Their friend has nuclear weapons

 "The bombing of Iraq last weekend was soaked in hypocrisy. Shia Muslims in the south and Kurds in the north rose up against Saddam Hussein at the end of the 1991 Gulf War. They wanted to overthrow the 'evil tyrant' the US and Britain told us that war was all about. But in another sick display of their hypocrisy, the US and Britain sat back and watched while Saddam Hussein brutally crushed both risings. Whatever they say today, they preferred Saddam Hussein in office to the prospect of a popular rising."

 If the Americans had armed the Shia in the South of Iraq or the Kurds in the North when they rose against Saddam Hussein AFTER the Gulf War in 1991, would those condemning the prospect of American help for Syrian rebels have condemned the Americans then? Of course they would, and had no problem calling the Americans hypocrites. I'm sure they'd say that the ongoing sanctions and occasional bombing would render such risings just part of an American proxy war, and so support for them is contingent for the geo-politicists on the risings not getting enough support to avoid being crushed.

 Those in the SWP and the ISO who have been lukewarm about the rebels getting guns in Syria might do well to reflect, because they should know better.

If Iran and Russia leave Bashar Assad alone, he will fall automatically

 It is rare to see "terrorist" used appropriately.

 'Bashar Assad and his gang have Iran and Russia to support them. Iran supports the regime with money and terrorists, and Russia supports them with weapons and ammunition.

 If Iran and Russia leave Bashar Assad alone, he will fall automatically.'

Assad forces in onslaught on Homs

 'Activists claim that fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah Shia armed movement, which has sided with Assad’s forces, have been battling rebels in the city. Hezbollah fighters helped the Syrian army capture Qusayr, a key town near Lebanon’s border last month, dealing a blow to opposition fighters who have been ferrying supplies and fighters over the border.'

 To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a desert and call it peace.

Activist Who Documented Syrian War’s Toll Became Its Victim

 'On Friday, Mr. Baali, a citizen journalist and an antigovernment activist known to many Syrians by the nom de guerre Mohammed Moaz, died of shrapnel wounds sustained weeks earlier as government forces shelled his neighborhood, Qaboun, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus. Mr. Baali had remained in the working-class jumble of concrete houses during months of heavy bombardment, rushing with his video camera to the scene of attacks.'

Helping the cause in their Syrian homeland

 'During two weeks in Syria treating the sick and wounded — and seeing men succumb to heart attacks for want of medicine, women and girls laboring to conceal their having been raped, children who had frozen to death — the Baltimore physician developed a new level of commitment to the revolt against President Bashar Assad.

 "I'm just in awe of these people when I think about what they're facing and the fact that they're still protesting," she says. "Their conviction is unbelievable." '

Damon Albarn joins new supergroup for Syria fundraiser

 'Damon Albarn has united Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos with Richard Russell and Rodaidh McDonald's Fresh Touch for a special release in aid of Oxfam's Syria appeal.'

 I see that he was born in Whitechapel Hospital, I've got a feeling that he worked in the one that used to be on the corner of Goldsmith's Row and Hackney Road, as a nurse once told me a story about watching someone tell a group of kids "and Damon's coming back in next week."

Tariq Ali on Syria

 "What this war is increasingly becoming is a war that is increasingly targeting Iran, and trying to remove Iran's only Arab ally from the reckoning...Without assigning blame or responsibility..."

 "We've heard that the rebels in Qusayr are using civilians as human shields [sic]. Could we see the government being blamed for civilian deaths?"

 "It could be, the situation is so confused."

 Tariq Ali's brain has left the building.

Syrian National Coalition urges world to protect Homs

 'Syria’s main opposition bloc on Friday urged the international community to take action to protect civilians in the cities of Homs and Daraa that have been targeted by military as part of a government campaign to regain control of the territory it lost to the opposition.'

Face-to-face with Abu Sakkar, Syria's 'heart-eating cannibal'

 ' "This guy had videos on his mobile. It showed him raping a mother and her two daughters. He stripped them while they begged him to stop in the name of God. Finally he slaughtered them with a knife... What would you have done?"

 Well, perhaps not make a meal of my enemy, I think. At the time, Abu Sakkar's men greeted what he did with cries of "God is Great". Now the fighters looking after him while he recovers from an injury just seem a bit embarrassed.

