Fighting against tyrants is a basic human right. Demanding
succor and support from members of the United Nations is also a basic right
given to us by its founding charter. As Syrians, we are today fighting for our
basic rights both at home and abroad. Our lobbying abroad is an extension of
our revolutionary action at home. Indifference is another manifestation of
tyranny, and we will not endure it anymore.
Monday
October 1, 2012
Today’s
Death toll: 183. The Breakdown: including
more than 30 people martyred due to aerial shelling. 55 in Damascus and Suburbs
(including 13 in Douma and 10 in Harasta), 48 in Aleppo (including 11 in
Masaken Hanano and 12 in Karm Al-Jabal), 42 in Idlib (30 in a massacre in Salqeen),
20 in Daraa, 10 in Deir Ezzor, 4 in Homs, 2 in Hama and 2 in Lattakia (LCC).
News
Special
Reports
Hillary Clinton painted a chilling
picture for the 20 or so foreign ministers from the Friends of Syria group
meeting Friday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
… long-term considerations over how to
best ensure a successful political transition in Syria and on how to deflate
internal violence, are being trumped by the immediate desire to see Iranian
influence in the region curbed. As long as this is the case, and both Saudi
Arabia and Iran perceive the Syrian conflict as an opportunity to get even with
each other, one can expect these countries to continue fueling the fire rather
than working towards its extinction.
As war rages in Syria, the stream of
refugees into other countries shows no sign of stopping. More than 100,000
people fled Syria in August alone — about 40 percent of all who had left since
the uprising against President Bashar Assad began last March. And the United
Nations refugee agency said Thursday that the number of people escaping Syria
could reach 700,000 by the end of the year.
Mahmoud Hassino is a 37-year-old gay
Syrian journalist, currently living in Turkey, who manages to frequently return
to his homeland to record the uprising against President Bashar Hafez al-Assad.
While international attention has
focused on the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled Syria, turmoil
surrounding those displaced within the country is becoming a far larger
problem.
As Syrian war planes bomb towns and
villages held by anti-government rebels, a group of Syrian-American doctors is
quietly providing medical aid inside Syria.
The Assad regime in Syria brought
about Muammar Gaddafi's death by providing France with the key intelligence
which led to the operation that killed him, sources in Libya have claimed.
Op-Eds
Thus, there was never much U.S.
President Barack Obama’s administration could do to change Bashar’s response to
the revolt. The United States tried to squeeze blood from a stone: It pushed
for dramatic political reform from a system that simply is not built for it.
Assad’s removal perhaps will just be a matter of time — although it may take
longer than many want. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to be a pretty sight.
Ammar Abdulhamid & Khawla
Yusuf: The
Shredded Tapestry: The State of Syria Today
Without creating
military parity on the ground, including neutralizing Assad's air power, a
political solution will be impossible. And without a political process that
involves both rebels and militias, any effort will fail. Military means alone
will not be sufficient to help any side prevail.
Some are wondering
how I can describe the situation in Syria in such stark terms and still argue
for intervention. It’s simple really, and has nothing to do with my current institutional
affiliation: this situation which has already devolved from a showdown between unarmed
protesters and heavily armed security forces into the sectarian conflict we see
today, could still devolve into a regional war, we could face a regional meltdown
before yearend, and this is a prospect any sane person can afford to be blasé about.
Early intervention could have preempted this possibility, but many chose not to
see, for tactical reason, for ideological reason, for economic reasons, whatever
the excuse, the result is the same: a peaceful push for democratic change was
allowed to devolve into a confessional war.
Some say: “well it’s a civil war then and has nothing to do with us.” I
say: “yes it’s a civil war and it has everything to do with you.”
You cannot build institutions like the UN and NATO, write charters like
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, coin doctrines like the
Responsibility to Protect which is so obviously, even blatantly, applicable in
this case, and launch programs dedicated to genocide prevention, then turn your
back on such situations. This is not your grandfather’s world. Indifference when
it comes to others suffering is not a luxury anyone can afford anymore.
