Role of Syrian women evolves as war rages on

 'Many women say they hope not just to shed a brutal regime, but to ensure women’s rights are protected in whatever government emerges.'

The Importance of Logic in an Argument

 'I'm going to tie this with Syrian revolution. Let me begin by addressing some claims that pro-Assad idiots make.'

Syria: Prisoner swap frees 2130, al Nusra speaks out

 'While only those with a functioning crystal ball can know what role groups like al Nusra will play in Syria's future, those that see the main task today as overthrowing the Assad regime and stemming the bloodletting that has cost 60,000 lives already, see the Obama administration's designation as yet another strike at the revolution from imperialism.'

 And still 32,472 "prisoners of conscience" held by the régime.

The Banners of the Revolution

 'Many in the “West“ have wondered what would replace the Assad regime. With the splintered ideologies of the insurgency, they have asked, “Who are the Syrian people and what do they believe?

 Each Friday, and many other days as well, the people of Syria take to the streets in an attempt to provide those answers.'

Syria’s cultural heritage is another casualty of the conflict

 'I feel sad and excruciating pain for this country, for the destruction that Bashar has inflicted. It is a kind of destruction that neither this country nor other Islamic countries have seen. He has not left anything undestroyed in this country.'

Slow-burning hell for Syrian refugees

 'The kids, their bare or sandaled feet icy to the touch, crowd a passing car. "Syria hurra!," they shout, ("Free Syria!") I can only hope they get to see it, and soon.'

Aleppo misery eats at Syrian rebel support

 ' "After the regime falls, we still have a long battle just to clean up the revolutionaries."

 "Basically a ministry of defense has been created. A force for Syria," he said. "But this force needs weapons and money."

 That is a common refrain among those fighting Assad, and reflects frustration at hesitation among Western powers in particular to aid rebel groups whose wider goals are unclear.'

Non-Fiction Heroine

 "The sounds of screaming and torture rang out somewhere, somewhere both far away and nearby. I was trembling. I had never heard such sounds of pain, coming from some place deep inside the earth, burrowing into my heart."

The Long, Hard Slog That Is Syria

 'Videos have emerged of the Syrian army allegedly cutting heads off with chainsaws and burying people alive, but none of this shocks Syrians nearly as much as watching an American president talk about the horrors of Syria, yet do nothing to help them.'

What next for Assad?

 "This notion of dastardly foreign powers and Syrian puppets is a misreading of the situation."
Robin Yassin-Kassab's contributions at 15m31s, 30m17s & 38m32s.

How "stalemate" analysis of Syria's revolution goes wrong

 'The rebels' piece-at-a-time approach has worked magnificently when measured by where each side stood just a year ago. Planting and growing takes time. As harvesting approaches, I think the 'stalemate' school will suffer shock at the speed of upcoming regime setbacks.
Syria isn't Vietnam and Assad won't last ten years.'

How to Defend Bashar al-Assad in 10 Easy Steps

 1. Keep mentioning Jubhat al Nasra and other Islamic jihadi groups without mentioning that the vast majority of armed groups are not nearly as extreme, are mostly locally based folks defending their towns and villages.

 2. When referring to the armed opposition keep using the magic word: AL QAEDA

 3. Make cursory mention of the regime’s brutality (you won’t have any credibility if you don’t) but avoid resurrecting the roots of the conflict in peaceful opposition to Bashar’s dictatorship. Avoid mention of wanton use of air power against civilians in bread lines and in their homes.

 4. Keep talking about NATO, the Gulf countries and Western support for opposition; that will boost Bashar’s anti-imperialist creds among the campus leftists.

Syria on Video

 ' "I saw and I heard. And I wish I hadn’t."

 On 1 January, Yassin al-Haj Saleh posted these words on his Facebook page. Al-Haj Saleh spent 16 years in Assad’s prisons after being arrested as a student in the 1980s for being a member of a communist group. He is now a prominent dissident known for his sharp analysis of the Syrian conflict. I check his page every day.

