Wariness over providing support to rebel groups is legitimate
and understandable, but it is becoming increasingly untenable. At one point the
U.S. will have to secure Syria’s WMDs stockpiles. Without rebel cooperation, the
task, which is already daunting, would become impossible. The U.S. needs to
cultivate goodwill among rebel groups in Syria, and for this, it needs to begin
providing them with the support they need in their battle to reclaim the country
from the psychopaths in charge.
Tuesday December
4, 2012
Today’s
Death Toll: 184, including 1 woman and 33
children: 110 in Damascus and suburbs (including 40 in Bahdalieh and 30
students martyred when regime forces shelled a school in the Wafideen camp), 21
in Aleppo, 17 in Homs, 12 in Daraa, 10 in Deir Ezzor, 8 in Idlib, 5 in Hama,
and 1 from Tartous killed in Idlib. Points of
Random Shelling: 245. Clashes:
143. Rebels blocked several attempts at storming different
towns in Eastern Ghoutah Region in Damascus and shelled the Military Airport of
Deir Ezzor (LCC).
News
Special
Reports
Each day's news brings more reasons to
believe the Assad regime's fall cannot be far away. Viewed individually these
signs may not in themselves spell doom for the regime but collectively they do:
1) Withdrawal of UN and diplomatic personnel, 2) Jihad Makdissi flees, 3)
Damascus airport [closed], 4) Internet shutdown, 5) US reviewing its options,
and 6) Chemical weapons.
Syrian rebels have made significant
gains in recent weeks as support for Assad shows signs of fraying.
…if you’re going to go the
humanitarian intervention route you can’t have “overthrow Assad” as the
stopping point. In fact, overthrowing Assad has to be the beginning of a very
lengthy process of political reconciliation in an extraordinarily tense and
dangerous environment.
For many months, Damascus was spared
the worst of the fighting. But amid the increasing battles in and around the
city, almost every Damascene household seems to be doubling or tripling up with
extended family.
Like many men on the front line, the
Sniper has found solace in religion, but his is a politicized form of Islam. He
speaks admirably of the extremist Jabhat al-Nusra group that has been
responsible for some of the most spectacular suicide bombings against regime
targets. “They are clean and doing good work,” he says. He wants to join them,
if he can “cleanse” his body and mind, he says pointing to a red pack of
Gauloises cigarettes. A day later, he quit smoking.
The Syrians who walked 18 hours to
seek refuge in Lebanon have escaped the fear of government attack. But with the
brutal winter closing in, some would rather go back home to warfare.
Skyrocketing food prices and shortages
mean some Syrian children are eating only one small meal a day, if that.
Residents in one Aleppo neighborhood have taken matters into their own hands,
collecting money to buy food for the neediest -- but it's never enough.
Inside Syria, Russian envoys are
meeting opposition politicians. Two weeks from now, Russia will support a
meeting in Italy of what it hopes will be a pro-Russian group: the National
Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change.
Upholding the U.S. declaration
requires readiness to commit armed forces to eliminating Syria's CW capability
and punishing the regime and its forces for using them. It means having
military assets earmarked or in place to act quickly with overwhelming force,
and to deal with the post-attack environment. It does not mean relying on
diplomacy as the sole or even main response. Failure to respond with force to
any use of chemical weapons would be dire. The regime would see it as a signal
to conduct more attacks, and the opposition would see it as a complete
abandonment.
The former secretary of state,
speaking at the Women in the World Summit, addresses reports that chemical
weapons are being readied by the Syrian government.
The fighting follows a number of gains
for opposition forces in the north of Syria, which has sparked optimism among
Syrians hoping for the downfall of the Assad regime.
Pro-democracy activists are concerned
that US and Western reticence is inadvertently handing the initiative to
radical Islamist forces which receive considerable financial and military
assistance from the Gulf.
Video Highlights
Activists in Damascus produce their own video reportage on the siege of
Damascus International Airport, getting within a hundred meters of the airport
fence. Loyalist troops are nowhere to be seen, choosing to barricade themselves
inside the fence. The local rebel commander says that the only reason they decided
to target the airport is to cut off the regime supply lines of weapons http://youtu.be/7gQSgXToOL0
In Douma, Damascus, this video, found on the mobile phone of a
loyalist soldier, document the last stand of a group of Alawite loyalists
before rebels took over their position http://youtu.be/_oivjlNR7zE
A massacre in nearby Diyabiyeh http://youtu.be/ATMyfKU497I
Missile launchers in Mazzeh Airport in Damascus City target
Daraya and other restive suburbs to the south of Damascus http://youtu.be/6OsAle_qCQo
Rebels in Damascus showcase some of the missiles that they have gained
during their recent operations http://youtu.be/mj2oQio0j6k
Rebels showcase a tank they have gained in their operations near Agrab,
Homs http://youtu.be/SOfMfGHpk5Y they
also say that the random shelling does not discriminate between Sunni and
Alawite inhabitants, albeit the shelling does come from nearby Alawite villages
http://youtu.be/-cDHH_xPOBY
Rebels move to lay siege to Manag Military Airport, Aleppo
Province http://youtu.be/YnpYMiRHLDU
Fears of a chemical attack prompted some activists to make a video on
how a makeshift gas mask can be made http://youtu.be/B1i_Dues4Q8
Activists in Kafrenbel, Idlib, risk life and limb to document
the impact of shelling on their community http://youtu.be/UEb8IoT7_Lo
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