Secretary Clinton bravely assumed
responsibility for the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, but who in the
Obama Administration will assume responsibility for losing Syria? But more
importantly, perhaps, who in the ranks of the Syrian opposition will own up to
this?
When it comes to taking responsibility for the current crisis in Syria, many people should indeed step forward, or be brought to account. I, for one, have to step forward. I have been speaking for years about the looming revolutionary upheavals in our part of the world, and calling and agitating to ensure that my predictions come true, especially when it comes to Syria.
Monday October
15, 2012
Today’s
Death toll: 134. The Breakdown: toll includes 17 children and 6
women. 33 reported in Damascus and Suburbs,29 in Aleppo, 27 in Deir Ezzor (20
due to aerial shelling of Mayadeen), 16 in Idlib, 9 in Daraa, 7 in Homs, 6 in
Hama, 3 in Lattakia, 3 in Raqqah, and 1 (originally from Jableh) martyred in
Hama. Summary: Pro-Assad militias shelled
25 areas across the country and perpetratd three massacres. Rebels responded
with 2 operations in Raqqah Province and in Eastern Ghoutah Region in Damascus
Province. (LCC)
News
Special
Reports
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.
The ancient Souk Madina, a World
Heritage Site, is divided between rebels and President Bashar Assad's forces.
Caught in the middle are residents and merchants.
For security officials, the fear is
that extremists with European passports who are alienated and newly trained to
wage war will ultimately take skills learned in Syria and use them back home.
In France, where an Islamic extremist trained in Pakistan attacked a Jewish
school and a group of soldiers earlier this year, the fear is particularly
acute.
…the Obama administration's hands-off
approach has contributed to the very outcomes that the White House presumably wanted
to avoid, and thought it could avoid by "learning from Iraq."
Russia and Turkey are in a war of
words, but it's the makeup of the post-Assad government that's really being
fought over
Through left-leaning intellectuals who
see the problem in Syria in terms of US-supported "Islamists", or
through categories of inter-confessional regional struggle between Sunnis and
Shi'a - but not the regime of Bashar al-Assad - have abandoned analysis of the
local dimension of the events to keep only its international one. They lack any
understanding of the Syrian events in terms of class or as a revolt against
injustice, repression, and censorship. Instead, their self-satisfying
geopolitical reading sees only a struggle between a US-led effort to impose
imperialistic order and a last-ditch Arab resistance supported by Russia and
China.
Are foreign extremists gaining
disproportionate influence inside the opposition forces? Anne Therese Day talks
to a Saudi fundamentalist who is funding the “Syrian jihad” and to Syrian
activists who say they both need and fear the foreign fighters.
Op-Ed
While al-Assad's murderous reign will
ultimately come to an end, America's ability to influence what comes afterward
is diminishing by the day. It's hard to imagine a worse fate for Syria than for
al-Assad to stay in power. But allowing Islamic extremists to overrun the
country and enhance Iran's power would be devastating to brave Syrians who have
fought so hard.
Arabic
Press (Prepared by Steven Miller, FDD Research Associate)
"World
Health Organization: 67 Percent of Health Facilities in Syria Damaged"
Asharq Al-Awsat The WHO announced that 67 percent of the health
facilities in Syria have been damaged to varying degrees as a result of ongoing
violence there, including nearly 29 percent that have been completely
disrupted. The organization pointed out that the recent escalation in violence
inflicted enormous damage on the facilities in every part of the country,
depriving people access to basic health care services and preventing health
workers from providing them.
Ammar Abdulhamid & Khawla
Yusuf: The
Shredded Tapestry: The State of Syria Today
The Question of Responsibility
When it comes to taking responsibility for the current crisis in Syria, many people should indeed step forward, or be brought to account. I, for one, have to step forward. I have been speaking for years about the looming revolutionary upheavals in our part of the world, and calling and agitating to ensure that my predictions come true, especially when it comes to Syria.
The first thing I did after I was sent into exile in September of 2005
was to write a paper titled: Managing
Transition: Few Guidelines For A Velvet Revolution In Syria. I have
even began using the term Jasmine Revolution. Making this revolution come true
was what drove me for years. I spoke of it even when it turned into a distant
possibility, when Basshar Al-Assad seemed to emerge out of the isolation
imposed on his regime following the invasion of Iraq (2003) and the assassination
of former Lebanese PM Rafic Hariri (2005). But, basing my analysis on the
videos and reports sent by activists in our Tharwa network in Syria, the sounds
of that distant revolutionary drumming remained quite audible for me. Indeed,
when I was chosen to offer
testimony in Congress back in April 2008, becoming the first Syrian
citizen to do so, my main topic was the internal living conditions in Syria and
the looming revolution.
