Friday 28 February 2014


Sectarianism and the Arab revolutions
Bassem Chit"In Syria the Assad regime portrays itself as the protector of religious minorities in the face of the "dark forces" of the "Sunni-Takfiri" groups, while Lebanon's Hezbollah, a Shia political force, justifies its military intervention in support of the regime both as a battle against the "US-Israeli-Takfiri Plot", and to protect the legacy of Zainab, the daughter of Imam Ali (cousin of the prophet), who was captured in the battle of Karbala in 680 CE, by adopting the slogan, "Zainab shall not be captured twice". This expresses both the nationalist and sectarian dimension of its intervention.
The Al Qaida affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/Levant (ISIS) and its rivals in Jabhat al-Nusra are both examples of newly formed sectarian organisations in Syria. They arose as a reaction to the weak structures of the Free Syrian Army and to the brutal onslaught of the Syrian regime on the popular uprising. Many people who did not agree with their deeply sectarian ideology found in them the discipline lacking in other fighting organisations in Syria."
I understand that a lot of ISIS are foreign fighters.


ISIS jihadists retreat from
parts of north Syria: activists
' "God is greatest. The heroes of the Free Syrian Army and the Northern Storm (Brigade) have liberated the town of Aazaz from the dogs of Baghdadi," the centre wrote on its Facebook page, referring to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.'

Life Love & Unity

Syria opposition National Council
to rejoin Coalition

Thursday 27 February 2014

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All That Was Left of Yarmouk: Notes to an Accomplice"There is, of course, the anger towards those who remained silent or only spoke to say that all parties shared the blame. Well, only one of those parties remains. There are no more weapons in Yarmouk. No more oppositional fighters. All that is left of Yarmouk is the enduring horror; it’s raspy sobbing telling us what we should have known all along. The devil doesn’t go away simply because you meet his demands."

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Image result for Assad's system of state terror tortured my son to death

Assad's system of state terror
tortured my son to death
"Hearing the regime voicing lies and propaganda about ‘terrorism’ in Geneva, at the same time I was receiving news of Wissam’s death at the hands of their state terror filled me with bitterness. The world must see the irony that the Assad regime continues to wage more pain and terror on the Syrian people than most civilised people could comprehend. My family have testified to this in the most excruciating way, as thousands of Syrian families will continue to do if the world just stands and lets Assad continue these war crimes with impunity."

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QUSAI ZAKARYA: REGIME’S STARVATION TACTIC ‘MAKES PEOPLE HELPLESS’
"Moadimiyet-a-Sham was one of the biggest setbacks for the Assad regime, because it is in a strategic place and is surrounded by its most powerful military divisions. The regime has tried to take control over it dozens of times. Of course, the biggest attempt was on August 21, 2013, when the Assad regime used weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons. Even then he wasn’t able to control it.
Most people of the town would never dream of settling for anything other than having the Assad regime going down, sending the criminals to justice and starting to build a new Syria that fits all, but eventually the Assad starvation weapon managed to change a lot of people’s beliefs...
But because the world has stood still during the past three years of the Syrian revolution, again we have found ourselves on our own to adjust to this terrifying reality."

Tuesday 25 February 2014

Moazzam Begg

Ex-Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg
held in Birmingham terror raids
'In January of this year Begg condemned Britain's approach to Syria and the alleged criminalising of those who go out to fight there. He wrote: "It is not hard to understand why Muslims would want to go out to Syria to help. Scores of them go every month on humanitarian aid missions and face endless questioning at ports by British police under schedule 7 anti-terrorism powers. It is also understandable why people want to go out and fight for what they believe is a just cause, even if the wisdom of them doing so can be questioned." '

Monday 24 February 2014

Image result for Syria crisis: Thousands waiting for food in Yarmouk

Syria crisis: Thousands
waiting for food in Yarmouk

It's like that for everyone here." - A hungry kid from the report shown on TV.
That's sixty packets of food for 20,000 people. I've heard that some people can do wonders with five loaves and a couple of fish.


Appeasing Assad; Why Jeffrey Sachs is so Very Wrong
"Sachs, like so many Lefists, has got it so very backwards. If America cut off what little aid it sends to rebel groups, it would have no effect whatsoever on the conflict. And yet if Iran and Hizbollah withdrew their support for Assad, the regime would collapse within a matter of months."

