A policy of hoping for the best and preparing for nothing
seems to be the modus operandi now for many western governments with regard to
the ongoing crisis in Syria. At a time when credible security reports
proliferate regarding the potential use of chemical weapons by the regime, this
is nothing short of a recipe for disaster, in a region that may not be able to handle
a new one.
Sunday December
9, 2012
Today’s
Death Toll: 116, including 4 women and 10
children: 41 in Damascus and suburbs, 32
in Aleppo (including
20 burned near the Air Force Intelligence branch), 22 in Idlib (including 7
members of a single family), 8 in Homs, 8 in Daraa, and 5 in Deir Ezzor. Points of Random Shelling: 257. Clashes: 97. The most significant
clashes took place in Damascus and suburbs. Rebels struck
Port Said checkpoint
in Qadam and a defense factory in Sayeda Zainab. In Hama, they struck the northern
checkpoint at Shayzar Palace. In Aleppo, rebels stormed the 111th Brigade
(LCC).
News
Special
Reports
It's not about them; it's about us —
and the influence we'll have when they win.
Mohammad Jumbaz and Ayat Al-Qassab got
married in Syria despite the violence around them.
Sky's Tim Marshall gains rare access
to a prison where he finds evidence that international jihadists are operating
in Syria.
… the passions unleashed by what is
happening next door are proving harder and harder for Lebanon to contain,
adding to concerns that it, too, could become enmeshed in the bloodshed.
The outskirts of Damascus have become
a battleground, with some of the fiercest fighting the city has seen yet.
Syrian rebels say they're closing in on the capital, street by street.
… the rumble of distant artillery
echoes through the city, and its residents are afraid to leave their
neighborhoods. Cocooned behind rows of concrete blocks that close off routes to
the center, they huddle in fear of a prolonged battle that could bring
destruction and division to a place where secular and religious Syrians from
many sects — Sunni, Shiite, Alawite, Christian and others — have long lived
peacefully.
The fully-enclosed vehicle made from
light steel is about four meters in length and two meters across, mounted with
a 7.62 mm machine gun controlled from inside the cabin. The vehicle has five
cameras: three at the front, one in the back and another attached to the gun. The
crew inside the cabin are fully protected, with the driver maneuvering the
vehicle by watching a screen which displays video from the cameras.
The most likely option, however, and
one that appears already to be under way, is for the regime and the core of the
army and security forces to retreat to the Alawite-populated mountains on the
Mediterranean coast. Diplomatic sources say that there are unconfirmed reports
that the regime is planning to register all Sunnis who live in the coastal
cities of Tartous, Banias, and Latakia which could potentially form part of an
Alawite-dominated enclave. The coastal cities are predominantly Sunni-populated
while the mountain hinterland is mainly Alawite.
Money flows to the group, the Nusra
Front, from like-minded donors abroad. Its fighters, a small minority of the
rebels, have the boldness and skill to storm fortified positions and lead other
battalions to capture military bases and oil fields. As their successes mount,
they gather more weapons and attract more fighters. The group is a direct
offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraqi officials and former Iraqi insurgents say,
which has contributed veteran fighters and weapons.
Assad’s security and intelligence
chiefs believe the rebels’ convergence on the capital provides a unique
“opportunity to exterminate them,” the source said. The Iraqi Sadrist leader
said the Syrian regime’s political military and security factions have become
more desperate as rebel forces converge on Damascus, and therefore the regime
won’t hesitate to use “any weapon” against the opposition, Al-Seyassah
reported.
Better to hold out in an enclave, the
minority ruling sect will conclude, than risk annihilation at the hands of
vengeful Sunnis. Better to be a spoiler in an anarchic Syria, figures Shiite
Iran, than to see a strategic ally flip over to the opposing Sunni bloc. If
Syria’s war takes this most likely of courses, how will the United States and
its allies protect their interests? Officials seem to have no plan, other than
to hope that the scenarios they are thinking about won’t happen.
