I have learned from bitter experience to expect the worst
whenever seemingly wise and reasonable men come to the fore in the realm of
politics, for they appear only when a situation has already been “managed” into
a catastrophe, meaning that whatever advice they will choose to offer is bound
to be laden with cynicism and aversion to action. Indeed, we are now at a stage
where spinelessness and indecision can present themselves as wisdom and
sobriety and decency can be dismissed as extremism. The resulting quagmire can
then be used to further bolster arguments about the “innate incivility of Arabs
and Muslims,” and the “utter uselessness of democracy-promotion in our region,”
paving the way for supporting the status quo, which in Syria’s case might be
civil war.
Sunday December
17, 2012
Today’s
Death Toll: 158, including 11 women and 9
children: 50 in Damascus and Suburbs, 38 in Daraa (including 5 due to the
shelling of Tafas and 13 who were field-executed in a refugee camp), 31 in
Aleppo, 13 in Hama (including 4 in Kafr Zeita and 3 in Hilfaya), 15 in Idlib, 7
in Deir Ezzor and 4 in Homs. Points of Random Shelling:
248. Clashes: 116. Rebels
in Quneitra managed to liberate the headquarters of the 90th
Brigade. They also targeted a checkpoint at Hilfaya, Hama Province, liberated
the Popular Army’s Headquarters in Raqqa City arresting all loyalist soldiers inside,
and blocked several attempts by regime forces to storm the cities and towns of
Eastern Ghoutah, Damascus (LCC).
News
Syrian
army tanks close in on Damascus Palestinian camp Residents fear Assad
loyalists will enter in search of rebel groups after refugees become drawn into
conflict in Syria
Syria
Says Opposition Could Use Chemical Weapons Syria's U.N. ambassador is
warning that extremist groups could use chemical weapons against the Syrian
people and blame the government. Bashar Ja'afari reiterated in letters,
circulated Monday, to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon that the Syrian government is "genuinely worried" that
foreign countries could provide chemical weapons to armed groups "and then
claim they had been used by the Syrian government."
Syria
Warns Refugees Not to Aid Rebels The Syrian warning appeared to reflect
the importance that Mr. Assad attaches to the loyalty of the country’s
Palestinians, an important element of what remains of his political legitimacy…
The warning aimed at these Palestinians was conveyed in a news dispatch by
SANA, the official news agency, about a telephone conversation between the
country’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, and the United Nations secretary
general, Ban Ki-moon.
Syria
VP says neither side can win outright "We must position
ourselves to defend Syria's existence -- we are not in a battle for an
individual or a regime."The various opposition forces -- whether armed or
civilian, or linked to foreign powers -- cannot claim they are the sole
legitimate representatives of the Syrian people," he added, referring to
the decision of Arab and Western governments last week to recognise the armed
opposition. He called for confidence-building measures between the warring
parties and said that "the solution must be Syrian, but through a historic
settlement including key regional countries and (UN) Security Council member
states." "This accord must first bring about an end to all forms of
violence and establish a national unity government with broad powers," he
added.
Foreign
nerves limit Syria rebel arms, Assad's arsenals raided Syrian rebel
success in capturing government armories is rendering increasingly irrelevant
Western efforts to limit supplies from abroad and avoid sophisticated arms
reaching Islamist militants.
Special
Reports
No
Water, Power, Cash: Syria Rebels Run Broke Town
The anti-regime locals who have thrown together a ramshackle administration to run this northern Syrian town have one main struggle: Finding money to keep their community alive. Like other nearby rebel-held towns, Maaret Misreen is broke. Many of the town's 45,000 residents are out of work. There's no cash to keep water or electricity running, so they come on only sporadically. Prices have skyrocketed. Long lines form at the only working bakery for miles around, creating vulnerable potential targets for airstrikes.
The anti-regime locals who have thrown together a ramshackle administration to run this northern Syrian town have one main struggle: Finding money to keep their community alive. Like other nearby rebel-held towns, Maaret Misreen is broke. Many of the town's 45,000 residents are out of work. There's no cash to keep water or electricity running, so they come on only sporadically. Prices have skyrocketed. Long lines form at the only working bakery for miles around, creating vulnerable potential targets for airstrikes.
