows pro-Assad militias celebrating around the burnt out
remains of an activist from Douma Suburb, Damascus http://youtu.be/cpLoOqJOO20
Another leaked video, this one from Deir Ezzor City, shows how
pro-Assad militias carry out their sweep operations, including intimidation of
local civilians and random arrests http://youtu.be/bxXSeExN6Sk
A third leaked video shows a raid against a local field
hospital. Pro-Assad militias interrogate and abuse the wounded asking to be
shown where the guns are hidden. “Tell us where the guns are if you want to get
out of here alive, otherwise you are all dead.” They focus their abuse especially
on the man with a beard and a shaved moustache who is obviously a Salafi http://youtu.be/t5T6usMTN8c
Sbeineh, Damascus: children among the dead http://youtu.be/RXOt5zbZiH0
Aleppo City: street battled continue in several locations: Salaheddine
http://youtu.be/enPjkAKEa84
In Maraat Al-Nouman, Idlib Province: the pounding of the
liberated city with fighter jets and TNT barrels continues http://youtu.be/Hgm9YSIPI0E
In Tal Abyad, Raqqah Province, a new Islamist fighting brigade
is formed: The Grandchildren of the Prophet http://youtu.be/_Vh4MxVV2IA
No comments:
Post a Comment