A New Method for Syria’s Security Services?

"After a round of torture, Ahmad was detained for three months. Initially, the young man, in his twenties, was not in contact with any rebel factions. But when he left prison, he carried with him a grudge.
He reached out to one of the Local Coordination Committees (LCCs) and then to the so-called rebel military councils in Yalda, Tadamon, and al-Hajar al-Aswad, to provide logistical support for the Free Syrian Army (FSA)."

The Price of Principle: Abd al-Majid Abushala

Fuck Assad!

The Price of Principle: Abd al-Majid Abushala

'His daughter wishes he could have been here to witness a real protest in Syria against Bashar al-Assad. She imagines him sitting in heaven, perched in the clouds, “his heart fluttering with happiness,” watching them with pride, as they fight the war of principles that he had died for.

'He discovered a plan to supply the excessive electricity needed for the palace by diverting power from a nearby, government-owned cement factory (one of two in Latakia). As Technical Director, Abd al-Majid’s signature was needed to approve this illegal rerouting, but he refused. He asked, “Is it even conceivable to close down an entire cement factory so Hafez al-Assad’s wife has her electricity? I cannot approve this inspection.” After returning home to Aleppo, he joked, “She used to ride a donkey and now she wants an electric car to ride around in her house?” '

Guevara

Guevara

Guevara, a Syrian Palestinian woman married to an Al Wa’ad battalion commander. Guevara was the director of a secondary school before the revolution and is now one of the main snipers of the battalion on the front line in Aleppo.

Syrian opposition in new search for transitional government

"We have already received many promises that once we unite we will get international support. Very little came and the international community, sadly, is not ready to end the Assad regime."

Algeria, Mali, and why this week has looked like an obscene remake of earlier Western interventions

Robert Fisk is still living in an alternate reality,

 "Syria, please note, is temporarily in a different category, since our desire to destroy Bashar al-Assad allows us to turn all his victims into honorary Westerners. Odd, that. For among the rebels facing the ruthless Assad are folk very similar to Mr Belmokhtar and his merry Islamists, the very men who rouse the anger of Crusader Kouchner."

Shifting Sands

'The U.S. had recently avoided interfering directly in the internal affairs of other countries, especially Syria, which he described as a place of “shifting sands.” '
[http://www.dailystar.com.lb/…/202861-the-western-view-of-le…]

Using Al-Qaeda in Syria

"The vast majority of the rebels in Syria are members of the Free Syrian Army, and al-Assad regime wants to defame their reputation and use them to intimidate Arab and Western countries."

IF ASSAD CAN’T ARREST YOU, TORTURE YOU OR KILL YOU …

HE’LL STARVE YOU

"For more than a year they have been bombing people’s homes, killing men, women and children, yet still the people did not submit nor did they lose their will to fight for freedom, so Assad’s forces needed a new tactic to add to the misery, cut the supply of food.
Mind you the town has little to no electricity, water, medical supplies and food either."

Cut Off from the Rest of the World
In German.'Some in sandals, the other in the cold of winter barefoot pushes a bunch of children by a passing vehicle. "Free Syria," she declared. It would be desirable to them, that they will experience a free Syria, and soon.'

Al Assad is becoming a liability to Iran

"Most Syrians do not understand Iran’s regional motives for supporting their oppressor. All they know now is that Iran is acting in a sectarian manner and is supporting a tyrant."

Is #Russia getting ready to skedaddle from #Syria?

There is some hope that the threat of imperialist intervention may decrease.

Syria, the Kurds and Western Intervention

False reports, and asking the wrong question.
"The UK, Turkey, the USA and the others are reportedly preparing full scale military intervention in Syria. Will Western intervention bring freedom and democracy for Syria and the Kurds or are we set for another disastrous imperialist intervention in the Middle East?"

Zaatari residents protest Aleppo

bombing, call for intervention

“Arab countries have to provide the Free Syrian Army with the finest weapons so that they can defeat the regime,” he exclaimed, noting that there is no way for the conflict in Syria to end peacefully.
“No one can find a peaceful solution as long as this kind of regime is ruling our country,” he added.

The guard house
"We want to get rid of the Assad family, because they forbid any criticism."

Analysis: After all, Do Syrians

Really Want An Islamic State?

"The truth is that, led astray by the fear regarding Assad's chemical arsenal and the uncontrolled warlordism unravelling on the ground, analysts 'overestimated' the link between the Syrians' short-term need to find an 'efficient' liberator and the willingness to follow such radical agenda later at times of peace. Indeed what is happening is that Jabhat al-Nusra is building its popularity on the ability to address the civilians' primary needs while carrying out the most effective military operations against the regime. But this does not mean their ideological aim matches the kind of Syria most citizens wish to see out of this bloody conflict. Therefore it seems the popularity of the 'hardcore' narrative is just temporary."

