Syrian regime draws battle lines as rebels advance

 ' "If the rebels make real progress around the capital, it could be the beginning of the end for Assad," the analyst said.'

 Indeed.

Syrian rebels forced to police their own as crime tarnishes reputation

 'Revolutionary Security has struggled to communicate to the civilian population that it’s OK, even encouraged, for them to complain when they see members off the FSA engaged in inappropriate or illegal behavior.

 Under the Assad regime, such complaints against the state and government could easily land the whistle blower in jail. Though the revolution was founded on challenging that type of authority, changing the deeply ingrained, 40-year-old culture of not questioning the government remains difficult.'

Egypt least worst option for Syrian refugees

 'Confronting humiliation is at the heart of the Syrian revolution said Salma Gazayerli, a Syrian activist living in Egypt. “Our revolution was mainly about dignity and freedom. In Syria, even though there is a discrepancy between different classes, the revolution was not as much about economics or poverty or bread like in Egypt. It was about dignity.” '

Syrian rebels capture air base near Damascus

 "Helicopter base", but "outskirts of Damascus".

Jabal Mohsen tells its side of the story

 Friends like this can be hard to find sometimes.

 ' “I was working in a shop in Tripoli when a Salafist came and asked what sect I was. I said ‘Muslim,’ but he asked what kind of Muslim, so I replied, ‘Lebanese Muslim.’”

 When the Salafist realized he was an Alawite, Hassan said, he told him that he could not continue working at the shop. “The owner couldn’t do anything. People interfered to stop him from hitting me. A Sunni friend of mine at work came to defend me, but the Salafist put a gun to his head and said, ‘You are a Sunni working with an Alawite.’ ” '

Hezbollah: Ties with Hamas strong despite Syria differences

 'Hezbollah has repeatedly voiced support for President Bashar Assad but Hamas has refused to take Assad’s side, although the Palestinian movement has always enjoyed the support of Syrian authorities.'

 I believe inserting 'verbal' between 'the' and 'support of Syrian authorities' would render this statement more accurate.

Palace coup

 David Miliband: "The best way this could end is a palace coup". The butchers of Damascus are his preferred agency in Syria rather than a potentially Islamist popular insurgency. He's not the only one with such a contempt for ordinary people.

Syria rebels ready final assault on Sheikh Suleiman base

 "Every soldier in the base understands that the end of the regime is near. They are just waiting for an opportunity to lay down their arms, but their Alawite officers prevent them," he said.

Syrian flees war in nick of time, embraces life in Gainesville

 'When he fled, the military and police only tortured and killed those actively involved in opposition. Now, the indiscriminate killing of civilians is commonplace. At least 37,000 people have been reported killed since the uprising in Syria began about 18 months ago. Herakka's hometown of Aleppo is at the center of the conflict.

 When people refer to the situation in Syria, Herraka clarifies, "It is not a civil war — it is a revolution." '

More Trouble in Jordan

 You wonder if the bizarre idea that the threat of Islamism should be fought by not offering any support will spread on the left from Syria to Jordan. Perhaps not, as Jordan is an acceptable tyranny to be opposed to in the black-and-white view.

 'Those interested in keeping Jordan calm, peaceful, and out of the hands of Islamists should either support the king significantly, or find a quiet plan B to support the secular opposition in Jordan. As the active opposition figure Kamal Khoury, a Palestinian Christian, said, "The seculars in Jordan are strong in their numbers and following, they just need financial and media support to dominate the arena." Dr. Khalid Kassimah, an East Banker opposition member residing in exile, stated: "The non-Islamist Jordanian opposition is no more in disarray than the Syrian secular opposition once was; minimal Western support might work wonders here; and I would not be surprised if a Jordanian opposition council is to be established in exile just as was the case in Syria." '

In a Jordan camp, outsiders seek Syrian brides

 “We launched a revolution to win back our dignity,” Naimi said. “We are not going to surrender it for a dowry.”

Condoleezza Rice: Syria is central to holding together the Middle East

 "Karl Marx once called on workers of the world to unite across national boundaries. He told them that they had more in common with each other than with the ruling classes that oppressed them in the name of nationalism. Marx exhorted workers to throw off the “false consciousness” of national identity." True that, and he wasn't any more in favour of sectarian identity, so Condoleeza Rice's next line is untrue, "Today’s Karl Marx is Iran."

Sabra: Unity, gains will sway Assad allies

 "We have historical ties with Russia, and we also have relations with Iran, but we hope both countries would re-examine their stances because it will not be possible for the Syrian people to deal in the same way with those who supported their aspirations for democracy as with those who were supporters of the killing machine."