 "If we don't get help, a no-fly zone, heavy weapons, we will do worse - you've seen nothing yet.” '

Kursk legacy: Will there ever be another massive tank battle?

 'The tank, like the battleship, was suddenly a sitting duck without control of the skies.'

 I always tended to think that a no-fly zone in Syria wasn't the best idea, as the action to destroy air defences took control from the insurgent people and put it in the hands of Western air forces, but this made me think a little.

 There is military analysis of Syria at [http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/].

Activists Preserve a Part of Syria’s Revolution

 ' "We are just peaceful protestors who are fighting against oppression," Fares said. He doesn't identify himself as a rebel or a fighter but emphasises that the people of Kafranbel are on the rebels' side.'

Can you bear to look at this image for more than a second?

 'Are you horrified? Disgusted? Outraged? Terrified?

 Did little Wadak Aghi ruin your day? Let me tell you about her day, that is the last day of her life. Assad’s forces targeted her home with a monstrous shell which ripped her face off. She was taken to a clinic where doctors tried in vain to save her. They were then forced to transfer her to the only decent hospital that could have a chance in saving her life in Assad controlled territory. However she had to cross the infamous “Checkpoint of Death" in Deir Ezzor, Syria manned by Assad’s forces. That is where she died as she never crossed it.

 Thank you for caring dear world. The children of Syria will never forget you …'

Seven Reasons Why Islamists May Now Be Losing Ground Among Syria’s Rebels (A roundup post)

 'Regime may be facing a military catastrophe in Aleppo

 Yallah Souriya reports panic, shock and rage on pro-regime facebook pages over the performance of regime defensive forces in Aleppo—a reaction which tends to confirm reports of major rebel advances there.'

 [http://iranian.com/.../post/16841/jumpto/idcomment-27456]

US interference

Russia reports pullout from small base in Syria

 Will the last American out of Saigon please pull the rope up into the helicopter. About the following quote it could be said that the Russians can see the writing on the wall, or that Syria just isn't that important.

 'Given the Assad government’s gains, the Russian decision to pull out of Tartus might represent a calculation about potential intervention, either from the United States over the regime’s alleged chemical weapons use or from Israel, which has said that it will strike if advanced surface-to-air missiles are delivered to the Syrian regime, according to Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute.

 “It would explain something that otherwise seems counter­intuitive,” Tabler said. “If the regime is doing well, you don’t close your base.” '

 From a week ago. Also suggests they won't be bankrolling an Assadite mini-state on the coast.

Thomas Pierret, Religion and State in Syria

 Thomas Pierret:

 'The conclusions I draw from my book lead me to take issue with widespread narratives about the current rise of Sunni Islamism, and in particular of Salafism in Syria. This phenomenon is usually perceived in a negative way, that is, as an expression of sectarian radicalization against religious communities. There is undeniably some truth in that, but it is a partial view of the problem. There is also a "positive" dimension to it: the expression of an identity that has been suppressed for decades, notably, as I show in the book, by imposing severe restrictions on religious practices and symbols that are considered as perfectly harmless in most other Muslim countries.'

 More precision comment from the author can been found via [http://pulsemedia.org/…/thomas-pierret-on-the-syrian-revol…/]

Videogame: Zaytoun, the Little Syrian-Palestinian Refugee

 'In the words of Mokha, a Syrian-Palestinian designer, the Syrian revolution has reconciled many Palestinians with their Syrian identity.

 “We are not only Palestinians, we are also Syrians and we suffer what Syrians suffer. For many years I wondered why Syrians did not rise against their tyrants, and now that they have, I feel proud of my Syrian people, just like I do of my Palestinian people.” '

Russian Troubles in Syria

 'It is tempting to watch American foreign policy and Russian foreign policy and assign all the naiveté and sloppy thinking to one and all the clever, chess-playing skills to the other. But that would be wrong.

 Instead of being a loyal friend to an Arab leader, as opposed to the fickle United States, the fact is that Russia is now mired in support for a genocidal bastard in a war that has led to more than 100,000 deaths, the apparent use of chemical weapons, and the decided use of artillery, helicopters, and aircraft to bombard civilian centres.

 No one in the Arab world wants to be Putin’s friend.'

