Israeli warplanes launch air strike inside Syria

 'Unnamed US-based Israeli officials said the target was a shipment of arms destined for Lebanon's Hezbollah.'

 1. It’s best to be suspicious of what the US and Israelis say.

 2. We do seem to be getting every report of Israeli strikes in Syria. Understandable, given the circumstances, but unlike Israeli attacks in Gaza, or drone attacks in Pakistan; which only get fully reported in the left-wing media.

 3. So it’s probably best to think that this is what it seems, a series of one-off attacks to stop heavy weaponry getting into the hands of Hezbollah. Given that those weapons are more likely to be used against Syrians, even civilians, than against Israel at the moment, I don’t think many Syrians will be too worried about it.

 4. If Israel had wanted to support the opposition, there is all sorts of weaponry they could have provided. They aren’t about to intervene in favour of the opposition.

From Our Own Correspondent

 'James Harkin's been on Turkey's border with Syria and tells a tale of the actress who couldn't stop crying and the boy who's made friends with a turtle.'

Syrians flee 'massacres' in Baniyas and al-Bayda

 'Hundreds of Syrians have fled coastal areas where activists say government forces have carried out massacres in a campaign of sectarian cleansing.

 Hundreds of families are reported to have fled Baniyas southwards towards the city of Tartus, but activists say they have been blocked from taking shelter there.'

Syria: a roadmap to peace

 The lesson of history for dealing with Syria in 2013 is not to let David Owen anywhere near it.* But he may become beloved of those who want to stop the revolution arming itself, "Sending arms is unlikely to provide a solution."

*"He implies that his Plan cannot have been responsible for fomenting inter-ethnic war, because the provinces did not have ethnic labels anyway. 'We were careful he says, 'not to label any provinces Serb Croat or Muslim, contrary to the impression given by some newspapers and commentators.' This is extraordinarily disingenuous. It is true that ethnic names were not formally added to the cantons on the official map issued with the Plan; but, as Lord Owen well knows, all parties to the negotiations understood that the basis of the Plan's territorial division was primarily ethnic, and it immediately became the normal practice of all parties to refer to the provinces envisaged by the Plan as Serb, Croat or Muslim."[http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/bosnia/owen.html]

Disabled Syrian rebel returns to the front line

 ' “I cannot forget the immense sacrifices ordinary Syrians have made for this revolution – people have lost their homes, their families,” he said, sitting on a rock near the brigade headquarters.
“That cannot be overlooked just because I’ve lost my foot. The fight must go on until Assad is overthrown.” '

The Syrian revolution has changed me as a writer

 'On 3 March 2011, I was in Syria: I witnessed peaceful protesters being killed as they offered an olive branch to the regime, who responded with murder, bombings, torture and mutilation. I saw people protesting for justice, freedom, democracy, and the Shabiha militia, security forces and army responding by killing protesters, disfiguring their corpses, laying siege to whole towns.

 They made threats against the families of activists; they arrested doctors seen helping the wounded; they worked to sow enmity between people. They wanted to create their own anarchy. If soldiers refused to kill the protesters the security forces would get rid of them once and for all. They had no choice but to desert. I was witness to the fact that the revolution did not take up arms voluntarily.'

Syrian refugees riot over Jordan camp plight

 'Inside al-Zaatari camp in Jordan, people have rioted several times over living conditions. The Jordanian authorities have insisted they are in control, but people in the camp are on edge.conditions. People in the camp are on edge.'

 Why are there millions of Syrian refugees? Because of Assad's actions and Western inaction. There was another report on al Jazeera this morning about Lebanon, with one kid living in a cemetery in the Beka'a Valley.

 Those who spend their time worrying that President Obama will do something should really worry about what is happening while he does nothing.

Staring death in the face

 'Aleppo (Salaheddin): May 1, 2013: An Assadist tank turns its cannon toward these FSA fighters and fires as it attempts to storm the Salaheddin neighborhood in Aleppo. Vastly outgunned, the FSA still prevails. The FSA has an unlimited number of people willing to fight for a free Syria since they have popular backing. Whereas Assad’s forces have a finite and dwindling army that has become almost entirely sectarian and almost fully supported by the Iranian regime and Hezbullah mercenaries.'