Samar Yazbek, Branded Betrayer for Embracing Syria Rebels

 'One of five brothers and three sisters, she ran away from home at 16 and married at 20. She divorced two years later, taking her toddler daughter to Damascus. She was determined to fight for women’s rights, she said, “to combat their status in the Arab world.” '

Hardliners Slam Hamas Over Ties with Qatar, Turkey

 Et tu, Brute. "Did the leaders of these countries in the war of the past week cry out in support of Gaza?! Were they even ready for the publication of a short statement to condemn the crimes and brutality of the Zionist regime?! Can such countries be trusted and depended upon as a supporter?"

Let us feel sorry together

 'The mistake made by the Al-Mayadin TV station, which aired images from Syria and claimed they were shot in Gaza, is indicative of this relationship of similarity and intertwining, which is highlighted by the fact that Hamas has exited Damascus, leading to a campaign of criticism launched against it by the Syrian regime’s allies.'

Syrian aid smugglers haggle for flour in Turkey

 'Abu Omar and Ammar, both in their 40s, fled their homeland seven months ago because of the sectarian strife in the Alawite-dominated region, the minority Shiite Muslim sect to which President Bashar al-Assad's entourage belongs.

 Abu Omar, a former physics teacher, does not hide his animosity towards the Alawites.

 "The Sunnis started the revolution because all the power and money lay in the hands of two million people," he says.

 Former lawyer Ammar, whose office was destroyed by shelling in his hometown in Latakia province, left with his wife and five children.

 Rami studied medicine at Aleppo University and spent almost a decade abroad in Saudi Arabia and Britain before returning to Syria. He decided to stay when the revolution began.

 "It was everybody's dream that a revolution would start, so we stayed to help as much as possible," says the doctor who works in the region's only field hospital.

 The three men agreed to talk to journalists and to be identified because they no longer fear for the safety of their families, who have escaped to Turkey.'

All Or Nothing

 Some time in 1978 or 1979 I wrote a little essay on current events in Iran. Not very sophisticated, it ended, "maybe there will be a military coup."

 I was reminded of that today, when a leftist Friend on Facebook criticised the "all or nothing" approach of offering unconditional* support to the Syrian revolution. If socialists had said thirty years ago that maybe negotiations with the Shah's régime were better than the prospect of Islamists coming out on top after a bloodbath, they'd never have earned the right to criticise when it came to resisting that very eventuality.

 Hopefully the Syrian revolution will complete its initial task soon. Anyone who wants to be heard when it comes to suggesting ways to build a society free from foreign domination in which all share the wealth would be advised to show more sophistication than I did when I was ten.

* "But critical", in Lenin's phrase.

Syria's new opposition in race to convince skeptical Islamists

 'Islamist fighters say it is only fair they assert their power after months of being ignored in political squabbling abroad while they fought Assad's forces on the ground.

 Some put their frustration on display earlier this week when they announced the creation of an Islamic state in a video rejecting the National Coalition.

 The immediate backlash from most rebel leaders and Syrian activists pushed many fighters in the video to retract their remarks the next day. But it laid bare the deep mistrust which the coalition has to overcome.'

Syrian Kurds have to pick a side in the revolution: SNC leader Abdulbasit Sieda

 “Today, Syria is revolting and asks for democracy. In order to achieve your rights, you have to be part of this revolution.”

Syrians may be better off without cheerleaders

 Interesting piece. To fight a war, you do need to get your guns from somewhere.

 'The head of the Free Syrian Army's military council, Mostafa Al-Sheikh, was clear. "The international community need Syria for the stability of the international system. They don't give us any support, and what support they do give us is corrupt or not worth having. What they're giving us isn't big enough to liberate one city, never mind the entire country." '

How Hugo Chavez botched the Arab Spring

 The Syrian revolution is the most significant alteration of power for twenty years, more significant for the Western Left than economically more significant Egypt because it is harder to work out how to relate to the fall of régimes outside the Western sphere of influence.

 A test many on the left are failing which is unfortunate for them, and may be unfortunate for Syrians, who will be faced with the problem of how to create a society in which the mass of people have real control over their lives, and if most of the best answers would come from those who bemoan that their revolution might be taken over by al-Qaida or the State Department rather than offer any actual solidarity, who pretend that the struggle of the FSA is a Western take-over of a peaceful revolution, then I don't see post-revolutionary events working out for the best.

 The last Kozloff piece I saw [http://www.aljazeera.com/…/…/2012/10/201210975353819725.html] had some noticeable deficiencies which I mentioned at the time. This one seems to the point, and have general application.