 The words were accompanied by a video. Clearly, one of the great many videos circulating showing the cruelty of the regime’s militias, the widely feared shabiha. I hesitated before opening it. These videos are evidence. But it’s always the same question: how badly will I regret seeing it?

 Once Syrians emerge from the present nightmare – in one, three or ten years – they will be forced to look into one another’s eyes. They will have seen and heard things they wish they hadn’t.'

Yesterday, I Defected from Assad’s Army

 This can't go on indefinitely.

 'He says one shabiha minder was assigned to each new soldier, to ensure that they don’t defect. It comes after a recent stream of defections that apparently rattled the army’s confidence. “The soldiers, they’re scared of the FSA. A lot of them would like to defect, but the shabiha, they stay with us, they watch us like security so we don’t go.” '

Shift in Balance of Power for Rebels in Wartorn Syria

 'Military camps, airports and cities are falling to the rebels, while demoralized and hungry Syrian army units are simply giving up. The rebels are already on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, the capital. The army is defending its last bastions in the north and east, like islands in a sea, only able to receive supplies from the air.

 "The others, the soldiers, are also tired. But at least we know what we're fighting for," the rebel says. Even though they are sometimes worried about the future, about the days after victory when revenge will be taken, another adds: "Who can blame someone whose family was killed?"

 But where would that leave a revolution that was intended to bring down the dictator, but not plunge the country into a civil war? The Assad regime will fall, but no one knows what will happen after that.'

Syrian rebels draw nearer

 'Insurgents are venturing ever closer into Damascus after bringing a crescent of suburbs under their control from the city's eastern outskirts to the southwest.'

The practice of the Syrian regime is faced by the insistent people

 January 5th, 2013
 Local Coordination Committees in Syria

 'The practice of the Syrian regime represented by shelling, destructing and arresting is faced by the insistent people to gain their freedom by demonstration that plays the melodies of freedom every week to prove to the world that freedom is the most valuable thing the great Syrian people have.'

Undecided Syrians Could Tip Balance of Rebellion

 I think expecting the Syrian ruling class to desert its own régime en masse is to ignore the history of ruling classes, and it is more often that they are convinced that things cannot go on in the old way as much as they are by the rightness of change. While its instigation of sectarian divisions may have brought the government some breathing space,* students of revolution will also tend to say that it is by emancipating the majority that didn't benefit from the old régime that real change occurs. The understanding that it is those that have benefited from Assad's sectarian neo-liberal tyranny that support him is better than much comment on Syria, though.

 'Mr. Assad remains in power in part because two years into the uprising, a critical bloc of Syrians remains on the fence. Among them are business owners who drive the economy, bankers who finance it, and the security officials and government employees who hold the keys to the mundane but crucial business of maintaining an authoritarian state. If they abandoned the government or embraced the rebels en masse, they might change the tide.'

* Although he went on to say it might last longer, Abdel Bari Atwan on Dateline London on the BBC did repeat a story that the war is costing Assad $1bn a month, and he's only got $2bn left. He did also refer to Assad's support from "the Soviet Union" before correcting himself to Russia.

Taif-style agreement needed for Syria

 Entrenching sectarian head-counting in the political system doesn't seem to have worked so well for Lebanon, didn't work out too well for Yugoslavia.

An Alawite Outcast: How One Girl Lost Her Mother

 "I understand the rich families or the families that are in power, but I don’t understand the poor families who support Assad. I remember my neighbours…they were so poor. I’d wonder, why are you supporting this regime? What did the regime do for you?"

Krak des Chevaliers

 'Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world.'

 Maybe not any more.

 'Syrian jetfighters flew several times Friday over the northern border region of Lebanon before carrying out raids on a hilltop castle in the Homs Gap in Syria.'

In War-Torn Northern Syria, Children 'Only Paint In Red

 'Many of the children, Deb also reported, talk of wanting to kill Syrian President Bashar Assad.'