Ali was the fourth baby to die in
three weeks in the windswept camp. United Nations aid workers say none of the
deaths were the direct result of conditions in Zaatari, yet they highlight the
challenge facing relief agencies scrambling to provide basic shelter for half a
million refugees in the region.
These days, Zahle is a place of
safety. Christian families fleeing the violence and chaos of Syria's civil war
just a few kilometres further down that ancient highway are arriving in the city
where Christian aid agencies care for them. The question is - will be they be
able to return to their homes once the fighting dies down or will they become
the latest chapter in the long story of the how the Christian population of the
Middle East is continuing to decline?
Among those with money to throw around
in the scrum for influence are groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, which the State
Department says has ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Contreras’s pictures from Syria have
proven to be not only significant and, in some cases, unforgettable. His
sequences invariably capture the anguish of a conflict that has trapped
countless civilians in their own land and made refugees of tens of thousands
more, while more than a few of his individual photos already feel iconic.
Just a day after Iran’s foreign
minister pledged unwavering support for the embattled Assad, officials in
Tehran outlined on Sunday a step-by-step peace plan for Syria capped by elections
that presumably could usher in a new leader in Damascus.
In Qabbasin secondary school, students
are learning English and putting ethnic tensions aside
Mr. Sharaa says that both the regime
and rebels will need to work together to resolve the conflict in Syria, since
neither has exclusive rights to dictate the country's future.
Syria
Deeply
There are roughly 2.5 million Alawites
in Syria, making up 13% of the population. They are the stalwarts of Assad’s
inner circle, disproportionally represented in military and security posts (a
U.S. official told Syria Deeply that 80% of military officers come from the
sect).
Enter The Wise Men
Patrick Cockburn argues
that the civil war in Syria is not a “fight between goodies and baddies.” Meanwhile, Chuck Hagel, our potential future
Secretary of Defense admonishes
that “You've got to be patient, smart, wise, manage the problem.”
What can I say? Both men are right. At this stage, cynicism is amply
justified, especially for those who could forget how we got here, how it all
began. After all, twenty months is more than enough for so many people to
forget that at one point this was a nonviolent pro-democracy protest movement,
that Assad and his minions were the clear “baddies” who put us on this course,
while world leaders buried their heads in their favorite hole where few sunrays
can penetrate. Once you are willing to forget all about the dithering, the
willful blindness, the duplicity and the downright betrayal that helped pave the
way to this moment, then the Cockburns and Hagels of the world can step onto
the stage and play the wise men trying to inject a sober note into the ongoing
discussions.
I have learned from bitter experience to expect the worst whenever seemingly
wise and reasonable men come to the fore in the realm of politics, for they
appear only when a situation has already been “managed” into a catastrophe,
meaning that whatever advice they will choose to offer is bound to be laden
with cynicism and aversion to action. Indeed, we are now at a stage where
spinelessness and indecision can present themselves as wisdom and sobriety and
decency can be dismissed as extremism. The resulting quagmire can then be used
to further bolster arguments about the “innate incivility of Arabs and Muslims,”
and the “utter uselessness of democracy-promotion in our region,” paving the
way for supporting the status quo, which in Syria’s case might be civil war.
Still, Cockburn and Hagel are right. By now, there is enough sectarian
hatred, enough weapons and enough hotheads on both sides to trample underfoot
all the “goodies” and confuse all facts, that is, if you want to be confused,
and if you inner disposition has since the onset been in favor of standing on
the sidelines watching.
The reality is; nothing that is happening in Syria is so unique or unpredictable.
The scenario with all its variables is quite familiar and those who really want
to manage the situation can do so, effectively even, if they have the will to
do it, otherwise, and as the recent Massacre of Aqrab shows, our wise men will
keep finding incidents that can be used to justify their calls for “patient,
wise, smart” management of the problem, which usually result in lack of any
serious action, pushing us further and further into the quagmire.