In Hebron, the flag of the Syrian opposition

 'Seen at a protest in Hebron in the West Bank earlier today, the flag of the Syrian opposition.'
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/…/gaza-conflict-fierce-fighting-c…]

Syria's Spray-Can Revolution

 I don't think "almost as bad" is the right way to compare torture and allowing kids to help fight the torturers, but there you have it.

 'In June, a United Nations special representative returned from a fact-finding trip with tales of horrific abuses against children. She relayed testimony from children who'd been tortured by the regime, or placed on tanks and used as human shields. The rebel Free Syrian Army was almost as bad, she noted in her report, frequently recruiting children to help out on the front line.'

Unveiled Syrian Facebook post stirs women's rights debate

 ' "I want to take another picture, but from inside Syria, just to show that I could be a fighter against injustice and power. With my camera, I can help the people and support the Free Syrian Army."

 Increasingly, reports from inside Syria highlight the presence of fundamentalist Islamist factions within the anti-regime movement, hijacking the struggle.

 With the influx of these non-Syrian jihadi fighters, there are growing fears for the future of women's rights in the nation and the region.

 Dana and those like her want to see a new Syria.

 "[A Syria] full of rights, with justice between men and women. I want justice because I already have my freedom, and I'm not afraid of anything now, now I can do whatever I believe it is right to do." '

For Syrians Enduring the Harsh Conditions of War, Turkey Acts as Lifeline

 MARGARET WARNER: Yet even this idealistic attorney dismisses talk from the West of a negotiated end to the conflict.

 Do you think there's a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria?

 AHMED HASSOUN (through translator): I don't think so. Dictators don't have a midpoint. It's either they stay or no one else does.

 MARGARET WARNER: So, what is it going to take to solve this conflict?

 AHMED HASSOUN (through translator): I think the only solution is arming the organized Syrian opposition.

Bayan Ra2am Wa7ed

 Syria's rap revolution song, translated into English.

Hamas and the Arab Spring: positions and repercussions

 'The Islamic Resistance Movement also knew that it would lose the support of the Syrian people if it backed the regime. Hamas realised that people last, whereas regimes fall, so maintaining that support was essential.'

Brazil's Syrians divided on Bashar al-Assad

 "The group that supports the Assad government in Brazil is born from fear and worries that Syria could turn into an Islamic state, which could harm the interests of the Christians, most of whom are the early immigrants to Brazil," Daaboul said. "The opposition to Assad is coming from recent immigrants who know more about the current socio-political situation, and who don't believe the argument about sectarian violence.”

Calais after Sangatte: The migrants 'worth less than cattle'

 'I meet Anwar, an unkempt, sallow Syrian man in his 30s who tells me he fled in terror from his home town near Damascus after his younger brother was tortured by supporters of President Assad's regime. "In Syria, we see television programmes about France - we learn it is the country of freedom, of human rights and solidarity."

 He looks at me closely and asks: "Do you think this is a country which respects human rights? I have nothing here, Madame." '

Four key tests face the Syrian opposition

 Revolutionaries often say that the difficult time comes when you've overthrown the tyrant. Reassuring Alawites is essential, reassuring senior security personnel seems more likely to worry those that have suffered the most that nothing will really change.

 'The developments in recent days in the Syrian opposition will be a game-changer if they achieve four critical and linked goals: coordinating internal military action, generating legitimate and credible local governance bodies in areas liberated from government control, connecting with Alawites, senior security personnel and other regime supporters to convince them of their safety in a post-Assad Syria, and managing a rising flow of international diplomacy and aid.'

'An explosion shakes Almazah area
in the capital #Damascus. #Syria

 The Syrian regime is close to the end'

Syrian rebels take villages near Israeli-held area

 ' "The Syrian army is displaying ever-diminishing efficiency."

 The civil war in Syria has renewed tensions over the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in 1967. Despite hostility between the two countries, Syria has been careful to keep the border quiet since the 1973 Mideast war.'

 Fears over what might happen next in Syria and Jordan may help to explain the timing of Israel's attack on Gaza.

In war-torn Syria, secrets and double lives

 "I am keeping my work as a rebel secret because I need the money for my wife and children," he says, winking. "You don't get paid to be a rebel."

Newly unified, Syrian rebels seek arms while government forces have ‘more than enough weapons’

 'Syria's estimated 300 jet fighters — mostly Russian-made — lack the appropriate maintenance, spare parts and missile warheads. Syria's estimated three dozen helicopters, also mostly Russian-made, are being "exhausted from overuse," ' then the rebels won't have to fight in their shade much longer.

Matilde Gattoni: The Swallows of Syria

 “I was expecting the revolution to be brief and successful,” she says. “But I am still hopeful. Assad will fall soon, and we will be able to go back to Syria victorious.”