Sunday 23 February 2014

Image result for Local truces aside, the ingredients for a long Syrian war are all still in place

Local truces aside, the ingredients for a long Syrian war are all still in place

"Given that the rebels are at present divided,"
They are united about overthrowing Assad.
"lacking popular support"
No.
"and on the retreat,"
According to Patrick Cockburn's mates in the Syrian Army in Homs and Damascus.
"it may take years of warfare before they and their Western and regional backers can dictate surrender terms to the other side."
Then maybe these backers should hand over sufficient weaponry for them to be able to take down a dictator they have fought to a standstill with David v Goliath disparities of armament.
But wait.
"It could happen more quickly only if the Assad government and the Syrian army were shorn of support from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, something that, so far, is not happening."
Now maybe if we'd focused on that...
But wait.
"If anything, the struggle for the Ukraine between the West and Moscow is likely to make the Russians even more determined not to see their status as a great power eroded by defeat in Syria."
This is just reporting Russian desires as immutable necessities. All along Cockburn has told us that if the cost is raised to the Russians of staying with Assad, they will respond by doubling down on him. The events in the near-abroad, as Russian foreign policy calls its ex-colonial possessions, are likely to impact more, but the logical lesson would be that pissing off too many people may lead to foreign policy failures.
"These appointments do not mean any reduction in direct Saudi support for the rebels but they do denote a policy more closely aligned with the US."
You realise at this point that Cockburn's analysis is useless. The Saudis are in dispute with the US about whether they can supply the rebels with anti-aircraft weapons, which is not lessened by Bandar's replacement.
"It is naive in these circumstances to imagine that the dispatch of shoulder-held anti-aircraft or anti-tank weapons, as is now predicted, is going to make the rebels more successful. Journalists, intelligence officers and rebels tend to be over-impressed by the idea that arms such as these make much difference."
Cockburn is like those other journalists and intelligence officers who don't care if those weapons would stop Assad's attacks on civilians.
"One of the big mistakes of the opposition and its backers has been to allow the question of who rules in Damascus to become part of the hot and cold war between Iran and its enemies, and between Shia and Sunni, conflicts that have been going on since the Iranian revolution in 1979."
It is Cockburn and his like who have been trying to make out that this is all about the Sunni-Shia difference,about Iran and not about a dictator and a people that have had enough.

Saturday 22 February 2014


Has the time come to
acknowledge the conspiracies?

"Syria, for its part, was and is a country ruled by a regime that is completely subservient to Iran’s regional project. What is worse, Israel itself has not genuinely viewed Iran’s growing regional influence as a threat to its borders and national security.
One may say that this point alone is enough for rational observers to realize why Washington’s and Tel Aviv’s approach to Tehran and its stooge, the Damascus regime, has amounted to nothing more than empty words."
I think this might be slightly negative about the military situation, "The situation facing the Free Syrian Army on the ground has worsened recently as the regime stepped up its attacks on the remaining rebel-controlled areas in the Qalamoun Mountains and in the northern and southern parts of the country," but yes.


Exclusive: Leaked Powerpoint of Saudi Pitch
to Obama for Regime Change in Syria
Success Equals = Happy Syrians!
Wendy Pearlman Headshot

The Argument Against U.S. Intervention in Syria... And Why It's Wrong
"From the left, some criticize U.S. intervention as neo-imperialist militarism that will advance American hegemony rather than aid the oppressed. This criticism is important, but should not justify inaction that effectively forsakes the oppressed. Non-interventionists can direct their activism toward ensuring that US involvement does not stray from humanitarian goals and remains within the parameters for which Syrian revolutionaries are themselves clamoring."

