On Turkey’s retaliatory bombing, I have only this to say: either go all the way armed with a strategy and
an end-game in mind, one that is commensurate with the expectations of those seeking
democratic change in Syria, or don’t go at all. We don’t need more gratuitous devastation
in our country as the conflict is allowed to fester, the state to collapse, and
the country to devolve. We need intervention with clear strategy and vision,
not some haphazard strikes meant more to demonstrate toughness for the benefit of
a domestic audience.
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Monday
October 1, 2012
Today’s
Death toll: 200. The Breakdown: toll includes 15 children and 6
women. 67 in Damascus and Suburbs (among them 16 field-executed in Douma and 19
martyrs in Qudsaya), 43 in Aleppo, 29 in Idlib (including an entire family martyred
due to shelling on Sahen town), 27 in Hama (mostly children and women),16 in
Daraa, 8 in Homs, 7 in Deir Ezzor; and 3 in Raqqa (LCC).
News
Special
Reports
In 2001, the International Commission
on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) determined that sovereignty
requires states to protect their populations from atrocity crimes. The concept,
known as the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), was endorsed by the UN General
Assembly in 2005 and by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a January 2009 report.
The Security Council itself has invoked R2P in its resolutions regarding the
Darfur and Libya crises. Even so, the ICISS report anticipated the problem of
Security Council paralysis, leaving scope for R2P action without its
authorization.
Residents of al-Raqqa, known as
"hotel" of the revolution, tell combatants to spare them as rebels
plan to take city.
Fierce fighting in Aleppo left a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in tatters as world leaders left the UN General
Assembly meeting no closer to a resolution for the 19-month conflict.
There seems no easy solution to end
the crisis. But now, Syria’s neighbors are getting worried. Syria’s problems
will not stay confined to Syria. Syria is a multi-sectarian society with shared
identities with groups in other countries. As a result, the sectarian tensions
that are being unleashed there are also spilling over from Syria’s borders.
Ammar Abdulhamid & Khawla
Yusuf: The
Shredded Tapestry: The State of Syria Today
The Qardaha
Rebellion
What
began as simple dispute match between the head of pro-Assad militias in town
and some members of rival clans soon turned into an armed clash the spilled
over nearby communities. The details are still murky, but deaths were reported
on both sides, and tanks had to move in to bring order back. At issue were the
rising number of deaths among members of Assad critics in the Alawite
communities vis-à-vis deaths reported within the Assad clan itself and its main
allies: the Makhlouf and Shaleesh clans. It seems Assad what was not only sign
Sunni and Christian recruit as cannon fodder in his war against rebels and
their supporters, he was pushing members of rival Alawite clans into the front
lines as well in order to safeguard his own loyalist base. Top Assad, not Alawites
are equal, and that is beginning to show.
But
what is showing even more is the proximity of rebel forces to Qardaha itself,
among other Alawite villages and towns. Rebels in the al-Akrad and Turkmen mountains
to the north of Lattakia, wedged between the city of Lattakia and the Turkish borders,
have been gaining the upper hand against pro-Assad militias, for all the fires
and the shelling taking part. Recently they have taken whole Alawite villages
and shrines, long after their inhabitants were evacuated and are now within
shouting distance from Assad’s hometown. The man, who presented himself to his
community as their protector, has been focusing his attention everywhere else
but the heartland of his community. As a result people now feel threatened.
Rebels pose for a photo next
to a famous Alawite shrine, few kilometers from Assad’s hometown of Qardaha.
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A video clips showing an
overview of the hills and villages that fell under rebel control http://youtu.be/ljj6Nm-4VSw
But
in Damascus, it’s the rebels and the inhabitants of the Suburbs and nearby
neighborhoods in Damascus City itself who are embattled and threatened. Assad
strategy there as elsewhere seem to call for creating a refugee problem by pushing
the people further and further away from the major cities into the surrounding
desert, hills and open fields. The earlier worries that a refugee problem could
pave the way for intervention have long evaporated, and the Assad is about to
send a few hundreds thousands refugees into neighboring countries, and
increasing the numbers of the internally dislocated from 2 to several millions.
Video Highlights
The
indiscriminate shelling of restive neighborhoods in Aleppo City continues: Kallasseh
http://youtu.be/DYb58DZLFYE
The city of Taftanaz, Idlib, is pounded by fighter jets http://youtu.be/NfyJ6Unmg0A
A massacre in Qastoun, Hama http://youtu.be/o3ca3pV90v4
, http://youtu.be/rCslU6npQyE , http://youtu.be/8NuS4HHpuuQ , http://youtu.be/k9ONpku_e8k , http://youtu.be/PZp6dIUJG5o
A massacre perpetrated against the Palestinians inhabitants in Daraa
City by pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/GulFl4APOog
, http://youtu.be/3KZckVJoqX0
In addition to pounding rebellious suburbs to he East of Damascus City,
pro-Assad militias shifted their attention to include towns to the west of the city,
focusing in particular on Qoudsaya http://youtu.be/wo3MrHxNZH8
, http://youtu.be/C4GVKNGyp78 and Hameh
http://youtu.be/b36UBI_mtok
Meanwhile, the pounding of the town of Zabadani along the borders with
Lebanon never abated http://youtu.be/iKcxPVr7C9Y
, http://youtu.be/ytvxjXixA-o
I am sorry for the severe loss of life. However it is not the wests duty to interfere in another nation. Although America will smuggle a few weapons in as a long winding war with many casualties seams to give the establishment there kicks.I for one would lobby my Government to become involved when the saudis leave. The influence Wahhabi and saudis have on sunnis scares the living day light out of me. They are slowly turning sunnis into insane jihadis. US needs to oil but it is heavily discussed what the saudis are doing. They are exporting suicide bombers to your nation (which I hope bothers you) and they are the number 1 exporter of suicide bombers to Iraq. They are mad. It is very obvious with jihadis and wahhabis taking part in the war No Christian in the west will actually take a huge stand, because we cannot allow the genocide of our christian brothers by these people.
ReplyDeleteInternational fears are seen as the wall paper they have proved be. The decor in the bathroom is tattered for how many ass whipes have feared international fears.
ReplyDelete