A poster from Zabadany, Damascus

 “On this Labor Day we salute grave diggers, the only people who are still in business.”

Why support the Syrian revolution?

 'If it prevails, the Syrian uprising will be the first truly popular revolt to succeed since 1789 - the first since the dawn of the industrial age. Unlike the Russian or Chinese or Vietnamese or Cuban revolutions, it is not the design or possession of some élite vanguard. Unlike the 19th century revolutions of Italy or Latin America, it did not coalesce around the leadership of, quite literally, a man on horseback. It did not arise under the aegis of a military hero like Turkey's Kemal Atatürk. Unlike the Tunisian revolt, it did not succeed because the régime collapsed. Unlike the Libyan revolution, it did not rely on outside participation. Unlike the Egyptian revolution, it did not leave much of the old order in place, so that nothing happens without at least the passive approval of the armed forces.'

Hezbollah’s mad gamble in Qusair

 'There are reports that Hezbollah has taken significant losses. If so, the Shiite community will accept this for a time, but unless Hezbollah can achieve its objectives relatively quickly, discontent will rise if the war in Syria turns into a grinding campaign that provokes many more Lebanese casualties.'

 I wonder if this will provoke demands within Hezbollah for a change in the leadership.

Bystanders

 President Obama: "We are not simply bystanders in Syria."

Syria’s Bloody Civil War

 'It’s not a class uprising in the sense that it has any form of clear-cut class consciousness. But the uprising started with a peripheral movement in poor rural towns, and the poorest, most downtrodden sections of the population were the insurgency’s initial force. The bourgeoisie as a whole is very afraid of the whole movement and the chaos that it creates. So there is no doubt that the uprising is a popular movement.

 But because of the historical failure of the left in the region, we have a massive uprising without any capable left-wing leadership. It’s a very decentralised type of uprising with all sorts of groups waging a common fight against the regime.'

Syrian regime's core supporters begin to drift away

 'Ms. Mrie, a liberal Syrian, says she is far from conservative, but that she she often interacts with members of the Syrian opposition described as extremists without any problems.'

Activists Labor to Seed New Beginnings

 “This isn’t a Sunni, Christian, or whatever revolution. This is a Syrian revolution. This is a poor people’s revolution.”

Proxy war heats up as endgame inches closer

 Despite the title, there are some nuggets of truth in Jim Muir's piece.

 'Al-Qaeda in Iraq announcing that the Nusra Front was one of its branches, and that the two were merging into a single Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (the Levant).

 The Nusra Front, jockeying for position in the motley array of Syrian opposition forces and trying to win hearts and minds on the ground, clearly saw this as a potential kiss of death.
Many of their followers are believed to have joined up opportunistically because the front had more resources and experience than the other groups.[This cuts across the idea that the US is providing arms, or even encouraging others to do so]

 Well-placed diplomats believe Hezbollah is also providing part of the regime's inner praetorian guard, as some of the big Alawite clans have become so alienated by the level of casualties they have suffered that their members are no longer regarded as fully reliable.'[This cuts across the idea that a sectarian regional war is due to break out if Assad falls, it is his sectarian state that is falling apart]

Syria descending into hell aided and abetted by the US and its allies

 'The ominous quote from a senior British official in the Financial Times today that 'It is increasingly likely that sarin was used by the Assad regime' demonstrates that a case is being put together to justify overt military intervention on top of the widespread but unofficial intervention that already exists.'

 Lindsey German is utterly full of shit. She used to be a revolutionary socialist, but this article doesn't display either attribute. It isn't ominous that Assad may have used sarin, in addition to the more ordinary weapons he's used to kill 60,000 Syrians in the last two years. No, it's her fantasy that the West is going to ride in to destroy Assad, just like her fantasy that their (actually non-existent) supply of weapons to the rebels is to be opposed, while the tonnes of weaponry the régime gets from Russia each week are of no interest to her. And then she just lapses into incoherence:

 'The Western powers have not yet been able to intervene openly in military terms but they are doing their best to ensure that the bloody war continues. Their aim is regime change and the removal of Assad to be replaced by a pro Western government. But it would appear that in the absence of such an outcome, the anti Assad governments are prepared to do their part in continuing and worsening the war which has already brought so much misery to ordinary Syrians, many of whom are now refugees.'