Increasing Barbarity: Gaining a Clearer View of the Syrian Civil War

 'Nor does the image of the ultra-warrior apply to all who adorn themselves with the al-Qaida logo. A group of jihad tourists kidnapped a British and a Dutch photographer in late July, and the British photographer, John Cantlie, later said their camp seemed "like an adventure course for disenchanted 20-year-olds."'

 When I saw this mentioned in the Guardian Middle East protest coverage on Twitter*, they'd picked the misleading line, "The true danger, the one we sense growing with each trip we make to Syria, is the increasing brutality and barbarism on both sides." In fact we see in this report more sophisticated analyses, such as showing how the régime has created sectarian tension,
'Drivers in the provinces of Homs and Hama, for example, take the precaution of making wide detours around any Alawite village. "They've all got weapons from the regime there," one driver explained. "They may not all support Assad, but there are militias in every village." '

*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/…/03/syria-petrol-station-car-bomb]

Syrian bakeries forced to operate during dark

 'The flames of their revolution will not be put out.'

Gather Round

 'The artist in speaking of the song’s inspiration, refers to Syria and Libya.'

 Actually that's not how the World Socialist Web Site quite put it*, but any acknowledgement that anything good could be on the side of freedom in Syria is an advance for them.

*[http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/03/bali-j03.html]

Cats, Guns and Spoils of War in Rural Idlib, Syria

 'Some fighters rose early to join a battle nearby while others who kept watch during the night slept in for bit. After drinking a small glass of tea and playing with the house cat (which all Syrian rebels seem to keep), Omar holstered his pistol and repeated his dangerous daily cycle: travel, battles and Internet videos.'

Revolution and Imperialism in Syria

 I think this still mistakes the argument over foreign intervention a little, few people want Western troops, but the argument over munitions has been largely that there is not enough, rather than too much, going to the armed opposition. I saw a BBC newsreader this morning lazily repeating the claim that Syria has become a proxy war, a common misunderstanding of the motives of those foreign fighters that there are, who are there out of solidarity rather than as paid agents of the Gulf states.

 'The toppling of the Assad regime by the democracy movement would bring about a much deeper change in the state and society in Syria than it did in Egypt or Tunisia, as it would also be a defeat for the army and the corrupt elites.'

Fuck Western Media

 'So my question to the western media who’re depicting this area as bunch of Salafists, Islamists and Qaeda: where the fuck are you getting your shit from? Why are you deliberately missing out on the people of Syria who have since day one lead this revolution and been through the shelling, besiege, detention..you know what, you don’t even know what each of these words mean, do you know what detention means? what shelling means? what the sound of airplane means as it’s flying over your village? Over your children’s heads?'

Turkey: Syrian refugees choosing to work risk exploitation

 'If Syrians without work permits were to take an employer to court, the judge would likely report them for working illegally.'

Jamal Maarouf first to shoot down a Syrian regime fighter plane

 'Two years after the eruption of the revolution, lots of lives were lost, and the revolution has taken a sectarian aspect that the rebel refuses to accept.

 Jamal Maarouf reassured Syrians that Alawites have not recorded any killing incident.

 “We have not killed Alawites. Al-Fawaa village in the province of Idlib, is a Shiite village, and yet, we have never raided this village or killed their children.” '

Revolution’s resources remain major problem

 'Jabhat al-Nusra has helped on the ground in ways Washington has not: The group cooperates closely with the Free Syrian Army; it has achieved military successes and has delivered critical civilian aid. Second, the U.S. designation failed to distinguish between Jabhat al-Nusra’s core of hard-line ideologues and Syrians who join because Jabhat al-Nusra has money, weapons and proven military successes.'

Russian military presence in Syria poses challenge to US-led intervention

 One might think it would also be a challenge to those who claim that a possible US promise of intervention is more significant than honest-to-goodness actual Russian intervention.

 Maybe that ship has sailed. As might some Russian ones soon.

Foundation of the Dera’a section of the Revolutionary Left Current

 'The experience of the creation of a rank and file organizational structure which is the foundation of our current’s Dera’a section - an experience appropriate to be generalized to all the governorates of the Syria - is in practice the realization of an attempt to build a political party from the base to the summit, in contrast to the form that predominated during the construction of the traditional parties.'