The Massacre at Aqrab
As more details emerge regarding the massacre of Alawite civilians at
Aqrab, it becomes clear that the rebels’ version calls for some serious
scrutiny. While mass suicide/homicide involving Alawite militias and their
families seems to have taken place, it is the rebels’ siege of their homes that
seems to have prompted this course. Moreover, involvement by foreign Jihadi
elements in the battle has been reported
by some eye-witnesses. Still, neither this account nor the account provided by
the rebels, which I have previously relayed,
are satisfactory. Further investigation is definitely required.
This is not Houla, as Alex Thomson clearly notes
in his report. The absence of the usual “song and dance,” to use his own
unfortunate wording, and the absent of any YouTubes showing grieving parents
and mass burials come as clear indication that something is amiss here. The days
of innocence are indeed over. Rebels have learned by now what international
media want to hear, so they gave us a version of events that catered to that. Their
account of such developments cannot be taken at face value.
I have earlier referred
to the incident in Aqrab as a Massada option, because such developments cannot
take place unless people are desperate and under siege. Rather than trying to
ignore this incident, opposition groups need to lead efforts to understand what
happened there and establish mechanisms to prevent recurrence, otherwise, all
will be lost.
With or without international support, this is the kind of situations
we need to confront by ourselves, we cannot wait for anyone to help and we
cannot keep throwing our hands in the air. Frustration is no excuse for
adopting the same tactics that the regime has deployed against us. This kind of
incidents happens only when there is failure in leadership, at a time when we
are trying to convince the international community that we are finally getting our
act together, and have finally developed a credible leadership structure, what
better ways to underscore that than by taking a clear and moral stand on such
developments?
If we cannot make Aqrab a turning point for the good, it will become a
turning point for the hideous.
Video Highlights
The pounding of the Palestinian-majority neighborhood of Yarmouk
in Damascus City by pro-Assad militias was quite intense http://youtu.be/Pxz5vv7rjdU Regime used
missile launchers http://youtu.be/XUwZp851s20
But rebels reportedly remain in control of it. The fighting and the pounding
drive thousands of residents away http://youtu.be/H8UyZh4gnOs
Aerial raids against the towns and villages of Eastern Ghoutah,
Damascus, continue http://youtu.be/syw43ySv0dM
Pro-Assad militias commit a massacre in a refugee camp in Tafas,
Daraa Province http://youtu.be/mSsisMvhvHw
The usual grief http://youtu.be/RTwmERSRlcQ
And gory scenes http://youtu.be/BR58_KRPhFQ
The dead were olive farmers http://youtu.be/UHwS0p3u81I
Rebels in Aleppo City take control of the Local Infantry School http://youtu.be/ohouRBx61AE With this
step, rebels come in possession of much needed equipment including tanks http://youtu.be/St4XfJeN71E , http://youtu.be/i25QmNc9Ag0 guns and
ammunition http://youtu.be/aDlvQRbvlLk
The battle was bloody and there were many wounded http://youtu.be/vxmnKFHf4cM
Rebels destroy a checkpoint near Hilfaya, Hama Province,
destroying a tank in the process http://youtu.be/MAsfPiofLJw
The checkpoint was used to pound the town http://youtu.be/BvUmFeLCWKA
Rebels and loyalists clash in Deir Ezzor City http://youtu.be/pbCm9Abokd8 , http://youtu.be/U_YHNuq9NlM
Leaked video shows pro-Assad militias executing an unarmed civilian http://youtu.be/pcaJcd6gXdQ
Rebels in Aleppo are manufacturing their own missiles: Rohingya
1 and 2, named after the persecuted ethnic Muslim minority in Burma http://youtu.be/eEqNrtHxZrs It takes 6
hours to manufacture each missile which reportedly has arrange of three
Kilometers.
A pro-Assad militiaman captures how he and his comrades strolled into a
village, thinking that it has been evacuated by rebels http://youtu.be/3sN90sSC314 only to be
caught in an ambush http://youtu.be/uRE3b3L8Tis
Ten were killed. The incident took place in the village of Joussiyeh, Homs
Province.
A video obtained from the mobile of a captured loyalist shows the
extant of involvement by Hezbollah operatives in current events in
Syria. Hezbollah troops clearly took part in storming restive neighborhoods in
Homs City back in summer of 2011. They can be identified by the yellow ribbons
around their upper arms http://youtu.be/RB6dBNmsF3I
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