A thousand years of civilisation pulverised by months of battle

 "Hezbollah's snipers are much better than the régime's. They are very accurate and kill everything that moves - EVEN THE CATS. But their presence has united my men. We all want to fight Hezbollah."

Homs rebels resist Syria army fierce onslaught

 'Arab states in the Gulf urged the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to prevent a “massacre” in Homs.

 In a statement, the six Gulf Cooperation Council members announced they are “following with deep concern ... the unjust siege Syrian regime forces are imposing on Homs ... with military support from the militias of the [Shiite] Lebanese Hezbollah movement and under the umbrella of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.” '

Interview With Colonel Aqidi Of The FSA On Qusayr, Jihadists, And The Supreme Military Council

 Interviewer: What about the execution of the fourteen-year-old boy in Aleppo?

 Aqidi: Once I arrive in Aleppo, I am going to investigate it. I am sure Islamist groups are not behind this act. Some groups claim to be Islamist or FSA but in fact, they are regime-made and consist of secret police and shabeeha. Last week a brigade commander was trialed and executed because his acts were doing harm to the reputation of the FSA. His name was Mahmoud [.........], he headed the Unified Army of Muhammad, and his deputy’s name was Abu Taleb.

 (When asked about the latest call for Jihad in Syria)

 Syria does not need foreign fighters because this will make it another Afghanistan, what we need is arms and money. We prefer arms to money because the latter is spoiling the revolution.

Putin Toys With Obama as Syria Burns and Snowden Runs Free

 Garry Kasparov has something to say.

 'The G8 statement on Syria that came out from the summit was a triumph for Putin and also a victory for what I would call “consensus through cowardice.” Getting rid of the murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad is not one of the document’s pledges. Incredibly, al-Assad is not even mentioned—no doubt at the insistence of his greatest supporter, Putin.'

Emergency: Dire Conditions in #Aleppo Central Prison Today!

 'Due to extreme lack of food, diseases widely spread among the prisoners, Scab, all types of allergy, Undernourishment, Anemia, and the most dangerous is TUBERCULOSIS. More than 225 were infected by Tuberculosis, 6 were dead and the number is escalating dramatically.'

 Like Nelson Mandela, who contracted TB on Robben Island.

 100g of bread a day isn't much compared to the 550g that Solzhenitsyn told us In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was promised to prisoners in Siberian labour camps.

The Destruction Of The Syrian Air Force

 They will lose , but will kill a lot of people doing it.

 'An air attack was considered successful whether it hit armed rebels or the unarmed civilians that supported him. Several air force defectors reported that pilots were often instructed to go after bakeries (bread is a key element of the Syrian diet) and apartment buildings, in order to maximize the suffering among civilians.

 The air force is rapidly disappearing because of combat and operational (accidents and poor maintenance) losses. At this point the government has nothing to lose and simply regards the remaining aircraft as similar to diminishing ammo supplies. Use it or lose it to advancing rebels.'

Self-organization in the Syrian people’s revolution

 Ghayath Naisse:

 'This is a genuine popular revolution; the driving social forces are the workers and more broadly the impoverished urban and rural social strata. These forces have been able to create, despite the outrageous violence of the regime, a popular armed resistance, in the cruelly felt absence of a revolutionary political leadership. They have created structures of self-organization and coordinating bodies, as well as embryos of self-government, local councils and civil advice bureaus. These forms of control and administration from below are more developed in the Syrian revolution than in any other process in the countries of the region.'

What matters

 Mulham Al Jundi:

 Graffiti on a destroyed building in Taftanaz, Syria: "It doesn't matter when or where I die. What matters is that revolutionaries remain with their voices filling the earth until there remains no oppression for the poor and wretched."

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

 "The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented 100,191 casualties since the beginning of the uprisings in 18/3/2011, from the first casualty in Dera'a, up till 24/06/2013."

 Patrick Cockburn claimed in his most recent Independent/Counterpunch piece that these figures show that Syria is six of one and half a dozen of the other. He does recount the figures accurately, but this comment puts them in a more complete context.