Image result for Robert Fisk: Ukraine’s future is tied up with Syria’s – and Vladimir Putin is crucial to both

Robert Fisk: Ukraine’s future is tied up with Syria’s – and Vladimir Putin is crucial to both

The same lie by Fisk in each case, to claim that the fascists/jihadists are the main players. And repeating that America was "threatening to bomb Syria" doesn't make it any more true that they were going to do such a thing.
"The initial Syrian opposition to Assad – following revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt – was peaceful, although armed men did occasionally appear even in the early days of the revolt. Then military deserters formed an armed opposition that was swiftly taken over by radicals more interested in replacing Assad with a caliphate than the “free Syria” which the opposition originally demanded. So, too, in Kiev: Yanukovych’s opponents found themselves, after several weeks, uneasily linked to small, right-wing, neo-Nazi groups who had – in the eyes of their enemies – more in common with the Ukrainian fascists who helped the Germans in the Second World War than with the Soviet resistance to Nazi occupation."
There are some further lies, the idea that the revolutionaries in Syria are Sunni sectarians fighting a government that enjoys considerable Sunni support, or this, "Once Syria’s unrest became weaponised on both sides, the West and its Arab allies sent military equipment to Assad’s enemies."

Friday 21 February 2014


Israeli Arab Charged With Attempting to Recruit Soldiers for Syria’s Civil War

From The Onion


Syria Conflict Intensifies As Bears Enter War

Image

U.S. opposes supply of shoulder-fired missiles to Syria rebels


Syria and the parable of the poisoned arrow
"The most vociferous opposition to Manpads circulating in Syria comes from Israel — which also happens to be the power that appears most content with a continuing stalemate."

A child in Aleppo, Syria, on 13 February 2014

As Syria devours itself, UN dithers on aid"Russia sees humanitarian aid as a threat to Syria’s sovereignty"
It is a threat to Assad, who is fighting a war against civilians.
[http://warincontext.org/…/russia-sees-humanitarian-aid-as-…/]


Dreyfuss on Obama Plans to Escalate the War in Syria
"Civilians are being slaughtered on the ground by Assad's air force because they have no defense against his planes. In this context, anti-aircraft missiles will save lives. This is the "escalation" that Dreyfuss is worried about. His assertion that al Qaeda will get them and use them against El Al, is just so much speculation and fearmongering. There are ways, including technical, to guard against that. What they will do now is save lives by stopping Assad's planes from bombing people unopposed."

Thursday 20 February 2014


The vicious schism between Sunni and Shia has been poisoning Islam for 1,400 years - and it's getting worseWhen I first saw Christopher Hitchens describe 9/11 as a continuation of the siege of Vienna in 1689, it seemed to have some sense. Now it just seems Islamophobic. As does this. The uprising in Syria is not driven by immutable sectarian differences, but is a response to oppression, sometimes against the sectarian oppression of the Assad régime. To equate those revolting with those they revolt against, to say we cannot tell the difference between the two, is revolting, as it is in Bahrain, where it is the Shia masses revolting against a Sunni oppressor. The violence in Egypt is pretty much all the military government against any opposition at the moment.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Chomsky on the Middle East



 "Israel has shown no indication that that it wants the rebels to win in Syria, and nor incidentally does the US", said Dr. Noam Chomsky in a recent interview with Radio VR in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


Truce or Dare? Assad moves
to neutralize capital

'To make the truce more attractive, the regime is offering the release of local activists and fighters, reinstating basic services like electricity and water, partial rebuilding, and the return of refugees. Through the return of refugees, weary activists believe, the regime aims to reinstate the old order of fear.
The collective punishment inflicted in Daraya, Barzeh and Maadamiya, will serve the regime well, they believe, as the returning refugees will resist any form of dissent or opposition. “The regime is now reaping the benefits of its collective punishment policy,” Alaa says, “it is what it knows best since the massacre of Hama in 1982; they plant destruction, and harvest fear.” '
Thus laying the basis for future massacres if the régime regains control (which I doubt, as fighters elsewhere are not going to lay down their arms). Resisting the militarisation of the opposition has meant leaving them defenceless against the régime all along.

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Winter in Atmeh … the camp is still growing fast.

'There's no hope left': the Syrian refugee camp that is becoming a township


"In some areas of Syria, Assad's scorched-earth policy has had a military objective – to drive out communities that provide succour to opposition fighters. In others (such as the Homs region, where Assad's men have burned the property registry), the strategy looks like a more permanent ethnic cleansing. The refugees know this, and they are bitter about it. After Assad they blame his Iranian and Russian backers, and the Arabs who haven't done enough, and also the west, which is fixated on Islamist radicalism instead of on the regime that creates the conditions in which extremism flourishes."
 