Syria Claims Disruption of a Rebel Supply Line

 Angry Arab* is becoming an anti-revolution propagandist. There are numerous reasons the government of torturers might have its claims disbelieved, among them the false claims about the supply of weapons to the rebels, and previous claims of military successes. In the past, when the government has advanced, it has been unable to restore normal life. It has no future.

 *'Look how the reports of defeats of Syrian armed groups are always qualified in the Western press.

 " “Maybe there is some retreat” by the rebels, he said, “but not full withdrawal.” " This is like Arab regimes in 1967: they did not withdraw, but only retreated.'
Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil at 10:01 AM
[http://angryarab.blogspot.co.uk/…/look-how-reports-of-defea…]

Angry Arab interviews Thomas Pierret on Syria

 Thomas Pierret is spot on.

 'The kin-based/sectarian nature of the military is what allows the regime to be not merely "repressive", but to be able to wage a full-fledged war against its own population; in other words, this is a highly illegitimate regime in the eyes of most Syrians.

 I cannot think of a more reactionary stance than supporting Asad's fascistic and homicidal regime. This is what really matters if we speak of "conservatism" and "reformism".
Conditions of women can only improve because they cannot be worse than under a regime that has displaced, shelled, killed, injured, raped, arrested, tortured, widowed, and orphaned millions of Syrian women.

 The opposition is a very diverse reality that ranges from exiled proponents of non-violence to local civilian committees and councils on the ground, mainstream Islamists like the Muslim Brothers, mainstream armed groups like the "FSA" (whatever that means), and radical Salafi Jihadis. Many Syrians certainly dislike one or several of these components, but at least the "opposition" offers them a broad spectrum of political options. The regime does not.

 The question is not whether or not the Syrian opposition should accept Saudi and Qatari support (Turkey does not provide any tangible aid, it merely facilitates), it is whether the Syrian opposition wants to keep on fighting, or surrender (I do not believe in a third way, i.e. peaceful revolution and/or negotiations; it cannot work with that regime). If the opposition wants to keep on fighting, it cannot survive without external logistical support, and none is willing to provide it except for Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

 My only concern is the half-heartedness and inefficiency of these countries' military support. For various reasons, these states want to weaken Asad, but they are not eager to see him replaced, hence the limits of their support. The outdated Croatian weapons provided to the rebels over the last months are better than nothing, but these states could do much more. Arms deliveries they have paid for compare very poorly, for instance, with the top-notch weaponry provided to Hezbollah by Iran and Syria.'

When Snipers Leave, Students Return to Classes

 'Syrians, young and old, talk about political opinions all the time. We make jokes about anybody or anything in our discussions, even the Free Syrian Army.'

The struggle within the revolution

 'The majority of the councils have roots in the local population, are elected and represent the popular revolution.

 We have many difficulties, but we are making a revolution against a regime that has been in power for 40 years.

 Our revolution is also against old ideas and old ways of doing things. Day by day we are working to transform Syria.'

Syrian revolutionaries owe nobody an apology

 Fawwaz Traboulsi interviewed by Mohammed Al Attar

 'I realize that class struggle is out of fashion these days and I know that many intellectuals—including the vast majority of those on the Left—neglect the economic factor, to distance themselves from what they call interest-based explanations. I’d go so far as to say that their real achievement has been to prove that everything that has happened is either political or cultural not to mention “geostrategic” and “geopolitical”. This is why imperialism, along with its local rulers and associated elites, has been the ultimate victor.'

Jumblatt sees link between Boston and Syria

 Wally. Though he is the loveable survivor of Lebanese politics, who has been allied with the winning side in the region at every conceivable opportunity.

 I don't think he deserves to be this badly mangled in translation:

 'The conflict, which lasted for five centuries and turned into a bloody conflict after the independence of Ireland South in 1920 was treated through the four main core principles: dialogue, respect, trust and patience,” Jumblatt said. “Is it possible to reach a stage in Lebanon where these four principles dominate our political and media discourse instead of the continuous fall in a spiral of mistrust and counter-accusations of treason, defamation and counter slander?'