 "All these unsubstantiated declarations of large numbers killed in rebel massacres, ignoring the massacres by regime and pro-regime forces, as well as the long-standing systematic tortures of civilians by the regime, is effectively propaganda in favour of one of the (if not the) most brutal regimes in the planet. The larger number of soldiers dying results from the generalised opposition by the population, including by rebel soldiers, and probably counts many soldiers killed because they were (at least suspected of) attempting or wanting to desert. Without inside knowledge, we can't know why they died, but there have been numerous reports of recent deserters being summarily executed. The rebellion contains fighters from all religious and ethnic communities, any of which could have killed soldiers. Another factor is unsure. Only some essentially Alawite units are trusted to fight the rebellion. The units are constantly in battle against the rebels. With fatigue, they are more likely to make fatal errors."

Burning the Mosques

Robin Yassin-Kassab:

 'What’s happening is no secret. The shabeeha write it on the walls: “Al-Assad or We’ll Burn the Country.” The world worries about Islamists, about hypothetical future persecutions, about the chess game between America and Russia, Israel and Iran. Meanwhile the country burns. The people and their history burn.'

The Syrian Revolution Is Not Dead

 "How can you call this a war?" asked a young Syrian man. "We don't have an army. We are not trained and our weapons are mostly stolen from government troops. A war necessarily means two sides fighting one another. We are civilians fighting the State. This isn't war, this is self-defence. This is a Revolution."

Rebels seize Deraa army post in battle for cradle of Syria revolt

 'Syrian rebels advancing from the Jordanian border seized a strategic army position in the southern city of Daraa on Friday as deadly fighting raged in the surrounding province.'

 Hezbollah, Iran, and Russia aren't all-powerful then.

 'Daraa is an ancient city dating back to the Canaanites. It was mentioned in Egyptian hieroglyphic tablets at the time of the Pharaoh Thutmose III between 1490 and 1436 BC. It was known in those days as the city of Atharaa. It was later mentioned in the Old Testament as "Edre'i," the capital of Bashan where Moses defeated the city's king, Og.'
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deraa#History]

Syria Running Dangerously Low On Civilians To Oppress

 'The Syrian government is also reportedly looking into the possibility of importing roughly 50,000 people from Iran, which has long enjoyed a surplus of citizens to brutalize.'

Alqusoor neighborbood in #Homs #Syria

 Al-Qusoor in Homs

 'The policy of the government, as expressed by the Governor Ahmad Munir, is not to storm areas in Homs it does not control unless other options have been exhausted. He said he was trying to deal with each case “without a special military operation”. '
 Bit of a gullible fellow, that Patrick Cockburn.
[http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/28/return-to-homs/]

 Further bullshit at Counterpunch on the Mediterranean gas reserves:
 'It appears that Damascus will soon finally feel the full impact of the Western fist. Turkey and Israel will be key partners in this effort. Gas may be the reason why.'
[http://www.counterpunch.org/.../is-the-us-playing-with.../]

Syrian journalist helps reporters tell stories from his homeland

 'Massoud Akko escaped Syria in 2010. He now trains journalists working in conflict zones and reports on the state of freedom of expression in Syria.

 Most of the atrocities against journalists, Akko says, have been committed by the Assad regime. “They use snipers to kill people they suspect are reporting. Anyone who’s using a mobile phone to capture pictures or video is at risk. In some cases they attack the homes of journalists and their families.” '

Scenes of destruction: Syrian mosques leveled after months of combat

 'As has happened often, after regime forces withdrew, they pounded the area with artillery and airstrikes. For two days, they fired shells at the mosque. A series of videos on YouTube show explosions against the minaret as they score direct hits. A YouTube video dated April 13 shows the top half of the minaret topple in a cloud of dust.'

Will the U.S. hijack Syria's revolution?

 'As Yusef Khalil argues, "winning the struggle purely by military means is highly improbable," given the regime's superior firepower.'

And so Lee Sustar condemns the US for everything but failing to arm Syrian rebels, and claims the US is trying "to channel the struggle for Syria's future into a sectarian war". Disappointing article.

An Ingenious Plan: How the CIA Vets the Syrian Rebels

Syrian rebel: Yes, I have some Yemeni friends, they speak very highly of you.
CIA Agent: Yemeni friends? Al-Qaeda?
Syrian rebel: Man, you’re obsessed. You can’t go around stereotyping people like that, what do your human resources people think? No, we met at a conference.
CIA Agent: ok, never mind. I think we’re just about finished here. Do you promise if we give you training and weapons not to use them against the USA, its citizens, armed forces or franchises?
Syrian rebel: Of course man, I love KFC.
CIA Agent: Great, sign here please.
Syrian rebel: Allahu Akbar, finally a result.
CIA Agent: What’s that?
Syrian rebel: It’s just an expression. Relax.