We are not begging for intervention we are demanding our right. Yes, it’s
our right, legal and moral, by virtue of being citizens of a country that is a
member of the United Nations, and by virtue of our common humanity, to demand
intervention, diplomatic and military. Stop
denying us our rights, and stop denying your moral and legal obligations
towards us.
Underreported
* The war in Deir Ezzor Province, despite the fact that most foreign
fighters, including most those associated with Al-Qaeda, are stationed there,
facing off against pro-Assad militias supported with IRGC troops and Shia
fighters from Iraq.
* The growing tensions in Hassakeh Province between rival Kurdish
groups on the one hand, and Kurds and Arab tribes on the other. Acts of
violence, including murders and assassinations have taken place, and Sunday’s
car bombing in the city of Qamishly targeting a security headquarters is bound to
further heat up the situation. In the meantime, the inhabitants of the
majority-Kurdish city of Kobani in the northwest, have undertaken the first
practical steps to implement the intra-Kurdish power-sharing agreement, showing
a greater spirit of pragmatism than what’s available elsewhere.
* The growing tensions between Assad supporters and critics in the
Alawite communities along the coast. The situation came to a head on Sunday
with clashes in Qardaha, Assad’s native town. The clashes pitted the Assad clan
against rivals from the clans of Al-Khayir, Othman, Jadid and Abboud. The clashes
reportedly left several dead, including Muhammad Assad, the head of the local
pro-Assad militias. No less significant is the ongoing refusal by inhabitants
of nearby villages to heed calls for mobilization, thus refusing to allow their
sons to join the ranks of the army. Several recruiters have already been beaten
up and driven out of town. Estimates by local activists put the total number of
Alawites who have been killed since the beginning of the Revolution at over
10,000 – a high number considering the demographic size of the Alawite
community. Iranian and Iraqi advisers and clergymen as well as clergymen from
the Alawite community in Hatay Province in Turkey are reportedly trying to mediate
in the growing crisis.
So far, no opposition group or notable figure has issued any statement on
any of these developments, especially the situation in the Alawite community. But
the recent developments beg for some sort of outreach by the opposition and the
international community, before Iranian efforts at mediation have a chance of
calming the situation.
As I have just argued in my op-ed in Foreign Policy:
Some
pro-Assad militias, especially those based in coastal areas and those that have
not directly taken part in atrocities, could also still be reconciled to the
post-Assad political order -- but not without extraordinary international
mediation.
Video Highlights
Leaked video shows pro-Assad militiamen urging his fellow
Alawites to join their “jihad” against the rebels http://youtu.be/UP3Bocmk0hA
Shops in Old Aleppo Bazar catch fire on account of continuing
pounding by pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/mxq11dV3uTc
An explosion rocks the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishlo,
Hassakeh Province http://youtu.be/jY96jHdwXeY
In Damascus, the pounding of restive suburbs continues, using heavy
artillery, helicopter gunships and MIGs: Douma http://youtu.be/ObSQCCmcMOQ , http://youtu.be/ZKIYecOWe2A Martyrs http://youtu.be/351hU7TCPu0
Kafar Batna http://youtu.be/6TzNdk6X7DA Saqba
martyrs http://youtu.be/b-5ZsjcFJKw Harasta
Martyrs, victims of summary executions http://youtu.be/OAPNvNIhHBI , http://youtu.be/yOkxerejeiw , http://youtu.be/_xArH-WpIyE
The pounding of restive neighborhoods in Aleppo City continues along
with street battles: Sulaiman Al-Halabi http://youtu.be/DP2yfEblcfU , http://youtu.be/raAwCsnVBgs Tanks fire
into the neighborhood http://youtu.be/UVAjl1VbaCE
Al-Sha’ar Neighborhood http://youtu.be/7W5LhfMabzg
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