Searching for refuge in a land where there are no safe places

 'Syria has become the land of topless minarets and headless little girls. It seems in every video there is always something missing, something broken, something that can never be mended.

 Our country is a landscape of urban and rural rape by the Assad dynasty. They leave the land, like the Mongols did before them, covered in smoke, rubble, and blood.

 The regime redefines barbarianism for the new millennium - cynically cloaking the country in false modernity for decades, funneling international resources for personal gain and glory, then bombing the country to pieces.'

Syrian Women Decry Exclusion by Islamist Opposition

 'Only three of the 60 leading members of the new Syria National Coalition, which was established in November in Qatar, are women. That ratio overlooks the female momentum behind the opposition fighters and blatantly ignores their active participation in the Syrian conflict for the past 21 months.'

Syrian footballer raises revolution flag in official match

 'War-torn Syria enjoyed some rare soccer success by beating Iraq 1-0 in Kuwait on Thursday to claim the trophy. “I give this win and this worthy title to the Syrian people. I thank God that we succeeded in bringing happiness to the sad people.” '

Syrian Television Journalist Announces Defection

 "All my gratitude to the people of Idlib, especially the village of Haas, the battalions of al-Qadissia and the revolutionary heroes there. I was sure that they were not terrorists as the regime claimed. They are the best and most noble people. May God grant them victory."

Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

 I am actually trying to look at the UN panel report on Syria, which from today's press reports seems to draw a false equivalence between the violence of the government and opposition, and to locate the problem as one of lack of stability, and proclaiming an inevitably long civil war, typical ways in which the UN serve to protect governments from their people.

 This sounds horrific:"There are fewer accounts of Government forces engaging in ground
actions. Rather they continue shelling areas under anti-Government armed group
control, endangering civilians who remain in these areas. Interviewees stated that
joint pro-Government forces are conducting house-to-house searches in neighbourhoods used by the opposition such as Daraya in Damascus countryside and Mashari’a al-Arbaeen in Hama city." This is why hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled Syria, not because they are caught in crossfire, but because their government is shelling them. And where possible, there is a reign of terror.

 But then rather than blame the government for the evolution of the conflict, we get this, "The risk of the Syrian conflict devolving from peaceful protests seeking political reform to a confrontation between ethnic and religious groups has been ever present. As battles between Government forces and anti-Government armed groups approach the end of their second year, the conflict has become overtly sectarian in nature." And then point to a report of shelling coming from "Alawite villages" (awareness of sectarian geography not being proof of its encouragement), one case of government troops being captured and the Alawites among them being executed, and one car bomb in an Alawite district (are the UN panel sectarian for...) without saying anything about who might have been targeted, are not comparable with the government's actions.

 In the next section on Minorities there is a worrying report about the abduction of Christian pilgrims, but then we get reports like this one, which I think turned out to be a government attack. So we get a message of chaos everywhere, rather than one of government created divisions, and largely government violence, overwhelmingly that directed against civilians."On 29 October, a car bomb exploded outside a bakery in Jaramana, a predominantly Christian and Druze neighbourhood in Damascus."

 If the procedures of these councils cannot be ascertained, suggesting that they don't conform to due process, and the resulting killings are summary executions, seems unreasonable. I don't think executing ordinary soldiers, even those that have killed, is right, but that's not the point here. "Investigations indicate that in some instances captured enemy fighters are brought before a Sharia council (al-Lajana al-Shariah) prior to their execution. Neither the substantive nor procedural framework of these councils could be ascertained, with one interviewee positing that, “only those with blood on their hands” are executed. It is a war crime to sentence or execute a person who has been captured, has surrendered, is injured or is otherwise hors de combat, without due process."

 I should have put the numbers on these. As I understand it, when the government loses control of an area, it reacts with indiscriminate shelling (partly recorded in preceding paragraphs of this report). What exactly are the FSA to do to protect civilians, and why is it not the government to blame?43. "The evidence collected indicates that anti-Government armed groups consistently fail to distinguish themselves from the civilian population."