Terrorists Increase Mortar Attacks on Damascus

 'TEHRAN (FNA)- Reports coming from Syria said terrorists' bomb blasts in the capital, Damascus, have now been replaced with an increasing number of mortar attacks.
FNA dispatches from Damascus said the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) changed its strategy and resorted to firing mortar shells on different districts of Damascus after its terrorists failed to gain anything from bomb explosions in the capital.'

[http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9107118410]

[Note 26/1/25: This is Iranian state media rebranding Assad regime false flag attacks as by the rebels]

A Daily Diary From War-Torn Damascus

 The BBC World Service are about to report on "A Daily Diary From War-Torn Damascus". Their excerpt at the top of Newshour was something like "The MiGs drop bombs, I try to ignore them...", but I may not be doing the poetry justice. I don't like poetry much at all.

Syria opposition bloc elects Christian as leader

 'Sabra said he is a former geography teacher and writer for children's television, including for the Arabic version of Sesame Street produced in Kuwait.'

Syrian rebels hit Damascus’ elite where they live

 'The rebels are now threatening to take their fight into the very heart of the capital.'

Is Syria now about to blow?

 Politics.ie seems to have some people who know how to fact check on Syria. First though:

 'Got this sent to me by the US-based think-tank and global intelligence company Stratfor as a free sample advertisement looking for subscriptions.
So it is Ok to reproduce here in full gives a good idea of whats happening in Northern Syria from it's POV.

 Sample Article: Syrian Rebels' Northern Gains
 Summary

 Syria's rebels have been making significant gains in the north that could culminate in the capital, Damascus, being cut off from the Alawite-dominated coast. As part of the rebel push in the north, heavily armed rebels from five different units launched an attack Nov. 3 on the Taftanaz Air Base, one of the most important regime air bases in Idlib province, which serves as a major hub for the Syrian military's helicopter operations. The attack came shortly after significant rebel gains in the north, including the seizure of Saraqeb and the advance on Harim, illustrating a shifting dynamic in the fighting and a clear erosion of the regime's strategic position in northern Syria. If the rebels can secure the north, including the strategic city of Aleppo, they will be positioned to mount an expanded offensive in Latakia province and seek to connect with beleaguered units in the Orontes River Valley, cutting off Damascus from the sea."

 Originally Posted by Truth.ie

 'More sectarian attacks. This time a link from the BBC.
Indiscriminate shelling of minority Allawite community.
BBC News - Syria rebels attack Assad strongholds in Damascus'

 "Mortar shells landed in Mezzeh 86, an Alawite district near the presidential palace, and hit the prime minister's offices and Mezzeh military airfield.
And as if SAA does not indiscriminately shell Sunni areas!!"

 I originally tried to check the veracity of this claim,"Insurgents blew up an evangelical church in Aleppo's old town."[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ka…/obama-syria_b_2092362.html], which gets a less complete response.

 Originally Posted by Partizan

 The report has also been picked up by other media sources so there must be grounds in the report.
https://www.google.ie/search?q=Armed...=hp&channel=np
"And all of them quote the same source. Repeating A Lie Does Not Make It True!!. But maybe you are more of a Lenin supporter? “A lie told often enough becomes truth” – Vladimir Lenin." 

 I was expecting that quote to be bogus. Wikipedia seems to approve of it, but I can't immediately find the original.

 I did see this counter-claim elsewhere, but as it is from a medical group opposed to the régime, would require independent verification before it is widely accepted as fact:

 Allegations of Syrian soldiers looting foreign aid surfaced on Wednesday after a medical aid group said troops had been seizing the supplies and reselling them or channeling them towards government loyalists, putting millions of lives at risk. When the regime attacks one of our medical facilities, whether it's a hospital or something else, they load up everything they can carry, and they burn the rest," said Tawfik Chamaa, a Geneva-based doctor and spokesman for the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations (UOSSM).'

Growing Up in a War Zone

 "That's something that no child should go through, and that's what I'm thinking about when I hear about Syria" Nadja says. "Months and days are passing, just like they did in Sarajevo, and more and more children are losing their childhoods, their limbs, their lives."

Seven Syrian generals defect to Turkey

 'Seven more Syrian army generals defected to Turkey on Tuesday to join opposition fighters as the regime in Damascus renewed air strikes across the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.

 Amid tight security, the generals were taken to a camp in the southern border province of Hatay, it said.

 Turkish officials refuse to give an exact number of Syrian generals currently on Turkish soil as some are returning to Syria to join the active fighters inside the conflict-wracked country.