On the Fall of Qusair

 Q. It is hard to see, isn't it, a way to see the rebels defeat the army combined with Hezbollah's might?

 A. Robin Yassin-Kassab: When we talk about support, the resistance, the Syrian people, the revolution, has almost no real support, despite all the rhetoric; but what it does have is the force of numbers. This is being presented sometimes as if Syria is split 50/50, and there are a lot of people who are worried about what's coming next, about the extremism that's been brought up by the traumatization of the country; but it's only a very small minority that is actually supporting the régime.

 So, by force of numbers, I think it will be impossible for the régime to re-capture what it's lost, even with the help of the crack forces of Hezbollah. Hezbollah have fought Israel. They didn't actually do as well as we expected them to do, in the battle for Qusayr; because Qusayr is a small rural town, and it took them weeks to dislodge poorly armed local people. The reason for that - Hezbollah* should know this - Hezbollah did very well fighting Israel when Israel invaded Hezbollah's own turf. When Israel came into Lebanon, Hezbollah was very good at defending. Here they've gone into the mode of attacking, crossing their border, being aggressive another Arab people.

 This is terrible for the Syrians, but in the long term it's even worse for Hezbollah. Despite them being from the minority Shia sect, which some sectarian minded Sunnis in the Arab world don't like, nevertheless, a couple of years ago Hezbollah was wildly popular throughout the Arab world, including in Syria. In 2006, a million Lebanese Shia refugees, Hezbollah's people if you like, came to stay in Syria, they stayed in people's houses, it wasn't the Syrian state that looked after those people, it was ordinary people, including in Qusayr.

*Or Trotskyists who have followed the debate on why it was wrong for Soviet Russia to invade Poland in 1920. Or followers of Chairman Mao, "The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea."

Syria: Worse than Agony

 'In Assad’s Syria 2013, the many horrible accounts oozing from military intelligence branch 215 make it qualify to be the Syrian version of room 101. In branch 215, anything could happen to you. Detainees are...Those who do emerge are mostly completely different from the people who went in; they’ve been scarred for life.'

In Syria’s Villages, Regime Shells Aim for Civilians

 'His ambulance, parked yards away, is under the cover of a blue tarpaulin to obscure it from regime aircraft, which deliberately target ambulances, doctors, and hospitals—when they bother to target anything at all.

 People do not hate the war, the revolutionaries, or their Islamist mujahedin allies. They hate the regime. They hate Iran. They hate Hezbollah. They hate the Shia. And they hate America for standing by and allowing this to happen. Innocents who might have been, for want of better terms, moderate have become polarized. And Mahmood sees them daily as he races toward the bombing sites, watching the regime’s brutality hardening face after face.'

MANPADS for the Syrian opposition: a danger to commercial aviation?

 'The vast majority of the attacks preceded 9-11. Consider what that means. At least into the early 1970s, if you wanted to take a couple of guns and a couple of pounds of weed on a US domestic flight, the smart thing to do was to put it in your carry-on. No chance you’d be searched. Even when things got tighter, it happened quite gradually. The distance between airport security before and after 9-11 is so vast that it makes no sense to base an assessment of current dangers on pre-9-11 experiences.'

Dance Of May

 I can't be bothered to dot the is and cross the ts right now, but one reason why WWIII is not going to be set off by Western aid to the Syrian rebels is that this is a revolution, not a proxy war. A revolution with strongest support in the countryside, and not centred on the working class, not surprising when the left parties have accommodated the regime. But not a process that the US can turn on and turn off, something the Russians, and far more so the Chinese, with bigger fish to fry in their trade and other interaction with the US, will note before allowing it to become a proper war flashpoint. The Israelis, who have been happy to let Assad stay, are not going to threaten any Russian missiles for real unless they are damn sure the Russians would back down. This isn't the height of the Cold War, nobody is keeping their finger on the button for the sake of Assad.