The Daily Currant

download

Noam Chomsky Blames ‘White People’
For Syrian Gas Attack

"White people have the worst human rights record in the world. Who committed the holocaust? White people. Who pretended there was a genocide in Cambodia? White people. Who is responsible for Justin Bieber's music? White people.
White people are awful. If we really cared about the citizens of Syria we'd be trying to find the real perpetrators of these chemical attacks instead of bombing innocent members of the Assad regime."


The sectarian regime is the cause of sectarianism among the opposition"Even to get to a ceasefire that aids the struggle – ie, the opposite of one that merely allows the regime to go on killing behind a façade after the revolutionary forces have demobilised – will require not nice talk to a regime that has waged all-out, unlimited war for three years, but real military pressure on it via the opposition being able to get real arms in relevant quantities."

Monday 17 February 2014


A New Start To U.S. Policy In Syria Can Save Lives"In my trips to the border, there has consistently been a clear preference for moderate battalions and rejection of foreign fighters, particularly those backed by Al-Qaeda. The refugees and civilian leaders believe the illiberal rhetoric from their armed allies reflect fundraising, not ideology. People in Washington should be sympathetic to “following the money,” and when the money and guns are coming from the Saudis and Qataris, one should not be surprised to see public statements take on sectarian or theocratic tone."

syria hawking

What's happening in Syria is an abomination

Syrians routed by war find a safe haven in North Jersey


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 'Alzouabi, 42, fled with his wife and eight children from Daraa, a hotbed of anti-government protest. In the first month of protests, Alzouabi said he saw a close friend shot to death at a demonstration. Another time, he said, he was beaten by the police who questioned him for using his cellphone at a checkpoint. Alzouabi said his sister’s house was burned to the ground. Soldiers destroyed houses and cars and searched houses during the 2011 siege of Daraa, when food and electricity were cut off to neighborhoods, he said.

 “Of course we were afraid, especially when there was shelling,” he said. “We’d run from one room to another, trying to predict where the shells would fall. Sometimes we’d run in the middle of the night to seek refuge in our neighbor’s basement.” '

 Seeking refuge from the government, not from a sectarian proxy civil war where we can't tell who the good guys are.

Mysterious Island

Captain Nemo: What I did was in the name of peace. Your war, like all wars, glories in devastation and death.
Captain Cyrus Harding: Well, my war will set men free.

Sunday 16 February 2014

Image result for Lebanese border town faces influx of Syrians

Lebanese border town faces influx of Syrians

"They say they are being treated like animals, and nobody cares." And thus they don't see why people are sitting down and talking in Geneva when they are still having to flee. Quote actually from a reporter who may have been reporting live just now.

Tired Of Waiting

Waiting for death.
Waiting for the barrel of TNT to be lobbed out of the back of an Assadist helicopter onto them in Aleppo,Syria. 
Thanks @Arabized
Waiting for death
Waiting for the barrel of TNT to be lobbed out of the back of an Assadist helicopter onto them in Aleppo,Syria.

Saturday 15 February 2014

A secular-Islamist front must be built in Syria

NationalLogo

"Secular and Islamists must join forces to form a solid political and military front. This is the best way to get rid of terrorists in Syria as a prelude to toppling the regime of President Bashar Al Assad. Terrorists have always been used by Mr Al Assad’s dynasty, a fact that has grown more intense recently, as evidenced by the many documents found by the fighters of the Free Syrian Army at Isil’s dens."

Friday 14 February 2014


How to Build a Perfect Refugee Camp"The Turks may have built as good a refugee camp as it is possible to build. But a camp is still a camp. And if a camp becomes a shelter not just for a few months but for years, a substitute — even a deterrent — to a real solution, how much does it matter how nice it is?"
That's true. What's also true is that Turkey is accused by supporters of Assad of doing much harm to Syria through its support of the opposition, again the truth is that while it may be doing all this for its own purposes, it is still doing a lot of good. Generally Syrians will remember well those that helped them, and not those who did nothing but warn them of the perils of accepting help.