Change in Syria is not
a matter of “if” anymore, but of when, how and who. Facts and factors
influencing and dictating change are already in progress and are, for the most
part, the product of internal dynamics rather than external influences.
Although this assertion seems to fly in the face of traditional wisdom
regarding the stability of the ruling regime in Syria, the facts are clear and
plainly visible for all willing to see.
The problem has
been that most experts and policymakers have always been more concerned with
high-end politics to pay any real attention to what is actually taking place on
the ground. Issues such as the International Tribunal established to look into
the assassination of former PM Rafic al-Hariri, Iran’s growing regional
influence, the Assads’ sponsorship of Hamas, Hizbullah and certain elements in
the Iraqi insurgency, escalating international pressures against the regime,
and the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between the regime and opposition forces
continue to dominate the ongoing international debate over Syria’s present and
future.
The dynamics of
daily life, however, shaped more by inflation, unemployment, poverty, imploding
infrastructure, and official corruption and mismanagement might actually be
rewriting the usual scenarios in this regard. For as that old adage goes: “it’s
the economy stupid!” And Syria’s economy is indeed imploding. The lack of
government response in this regard, or, to be more specific, the fact that
government policies seem to be making matters worse for most Syrians, is forcing
people to organize around issues of local concern, and to begin to agitate.
Albeit this agitation is not yet anti-regime per se, that is, no one is yet
demanding the ouster of the current president, it is indeed anti-establishment
in nature, that is, it is clearly aimed against official policies, corruption,
mismanagement, neglect, lies, arrogance and impunity. As such, it marks an
important departure from the usual docile attitude and an important milestone
on the road towards the rise of a popular grassroots movement against the Assad
dictatorship, if the situation is properly managed by opposition groups.
This phenomenon is
still admittedly in its embryonic phase at this stage, and might take years
before it produces a real challenge to the regime’s authority on the grounds;
it should also be borne in mind here that this phenomenon may not automatically
translate into grassroots support for any of the existing opposition movements
or coalitions and might just lead, in the absence of active outreach efforts by
the opposition, to the emergence of new more popular forms and figures of
opposition, albeit the Damascus Declaration seems to be the one movement with
the greatest popular appeal. Still, what is clear here is that the phenomenon
is real and does merit observation. And, for those interested in ensuring the
emergence of a “positive” democratic outcome eventually, it does merit support
as well.
In 2009, the Tharwa Foundation produced a TV program, First Step, which
openly called for a nonviolent revolution:
…we remain adamant
on pushing for a peaceful change in Syria even should the regime resort to
violence, because we cannot afford to forget about the future and focus only on
this moment, like the regime does, we cannot afford to leave our children a
legacy of blood, violence and conflict, just as we cannot leave them a legacy
of oppression, corruption, neglect and injustice. We have a double duty to our
homeland and our future: pursuing democratic change, and adopting the right
means to achieving this goal.
The challenge that
we have to deal with then is that stemming from a patriotic and humanitarian
duty and is not a question of making an arbitrary choice, or embarking on an
ill-considered confrontation, or engaging in a power-struggle, or deciding who
is better: the regime or the opposition, or searching for saviors and leaders.
In reality, each one of us has his own important role in leading change, and
each one of us has his/her own share of sacrifices which he/she has to make,
and without which no change can ever happen…
… Yours is the true
leadership role. You are the initiators. Our role on the outside is to provide
the necessary material, logistical and moral support that you need, regardless
of the difficulties involved in this. Each situation has its own set of
challenges with which we have to deal.
That last paragraph captures the essence of my failure. I made a
promise that I obviously failed to keep. The people in Syria took the
initiative as I urged, and I have so far failed in getting them the promised
support.