 The legitimate aspiration of the Syrian people is to overthrow the government and pick a new one of their own, unencumbered with the spectre of the old régime, not to have the UN keep it on life support and poison the transition. If Russia finally realises Assad's number is up, there is a real danger of some such deal being stitched up. Conclusion 47. "The war of attrition that is being fought in Syria has brought immeasurable destruction and human suffering to the civilian population. As the conflict drags on, the parties have become ever more violent and unpredictable, which has led to their conduct increasingly being in breach of international law. The sole way to bring about an immediate cessation of the violence is through a negotiated political settlement which meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."

Drogheda man killed fighting regime in Syria

 "The sooner Bashar is removed from power the sooner this bloodshed will stop."

Putin’s Arms Dealers Are Selling More Weapons to More Dirtbags Than Ever

 'The problem is that a lot of these weapons are going to presidents and potentates that are not so friendly with the United States.'

 I think a problem is that some of those who object to Russia's massive arms sales don't see a problem when Western powers prop up governments friendly to them with ordnance.

Aleppo residents, battered by war, struggle to survive

 “We left everything to get our dignity. This is the price we have to pay, and it is a cheap price to get our freedom from the tyrant.”

Politics improves Syria vs Jordan football match

 They think the Syrian revolution is over.

Syrian rebels cut off Bashar al-Assad’s escape route

 'Sheikh Khaled Kamal was the first religious leader in Latakia city to speak out against the regime when anti-government demonstrations began in the city last year. Now he is based in the rebel held mountain areas, working to keep the revolution from descending into sectarian chaos:

 "I am sure there will be massacres of Alawites and bad revenge killings when we reach Latakia. The Syrian regime made us enemies over the past two years. I and the other Sheikhs are trying to stop this. But we are not sure that we will succeed." '

War is raging in Aleppo but in a classroom 40km away, there are grounds for hope

 'Under the Assads, Kurds were forbidden from learning their own language at school, or even from speaking it in the military. The result is a generation of Syrian Kurds, many now in late middle age, who can't write their own language. "Nobody taught us the grammar," Hamar said regretfully. He added: "Before, the Kurds never had any rights. But this revolution began over the rights of citizens." '

How long can the regime keep its grip?

 'As the Coalition of the Syrian Left argues, the popular demands for work, a living wage, education, health care, farming assistance, the right to protest, protection from security forces and so on may sound simple, but are actually the basis of the revolution--and accomplishing them will require changing the entire socio-economic structure of Syria, not just changing some figures at the top or the shape of state authority.

 These demands may not be accompanied by working class self-activity at the present time. But Syrians are not facing a "normal" situation. They are facing a militarized conflict against a dictatorship that has crushed working class organizations and cloaks itself in leftist rhetoric to protect its profits and accumulation of wealth.'

Irish Syrian fighters pass on lessons of revolution

 From August. 

 'He frames his reasons for coming to Syria in philosophical terms. “I see my life as being about three things: searching for the truth; defending the weak against injustice and the oppressors; and helping to build peace in the world. The battle here in Syria combines all three.” '

Head of public relations at Syria’s general intelligence defects

 ' “In this crucial stage of the Syrian revolution, I Alaa Addine al-Sabbagh, the director of public relations divisions at the Syrian general intelligence, and this is my ID; I declare my defection from the Assad criminal regime and joining the great Syrian revolution,” Sabbagh said in the video.

 “As my revolutionary brothers know, I was serving the revolution through my work. Today, everyone has to declare affiliation to the revolution of the Syrian people,” he added.

 “The Syrian revolution is open to everyone before the regime collapses completely. The regime today is clinically dead. Long Live Syria, free.” '

Assad may fall within month

 'Farah Al Atasi said she has “confirmed” information that Assad had gone into hiding as the rebels advance towards the capital Damascus.

 Atasi, who heads the Washington-based Arab American Centre for Translation and Research, said the rebels had achieved substantial military gains over the past weeks and are on the verge of realizing their goals of toppling Assad.'