Syria a Humanitarian Disaster - People

Demand a Political Settlement Without Assad

This is very interesting.
"I think there is some agreement between Russia and the U.S. on keeping the Syrian regime or the Syrian army intact. I think both sides have an interest in preventing a complete collapse, each for their own purposes—Russia because of the fact that they contain—they have ties with the Syrian regime, they have a base in Syria in Tartus; the U.S. because the U.S. is afraid of a power vacuum that would essentially create a place where, for example, Israel might be threatened."

Syrian Opposition Finds Hearts and Minds Are Elusive

I think this is self-contradictory. And you don't get rid of a tyranny by creating uncertainty as to whether it's really going.
' “The opposition is in fact helping to hold the regime together,” said Peter Harling, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who meets in Syria with people on all sides of the conflict. “It seems to have no strategy to speak of when it comes to preserving what’s left of the state; the opposition, critics say, has missed opportunities to split government support from within and has allowed Mr. Assad to portray himself to fence-sitters as the best bet to keep the Syrian state intact.'

Vicious circle of violence no nation seems able to end

'Listening to a panel that included the writer Patrick Seale, a biographer of Assad's father, US professor Joshua Landis and the Syrian-Scottish author Robin Yassin-Kassab, I was struck by the lack of a clear alternative to an endless war in Syria.
Mr Landis has argued, persuasively in my view, that on the evidence today, Mr Al Assad could hold on to power until 2014. He frames this as a simple question: "Who will defeat him?" Mr Yassin-Kassab favours intervention in the form of arming the rebels." '
Arming the rebels might end the war. Now we've cleared that up.

Recovery center in Turkey sees growing number of paralyzed Syrians

 "Most of the injured Syrians who check into the volunteer-run recovery center stay only a few weeks, maybe a month. As soon as they regain strength and mobility, they find temporary housing in Turkey or return home to fight against the Syrian regime."

Answering Syria's dictator

'The Syrian people refuse to negotiate with a regime that served imperialists. They refuse to negotiate with a dictator who was called a "reformer" by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the first six months of the revolution, and who was known to have lunch at the Élysée Palace with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The Syrian people will not negotiate--they will fight until you are overthrown.
At the same time, the Syrian people will refuse any attempt to submit Syria to Western control. As one banner put it last September, we will oppose anyone "who wants loyalty in exchange for support." '
First published at Syria Freedom Forever.

Kurdish Fighters Hope to Balance Islamist Forces

"Saladin Brigade, which includes Arab members in its ranks, says its alliance with Islamists is a way to pay its dues to the revolution. Its leaders hope to bring down the Assad regime and play an influential, and moderating, role in a future Syria."

In response to an open letter to the Syrian Revolutionary left

"We also reject all forms of imperialist intervention and the role of the CNS, the governments of Turkey and Qatar both of which are seeking a “negotiated solution” instead of the triumph of the Syrian revolution. We believe that supporting the Syrian revolution or even being at its forefront is a dividing line in the revolutionary left and we know on which side we stand."

On the other side, Brazilian Maoists: "U.S. imperialism took advantage of this situation, as it did in all of the Arab uprisings, to handle the struggle of the masses, diverting them from the revolutionary path, to ensure their interests in the region. The intelligence services of the imperialist coalition forces and formed an army of mercenaries armed self-titled 'Army of Free Síria'-ELS, commanded directly by their agents in order to change the Syrian regime." [http://maoistroad.blogspot.co.uk/.../from-bresil-for...]

Syrian Students In UK Face 'Deportation, Torture, Death' As Cannot Pay Tuition Fees

"Mo Saqib, a third year student at Manchester University, is campaigning for the UK government to assist students whose degree funding has been cut by the Assad regime. Along with Christine Gilmore, a PhD student a Leeds University, he has been accruing evidence of the plight of Syrian students."

No end to Syria war, says Assad

The paper version had some line about "threats to hi-jack the revolution" by the US, reflected in the last couple of paragraphs of the piece here. These are concessions to the lie that imperialism lies behind the armed opposition in Syria, and a small blot on the SWP's record on the matter, perhaps reflecting the fact that there are some in the party who haven't quite got it yet.

Syrian women and girls allege use

of sexual violence in civil war

"Syrian government forces have used sexual violence to torture men, women and boys detained in the conflict."

Snowmen protest in Qadmous today
"We'll Topple You Even If Your Fire Makes Us Melt"

Australian Visits Syria

This were the F.S.A army are throwing
home made grenades at Assad forces
"I went to Syria so you can see what is really going in Syria. So stupid Assad supporters could not longer lie and pretend this is a consipiracy." [From original link, http://leaksfree.com/]