Il 7all الحال - Yaseen & Dub Snakkr

“The victory of the revolution takes two revolutions: One against the regime strangling freedom, another against those awaiting its victory to steal.”
[http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/02/28/268815.html]
I don't know the politics of the song above as I don't know any Arabic. There's one reference to NATO in the subtitles.

Syrian rebels advance despite regime attacks

'It is stopping the Islamic resistance, not the success of the revolution, which preoccupies US policy on Syria.
Many Syrians feel abandoned and have little faith in any outside help.
They point out that the Assad regime receives a steady supply of weapons, cash and fuel from Russia and Iran, while they are subject to a weapons embargo.
This is why many revolutionaries have welcomed the Islamist brigades as allies, even if they do not share their vision of a future Syria.
One rebel commander said, “We can thank god that we are indebted to no one.” '

Was Syria ever the secular, non-sectarian

state we are led to believe it was?

'For provincial types, "secular" has come to mean flashy, worldly, corrupt and finally brutal, and for them Sharia means a more honest and decent society, as much as anything else. This is not a good thing – I wouldn't want to be an ambitious young woman growing up in Syria today, or one of the many perfectly decent, god-fearing middle-aged Muslim men I know who like a quiet tipple of Scotch before bedtime – but they will be victims of the dictators' dishonesty and refusal to reform as much as of Saudi fundamentalists.'

Syria democracy in action

defies dangers in Deir Ezzor

"We want a democratic state, not an Islamic state. We want a secular state run by civilians, not by mullahs," he said.
Free Syrian Army rebel fighters were forbidden from taking part in the vote.
"It is an opportunity for civilians to have their say. We soldiers must fight against regime, that's our job," said Abu Obeida, a rebel commander.

Arts Of Revolution

"I cut the missile at its end, and emptied the cluster bombs inside it."

Zaatari refugees torn

between revolution, security

“When we left Syria five months ago the Free Syrian Army had a shortage of arms. Had we stayed in Syria, we would have been a burden,” he said.
“Now, they have got the weapons. I can join their ranks to fight against the oppressive regime.”

Syria’s Agony: Situation and Outlook, Winter 2013

"The country’s naturally diverse, cosmopolitan culture means that after regime collapse the street crowds will probably reappear amid the rubble demanding the pluralism and non-sectarianism they endorsed in 2011. There are good reasons to suppose that the Islamists and their agenda will swiftly deflate among a people that will have paid so much for a new dawn. The outlook, however, will darken with perpetuation of the agony."

London Event: 'Syria Through a Lens' Screening (28 February 2013)

Omar Aziz: Rest in Power

 'He was not a son of the Facebook generation, but at the age of 63, his enthusiasm, ambition, and swashbuckling energy were matched by none of the twenty-somethings on the scene.

 At a time when many activists were forced to flee, he chose to relinquish his safety in the United States and return to Syria to participate in the popular uprising that has swept through the country.

 At a time when most anti-imperialists were wailing over the collapse of the Syrian state and the “hijacking” of a revolution they never supported in the first place, Aziz and his comrades were tirelessly striving for unconditional freedom from all forms of despotism and state hegemony.'

Syria's strategic stalemate,

made worse by US inaction

"Not only is the Obama administration no longer convinced that Syria's armed rebellion is about to topple President Bashar Al Assad, a rebel military victory does not even appear to be Washington's preferred outcome."

Syrian Assistance

The Interview: A Botched Mass Defection

"There were 23 officers in our unit, and 20 of them were Alawites. The Alawites didn’t consult the colonel, a Sunni, on security matters. They didn’t trust us."

The country formerly known as Syria

 Underclass meaning workers and peasants. An interesting point, which it would be nice to have expanded on.

 'A hardened and increasingly sectarian underclass on each side—disenfranchised mainly Sunni rebels and the regime’s mainly poor Alawites—is bearing the brunt of the battle. Middle-class Syrians and secular activists are leaving in droves.

 The uprising, which is now a full-blown civil war between Mr Assad’s forces and the opposition, has brought new freedoms. Young Syrians are no longer afraid to deride the regime openly. Even within the security forces, people discuss politics. “We all say things we wouldn’t have dared talk about in our own homes before,” says Aisha, a mother of four from Idleb province, in the north-west. Neighbourly bonds have sometimes grown strong amid the bloodshed. Altruistic bravery is common. Women risk their lives to smuggle medicine to rebel areas through the regime’s checkpoints, because the soldiers are less likely to search them. In Damascus people sleep ten to a room, welcoming relations who have fled from more dangerous areas.'

The death of a country

"Russia supports Mr Assad in part to frustrate Mr Obama. Europe and America should keep on trying to tempt it to give him up, by promising it a stake in a liberated Syria."
The editors of the Economist want Assad gone which is good; but think the Syrian people aren't capable of making their own choices, and an imperialist carve-up would be a way to go, a strategy with which I can see problems.

West lacks will to arm Syrian rebels

"The (understandably) hesitant policy of the west now ensures that the Assad regime it wants out, and the jihadis whose advance it wants to block, are the only ones with a reliable supply of arms, while the more or less mainstream rebels it purports to back keep running out of ammunition.
Russia and Iran provide real support to the Assads, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar channel resources to the jihadis and Muslim Brotherhood respectively. The military council created by the National Coalition as a condition for international recognition has little means to establish authority in rebel ranks – and therefore much diminished ability to attract either regime defectors or fighters that now flock to the black banners of the jihadis."

Analysis: The myth of

Palestinian neutrality in Syria

"To claim that they are “used by both sides” is a profound insult to the Palestinians who freely chose to protest against the Syrian regime. Such a claim suggests that anti-regime Palestinians have no free will or autonomy."

Syrian couple overcomes sectarian differences

"I'm the only Alawite here, but people don't think I'm different from others, because we are one country, and one nation."

5 Things to Know: Local

Family Rallying For Syria

The face of American imperialism.

From The Onion

Russia Ends Sales Of Weapons To Syria

“That's pretty inconsiderate. What’s the Syrian army supposed to kill people with now?”