Oh yes, it’s a collective failure I know, a failure of the entire
opposition complex, and, of course, the protesters did not take to the street
in response to my urgings. For even though First Step aired for 2 years on a
satellite network run by the opposition, few Syrians seem to have watched it. Still,
my actual contribution to bringing about this revolutionary moment does not
matter, it suffices that I know what I had said and what I had done for almost
a dozen years of activism to know where my moral responsibility lies, and to
admit failure.
There are personal and objective reasons for this failure of course,
and the fight is far from over. After all, assuming responsibility for a
failure obligates one to trying to manage its consequences. But it’s important
that we admit failure now, at a certain deep level, if we are to have a chance
to change things around. I hope the Syrian conferees in Doha recognize the importance
of this, though I harbor no delusions in this regard.
Video Highlights
Rebels in the town of Talbisseh, Homs Province, captured Matar
Hamdo Al-As’aad a Brigadier General in Assad’s air force. But during the
interrogations, they tricked him, by blindfolding him and speaking to him with
a coastal dialect, pretending to be pro-Assad militias. So he defended his
credentials and his record, noting that he was recently promoted for his
services to Assad, that he is one of Assad’s heroes, and that he relayed orders
from his superiors to troops in Lattakia to open fire on Turkish airplanes in the
famous incident that took place few weeks ago and brought down a Turkish F16. When
he was asked whether he would ever defect, he shouted that he would never
commit such treason. Asked about his opinion in the Free Syrian Army, he said
they were all dogs. Rebels then remove his blindfold, and reveal their identity.
Obviously, he was shocked. Rebels tell him not to be afraid. They ask him who
his leader is: he says: “it was Assad.” They laugh, and ask him
again: “and now?” “God,” he says. They give him water and a cigarette, and ask
him whether he was ill-treated, he says “no.” We don’t know what happened after
that. But a decision to commit treason by defection seems a likely outcome http://youtu.be/AtZMd6yEtCQ.
Brig. Gen Mustafa Al-Shaikh tours liberated towns in Lattakia
Province, and preaches to local rebel leaders that Alawites are victims as
well and have been duped by Assad, and should, therefore, be treated with
respect http://youtu.be/m6fSJYzqFIQ
Col. Abdul-Jabbar Al-Oqaidi, head of the Aleppo Military
Revolutionary Council, tours liberated neighborhoods in Aleppo City http://youtu.be/OXpAj3Ng-qo He meets
with local rebel leadership http://youtu.be/N4ic_l70TkU
, http://youtu.be/Qop4L4c-kas
Elsewhere in Aleppo city, battles between rebels and pro-Assad militias
continue: Hazzazeh http://youtu.be/IMEx07s2qVU , http://youtu.be/3w9N1PUuDYA , http://youtu.be/PwqxTyEPAIU
Local rebels do some of their own shelling now. This is a fighting unit
affiliated with Suqur Al-Sham, the Brigade lead by the Salafist preacher
Ahmad Abu Issa in Jabal Al-Zawiyeh. The target of the shelling regime held
areas in Wadi Al-Daif http://youtu.be/TdjINOl0nX8 , http://youtu.be/Ml0AEqAQVr0
Of course, while none of this compares with shelling by MIGs and tanks
and helicopter gunships and missiles. This is still how rebels are fighting
back and liberating territories, so it’s quite effective.
This improvised cannon is used by Salafi rebels in Hama http://youtu.be/9bnEY3DIPMw Another
improvised weapon: mounting a video camera on a rifle to improve one’s aim http://youtu.be/--lYgH26sVY
Al-Farouq Brigade, another Islamist group whose members hail
mostly from Homs Province have become quite active in Raqqah Province as well,
and they can be heard here taking credit for some of the recent operations in
the province http://youtu.be/_hh47Y79bLo
Clashes between rebel groups and pro-Assad militias in Maarbah,
Daraa Province http://youtu.be/yuf0I2lc3f8
, http://youtu.be/uOoTmcFsrss Planes
forced to fly hi to avoid being targeted by rebels who have had some success in
the last few days http://youtu.be/jkcxhASM0To
Rebels near Ma’arrat Al-Nouman, Idlib Province, heads towards
the main highway to intercept reinforcements sent by Assad to take back the
recently liberated city http://youtu.be/YO6Fxz53fl8
, http://youtu.be/SHNhlOjZUYM
In Damascus, city and suburbs, MIGs keep pounding restive areas http://youtu.be/IDUkwFTRAdA , http://youtu.be/VH1udCJQSQc
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