Call it a civil war wrapped in a revolution wrapped in an
enigma wrapped in a guess – it’s all that and more, I profess. It’s a holy war slowly
morphing into an unholy descent into hell. Not that anyone can really tell how
it will all end.
Tuesday December
18, 2012
Today’s
Death Toll: 128, including 11 children and
9 women: 42 in Damascus and Suburbs (including 4 in Tal Mneen), 21 in Daraa (including
5 executed publicly in the Naziheen Refugee Camp), 16 in Hama, 14 in Homs
(including 3 were publicly executed in Al-Nuqeira), 13 in Aleppo, 12 in Idlib,
9 in Deir Ezzor, and 1 in Hassakeh. Points
of Random Shelling: 242. Clashes:
143. Rebels managed to liberate the town of Hilfaya in
Hama Province, and were joined by many defectors from the loyalist militias. In
Damascus, rebels took complete control of District of Hajal Al-Aswad
(LCC).
Reporters Without Borders grants its Freedom of the Press
Award to Mazen Darweesh, the well-known Syrian human rights activist currently
languishing in jail.
News
Richard
Engel of NBC Is Freed in Syria The identities of the kidnappers and
their motives were unknown. But an article on the NBC News Web site quotes Mr.
Engel as saying their captors “were talking openly about their loyalty to the
government” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Special
Reports
As the civil war escalates around the
capital, doctors are treating up to 100 injured a day at the 400-bed Damascus
Hospital and have had to use local anesthetics even for complicated operations,
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. Cases of severe acute malnutrition in
children being referred to the hospital from rural Damascus, Deir al-Zor,
Hassakeh, Deraa and Homs have risen to 7-8 a month from 2-3 in previous months,
he said, and staff and patients have difficulty reaching health care facilities
due to deepening insecurity.
… perhaps the greatest justice could
be found in ensuring a way for the international community to act, to prevent
such slaughters. For whether they are yesterday's mass graves in Bosnia, or
today's mass graves in Syria, the sick, sticky scent of death will linger, long
after the international community fails to act.
Given that Lesch has consulted for the
American government, and that his access to al-Assad was itself an act of
public diplomacy on the part of Syria’s Ba’athist regime, the value of his work
is to shed light on the deeply ambiguous relationship between Western
officialdom and that regime in the last few decades—and the embarrassing series
of about-turns that ensued when this relationship was confronted with the Arab
Spring in 2011.
As temperatures drop and the weakened
government’s artillery thunders on, Aleppo is administered by no one and
slipping into disaster. Front-line neighborhoods are rubble. Most of the city’s
districts have had no electricity and little water for weeks. All of Aleppo
suffers from shortages of oil, food, medicine, doctors and gas. Diseases are
spreading. Parks and courtyards are being defoliated for firewood, turning
streets once lined with trees into avenues bordered by stumps. Months’ worth of
trash is piled high, often beside bread lines where hundreds of people wait for
a meager stack of loaves.
Syria
Deeply
Abu Furat defected after he received
orders to shell a village in Latakia earlier this year. He joined the Islamist
Tawheed Brigade, the largest rebel group in Aleppo, and would often pop up in
videos from the frontlines, always ready with an uplifting and compassionate
message.
Video Highlights
Leaked video documents use of missile launchers by pro-regime militias
in the battles in the Eastern Ghoutah Region, Damascus http://youtu.be/PW83A_CIr_A Another
leaked video documents the use of heavy artillery in pounding the town of Zabadani
http://youtu.be/zSqNk9f2c2I
Meanwhile, MiGs keep pounding Eastern Ghoutah: Douma http://youtu.be/mmyaZowElkU , http://youtu.be/Dmw_ZncTTaE Kafar
Batna http://youtu.be/B57IV4iJSQQ
Arbeen http://youtu.be/GQu6ta6VldQ
Harasta http://youtu.be/412LWvVDxpw
Hamouriyeh http://youtu.be/32WgVSY2Fx4
and helicopters keep dropping explosive barrels: Saqba http://youtu.be/Go2HS6eKTfA Dead and
wounded in Arbeen http://youtu.be/WjTgPFBFtUE
To the West, the town of Moadamia was also pounded http://youtu.be/yMYpzHXU4U4
In Damascus City, the pounding of Yarmouk Camp continues http://youtu.be/omBVykFCL3w MIGs took
part http://youtu.be/1HDbAWpVntQ
In Hama, rebels celebrate the liberation of the town of Kafar Zeitah
http://youtu.be/6ezfrAnk1xw
Mr. Abdulhamid,
ReplyDeleteHow may American citizens participate in humanitarian relief to Syria. Is the Red Cross/Crescent a relevant organization in this conflict or is there a more specific organization we should work with?
Respectfully,
Concerned Armenian American
Despite some initial concerns, but the red cross/crescent seems to be doing a good job when they are allowed to. The problem is they are not given enough access to hard hit areas where their services are really needed. American citizens are involved in providing humanitarian relief, and much work is being done through Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Depending on the country, there are different organizations doing the work. IHH handles the work with refugees in Turkey, Red Cross/Crescent does good work with refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. IDPs are on their own, unfortunately. American volunteers might have an easier time in Jordan.
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