Hamas Ties to Qatar Have Cost

 'But the support that Hamas enjoyed from Damascus did not turn the movement into a Syrian puppet. Perhaps the break in relations between the two sides today proves that the allegations that the movement was subordinated to Syria and Iran to serve their projects in the region are false. And the same applies in the case of Qatar.'

Opposition anger over US refusal to fund arms

 "Russia sends Assad tonnes of weapons every week."

This article is more than 11 years old Damascus fragments as the din of war grows louder

 'There are no ground operations by an army unused to street fighting and, it is said, worried about casualties and mass defections.'

US prepares $130m military aid package for Syrian rebels

 'The supplies possibly could include body armour, armoured vehicles, night vision goggles and advanced communications equipment.'

 I don't know what might happen if night vision goggles fall into the hands of al-Qaida.

"Minorities will not suffer" in post-revolution Syria

 'Nabulsi said western states were against a revolution in Syria and in order to delay the victory they produce fake insurgency groups.'

 The second half of this does tend to reduce the credibility of everything else he's saying, which is a pity.

In rebel fighter's personal story, the arc of Syria's war

 'Only then, with more and better weapons, will the rebels finish Mr. Assad and “end this situation,” adds Abu Omar. “Let God end this soon.” '

From spray-paint to civil war: Syria explained in 5 questions

 'In the summer of 2011, thousands of soldiers started to abandon the Assad regime. Coupled with civilian protesters -- who have been arming themselves -- a "rebel" opposition began to form.'

Why the left must support Syria's revolution

 'Some on the U.S. and international left cling to the idea that the regime presiding over this violence and repression is progressive--and that the uprising against it was engineered by Western governments.

 Syrians have endured the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Revolutions that swept through the region, starting in 2011. After months of mostly peaceful protests, Syria's revolutionaries--responding to the dictatorship's violent crackdown--had to develop a popular armed resistance to defend themselves and defeat the forces of the regime.

 In the litany of sins that the Syrian people have supposedly committed in their two-year-old uprising, for supporters of the regime in left groups, top on the list is aid coming from the U.S. and other Western governments to some organizations among the rebels.

 One question that comes to my mind is whether these apologists have similar criticisms about the much more substantial military aid the regime gets from Russia and Iran. But even more to the point is the issue of what these regime supporters were saying before the uprising against Assad shifted toward armed struggle.

 Where were they when, for months, Syrians gathered peacefully in the hundreds of thousands in cities around the country, only to be shot dead by Assad's forces? Did they speak up when opponents of the regime, young and old, men and women, were tortured in Assad's dungeons? Are they calling for freedom of all political prisoners and the brave young citizen reporters who are risking their lives to document the government's repression?

Or are they using any and all reports of the U.S. government's involvement in Syria as a cover for a shameful subservience to dictatorship?'

Syrian conflict threatens to spill over from Golan into Israel

 There goes the idea that the Syrian revolution is an Israeli plot. Must be the Illuminati and the lizards.

Syrian rebels' capture of oil fields increases economic pressures

 'Russia and China are Assad's strongest international backers and have used their veto power at the U.N. Security Council to prevent the international community from imposing international sanctions against Syria.

 But Seifan, the Syrian economist, said it's unlikely international companies, even Russian and Chinese ones, will want to commit huge investments to any exploration now "because they don't know what the fate of the regime will be after few months." '

Syrian Rebel Brigade Pauses to Mark Wedding

 'Laila feels it is "important that our revolution is not one of just men but of all Syrians, of all those who are free.

 I began by taking part in peaceful demonstrations, but when the revolution armed itself I followed... it was my duty," she says.'

Counterpunch: So Wrong on Syria

 Clay Claiborne is CEO of Cosmos Engineering Company. Here, he takes apart the notion that the Syrian revolution is an American plot in admirable detail.

A Subtle Shift

 Robin Yassin-Kassab:

 "Syrians need weapons to finish Assad before the crater of this disaster is too deep to climb out of."

Amman Protesters renew calls to combat corruption

 'Protesters also condemned the escalating violence in neighbouring Syria, and lauded the Free Syrian Army to continue in fighting the revolution of "the Syrian People" until the fall of Bashar Al Assad's regime.'