 Turkey is currently home to nearly 112,000 Syrian refugees registered in several camps along its volatile border, as well as the exiled Syrian opposition's political and military leadership.

 Army defectors, flanked by their families, stay in the Apaydin camp in Hatay province where security is tighter.

 Turkey fell out with one-time ally Syria after the regime's unleashed a deadly crackdown on protests in March last year, and has joined in Arab and Western calls for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.'

Syrian regime in demolition mode

 'Whole Syrian cities and villages have been flattened just to kill the armed revolutionaries fighting the army from within, which reminds one of what the Russians and the Americans did in both Grozny in Chechnya and Fallujah in Iraq.'

BTL Y-wing starfighter

 "We're using Y-wings because of their greater firepower. But they move like a sleepy Hutt, so watch it." ―Luke Skywalker, during the Assault on Kile II

 With this sort of bigotry from the rebels, no responsible heavy weapons manufacturer would support their sectarian civil war.

The face of Syria's military resistance

 Trudy Rubin:

 'The image of the Syrian opposition in the USA is of raging militants who want to establish an Islamic state. But most of the fighters are young soldiers or officers who defected because they couldn’t bear killing civilians, or else they are civilians - teachers, accountants, students, workers, farmers- who took up arms when the Syrian regime started bombing their towns.

 One good example is Abdul Razak Tlas, a handsome, baby-faced 25 year old former Syrian army lieutenant from a famous Sunni family that produced a long- time defense minister. He was one of the first Syrian army officers to defect and became a hero of the Farouk brigade that defended residents of the Bab Amr district of Homs which was pounded to smithereens.

 Tlas now sports a beard but he bristles when I ask him if he is a salafi, the militant believers who seek an Islamic state.

 “I am a Muslim. Period,” he says.

 “Ninety-five per cent of those who are labeled as salafis are indigenous Syrians and observant Muslims, not salafis in the true sense. Although their religion mandates them to fight against those who are killing their families, they do not espouse any extreme ideology. This is not a religious war.”

 Most of these fighters, he says, would go back to their old jobs, once the war ended. But, echoing what I hear repeatedly from non-Islamist commanders, he adds that the small number of militant fighting groups is always well-supplied with funds and money from individuals in the Gulf states, while the non-Islamists get no weapons or funds from the West. And the longer the war lasts, the more attractive militant ideology may become to desperate young men who feel the world looks on as their towns and villages are bombed into dust.'

A Tribute to Activist Fatima Saad

 'The uprising in Syria is a subject I wish I could avoid. It is a topic that makes my blood boil, for I still cannot understand how it is humanly possible for the leader of a nation to crack down on his people in such a brutal way.
Fatima was subjected to physical and psychological torture by the Syrian regime in an attempt to make her name those in her photos. Her death brings the number of Syrians killed specifically under torture of the regime to 1,125.'

Only Happy When It Rains

 'Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – are already directly intervening, providing arms and other military support. Their interests are hardly humanitarian, given Saudi Arabia's terrible human rights record and Turkey's longstanding oppression of the Kurds... We take the view that it is for Syrians to decide what happens in Syria.'

And if that means tens of thousands of Syrians are killed, so be it. Lindsey German isn't so much a hypocrite as a philosophical idealist, who believes reactionary ideas among the Gulf monarchies are more real than the Russian bullets, shells and bombs that have killed thousands and forced hundreds of thousands into exile.

Evidence of large unguided Blast Bombs reported from Syria

 'That this coincides with the government having lost military control of Maraat Al-Numan, and there by with a strategically important part of the M5 Damascus - Aleppo highway, seems an obvious reason for an escalation in use of weapons, like what this evidence indicates.'

Syrian rebels kill 28 soldiers as fighting rages

 ' "The international community is responsible, through its lack of support for the Syrian people, for the growth of extremism in Syria," SNC director Abdel Basset Saida told AFP. "The international community should criticise itself, and ask itself: What did it give the Syrian people? How has it helped the Syrians to stop the regime's crazy killing?" he said.'

 The first line says a couple of things,"Syrian regime forces launched new air strikes Thursday in what is seen as a desperate attempt to reverse rebel gains." Sad but promising.

Rebel victories in Syria show up fragility of Assad regime

 'Assad’s regime is running out of men, with many either defecting, surrendering or going home. His troops cannot regain areas they have lost. This is a war of attrition that Assad is losing.'

Hand in Hand for Syria

 Road to Syria Aid Convoy

 A registered charity working to relieve the pain and suffering of the Syrian people.

Democalypse 2012 - We Missed NLCS Game 7 for This

 'Listen to these guys duet on Syria.'[2m31s]