Newsweek experts weigh in on what the
U.S. must do to stop the bloodshed.
… the de-throning of Assad doesn't
necessarily spell the end of the battle, but it will mark the start of a long
weary road to weed out corruption. In a future Syria, the presence of mutual
interests between those who fancy themselves as opposition leaders and regime
remnants will threaten our dream of truly attaining democracy and equality.
Syria Deeply
This clip circulating making the round on the internet is troubling indeed,
for it seems to come as part of ongoing preparations by the regime for covering
up a potential recourse to chemical weapons.
The clip shows an alleged Jihadi scientist mixing up chemicals to
create toxic fumes that kill two laboratory rabbits. The Jihadist, then,
threatened to do the same to the Nusairis, the Jihadi derogatory name for Alawites
http://youtu.be/WNYSD6wNz3k
While western governments and foreign reporters may not buy the lie, the
main audience here is, as always, the regime’s supporters who needs these
crimes to be committed without having to feel guilty, and what better way for
them than to believe that the crimes have actually been perpetrated by the
enemies themselves as part of the ongoing conspiracy? This is what’s been
happening all along in fact. Most massacres have been blamed by regime supporters
on Jihadi infiltrators, and occasionally, some members of the western media has
been taken in by that, as we have seen in the case of the Houla Massacre.
This video might also be aimed at Russians who could use it. FM Lavrov’s
recent statements
on this matter might signal a willingness to blame the militants:
“According to our
information, and this information we pass to our US colleagues, and European
colleagues, [the Syrian] government does not have such intentions and cannot
have, because this is all very serious… True danger from Syrian chemical
weapons is if militants acquire them.”
And so the Great Game continues.
Video Highlights
Sfeira, Aleppo: is this evidence of use of chemical weapons, or
are these “simple” burns http://youtu.be/SN5Zo7ggHNc
A barrel bomb causes a fire that locals have difficulty extinguishing,
as water and soil keep boiling http://youtu.be/K3emnVCMZwc
9 judges from Idlib Province announce their defection http://youtu.be/qB7yyXa7IOA
Dr. Eyad Qunaibi, an
Islamist Jordanian preacher, addresses his followers to try to explain
the implications of having Jabhat Al-Nusra declared as a terrorist group. This
move, he says, means that working for the establishment of an Islamic state is
a terrorist project in itself for the U.S. and the international community http://youtu.be/bk4CvVrsiZ0 Secular
elements are all considered agents of the West, and he denounces the
establishment of the National Coalition http://youtu.be/iFLSZ0Cs2j4 Even though, Dr. Qunaibi is Jordanian, his
views represent those of the domestic, regional and international backers of
Al-Nusra. Attempts to isolate Al-Nusra will be portrayed as part of the ongoing
war on Islam. At this stage in the conflict, this message will resonate among certain
segments of the population on the home front, as well as among expatriate and
refugee communities.
Islamist Rebels affiliated with Islamic Front for the Liberation of
Syria, succeed in controlling the Air-Defense Base 608 in Aleppo, coming
into possession of few surface-to-air missiles known as Volga or SAM 2 http://youtu.be/uHdSHl4r3XE
An explosive barrel dropped over the town of Daraya, Damascus,
fails to explode. It looks different from previous examples http://youtu.be/v1e_YY06zsY
The battles in and around Harasta and the Eastern Ghoutah
Region, Damascus, continue http://youtu.be/gthJ64tmiuM
, http://youtu.be/SQVdCleECq8
Rebels in Utaya, Damascus, take control of a mobile missile
launcher http://youtu.be/ONK3ZvJMzGY
MiGs pound the neighborhood of Deir Baalbah in Homs http://youtu.be/0rRSI3ETvQE , http://youtu.be/BRhMaxvxjQ8 Indeed, the
battles in and around Homs are resuming their earlier intensity, perhaps as
part of the preparation for a fallback position should Damascus fall into rebel
hands. Jobar http://youtu.be/zBin6bsYSpo
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