 All this is is a Russian power play. Before there was serious talk of intervention, it was the US saying that Assad must go which the Russians said was upsetting them, and preventing a peace process. And the same voices that warn of the dangers of helping the rebels now (and suggest it is futile without any assessment, which is where I start to turn off), told us then that the Russian plans were the way to go. Meanwhile, the facts on the ground, that there is a revolutionary people that aren't going to put up with a state of torturers, means that the same choices have to be made down the line, but with Assad's allies having created more chance that the war will spread, and become more sectarian.

Pictures from Syria

 Robin Yassin-Kassab:

 "The Atmeh camp is just inside Syria near the Turkish town of Reyhanli (Reyhaniyeh in Arabic). 22,000 people live in the camp, refugees from the regime’s shelling, aerial bombardment, gunfire, torture and rape."

Rebels heed lesson of Qusair to repel regime in Aleppo

 'Free Syrian Army claims successful fightback after Assad offensive fails to materialise.
Rebel leaders in Syria say they have repelled a promised regime attack on Aleppo and launched a counter-offensive after learning from their mistakes in the heavy defeat at the town of Qusair.

 Syrian state media had announced that "Operation Northern Storm" would retake Aleppo "within days" after regime forces captured Qusair at the beginning of June.'

Detention and Abuse of Female Activists

 'Women have been a powerful voice in the opposition in villages and towns across Syria. In response, the Syrian government is punishing women for delivering humanitarian assistance, participating in protests, and supporting the opposition by subjecting them to detention, torture, and sexual assault.'

Inching Into Syria

 'I asked a rebel commander named Abu Jarah how he imagined Syria after Assad.

 “Maybe Somalia plus Afghanistan,” he replied.

 That, I allowed, was a pretty horrifying prospect.

 “Not our mistake,” he said. “It’s not what we want. It’s what you gave us, with two years standing and watching.” '

 This isn't an entirely coherent piece, the Syrians on the Turkish border seem to think the war might end quite neatly. It does remind me that I suggested to a couple of Friends here last year that even if American help comes very late, it will still make America really quite popular in a post-revolutionary Syria, just as they have been in Iraqi Kurdistan. And he ends with another reminder of the major truth about intervention.

 'Nobody, except perhaps our enemies, wants to see American troops in Syria. Our aim should be to make life so miserable for Assad and his friends that he agrees, or his sponsors agree, that it is time to stop the killing, send Assad and his circle into exile, and move from blood bath to diplomacy.'

‘You’re not helping me cast out sectarian bigotry’

 'Thieves, highway bandits and opportunists joined the mavericks infiltrating the Syrian revolution since revolutions don’t attract honourable people only.

 But to put those in the spotlight is sheer escapism, which Bashar cheerleaders use in order to justify turning their back on a bona fide revolution against a tyrant and a repressive regime that people have been itching to bring down for decades.'

Regime or revolution: families torn apart at Syria's front line

 'Rebels say that the sectarianism of the conflict was created by Mr Assad, who began creating militias from the Alawite and Shia communities from the first protests against his rule, even though they were demanding political freedoms rather than shouting religious slogans.'

I might cohere my thoughts tomorrow about why Russia isn't going to fight to the last rouble to save Assad, or even allow the conflict to risk military confrontation with the US, Israel, or anyone else, starting from the thought that what is going on in Syria is a revolution, not a proxy war, and no amount of international relations theory is going to explain the constraints on imperial power in that circumstance.

Syrian satirists take puppet show into war-torn towns to mock Bashar al-Assad

 'In January the group surreptitiously travelled into the rebel-held town of Manbij in the northern region of Aleppo to perform live in an arts festival organised by local activists, but on the day they arrived it was bombed by Assad's forces, leaving 12 dead and dozens more wounded.'

Damascus clashes rage, Aleppo rebels in new attack

 "The regime spent the past weeks trying to prove to world public opinion that it is in control of the course of Syria's war -- but this is not true," said Aleppo-based activist Abu Omar. "The regime's only battle here is a media battle."

Russia may lose its strong Syria card

 'Putin could face deteriorating relations with the U.S. and Europe on behalf of a policy that largely benefits Assad and Iran. Until now Russia has agreed with both, but as the U.S. and the Europeans become more assertive over Syria, Putin must determine whether Assad is still worth the fight. Then again, Iran, for reasons unrelated to Syria, may hesitate before breaking with Moscow just for Assad’s sake.'