An Unlikely Jihadist, Denouncing Assad in Mandarin

 'The fighter briefly introduces himself and then lashes out at Mr. Assad. “People have no freedom, no democracy, no security and no respect here, not at all,” he said.

 He goes on to speak of 1,400-year-old ties between the Chinese and the Arabs, stretching back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the Tang dynasty, when the Silk Road thrived. 

 “However,” he says, “now the Chinese government has destroyed that traditional friendship between the Chinese and Arab people” because Chinese leaders, along with their Iranian and Russian counterparts, “sell weapons and provide financial assistance to the Assad government.” '

Reasons to remain optimistic about Syria

 'Syrians continue their struggle against tyranny. As long as they stand, there is ground for optimism.'

CIA: Syria Harboring More Than 15 Million Known Arabs

 This is from ten years ago.

Despite the misery

 Jon Snow introed tonight's Channel 4 News on Syria by saying, "Despite the misery, they [the Islamists] are gaining influence." Surely because rather than despite? Report does show the barbarity of the régime, the Syrian jets dropping Russian bombs, the corpses with hands ties found floating down the river.

 A young boy now a doctor, said something like, "at first I was shocked, now it's ordinary."

Syria's Descent

 'She ventured back a few months ago, and found her papers scattered, her money stolen, her jewellery thieved.'

 This is the point where I began to doubt Alex Thomson's report on kidnappings in Damascus. Surely when you do a runner, you take the money and the jewellery?

[Note 6/3/24, the video from which the quote is taken no longer appears on the website]

Noam Chomsky: 'No individual changes anything alone'

 Sean Doherty, I think it was, did a meeting on Chomsky about ten years ago for the SWP, where he started by pointing out that Chomsky's influence was orders of magnitude greater, and so it would be better to focus on his excellent critique of American foreign policy than their differences with him. Having said that, I think he's wrong about Syria, and the road of death is that with Assad still in charge.

 'Should the west arm the opposition? Should it intervene? "I tend to think that providing arms is going to escalate the conflict. I think there has to be some kind of negotiated settlement. The question is which kind. But it's going to have to be primarily among Syrians. Outsiders can try to help set up the conditions, and there's no doubt that the government is carrying out plenty of atrocities, and the opposition some, but not as many. There's a threat that the country is on a suicidal course. Nobody wants that." '

Syria rebels say fire mortars at president's palace

 'Syrian rebels said on Monday they had fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace, the Damascus International Airport and security buildings to mark the second anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

 Some 70,000 people have been killed over the past two years in a revolt that started with peaceful protests but descended into a civil war after Assad's forces shot and arrested thousands of opposition members.'

Hand in hand, we will rebuild

 From Bustan Al Qasr, Aleppo (Syria).

Syrians rebels 'use chemical weapon'

 Putting the last three words in quotes doesn't avoid the conclusion that it is primarily the Syrian state's version that is being reported; given that they have missiles and chemical weapons and the rebels don't, one might think a different starting point for this story would be appropriate.

 Note 6/4/15, the headline now reads, "Syrians trade Khan al-Assal chemical weapons claims".

Website of the Russian president's representative violated by Syrian hackers

 'Hackers have broken the website of the Russian president's attorneys representative in the federal circuit Russian Far East and laid out where a request to the Russian people, with a request not to support the Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

 The group that calls itself the SRES (Syrian Revolution Electronic Suite) urged not to supply heavy weapons to Syria. They asked also apologize for the site's failure.'

Syria's economy continues to suffer

 “The liberalization of the Syrian economy was always stopped by the mafias surrounding the ruling family,” said Taqi. “The family was never investing their revenues into the country, but mainly investing in the telecoms sector and ‘hit-and-run’ sectors.”

We need weapons against planes - FSA commander

 'Noting that there were few countries which supported FSA such as Turkey, Asaad said that other countries either preferred to remain silent or adopted the strategy of supporting Assad regime indirectly.

 For instance, Israel has been supporting Assad regime from the beginning, while Russia, China, Iran and Hezbollah have been actually fighting against us, said Asaad, adding that the regime would be taken down eventually.

 We need weapons to use against the planes bombing our children, and if FSA reaches the weapons, the problem will completely be solved, he said.'

Rebels take control

 'Syria rebels take control of east and west entry point of Damascus.'